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Title
Date(s)
- 1843 (Creation)
Extent
1-10000
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Administrative history
The Wesleyan Methodist Church of America emerged in response to the Methodist Episcopal Church's support of slavery and its centralized, authoritarian governance. In November 1842, leaders O. Scott, J. Horton, and L. R. Sunderland withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church and launched The True Wesleyan, a weekly publication explaining their reasons for separation. In December, Luther Lee and L. C. Matlack also withdrew, marking the formal beginning of the Wesleyan movement. Although earlier separations had occurred—particularly in Michigan, where a conference was established—these events laid the foundation for the official organization. The first church of the new denomination was founded in Providence, Rhode Island. In February 1843, a preliminary convention was held in Andover, Massachusetts, which led to a General Convention in Utica, New York, on May 31, 1843. There, the Wesleyan Methodist Church was officially organized and adopted a governing Discipline. The first General Conference convened in October 1844 to revise this Discipline, followed by a second in October 1848, which produced a more comprehensive and clearly organized version.
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Scope and content
This series comprises records from the Miami conference. They capture the district’s role as a vital regional hub within the wider church. The materials include minutes from district conferences, correspondence between local pastors and district leaders, reports from area churches, pastoral appointments, membership and financial statistics, and policy documents specific to the region.
These records reveal how the district guided and supported local congregations and clergy, implemented denominational policies on a regional level, and fostered church growth and ministry within the community.
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General note
Miami was one of five conferences recognized at the Utica Convention in 1843. It consisted of churches in western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The first session met in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 4, 1843, with Rev. Pharaoh A. Ogden as the presiding officer. The membership reported at this session was 500. In 1845 Illinois and Wisconsin were ready to organize, by permission of the General Conference, and in 1848 Indiana Conference was authorized to become a separate body.
In 1891 it was decided the work could be better conserved by the creation of the South Ohio Conference, composed almost entirely of Wesleyan churches of the Negro race, manned by Negro pastors and conference officials. The General Conference of 1907, taking account of the depleted condition of the original Miami body, authorized the uniting of the Miami Conference with the Central Ohio Conference, and from that time the name Miami as a conference title disappears from the active records.
General note
From available records we note that the following ministers filled the position of conference president:
P. A. Ogden, 1843-45
Joshua Boucher, 1845-47
Mifflin Harker, 1849-50
Benjamin Tressenrider, 1850-51
Silas H. Chase, 1852-53, 1860-61
John Harrison, 1853-54
Daniel Worth, 1854-55
John Jones, 1857-58
Luther Lee, 1858-59
W. W. Lyle, 1861-62
J. W. Chaffin, 1862-63
G. P. Riley, 1866-69
William Hancock, 1870-71
Charles Clemans, 1872-74, 1877-78
J. W. Hiatt, 1874-75
T. H. Clinton, 1875-76
J. L. Fall, 1876-77, 1879-80
C. W. Smith, 1878-79
H. C. Jackson, 1880-82
William Hancock, 1882-83
Hiram Ackers, 1883-93, 1894-95
James Artis, 1893-94
J. B. Omerod, 1895-97
J. T. Brown, 1897-1901
Eber Teter, 1901-02
Henry Livingston, 1902-08