BELLEVIEW CIRCUIT OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Source History of Jefferson County 1888 pages 268-269

About fifty years ago, Salem church, on the Holt farm, in Beaver township, was the only Methodist church in that section of the county, but from the influence of the work done there, much good has been effected, and the result has been the erection of four elegant church edifices, while the church in the county has been benefited and strengthened. During that early time the little church on the Beaver Run was the center toward which all the true Methodists in that section looked for the dispensation of the gospel.

In the fall of 1869 a protracted meeting was held by Rev. 0. M. Sackett, the pastor of Salem church, which resulted in adding not less than seventy persons to the church. About twenty of these converts were from Belleview. Previous to this time there were only five members of the Methodist church living north of Beaver Run. It was soon found necessary to have better accommodations for holding public worship, and in 1874 the members of the society decided to erect two churches, one at Belleview and the other in Beaver township. The former edifice was dedicated December 25, 1874, and the latter in July, 1875. In 1876 a new church was built by the Mount Pleasant congregation. About this time a new appointment was made at Langville. These appointments were all connected with the Troy circuit; but at the annual session of the Erie conference in 1876, Belleview, Mount Pleasant, Salem (or Beaver township), and the Langville societies were detached from Troy and formed the Belleview charge. In the fall of 1877 the Langville congregation erected a church, and in the summer of 1883 the united societies erected a very fine parsonage at Belleview, which is an honor to the church and an ornament to the village in which it is located.

Since the formation of Belleview charge it has been efficiently served by the following pastors: Reverends Laverty, Burns, Jones, Talbott, Hovis and Holt. The present incumbent is Rev. R. M. Felt, whose pastorate commenced in the fall of 1886.

The average membership on the charge is two hundred and a class of forty probationers, with four first class flourishing Sunday-schools.

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