Shown is a circa 1900 photograph of the old Union Church as photographed by Lizzie Treber.
(By Stephen Kelley, People’s Defender 1984)
The Union Church near Bentonville was established in 1830. The congregation’s first church constructed in 1831 or 1832 was a brick structure erected on the site of the present church.
The third pastor to serve this church was Charles W. Garoutte. A native of Knox County, Ohio, he was ordinated a minister of the Christian Church in 1859 by Matthew Garner. Following his pastorate at the Union Church, he achieved prominence within the Christian Church serving a number of terms as present of the Southern Ohio Christian Conference. He also served as president of the Ohio State Christian Association and president of the Board of Control for Franklinton Christian College. Garoutte died at Union City, Indiana in 1895 at age sixty three.
Another preacher who served this church also achieved no small amount of prominence. Rufus H. McDaniel, the fourteenth pastor of Union Church, became well known after composing the hymn, Since Jesus Came into my heart. By the early 1850’s, the congregation of the Union Church had outgrown its little brick church and plans for a larger structure were made. The old building was then razed and a new frame building erected in 1854. Quite similar to Methodist and Presbyterian churches in this area, the new Union Church was rectangular in floor plan and had two separate front doors. This same structure, with a few alterations, is still in use today, one hundred and thirty years after its construction.
It was within this church in 1902 that Adaline Black Sheely was ordained as a minister of the Christian Church. Born of pioneer stock near West Union in 1866, she was married to Louis Sheely in 1884. She preached her first sermon in 1895 and was licensed the following year. Another pastor ordained at the Union Church was T.F. Bagby, a native of Clermont County. Participating at his ordination ceremonies was his father, William W. Bagby, who was both pastor and elder in the Christian Church (Church of Christ).
Following World War I, the congregation at Union Church began decreasing in numbers. The membership became so weakened that the Christian Church lost its control and the church become united with the Christian Union denomination. This change occurred in 1946 and the congregation has remained Christian Union since that time.
