Amanuensis Monday - Mayfield: Then & Now - 1931 Last Day of School Picnic

Last Day of School Picnic

Circa 1931

Circa 1931 - Excerpted from Page 148 - Mayfield: Then & Now
Five girls enjoy a last-day-of-school picnic near the Chikaskia River:
Mary Ethel Wright, Bonnie Hensley, Roberta Heasty, Mary Margaret
Laughlin, Louise Spangler. The teacher was Almeda Hensley and her
car is in the background. (Mary Ethel McKee photo) 

Amaunensis Monday - 1942 Photograph of Mayfield Federated Church Members

Mayfield Federated Church 

Mayfield: Then & Now - p. 105

Members of the Mayfield Federated Church Congregation on June 14, 1942:  Front row: L to R: Ruby Anderson, Coralyn Stayton, Marlene Jackson, Lorene Clark, Thelma Faye Goodrum, Marilyn Stayton, Opal D. Clark; second row: Edna Stayton, Gail Goodrum, Gerald Hill, Neal Goodrum?, Gordon Goodrum, Ronald Hill, Anne Jackson; Third ow: unknown, unknown, Margaret Goodrum holding Karen Wade, Virginia Armstrong, Norma Jo Wade, Vivian Armstrong, Wanda Miller; Fourth Row: unknown, Mabel Stayton, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown; Fifth row: Lawrence Clark, Gladys Clark holding Larry Roland Miller, Iola Miller, unknown, unknown, unknown; sixth row: Henry Clark, Marian Clark, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, Myrtle Stocking; Seventh Row: unknown, Gerry Porter, unknown, Fred Stayton (with suspenders) unknown (maybe a Cramner?), Roy Stayton, Charlie Lauterbach; Eighth row: from right to left on this row is Wanda Stayton holding Bob, and Pete Wade and Dorothy Wade. 

Amanuensis Monday - Mayfield: Then & Now - Chikaskia Presbyterian Church

Chikaskia Presbyterian Church

Chikaskia United Presbyterian Parsonage
P. 93 - Mayfield: Then & Now

   The history of the Chikaskia United Presbyterian church, near Mayfield, was prepared by the pastor, Rev. O. L. Lawson, in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of that church.  Re. Lawson's account follows:

   This is the fiftieth year since the Chikaskia United Presbyterian Church began as a Union Sabbath School in 1878, i an old house, then owned by John Baker, just north of the Union school house, very near the present site of Dr. Neel's farm home where Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Knight now live.

   On Sept 6, 1879, i a sod house which was the home of Nicholas Burnside, the members of the United Presbyterian Church of this vicinity met for the purpose of taking initiatory steps towards the organization of a United Presbyterian congregation.  The site of this farm home is one and one-half miles west of the Chikaskia River, which was then the west part of Dixon township. The exact location now is the northeast quarter of 66-32-4 West.  Rev. R. S. McClenahan had been appointed moderator for this meeting by the Neosho Presbytery.  After having church services and after the moderator had offered prayer, Mr. W. B. Hanlon was chosen clerk.  At that first meeting the following members were recognized as eligible to take part in the election of elders:  W. B. Hanlon, Mrs. Nancy Hanlon, Matthew Young, Mrs. Eliza Young, Nicholas Burnside, Mrs. Sarah Burnside, Mrs. Hatta Bower, James Burnside, and Mrs. Rebecca Burnside.

   The following men were elected as the first two elders:  W. B. Hanlon and Nicholas Burnside. Matthew Young was the third elder, chosen in 1880.

   The new congregation met for a short time right after this at Union school house in a Union Sabbath School and continued meeting there until 1883 when they moved to Long Branch school in order to have their own separate organization.  John Calvin Heasty, W. B. Hanlon, and Archie Anderson were the chief leaders for this move.  At Long Branch, Archie Anderson was chosen the first Sabbath School superintendent of the proposed new church.  Rev. Ferguson was the first minister at Long Branch.

   After the death of Nicholas Burnside, Mr. Newton Swartzel was chosen elder in his place.  Archie Anderson was also chosen as an elder to fill this office left vacant by Matthew Young.  The new congregation continued to meet at Long Branch until the new church was dedicated, August 31, 1884, 46 years ago last Sunday.  Rev. Cooper preached the dedicatory sermon.  The charter members of the church , as nearly as can be determined, were: W. B. Hanlon, Mrs. Nancy Hanlon, Matthew Young, Mrs. Eliza Young,Nicholas Burnside, Mrs. Sarah Burnside, Mrs. Hatta Bowers, James Burnside, Mrs. Rebecca Burnside, John W. Vincent, Mrs. Elizabeth Vincent, Walter Vincent, Miss S. E. Vincent, A. R. Anderson, Miss Ella Anderson, Miss Agnes Anderson, J. C. Heasty, Mrs. Elizabeth Heasty, Charles L. Heasty, Robert M. Heasty, John G. Heasty, Miss Mary C. Heasty, Miss Caroline Anderson, Miss Dora Ann Anderson, George Milne, Mrs. Margaret Milne, Herman Amman, Joseph Ammann, Joseph Kairns, Evira Swartzel, Miss Ida Heasty, Miss Evaleen Anderson, Miss Mary A. Heasty, John F. Heasty, James W. Heasty, and Miss Theresa E. Ammann.

   The Manse was built in 1909 but was not fully completed until 1910, which as during the ministry of Re . Siege.  Rev. A. M. Steveson was the fist pastor to live in the new manse.

   This church has one life work recruit, Alfred Heasty, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant Heasty, who now live near Caldwell, and who are still with us today.  he was reared i this community and was graduated from Wellington High School after which he was graduated from Sterling College and finally from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  He was a pastor at Ewing, Nebraska for three years but is now a missionary oat Doleib Hill, Soudan, Africa.

   This church has also greatly enriched other churches by the many faithful workers it has sent out.  It is very inspiring to be a member of a church such as this, because it has not lived for itself alone, but has lived chiefly to give its best help to others.  Those who so labor and live will not have lived and worked in vain for they show by their fruits that they have served the Lord.

The above new article, written in 1930 appeared in the Wellington Daily News.
 

Mayfield: Then & Now: Union Chapel Christian Church

Union Chapel Christian Church
Information and photographs excerpted from "Mayfield: Then & Now, "page 92

 

Information about the Union Chapel Christian church is sketchy because early records were lost.  Thanks to Hubert Heasty and Virginia (Armstrong) Overly for sharing the following information.
   Union Christian Church was organized in 1882 and met in the Union schoolhouse until 1891.  The congregation then built a church building one-half mile east of the school house and named it Union Chapel Christian Church. It was located in Osborn Township, two miles south and 1 1/2 miles west of Mayfield (NW 1/4 of Section 31).

   On August 19, 1886 Milton Marquart and his wife, Jane, made a Warranty Deed, which was filed with the Sumner County Register of Deeds on September 17, 1891.  They deeded two square acres to "The church of Jesus Christ, commonly known as and styled the Christian Church at Union School House in School District # 103."  They included the stipulation that the land was to be used and controlled by the Elders of the Church as a building site for a church house, church purposes, and a public cemetery.

   On May 11, 1932, the Board of Trustees signed an Affidavit to transfer all of the land to Osborn Township for their maintenance and control except one-half square acre in the northwest corner which was occupied by the church building.  The church building was removed in the early 1950's.

   Some of the charter members and early members were Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Armstrong, Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Williams, Madison Williams and sister Alice Williams, Al DeMoss, Loty and Na?? (original record was unreadable), George Carpenter, Ira, Mary, G.S., Mrs. Morgan Ingram, Charley, Laura, and John, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ingram, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Prunty, Charlie and Clara, Mr. and Mrs. George Prunty,and Mr. and Mrs. Lon Prunty, Mr. and Mrs. Van Darling, W. C.Rose, Dr. McCuddy, Mr. and Mrs. Will Thompson, Fred DuVall, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Marquart,  Mr. and Mrs. Roy Pierce, Russell Ingram, Charles Roberts, George Roberts.

   The Union Chapel Christian Church disbanded on November 1, 1953, because there were too few members to carry on.  It was a difficult decision because the church had been important to many families in the community.

Amanuensis Monday - Worship in the Community - Baptist Church - Part Two

Mayfield: Then & Now – Worship in the Community Chapter - Copyright 2003; compiled and written by Elaine Clark and Sherry Kline

Part Two - Baptist Church – p. 91 - 92

When her mother, Lucy, moved back to Mayfield in 1950, she regained possession of the church building and became a congregation of one.

According to another source, before Lucy took over the care and repair of the church building, pigeons were flying in and out of the attic, but from the time Lucy came home until her death in 196, she was faithful to maintain the church building.  She replaced the roof, repaired the sanctuary floors, and kept the church clean. Although I never knew Lucy Clark, I’ve heard her described as a lady who displayed “great Strength of character and one who lived her convictions and faith.”

In 1965 the Baptist building was sold and moved to Argonia, Kansas where it now serves as part of the Salter Museum.

Amanuensis Monday - Worship in the Community - Baptist Church - Part One

Mayfield: Then & Now – Worship in the Community Chapter - Copyright 2003; compiled and written by Elaine Clark and Sherry Kline

Baptist Church – p. 91

Although we didn’t locate any records, this note was in the January 10, 188, “Mayfield Musings” column of the Sumner County Press.

A Baptist church of twenty odd members was organized at Mayfield recently.

I truly debated whether to add anything to that comment and decided I didn’t want to touch it “with a 10-foot pole,” as folks used to say. However, for the sake of younger readers who might not know, perhaps I should add than an older definition of “odd” is “with some extra.” So, it means there were more than twenty people involved in organizing the Baptist church, not twenty strange people. Okay, now I can move on.

In an interview with Lizzie Miller, we learned that the original church burned, and that church was located where the tennis courts and east parking lot are now.  The second church was built on the same location.

On January 1, 1972, Dorene Applegate interviewed Isham Williams, age 101, when she wrote a college paper entitled “The History of Mayfield, Kansas.” Dorene learned that Isham had helped dig the basement and build the second Baptist church to replace the one that had burned; Isham remembered that the congregation met in the Presbyterian building until it was completed.

The Baptist congregation did not have a parsonage in Mayfield because most pastors lived in Wellington. Lizzie Miller remembered that families in the congregation had a schedule and took turns feeding the pastor and his family at Sunday noon and Sunday evening.

Lizzie recalled that there was a sewing circle at the church when her mother, Lucy Stayton Clark, was a young lady and that her mother “did beautiful hand work.”

Differences among the congregation caused a split, and the small congregation was forced to close its doors. Mrs. Miller recalled that her father’s funeral was the last funeral to be held in the church on December 5, 1932.

Amanuensis Monday - History of Church at Mayfield - Part Three - Worship in the Community Chapter

Part Two, P. 99 - Mayfield: Then & Now, compiled and written by Elaine Clark & Sherry Kline,  Copyright 2003

Chapter: Worship in the Community, Compiled & written by Elaine Clark

The following was compiled from a newspaper article.

In the winter of 1923 a fine union revival was held under the Presbyterian Church under the leadership of H. G. Butler of Cleveland, Kansas, with N. J. Croft, pastor of Presbyterian Church and Reverend G. A. Parkhurst, pastor of the Methodist Church.

This was repeated the next year with fine success, with Reverend Charles S. Ealy of Des Moines, Iowa, Evangelist and Reverend D. S. Alexander, pastor of Presbyterian Church and Reverend H. C. Johnson, pastor of the Methodist Church.

From the Methodist Church have gone out seven preachers, Lincoln Snyder of Oklahoma Conference, Augustus Gardner, later a Presbyterian preacher, H. G. Porter, pastor at Atlanta, Kansas, Clare McNeil, pastor at South Haven, Wendell Williams, pastor at Corbin, Carl Stocking, pastor at Danville, and Raymond Knowles, pastor at Raymond, Kansas.

Mrs. Fred Rose has the honor of having been a member of the Methodist Church the greatest number of years, she having joined in 1887.  She is also a granddaughter of Rev. O. G. Wilbur, founder of the Mayfield class.

R. R. Stocking, who has been a member for over 40 years, is present today with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

The charter members with many others have passed to their reward, but we are thankful as the ranks grow thin a new recruit steps in to fill the gap, and to “carry on” in the King’s Army.

In the words of the hymn writer, our prayer would be:

Dear Lord,   take up the tangled strands,
Where we have wrought in vain,
That by the skill of Thy dear hands,
Some beauty may remain,
Take all the failures, each mistake,
Of our poor human ways,
Then, Savior,,, for thine own dear   sake,
Make them show forth Thy praise.