United Methodist Church
Seneca, Kansas
The United Methodist Church of
Seneca, Kansas was organized 12 July
1858 in the home of Mrs. Burgraves on
Turkey Creek, Nemaha County, Kansas.
This congregation was on the circuit of
the Kansas-Nebraska unit of the Holton
Mission, Topeka. By 1870, services were
being held in Seneca. During 1870 and
1871 the congregation met in the
Universalist Church of Seneca. From 1872
through 1874, the congregation met in
the Old Van Loan public school building
in Seneca. In 1875, the congregation
began building its own church at 6th and
Castle streets. This building was
dedicated on 10 June 1877. A new church
(the current building) was built at the
corner of Seventh and Main and dedicated
on 18 May 1893.
The majority of the records for this
congregation have survived intact. The
congregation has established an
historical display in the choir room off
of the sanctuary which includes most of
the older record books for the church.
The oldest of these books was begun
by Rev. John A. Amos in 1874. In this
book, he records the names of the
various circuit ministers along with the
early history of the church. In
addition, he transferred information
into this book from some earlier
records. These transfers are noted as
such with each record. Besides this
historical summary, the information
found in this book includes the
following sets of information: Record of
Members in Full Connection, Record of
Marriages, Record of Baptisms,
Probationer's Record, and Class Records.
This book includes records up through
1884. The Record of Members in Full
Connection is arranged alphabetically
and contains the name of the individual,
the date they joined the church and
remarks about their membership. The
Record of Marriages is arranged
chronologically and contains the date of
the marriage, the names of the parties,
their residence, their ages, the place
of the marriage, the minister and
remarks. The Record of Baptisms is
arranged chronologically and contains
the date of baptism, name of subject,
whether adult or infant, the names of
parents (infants only), date of birth
(infants only), place baptized, minister
and remarks. The Probationer's Record is
arranged chronologically and contains
the person's name, state in life,
residence, when received, by whom
received, when baptized, and when and
how disposed of. The Class Records are
arranged by register (number) and
include the name of the individual,
state in life, residence and remarks.
A second record book contains similar
information covering 1884 through 1911.
A third book titled, Ideal Church Record
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was
published by Hunt and Eaton of New York.
The earliest record in this book is for
a baptism on 5 Dec 1897. The majority of
records cover the years 1900 through
1913. It appears that these two record
books may cover overlapping time
periods.
A fourth book has an entry dated in
1917 in the "Historical Record" section
recorded by the new pastor indicating
that the "pastor's names have either
been omitted or records lost since Rev.
J. A. Swaney of 1900" signed by Arhie J.
Morton, pastor. It is possible that one
of the earlier books was lost for a time
and since returned to the church. Even
though this information was recorded in
the front of the book, the Record of
Members in Full Connection contains
entries dating from 1902 through 1926
indicating some overlap with previous
books. Like the previous books, this
book contains the Record of Members in
Full Connection, Record of Probationers,
Record of Marriages and Record of
Baptisms. In addition, this book
contains a Record of Funerals. This
funeral record contains the date, name,
age, place of internment, and minister's
name for each entry. These entries date
from 1919 through 1924.
Records since 1924 are kept in the
church office. These records contain
similar information to the older records
with the addition of information
regarding the confirmation of the youth
into full membership in the church. This
record contains the name, date of
confirmation and minister.