By Deborah Gertz Husar Herald-Whig Staff Writer BARRY, Ill. - A Barry church with a set of experiences coming to the establishing of Pike County denotes an exceptional commemoration with a Sunday festivity. First Baptist Church of Barry was coordinated as the Atlas Baptist Church in a log lodge on June 20, 1829. Presently, after 175 years, it remains as the most seasoned set up chapel in Pike County. "It's a noteworthy occasion, for the Barry church, however for Barry itself and for Pike County," church student of history Janita Metcalf said. The most punctual pioneer in Pike County, Ebenezer Franklin,
shown up in 1819 and was followed the following year by John Wood and Willard Keyes, who established the main corn in what is presently pikecountychurchs close to New Canton, Daniel Shinn and the four Ross siblings - Leonard, Clarendon, Henry and William. William Ross, alongside his companion Rufus Brown, spread out the town of Atlas in 1823. "I'm astounded individuals in Pike County don't realize Atlas was the main settlement," Metcalf said. Map book was the principal area seat, when Pike County came to as far north as the Wisconsin line, and was a flourishing local area. "Chicago was three log lodges, and Atlas was a lot bigger than Chicago," she said. "Presently it's only a bit of intersection." According to a set of experiences book ready for the commemoration, the congregation was established in Atlas with five individuals - Ozias Hale, Isaac Alford, Elizabeth Alford, Hopson Whitley and Esther Whitley.
Robust before long was authorized to lecture and later filled in as a chief in the Blackhawk War. The congregation met in different homes and in the log school building in Pleasant Vale, later named New Canton. In 1831, the congregation name was changed to Pleasant Vale Baptist Church, and called its first authority minister in 1833. Among the congregation's initial individuals was Free Frank McWorter, who established New Philadelphia, the principal local area joined by an African-American. Relatives of McWorter kept an association with the congregation until 2002. In records from 1842, the congregation is alluded to as the Barry Baptist Church, and by June 1852, the congregation was utilizing a little edge working in Barry. Another congregation building - devoted on Feb. 22, 1854 - still is utilized by the gathering.
The congregation consolidated into a burden in 1970, imparting a pastor to First Christian Church of Barry until December 2001, and presently shares a clergyman with the pikecountychurchs -Hull United Baptist Church. Praising this commemoration is significant for both the congregation and the more extensive local area, as per Metcalf, who confesses to being fascinated with history. "It's carrying history to the cutting edge, telling individuals a bit of history they didn't have the foggiest idea," Metcalf said. "It resembles praising a birthday." - - Contact Staff Writer Deborah Gertz Husar at [email protected] or (217) 221-3379