Our History

*A history steeped in love of agriculture and for our veterans from the Revolutionary War to current conflicts*

WEST TOWNSHIP, COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO

and 
THE STORY OF MOULTRIE CHAPEL AND MOULTRIE CEMETERY

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The story of Moultrie Chapel cannot be told without telling about the settling of
West Township. It was those settlers who came here as early as 1803 and brought with them the determination to make this lovely area their home.  By 1816 the township in the southwestern corner of Columbiana County was organized with thirty-six sections, and its name was West.

The bordering townships to the north were Knox and to the east  Hanover. One of the earliest pioneers was Michael Sanor, a Revolutionary Soldier, who served under Washington, who with his family, settled in 1804, in section two. The oldest hamlet was New Alexander, near where Sanor
and John Ruff settled, platted about 1812.

Other early settlers in the township were, Henry King, David Smith, William Harrison, Nathan Pine, Phillip Woolf, Joseph Summers, Lewis McCoy, John Hahn, and many names such as Zepernick, Lower, Foulks, Messimore, Emmons, Preston, Coulson and Wickersham were early land owners. Most of the settlers were of German, English, and Irish background and came from parts of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They came to start a life with land that they could farm. They found the soil tillable and suitably drained. The gentle roll of undulating fields, some hilly, but not too hilly appealed to them.

To this day, agricultural industry is a large part of West Township. These people endured hardships of clearing, building and farming with the simplest of tools and means but it instilled in them a stronger sense of going forward and having communities grow.

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While all this was going on schools were built, small one room buildings, there were fourteen schools at one point early in the township, they were reduced to nine, the first being built in 1812 in section thirty-five, with Nathan Pine, the school master. It was a common practice that the school also served as a church meeting place. In 1816 a log school house was built in the Sanor neighborhood. By 1905, nine names with the last of them closing in 1950 (Bunker Hill) when the West Local School was opened in East Rochester were: Sugar Grove, Chestnut Knob, Bunker Hill, Sliver Creek, Wild Duck, Green Hill, Bayard, East Rochester, and Moultrie. West Local School joined Minerva Local Schools in 1956, and became West Elementary and served the West township school families until it was closed in 2009. The school  district is all housed in the village of Minerva currently. 

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By 1842, John Hime (Helm), born Oct. 4th 1823 in Gilford Township, Franklin
County, PA came to West township in 1840 with other family members and settled in section 8, which was called Hahn's section. His family bought 72 acres, which one acre became home to a small log cabin church, called Hime's Church and the first burial was of John Hahn in 1842, which was the beginning of the Moultrie Chapel and Cemetery. Over the years it has expanded into sixteen 'a~res and the township trustees recently bought a five acre field to the west. The log cabin, Hime Church, was replaced in 1873. Three societies or denominations, Presbyterian, Lutheran and German Reform had the premises deeded to them by John Hime to hold services. In the course over years the 

congregations dwindled away, the 

Reformed people holding out a little longer than the others. But finally abandoned holding public services, and the building passed practically in disuse. 

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Then in 1893, the current chapel was erected. The chapel was built directly  to the east of the old smaller building,  then the older building was torn down.  The chapel was at first called a union chapel but no church was ever housed in it, was used for mostly for funerals, and the Memorial Day Service held on Memorial. 

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Just to the west of the chapel and cemetery at the site of the railroad and Middle B Creek, in 1851 a survey was made and on February 7, 1853, the hamlet of Moultrie has laid out in sections seven and eight. John Foulks was the proprietor of the lands, and it 
comprised of twenty-four lots. J. G. Willard was the surveyor. The hamlet over the years had a train station, dry  goods store, mill, blacksmith shop, wagon shop, other houses and a red brick school. 

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When the hamlet began to thrive after being named Moultrie, the new chapel and the cemetery took on its name and left Hime church title. Moultrie had a post office that lasted until 1945, when the mail then was carried from Minerva.  The school closed in 1943. The train station and many other buildings are gone.  Three houses remain and the old red brick Moultrie school by the railroad and Middle Branch Creek. 

Daniel Webster Crist was a farmer and a songwriter. He lived just a short distance from Moultrie cemetery to the east. He became quite noted for his pieces of music and songs were sold in New York and many places. In fact so many hundreds of pieces of mail left the Moultrie post office that someone from the federal office in Washington, DC was sent to investigate. He had a music store at Moultrie, and in 1898, he moved his small house to the other side of the state route, and built a 
beautiful house, paying for it from the sales of one song, with money left over, as the story goes! 

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This large home now belongs to Dale and Lana Lowmiller and has to be maintained and restored to original grandeur. (The Lowmiller family came from Harrison County, Ohio to Moultrie  in 1942.) D. W. Crist later left Moultrie and moved to Alliance. He served as an Ohio State Representative. He and many family members are buried at Moultrie. It was under his prompting and financial help and others that the new chapel was erected in 1893. 

The 1893 Moultrie Chapel stands alone behind a row of stately old maple trees.  It is about fifty-five by seventy feet in size. It comprises of two large sets of doors between a centered window in the front facing south. Each set of doors has two doors that swing in and out. The doors are topped with decorative stoops consisting of gingerbread and fret work, and slate roofs. Above each door set is a massive half window set in three panels. The east and west walls each have five very large windows with four over four wavy glass panes. The end to the north has two matching windows making a total of thirteen. In the front gable there is a smaller double window that goes into the attic area. At one time it had a bell and bell tower.  
The bell tower was damaged in a storm and the tower roof, bell and sides were removed in the early 1950's. The bottom portion of the bell tower remains today, at the front of the chapel just above the small double windows on the slate roof. The entire roof is covered in a blue gray pink slate with a decorative pattern. The twelve-twelve pitched roof catches ones eye has you drive east or west on St Rte 172. The whole building is white painted narrow wood clap-sided. The gables are fancy scalloped wood siding. The windows to the west still have the wooden shutters on them, the others have fallen away to time gone. As one goes into the building the beautiful natural wood ceiling is high above with slanted slope to the walls in patterned sections. The pews are made from solid walnut, a large section in the center, and two smaller sections at each side, with two aisles leading to the front, where there is a raised platform taking up two thirds of the north end. It has furniture of two chairs, one settee and a podium, all matching from turn of the century era. The old Wright piano in the east corner completes the only other pieces in the building. The entire interior is surrounded by four foot high 
wainscoting made from hardwoods. Originally the remainder of the walls were plaster and painted, but in the 1960's the township trustees covered the plaster with paneling to hide the crumpling areas of plaster. It is the only thing that was added since it was built.  The pews will hold over 300 people and the acoustics within the building are wonderful! The lighting from the windows is very soft, it does have electric and six lights hang down from the ceiling. It has one outlet! There is no heat and no plumping. Years ago, there were two out houses, some distance away from the chapel, to the east by another grove of old maple trees. There is one now located just behind the chapel, in the east corner. 

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Churches were built in nearby little hamlets, New Alexander, East Rochester, Bayard, and even in Chambersburg, there was the Disciples of Church, before it dismantled and became Greeley Grange. The Moultrie Chapel was used mostly for funeral services and Memorial Day. 

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After the Civil War, the Veterans came and organized the first of those Decoration Day Services. It had been started in Waterloo, NY, on May 5,1866 after the Civil War. In 1868, General John Logan named May 30 as Decoration Day. It became a tradition mostly in the northern states. In 1896, the Honorable B.F. Weybrecht of Alliance, accepted the invitation from the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic to deliver the speech at the 
dedication of the Civil War Soldier monument at Moultrie Chapel. John Foulks and his five brothers had served in the Civil War from West Township.  John Foulks led the project of buying the Civil War Monument. A pink granite monument that the East Rochester Methodist church bought and had at their site in East Rochester of the ten men killed in WWII, was moved to Moultrie Chapel in 1970's. Both granite monuments are in the front to the west of the chapel. A large painted board of those who served in WWII made in 1944 by the West Township Trustees, under direction of Lawrence Walter, went into storage for many years and then was restored and bought to stand on the east side of the chapel in the 1980's. Dessert Storm Roster of those from West Township stands beside it. In 2000, the Tjaatje DeWitt Chapter of the National Society of Colonial Dames unveiled a plaque designing Moultie Chapel as the site of Memorial Day services held over one hundred years. As time went on, The Grand Army of the Republic gave way, and the Sons of the Civil War Veterans kept the tradition of the "Decoration Day" on the 30th of May over the years, until shortly after WWI, the West Township Memorial Association was formed to continue this honored service paying tribute to those soldiers who gave their lives serving our country. 

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Township residents, Walter Whiteleather and Walter Bates were two of the charter members, both being sons of Civil War veterans. In 1971, the federal government ruled Memorial Day a national holiday to be observed the last Monday in May. The observing of Memorial Day at Moultrie has been an annual ongoing May event since 1868. The people come mostly from the township, but also from other distances to pay their respect to those who did not get to come home from the wars fought for our country. Prior to the day, a steady stream of cars and trucks come to this old burial ground. They come to plant geraniums and other colorful flowers on graves of loved ones. They weed and clean up the headstones and share stories of this one and that one to their children. The West Township Trustees do their part in making sure the cemetery, not only at Moultrie but at Quaker Ridge near East Rochester, and New Alexander, McKinley (also known as Plains) near Bayard, and Chambersburg gets mowed and groomed. The West Township Memorial Association holds meetings to organize the service that begins at two in the afternoon and consists of outdoor and indoor portions. They have ordered flags and placed them the day before on all the veterans in all the five township cemeteries. There is a march to decorate the graves of soldiers with fresh cut flowers that have not been decorated. American Legion Don V. Cross Minerva Post 357 is the honor guard and firing squad. Taps are played by a band member. A fifth grader from West Township recites the Gettysburg Address, after working hard at memorizing it for weeks. For years the Minerva High School band played patriotic selections, the Minerva Community Band under the direction of Derrick Maxey now provides music. The indoor service has special music performed by a guest or a group. Each year a speaker is sought out to give a meaningful message about the meaning of Memorial Day and why we come to observe it. The old doors are flung open, the walnut pews have been dusted off and the windows are cleaned and people come to hear. There have been stories of soldiers who served and didn't come home. The old chapel holds those who come, each year, and new ones, too, that know it is the right thing to do, to remember Memorial Day and all those who lost their lives so our country would have freedoms. It is a serious, and humbling experience. Veterans in attendance are recognized. The old piano plays three or four tunes, such as "My Country Tis of Thee," "America," or "Count Your Blessings" for the congregation to sing with gusto at the conclusion of the indoor program. With closing invocation they exit to find ice cream being passed to enjoy while they visit with old friends and neighbors that have come to observe Memorial Day at Moultrie Chapel for the current year! Some say it is a service like no other, but Moultrie Chapel is a special place. Many people have loved ones buried here. There are over two-hundred fifty veterans interred from war of 1812 to present time. 

(Revolutionary War veterans lay in rest at the other older cemeteries in West 
Township. ) It is a quaint setting and it has deep rooted feelings held by many that go back to those settlers who first came here to make this area the place they called home. This connection with the past gives us a promise for today which instills in us the dreams for our tomorrows.

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Moultrie Chapel Restoration Project Update:

The association has depleted the tax exempt donations and are in need of $5,000 more to cover the last expenses on the repairs to the Chapel. 

Some before and after photos to front and back are attached. 

List of things done:
All slate and roof trim has been fixed.
Bell tower base totally done over. Note photo of rotten boards filled with bird nests taken down from bell tower.
Chimney top repair.
All rotten boards removed from south peak.
Painted south and north ends (front and back) much scraping and prep work was involved.
Front doors have been restored, new thresholds .

Now, next week the new top windows and new siding will be placed in the high gable in the front above doors. Corner trim on all four corners will also be placed, along with trim around window between doors! This is the part funds are needed. Any amount will be appreciated!

Thank you to all who have donated, it is an on going project! We still need the two sides repaired and painted, hopefully next spring we will have funds for that. I appreciate all who care about our beautiful old Moultrie Chapel, thank you, Shirley Whiteleather Fox, West Twp Memorial Association