Bethel Township.

formed the membership of Siloam. A lot of ground, comprising an acre and a half, was given to the congregation by Samuel Hanby and Samuel Hance, each contributing three-quarters of an acre. The handsome stone sanctuary, forty-two by sixty feet, was hastened forward, and in the latter part of 1852 the building had so far progressed that the basement-story was dedicated, and services regularly held therein. On Sept. 24, 1854, the church, then completed, was dedicated, Revs. Mr. Hurey and Andrew Manship, of Philadelphia, conducting the services on that occasion. The building was erected at a cost of four thousand five hundred dollars, of which sum one-half had been contributed from time to time while it was in the process of construction, and the remainder was collected on the dedication day. The church was embraced in the Mount Lebanon Circuit, and was under the pastoral charge of Rev. William H. Burrell. He has been followed by the following pastors: James Hand, Thomas Newman, Francis B. Harvey, Isaac Merrill, ___ Smith, John France, John Dyson, Joseph S. Lane, William W. McMichael, Edward F. Kenney, George W. Lybrand, William T. Magee, and Maris Graves, the present incumbent. During Mr. Kenney's pastorate serious charges of gross immoral conduct were made against him, and the long investigation and subsequent trial before the ecclesiastical court aroused great interest in the immediate neighborhood and surrounding districts. His acquittal on all the charges by the Annual Conference, in 1876, was particularly gratifying to Siloam Church, and when the announcement was made of the result of the trial, the congregation expressed their sympathy in applause, an unusual occurrence in a religious meeting. The present membership of the Siloam is one hundred and fifty, and the Sunday-school connected with the church has one hundred pupils. James C. Hinkson is the present superintendent. The church was incorporated by the court of Delaware County, Nov. 23, 1868.

In 1871 a mission of Siloam Church was established at Chelsea, in a chapel which has been built by Dr. Phineas Price, on the Chester and Concord road, east of the village, many years before. The building was purchased by the congregation of Siloam Church, and was formally dedicated July 22, 1871, Rev. Mr. Lane conducting the services on that occasion.

Schools. - About the beginning of this century Caesar Paschal, a colored servant of Mark Wilcox, owned a tract of ground in the angle formed by the intersection of the Chester and Concord road with the Chichester and Concord road at Corner Catch (Chelsea). He sold an acre of land to a committee for the purpose of erecting thereon a school building. A log house was located in the middle of this lot, so as to afford ample play-ground for the children. How long this building was occupied for school purposes is unknown, but it certainly was not used as such for any considerable length of time, but was sold to Robert R. Hall, who moved the log structure to the roadside and converted it into a dwelling. The premises are now owned by Samuel Regester.

Previous to 1780 a subscription stone school-house was built on the corner of Kirk road, where Thomas Booth's shops now are. John Foulk, Powell Clayton, and another resident of the township whose name is forgotten, were the trustees. At one time Nathaniel Cloud was the teacher, and the mother of Wesley Poole was a pupil under his instruction. The floor of the building was laid in bricks, and was cold and cheerless in the winter days, the roaring wood-fire being insufficient to warm it thoroughly. Powell Clayton, who was the surviving trustee, sold the lot to Isaac Booth, who tore the building down in 1825, but for several years before that date schools had ceased to be held there. In 1824 a school was opened in a stone building erected on a lot purchased from John Larkin, on the Bethel road, east of Booth's Corner, afterwards known as number one public school. It was likewise a subscription school, Nathaniel Larkin, Thomas Booth, and John Larkin being the trustees. Charles Willis was the first teacher there, - and subsequently by George Walters and Adam Mendenhall. In this school-house one United States senator and Governor of Arkansas (Gen. Powell Clayton) and two judges (William Clayton, of the Ninth District Court of Arkansas, and Thomas J. Clayton, president judge of Delaware County) were educated, as were many of the present residents of Bethel. The old building remained until 1868, when it was torn down and the present structure, twenty-eight by thirty-five feet, was erected at a cost of sixteen hundred and sixty-one dollars. Osborn Booth was the builder.

On Sept. 9, 1839, a lot containing fifty-five perches was purchased from Foulk Cloud, at Booth's Corner, for $27.50. (The latter, it will be recalled, while trimming peach-trees at his residence, at Booth's Corner, on the afternoon of Dec. 15, 1870, was stricken with paralysis, and died in a few hours.) On this lot a one-story octagon house was erected and used as a public school for several years, when it was burned. The directors rebuilt it, using the old wall, and it continued in used until 1870, when it was torn down, the present structure, known as school number two, being erected on its site at a cost of seventeen hundred and eighty-nine dollars. Nelson G. Green was the contractor.

On May 22, 1860, a lot containing eighty-four square perches was purchased from Curtis Barlow, on the Bethel Road, a short distance west of Chelsea, and the present school-house, known as number three, erected.

Under the act of 1834 the court appointed in that year Robert McCall and John Larkin inspectors. Following is a list of the school directors of Bethel since 1840: