Revision as of 10:29, 1 September 2025

Addison Meeting Room is an assembly affiliated in its latter years with the Tunbridge Wells Brethren. John Nelson Darby included Chicago in his itinerary on his first trip to the U.S. in 1862. In 1866, a married couple was breaking bread, who had emigrated from England. They were previously involved with a meeting that had started in that part of England a year prior by a J.C., as per Gathering Up the Fragments by Walter Potter (who joined them in 1868).

This meeting met thru 1952 when they moved to Oak Park in order to house Bible Truth Publishers, directed by John Erisman & Ralph Rule, which was moving from St. Louis, Missouri. In the 1980's it relocated again to Addison, Illinois to expand publishing space where the assembly currently meets.

For many years, they hosted an annual conference in late summer that was sometimes attended by as many as 1500 brethren, initially at Missouri-Synod Lutheran Concordia University, then in 1957 they started at Wheaton College, and some of the people stayed in dorms named after Nate Saint and Jim Elliot who died in 1956. Then, by the late 1970's they met at hotels founded by John Willard Marriott, Sr. (1900-1984), an LDS entrepreneur, and in more recent years at BTP. Conference recordings may be found at BCR.

Locations

• cottage meeting 1866-1868+
• Room 10 & 12, 816(?) Clark St. +1880+
• 259 W. Madison St. +1880+
• 121 Dearborn St. +1884+
• 1865 Ogden Ave. +1911+
• California Ave. +1952
• BTP, Oak Park 1952-1980's
• BTP, Addison 1980's-present

Meeting Times

• Su C 9am, B 10:30am, G 7:30pm; Tues R 7:30pm; Thu P 7:30pm +1911+

Early Correspondents

Need to reference (currently unavailable) 1958 & 1969 LoG's.

• William Hart +1878-1889+
• James Bowman 1879-1880+
• Walter Potter +1889-1933+
• Dr. J.S. Young +1889+
• William P. Haight +1894-1917+
• William E. Clough +1894-1933+
• Thomas H. Ferguson +1923-1933+
• Ernest Watson +1937+
• Percy C. Barnjum +1937-1944+
• John Lockhart Erisman +1937-1962+ (1886-1965)
• Maurice E. Petrequin +1944-1955+
• Ellis T. Henderson +1949-1955+
• William Ver Steeg +1949-1955+
• Norman L. Denton +1962+
• Maurice J. Erisman +1962-1966+
• Clem J. Dear +1966-1977+
• Ralph J. Erisman +1966-1973+
• Maurice M. Maurer +1966-2005+
• Charles "Chuck" J. Hendricks +1977+
• Geoffrey S. Kuyper +1981-1985+
• Richard J. "Dick" Jaeger, Jr. +1981-1985+

Satellite

• Robert Thomas, Sr. @ Milwaukee, WI +1977+
• Mrs. Carl Wegner @ Prairie du Sac, WI +1977+
• Mrs. Anna Bittman @ Kankakee, IL +1977+

Probable Alum

• June Dorthine Wagner LaBolle (b. June 6, 1912) corr. 1944-1951 @ Dothan Meeting Room, AL
• Ronald William J. LaBolle (1937-2015) corr. +1985-2015 @ Atlanta Meeting Room, which presently meets as the Decatur Meeting Room, GA; Son of John Howard LaBolle (1909-1987) & "Sally" Sarah Elizabeth Claywell LaBolle-Harris (1915-2004); Siblings: Patricia Joyce LaBolle Bachman (1931-1999) & Donald H. LaBolle (b. 1937).

Also See

• Who's Who at Addison Meeting Room, IL alum
• Chicago Meeting Room, IL traces the earliest EB meeting +1878-1890, then the PBCC (Raven-Stoney) meeting history.

Sources

• Lists of Meetings
• Ancestry.com