A Sick Child in the Gaulke Family

In February of 1903, it was reported that Albert Gaulke's youngest child was sick with both pneumonia and spinal meningitis. This child was Esther Gaulke. She did recover from this illness, but she died later in the year from another childhood ailment.

Lewis Chapel Methodist Church

Lewis Chapel Methodist Church was organized at Chuckery, Ohio circa 1858 by Rev. F. F. Lewis who was then a pastor of the Milford Center Circuit. (Beers, Union County History, p. 237) The earliest members being Elihu Bigelow and wife Miriam, Mrs. Hiram Kent, James McCloud, and Joel Fairbanks.

This small white framed church faced east to Route 38 very near the intersection of Route 161. Until maybe the 1970’s, the concrete slab and steps to the church were still in the field. (As I grew up, those steps looked strange until I found out that they were the entrance to the old Lewis Chapel Methodist church.) After the church was dissolved, the building was sold and moved about a mile south. This frame church building became incorporated into a dairy barn on Gearhart Rausch’s farm (present day farmed by Carlton Rausch). That land where the church stood was returned to farmland.

In 1900 the Milford Center Circuit included Unionville Center, Lewis Chapel, Rosedale, and Irvin’s Station. In 1883, the pastor was Rev. C. A. Naylor; that had a membership of about 50 people in 1883. For a few years beginning in 1912 Plumwood was added to that circuit.

Circa 1923 Lewis Chapel Methodist Church was dissolved because of low membership and probably maintenance issues. My father remembers when the ceiling fell down on top of all the pews. As a very young child he remembered crawling in and out of the pews and having a great time with his other little friends. My dad would have been 4,he had a sister who was 2, and a brother who was 8 plus whatever other children might have been there. Soon, thereafter, the church was closed.

Mabel Berne Geyer and George Nelson Morse were married on March 28, 1904 at the parsonage of the pastor of Lewis Chapel Methodist Church. The pastor was Rev. Jas. F. Steele. (My aunt Mary thought the parsonage at that time was in Milford Center.) In 1904, the Lewis Chapel church was in the London District of Methodist Episcopal Church (Ohio Conference).

Mabel Geyer and her three oldest children were members of that church—Kermit Morse, Mary Morse, and Dorothy Morse when it was closed. They then transferred to the Unionville Center Methodist Church.

Rev. Jas. F. Steele served as the pastor of this circuit from 1902 - 1904.

- Lois Morse Barr
September 2007

Lewis Fairbanks is Now Devoting all Energy to Blacksmithing

Lewis Fairbanks sold all of his farm implements at the end of October in 1894.  He was already residing at Resaca, where he was a blacksmith.  He also sold the remainder of his livestock.  The neighborhood was saddened by his departure.

Mrs. Richardson's New House

Mrs. Abby Richardson's new house new Chuckery was completed by the end of October in 1894.  The house was plastered on October 30.  This house marked the sixth new house in the Chuckery neighborhood in a short period of time.

Rest in Peace, Earl McCloud

Just before Halloween in 1889, J. B. McCloud received a telegram bearing bad news.  His wife, who was visiting relatives in Kansas, wrote with tragic news of the death of their two year old son, Earl.  Mrs. McCloud is returning home with the two surviving children shortly.

A Killer Dog in Chuckery

In late October of 1886, a killer dog terrorized the sheep flocks near Chuckery.  James McCloud suffered the worst of the attacks, losing 25 sheep and having several more severely injured.  After the McCloud attack, men of the neighborhood armed themselves and went after the dog.  Unfortunately, they were unable to kill the dog.  Neighbors are warned to keep a watch for the dog.

Infantile Paralysis Scare in Chuckery

On October 12, 1930 it was decided to close St. Paul Lutheran School for a week due to the infantile paralysis scare.