THE CHURCHES IN PARKERSBURG AND THE VICINITY.
Parkersburg was one of the places visited by our first missionaries,—the
Rev. Messrs. Lee and Page. The Rev. Mr. Goodwin,
also, either before or after his settlement in Kanawha, paid an acceptable
visit to the people of that place. The Rev. Mr. McMechin,
soon after his ordination, spent a year or more in attempting to
raise up a congregation there. In the year 1843, the Rev. Thomas
Smith was elected its minister and the church was regularly organized,
and in the following year was admitted into union with the
Convention of Virginia. Mr. Smith immediately commenced, with
his accustomed enterprise, to raise funds for building a church, and
was sufficiently successful in securing enough to provide a small
and plain church; but, as is too often the case in the progress of
such a work, the views of those engaged in it were enlarged, both as
to the size of the building and the style of its execution, so that
the completion of it was delayed for some years. It is a well-built
and handsome brick church, and stands on ground presented to the
vestry by J. F. Snodgrass, late member of Congress from that district.
For a large portion of the funds for its erection, and for much
of the superintendence of the work, the congregation is indebted
to General J. J. Jackson, of Parkersburg. Mr. Smith died in 1847,
and was buried beneath the vestibule of the church, at his own request,
the reason being assigned that, as he felt himself to be a
poor sinner, he wished to be trampled under the feet of all who
entered the house. In the same year the Rev. Mr. Perkins was
chosen, who entered on his duties in the month of October. In
the year 1853, Mr. Perkins resigned the charge, since which time
it has been vacant. During Mr. Perkins's term of service two other
churches have been built in connection with Parkersburg,—one
about fifteen or twenty miles above it, on Cow Creek, and another
about ten or twelve miles below it, at Bellville. The latter was
built almost entirely by Mr. Wells, on whose land and near whose
house it stands. Mr. Perkins used occasionally to officiate at each
of these places.
The following is the list of the vestrymen of this parish:—John
Taylor, J. G. Stringer, Dr. D. Creel, A. L. Kinnaird, J. M. Little-boy,
Sen., J. F. Snodgrass, J. R. Murdock, W. S. Gardiner, David
B. Spencer, J. J. Jackson, Beverley Smith, W. P. Rathbone, Dr.
Farmin, E. D. Safford, C. J. Meale, Isaac Morris, W. H. Morehead,
G. B. Neale, J. J. Dickenson, W. H. Laurence, W. H. Small, J. J.
Neale, J. H. Adams, E. F. De Selding.
