Secluded Ebenezer Chapel Celebrates Its 164th  Year

Ebenezer Chapel

Founded in 1858, Ebenezer Chapel’s
past glories have been celebrated just once a year by families and friends
gathering from near and far over Memorial Day weekend for more than half a
century. The historic chapel and cemetery are located northwest of Golden in
Adams County, Illinois. Unlike the surrounding flat fertile prairie land, the
setting for Ebenezer Chapel and neighboring cemetery is gently rolling hills crowned
by tall stately trees. The rural setting is almost two miles from the nearest
highway with access only via unpaved roads.

Ebenezer
Chapel Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was active for almost a
century before merging with nearby Centennial Methodist Church in 1955. The combined
congregations now hold services at the Centennial location except for the
Sunday before Memorial Day, when Ebenezer Chapel is again filled with people.
Many relatives and friends of former Chapel members join the Centennial
congregation in the Chapel’s annual revival.

Roy L.
Sharrow wrote in his

Some Ebenezer
History

for the Annual Home-Coming on August 31, 1941: “On the fifth day of
October, 1858, George W. Foss, deputy surveyor for the county of Adams,
surveyed a tract of land in section 16, belonging to William Willard, for the
purpose of transferring it over to a society known as the Ebenezer Chapel
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. . . . This tract of land, which
includes the churchyard and the old cemetery, was deeded to the Ebenezer Society
in consideration for one dollar, with this one condition: (these are the words
as they are written in the deed)___ ‘This conveyance however is made upon this
express condition, that said Trustees, not their successors, nor any person, or
persons for, and on their behalf, shall not convey, nor incumber said premises;
and in case they do sell, or attempt to sell, convey, or incumber the same, or
any part thereof, then in that case the whole of the premises, hereby conveyed,
shall revert back to the said William Willard, his heirs, executors,
administrators, or assignees; and is further conditioned that such portion of
said premises, as laid out for a cemetery, shall forever be, and remain, free
for any, and all who wish to bury their dead therein.’”

Sharrow
continued: “The framework of the church was made by the pioneers by the sweat
of their brows and prayers, as they hewed them out of the timber which stood nearby.
Today the marks of their adzes (similar to an axe), as we climb the loft to
see, still remain as living testimony of the faith they had in man, in their
country, and in their Creator.”

Founding
community members and descendants laid to rest soon occupied most of the
available plots. In response in 1893, Sharrow further wrote “a new society was
formed, known as the Ebenezer Burial Ground Association, with John C. Pearce,
John W. Suter, and F.M. Stahl as trustees. They purchased a tract of land north
of the old cemetery, laid it out in lots 10 feet x 20 feet, and sold them at
$7.50 per lot to anyone who wanted a place to bury their dead.”

“In the year
1925, by an order of the court, the management of both the old and new yards
were placed under one set of trustees, consisting of three members; H.F.
Willard, president, Roy L. Sharrow, secretary-treasurer, George Cook, trustee.”

By 1982 the
Chapel building needed repair for continued use. During a church conference the
Centennial Ebenezer congregation agreed to receive one dollar for the transfer
of the property, building, and grounds to the newly organized Ebenezer Chapel
and Burial Society, a non-profit corporation registered with the State of
Illinois. Every year since, the Society has organized the preparations for the
Sunday service before Memorial Day, with a Cleaning Day during the preceding
week. Cleaners are reminded to bring non-electric tools as no electricity is
available. Neither is running water.

Historical
documents, flags, banners, and church bulletins with hymnal music to distribute
all have to be brought in for the service. The tune-challenged piano is one of
the few pieces of furniture that keep company with the pews and pulpit. The
remnants of two large pot belly stoves that were situated about half way back
on both side walls are surrounded by U shaped pews. The two separate stoves and
warm-up areas accommodated the earlier practice of separate seating for men and
women. The hymn of preparation is often

We Are The Church

. The lyric, “The church is not a building,” is a
poignant reminder that church is the community of people who join together to
share a common faith. After the service, most of the out-of-town visitors join
local family members to visit the graves of relatives and friends. Numerous
out-of-state car license plates attest to the long pilgrimages of many visitors.

Inside the
Chapel conversations bounced freely off the bare wooden floor and the almost
totally bare walls, but when the pews fill, joyful noises of greetings and
chatter fill the air. Before one recent service during a heavy thunder storm,
an elderly woman asked several times for someone to turn the lights on, but her
neighbor gently reminded her that the nearest electric lights available were on
the cars outside.

The annual
Board meeting of the Society after the service concludes the weekend. Members
review past accomplishments and begin preparations for the coming year. An
early accomplishment was getting the Chapel’s rich history and distinctive vernacular
Greek Revival design architecture, recognized in 1984 by the National Register
of Historic Places.

The Chapel
and the Cemetery are maintained by donations from the descendants of those
buried in the cemetery. Anyone who makes an annual donation is entitled to be a
voting member of the Society and is invited to attend the annual meeting. Each
annual revival relives and adds to the Chapel and Cemetery’s rich and heartwarming
history.

Rudy Ray Seward is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of North Texas, Denton. He grew up in Quincy. Histories of families and countries has always been an interest.

Sources:

“Ebenezer Cemetery.”

“Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Chapel and Cemetery.”

“Some Ebenezer History by Roy L. Sharrow at the Annual
Home-Coming August 31, 1941”

Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Chapel and Cemetery

Ebenezer Chapel Interior