Ministers of Record

About the year 1775 two traveling strangers called at the residence of Maj. Lewis Stephens, the proprietor and founder of the town, known as Stephensburg. John Hagerty and Richard Owens were the names of the preachers. It is said they traveled east of the Blue Ridge (before they reached Stephensburg) on a preaching tour. This was doubtless some of the earliest Methodist preaching ever heard in our great valley. A number of the people were much pleased with them and they soon got up a small church at this place.

With local leaders, members of the “Methodist Society” were organized into “classes” which met regularly in a private home where there was instruction and participation in worship. Attendance was obligatory. As circuits with itinerant preachers were established (Frederick County was in the Berkeley Circuit in 1778, served by Rev. Edward Bailey), their “preaching place” in Stephensburg would have been a home or more than likely, the school house.

Note: The list of Stephens City UMC pastors below is taken from “Early Days and Methodism in Stephens City, Virginia,” by Inez Virginia Steele, Second Edition, published 1994 and from records maintained in the church library archives such as Conference Journals and clergy appointment lists.
Rev. Absalom Knox announced that the final preaching service in the old church (built 1882) will be on Sunday March 7, 1915 at at 11 o’clock.

1778 Edward Bailey – Berkeley Circuit

1779 John Tunnell – John Hagerty

1780 Micaiah Debruler – John Hagerty – John Tunnell

1781 Ignatius Pigman – Edward Morris – William Partridge

1782 No record

1783 Moses Park – Thomas Partridge

1784 Richard Smith – Thomas Bowen

1785 Eleazor Hathaway

1786 William Waters – William Harvey

1787 Lastley Matthews – Jacob Lurton

1788 Robert Ayers – Elijah Phelps

1789 Thornton Fleming – Benjamin Brown

1790 Lewis Chastain – Thomas Scott, Winchester Circuit

1791 Lewis Chastain – Valentine Cook

1792 Thomas Haymond – Richard Swift

1793 Hardy Herbert – William McLanaham – Thomas Lyell

1794 John Wynn – William McLanaham – Lastley Mathews

1795 William McLanaham – Thomas Lucas

1796 William Talbot – J. Cullison – J. Pitts

1797-98 Stephen Timmons – Abraham Andrews

1799 Hamilton Jefferson

1800 Thornton Fleming – Thomas Daughaday

1801 Nickolas Watters – Hamilton Jefferson

1802 James Quinn – Edward Matthews

1803 Henry Smith – Jeremiah Browning

1804 Henry Smith – Samuel Monett

1805 Jacob Gruber – John Richards

1806 Joseph Stone – Moses Laurance

1807 John Holmes – George Thomas

1808 Caleb Reynolds – Benedict Reynolds

1809 Caleb Reynolds – John G. Green

1810 William Butler – Ezra Grover

1811 Eli Henkle – Stephensburg

1812 Beverly Waugh

1813 Hamilton Jefferson – T.C. Thornton – Winchester Circuit

1814 Nathan Lodge – Thomas Kennerly

1815 Richard Tidings – Ezra Grover

1816 Hamilton Jefferson – R. Buckingham

1817-18 Thomas Kennerly – William C. Morrison

1819 Tobias Reiley – Henry Smith

1820 Tobias Reiley – William Hamilton

1821 William Monroe – Jason Moore – William Hamilton

1822 William Monroe – Bennett Dowler

1823 James Reed – French S. Evans

1824 James Reed – Thomas J. Dorsey

1825 William Hamilton – Thomas J. Dorsey

1826 William Hamilton – Charles B. Young

1827 Edwin Smith – John L. Amiss

1828 Edwin Smith – John A. Henning

1829 Henry Furlong – Joseph Rowen – Richard Bond

1830 Francis McCartney – William Edmond (first resident pastors)

1831 Francis McCartney – Joseph Rowen

1832 J. Howell – Joseph Rowen

1833 J. Howell – N. J. B. Morgan

1834 J. Cleary – N. J. B. Morgan

1835 James Watts – J. T. Payne

1836 James Watts – Horace Noland

1837 T. K. W. Monroe – William G. Eggleston

1838 T. K. W. Monroe – William Evans

1839 Jacob Larkin – George W. Deems

1840 R. M. Lipscomb – M. G. Hamilton

1841 R. M. Lipscomb – W. O. Lumsden

1842 W. O. Lumsden – John S. Martin

1843-44 John W. Cronin – Edward L. Dulin

1845 A. A. Eskridge – Thomas Cornelius

1846 A. A. Eskridge – J. H. Waugh

1847 William Wicks – Fouchee C. Tebbs

1848 James Sanks – James Turner

1849 David Trout – H. B. Furlong

1850 David Trout – John N. Coombs

1851 Thomas McGee – H. B. Ridgeway

1852 Thomas McGee – John N. Hank

1853 A. O. Ghenowith – James E. Armstrong

1854 William Prettyman – Thomas E. Carson

1855 William Prettyman – William H. Holliday

1856 Charles McElfresh – J. J. Leatherburg

1857 Solomon McMullin – L. W. Berry

1858 Solomon McMullin – William Hedges

1859 William S. Baird – J. M. Littell

1860 William S. Baird – F. A. Mercer
1861 Alfred Buhrman – David Harris

1862-64 John W. Wolfe – David Harris

1865 John W. Wolfe – Edward Heterick

1866 James H. March – Edward Heterick

1867 James H. March – David Bush

1868 James H. March – George E. Jefferson

1869-70 William H. Wheelwright – George Stevenson

1871-72 George Stevenson – Sydnor G. Ferguson

1873-74 William G. Eggleston – Asbury Register

1875 William G. Eggleston – circuit divided

1876 William G. Eggleston

1877 Adam B. Dolly

1878-80 William A. Wade

1881-82 A. A. P. Neel

1883-85 George T. Tyler

1886-88 J. H. DuLaney

1889-92 Frank A. Strother

1893-95 James R. Van Horn

1896-99 John C. Thrasher

1900-03 Henry A. Brown

1904 William E. Woolf

1905-08 William Stevens

1909-11 Charles Lynch

1912-14 Absalom Knox

1915-19 C. Sydenstricker

1920-21 F. T. Ridgeway

1922-24 G. W. Gaither

1925-26 J. A. Johnson

1927-30 O. D. Lambert

1931 E. A. Reades

1932 No record

1933 C. C. Bush

1934-36 F. M. Lucas

1937-40 Homer Welsh

1941-44 Walter Smith

1945-48 Earl S. Day

1949-56 Charles A. York

1957-62 A. W. Hinton

1963-67 W. R. Withers

1968-77 Warren L. Reaves

1978-80 Don Scott Lowery

1981-85 Nolan R. Crowder

1986-92 Waverly G. Reames

1993-96 Billy Gene Johnson

1997-2004 G. Kirk Nave

2005-08 Stephanie Sault

2008-14 J. Jeffrey Butcher

2014-16 Bob Gochenour

2016-20 Robert Schoeman

2020-21 Bass Mitchell

2021- Bertina J. H. Westley