Record of Quarterly Conferences of the Warrior's Mark Methodist Circuit

Folio.  305 x 190 mm., [2 ¼ x 7 ¾ inches].  Manuscript in ink.  39 pp. Contemporary calf backed boards; war to paper covers and spine.  Text block with some browning and staining.  Legible.

Record book of the  minutes from the quarterly conferences of the Methodist Circuit of Warrior's Mark, Pennsylvania. The notes record the officers of the conference, which include a president and a secretary. It seems that the post of conference president was always filled by a senior reverend of the circuit, while the secretary regularly rotated among the membership. 

Each meeting began by addressing the following items of business: Objections or complaints to recent business of the circuit: Appeals to decisions made at the last quarterly conference:  Applications or renewals of licenses to preach: and Report on the nine schools maintained by the court circuit. Following these business matters the meeting place for the next conference was decided and a list of expenses was made. In general the president was paid at each conference, as well as the other ministers of the circuit. Finances were also distributed among the various churches in the circuit. These churches included Warrior's Mark, Pine Grove, Meeks, Walkersville, Franklin, Waddles, Penn Furnace, Patton, Bucks, Gatesburg, Graysburg, Colerain, Hunt Furnace and Center Line.

While the book does not give a number regarding the size of the membership of the circuit, one particularly detailed report on the schools maintained by the circuit claims a total of 468 students. The last portion of the book includes six pages of ledger entries recording farm produce sold in 1880, but there is no indication as to who entered this record. The produce consists primarily of corn and oats.

Methodist organization was a key to its rapid growth in nineteenth century America.  Small groups were linked into larger "circuits" or "connections" served by traveling preachers called "circuit riders." Annual geographic conferences were organized throughout the U.S. in the early 19th century. A democratic form of government similar to the federal governmental system was adopted in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and it remains the basic structure of the United Methodist Church today.  The Quarterly Conferences of the circuits were responsible for all legislative decisions of the church as well as overseeing local business related to the circuit.

The first Methodist meetings in Warrior's Mark were held in 1818 after the construction of a small schoolhouse. Among the early members of the church was George Guyer and his family, whose names appear in this book. In 1833 a regular house of worship was erected in Warrior's Mark, where many of the conferences recorded in this book took place.

The front few pages of the book seem to be used as scrap paper for a child practicing their penmanship. The church notes begin with a conference of  April 19, 1856.