Tonight I will share two images of historic church buildings.

The first is the Brush Run church building. This church building was originally in Washington County, Pennsylvania, but was moved to the Campbell Homestead at Bethany, West Virginia in the early 1900’s.

The Brush Run church was founded by Alexander Campbell in 1811 as a result of his work with the Presbyterian congregations in the area. The area had been in process of religious reform since at least 1782 when the Cross Creek church members had signed “A Religious Agreement.”

My 6th Great Grandfather Samuel Leeper was one of the members who signed the document. His grandson, Absalom Leeper, was one of the first Restoration Movement preachers in Iowa. in the 1830’s.

Here is a picture of Alexander Campbell’s study at Bethany. The man in the picture is Donald G. Hunt who was one of the founders of the Bible School that three generations of my family attended in Iowa.  The picture was taken in the early 50’s.

The Brush Creek church building is no longer in existence as it deteriorated over time and the final remains were removed in 1990.

The second picture is of a souvenir plate from the Cane Ridge Old Meeting House in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

This plate was bought by Eddie Werner during a trip that he made there. I bought this from his widow several years ago and it is a great memory of him. Eddie Werner was a preacher and taught at many of the Bible camps that I went to when I was young.

The plate also brings back family history memories for me.

My 5th Great Grandfather, John Sears, lived near the Cane Ridge church in Bourbon County and in the 1810 Census were listed just two pages after Barton W. Stone. However, the Sears family were not members at Cane Ridge as they were Dunkards. They were members of the Old Concord church in nearby Nicholas County.

However, my family did work with Barton W. Stone later as they were part of the Hoosier Brethren group.

John Sears was the step-brother of Jonas Hon who was the father of Peter Keithly Hon.

Joseph Hostetler was the second cousin of several of my Amish ancestors.

Joseph Hostetler and Peter Keithly Hon were both Dunkard ministers associated with the Hoosier Brethren who worked together to bring the followers of Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone into the Restoration Movement.

Some good memories from these two pictures and a reminder that I have a lot more research to do.

Steven