Blue  River  Chapel
Christian  Union  Church
Shelby  County  Indiana


          This somewhat peculiar religious sect was the outgrowth of the late rebellion, and had its beginning in a convention held at Columbus, Ohio, in February, 1864.  The delegates were from the various religious denominations of the country, who had become aggreived[sic] at and had withdrawn from their respective churches because of the real or fancied intolerance and fanaticism of its members and ministers.  This new sect was organized on the basis declared by the convention as follows:  Having a desire for a more perfect fellowship in Christ, and a more satisfactory enjoyment of the means of religious edification and comfort, we do solemnly form ourselves into a religious society, under the style of The Christian Union, in which we avow our true and hearty faith in the received scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the work of God and the only sufficient rule of faith and practice, and pledge ourselves through Christ which strengtheneth us "to keep and observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded us. "  Mr. A. M. Hargrave  returned from the convention thoroughly in sympathy with the teaching of the new church, and with the following named members of  Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church  withdrew and established what has since been known as Blue River Chapel:  Henry Wolfe  and wife, August Handy  and wife, Alexander Smith  and wife, Mrs. William Handy,  John Jackson  and wife, Mrs. Dallas Smith,  Charity Wolfe,  Simpson Chandler  and wife, and  Mrs. A. M. Hargrave.  These were all Democrats and all the early accession to the church were from the same party, consequently the class was for many years known as the "Democratic Church."  Indeed, the same was true of all the organizations of this sect --- it was at first composed almost exclusively of members of that party.   The first preliminary meeting with a view to organizing a class was held at  Gale's schoolhouse in Hancock County, in the summer of 1864.  An organization was soon perfected and meetings were held in said house until the erection of the present frame church in the early part of the seventies.  The church building is 40x52 feet in dimensions, and was completed at a cost of $1,000.   Rev. O. H. P. Abbot, now of Indianapolis, was the first regular pastor and served the church for many years.
          Brant & Fuller now move their discussion of Shelby County's  Religious History  to the Lutheran churches - pmf
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, 1887, page 398.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming

The  Shelbyville  Daily  Democrat
Saturday, January 16, 1886
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          Services at the Chapel to-morrow morning at ten a.m.  Sabbath school two p.m.  Evening seven p.m.  Subject for evening:  "None Rejected."
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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