wfn.org | Recognition sought for United Brethren in Christ landmarks

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 15, 2000	News media contact: Joretta Purdue·(202)546-8722·Washington
10-71B{068}

NOTE: Russel is spelled correctly in the third to last paragraph.

By United Methodist News Service

A cluster of sites related to a predecessor of the United Methodist Church
will be considered for heritage landmark status when General Conference
meets in May.

If approved, the cluster of Maryland sites related to the founding and early
history of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ would receive a
status already held by clusters commemorating historical places significant
to early U.S. Methodists. The cluster would mark areas associated with
clergymen important in the development of the United Brethren in Christ
denomination as its bicentennial is observed this year. 

The United Brethren in Christ was one of the first churches to originate in
the United States.  A celebration of its 200th anniversary is scheduled
during the United Methodist General Conference in Cleveland, May 2-12. The
United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association merged in 1946 to
form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1968, that denomination
merged with the Methodist Church to create the United Methodist Church. 

The proposed heritage landmark sites include the Peter Kemp House, near
Frederick, where the Church of the United Brethren in Christ was founded in
September 1800. An anniversary observance is scheduled for Sept. 25 at the
house.

Like most of the other sites in this cluster, the Kemp House is privately
owned. Most of the houses can be seen only from the outside, but the family
owning the Kemp House does welcome visitors.

Other sites in the cluster include the location of the Geeting Meetinghouse
at Mt. Hebron. The meeting house, built in 1774, is believed to be the first
building erected by the future denomination. George Adam Geeting was
ordained by Philip William Otterbein in 1783 and remained the only person so
authorized until Otterbein was dying 30 years later. Otterbein and Martin
Boehm are considered the founders of the United Brethren. Although the
building has disappeared, the site has continued to be a gathering place for
Pentecost services and other meetings. It is maintained by the Commission on
Archives and History of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
Geeting's grave is also at the site.

Otterbein is associated with another site too. During the 1760s, while he
was pastor in Frederick, he erected a church whose tower remains. His
handwritten pastoral records are housed in that church, which today is known
as Trinity United Church of Christ. A block away, Centennial United
Methodist Church was built as a United Brethren centennial project. 

Another nearby site, the George Adam Geeting House, was Geeting's home.
Geeting presided at the denomination's 1806 and 1808 conferences in
Otterbein's absence and may have been elected a bishop. He traveled and
preached widely. The house was once used as a Civil War hospital, but it is
now fully restored. Under private ownership, it may only be seen from the
outside.

The Bishop John Russel House outside Keedysville and the bishop's grave in
the Keedysville Cemetery are part of the proposed cluster as well. Russel
helped begin publication of the Religious Telescope and trained preachers at
his home.

The Bishop Christian Newcomer House on U.S. 40 at Beaver Creek is fully
restored and bears a county historical marker. It recognizes Newcomer's role
as pioneer evangelist in the early life of the denomination. Newcomer is
credited with extending the church into the area that is now Ohio and
Indiana. 

He attended the denomination's 1789 conference, was secretary of the
conference from 1806 until 1812, and was a bishop 1813 to 1830. He presided
at the 1806 and 1808 conferences in Otterbein's absence.

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United Methodist News Service
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