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Name and location of repository
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Title
Date(s)
- 1894 (Creation)
Extent
1-10000
Name of creator
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 South Ohio 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
The South OH conference is first mentioned in the 1892 Discipline, “South OH CONFERENCE shall comprise that part of Ohio lying southerly from a line commencing at Richmond, Indiana, and running along the Pan Handle. Railroad to Xenia, Ohio ; thence east to the west line of the Central Ohio Conference; thence south along this line to the northern border of the southern tier of the counties of Ohio ; thence east along said northern
border to the county of Monroe; thence south to the Ohio River; also the States of West Virginia and Kentucky.” The earliest journal in our files is from 1908, which specifies it is the fifteenth annual session. The conference had been authorized as a new conference for mostly African-American churches within the Miami (Ohio) and Central Ohio Conferences. Fourteen churches reported in 1908. The conference continued until the 1968 merger.