Presbyterian Church
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Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church |
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The History of Mt. Hope
On the Sesquicentennial of
Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church, we present here
a brief history of the
congregation. A 150th anniversary can only be
approached with thanksgiving
to God, who in his love, mercy, and grace
has guided, preserved, and
kept Mt. Hope through these many years.
As happens in the lives of
individuals, so too Mt. Hope has had its
lights and shadows in these
first 150 years. The members of the sixth
generation of Mt. Hope can
say today as Israel said in days of old: "The
Lord hath done great things
for us; whereof we are glad." (Psalm 126:3)
Mt. Hope has had an
interesting history, especially so because of the
rugged pioneer life as lived
by the early fathers and mothers of the
congregation. We today can
hardly conceive what it meant for them to
become organized as a
church, so that they could regularly worship God
on the Sabbath day. We have
a high regard for the pastors and charter
members who did the
organizing. It took courage for these eleven charter
members to organize a
congregation in the "wildwood."
The pastors who served Mt.
Hope over a period of 150 years were very
conscientious and accurate
in keeping the church records. We shall let
these records speak for
themselves.
The early settlers in the
vicinity of Mt. Hope were served by traveling
ministers, or circuit
riders, whose trips to the community were
sometimes at three month
intervals. Services were conducted in a log
school house on the bench
land of the Benjamin Ratcliffe farm which had
been erected in 1850. The
settlers came by ox team and otherwise with
their growing families to
attend religious services.
A Presbyterian Church of
eleven members was organized in the Old Stone
House (now owned by Nancy
Hartley) on August 15, 1858, by Rev. Joseph
Adams of Frankville, Charles
Fitch of Dubuque, and Rev. H.A. Houghton, a
Congregational pastor. E.T.
Albert and Benjamin Ratcliffe were elected
as elders. By unanimous vote
the church was named Mt. Hope Presbyterian
Church. At stated times Rev.
Adams of Frankville and Rev. James
Frothingham of Caledonia,
Minnesota, came to serve the church, but Rev.
A.H. Houghton later served
as supply.
The eleven charter members
were: E.T. Albert, who came from Millsville
Presbyterian Church in Ohio;
Jan, Daniel, and Elizabeth Albert, who were
received by profession of
faith; Mrs. Mary Roe; Mrs. S.D. Allen;
Benjamin and Charlotte
Ratcliffe, who came from First Presbyterian
Church, Wheeling, West
Virginia; John Shakelton; Mrs. Sophia Shakelton;
and a Mrs. Merritt. Since
writing materials were not plentiful in those
early days, the minutes of
this first meeting were recorded using
elderberry juice for ink.
Plans for the building of
the church were disrupted and delayed by the
Civil War. Services during
these years were held in homes and various
school houses. In a letter
written in February 1870 by Benjamin
Ratcliffe to his sister in
Wheeling, West Virginia, he states: "We have
determined to build our
church, a frame building 26x41 feet. Nine
hundred dollars has been
subscribed and we expect it to cost sixteen
hundred dollars. We will
build it after corn planting."
The first contribution for
the new church was a five dollar gold coin
brought from Wheeling by
Charlotte Ratcliffe, Mrs. Benjamin Ratcliffe,
which had been given to her
by her pastor's wife in Wheeling with the
express wish that it be used
for the building of a church in the new land.
A Sunday School had already
been organized in the year 1857. The new
church was dedicated on the
21st of February, 1871, by Rev. Frothingham
of Lansing, and a new organ
was purchased for that occasion. Other gifts
that were received for the
church were seven pounds of sterling from a
relative in Scotland, and a
gift of $300 from Mrs. McClure of New York.
The first wedding in the
church was that of George Bellows and Mary
Agnes Ratcliffe.
In the month of October 1877
the women organized as a Ladies Aid.
A cemetery was laid out
adjoining the church, and a parsonage was built
on the church grounds in the
year 1872. The parsonage stood for 84
years: on October 23, 1956,
it was destroyed by fire in the night.
Mt. Hope has been served
over the years by various pastors, whose names
can be found on the Pastors
page of this website. These servants of God
all made a contribution to
build up Mt. Hope, some of them under the
hardships of pioneer life.
We know very little of the history of the
pastors who served in the
early years of the congregation. Some of these
pastors may have soon died
after they served here, and may be in the
grave nearly 150 years. We
honor them, however, for they have laid a
good foundation upon which
we build and future generations will build.
Let us now learn where some
of these old pioneers hailed from, who
settled around Mt. Hope and
English Bench. Francis Hartley and wife
Hephzibah were the first
white people to settle on English Bench. They
were from the village of
Manae in England, some thirty miles north of
London, where it is known he
worked as foreman of a ditching gang on
what they call "The Upper
Flats." They sailed for America in 1848 and
landed at New York. It is
also known that a short time after landing,
they were at Portage,
Wisconsin. By 1853 they were plowing land on what
is now English Bench, and
had built themselves a small log house.
William Beardmore Sr. sailed
from Liverpool, England, for America on the
1st of February, 1843. Mrs.
Beardmore, with three children, William,
Agnes, and Alfred, followed
in the fall of the year, settling in
Wheeling, West Virginia,
where they lived before coming to Union City
Township, Allamakee County,
in April 1865.
Along with his farming and
blacksmithing, William Beardmore's two sons
William and Alfred operated
a ferry boat across the Upper Iowa River
where the Dawson Bridge
later stood.
Mrs. Elizabeth (Sadler)
Beardmore, wife of William Beardmore Jr., served
as organist at Mt. Hope
Church for over forty years, taking the place of
Mrs. Agnes (Ratcliffe)
Bellows, who had been organist for many years in
the early days of the
congregation. Mrs. Hepsie (Hartley) McClintock was
Sunday School organist at
this time.
Judge Thomas A. Beardmore,
Captain in World War I, spearheaded the
organization of English
Bench and Mt. Hope cemeteries for perpetual
care. The English Bench
Cemetery was platted in the early days before
Mt. Hope Church was built.
There are a large number of the early
settlers buried on these
burial grounds.
Three servicemen are buried
in the English Bench Cemetery: namely, John
Sires, Joseph Hartley, and
Dervin Rucksvold. The following servicemen
are buried in Mt. Hope
Cemetery: John Dowling, James Singleton, Jacob H.
Singleton, Jacob Singleton,
S.W. Singleton, Joseph Green, John
Williamson, John W. Hartley,
William Hartley, George Robinson, Stanley
Beardmore, Jack Beardmore,
Glenn Beardmore, Arvid Sadler, Kenneth Smith,
Merl Smith, Ronald Smith,
and Neal Wiedenmann.
John Sires came to this
community at the early age of seven years. He
came from Prince Town,
Indiana, with his mother and stepfather, William
Bulman, in 1854. He was
married twice, first to Sarah Duff and later to
Catherine Burroughs. His
descendants and those of the present generation
are very musically inclined
and talented. They served this community for
many years with their
talents by rendering music.
John W. Hartley, George W.
Bulman, and William Bulman, all born in
Cambridgeshire, England,
came to this country while very young and
settled in Allamakee County
and later raised large families.
Mrs. George Bulman, or Aunt
Ann, as she was better known to all who
have heard of her, rendered
a marvelous service to people of this area
in their infirmities, when
doctors and nurses were hard to get. No night
was too dark or stormy for
her to go to the bedside of a sick friend or
neighbor. The next
generation produced Rose Sadler, who as a midwife
assisted at the births of
many babies. We today can hardly conceive what
great sacrifices these good
women made when, in the heat of the summer
and in the cold of the
winter, they entered the homes, log houses, to
minister unto those who were
ill.
William Sadler was born in
Cambridgeshire, England, and crossed the
Atlantic in 1851 and settled
in Indiana. He married Mary Bulman, also
from Cambridgeshire. They
started out for English Bench in search of her
brothers, Thomas and
William. The story is told that they camped at the
foot of the hill leading to
the Bench (near what is now the Delbert
Bulman home) and discovered
at daylight that they had stopped within a
few rods of the home of the
brothers.
Some of the names of the old
fathers immigrating into this area are no
longer on the Mt. Hope
Church roll. Some have moved out, but others have
moved in and been received
into the congregation. After 150 years of
agricultural work it has
become very evident that the hills are not only
good to look at, but are
also productive, where past generations have
made a good living.
Another family that left the
homeland to come to America were Grandpa
and Grandma Bulman, who were
married in England on October 9, 1848.
Thomas Bulman was born in
"the round house" in England in Thetford, and
his wife was born in
Chatteris. They sailed from Liverpool on October
31, 1848, on the William
Kent. They landed at New Orleans December 9,
1848, where they stayed
about a month and then took a river boat to
Evansville, Indiana. To pay
the fare, the boy worked on the boat, taking
the place of those that were
sick with cholera. In 1854 they left
Evansville to take up land
in Winnebago Strip where Francis Hartley then
was. They traveled by wagon
and team. They reached the banks of the
Upper Iowa River on the
morning of October 31 and forded the river near
Mt. Hope bridge, that is,
where the bridge is now located, and on the
same day reached the log
house of Francis Hartley on the east side of
English Bench.
One family name, Gilchrist,
no longer known to the younger folks, was
interwoven with the family
relationships of the English Bench and Mt.
Hope areas. The name
Gilchrist broken down becomes Gil (boy) and Christ.
At the time of the Crusades
the boys who went on the Children's Crusade
were known as Christ Boys,
and hence Gilchrist. A good ancestry for the
staunch Scottish
Presbyterian.
The "big stone house" built
by John Gilchrist on the Mt. Hope, Iowa,
farm was a gathering place
for early settlers for miles around when they
met to discuss affairs of
the community. One day a message traveled from
house to house that a band
of Indians were "on the warpath and headed
this way." All the families
hastily gathered at the big stone house.
Women and children for
safety's sake and men for defense, ready to
fight. (This was the New Ulm
Massacre period.) About the third day a
scout reported back. It was
true, the Indians were on the warpath, but
had passed on the east side
of the Mississippi. So the frightened
families returned to their
homes. For the children throughout their
childhood the thick stone
walls of the house spelled fortress, with guns
ready to shoot from every
window.
Two early ministers of Mt.
Hope married Ratcliffe daughters. Jane Anne
Ratcliffe became Mrs. George
Leonard and Isabelle Ratcliffe became Mrs.
Bird. Both ministers were
Princeton University men.
We could go on and on and
mention other families who settled in this
area and became affiliated
with Mt. Hope: the Beardmores, the Wilds, the
Sadlers. The Weymillers
married into the Mt. Hope family in later years.
The forefathers of these
folks belonged to the rugged pioneers who
braved it across the ocean
and settled in this beautiful hill country
where God richly blessed
them.
The mother of the Beardmores
served as organist of Mt. Hope Church for
over forty years. Two other
women deserve special recognition for their
years as church organists,
namely, Hazel Beardmore from 1935 to 1948,
and Ella Hartley from 1948
to 1971. What wonderful examples of church
loyalty!
Folks from Mt. Hope have
held and are still holding responsible
positions in civil life.
Some held the office of assemblyman, judge,
sheriff, supervisor,
attorney, and one who resided in Chicago was called
"a man of letters."
We think especially of the
men whose graves are decorated with flags on
Memorial Day. On the
tombstone of one of these loyal servicemen it says,
"Fought in the War of 1812."
Mt. Hope was well represented when the call
came to serve under the flag
of our country.
As to the office held and
the service rendered, the record of Mr.
Benjamin Hartley is unique,
who served as elder of Mt. Hope for 57
years, and was Sunday School
Superintendent for 55 years.
The first Confirmation class
at Mt. Hope was confirmed in 1946 under
Rev. Cal Willemssen. Prior
to that time it had been the custom for young
people simply to come
forward in church and affirm their faith when they
reached the requisite age.
Photos of all the Mt. Hope Confirmation
classes from 1946 through
2008 can be found on display in the church
basement.
In 1954 Rev. Edmond De Buhr,
who was pastor at the nearby St. John's
United Church of Christ,
also accepted a call to serve as pastor at Mt.
Hope. Rev. De Buhr was born
in New Holstein, Wisconsin, in 1892, and he
attended Mission House at
Plymouth, Wisconsin. He continued at Mt. Hope
and St. John's until his
retirement in 1967.
The two congregations remain
yoked to the present day, a span of more
than 50 years.
In 1958 Mt. Hope celebrated
its centennial, 100 years as a congregation
worshiping and serving God.
Mt. Hope has been enlarged
and improved over the years in various ways.
A basement was excavated
under the church, and the pot bellied stove
gave way to a furnace which
was installed in the newly excavated
basement. Within a few years
the need for more room in the basement
became obvious, and Mt. Hope
entered into the age of modern plumbing.
Sinks with running water now
adorned the enlarged kitchen, and restrooms
prefaced the exit of the
outhouse.
After years of serving
luncheons, fellowship teas, and dinners, it was
decided to panel the
basement, making it more attractive and much easier
to maintain. Along with the
enlargement of the basement, a Sunday School
room was added upstairs.
In 1961 <i>Successful
Farming</i> magazine called Rev. De Buhr to
inquire about the little
white church on the hill. Two weeks later their
photographer and columnist
came to cover a service which featured the
children's choir under the
direction of Mrs. Glenn Beardmore. The little
white robes with red collars
and bows made a delightful Christmas
picture for the cover of
their December issue. In gratitude for this,
the magazine gave money
which was used to build shelves, cupboards, and
a choir robe closet in the
Sunday School room.
Rev. Bert Downey arrived in
1968, and served as pastor until 1970. He
was born in 1907 in
Syracuse, New York. He graduated in 1935 from
Andover Newton Theological
School.
Rev. Kent Wever was then
called as pastor in 1971, and served until
November 1975. In addition
to Mt. Hope and St. John's, he supplied Grace
Methodist Church in New
Albin.
In 1971 French Creek
Methodist Church had closed and Mt. Hope was able
to purchase their sanctuary
furniture. This included an oak pulpit,
flower stand, pulpit chairs,
pews, and hat racks. At this time
remodeling was continued to
include acoustical wall paneling with wood
panel wainscoting. New wall
to wall carpeting completed the project, and
dedication was held on July
30, 1972.
Another year brought
construction of the patio, providing additional
space for ice cream socials
and summer church functions. These outdoor
activities are complemented
by music from the carillon, given in memory
of Ella Hartley.
Rev. James Parker took over
the duties of pastor at Mt. Hope and St.
John's in 1976. He served
until 1979. He was born in Minneapolis in
1927. In 1954 he graduated
from Northwestern United Lutheran Theological
Seminary and was ordained
into the Congregational Christian ministry.
Rev. Milton Kading started
his duties as pastor in the spring of 1980.
He was born on a farm near
Reeseville, Wisconsin in 1916. After
graduating from high school
there, he helped his father in a dairy farm
operation. At the age of 38,
in 1954, he felt called to the Christian
ministry and left the farm
to prepare at Mission House Seminary. He was
ordained in 1959, and served
several parishes in Wisconsin and Illinois
before coming here, where he
stayed until he retired in 1987.
In 1983 Mt. Hope celebrated
its 125th anniversary.
Rev. Doug and Rev. Lou
Gordon-Denniston arrived in 1988, and served as
co-pastors until 1990.
Rev. Larry and Rev. Laura
Odegard were called in 1991 as co-pastors, and
they served here until their
retirement in 1997. The Odegards live today
in Waukon.
The current pastor, Rev.
Paul Burgess, was born in 1956, and grew up in
Poynette, Wisconsin. He
graduated from the University of Dubuque
Theological Seminary and was
ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1985.
Rev. Burgess served churches
in Washington State and Illinois, and
earned a Ph.D. at Duke
University, before arriving here in July 1999 to
serve as pastor.
The sanctuary of the church
was made handicap accessible in 2003, with
the addition of a driveway
back around the church and a door with access
ramp.
Maintenance work in
preparation for Mt. Hope's 150th anniversary in 2008
included new roofing and a
new flight of front steps with railing.
These and other improvements
could not have taken place without the
dedicated work of the women
of Mt. Hope. The Women's Fellowship meets
monthly, with devotional
lessons and lunch, in addition to business
meetings and occasional
guest speakers.
Present and future members
should be thankful to our past leaders for
sustaining the solid
foundation on which this generation can build.
These women throughout the
past generations include Rose Sadler, Maude
Wild, Ella Hartley, Daisey
Beardmore, Verna Weymiller, Orella Gordon,
Helga Bulman, Myrtle
Beardmore, Hazel Beardmore, and Hope Weymiller.
On this, our 150th
anniversary, we have tried to present to you the
faithful loving care that
has gone to preserve and to keep strong the
pillars of a little country
church which we proudly display on our
crocks, plates, and note
cards that are for sale.
Much more could have been
said, but time would not permit. There are
sufficient records and
enough material compiled through the years, so
that a book could be
written. May future generations add to what has
been written in this brief
history of Mt.Hope, perhaps at some other
Anniversary. Should any
errors have crept into these few pages, please
forgive. "To err is human,
to forgive is divine." Mt. Hope will live on
in the faith of its
forefathers. Living among these beautiful hills, one
cannot help but be aware of
the presence of God.
May the members of Mt. Hope
continue praying: "I will lift up mine eyes
unto the hills, from whence
cometh my help. My help cometh from the
Lord, which made heaven and
earth."
--adapted and abridged from
the 100th and 125th anniversary books and
other sources
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