Marvel Methodist Church History

(Note: The information in this article came from conversations with longtime church members, earlier histories written by Ruth Candelaria and others, and church records.) 

 

            Shall we gather at the river? . . .

            Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

            The beautiful, beautiful river,

            Gather with the saints at the river

            That flows by the throne of God.

                    (popular turn of the century hymn)

 

    In 1899 most of the land lying between the Ute Line, just south of the Fort Lewis Cavalry Post, and the New Mexico State line was opened for homesteading. Among the first settlers to this area of La Plata County were W. Hanford Miller, Ray Miller, John Greer, A.C. Mohney, Henry Halls, and Joshua Henderson along with their families.

    As early as 1908, Rev. R. U. Waldraven, a Methodist Presiding Elder from Farmington, NM, rode horseback up the La Plata River into Colorado, holding revival services among the new settlers. Rev. Bundy, also from Farmington, held services, too. During this time, several in the greater Marvel area organized the first Methodist Church, meeting in various homes and in an arbor at the old Maude Grommett home, later the Brant Baird home. (Located in front of where the County Shop is now in Marvel). Two Presiding Elders from Farmington, R.U. Waldraven and Rev. Bundy, preached occasionally. Also, Rev. George Compton, a Free Methodist minister, living at La Plata, NM, preached for a while.

    Harry H. Greer wrote his memories of the early road system in a 1984 document:

    The old government road ran from old Fort Lewis southwesterly to the area of the Colorado-New Mexico state line on the La Plata River and was probably first used as a route for repelling the Navajo and Ute Indians in New Mexico. It ran along the La Plata near where the present highway now runs but climbed out of the valley near where the Long Hollow Mill now stands.

    It ran northeasterly to about where Pete Campbell lived passing Redmesa on the east, then branched, one road leading to Ft. Lewis passing west of Johnnie Schmitt’s, the other going down the hill near where Marion Stevens lived, crossing the La Plata River and going up Alkali for several miles, then northwest for several miles. Then down a very steep narrow road into Cherry Creek near where Brant Baird lived, then up Cherry Creek, and through Thompson Park to the Mancos-Durango road on to Mancos. There was no road through lower Cherry Creek until many years later.

    In 1985 Harry H. Greer, at the time an active church member in his eighties, was interviewed for a church history by Ruth Candelaria. He remembered being baptized in the La Plata River near Red Mesa in 1908. The baptismal record was signed by Rev. Waldravan, but Harry said he was baptized by Rev. Jesse Johnson, who was only nineteen years old. Others were also baptized at that time and it is to that gathering of believers we date the official beginning of the Marvel Methodist Church.

    Members were received either by certificate, baptism, or vows on July 28, 1908, by Rev. R.W. Waldraven and Jesse S. Johnson. The next recorded name is not added until July 7, 1914. The list was revised in May of 1915 with only twenty on the list. The initial members are listed in the order and spelled the way they are in the Register: J.W. Greer, Hannah J. Greer, Henry Hall, J. F. Brunner, S.R. Brunner, Leona Brunner, Mable Greer, Lille Eggleston, Lucile Greer, Grace Miller, Will Freeman, Addie Freeman, Elizabeth Hall, Walter Neil, Lou Neil, Burnie Johnson, Loyd Jesse Neil, Marie Townsend, Isaac Millard, Addie Tunnell, William Barr, Mary Jane Barr, Charles Wesley Tunnel, Mrs. R. R. Lockhart, Harry H. Greer, Ernest E. Wanemaker, Harry L. Rowe, James L. Fry, Mrs. James L. Fry, Beulah Fry, Ray Fry, Mathias F. Rowe, Mrs. Myrtle Lyke, Mrs. Myrtle Rowe, Mrs. Mary Wanemaker, W. Hanford Miller, Mrs. Jennie Wanemaker, N.D. Wanemaker, Mrs. C. H. Ray, Mrs. Flora E. Ray, Mr. E. S. Mohney, Mrs. Mary Mahoney, Mr. F. H. Mahoney, Mr. J. H. Trout, Mrs. M. E. Trout, Miss Ethel Bruner, Myrtle Bruner, Mr. Joshua Henderson, and Mrs. Mary E. Henderson. 

    Harry said services were held in homes and later in the school on School House Hill, a half mile south of the Greer Ranch, until a church building was built. He remembered an arbor was built in about the center of what is now the town of Marvel, and services were held there during the summers. Adolph Grommet and Maude Miller were married in the school house while it was being used as a church.

    Art Greer and Bill Rowe’s grandfather, Matthias Rowe, who moved here in 1902, built the first church which was in Church Hollow. It was non-denominational.     The Church Hollow area was supposed to be the site of Marvel, but the town organizers couldn’t get the land. A lot of people went together and built the Methodist Church in Church Hollow. Both churches were moved to Marvel eventually, the Methodist to its present location. Elsie Schmitt’s parents, John X and Annette Smith, bought the non-denominational one (which had become the Four Square Church in Marvel) and remodeled it. It is currently (2008) Tom Herrera’s place.

    An early resident of the Church Hollow area, Ora Campbell Gingrich (Peggy Frame’s great aunt), remembers hearing church services coming from both churches simultaneously. One nice Sunday morning she reported hearing the Methodists singing, "Will there be any stars in my crown?" and the answer (it seemed) coming from the other church’s window: "No, not one. No, not one.” Peggy says she’s sure this story is true because her aunt wasn’t the type to tell a story just to get a laugh. Others have reported hearing the same story over the years.

    It was in 1912 that the men of the church erected the first Methodist church building three-quarters of a mile west of the present site of Marvel which was not a town at that time. The new church was at Church Hollow, so called because of the two churches there. The first Methodist Church building was promoted by John W. Greer (who donated building materials), with labor and financial help from Fred Hall, Ed Phillips, Mr. McKelvey, Jim Fry, Hanford Miller, Ray Miller, Frank Greer, and probably others.

    The new church building also served as a school. In 1913 Minnie Wyatt came to be the first teacher. Her pupils included Harry Greer, Tom Greer, and Ed Kennedy. Also, a young man named Harry Rowe was one of her students; romance blossomed and they married. The first wedding in the new building, however, was that of Arthur Greer and Irene Rowe on Dec. 20, 1914. They were attended by Harry Rowe and Minnie Wyatt. Harry and Minnie were married March 30, 1915, by Rev. Jesse Johnson.

    A farm house, owned by Mrs. Don Roberts, was bought and moved to the Church Hollow site for a parsonage. It was later moved to Marvel with the church, and an addition was built on to it there. It was the residence of Meredith Edinger (a former pastor’s wife) until her death in 2007. Rev. Fred A. Bond was probably the first minister to live in the parsonage. He and his buggy became a familiar sight in the area. Rev. Lindsey and Rev. Compton are mentioned in an early history as being among the first ministers, but it is not known if they lived in the community.

    The name of the early church was Marvel Methodist Episcopal Church South. (Note: In 1968 the United Methodist Church was formed with the union of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, necessitating a name change for all Methodist churches.) The Marvel Church was linked with the LaPlata, Farmington, and Aztec churches in New Mexico, all of them in the Denver Conference. Sometime during this period, Arthur Greer preached at Marvel, La Plata, and Hesperus, although he was not an ordained minister. In 1918 and 1919, Sam Hammond and Hanford Miller were mentioned as resident pastors. Bill Rowe’s mother, Minnie, was baptized there as an infant. Later she taught Sunday school. Minnie and Frank Greer (Pat’s father) sang at all the funerals.

    In 1918 or 1919 John Greer, Arthur Greer, Frank Greer, Mike Atencio (who was 18 or 19 at the time), Ed Miller, and some others used stump pullers, bridge planks, and teams of horses to move the Church Hollow buildings to the new town of Marvel, onto land donated by Ray Miller. Marvel had been platted as a town in 1915 and occupied as a town in 1915-16. 

    It was quite a feat to move the building with bridge planks, wheels, and a stump puller. It was on the west side of the Hollow, and Mike Atencio said that it took them three days to get it up from the bottom of the Hollow to the top. Frances Kennedy, daughter of Ray Miller, remembered that the teacher let the children out of school in Marvel so they could watch the church being moved to its new location. (For more on how this move was accomplished, see Pat Greer’s article on p.   ).

    (Note: Harry G. Greer says there used to be a gravel pit in Church Hollow where Rusty Greer’s property currently is. The road across the Hollow wasn’t built up by the county until the gravel pit was opened, so before that the road was quite steep. He remembers the school bus used to stop at the bottom of the hill to let him and the other kids out there to walk the rest of the way into Marvel because it couldn’t get up the grade. LaVerne Atencio Pulliam remembers that road provided a good sledding hill for kids from the Marvel area.)

    The church building was enlarged about sixteen feet in length in the 1920’s, and a vestibule was added in 1952. The building was reroofed in 1953, under the direction of Rev. Frary, and extensive remodeling and redecorating was done at that time. The name was changed to Marvel Methodist Church and it was incorporated. Aside from the removal of partitions and the addition of sliding doors in the Sunday School rooms, a changeover from coal stove to gas furnace heat, and an outside paint job, which was accomplished in the early 1960’s, nothing more was done to the church. Bill Rowe remembers Nick Schmitt kept repainting the door--4 or 5 times--because the paint just soaked into the old wood. His grandson, Nick R. Schmitt, remembers being in the old church and keeping warm by the two potbellied stoves.

    Ruth Candelaria painted a picture of the old church building which hangs in the current building. Rev. Edinger made a wooden replica of the church (which we still have) to take to the first Ground Hog Dinner to help raise money for the new building. (See following article on the building of the current church.)