Pastors of Peoples First Edition

Pastors of Peoples United Methodist
Church; South Portland, Maine
1840 Jesse Stone: Pastor Stone was born in Plainfield, Vermont in the year 1802. He was one of the original members of the Maine Conference that was originally founded in 1825. In his early years of training and placement he was a member of the Baptist church. He joined the Methodist Church in Barre, Vermont in 1824. He became a local preacher in the same year, joined the New England Conference and was placed in the Hallowell Circuit, Maine. Brother Stone served for 45 years in the Conference being placed in churches from St. Croix in the North to South Berwick in the South. Compensated for his work at one time was as little as $50 a year and never averaging more than $75 in all of his years of pastoring. while serving a circuit of as many as 5 churches in the East Maine Conference. He often suffered housing that allowed him to peer at the stars through holes in the roof and sometimes waking to snow on the bedclothes. He was a modest and unassuming man and a faithful and serviceable preacher. Cape Elizabeth including both Brown’s Hill and Point Village were Pastor Stone’s 12th appointment. His final appointment in 1870 was in North Berwick.
1841-42 George D. Strout: Began his ministry with a placement in the town of Baldwin in the year 1830. He continued in ministry in the Maine Conference only until the year 1848 when he was transferred to the Eastern Maine Conference. He was appointed a three separate occasions to Baldwin and twice to Buxton. His ninth appointment in 1841- 42 was to Cape Elizabeth at that time considered Point Village. It was while he was here that the first official meetinghouse was begun at the Point. Prior to this time and while he was pastor parishioners most often met in homes and perhaps the Purpooduck Club most likely located on land near Fort Preble.
1843 J.L. Fraser: Mr. Fraser became the pastor of record at the Point in only his second appointment. Prior to the Point he served in Cornish. He left the Point and headed for the Scarborough Parish. It appears that his ministerial career was relatively short at least in the Maine conference as his record ends with the year 1850. It is possible that his relocation might even have been to California as it was the year that gold was discovered and hundreds of men headed for the West Coast.
1844-1846 Edmund. K. Colby: Pastor Colby had been born in Epping, New Hampshire on April 15, 1812. He was admitted to the Maine Conference on trial in 1844.ampshire Reverend Colby’s first charge was at Cape Elizabeth. It may have been that he was shared on a circuit with Brown’s Hill since no designation for either Brown’s Hill or Point Village is mentioned. e served in 14 other parishes He served in 14 other parishes in Southern Maine with the last being West Scarborough. From 1856-1862 he did move to the Providence Conference returning for the remainder of his life during the second year of the Civil War.ill or Point Village is mentioned.H In 1853 he was married to Georgie J. Saunders and together they had a son and a daughter. He was still living and serving the Maine Conference at the time of the publication of Allen’s History of Methodism in Maine in 1886.

1846 Christopher C. Covel: Pastor Covel was born in Woolwich, Maine on January 28, 1811. He was converted at age 20 and gave good evidence of Christian character thereafter. He was admitted to the Maine Conference on trial in 1842 and rendered effective service until 1855 when he was superannuated because of ill health. Pastor Covel served at Phippsburg, Biddeford, West Newfield and Porter before serving at Point Village. He did serve at Scarborough immediately following service at the Point. He provided his family with a home in North Pownel where he worked as a harness maker for 28 years. He rendered valuable services to the preacher in charge through counsel and co-operation. He died in the faith at the age of 72 on July 1, 1883.
Reverend Covel was intelligent, was pious and had an amiable disposition. In preaching he had been original in his methods of presenting the doctrines of the gospels. He was a worthy man of Christ.
1847 Elias F. Blake: Mr. Blake began preaching in 1843 in Durham. In 1846 after having served at Orrington and Houlton was placed at West Scarborough. The following year he was moved to Point Village at Cape Elizabeth. Over the next seven years he moved to South Biddeford, Hollis, and two locations in Kennebunk. It was while at Kennebunk Center that he passed away on October 6, 1854.
1848 S.S. Cummings: Pastor Cummings began his preaching career in 1840 in the town of Searsmount. After serving in 5 other parishes, he arrived at Point Village in 1848 after which he served in two other parishes before placement at Scarborough. In 1857 he moved to the New Hampshire Conference and then finished his career in the Providence Conference some time after 1858.
1849-1851 John. W. Atkins: John Atkins had begun preaching in 1828 at Eliot and served
in fourteen other parishes including Scarborough before he came to Point Village in 1848. It was while Pastor Atkins was at the Point that the idea of moving to Cape Elizabeth Ferry became a topic of conversation. The parish was probably divided on this notion and it may also have been that social issues such as slavery, women’s rights and especially temperance made things uncomfortable for the parish during this time. After serving at the Point, Pastor Atkins completed his pastoral services at Kennebunkport and died on May 27, 1858.