HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHAPTER 8
The Baptist Church of Paoli was organized in May, 1868 the first members being Mary A. Wallace, Margaret Wallace, Lorinda Wallace, A. J. Dickey, Sr., Belinda Dickey, Mary Clancy, Louisa C. Potter, Henry Dickey, L. B. Cogswell, Elizabeth Cogswell, John Jones and F. J. Jones. Since then the following have joined: M. E. Cogswell, Catherine Dickey, Joan Lingle, John Dixon, Huldah Pro, Elizabeth Pro, Nancy A. Hunt, Martha Dickey, Lydia A. Dickey, Deborah Dickey, David Clancy, Carrie Wallace, Ellen Guy, B. F. Holaday, Eli Holaday, Margaret H. Dickey, Mary J. Dickey, A. J. Dickey, Jr., George W. Beswick, Harriet Beswick, Annis Beswick, Ary Beswick, Sarilda Holtsclaw, Samuel Dalton, George Pinnick, Mary Merrill, Angeline Gaustine, James Jones, Eliza Holtsclaw, S. M. Stalcup, Lucinda Gaustine, Mariam Busha, Emory Busha, Caroline Kibler, Sarah Gross and George Stout. The first pastor was Rev. J. B. Porter, a very worthy man. The second was Wright Sanders, the third J. M. Kendall, and the fourth J. K. Howard, the present pastor, who visits the society monthly from Livonia. While Rev. Kendall was pastor an effort that was nearly successful was made to build a church, but failed, no doubt, by reason of the expiration of Mr. Kendall’s appointment. He was the prime mover of the attempt, and secured a subscription of over $800. The society at first met in the churches of the Methodists and Presbyterians, but now occupies the court room.
No doubt the Friends or Quakers were the first to hold religious services in Paoli Township. Members of this sect had come in for permanent settlement as early as the war of 1812, and no doubt at that time founded their organizations, which endure until the present day. It is likely that the old Lick Creek Meeting-house on Section 8, Township 1 north. Range 1 east, was erected as early as 1813, and was, without question, the first structure of the kind in the county. It was built of logs, and was used about twelve years, and was then replaced by another erected in the same place, and this in turn was used until the present one was built, about twenty-five years ago. Among the early members of this class were Thomas Maris, William Lindley, Jonathan Lindley, Owen Lindley, Sr., John Maris, George Maris, Robert Hollowell and his sons, Enoeli Thompson, James Crane, David Lindley, Ephraim Doan, Samuel Chambers, John, Jesse and George Towel, Silas Dixon, and many others. Amy Moore was an early preacher of this denomination. All are familiar with the peculiar customs of the Quakers, how different they were from the other denominations of Christians. Eleanor Chambers was an early preacher. This class is yet in existence with the great-grandchildren of the early settlers as members. In about 1818 the Newbury Meeting-house of the Friends, situated west of Paoli on the old Indian boundary line, was built of logs, and was used many years. It stood on Section 34, Township 2 north, Range 1 west, and on the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh month, 1826, the Trustees of this society, Abraham Osborn, Thomas Lindley and Ebenezer Doan, bought two acres for $50, of Alexander Clark and Henry Towel. This was the land upon which the old church was then standing, having been built there by the sufferance of the owners. The above men were the leading members of this society at that time. Prominent, also, were Joseph Allison, Noah Hadley, Jesse Towel, Ephraim Doan and many others, including the families of the above. This old society yet endures. Another early society of the Quakers was in the southern part of Paoli Township at Beach Chapel. This was a branch of the Lick Creek Church, and its early members were the above-named families and others. The church was built about 1826, and has been succeeded by several others. The Farlows, Joneses, Moores, Atkissons, Lindleys, Doans and Towels were prominently connected with this society at a little later date. The various organizations of Friends have exerted a powerful influence upon the morals of the county.
A society of Methodists was organized in Paoli Township about four miles east of the county seat about the year 1835, and there flourished for many years. The Kearbys and Robbinses were founders and prominent members. Joel C. Kearby, Edward Kearby, Daniel Robbins, Ezekiel Robbins and Jacob Robbins were Trustees in 1840. This society was the foundation of the Methodist Church of Chambersburg. Many residents of the northeastern part of the township have for many years attended the old Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on the line between Paoli and Orleans Townships. Moore’s Chapel, west of the line, in French Lick Township, has been attended for fifty years by the residents of western Paoli Township. It is said that the first Sunday-school in the county was founded and conducted about three miles northwest of Paoli by Rev. William Martin as early as 1822-23. Nothing is known of its success and continuance except that it was abandoned within a few years by the removal of its patrons and its pastor.