Date Congregation Founded:
Date Present Church Building Built:
1891
1896
County:
Jackson
Founding Denomination:
United Brethren in Christ
USGS Quad:
Ripley
Condition of church building/grounds**:
Good
(April 2004)
Coordinates:
38.7882ºN
81.7652ºW
Preservation Outlook:
Good
Maintained by:
Unknown
Construction:
Stick
frame
Property owner:
Unknown
Date added to WVCPA register:
October
2003
Data Updated: 07 September 2012
Accessibility:
Easily
accessible - located on a knoll overlooking the Parchment Valley.
Good, solid driveway area by church to park and turn around on. Use
caution exiting from church driveway, as it sits on a blind curve
from both directions.
** Condition of church
building and grounds as observed on the given date - may not be
representative of care at other times of the year Scale:
Excellent - Good - Fair - Poor - Abandoned
Click thumbnail photos below to
enlarge
“The Mt. Moriah
Church sits on a hill, overlooking beautiful Parchment Valley.
The church now stands on a lot that was deeded May 16, 1891, for the
sum of $15.00, paid in hand, by S.J. Lewis, R.W.Scott and G.L.
Stone, trustees, for and on the behalf of the church of the United
Brethren in Christ, by the late Frank Sayre and his wife, Belle
Sayre. This Church is never to be sold, as long as it is used for a
meeting place. This Church was built in 1896. The former log
Church stood down in the lower section of the cemetery...
Some
of the older families that attended Church at Mt. Moriah were the
Stones, Stewarts, Scotts, Freys, Parsons, Lewis’s, Hogsetts,
Sayres, Castos, Woodards, Winders, Morrisons,
Harts and Kessells to name a few...
In April 1887, the Superintendent of Sunday School was G.M.
Morrison, the Assistant Superintendent was T.J. Rankin, the
Secretary was N.M. Stewart and the Treasurer a Miss Williams.
'Sunday School on Sunday, May 8,
1892: Song, Walking in the Light; Prayer by N.M. Stewart; Total
Attendance, 35; Collection, 55 cents.The weather was fair."
We
still have Sunday School at Mt. Moriah.The attendance is small, but from the first Sunday in April
until December we gather at the little Church on the hill to have
Sunday School.The
reason for closing in the winter months is due to the lack of good
heating.”¹
"In
1864, the Mt. Moriah United Brethren Church acquired land from
William Cunningham and his wife, Elizabeth. Trustees were Joseph
Sayre, Elias Stone, Elisha Stewart, William Cunningham and Frederick
Stone.The land
“Joined the road from Angerona to the Parchment Fork of Mill
Creek…” The deed also provided for a “good school house for the use
of the neighborhood”
to be built on the same land.
The original
furniture in the Mr. Moriah Church was all hand-planed. The seats in the rear were elevated.
A
few of the older citizens buried in the adjoining cemetery and their
birth dates are as follows: William Morrison, b. 1790; Solomon
Harpold, b. 1796; Able Sayre, b. 1793; Susanna Parsons, b. 1800;
Ruth Sayre, b. 1802; Eliza Morrison, b. 1805; William Parsons, b.
1806; Elisha Stewart, b. 1810; James Davis, b. 1816; and W.K. Oldham
and C.R. Casto, born in the 1820’s."²
¹Quoted
from a submission
by local historian Mrs. Stewart (Virginia) Sayre in"Jackson
County West Virginia Past and Present 1990", page 48, published
by the Jackson County Historical Society
²From
the Jackson Herald, May 27, 1981
Additional
background
research in progress. Contributions of historical accounts of this
church are welcomed.
For
additional information about the three crosses planted at the bottom
of the cemetery, see www.crossesacrossamerica.com
Comments:
We would love to add old
photos of this church. Does anyone have any more
history of this congregation to share, or any information on its
present status, ownership and use? Photos from the inside of the
church?? Contact us at .
