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.
Ministers of Record
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
