FIRST CONGREGATIONAL HAS RICH HISTORY

The Saginaw News – MLive.com
Saturday, October 04, 2008
MI

Imagine a church charging its members yearly pew space rentals and
creating a "committee on discipline" in an attempt to rein in unruly
parishioners.

The same church, of a Congregational bent, hiring a pastor whose Quaker
wife decided sex education classes are in order for its youths —
this back in 1932.

Same church: A minister ending up serving jail time when he irked the
sheriff … a Sunday service given over to toe-tapping Dixieland music
… supporting a missionary who single-handedly defied the Turkish
Army in the late 1800s during a murderous rage against Armenians.

No, this is not overblown fiction but instead fascinating reality —
and the topic of Jean R. Beach’s newest book, "In Times of Sorrow and
In Times of Joy: The History of Saginaw’s First Congregational Church"
(184 pages, $10).

Released this week, "In Time" documents through interviews and records
the 150 years of the church’s history.

And First Congregational, South Jefferson at Hayden, is not just
any old church. From the beginning and continuing today, it is The
Church for many prominent and influential Saginawians. And then as
now, from its inner city location, it remains one of the most active
congregations in terms of serving the underserved.

It was the church where Beach, 78, grew up, though she is no longer
a member. "You went every Sunday back then, whether you wanted to
or not."

And as the historian that she is, when she realized the church was
celebrating its 150th anniversary, she volunteered to write its
official history.

"Who says history has to be boring," quips Beach, who lives in Saginaw
Township. "And Saginaw history is so interesting anyway.

"The church has a safe that was filled with minutes from board of
trustees meetings, records of all kinds, scrapbooks with newspaper
clippings.

"And then on top of that I interviewed anybody I could think of in
the congregation who is a good storyteller. Two of them were over
100 years old and sharp as a tack — Florence G. Smith was 106 and
Katherine Kelley Gaul 100. The two of them knew where everyone was
buried, so to speak."

Beach, an artist as well as author, created the artwork for the cover
and arranged its chapters by pastors and their years of service.

Here’s a bit of trivia: The congregation’s first building, a small
wooden structure, stood where The Saginaw News stands today. It
opened its doors in 1860 and cost $4,400 to build because the members
constructed it themselves.

In 1868 the current Italianate church rose, at a cost of $66,400 —
and in 1972 was nearly lost during a fire.

Over those years those church records show services mourning the
assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, McKinley and Kennedy.

Still sung today is a Communion hymn written 100 years ago by Alice
Freeman Palmer, a former Saginaw High School principal who went on
to become the first woman president of a major college (Wellesley
in Massachusetts).

And this is an arts-intense church along with its social
services. Poetry, lavish pageants, an art contest and collection,
the formation of the New Reformation Dixieland Band, lectures and a
classical Musical Arts Series are all part of its history.

Beach says her research surprised even her, showing how forward
thinking some of the early ministers were and how devoted they were
to ecumenical ventures in Saginaw.

That 1870s "committee on discipline," by the way, "did not go down
well with members. One even quit over it."

Beach calls the book a two-year labor of love. "I hope it becomes
a useful tool for people in the future — to learn what the church
stands for and the people that were a part of it."

Beach also has penned "A Century on Canvas: The Lives and Work of
Julia and Henry Roecker," and with Patricia Shek compiled "Saginaw
Cooks," a history of recipes.

She is working on a history of the Sheplers Mackinaw Island Ferry
company.

Copies of "In Times" are on sale at the First Congregational Church
office.