FROM WEST SIDE

Road sign directing traffic from CR 065 to the church and cemetery

Old Sharon Church

Cemetery next to church

Sharon Church
Illinois State Historical Marker

In the year 1815 a group of Presbyterians migrated from Kentucky to the Illinois Territory. The Reverend James McGready, their pastor, came to minister to them and in 1816 founded Sharon. It was the first Presbyterian church in Illinois. Although in 1820 an associate reformed named Kaskaskia had been formed. Ruling elders were Peter Miller, James Mayes and James Rutledge, father of Ann Rutledge, whose name is immortal because of its association with Abraham Lincoln. Three miles north of this site on land that was owned by Thomas Rutledge, in present Enfield Township, a hewed log meeting house was built. It was lighted by one small four paned window. A flat stone in the floor served as a hearth for burning charcoal in winter. Three log churches preceded the present church which was erected in the spring of 1864 on an old stage coach road. Land for church and burying ground was deeded to trustees of Sharon Church by John McClellan in 1865. The first grave --- that of a son of John and Margaret (Stoney) McClellan --- dates back to 1817. Men of distinction have supplied the pulpit of Sharon among them Benjamin E Spillman, founder of many churches, whose brother, Jonathan, composed the music to, “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton”; John Sillman; and Benjamin C Swan. After more than eighty years, Sharon’s wide field of service had become so constricted by her daughter churches, Carmi and Enfield, Presbytery dissolved the historic church in 1896. The old meeting house stood deserted for many years. At times interested members of the community have restored the building and beautified the grounds and again the walls of Sharon resound to the word of the gospel and the singing of hymns. Donors of this plaque and friends of Sharon Church James Graham and Fay Dagley Black By Authority of the Presbytery of Southern Illinois of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. September 12, 1966
(Photo by Nancy K Daugherty 6-6-12)