HINKLE CREEK FRIENDS HISTORY
Early records of Hinkle Creek Friends were kept in a safe at Westfield Friends Meeting. In 1850, the safe was blown in search for money. All records were destroyed, however, no money was in the safe at the time. The search for the persons who blew the safe was unsuccessful although the blame was placed on Indians who lived in the woods nearby. Therefore, members wrote from memory about the History of Hinkle Creek Friends. The following is exerpts of the account of Amos Carson which were handwritten by him in the year 1915.
Hinkles Creek Friends was set off as a Preparative Meeting on June 29, 1836 under the care of Union Friends Meeting. On June 9, 1841, the 3.4 acres of land was purchased from Joseph Sumner in the amount of $13.50. The purpose was to build a Meeting House and establish a cemetery. The first person buried in the cemetery was Jane Fisher who was the 16 year old daughter of James and Nancy Fisher. The year is unknown of her death at this writing. The first Meeting House was constructed in 1841 from logs cut from this property. It was replaced in 1852 by a frame building being 26x26 in size. It was destroyed by fire in 1871 and a larger Meeting House was constructed in that same year which was 52x36. The floor was level, and a long partition running north and south with one door divided the Church into two rooms. Two stoves heated the rooms. The men worshipped in one room and the women worshipped in the other. Around 1915, the partition came down and everyone worshipped together. A platform was built and the floor sloped along with adding classrooms behind the pulpit area which was divided by the current archway.
After 139 years of standing, the structure became compromised in August, 2010. After extensive work and remodeling, we were able to save this original structure. After months of hard work, we are honored to present to you today this 140 year old Sanctuary and desire to rededicate it to always be used to bring the message of Christ to the lost and the people of this Community. We continue the vision from 1836 of our charter family members with the following last names: Sumner, Rich, Beals, Carson, Harris, Bray, Hodson, Pickett, Reese, Haworth, Cook, and Hiatt.
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