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Archiver > ILMORGAN > 1997-08 > 0872046220


From: Jim McMillan <>
Subject: Re: Old time church meetings
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 22:03:40 -0500 (CDT)


On Tue, 19 Aug 1997 wrote:

> Do any of you have any records of the revivals held in Morgan Co. IL .In my
> g.g.uncles journal he says he went to Brush college. My mom used to say the
> Brush Arbor meetings. Just think it would be interesting to talk about.
>

Pat,

I don't have any specific references to revivals in Morgan County. Brush
arbor meetings were quite common back in those days. The term "revival"
doesn't appear to have been the more common term used to refer to the
meetings. Rather, the terms "protracted meeting" or simply "meeting" seem
to be more common during the 19th century.

Another type of religious meeting was the "camp meeting," which is likely
synonymous with "brush arbor meeting."

In my online resources for the history of the Christian Church in
Illinois, there are several references to "protracted meetings" and
"meetings." Here's a statement regarding a meeting in which David
Patterson Henderson (gggfather of our own Ray Henderson) was the
"evangelist:"

"The work of this school was suspended during a "big meeting" that was
conducted by Mr. D. P. Henderson, an eminent evangelist of Jacksonville,
Illinois. This meeting continued through "many days," and added about one
hundred persons to the Walnut Grove Church of Christ."

(The URL for this file is:
http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~mcmillan/Restlit/States/Illinois/colleure.htm)

I would be very interested in reading the wording your gggfather used to
describe the revivals he attended! What denomination was he affiliated
with? Methodists seem to have especially been fond of "camp meetings."

Jim

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