Joanne Auth is the great granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Scantlebury.

Joanne Auth is the great-granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Scantlebury. His photo is below.  Joanne Auth contacted us thru our Website in November 2010.

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The text below is quoted from Mrs. Auth's email: 

"He was a part of your congregation between 1886-1890. However, I am virtually certain that he served as pastor during that time. In the Memoir published in the 1891 "Minutes of the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church," he is said to have served four years in Apple Creek prior to serving the last year of his life in a Loudonville church following failing health. He died June 27, 1891 at the age of 38.

 Rev. Scantlebury was serving in Lockport/Blakes Mills when he met my great-grandmother, Bertha Niederheiser, and he had emigrated from England in July of 1880. The family story is that he asked his wife-to-be, Bertha, who was a school teacher, to assist him in correcting his pronunciation of words in his sermons. It embarrassed him to be teased by the congregation about his English accented pronunciations of words! Bertha always insisted she would not presume to correct the minister, but apparently this worked to get them acquainted, so perhaps his motivation was farther-reaching. After their marriage in 1883, my grandfather, Ralph Thomas Scantlebury, the first of their three children, was born in Apple Creek.

Mrs. Joanne Buhl Auth, daughter of Betty Scantlebury Buhl, great  granddaughter of Thomas Scantlebury has sent copies of  Memoirs, the presentation given by J. N. West at the 1891 North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mansfield Ohio. It described her great grandfather’s short adult life of 38 years of age. Also included a copy of the unique marriage certificate showing photos of her great grandparents when they were married in 1883 in new Philadelphia. There is also a photocopy of the document declaring Thomas Scantlebury’s ordination as Elder, which, was considered equivalent to what we might call a minister today".

THANK YOU Mrs. Joanne Auth, for a wonderful addition to our history archives!