On February 1, 1874, a Pulpit Committee was appointed to find a replacement for Brother Corydon Crain. The members were Deacons Dewey and Dunham and Brother Hiram Smith. By the Fall of 1874 they had found Reverend A. C. Ferguson, Pastor of the Union Springs, New York, Baptist Church. Although it is not mentioned in the records, the Church must have heard him preach and found him satisfactory. He was called as Pastor and he accepted. The Church agreed to pay him $12.00/ Sabbath and for him to use the name of (and facilities of) the Church for lectures in his own behalf. On January 2, 1875, Rev. Ferguson was received as a member on receipt of his letter from Union Springs, New York (near Auburn), Baptist Church. There was no mention of a Mrs. Ferguson, or Reverend Ferguson's birthplace, age, education or experience. (We do not even know his first name!)
Although there is very little information concerning Reverend Ferguson's Pastorate in Church Records, information found in the Fayetteville newspaper, The Weekly Recorder, indicates that he was a very active Pastor, both in his own Church and in cooperation with other Manlius Churches and Civic Leaders in the Village of Manlius. One of Reverend Ferguson's first activities was to organize a Young People's Literary Society late in the fall of 1874. The group included members from all denominations. They met often and the members entertained each other (and audiences) with music, readings both serious and humorous, and, at times, lectures.
On the last Sabbath evening in December, 1874, Pastor A. C. Ferguson delivered an illustrated address at a praise and promise meeting which also featured a Sabbath School Concert. Just a few days before Christmas Reverend Ferguson presided over the marriage of Miss Ella Champlin, a member of the Church, to Mr. John S. Hyman. He was said to have performed the ceremony "most impressively and beautifully."
On January 17, 1875, Reverend Ferguson exchanged pulpits with Reverend Shrimpton, the Baptist Minister from Fayetteville. On January 21, 1875, the ladies of the Manlius Baptist Church "put on" an Oyster Supper for the public at Smith Hall. They promised to serve their customers (un)conditionally, tenderly, faithfully, joyfully and smilingly. At the February 21, 1875, Sunday Evening Service the Congregation enjoyed a Sabbath School Concert and a Praise Meeting.
In its first months of existence the Literary Society was responsible for several evenings of entertainment for the citizens of Manlius. On January 28, 1875, the audience was entertained with dramatic and humorous recitals, ("The Two Graves at St. Helena" was recited beautifully and impressively by Miss Yettie Loomis), piano solos, and vocal solos by Reverend Ferguson. On March 10, 1875 the Literary Society met to hear a talk on "Items in My Trip to California" by Rev. M.S. Hard, Pastor of the Centenary Church of Syracuse. There was music by the Baptist Church of Fayetteville Choir, Rev. A. C.
Ferguson and others. The author of the report of this concert in The Weekly Recorder gave Rev. Ferguson "much due credit" for the untiring energy displayed in laboring for the Literary Society and giving to the people so rare a treat. On Wednesday Evening, March 24, 1875, the President, Rev. A. C. Ferguson, lectured the Literary Society on the subject of Physiognomy and the Signs of Character. (Physiognomy is the art of determining character or personal characteristics from the features of the face or the form of the body.) These concerts and lectures were given at meetings of the Literary Society to which outsiders were invited. Although Rev. Ferguson was permitted to arrange for paid entertainments on his own to augment his salary, there was never any mention of audiences paying to attend the Literary Society programs. In the absence of movies, radio and television people looked to live entertainment to brighten their lives. In the late 1800s the spelling bee became popular. In 1875 the "spelling fever" reached Manlius and several spelling bees (not just for children in those years) were held in the Manlius Baptist Church (April 17, May 1, May 5, 1875).
The Church as always was concerned with the plight of unfortunate people all around the world. On Sunday evening April 20, 1875, the Church united with other denominations (Presbyterian and Methodist) to hear of the need of those Kansas farmers whose crops were entirely destroyed by an invasion of hordes of grasshoppers. Forty three dollars was raised for their aid.
April was the customary time to renew a Pastor's contract. The Trustees "called and engaged A. C. Ferguson to be Pastor and Preacher of said Church during one year from April, the first Sabbath, to the first Sabbath of April 1876. And we engage him on the following terms, viz; we promise to pay him $12.00/week. Full arrangements to be made the first Sunday after the last Sabbath of each month." As an extra enticement "we also give him the use of our church edifice to the number of four times a year, on any occasion he may appoint that does not conflict with our regular Church meeting for a concert or lecture in the name of our Church interests. He is to take the responsibility of the said entertainment, and is to have all the profits of the same." On April 4, 1875, the above arrangements were ratified by the Church and Society.
July 4, 1875, fell on a Sunday. On Sunday Evening all of the Manlius Churches held a union service in the Baptist Church. Although it was announced as a praise meeting, it assumed another phase, that of the celebration of patriotism. Although Rev. Mr. Ball was supposed to speak, he became weary and asked Rev. Ferguson to take his place. Reverend Ferguson, apparently prepared, compared our nation with others in past history. Ours, he said, enjoyed Liberty, religious and secular, Independence of the individual citizen, Faith in the perpetuality of republican institutions, and Education for the masses. The first letters of the emphasized words spelled LIFE, which is dearest to every immortal being. The address of Reverend Ferguson was reported to have been “stirring, eloquent and brim full of patriotism.”
Our September 1875 Onondaga Baptist Association Meeting letter reported that under the labor of Pastor A. C. Ferguson, "We have been blessed. The Church has been revived and souls converted." The letter commented on the special concerts and lectures arranged by Pastor Ferguson. "The monthly concerts have been occasions for filling the house. During a portion of the year literary social gatherings have been held which were unusually interesting and profitable." Delegates to the Association Meeting were Reverend A. C. Ferguson, C. L. Scoville and wife, Deacon Dewey and wife and again, Mary Avery. There were few if any all male Manlius delegations to the Association meetings from then on.
In 1876 the nation celebrated its 100th birthday. It was reported in the January 12, 1876, Weekly Recorder that the quiet village awoke from Friday night's (December 31, 1875) slumber and gave 1876 an uproarious reception with the whistle of the paper-mill screeching, the church bells ringing, half-a-hundred boys (more or less) yelling accompanied by an anvil chorus. "We had rather an ear-splitting din for a time over the great centennial year." Some over-zealous young men entered the Baptist Church and rang the bell of that edifice so violently that it dropped from its perch to the floor, doing no serious damage, except breaking the pulley wheel.
The Baptists inspired by the leadership of Rev. Ferguson seemed inclined to celebrate as often as possible. They gave a Centennial Supper in Smith Hall on Wednesday, March 1, 1876. Although a fierce storm had hit the Manlius area, the hall was nearly filled. The event was described in the February 25th, 1876, Syracuse Journal and in the March 9, 1876, Weekly Recorder. The Hall itself was well decorated for the occasion. On the left side was a museum of antiquities including books and articles from revolutionary and older days, among them military arms in service during the revolution (“all to remind the guest of God‘s loving care in the past; He has not dealt so with any [other] nation). On the right side were items expressing our confidence in God for the present, “In God We Trust.” As part of the program thirty men, women, and children in costumes representing characters of the olden times appeared before the audience while the band played “The Star Spangled Banner.” Each character was introduced commencing with the Goddess of Liberty, Uncle Sam, Miss Columbia and General and Mrs. Washington. When supper was announced, Reverend A. C. Ferguson read a Psalm from a 230 year old Bible and gave thanks for the blessings of the Christian Republic. A series of tableaux were presented after dinner. A highlight was “The Wedding of Uncle Sam to Miss Columbia” with General and Mrs. Washington attending the Bride and Groom. The newspaper reported that the entertainment received the highest commendations from all in attendance and would long be remembered. The entertainment was so successful that the whole program was repeated on March 3, 1876.
Although not much was written about them, Brother C. L. Scoville and his family were members of the Manlius Church from an unknown date to December 24, 1876. Brother Scoville was a Licentiate (from a different Church) and when the Scovilles left the Church, the Trustees voted their thanks to him for his labors of love in preaching occasionally and for his untiring zeal in the cause of his Master. (The Scovilles returned to the Church from September 19, 1880, to May 30, 1886. He may have been serving a Church or Churches in his absence.) Brother Scoville was listed in the Onondaga Baptist Association's yearly directory of area ministers and licentiates until 1898.
Humorous stories were often put in the local papers to relieve the tedium of bad news. In one of the Weekly Recorders for the fall of 1876, it was reported that the latest thing in churches was a slate, left hanging in the church vestibule on which young ladies could register their names, number of pew and information as to whether they had company or not (brothers and parents did not count.) "The convenience of this plan must at once be evident to every young man."
Mosquitoes still abounded and their soothing music was heard to lull the wearied to gentle sleep. Mark Twain learned of the invention of a portable mosquito net and wrote "that the day was coming when we shall sit under our nets in church and slumber peacefully, while the discomfited flies club together and take it out on the minister. Happy day!”
No doubt the Baptist Church of Manlius and the citizens of Manlius were disappointed when Rev. A.C. Ferguson's stay became another of the short variety. On March 26, 1876, a letter was granted to Rev. A. C. Ferguson to join the Baptist Church of Pittsford Village near Rochester, New York. He closed his labors with the Manlius Church on Sunday, April 6, 1876. Representatives from all the other Church Societies were present. The "Independent Order of Rechabites" appeared in a body. The Weekly Recorder wrote that "his efforts in town, his energy and spirit will be sadly missed. He leaves with the benedictions of his many friends." No information has been found concerning Rev. Ferguson's life after his stay in Manlius.
