A reference website for the People of Dunkard Township
Healing wings Outreach INC. Previously Taylortown United Methodist (Source)SWPAUMC
Once Methodist Protestant - West Virginia Conference. In 1860 a number of people withdrew from an existing Methodist Protestant Church known as the “Calico Church.” one of a few previous names for current building still standing today. One of the separatists, George Kussart, built a Church on some land he owned jointly with his wife, Rebecca. Beginning in 1865 church school classes were held in the new Church eight months out of the year, with preaching services held irregularly. In 1877 the two congregations were reconciled and regular joint services began to be held alternately in the two Churches.
In 1886 the older Calico Church became a community building and the two congregations united to worship and work together again as one Methodist Protestant congregation in the new Church. In 1888 George and Rebecca Kussart deeded the building and an adjoining lot to the trustees to the Church and the Pittsburgh Conference. Some time after 1888 the Church was closed for a time but it was reorganized and reopened in 1912 as part of the West Virginia Conference Methodist Protestant until the Reunion in 1939 and has been in constant use. The Church is on the Mount Morris Circuit comprised of Bald Hill, Mount Morris, Shannon Run, and Taylortown. In 2001 the Circuit consisted of Mount Morris, Bald Hill and Taylortown. The membership in 1968 was 50. The membership on January 1, 2003 was 26. Taylortown UMC closed on June 27, 2016.
Added Note from Source: Pianst at the time it closed was Steven Grugin and he became pianst in 2008 until it closed in 2016.
Church was Purchased by Ralph and Sue Keener to become Healing Wings Outreach INC. Non Denominational
BALD HILL Methodist Church (CLOSED) WASHINGTON DISTRICT METHODIST EPISCOPAL – BALTIMORE CONFERENCE 1807-2006 Mailing Address: ID: 103513 Location: Located at the junction of Legislative Routes 30074 and 30107, 3.7 miles east of Mount Morris, in Greene County, PA. Washington District 802 History: Methodist Episcopal - Baltimore Conference. Became Methodist Protestant in 1830 and became part of the West Virginia Methodist Protestant Conference. Transferred from West Virginia Conference Methodist Protestant to Pittsburgh Conference of The Methodist Church in 1939. The log church was built under Methodist Episcopal auspices in 1807 by the men of the community. The Reverend Asa L. Shinn preached the dedicatory sermon. In 1829 a society of the Associated Methodists was formed at Bald Hill and in 1830 the entire class transferred in a body to the newly founded Methodist Protestant Church. West Virginia College has no records from 1830 to 1855 when the West Virginia Conference was established. In 1835 the log church was weather boarded and sealed. In 1892 under the pastorate of the Reverend W. H. Hart another church was built on a lot donated by J. C. Watson across the road from the old location. The Reverend John M. Conway, President of the West Virginia Conference, preached the dedicatory sermon. Since then renovations and improvements have been made, including aluminum siding, a new roof, and a modern oil furnace. In 1968 the church is on the Mount Morris Circuit, which includes the Bald Hill, Mount Morris, Shannon Run and Taylortown churches. The membership in 1968 was 32. The membership on January 1, 2003 was 23. Closed February 2, 2006.
Records went to Taylortown Church. Pastors: Monongahela District: Greenfield Circuit: John West and Thomas Daughaday 1807-1808; Asa L. Shinn and James Wilson 1808-1809; John West and James Reiley 1809-1810; John Meek and Wesley Webster 1810-1811; Thornton Fleming and Allen Green 1811-1812; John West and William Monroe 1812-1813; Jacob Dowell and Joshua Monroe 1813-1814; John Laws and John Connelly 1814-1815; James Laws and John White 1815-1816; Joshua Monroe and John Watson 1816-1817; Asby Pool and Jacob Snyder 1817-1818; John West and George Erwin 1818-1819; Henry Baker and Nathaniel B. Mills 1819-1820; Henry Baker and John Watson 1820-1821; Amos Barns and Thomas Beaks 1821-1822; Thomas Jamison and Elias Bruen 1822-1823; Asby Pool and David Stevens 1823-1824; Asby Pool, Jonathan Holt and Thomas M. Hudson 1824-1825; Peregrine G. Buckingham and Richard Armstrong 1825-1826; Peregrine G. Buckingham and John Cranville Tackaberry 1826-1827; Henry Bascomb Furlong and John H. Moffit 1827-1828; Simon Lauck and Thomas J. Taylor 1828-1829; Simon Lauck and Thomas Jamison 1829-1830; Transferred to West Virginia Methodist Protestant Conference: no records 1830-1855; West Virginia Conference Established. John Wilson 1830-1831; No Methodist Protestant records 1831-1838; Peter T. Lashley 1838-1841; William Wragg 1855-1857; George Gideon Westfall 1857-1859; Peter T. Lashley 1859-1861; Unsupplied 1861-1862; Daniel R. Helmick 1862-1863; Unsupplied 1863-1865; E. F. Westfall 1865- 1868; J. G. Weaver 1868-1871; B. Stout 1871-1872; John Norris 1872-1873; B. Stout 1873-1874; J. J. Mason 1874- 1878; A. L. McKeever 1878-1881; C. C. Conway 1881-1884; D. C. Weece and J. I. Vincent 1884-1885; D. C. Weece 1885-1887; M. L. Smith 1887-1888; W. C. Conway 1888-1889; A. J. Yoke 1889-1891; W. H. Hart 1891- 1892; W. M. Williams 1892-1894; J. N. Hart 1894-1896; J. W. Ireland 1896-1897; L. A. McNemar 1897-1901; C. P. Butler 1901-1903; G. B. Stewart 1903-1904; Unsupplied 1904-1905; J. A. Perry 1905-1906; Thomas Jefferson Hickle 1906-1910; J. H. Mossburg 1910-1912; J. R. Jones 1912-1914; I. A. Barnes 1914-1915; C. P. Butler 1915- 1919; J. A. Richmond 1919-1921; L. W. Loudin 1921-1924; Ulysses Ray Hinzman 1924-1927; T. A. McMillen 1927-1929; B. F. McGee 1929-1931; W. G. Vincent 1931-1933; G. H. Snyder 1933-1935; C. D. Tharp 1935-1937; W. H. Burns 1937-1940; Pittsburgh Conference: Mount Morris Circuit: Bald Hill/Taylortown/Mount Morris: Anthony H. Sarrio 1940-1941; Harry Valentine Leland 1941-1943; Alfred J. Jenkins 1943-1947; Samuel G. Noble 1947-1948; Stephen Elwood Cupcheck 1948-1951; Robert Hoover Drodge 1951-1954; Amos Shimko 1954-1958; Miller Bartley Clendenien 1958-1962; Carson Edgar McCormick 1962-1964; David Hedley Watson 1964-1969; Frank Stephen Tulak 1969-1971; Thomas Liotta 1971- April 16, 1972; Mount Morris Circuit: Bald Hill/Mount Morris/Shannon Run/Taylortown: Harry Clayton Prince July 1972-1973; Robert Frank Siple, Jr. March 1973- January 1979; Nelson Thomas Thayer 1979-1982; Gordon Barry Davis, Jr. 1982-1983; Jeffrey Lee Popson 1983- 1986; Willard Stanley Morse 1986-1998; Robert Andrew Verner 1998-2001; David Duane Ealy 2001-2004; Bald Hill/Taylortown: Burl Gale Cobb, Jr. 2004-February 2, 2006.
List of Older Churches now Close
Bald Hill Church
Shannon Run Church
SHANNON RUN Church (Closed)
WASHINGTON DISTRICT METHODIST EPISCOPAL – PITTSBURGH CONFERENCE 1864-2000 Mailing Address: ID: 102575 Location: Located on Big Shannon Run legislative route 30017 two and one half miles from Mount Morris in Greene County, PA. History: Methodist Episcopal – Pittsburgh Conference. In 1864 under the leadership of the Reverend William Gamble church school and worship services were held in a log schoolhouse near the home of Ansel Lemley. In 1868 under the pastorate of the Reverend Charles M. McCaslin a Church was built, the timbers being cut by David Lemley on a water powered sawmill. The land was deeded by Phineas Headley and his wife Nancy. The church was deeded to the first three trustees, Joseph Headley of Jessie, Elijah Hartley and Frank Headlee, their successors and assigns and the Pittsburgh Conference, “so long as the word of God is expounded.” Originally the Church had eight by ten inch windowpanes and a shingle roof and was heated by a small coal stove in the sanctuary. Reverend Charles M. McCaslin was the first pastor to preach at Shannon Run when church was completed in 1878. Later a small basement was dug out for the coal furnace. Many improvements were made over the years, including a full basement under the entire Church, a new shingle roof, and a modern oil furnace. The Church has had numerous Circuit relationships and in 1968 was on the Mount Morris Circuit comprising Bald Hill, Mount Morris, Shannon Run, and Taylortown.
The membership in 1968 was 48. In 2000 the Church closed, merged with Claughton Chapel and its records went to Claughton Chapel. Pastors: Mount Morris Circuit: Shannon Run: William Gamble 1864-1866; Matthias Myers Eaton 1866-1869; John D. Leggett 1869-1871; Pleasant Valley Charge: Edward M. Williams 1871-1874; James Elverson Williams 1874-Fall 1876; Charles M. McCaslin Fall 1876-Fall 1879; William Johnson 1879-1880; Henry J. Hickman 1880- 1883; Dunkard Circuit: Alexander Earl Husted 1883-1886; Mount Morris Circuit: Andrew Lucius Kendall 1886- 1887; Jesse William Cary 1887-1890; Walter G. Barron 1890-1892; George Emerson Gable 1892-1894; Joseph William Garland 1894- 1895; Harry H. Household 1895-1897; Howard Eckles 1897-1900; Alfred Turner 1900- Washington District 874 1903; L. Z. Robinson 1903-1904; Theodore Myers House 1904-1906; William F. McKain 1906-1909; Francis Marion Cain 1909-1910; Franklin Lawson Teets 1910-1912; George Amos Williams 1912-1915; James V. Potter 1915-1918; George Andrew Federer 1918-1919; Fairall Circuit: Charles Lester Peacock 1919-1925; Harry Monroe Jenkins 1925-1928; Morris Lyman Husted 1928-1931; George S. Baggart 1931-1933; Frederick Spielman 1933- 1937; Albert Merz 1937-1941; Lester W. Peters 1941-1942; Asbury Circuit: William H. Miller 1942-1945; Harman Ernest McNeely 1945-1947; George A. Smith 1947-1951; Robert Stewart Lash 1951-1952; Norman Allers 1952-1953; Lawrence Clesson Jewell 1952-1953; Harvey C. Nicholson 1953-1955; Robert Paul Veydt 1955-1956; George Oliver Elgin, Sr. 1956-1957; William Ralph Wigton 1957-1958; John Eugene Duvall 1958-1964; Mount Morris Circuit: Mount Morris/Bald Hill/Shannon Run/Taylortown: Robert Coffman 1964-1967; David Hedley Watson 1967-1969; Frank Stephen Tulak 1969-1971; Gary Cook 1971-1971; Thomas Liotta 1971- April 1972; Robert Coffman April 1972-July 1972; Harry Clayton Prince July 1972-May 1973; Robert Frank Siple, Sr. July 1973-November 1978; George Joseph Weaver, Jr. November 1978-July 1979; Nelson Thayer 1979-1982; Gordon Barry Davis, Jr. 1982-1983; Jeffery Lee Popson 1983-1986; Willard Stanley Morse 1986-1998; To Be Supplied 1998-Robert Andrew Verner 1998-2000; Shannon Run Church closed and merged with Claughton Chapel in 2000.
DILLINER: MOUNT PLEASANT (ACTIVE)
CONNELLSVILLE DISTRICT METHODIST EPISCOPAL SOUTH – WEST VIRGINIA CONFERENCE
1865 Mailing Address: PO Box 502, Greensboro, PA 15338 ID: 103626
Location: Located at 926 Mapletown Road on a Township Road one mile west of the Dilliner Post Office in Dunkard Township, Greene County, PA. History: Methodist Episcopal South – West Virginia Conference.
This Church was the northern-most church in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, established just after the Civil War, hence its nickname “Dixie Church.” Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Field donated the land and the Church was built in 1865. The original Board of Trustees was Thomas Field, James Griffin, William Griffin, Levi Titus, and Morton Johnson. In 1910 a vestibule was added to the Church and in 1949 the basement was completed. This was one of the five Churches that composed the Greene Circuit of the Clarksburg District of the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South that became a part of the Pittsburgh Conference following Methodist Union, in 1940. It has been a part of the Bobtown Circuit since 1946. In 2001 it was on the Mapletown/Greensboro: Mount Pleasant Charge. The membership in 1968 was 104. The membership on January 1, 2001 was 120. In 2016, Dilliner: Mount Pleasant was moved from the Washington District to the Connellsville District. In 2018, Dilliner: Mount Pleasant UMC became one of 14 churches in a newly formed cooperative ministry called South Fayette Cooperative Parish, serving communities in southern Fayette County. The United Methodist churches in this charge are Brownfield, Uniontown: Calvary, Uniontown: Christ, Uniontown: Community, Franklin Memorial, Gans, Hopwood, Juniata, Masontown, Mount Pleasant-Dilliner, Point Marion, Smithfield, Trinity: Fairchance, and Upper Middletown UMCs. The Mount Pleasant congregation is very active in missions and supports over 20 different mission inside and outside the local area. The church loves music and is especially known for its mission dinners.
Pastors: Clarksburg District: Greene Circuit: Mount Pleasant: William F. Claughton 1866-1868; W. R. Chambers 1868-1870; Asbury Poole Sturm 1870-1874; John C. Vaught 1874-1875; John Hamilton 1875-1876; Charles Taylor 1876-1877; John S. Pullin 1877-1878; E. M. Murril 1878-1879; E. W. Reynolds 1879-1880; C. W. Scherer 1880-1882; William F. Claughton 1882-1883; ___Johnson 1883-1884; W. Briscoe 1884-1885; C. B. Connellsville District 116 Fontaine 1885-1887; E. B. Jones 1887-1889; J. W. Flenniken 1889-1890; G. H. Mayes 1890-1891; Hamilton Poling 1891-1893; Asbury Poole Sturm 1893-1894; John Shorden 1894-1899; E. R. Powers 1899-1900; G. S. Lightner 1900-1902; J. Frank Richardson 1902-1904; H. K. Clark 1904-1905; A. B. Moore 1905-1909; L. S. Auvil 1909- 1914; W. J. Richardson 1914-1915; Charles Odell 1915-1917; W. H. Bealle 1917-1919; S. H. Warrell 1919-1923; C. C. Jarvis 1923-1928; Charles Scragg 1928-1934; W. T. Lantz 1934-1937; Lester W. Peters 1937-1940; Pittsburgh: Mount Morris Circuit: Lester W. Peters 1940-1942; W. H. Miller 1942-1945; Harman Ernest McNeely 1945-1947; Bobtown/Mapletown Circuit: George A. Smith 1947-1948; George Taylor 1948-1950; David Dayen 1950-1950; W. Hugh Brooks 1950-1954; Lawrence Clesson Jewell 1954-1957; Dale Miller 1957- 1957; John Edward Donley 1957-1960; Norman Morris 1960-1961; Robert Lind 1961-1964; Gary Lee Smith 1964- 1966; Dubs William Logan 1966-1967; George Stephen Dran 1967-1969; Gary Tulak 1969-1970; Gerald Wesley Michel 1970-1974; Jay Stanley Pifer Associate 1971-1972; Floyd Edward Kelly Associate 1972-1974; Mary Elizabeth Kunselman Zook 1974-1979; Harold Inghram Zook Associate 1974-1979; Mapletown/Greensboro/Mount Pleasant/Shordon Chapel: Jerry Douglas Williams 1979-1992; Mapletown Larger Parish: Mapletown/Mount Pleasant: Greensboro/Dilliner: Russell Dale Hixson 1992-1996; William Lee Parker 1996-2004; Kenneth Adrian Haines 2004-2011; Erwin Woody Wilson Associate 2002-2012; Mapletown/Mount Pleasant: John Walter Hodge 2011-2016; Two Rivers Charge: Dilliner: Mount Pleasant/Point Marion/Gans: Beverly Kay Lilley Roscoe 2016-2018; South Fayette Cooperative Parish: Masontown/ Mount Pleasant-Dilliner/ Smithfield: Mark Randall Blair 2018-2020; Kenneth Adrian Haines 2020-
St Ignatius in Bobtown
Greene County parishes to merge into one effective July 1
(source) By Brad Hundt (observer reporter)
May 20, 2019 Updated Jun 24, 2020
Five Greene County parishes will merge to form a single parish effective July 1, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Saturday.
The St. Matthias Parish will bring together the parishes of St. Ann in Waynesburg; St. Hugh in Carmichaels; St. Ignatius of Antioch in Bobtown; Our Lady of Consolation, which covers Rice’s Landing, Nemacolin and Crucible; and St. Thomas, which encompasses Clarksville and Jefferson.
Parishes on Pittsburgh’s North Side, in its Beechview and Brookline neighborhoods, in Castle Shannon, Mt. Lebanon and New Castle are undergoing similar mergers. The diocese announced last year it was seeking to reorganize 188 parishes into 57.
No churches will be closing as a result of the mergers.
“This has not been a simple task,” Bishop David Zubik said in a letter to parishioners. However, he said the merged parishes would allow “for more effective ministry by addressing serious financial problems, sharing resources and allowing the clergy to focus on the spiritual work for which they were ordained.”
In recent years, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has been restructuring in the face of declining attendance and financial woes at churches throughout the diocese, which includes Washington, Greene, Beaver, Allegheny, Butler and Lawrence counties. In 2017, five parishes in southeastern Washington County merged to form the St. Katharine Drexel Parish. Four churches within the parish closed in March.
Also on Saturday, the diocese announced a grouping of four parishes made up five churches near downtown Pittsburgh that have historical and spiritual significance. The Shrines of Pittsburgh Grouping includes St. Nicholas Church in Millvale, which houses the murals of artist Maxo Vanko, and St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in the Strip District, which was visited in 1969 by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, nine years before Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II.
BOBTOWN UNITED METHODIST (ACTIVE)
WASHINGTON DISTRICT METHODIST EPISCOPAL – PITTSBURGH CONFERENCE 1938 Mailing Address: PO Box 172, Bobtown, PA. 15135 724/839-7456 ID: 102644 Location: Located at 104 West South Street in the village of Bobtown in Greene County, PA.
History: Methodist Episcopal - Pittsburgh Conference.
This Church had its origin as a non-denominational Church and Church School meeting in the Fire Hall in Bobtown in 1929. Due to Methodist leadership and the availability of a Methodist minister under the appointment system it became a Methodist Church in the 1930's. Land was obtained from the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company and the Church was completed in 1940. A parsonage was secured in Bobtown for the Circuit in 1963. Bobtown was on a Circuit with Mount Olive and Mount Pleasant from the 1940's. The Mount Olive Church was closed in 1965 and the Shordon and Davistown Churches were added in 1965 making the Circuit in 1968 Bobtown, Mount Pleasant, Davistown and Shorden Chapel. This became a two-point Charge in 2001 with Bobtown and Mount Calvary. The Bobtown membership in 1968 was 139.
The membership on January 1, 2003 was 97. Pastors: Bobtown/Mount Olive/Mount Pleasant: Paul Trimpey 1938-1939; Lester E. Reckard 1939-1946; Stephen Malesick 1946-1947; Jacob Stienstraw 1947-1948; George Taylor 1948-1950; David Dayen MaySeptember 1950; Hugh Brooks 1950-1954; Lawrence Clesson Jewel 1954-1957; Dale Miller May-November 1957; John Robert Donley 1957-1960; H. Norman Morris 1960-1961; Robert Lind 1961-1964; Gary L. Smith 1964-1965; Bobtown/Shordon Chapel/Davistown: Gary L. Smith 1965-1966; Dubs William Logan 1966-1967; Bobtown/Mount Calvary: George Stephen Dran 1967-1968; Bobtown/Shordon Chapel/Davistown/Mount Pleasant: George Stephen Dran 1968-1969; Gary Tulak 1969-1971; Greensboro/Mapletown/Bobtown: Gerald Wesley Michel 1971-1974; Harold R. Kelley Associate 1973-1974; Mary Elizabeth Kunselman Zook 1974-1978; Harold Inghram Zook Associate 1974-1978; Carmichaels/Bobtown: Bernard Lee Shuey 1978-1984; Rudy George Mayak Associate 1979-January 1981; George Edward Himes 1984-1987; William Lee Parker Associate October 1984-1987; Bobtown/Mount Calvary: William Lee Parker 1987-1990; Scott Alan Eckert 1990-1991; Warren Charles Lash 1991-1996; James F. King 1996-1998; Kenneth Adrian Haines 1998-2001; Terence Anthony Teluch 2001-2003; Daniel E. Long 2003-2006; Bobtown/Taylortown/Mount Calvary: Burl Gale Cobb, Jr. 2006- December 31, 2012; Edward Brenden Hanley January 1, 2013-June 27, 2016; Bobtown/Mount Calvary: Edward Brenden Hanley June 28, 2016--.