First Baptist Manlius

With the departure of Reverend Harris, considered a full-fledged Pastor of the Church (perhaps in deference to Mrs. Yettie Harris), the Church experienced a difficult time supplying the pulpit from 1879-1883.. A Pulpit Committee was appointed in June 1879. The members were Deacons Dewey and Dunham and Isaac Newton Loomis, Jr., the Church Clerk. They were fairly successful in filling the Pulpit on Sundays with capable preachers. Some were ordained pastors, some seminary students and others Church leaders. When no one else could be found, the Clerk read a sermon. Only on rare occasions was the church closed. What the Church sorely missed was the day to day presence and leadership of a full time Pastor.

Reverend W. H. Hawley was born in Charlotte, New York, on January 27, 1846. He received his education in the High School at Schenectady, Charlton Academy and Rutgers Academy. He married Miss Anna C. Lawrence in 1867. He was ordained in Johnstown, NY, Baptist Church in 1869, and was their pastor for four and a half years. He was pastor in Fort Edward, NY, for three years, the Adams, NY, Baptist Church for four years, and the Fayetteville, NY, Baptist Church for six years, at which time he left the ministry for a career in business.

It was reported in the January 16, 1879, Weekly Recorder that the Reverend W. N. Thomas had assumed the duties of Pastor of the Baptist Church in Manlius. There was no biographical information given. He was a young man and very likely also a Colgate Seminary Student. (The Weekly Recorder reporter from Manlius complimented Reverend Thomas for preaching a very able sermon on Sunday Evening, July 27, 1879, from Luke 10:47. He felt that although Reverend Thomas was a very young man , he was destined to soon hold a position with the most eloquent of his calling.) Reverend Thomas joined the Church on December 13, 1879. He was dismissed on July 24, 1881.

In February 1879 it was reported that the interior of the Baptist Church was being "overhauled and repaired" (work that may have been inspired by the falling chandelier). In the Feb 27, 1879, edition of The Weekly Recorder the readers were told that "the frescoeing of the Baptist Church will not be finished this week. Consequently, there will be no service on Sunday."

On April 13, 1879, former Pastor Reverend George H. Brigham of Syracuse, NY, returned to lead the Evening Service. On June 8, 1879, his brother and successor in Manlius, Reverend Edward Preston Brigham from New Woodstock, New York, occupied the pulpit for the morning service, administered the ordinance of Baptism to five persons by immersion in Limestone Creek in the afternoon, and finally at the Evening Service led the observance of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

On August 13, 1879, The Baptist Congregation and Sunday School picnicked in
Loomis' Grove. August 17, 1879, must have been a hot and sultry day. The Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches decided to dispense with their Sunday Evening Services.

In the fall of 1879 the Manlius crop of peaches was ripe and juicy, and the ladies of the Baptist Church held a Peach Festival at Smith's Hall on Thursday Evening, September 18, 1879. The Watervale Cornet Band entertained the visitors. The affair netted the Women's Society about $50.00.

At times other Reverends substituted for Reverend Thomas. Among those who preached were Reverend B. Morly of Lansing, Michigan, Reverend H. Brown of Centerville, NY and Reverend Steele of Hastings, NY. Reverend C. N. Pettingill of the Fayetteville Baptist Church preached on several occasion in the afternoon when the Church could not find someone to lead the regular morning and evening services.

In the Church letter to the Onondaga Baptist Association in the Fall of 1879, the Clerk wrote that "the faithful labors of our present supply are not without good results. As a Church we are working together and our Sunday School is well attended.

The absence of a full time ordained Pastor was reflected, however, in the lack of information from Church sources from 1879-1882. (Much of our information comes from the column devoted to Manlius news in The Weekly Recorder.) Only three Church Meetings were reported in the minutes of 1879, two in 1880 and 1881, and five for 1882. These were low numbers for a Church that conducted most of its business in Congregational Meetings.

In 1880 the Clerk I. N. Loomis, Jr., (also a member of the Pulpit Committee) was discouraged. He wrote in the Church letter to the Association, "Our pulpit has been occasionally supplied but the prospects are truly discouraging. We can guarantee so little to the support of a pastor that no one is invited to come here, yet there is little doubt that a good pastor would soon have a fair Congregation, and receive good support."

Worship on Thanksgiving for 1880 found the Presbyterians and Methodists assembled with the Baptists in the Baptist Church for services "appropriate to the day". Apparently Reverend W. N. Thomas had left the Church as Reverend Steelman was reported in late 1880 to be regularly supplying the Baptist pulpit. On December 20, 1880, Reverend Steelman's son was the supply pastor. In December 1880 the Manlius
 
Baptist Sunday School was provided a Christmas Program by the Church. I. N. Loomis, long time Sunday School Superintendent (as well as Clerk), was in charge. "The children indulged in short and appropriate literary exercises, after which they were distributed presents. Santa Claus, drawn in a chariot by two little pages, caused much merriment on the part of the little folks."

In 1881 the pulpit supply situation improved. The Clerk reported to the
Association that "our meetings have been regularly maintained during the year. Reverend Steelman supplied the pulpit for five months from November 1880 to March 1881. On Sunday, March 27, 1881, Reverend Steelman preached his farewell sermon. Brother Stilwell preached occasionally when able and at other times sermons were read by the Clerk." The Clerk also wrote, "Our prayer is that God in his mercy may revive us and turn the hearts of his people again into this field of labor." It is believed he was lamenting the shortage of ministers which was also a problem for many other Churches in the Association. Many of the Church letters to the Association in 1881 contained messages of sympathy for President Garfield’s family. President Garfield died September 19, 1881.

The winter of 1881 was a hard one. The Annual Meeting scheduled for December 8, 1881, was adjourned to December 20, then to December 27, and finally was held on January 3, 1882. One of the problems surely discussed was that some miscreant had pilfered considerable quantities of coal from the Baptist Church coal bin. The identity of the guilty party was known and he was warned that if he continued his depredations he would fall into the meshes of the law. On January 10, 1882, K. H. Preston and C H. Wood were asked to look into the condition of the parsonage barn and attend to the necessary repairs.

Minutes of the Onondaga Baptist Association were not available for 1882. Our Church Records show that on June 18, 1882, the Church turned again to the Colgate Theological Seminary and hired H. A. Buzzell, a Seminary student for ten weeks at $10.00 per Sunday. On August 27, 1882, it was recorded that Brother H. A. Buzzell continued to supply the pulpit every two weeks. In the September 28, 1882, edition of The Weekly Recorder, it was reported that Rev. Buzzell had resigned because of poor health.

W. H. Hawley later contracted locomotorataxia, a degenerative disease of the spinal cord, marked by a loss of control over muscular movements in walking and otherwise, which caused his early death on February 19, 1903. Reverend Eli M. Barber of the Manlius Church made one of the funeral addresses, setting forth the spiritual life of the deceased brother. He was said to have had a large heart, to have been generous, cordial, kind, sympathetic and an attractive speaker. His last words were, "I am dying. The peace of God be with you all." Rev Barber wrote one of his poems for the occasion:

Friend after friend departs.
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union of human hearts.
That finds not here a friend.
Were this frail world our only rest
Living or dying, none were blest.

Late in 1882 the Baptist Church in Fayetteville came to the aid of the Pompey and Manlius Baptist Church, as we had for them in the early 1830s when Reverend Charles C. Morton preached half-time to their Congregation for about a year. Reverend W. H. Hawley preached Sunday afternoon (2:30 P.M.) in Manlius from December 1882 until April 1883. In the Manlius letter to the September 1883 Onondaga Baptist Association Meeting, Clerk I. N. Loomis, Jr., reported that Reverend Hawley had kindly supplied us with preaching for several months. To show their appreciation for Reverend W. H. Hawley's assistance, on January 30, 1883, the Baptist Society gave a social for him at Smith Hall. The purpose was to raise money as a gift for him (and to have a good time.) There was a good attendance and a liberal supply of edibles, as well as money, was furnished for the occasion. The attendees were also entertained with "fine " singing. The net proceeds of $60.00 were given to Reverend Hawley. (This type of entertainment was used frequently in the late 1800s to raise extra money for the pastors of the Churches, or for Church programs or repairs.)

In the June 1, 1883, Weekly Recorder it was reported that the Baptist Congregation was making a serious effort to get a regular pastor, and that a subscription was "going the rounds" to raise money for that purpose. In July of 1883 a few of the rebellious youth of the village were looking for ways to irritate their Elders (even as now in the year 2004). The Fayetteville Weekly Recorder reported that some of the Youth in Manlius were attending several churches on Sunday Evenings and discharging tobacco juice on the carpets during services "and committing other unnamed misdemeanors within the sacred edifices."

On July 12, 1883, it was reported that Reverend E. M. Barber would occupy the Pulpit on Sunday, July 15, 1883, for the morning and evening services. Reverend Barber came back to supply the Pulpit on July 8, 15, 22, August 12 and 19. It was then announced that Reverend E. M. Barber had accepted a call from the Manlius Baptist Church.