Independence Church Historical Background

     The village of Independence was founded in 1838.  It grew rapidly with the building of the canal south of the village.  It had a hotel, merchant store, post office, general store, shoe shop, wagon shop, blacksmith shop, tavern, school-house, cemetery, and 80 homes.  But Independence was not destined to be long lasting, for within 12 years and the coming of the railways the canal traffic began to decrease.
     In 1858 the Elliott Family moved here and brought with them the architecture for the building of our present Independence Church.  It is said that our church is an exact duplicate of an older church in Coshocton County, where the family formerly lived.  The church was built before the deed was recorded, for it was 1871 before it was properly done.  The original deed was for one acre of ground for the church and burial purposes.  Since that time later additions have increased the church property to almost three acres.
     It was said that the stained glass windows were brought from the old country, loaded on a canal boat and brought down the canal.  They were packed in saw-dust and crates and handled with loving care.  The men carried them on their backs up the hill and placed them in the church.  We believe this is possible, since we have had some breakage to our windows and no one has been able to duplicate the glass.
     Founders of the church included: Isaac E. Braucher, Samuel Elliott, Thomas Elliott, and John B. Minsel.  From the first record of church membership in 1888, families included: Baker, Baringer, Bixby, Braucher, Dunbar, Elliott, Goodenough, Hughes, Minsel, Morse, Myers, Needles, Parrott, Prosser, Relue, Rose, Smith, Snodgrass, Trubey, Tucker, Van Dusen, Weidenhamer, Young, and Yount.