452 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI Other German communities were settled by Lutherans and their intiuenee has continued paramount in these places. The Catholic church has given great at- tention to the matter of education. In this field it was the pioneer. St. Mary's Semi- nary at Perryville, is the oldest institution of learning in the entire state, and St. Vincent's College at Cape Girardeau the oldest college. Besides these the church has supported pa- rochial schools in all communities where the number of Catholics warrants it. A large and growing membership, virtual control of the religious situation in certain parts of the section, valuable property, and numbers of schools attest the position won for this church during the years of its history. Up to 1821 the Methodists had established one district called Cape Girardeau District, and the following circuits: Bellevue, Saline, St. Francois, Spring River, White River, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid. At that date Thomas Wright was the presiding elder of the district. The church grew slowly dur- ing the years. Some of the congregations were prosjDerous and sent out new organiza- tions, but some of them were almost at a stand for a number of years. No great advance was made until about the year 1835. By that year some new circuits had been added, among them : Farmington, Greenville and West Prairie. At that time Uriel Haw was Pre- siding Elder. A mission was established at Bloomfield in 1837, which in another year be- came a circuit of the church. In 1839 Jacob Lanius was the Presiding Elder. Cape Gi- rardeau circuit was supplied by Nelson Henry and Edward Allen, New Madrid by Uriel Haw and James G. T. Dunleavy, Bloomfield by N. B. Evans, Greenville by Ly- sander Wiley, Farmington by Slelville Will, and Ste. Genevieve by Samuel S. Colburn. About the year 1835 there began a move- ment for the building of church houses. At that time there were, perhaps, fewer than one-half dozen church buildings belonging to the Methodists in all of Southeast Missouri. One of the early buildings was Yorke Chapel ; this was in Perry county, about five miles from Perryville and was erected in 1825. It was afterward replaced by a stone building which is still standing. In 1835 a chapel, which was known as Mt. Zion, was built in the Virginia settlement four miles from Freder- ioktown. About the year 1830 a church was organized in Matthew's Prairie, in Mississippi county and a small log house was erected on the land of Elizabeth Smith. The names of the members of this church have been pre- served. Some of them were : Absolum Mc- Elmurry and wife, Elizabeth Smith, Elijah Bruce, Samuel Duncan and family, William Bush, Joseph ]Ioore and wife, James Moore and wife, Charles Moore and wife, Richard and jIary Crenshaw, Uriel Haw and wife, and Isaac Vernon and wife. It will be seen that some of these were members of families still prominent in Mississippi county. Uriel Haw afterward became one of the prominent ministers of the church and served at various times as Presiding Elder of the Cape Girar- deau District. His grandson, Marvin T. Haw, is a minister of the Methodist church aud has been stationed at various places in Southeast Missouri. In 1838 this house was burned and two or three years later a church building was erected at Charleston. This was occupied un- til 1856, when it was torn down and a brick building put in its place. This, too, was burned in 1870 and was immediatelv rebuilt.
