Jefferson County Chapter

Civil War Veterans at Holmes Cemetery
{Church behind the trees}

{Photo taken about 1918 from the book titled, Our Town, Adena, by Stanwick}

Veterans listed from left to right – Edward Hagan, Henry Clark, John Butler,

Isaac Henry, John Thomas Mercer, and Reverend Stewart.

The first church in the vicinity of Adena was a Methodist Episcopal Church called Holmes Church. It was built on land, which was a government grant to Jacob Holmes who was an Indian Scout for the government. It was probably the oldest Methodist Church in Ohio. The first church was erected in 1803 on the banks of Short Creek. It was called Holmes Meetinghouse. The people came together, cut timber, hewed logs, split clapboard, and put up the building. Jacob Holmes, Charles and Richard Moore, Isaac Meek, and Elias Crane originated the enterprise. Prior to 1803 Jacob Holmes and Isaac Meek held services in their homes. There are no surviving records prior to 1800. Here preached John Meeks, Jacob Holmes, Ellis Mathews, Asa Shinn, Cullison, James Riley, Jacob Young, Thornton Fleming, Burke, James Quinn and Bishop Asbury. The first church was abandoned in 1810, due to difficulty crossing the creek in times of high water and ice. The creek now runs over where the first pioneer graveyard was located including nearly, if not all, where the first church was built. Flooding carried some remaining graves away. A half-mile on higher ground a new church was built in 1810. The graveyard was also moved to higher ground and there lies the graves of some of our earliest pioneers. The third church was built in 1874, which was torn down sometime in the 1950’s