The Rev. M. M. Pugh writes:
“They made an unsuccessful effort to appropriate our church in Arrow Rock. The Rev. Mr. Hagerty, one of the most active men in this church-seizing business, made a visit to that place for the purpose of making that church the property of his organization. Our friends watched him closely, and he signally failed.
“They also tried to seize our church in California. I believe they were persuaded to desist in this case. Our church in Warrensburg was burned. I do not know the particulars. So, also, was our church in Miami, but we do not know by whom it was set on fire.”
Church in Lagrange.
In 1838 two lots in the town of Lagrange, Lewis county, Mo., were deeded to B. W. Stith, C. S. Skinner, John Lafon, Middleton Smoot and others, trustees, for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as then constituted. In the following year a small brick house was erected on the lots and used by the Church in an unfinished condition until 1844. It was then finished, and upon the division of the Church passed into the hands and ownership of the M. E. Church, South. The membership in 1845 voted to adhere South, with only three or four dissenting voices, and they acquiesced in the will of the majority and remained in the Southern Church until after the repudiation of the Plan of Separation by the General Conference of 1848. Up to that time the Northern Church attempted no organization in Lagrange. But soon after that event the Church North sent a Rev. Mr. Chivington (the same who made himself notorious a few years ago in the indiscriminate massacre of Indians near Fort Union) to that place. He sought and obtained permission to preach in the church. After sermon he organized a class of seven members, and publicly thanked the members of the M. E. Church, South, for the use of their house.
The members of the Church North recognized the validity of the decisions of the courts in the Maysville, Ky., and New York and Cincinnati church property cases, and set up no claim whatever to the property in Lagrange, or elsewhere in Missouri, until after the beginning of the war.
In 1853 the old church was displaced by a new and a more commodious structure, erected and paid for by the members and friends of the M. E. Church, South, at a cost of over $6,000. In this the M. E. Church, North, took no part, paid no money and claimed no interest. In 1863, ten years thereafter, a Rev. Mr. Stewart was sent to Lagrange by the M. E. Church, North. This man professed great friendship for Southern Methodists, and made himself free and easy in their homes. The church was only occupied two Sabbaths in the month, and Mr. Stewart applied for the use of it when it was unoccupied. To this the owners objected at first. Mr. Stewart was offered the use of the German Methodist Church, but it did not suit his purpose, and he urged his application for the Southern Methodist Church. It was objected to by a large number of the members upon the ground that other churches in the State had been seized and possessed by them, some in one way and some in another, and they feared this might be a ruse de guerre. Mr. Stewart finally pledged his honor as a Christian gentleman and minister to return the key every week to the trustees. This he did regularly until January, 1865, when his quarterly meeting was held in the Church, and the Quarterly Conference appointed a board of trustees and authorized them to hold possession of the property. Upon this action Rev. Mr. Stewart went out in town, purchased a lock, employed a carpenter and had it put on in place of the old one. He could then return both lock and key with impunity.
The trustees thus raised and authorized to act for the M. E. Church served the following notice on the trustees of the M. E. Church, South:
“Lagrange, Lewis County, Mo., Feb. 13, 1865.
“To John Munn, J. C. Goodrich and others, Trustees of M. E. Church, South: