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Church memorializes early congregants

Monument erected at old Methodist cemetery

BELLEVILLE — A church congregation in Belleville wants to be sure its earliest members are not forgotten.

Nearly 175 years ago, a little brick church was built on what is now Mechanic Street in Belleville. This church was the original meeting place for the congregation of Greenwood Methodist Episcopal Church, which changed names in the early 1900s and is now known as Watts Memorial United Methodist Church. The congregation moved twice before settling into its current location on Walnut Street in Belleville.

Almost 200 years later, it is unlikely anyone would guess there was once a church standing in the small green patch of land on Mechanic Street. Only a handful of weathered headstones remain.

For about 20 years, Bob Zook, who lives just down the road, has maintained the property.

“It’s very easy to look at something like this and neglect it,” Zook said.

Instead, he brings his equipment to the grounds weekly to mow the grass.

Don Smith, Watts UMC trustee treasurer and member of the administrative council, said most of today’s church members have no connection to the cemetery. Nevertheless, he and Zook took it upon themselves to honor some of Watts’ earliest congregants.

Research came first.

“We did not know whether this land belonged to us,” Smith said.

Tracking down a deed for the property required many trips to the courthouse, many more meetings and assistance from the Kishacoquillas Valley Historical Society.

The process was “quite an undertaking,” Smith said, which has been in progress for about two years.

“We knew that it was time to do something before the stones deteriorated any further,” he said.

The church erected a monument on the property, which was dedicated during a ceremony held Sunday morning after the church’s regular worship service. Many parishioners attended.

The monument memorializes 18 individuals who are known to be buried in the cemetery “and others known only to God.”

Smith said the memorial was funded by the church’s trustees’ account. He said he hopes to see further restoration of the headstones and cemetery in the future.

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