Apple Creek United Methodist past staff

This page lists many Pastors and Staff of Apple Creek United Methodist Church. This list includes pastors, secretaries, teachers. Many people contributed to the church that we attend today.

* 1776: Our Declaration of Independence was signed. signaled the birth of our nation.

* 1787: Delaware became the first state to be admitted to the Union of United States of America. Pennsylvania became the second, New Jersey was the third. These three states were all admitted to our Union in December of 1787. Later, in 1803, Ohio became the 17th state.

* 1815: The roots of our church go back to the earliest settlement of Wayne County. Our church was originally the Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, organized in 1815. Services were originally held in a grist mill, later in a log cabin which doubled as a school. This log cabin was located where the Apple Creek Ford Garage is now. The Edinburg Methodist Church wasn't created until 1844 with 20 members.

* 1815: Reverend Thomas Hughes, assisted by Reverend James Adams, organized this church in the fall of 1815 with 30 charter members. Note: from the book "History of the Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, 1815 - 1915"

NOTE: Later, in 1926, due to the dwindling enrollments and hard times in (the beginning years of our Great Depression) the Edinburg Methodist Church and the Apple Creek Presbyterian Church combined to form the Apple Creek United Church, which later became Apple Creek United Methodist Church. Page down to year 1926 for more information about this merge.

* 1820 - 1829: Reverend Thomas Barr was pastor. A new brick church was built on the southwest corner of the old Cemetery land.

* 1823: The year of the Monroe Doctrine. US President James Monroe delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress, announcing a new policy of forbidding European interference in the Americas and establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.

* 1830: Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, the first public railroad in the U.S.

* 1833: Reverend Joseph Wylie led the church (still Presbyterian until 1844). Under Reverend Wylie a new, larger church was built of wood. It served the congregation until 1888.

* 1837: Michigan becomes a state.

* 1839 - 1840: D. Gray and C. Sawyer. see note 1 below.
* 1840 - 1841: D. Gray and B. Brandlebury. see note 1 below.

* 1841 - 1842: T. A. Kellum and Thomas Barkdall. see note 1 below.
* 1842 - 1843: T. A. Kellum and W. B. Disbro. see note 1 below.

* 1844: May 24, The first electrical telegram was sent by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, Maryland, saying "What hath God wrought".

* 1844: Reverend Rolla Chubb. Under the guidance of Pastor Chubb, the Edinburg Methodist Church was organized in 1844 with 20 members. Pastor Chubb also had, in his circuit, Fredericksburg, Moreland, and Millbrook churches. In 1847 the Edinburg Methodist Church bought and remodeled a house to serve as a church. It stood just west and a couple hundred feet north of the bridge in Edinburg (Apple Creek Road, south of the present Troyer's Bakery.)

* 1844: Page down to 1926, the year that this Edinburg Methodist church and the Apple Creek Presbyterian church united and became the Apple Creek United Church. (This church later became the Apple Creek United Methodist Church.) see note 2 below.

* 1845 - 1847: Daniel Conant. see note 1 below.
* 1847 - 1848: P. Sharp. see note 1 below.
* 1848 - 1850: John Mitchell. see note 1 below.

* 1848: California gold rush. Because of this gold rush California became our 31st state in 1850.

To put this into perspective, due to the gold rush, California became a state before 19 others were admitted into our Union. Delaware was the 1st state to be admitted in 1787. Ohio was the 17th in 1803, West Virginia in 1863. Arizona wasn't admitted until 1912, 62 years after California became a state.

* 1850 - 1852: Wm. H. Nickerson. see note 1 below.

* 1852 - 1854: Daniel D. T. Matison. see note 1 below.
* 1854 - 1856: Charles B. Brandebury. see note 1 below.

* 1856 - 1858: Joseph F. Kennedy. see note 1 below.
* 1858 - 1860: John S. Cutter. see note 1 below.

* 1861: The secession of the southern states caused President Lincoln to declare war. The first battle in Civil War history took place at Fort Sumter at Charleston, South Carolina.

* 1860 - 1861: Charles D. Lakey. see note 1 below.

* 1861 - 1862: John McNabb. see note 1 below.
* 1862 - 1864: Wesley B. Farrah. see note 1 below.
* 1864 - 1866: James Elliott. see note 1 below.

* 1867: Alaska was purchased from Russia for about 2 cents an acre. Alaska was not a state in 1867 but a U. S, territory. Alaska became a state 92 years later, in 1959.

* 1867 - 1868: Newell J. Close. see note 1 below.
* 1868 - 1870: Osmond Card. see note 1 below.

* 1869: "The Golden Spike" was driven, completing our first transcontinental railroad.

* 1870 - 1872: Gleason A. Reeder. see note 1 below.

* 1870: Susan B. Anthony (b-1820, d-1906) was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States.

* 1872 - 1873: G. A. Peters and S. R. Clark. see note 1 below.
* 1873 - 1874: G. A. Peters and Mr. Lee as associate. see note 1 below.
* 1874 - 1876: Philip Kelser. see note 1 below.

* 1876 - 1878: J. T. McCartney. see note 1 below.
* 1878 - 1879: S. R. Clark. see note 1 below.
* 1879 - 1880: W. W. Bailey. see note 1 below.

* 1880 - 1882: J. J. Phiper. see note 1 below.
* 1882 - 1884: B. F. Bell. see note 1 below.
* 1884 - 1885: E. L. Warner. see note 1 below.
* 1885 - 1886: James P. Mills. see note 1 below.

* 1886 until 1890: our First Methodist Church was under the guidance of Reverend Thomas Scantlebury. An interesting article on Reverend Scantlebury's life was sent to us thru our website by his great granddaughter, Joanne Auth. Click the blue button below to see her email and a photo of Reverend Thomas Scantlebury:

* 1890 - 1895: Elton D. Barnett. see note 1 below.

* 1891: Reverend L. F. Laverty was not mentioned in the 1909 book by J. B. Ferguson, but was a church leader, I'm not sure about the correct date. Another new church was built under his leadership, (I'm not sure where this church was located.) This church cost $8000 and was paid off in 3 years.

* 1895 - 1897: M. T. Scarborough. see note 1 below.
* 1897 - 1901: H. B. Palmer. see note 1 below.

* 1901 - 1906: Reverend C.D. Patterson. Reverend Patterson was our first full time minister.

* 1903: Wright brothers first flight.
* 1903: Ford Motor Company formed.

* 1906 - 1908: Ed. F. Wood. see note 1 below.
* 1908 - 1909: J. B. Ferguson. Wrote the book in note 1 below.

* 1908: Ford Model T appears on market.

* 1910 - 1913: T. L. McConnell. see note 2 below.
* 1913 - 1918: R. W. Gardiner. see note 2 below.
* 1918 - 1921: R. M. Yoder. see note 2 below.

* 1921 - 1923: H. M. Willis. see note 2 below.
* 1923 - 1925: W. M. Brown. see note 2 below.
* 1925 - 1926: Earl L. Lea. see note 2 below.

* 1926: Reverend Joseph Cleland. Pastor Cleland remained as leader of this new church for a time, I'm not sure of the exact dates.

* 1926: Dwindling enrollments and rural hard times of the 1920s pushed an idea that had been in the minds of leaders for years. Namely that a unified church in Apple Creek would further the cause of the Gospel, and surely the will of God. Leaders of the churches held meetings and decided to combine the Presbyterian Church with 209 members and the Methodists with 256 members into the Apple Creek United Church. (This church later became the Apple Creek United Methodist Church.) see note 2 below.

* 1927: Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight.
* 1931: 102 story Empire State Building completed in New York City.
* 1941: Our Pearl Harbor Navy base attacked by Japan.

* 1946 - 1948: Reverend Howard Hilberry. see note 2 below. Email from Carol Yoder, April 28th, 2011: Good morning, Dan, Just thought I would tell you that I just scanned through the history page that you did.... So interesting! And I thought I would share this with you, Reverend Howard Hilberry (1946-1948) performed the wedding ceremony of my parents,...Clarabelle and Harold Musselman on Christmas Day in 1947. Carol Yoder

* 1948 - 1955: Earl Barthlow. see note 2 below.

* 1955 - 1959: Reverend John Haney. Bob Cutting remembers Pastor Haney.

* 1955 - Rosa Parks is honored in the Women’s Hall of Fame. She is known as the mother of the civil rights movement, and is remembered for the day in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white man in Alabama.

* 1959 - 1962: Theodore Paul. see note 2 below.

* 1968: the United Methodist Church was created by the union of The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church.

* 1968 - 1970*: Reverend Glenn Thompson. Mabel added Pastor Thompson. She said that he followed Pastor McCoy but she wasn't sure of the actual dates he served. verified in note 2 below.

* 1972: The first email program was invented by Ray Tomlinson of BBN
(Bolt, Beranek and Newman) a high-technology U.S. company) .
* 1973: Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal.

* 1975 - 1979: Reverend David Martin.

* 1978: Marianne Corbin became church secretary in 1978. She remained secretary until January of 2000.

* 1979: Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, no injuries.

* 1979: Reverend Jeffrey Matthews. see note 2 below.
Gary DeVault was the church organist and great friend.

* 1983: A three octave set of Bells were purchased and played for the first time for the Christmas Service.

* 1983: The World Wide Web was created by British engineer
and computer scientist, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

* 1984: Joanna Lance, a Student Director of Christian Education was hired.

* 1985 to 1991: Reverend Charles Sellers. Mabel added Pastor Sellers to our list. She said that he followed Pastor Matthews. She thought that the actual dates were from 1985 to 1991 but she wasn't positive.

* 1990: HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, was developed. HTML is the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web. Our ACUMC website is written in HTML format. Hypertext allows the WWW to be universal and world-wide.

* 1991: Reverend Dan Jenkins.

* 1991: President Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin meet at Camp David and formally declare an end to the cold war.

* 1993 - 1997: Reverend Ron Hardman. Pastor Ron retired while serving in Apple Creek due to health problems. He passed away October 16th, 2001. Pastor Ron's wife, Loretta, and his son Charles (Karen and family), are still an active part of our Apple Creek United Methodist Church.

* 2000: Marianne Corbin retired as church secretary in January after 22 years of service. She served as secretary thru seven ministers.

* 2001: 9/11/2001, Both skyscrapers of our World Trade Center were destroyed. The US was struck on its own soil, showing that terrorism is a new major threat for the 21st century.

* 2003 to 2006: Pastor Karen Oehl. Our Apple Creek United Methodist Church was under the guidance of Pastor Karen Oehl. She transferred to the Brecksville, Ohio United Methodist Church in 2006. NOTE, June 30th 2011: Due to the retirement of Rev. Peggy Streiff effective June 30, 2011, Bishop John L. Hopkins announces the appointment of Rev. Karen Oehl as the District Superintendent of the Mid-Ohio District effective July 1, 2011.Rev. Oehl is completing her fifth year as senior pastor at Brecksville United Methodist Church (North Coast District). After graduating from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Rev. Oehl served a two point charge at Marshallville/Easton (Canal District) and then 4 years at Apple Creek United Methodist Church (Canal District) before arriving in Brecksville in 2006. She is part of the secretarial staff each year at Annual Conference and has also served as chair of the Conference Leadership Recruitment Committee (2000-2004) and as chair of the Conference Camps Commission (1988-1992).

* 2006 to 2010: Pastor Jim Cooper. Our Apple Creek United Methodist Church was under the guidance of Pastor Jim. He transferred to the Caldwell, Ohio United Methodist Church in 2010.

* 2010 to present: Pastor Sam Troyer. Our Apple Creek United Methodist Church is now under the guidance of Pastor Sam. Pastor Sam's wife, Connie, is very active in ACUMC, co-heading our "Step into Health" walking club. She's also very active with our Youth Groups. To read Pastor Sam's personal message, just click on the blue button below.

NOTE #1 from above: This information is from a book "Apple Creek M. E. Church, 1820 - 1909" written by Reverend John B. Ferguson in 1909. I have a copy of this book containing more information, including many photographs. Email me if you need more data for any of these church leaders.

NOTE #2 from above: This information was obtained from an interesting and very informative hand typed (no computer typing here) document "History of the Apple Creek (Edinburg) M. E. Church". Author unknown, date unknown. This document appears to have been written in about 1980 while our church was under the direction of Pastor Jeff Matthews. I have a copy of this document. Could this seven page document have been typed by secretary Marianne Corbin?

Since this web page dates back into the early 1800s there are gaps and "unsure" areas. I've noticed that different books and sources offer slightly different information. I've inserted notes referring to the original books and/or documents where possible.

If you have any information, dates, or corrections about any of
our past history, email me and I'll get it added or corrected here.
Thanks, Dan Dalrymple, web maintenance.
dan@applecreekumc.com