St. Thomas Methodist Episcopal Church (ca. 1857)
Parishioners or community members might take turns leading the services at St. Thomas Methodist Episcopal Church because preachers could be difficult to find or afford. Songs of worship were memorized and sung, often without musical accompaniment. Sometimes circuit riding pastors were available and would arrive on horseback in various communities, forging rivers and trotting over corduroy roads. Most folks traveled to church over muddy roads or on foot. It was dangerous because a buggy could slip quietly out of sight in a washout. Amongst those who owned wagons, mother and father would usually sit on a bench at the front and the children might be tossed about in the hay bed. In the worst scenario, churches were dismantled and closed when their preacher moved away or died.
In some rural areas, the only meeting which everyone attended would be church. It may have been the sole place frequented by all for the entire year! People congregated together at churches where marriages were celebrated, Sunday school was attended, the grieving were consoled and deceased were buried in adjacent cemeteries.
Besides taking care of spiritual needs, as stated above, churches took care of physical, social and economic needs. They offered help in the form of charity to the poverty-stricken and aid in times of misfortune. Preachers were considered family by congregation members and welcomed into homes for a meal, to visit the sick or to offer prayers. They also provided support for the local farmer by providing the “Blessing of the Tractor,” hosting Rogation Days which involved a benediction over tilled fields, or visited during “Harvest Home Sundays” and annual "Homecoming" events such as the one pictured here from the early 1930's.
