CHURCH HISTORY

     Fair Haven, Gallia County, Ohio is located on the Ohio River, at the mouth of the Kanawha River. It was laid out for the French 500 whose settlement was moved four miles downstream, where they settled Gallipolis in 1790. Much later (in 1908), because there were two Fair Haven settlements in Ohio, the postmaster, a Mr. Polsley, renamed the one in Gallia County Kanuaga – meaning “between the Kanawha River and Chicamauga Creek”
     The census for 1840 lists four families living here: Alexander Rayburn (4 members), Andrew Allen (11
members), Calvin Sheppard (8 members) and Cain Stewart (7 members). In 1890 there were only ten homes and two farms here. Since religious freedom was their reason for settling here, they began holding worship services in their homes. The John Deem home was one of the first used. Other families in Fair Haven at this time were: John and Susan Rothgeb, sons Evan and William, and daughter Eva; Bill Bryant, Frank Allen, Dave Edwards and daughter Meadie, and sons Hoyt and Charlie: Mrs. Charles Jett, and Hudson Maddy.
     The nearest churches were in Addison and Gallipolis, and weather permitting, they would walk to services there. In 1896 the settlers organized the Fair Haven Methodist Episcopal Church, and on September 14, 1896, received a deed, which was signed by the trustees: Henry Sheppard, John Rothgeb, and James Guthrie. Witnesses were Evan Rothgeb and M. L. Guthrie.
     Mr. and Mrs. John L. Vance presented the church with a Bible, inscribed with their name and date, June 4, 1896. This Bible is displayed in the church today.
     In 1896, they began construction of a church. Because they had little cash, they used the area’s natural resources, such as lumber and stone. They were skilled carpenters and soon erected a clapboard building with colored glass windows, a hand-carved altar rail, and a pulpit stand, a pot bellied stove and oil or carbine lamps. This effort was started by Wm. Deem who raised the money by subscription, with the help of Ella Wagner, Gus Steele and others. The land was purchased (some sources say it was donated) by or from J. W. or Charles and Lydia Stone.
     The bell was a gift from James Guthrie and had been used on the steamboat “Silver Cloud”. The church entered the Ohio Methodist Conference that same year. Rev. T. F. Garrett was the first minister. The Willard Epworth League was also organized at this time.
     In 1908 a land development company purchased land and divided it into lots for sale. Many new families moved into the area, thus increasing attendance and growth of the church.
     In 1930 – 18 small red chairs were purchased by the nursery class for their room and are still in use today. Sometime, prior to 1938 the first piano was purchased by the Ladies Aid. In December 1946 work started to move the church. A basement was dug and a 4 foot foundation constructed, thus accommodating a coal furnace and water system. In 1947 four classrooms were added to the back of the church and in 1950, a vestibule and new bell tower were built. Also a communion table was presented to the church by the Senior Ladies Class.
     An electric organ was purchased through the efforts of the Young Women’s Class, which collected donations from the community from 1958 to 1962. In 1964, two silver flower vases were presented by the young Adult Class and in 1982 brass alter ware was given in memory of the parents of Evelyn Rothgeb and Gladia Easter Sheets: and the parents of Florence Russell Allen. In 1979, a fund was started to add two restrooms and another classroom to the front of the church. This project was completed in 1983. From 1991 to the present time many improvements have been made to the church, such as – a ramp; air conditioners for classrooms; central air; ceiling fans; vinyl siding on part of the church; windows replaced; padded pews; wall-to-wall carpeting; new concrete front steps; and a church sign has been erected. This has all been accomplished through the dedication, hard work, and tireless efforts of those people attending this church.

Compiled from the notes of Evelyn Rothgeb, Church Historian

KANAUGA STOREKEEPER STARTED FUND for CONSTRUCTION of CHURCH THERE IN 1898
(excerpt from area paper written around 1935)
Founder Still Active in M. E. Congregation Affairs
By Malcolm Hartley

     When W. F. Deem, storekeeper and postmaster at Kauanga, attended a church meeting years ago in West Virginia and was converted, he determined that his community should have a church where the resident could worship. Seeking advice from a pastor in Gallipolis, he was informed that he and his neighbors should attend services at the Gallipolis Church. This was advice with which he did not agree. With the aid of other residents of the community he began to raise money by subscription for the building of a church. The church was erected in 1898, most of the labor being voluntary, and was called the Fair Haven Methodist Episcopal Church. The name of the community in which the church is located is Fair Haven, although the Post Office address is Kanauga because there is another Fair Haven in Guernsey County. Fair Haven was part of the Ohio Company Purchase, the area was laid out as a community earlier than Gallipolis, The early French first came there, but moved to higher land in Gallipolis after a flood.

GROWN SINCE 1900
     The community below Fair Haven and adjoining it, has grown up since the beginning of the century, and was named Kanauga after the Post Office. The church is thought to be the most influential factor in keeping the name of Fair Haven alive. Mr. Deem is believed to be the only one of the builders of the church still residing in the community. He still takes an active part in church work, being superintendent and a trustee. Rev. A. B. Garrett was the first pastor of the church. There have been a number of others. The present minister is Rev. A. B. Clarey, who assumed the pastorate in September 1935.

Charter Meeting

The organization of the Women’s Society of Christian Service
The United Methodist Church Of Fair Haven Church, Kanauga, Ohio
October 18, 1968

Members in 1968

Mrs. John Raike, Pres.
Evelyn Rothgeb, Trs.
Emma Spencer, Com. of Nominations
Laura Short
Mrs. Frank Cheesebrew
Virginia Roush- (chair) Christian
Audrey Brownell (chair) Missionary education
Bessie Litchfield
Mrs. Pina Ward (com.) Local Church programs
Ethel M. Messler
Dr. Edna A. Gettle- (chair) spiritual growth
Florence R. Allen vice President
Ethel Wright Com. Membership
Mary Shamblin Secretary
Virgie Sowards

Kanauga Fairhaven has Rich History

By James Sands
Special Correspondent
Gallipolis Tribune

     Fairhaven United Methodist Church in Kanauga was organized in 1895 with the present building dating to 1898. The church was started by the Rev. WLC Cornell, who was a minister in Pt. Pleasant, WV. Cornell with the help from laypersons William French Deem, Ella Wagner and Gus Steele raised the necessary funds for the organization. The land where the church sits was donated by Charles Stone and the bell was a gift from James Guthrie. The church bell had previously been used on the steamboat Silver Cloud which burned near Addison in 1869.
     Kanauga was laid out in the early history of Gallia County as Fairhaven and the town was originally to be the spot where the “French 500” were to locate. Builders sent by the Ohio Company under orders from the Scioto Company thought Fairhaven was too easily flooded and therefore moved downstream about three miles to what is now the Gallipolis City Park.
     In the 1830s Fairhaven was expected to prosper when it was set as the eastern terminus for what was to be called the Fairhaven, Rutland and Athens Turnpike. Although a portion of the road was built i, it does not seem to have brought much prosperity to the village.
Fairhaven really did not develop much in its first 100 years. But with the coming of the railroad bridge to Pt. Pleasant in 1886 and the development of the street car about the same time, the town began to come alive.
Fairhaven or Kanauga did not have a post office untill1896 although such Gallia settlements as Malaby, Moody and Obal had one 15 years earlier.
     The Gallipolis Journal published in 1909, as part of it “Kanauga Items” section, that Kanauga would soon be getting electricity. The town was lit from the same lines that powered the electric street car.

Kanauga’s bright light shines far down the road and down to the ferry landing and throws its beams clear across the river and is a beacon light to the ferryman and his passengers

the Journal said. In Deem’s column he mentioned that Kauauga has a new depot (built in 1909) in operation. Deem wrote:

Kanauga is a pretty place. Right across the river Pt. Pleasant, WV and it’s steam-boats and other boats are to be seen, the two immense bridges spanning the Kanawha and the Ohio, the constant travel of people to and from the ferry, their busy broom factory, the stores and the kind and hospitable neighbors, doing all they can to build up the little town, the round house and car barns and everything around make it to appear lively. These new men the Howards, Marsh, Douglas, Cunningham and others have put a life and vigor into everything about there, until it extends across the big farms of bottom land that are between Kanauga and the Hills, Everything about looks good and “up and comin” and a new birth is in everything.

     The Howards mentioned were businessmen drawn to Gallia County as the result of oil and gas discoveries in the county beginning about 1903. In 1908 the Howards and Marsh opened the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Gallipolis as well as what was called the Kanauga Development Corporation. These men’s promise of boom went bust when a severe recession that hit the county in 1909 and 1910. The Farmers and Merchants Bank closed its doors, the Howards sneaked out of the county and the local investors were left holding the bag.
      Kanauga’s development came mostly with the building of the highway system along the Ohio River, with its importance increasing with the development of trucking. However, around World War 1 there was a coal washing plant built at Kanauga, which lasted a few years. Built by the Hickey Transport Company, the plant used revolving screens to wash the coal, which had been brought from the mines near Minersville in Meigs county. A tremendous tunnel was built by the firm, at one time.
      Today the Fairhaven United Methodist Church is on a circuit that includes Cheshire, Addison and Kyger.