Part 9 Reconstruction and Growth at Home


The Civil War had had a major effect on the nation. The South had seen devastation to its political, economic and social structures. It would take many years before any form of normality would be felt in the South and only after the period of reconstruction came to an end. Many Northerners took advantage of southern conditions and feathered their own pockets in the name of reconstruction and restoration. It was sad that brother fought brother during the war, but even more so when many northern brothers made it even more difficult for their southern brothers for the next 15 to 20 years. The bitterness of that era would survive and may even be found in some southern communities today. Even in the North where only a small amount of fighting would have taken place it would take nearly a generation of people to restore a positive direction in the growth of the nation. War gears all aspects of life in that direction and when peace is restored those various elements of life and purpose for growth have to be rethought and retooled.

The Methodist Churches nationwide likewise suffered. The feelings of war and its aftermath would have an effect on local churches, the Ferry Village Methodist Episcopal Church was no exception. While the shipyards continued to produce vessels, the call for wooden ships was greatly diminished, and therefore the number of workers called for was also less. Yet the little community of Cape Ferry continued to bustle and a number of enterprises in time were started in or near the village. Stores of all kinds grew up around the “corner”. Drugstores, grocery stores, marine suppliers, a hardware store among other businesses meant that the corner of High and Sawyer was a busy place.

The Ferry Village Methodist Episcopal Church providently located since 1853, one block from “the corner” while suffering a down turn in membership during the war was now a busy location but with the burden of a debt to overcome. Likewise the parishioners felt the need to add on to their holdings at this location. The first major renovations were begun during the war, but now would be finished in the early 1870’s. As part of the change in the buildings it was felt necessary to build a vestry or parish hall. At the same time now that the demands on the pastor were growing it was felt that a parsonage needed to be provided. Ingenious as the membership was a two-story structure was built to the rear of the church on School Street. The ingeniousness was that the first floor of this building served as the Vestry or Parish Hall until the late 1880’s while the second floor became the residence of the pastor.

Reverend Benjamin Freeman who had served a one-year appointment at Ferry Village in 1863 was reappointed in 1871 and would serve as pastor until 1874. He and his family would have been the first pastor to live in the new parsonage. Remember, however, that his family would have been the first to share their home with all manner of church and non-church groups that used the parish hall for meetings. Eventually a separate parsonage was built or purchased to the rear of this parish hall/parsonage combination and would continue to serve as the home for all pastors until 1908 when it was sold and moved elsewhere in the village. Pastors between 1908 and 1914 would live with families of the church in the interim.

During the 1870’s an Organ was purchased and new carpets and a wood/coal burning stove was acquired to heat the sanctuary. Honoring the Centennial of the United States in 1876 a “Centennial Bell” was purchased and was mounted in 1883-84 in the newly constructed Bell Tower. The new tower stood high above the old steeple as the tower had been extended from the old relatively flat-top steeple that had existed since 1853. The new tower could be seen easily from the Portland waterfront on a good day.

When True P. Adams served as pastor from 1885 to 1888 the membership had grown substantially to 88 with 48 probationers while at the same time the Sunday school was providing religious training for 270 young people.

It was just after the appointment of Pastor Adams was completed that the Board of Stewards and Elders in September, 1888 voted to name the Ferry Village Methodist Episcopal Church, Peoples Church. It remained an ME church until 1939. In the latter year the church as well as the denomination dropped the reference to Episcopal and locally this church would be referred to as Peoples Methodist Church with the approval of the Maine Conference. It is believed that this church was the first of 6 other churches in Maine that would be and are referred to as Peoples.

The notes of the Board of Leaders and Stewards provide a number of interesting tidbits of information that tell the story of their time. In some instances it can amuse us and yet cause us a pause for thought on how so little actually changes in the issues facing the local church.

On May 27, 1874 it was reported the Board of Stewards and Leaders that the church was suffering from a deficit on an arrearage of $125.00. In order to meet the deficit which effected the Pastor’s salary the “wealthier” members of the church, some prominent citizens would be asked to make up the deficiency through their own donations. No names of these citizens were mentioned, but it does appear that the need was met and the pastor was paid. On January 13, 1875 the Board of Stewards and Leaders still facing that same kind of dilemma proposed and “asked the women” to carry out a donation supper for the purpose of raising the latest portion of the pastor’s wage. It was Brother Steven Hubbard who was given the responsibility of giving public notice to the Ladies Aid to tend to this matter. They were asked to prepare the meal and to attend to the supper tables. Charles H. Tilton and J.L. Willey were appointed to sell tickets. The minister and his wife were both invited to the supper free of charge. The price for the supper was listed as $.25 for adults and $.15 for children. My how times have changed yet weren’t the Board members generous in feeding the pastor and his wife?

On June 26, 1875 the Board took a vote to allow Congregational singing in church services. Prior to this time in order to sing you had to belong to the Choir.

Later that year on September 18, the Board of Stewards and Leaders voted to take up a collection every Sunday. Maybe because they gave the parishioners the opportunity to sing in church they should pay for the privilege. It appears that the “subscriptions for membership” or membership dues had been the primary revenue source prior to this vote. “Reliable” members of the congregation were chosen as collectors of subscriptions prior to this time with priority for subscriptions in arrears. Those who had served in that capacity before appear to have become the first parishioners to serve as “collectors” in the capacity of ushering during church services as well.

In the book, Methodism in Maine , written by Charles Allen in 1886, the author indicated that those members who achieved the status of membership on the Board of Stewards and Leaders served in that capacity until death. As one can see all manner of rules and operations were determined by the 7 to 12 men that were members of this body at this time.

Part 8 Effect of Civil War on the Methodist Episcopal Church



Since the local Methodist Church is a connectional church it is important to look at what was happening nationally as a result of the Civil War and think about how that might have effected the local churches in the post-war period. Most of the materials in this part comes directly from the UMC Church Library History.

The Civil War dealt an especially hard blow to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Its membership fell to two-thirds of its pre-war strength. Many clergy and parishioners had been killed during the war. Many of its educational, publishing and missionary arms were in financial and operational ruin. Interestingly, while the war had caused this ruin it also was perhaps the impetus to its growth to more than two million members, a four fold increase, in the next fifty years.

The African Methodist Church also was in ruins and those remaining churches were transferred to The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.

About this same time, Alejo Hernandez became the first Hispanic preacher in Methodism even though Benigno Cardenas had actually preached the Methodist message in Sante Fe, New Mexico as early as 1853. It was the same year that Uriel Rideout was preaching the first sermon in the new Ferry Village Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Methodist Episcopal Church had not suffered as much as the southern church and was gaining rapidly membership-wise by the end of the 1860’s. A four hundred percent increase was realized in membership by 1870. Church properties and values began to soar and affluence seemed to reflect on generally prosperous times at least in the North.
In part 9 of this series we will see how this national phenomenon reflected in local church prosperity as well.

Mission work both at home and overseas was high on the agenda of churches. Home mission programs sought to Christianize the city as well as the Native American. Schools for former slaves and their children were established. Missionaries were increasingly effective on all of the continents of the Earth. More often than not it would be the women in churches that would form Missionary societies that were designed to raise monies and acquire goods that would be sent often to specific missionaries and their families stationed overseas or elsewhere on this continent. Many times women were the missionaries as well.

Two critical issues caused substantial rankling in the churches during this time. The role of lay persons and especially the role of women were at issue. Should laity be given a voice in the General Conference and annual conferences? The Methodist Protestants had given laity equal voting power as early as their formation back in the 1830’s. The Methodist Episcopal Church which would have included the Ferry Village Church among the other historic roots of today’s United Methodist Church were much slower in allowing lay involvement. It was not until 1932 that many of the bars to lay involvement were finally torn down. There is an indication in some of the local church records that the Methodist Episcopal Church, at least in the Maine Conference, allowed laity including women to “be involved” in Conference affairs. On voting issues it was not until the 1904 that women, could have full involvement in voting functions within the Methodist Episcopal Church. Women who desired to enter the Methodist Ministry were not allowed to do so until after the major merger of Methodism that took place in 1939. Even later the Evangelical Association never ordained women.

Other theological developments playing a significant role in the growth of the church during this same time related to such items as the “holiness” movement, liberal theology and the Social Gospel movement. The Methodist Episcopal Church regarding social issues developed a Social Creed in 1908. Social problems also spurred the movement toward ecumenism and interchurch cooperation. All of the denominations now a part of the United Methodist Church became active in the Federal Council of Churches which was probably the first major ecumenical venture among American Protestants.

We have made a few references to the local church throughout this part in our development. There are a number of implications that could be looked at in more detail, but space does not permit. Hopefully there are some readers who may wish to take some of the items that have been suggested in the words and expand their knowledge and perhaps wish to share their findings and thoughts in writing or orally with other parishioners.

The New England Conference over the years had been divided into separate conferences as the membership and land area expanded. The Maine Annual Conference was established in 1824 with New Hampshire following in 1828 and Vermont being established one year later. The New England Conference saw another erosion of its size in 1840 when the Providence Conference was established. This Conference did accept itself as the New England Conference South and included Providence, New Bedford and Connecticut. It would not be until the Post World War II period that the movement of returning to a New England organization began.

Part 7 Growing Pains

Once the church was established at the corner of High and School Streets the ebb and flow of membership had a continuing effect on the growth of the parish. Stephen Hubbard who had been instrumental in starting the Sunday School program found that by the middle years of the Civil War that there were as many as 230 members of the religious education program housed in the church. As the number of children participating in church activities grew, so did the adult membership.

Benjamin Freeman who had been appointed to pastor the Ferry Village Church in 1863 was a very popular pastor who was called to duty elsewhere for the next few years but was returned to the village in 1871. He ministered to the flock for nearly four more years. It was during his second appointment that actual adult membership for the first time climbed over 100. Because of this increase the board of stewards and leaders authorized the first major building campaign since the new church had been built. Two thousand dollars was raised to add seating capacity by installing 28 more pews, each of them added by sale of the pew. The church not having a major face lift before this time came under construction and all of the debt that had accumulated during the war years was retired.

Reverend Freeman was one of two pastors up until this time that was to have served through reappointment. The other pastor having been appointed twice at this point was Uriel Rideout. He had presided at the opening of the Ferry Village Church during his first appointment. Many were happy to have Pastor Rideout back, but unfortunately, as young as he was, he was not well. Most of his remaining days were spent with one malady after another and he died long before his age would have indicated he should at age 52. For the rest of his time O. H. Stevens replaced him. In the records there is no indication that Mr. Stevens was fully ordained as his ordained ministry actually began in the year 1869, the year after the death of Pastor Rideout. Therefore, Mr. Stevens was perhaps the first Pastor to serve as an interim appointment in the history of this church.

The Civil War years were not easy years on the Congregation relative to maintaining consistency in the pastors who were appointed to the Village Church. During the decade of the 1860’s there were 9 pastors appointed to this pulpit. While Sunday School may have grown it was difficult to maintain a consistent adult population. One would have to assume that consistency also depended to a degree on the ebb and flow of the male population due to the demands of war. While it was limited, the draft was used for the first time to bring the Union armies up to strength to fight the Confederate army. Quotas were established by town for the draft. It was possible for those who could afford it to pay the Draft Board in one of two ways to remove their names from those who were called. It was possible for the draftee to pay a specific amount of money to simply avoid being called. The other means by which one might avoid the draft was by getting someone else to simply take your place. While we would question the Christian ethic in avoiding the draft it is likely that some members of this congregation could not avoid the draft, others may have paid to avoid leaving home and still others may have chosen to serve in someone else’s place.

One of the reasons why that may have been the dilemma for church members was in part because the demands of this war for wooden ships began to decline. Most of the shipyards that had been bustling locations of business during the first half of the 19th century were producers of outstanding wooden ships. With the invention of first the Merrimac and then the Monitor out of steel plate for the navies of the Confederacy and the Union the day of the wooden cargo ship was limited. Shipyard growth ceased and those that had been prosperous in the past continued on, but at reduced production through the 1880’s. This decline was beginning to become obvious during the Civil War years through the reduction in ship building related jobs. One would assume that those folks employed in the yards, but losing their jobs might be open to military service while those still trying to keep the yards functioning would be more reluctant to go and be willing to pay their way out.

We would also have to assume that while the yards were being reduced in force that would also have an effect on other village businesses. One would find that village shop owners absorbed a lot of the cost of living by carrying local residents on their books, sometimes for many years and in some cases actually absorbed a lot of debt of both the church and residents over time. That practice could be found to exist on local business records well into the twentieth century.

The 1870’s it was hoped would bring back some of that financial well being, but the whole nation seemed to suffer down turns in the northern and southern economies as a result of the aftermath of the Civil War.