224 / Development of Church Life in the Older Congregations

congregation ended in 1961 when he became editor of the Mennonite Church's official organ, the Gospel Herald, and moved to Scottdale, Pennsylvania. Wilmer Hartman, a graduate of the Seminary at Eastern Mennonite College, succeeded him in the pastorate.

The Crown Hill Church established a church council in 1963; various fellowship groups for homemakers, youth, and men and women's activities are now organized and functioning.

Martins, Pleasant View, and Salem

The Martins and Pleasant View Mennonite congregations had a common history until 1915 when two separate congregations were formed in Wayne and Stark counties respectively. Founded in the 1830's these two settlements went through the years of the Civil War with some members exempted for various reasons and others paying an exemption price of three hundred dollars.

In the late 1860's a request by some members to change from German to English revealed a marked difference in opinion about such an innovation. The crisis was heightened by the question of Sunday schools and evening meetings. Most of the members and the ministers refused to change, and so followed Jacob Wisler of Indiana. A divided church resulted.

However, those who advocated Sunday schools and English preaching had strong leadership and pressed forward in programs of teaching and church music. In 1893 Ira J. Buckwalter was ordained minister and in 1895 became a bishop at the age of twentyfive. Buckwalter was an effective leader in young people's Bible meetings in his congregation and an influential member in the Ohio Mennonite Conference.

For many years beginning in 1920 a youth organization known as the Golden Staff Literary Society provided activity, fellowship, and inspiration. It was one of many such organizations among the various congregations. It was usually well attended, reaching as high as 135 persons present for an evening of reading, debates, music, and games.

The activities of the women in these two congregations are typical of many other churches. Following World War I much clothing was packed and shipped abroad for war sufferers, being channeled through the American Friends Service Committee. The women at Martins and Pleasant View joined with the women of the Wisler church in packing clothing in barrels for war sufferers