Mahalasville, Indiana

The Mahalasville Methodist Church stood at the top of Voyles Road next to the cemetery. A monument with the churchbell marks the site. Jacob and Mahala Vansickel donated land for the church and cemetery in 1855 and after Jacob's death the land was formally contracted to Robert Gilmore, William Kingsberry, Noah Williams, Hiram Norman and Thomas Slack, who were the Mahalasville Methodist Church trustees.The church also, reportedly, housed the Aliff School from about 1850 to 1900. In 1874, the Reverend Miles Woods was pastor of the church and served a membership of 60. The Sabbath School Superintendent was Edward Ferguson. The church stood vacant for 25 years before being torn down in 1969.

Mahalasville Methodist Church

The burial list of the Mahalasville Methodist Cemetery is recorded in the Morgan County Library, in Martinsville, Indiana. Some of the families in the cemetery include; Vansickel, Renner, McGowan, Slack, Thacker, Haase, Prather, Lee, Williams, Helton, Huntzinger, Studer, Gibbs, Lemon, Jenkins, Coffey, Lloyd, Hicks, Hickman and Simmons. The cemetery is cared for by volunteers in the Mahalasville Cemetery Association.

The Mahalasville Baptist Church was organized in 1892 after the campaign of former president Grover Cleveland and incumbent president Benjamin Hamilton, polarized the community. Stella Renner Avery, the grand-daughter of Henry Renner, in her memoirs, related that speakers traveled to Mahalasville from Martinsville and Morgantown and caused heated debate. Research on the presidential race of that year indicates it was probably a dispute over temperance. The Republican Party went on the record in favor of temperance in that year. The results were that the democrats in the Methodist Church left the flock and formed what became known as the Mahalasville Baptist Church. Mrs. Avery went on to say that the democrats met in a former saloon named Tammy Hall. Baptisms were performed in Indiana Creek. Stella and her father Philip L. Renner were baptized in the winter and the ice on Indiana Creek had to be broken for the ceremony. She remembered that on the walk home her new dress froze and sounded like crumpled paper. The Mahalasville Baptist Church stood on a dirt road which no longer exists.

Mahalasville Baptist Church Group

Townsend Cemetery

Townsend Cemetery is also of note. It is on the Voyles farm, north of the 90 degree curve of Townsend Road, Section 14 of Washington Township. It lies about two miles northwest of Mahalasville and seems to predate the Mahalasville Methodist Cemetery. Philip and Mary Renner, the parents of Henry Renner, lie there. Moses Voyles, who was grandfather of Albert Voyles, and a veteran of the War of 1812, also is buried there. Other family names represented include; Elgin, Aliff, Parker, Carter, Helton, Farley, Cox, Hanna, Jones, Munhulan, Hatley, Anderson, and Vansickel. The 1897 map shows Henry Renner holding much of the property in this area.

Web Page Designed and Created by Ron Riggan for SCICAN Corporation - April 1998.

All photographs and graphics by Ron Riggan. Text written and researched by Marsha Riggan.