Today, we begin the commemoration of the 175th year of Bethlehem Christian Church. Such a wonderful legacy has been bestowed upon us. Though not at all worthy, I am honored to stand before you today to share a part of that legacy as my ancestry.
Former Bethlehem pastor Reverend Alfred Iseley was my great, great, great grandfather. His home stood on what many of you today know as the Tom Beckom farm on Burch Bridge Road. Reverend Iseley’s property bordered the John Danieley farm. John Danieley’s home was located between Burch Bridge Road and Boone Road behind what many of you remember as the Tom Faucette farm.
Reverend Iseley had a daughter named Mary who married John Danieley’s son Henry. Henry and Mary had a son, George (my Great Granddaddy--Pop) who married Maggie Gerringer, the daughter of Buck Gerringer. Their son Henry, my Grandfather, married Grace Elizabeth Mansfield, the namesake of our daughter Grace Elizabeth. My Grandparent’s wedding ceremony was performed by the Reverend Frank Iseley, son of Reverend Alfred Iseley. Henry and Grace were the parents of my father Howard.
Uncle Frank had a daughter Mary. Mary Iseley married Big Ed Ross, Father of Joe Ross, whose sons and their families make up a very large portion of our congregation this morning.
On January 28, 1832--175 years ago today--Bethlehem Trustees, Boston Iseley, John Kernodle, Tobias Wanock, Michael Strader and Andrew Hughes, received the deed to Bethlehem Meeting House as they had purchased the property and building (a building that had been built by Vance Lafferty) from a Michael Tickle for the sum of $26.00. That first meeting house, which stood about one-half mile from here, was a small, humble log building.
In September of 1832, The Bethlehem Meeting House, with its earliest members, including nineteen year old Alfred Iseley, became a congregation of the Christian Church. A list of those earliest church members can be found today on Bethlehem’s website. You are urged to research your possible ancestry to the original members.
The first three decades of Bethlehem were led by a long list of itinerant pastors--Circuit Riders who traveled by horseback to the many churches assigned to them. Services were held when the minister was in the area, not necessarily at 11:00 o'clock on Sunday mornings. The first to preach in our little log church was the Reverend George Swift, a seasoned minister who with his wife Sarah Williamson had 10 children. Although we do not have a picture of Reverend Swift, photos of other itinerant preachers are assembled on the bulletin board in the hallway.
The North Carolina and Virginia Christian Conference can trace its legacy to James O’Kelly and his followers, who left the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1792.
Inspired by the American Revolution, O’Kelly established in 1794 the Southern Branch of the Christian Church where each local congregation could govern itself, the Bible would be the only creed, and believers would be known by no other name than Christian. What a legacy by our ancestors. One creed – the Bible, one name – Christian. What a challenge for us today! Will we leave the legacy of living by the Bible and being known as Christian? |
