Going to the Chapel

"Going to the Chapel" - Week 23 of the #52Ancestors Challenge

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Scanned from postcard in personal collection (date of photo unknown)

The East Eliot, Maine Methodist Episcopal Church [later First M.E., and afterwards United Methodist] was first organized in 1826, and was in existence at its Goodwin Road location until 1973, when the congregation merged with the Methodist Church located in South Eliot [and after moved to its current spot on Rt 236 in 1983].

In 2010, I purchased a collection of papers that were dated 1915, and was in regards to the much needed restoration and repairs of the old church in East Eliot, including the purchase of brand new pews. 

Portsmouth Herald, 18 Aug 1915, pg 5

​According to a newspaper article that year, the Methodist Conference was waiting on the approval for the repair costs, due to the old system in which church goers had paid for their own pews, for the best seating. In order for the old pews to be removed, their owners (or their heirs, if deceased) had to consent to their removal.

​On the following two pages, titled "Pew owners 1st Methodist Episcopal Meeting House, Eliot", a list was made (likely dated early 1915) of the current pew owners. It seems nearly all had consented to the old pew removal, and the order for the new ones could be made.

Within the "restoration papers", there was also a small booklet which listed the names of the donors who helped raise money for the new pews by purchasing plaques (or tags) "in honor of" or "in memory of" family members or the past ministers of the church. ​​There were 31 names who subscribed to the memorial pews, with a couple more names written onto back page. 

When the church location in East Eliot was shut down in 1973, the building was sold off, and is now a private residence. The parsonage down the street was also sold off by the heirs of the original grantors, as the deed included a provision that the home would return to the grantors once it was no longer used as a parsonage.

The pews that were purchased in 1915 must have been destroyed or sold off, as the South Eliot location was already furnished. The memorial and pew number tags were saved, however, as I recently found out last year. Stored in Eliot's current United Methodist Church are two wooden plaques, each one having (almost) all the memorial tags nailed onto them for display.

A few examples of the memorials (click on the images for a close view of photos):

There were 31 memorial tags (2 since removed and donated to heirs) on one plague, with 39 pew numbers on the other board (numbered 1-43, #22, 23, 26 (donated) and 42 not present). The pew numbers are interesting, and may have been from the original pre-1915 furniture, as the new order that year had called for 51 pieces (18 each of left end, center and right end sections). 

A few memorial tags differed from what was originally written in the donor booklet, and there is no list as to which numbered pew these memorials were attached to, if the numbers were actually used on the new (1915) furniture.

Below is a 2011 view of the church on the corner of Goodwin and Brixham Road, Eliot, pretty much unchanged today as a private residence, than it was as a place of worship.

former East Eliot Methodist Church, 2011 (Google Street View)