The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 371
TOWN OF SPRINGPORT/ UNION SPRINGS--CHURCHES.

miles north of Union Springs, near Thompson's plaster-mills. This was built in 1816. The first recorded meeting held in it was July 29th, 1817. It was used by the Church till the present house was erected in 1840. A house had been partially built at the Half Acre in 1809, but it was not finished, and although a few meetings were held in it, it was soon abandoned and sold to Hezekiah Goodwin, who moved it to his place west of the Half Acre and used it as a barn.

The following named clergymen have preached in this church for stated periods: Rev. David Higgins, whose installation October 6th, 1802, "was," says Hotchkin, "the first instance of such an occurrence on the Military Tract," Joshua Lane, Reuben Porter, Medad Pomeroy, Enoch Boughton, H. Carlisle, L. D. Howell, Timothy Stillman, Richard Williams, John Clark. L. D. Howell, S. Raymond,---Page, J. Hopkins, T. B. Hudson, N. A. Prince, Charles Anderson, Myron Adams, A. F. Lyle, R. L. Backman, J. C. Long, E. B. Cobb. The Church has received since its organization 500 members, and has at present 92. Rev. E. B. Cobb is a temporary supply. The elders are, E. Curry, A. Walker, Wm. H. VanSickle, J. B. Pierson and H. Yawger; deacons, D. Everett and A. W. Allen, to the latter of whom, who is also the clerk, we are indebted for the history of this church.

FRIENDS--Among the early settlers in this locality were many who belonged to the Society of Friends. They commenced to hold meetings as early as 1803 or '4, and in 1816 erected the meeting-house now used by the Hicksite Friends in the east part of the village. Among the earliest associates of this society were Elisha Southwick, James Barker, Elihu Eldredge, Samuel Jenney, Wm. Burling, Arnold Comstock, ---Rowley, John Fish, Laban Hoskins, Eseck Mosher, James S. Allen, Wm. Knowles and Wm. Taber. At the time of the great separation which took place in the society in 1828, the members of this society accepted the doctrines of Elias Hicks, of Long Island, and have since borne the distinctive name of Hicksite Friends. Their present membership is about forty. Their house is a quaint old building, very suggestive of the rigid customs which characterized this society at an earlier day.

At a later period several persons known as Orthodox Friends moved into the place, and about 1844, established a society of that denomination, the name being used to denote those who reject the doctrines of Elias Hicks in contra-distinction from those who accept them. Among the persons earliest connected with this society were Charles W. Howland and family, Phebe Field, who was then the minister of the society, David Anthony and family, and Henry Robinson. Their meetings were held in a private house four or five years, until their first house of worship was erected on the site of the present Episcopal Church. Their present house was erected twenty to twenty-two years ago. It is a wooden structure, with stone basement, situated on Cayuga street, in the lower part of the village, and is valued at $3,500. The present number of members is about thirty. The

ministers are R. B. Howland and Mary H. Thomas, both residents of the village. Connected with it is a small Sabbath School, with some dozen children in attendance.

"The chief points of difference in these two organizations, was," says Mr. J. J. Thomas, "that, while the Orthodox adopted, as a requirement, the belief similar in its main points, to that of other 'evangelical' denominations, the Hicksites mostly adopted the sentiments of the Unitarians or Universalists;" or as Mr. Edward Eldredge, a prominent member of the Hicksite Society, more specifically expresses it, the Orthodox believe in the trinity and the efficacy of vicarious atonement, while the Hicksites believe in the unity of the deity and disbelieve in vicarious atonement.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF UNION SPRINGS was founded as the Second Baptist Church in Aurelius. A few members connected with the First Baptist Church in Aurelius, (now Fleming,) and some from the United Scipio Church met at the house of John Nutt for deliberation November 4th, 1813. Gilbert Weed was chosen moderator and Henry Crane, clerk. They adopted articles of faith and covenant and voted to invite a council of sister churches to meet with them on the 18th of the same month. This council was composed of delegates from the churches of Aurelius, Mentz, Scipio and United Scipio, and met at the school-house about two and one-half miles north-east of the village. Elder John Jeffries was chosen moderator, and Samuel Taylor, clerk. After examination, the hand of fellowship was

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