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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 Michigan 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
One of the most heartening reports brought to the convention held in Andover, Massachusetts, on February 1, 1843, was that there was a conference in the state of Michigan. A special resolution was directed to this body asking their cooperation in the Utica Convention scheduled to begin in Utica, New York, on May 31, 1843. May 13, 1841, some type of delegated convention was held in a schoolhouse at Thayers' Corner, Plymouth Township, Wayne County. Five small churches were represented, with a total membership of about eighty. The Michigan
Wesleyans called a convention early in 1843, at Salina, Washtenaw County, to elect delegates to the Utica Convention. For the balance of the conference's history, this session was counted as the first of those held by the body as a conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection - the numbering of all future sessions started with this one.
The territory of the Michigan Conference was considerably diminished in 1887, when it voted to divide into
two conferences, the southern part of the state retaining the name of the Michigan Conference and the continuity of numbering conference sessions, the northern part of the state being set off in the North Michigan Conference .
1968, as the Michigan Conference had forty-seven organized churches and 2,904 total membership.
General note
Michigan Conference Presidents:
Marcus Swift, 1843-45
W. W. Crane, 1845-54
S. A. Baker, 1854-56
Luther Lee, 1856-57, 1864-65
Amzi W. Curtis, 1857-58, 1861-62, 1863-64, 1866-71
John McEldowney, 1858-61, 1862-63
M. L. McFarland, 1865-66
D. A. Richards, 1871-74
H. D. Inman, 1874-83
Joel Martin, 1883-91
J. H. Canfield, 1891-92
J. L. Bush, 1892-95
H. D. Cheney, 1895-98
Isaiah Martin, 1898-1902
S. A. Manwell, 1902-09, 1912-16
H. A. Day, 1909-12
E. F. McCarty, 1916-19
G. L. Densmore, 1919-23
D. T. Perrine, 1923-52
E. L. Crocker, 1952-62
George A. Huff, 1962-68