MapChristianChurchTurkeyfoot.

Christian Church in Turkeyfoot

Also known as Spruce Creek and the Fairview Church of the Brethren, it's the site of the unmarked burials of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr.

Based on extensive research, and interviews with local residents, the red area is the best guess as to where the old Minerd graves are located. Old field stones once stood in the red area, marking early burials.

During the early 1830s, a pioneering church movement known as the Second Great Awakening took root in Somerset County. Led by Alexander Campbell, it later became known as the Church of Christ or Christian Church. Campbell's disciple Chauncey Forward, a lawyer and Congressman from Somerset, established a church building here in late 1831 or early 1832, known as Turkey-Foot or Spruce Creek. In addition to the Harbaughs, among the charter members were Dr. and Mrs. Jonas Younkin, Mr. and Mrs. John Prinkey, Mr. and Mrs. Shaphat Dwire, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob N. Hartzell, Mr. and Mrs. Steward Rowen, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. Harmon Husband and Mr. and Mrs. John Graham, among many others.

According to an 1886 article in The Disciple: A Monthly Magazine of Christian Literature, "They met for awhile in a shabby log school-house on the Turkey-Foot road. Afterwards they built a log meeting-house, which is now occupied by the German Baptists (Dunkards)... Dr. Jonas Younkin and Harmon Husband were the first elders. They could preach pretty well." The Church of Christ movement continued for about 25 years. Says The Disciple: "But emigration thinned them rapidly, the reaper Death claimed his share, 'the beggarly elements of the world devoured others, and drink got [one of them], and so, in the latter part of the fifties, the candlestick was removed."

In 1842, when Jacob Minerd Jr. made out his will, he requested to be laid to rest in the burying ground of the Christian Church in Turkeyfoot. He also wrote: "I earnestly entreat my wife's utmost care respectively in and about the morals and education of my children ... and desire that they be brought up and instructed in the doctrine and religion of the Christian Church."

In about 1887, the building was sold to the German Baptist congregation, and over time it was also known as the Fairview Church of the Brethren. The log house was torn down about 1902, and was replaced by a frame structure (seen here, with the photographer standing near the treeline). This newer church was remodeled in the late 1930s. It was torn down in about 1970, and has been vacant ever since.

Among the local residents who helped maintain the cemetery over the years include the late Orville Brougher, Dutch Brougher and Harvey Shaffer. Ross A. Brougher cut grass there with a team of horses. In an interview in 1992, Orville said that the old log church was located closer to the woods that it was to where the frame church later stood.

The inverted "U" shape on the map marks a turnaround for horses and buggies, and later automobiles. The turnaround was dug down 6 or 7 inches and a stone base was laid in. The excavated earth was spread on the sloping ground near the tree line to level off the property. Before that, the ground was so bumpy that someone could not take a riding lawnmower over it.

The Disciple title page courtesy of Google Books