Patronal Feast Day

Today is our "Patronal Feast Day," the celebration of the saint after whom our Church is named, that is, St. Mark the Evangelist. It is especially important as we begin a new church facility that we give thanks for all those who went before us who brought us to this time and this place.

The history of St. Mark's begins in 1845. "The Rev. Eleazar Greenleaf, rector of Trinity Church in Marshall, held two services in Paw Paw in the years 1845-46. Evidently there was interest and encouragement for in 1846-47 the Rev. G. B. Engle, rector of Trinity Church, Niles, had a monthly appointment (service). In 1848-49 the Rev. Phineas Smith, missionary to Washtenaw County, gave services.

"In was on his way to keep an appointment at Paw Paw on April 9, 1851 that Bishop McCoskry suffered the only accident to befall him in the course of his fifteen years of difficult and dangerous travel in a new country. He broke his arm within a few miles of the village (fell off a horse?).

"Services were held in the Courthouse in 1851 by the Rev. Samuel Goodale, rector of St. Luke's in Kalamazoo, and the Rev. Darius Barker, rector of Christ Church, Homer, the former greatly cheered by the zeal and enterprise of the people, and the latter reporting a large congregation....

"St. Mark's was organized and admitted as a parish in union with the Convention (of the Diocese) at its meeting in June 1851. Promptly on the heels of this action came the appointment of a resident missionary, the Rev. Votaire Spalding, in August 1851, who remained a year resigning August 12, 1852. "Spalding held his first service in an abandoned store building and used the counter for a pulpit.... The Vestry in February first leased a cooper shop previously used by the Congregationalists at a rental of $1 per week. Later they bought a house to serve as a temporary place of worship, purchased with an encumbrance of something over two hundred dollars. [The house across from the Church with the bay windows may have been that house. Fr. Barker later lived in it and held services there.]

"January 1, 1867 the Rev. Darius Barker was appointed missionary in Van Buren County. Exploring his field, he found scarcely a village in the County where there were not some Church people, and as he says "longing to unite in our beautiful services.' The first year he established services in Hartford and Lawrence. In 1868 he added Lawton to his list of stations and Decatur in 1869....

"Also in 1869 he opened work in Bloomingdale giving it a fifth Sunday when it came in a month. There were twelve communications at Decatur, four in Lawton, six at Lawrence and three in Bloomingdale. A tentative organization of St. John's Parish was made in Lawton in 1870 but it was deemed too feeble to seek admission into union with the Convention (of the Diocese). It had eight communicants. The next year they decided it was the better part to connect themselves with Paw Paw. In 1870 Keeler was a new station added to Barker's itinerary. During the summer and autumn of 1870 Barker officiated regularly at Lawton and Lawrence and occasionally at Decatur and Keeler. Bloomingdale and Hartford were discontinued. After Easter 1870, Barker continued his labors mainly to Paw Paw and the Van Buren County Mission as such went out of existence.

Sometime afterwards the Rev. Moseley Morris took charge until 1874 when once again the elderly Rev. Darius Barker again was pastor until December 15, 1877. The present Church was built in 1876 and dedicated on December 6th.

The Rev. George Schetky took over from Barker in 1877. He helped the congregation organize and recorded the history to date from the reminiscences of older members. July 15, 1882 the foundation of the bell tower was laid. The bell was donated by friends of Fr. Schetky in memory of his daughter, Madge, who died in January 1880. It is inscribed with her name and "Easter 1882."

[From Franklin C Smith's, The Diocese of Western Michigan - A History.]

Joseph+