part of Indiana. W.H. Grim, in an Indiana Methodist periodical, tells us that “His first circuit was Green River Circuit, Kentucky, which had ten appointments and was four hundred miles in circumference.” He was ordained Deacon in 1816 by Bishop Asbury and Elder in 1818 by Bishop Roberts. In 1815 he was placed on the Vincennes Circuit, Indiana Territory. The next year he traveled the St. Charles, Missouri Circuit but in 1817 was again placed on the Vincennes Circuit. It was in 1817 that under his auspices a log meeting house was erected at New Albany. The church was dedicated as Wesley Chapel on November 20, 1817. When the first session of the Indiana Annual Conference was convened in 1832 a charter member was John Schrader, who must have been deeply proud of the fact that the Conference was being held in Wesley Chapel, a church he had organized fifteen years before. It was in serving the Posey County area, while working out of the Vincennes Circuit, that young John Shrader met the lovely Permelia Jaquess. Permelia (later spelling was Pamelia) was the daughter of Jonathan Jaquess, a founder of our church. Reverend Schrader was serving the Corydon Circuit (1820-1822) when his voice began to fail him. The rigors of the traveling ministry took a heavy toll among the ministers and few of them could last over ten years as a circuit rider. It must be remembered that they traveled in all kinds of weather over circuits that were from two to six hundred miles long. When a minister was no longer able to ride the circuit he was then stationed in a community to do preaching to the several churches in his area of residence. Thus it was that John Schrader and Permelia Jaquess were united in marriage on October 9, 1822.
John and Permelia made their home on the Jaquess land where John farmed. On Sundays he would preach where needed. He was recalled to the full time ministry in 1853 and served for two more years in this capacity. The Jaquess home, where John and Permelia lived, was often the visiting and resting place of ministers and bishops, including Bishops Asbury, Simpson, Roberts and McKendree. The German Bible (printed in 1784) used by Reverend Schrader, as well as his Communion Service and Baptismal Bowl, are in the church study. They were given to the church by Reverend Schrader and his relatives.
Permelia Schrader
Father Schrader died at 6:00 p.m., April 15, 1879 in Poseyville. He lacked three days of living eighty-six years, six months. At the time of his death he was the oldest minister in the Indiana Conference and had been preaching the Gospel for seventy years. Pamelis (Permelia) died July 20, 1881 after an attack of choler-morbus. Reverend and Mrs. Shrader are buried on the crest of the hill near the north edge of Poseyville Cemetery.
St. Paul’s UMC History
12
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker