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Pastoral Records Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church Compiled and Edited by Rev. Norman Carlysle Young, M.Div.; M.Ed. |
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Western PA Conference Predecessors Index of Clergy: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
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MINISTERIAL RECORDS
THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONFERENCE/PREDECESSORS 1825 - 1968
Contained in the single alphabetical roll of this book are the Ministerial Records of all the Methodist Ministers who have served in one of the Western Pennsylvania Methodist Conferences from the time of the creation of the original Pittsburgh Conference in 1825 to 1968.
The following NOTES will help an understanding of these records:
1. MEMOIRS SEARCHED. The memoirs of all Deceased Members published in the annual Journals of each of the Conferences have been read/pertinent data has been included in these records. This is the source of the dates for the life span/for the given names of many of the ministers.
2. CONFERENCE JOURNALS MAJOR PRIMARY SOURCE. The Appointment Lists/the Disciplinary Questions published annually in each of the Conferences are the sources for this information. To make confirmation of this data a researcher will need to go to a file of the Journals for the Conference indicated in the record/for the dates cited.
3. PASTORAL TENURE IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The numerous Appointments of the ministers of the Pittsburgh/Erie Conferences during the nineteenth century are accounted for by the limitation on ministerial tenure in one appointment thin prevailed in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Until 1864 the allowable period in an appointment was two years. This was increased to three years from 1864 to 1888/to five years from 1888 to 1900 when the limitation was removed.
4. Methodist Episcopal Erie Conference MINISTERIAL RECORDS. The Methodist Episcopal Erie Conference Ministerial Records have been published eight times in 1866, 1870, 1898, 1911, 1927, 1936, 1957 and 1961 the record being updated with each publication. For this publication all former Methodist Episcopal Erie Conference records have been updated to 1968/the entire list has been re-typed with the dining made consecutive/life spans/given names added where they were obtainable from the memoirs.
In the case of transfers of ministers to or from Methodist Episcopal Erie Conference in many cases the Appointments in the other Conferences are given. The Secretaries of the Conference who compiled the lists derived this information from a file of The General Minutes.
5. METHODIST EPISCOPAL PITTSBURGH CONFERENCE AND METHODIST MINISTERIAL RECORDS. This is the first publication of the total roll of the Pittsburgh Conference. Reynolds’s Manual of the Pittsburgh Conference contains the appointment record of the ministers living in 1889/1927. It also contains the Classes of ministers admitted to the Conference year by year from 1825 to 1927/a listing of the appointments made by the Conference for the entire period 1825-1927. It was an indispensable resource in compiling these records.
The records of the charter Members of the original Conference of 1825 are traced back to the beginning of their ministry using the records of The General Minutes.
In most instances the Appointments of ministers who transferred into or out of the Pittsburgh Conference are only given while they were in the Pittsburgh Conference. Conference Relations are given for other Conferences as far as they were available.
6. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE RELATIONS. The Pittsburgh/Erie Methodist Episcopal Conferences had two levels of Conference Membership/two levels of ordination. In the earlier years a candidate for the ministry would be admitted on Trial assigned to the first year in the Course of Study/placed in an appointment. In the satisfactory completion of the first two years of the four-year Course of Study with satisfactory reports on his ministry by the Presiding Elder he would be admitted into Full Membership in the Conference/be ordained Deacon. In the completion of the Full Course of Study he would be ordained Elder. This procedure was modified in the twentieth century, as increasingly higher levels of academic training were required.
The names following the dates of ordinations in these records are the names of the Bishops who ordained the candidates.
7. TERMINATION OF CONFERENCE MEMBERSHIP. Once a man was admitted on Trial in any Methodist Annual Conference the Conference was responsible for his employment in the annual Appointments. He could be discontinued from being "on Trial". When he attained "Full Membership" status his Conference Relation could be terminated in any of the following ways:
A. By Transfer to another annual conference. B. By Voluntary Location. This meant the surrender of his conference Membership at his own request. C. By Involuntary Location. This meant dismissal from the ministry by Conference action. D. By Withdrawal. This meant surrendering the Methodist ministry to enter another denomination usually ministry. E. By Expulsion. This was Conference action stripping a man of his ministerial credentials/his Membership in the Methodist Church. F. By Death.
8. THE METHODIST PROTESTANT RECORDS. This was a difficult list to compile. The Conference never published anything on ministerial records. The name "Methodist Protestant" in the Conference Relations section of the record identifies these persons. A special research group headed by Norman Carlisle Young compiled these records by a careful reading of the Journals/appointment lists from 1828-1939.
All men are listed as "ministers" who served one or more Appointments in the Methodist Protestant Conference whether they achieved Membership in the Conference or not.
9. USE OF THE TERMS "SUPERNUMERARY"/"SUPERANANUINED." A. A man could be granted the Supernumerary relationship/be left without appointment for impaired health or other legitimate reasons without surrendering his ministry in the conference for a period of several years. When a man took this relation it is entered in the list of his Appointments: in these records. B. "Superannuated" = "Retired". This is a relationship granted by the Conference in which the Conference is released from the requirement to give the man an appointment. In these records it is entered only in the Conference Relations UNLESS the man took one or more Appointments after retirement in which case it is entered in the proper place in the record of Appointments.
10. THE SUPPLY MINISTRY. Since the Conference is not under mandate to account for the appointment of Supply Ministers the Conference Records on these useful servants of the Church are incomplete. There were few Supply Pastors in the Methodist ministry during the nineteenth century when the Course of Study route into conference Membership was open. With the rising ministerial education requirements of the twentieth century the number of Supply Pastors in Pittsburgh/Erie Conferences increased greatly.
The only Supply Pastors included in these records are the following groups: A. All who were on the conference roll of Appointments in 1968. B. The retired Supply Pastors on the conference roll in 1968. C. The Methodist Protestant ministers who never achieved conference Membership. D. The Supply years of those who went on to become Conference Members are accounted for.
Editorial Note: In this edition we have added the Supply Pastors and their Appointments, which were omitted from the 1968 edition.
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