Highland Meeting Room, IL

Highland Meeting Room, in this instance is a catch-all for three different exclusive meetings in the Highland, Illinois area. The original meeting was founded between 1843 and 1850, and thought to have been the first assembly in the U.S.

It is in the same general area as both the Alton Meeting Room, founded in 1849, which is one of the other first assemblies started in the United States, and the first assembly of an exclusive nature. One of Alton's early correspondents was John Alexander Ryrie, Sr., grandfather of the editor of the Ryrie Study Bible. The Alton assembly changed affiliations by 1879, and existed thru 1958, possibly with the Kelly brethren. There was also an Upper Alton Meeting Room that started one year earlier in 1848, and was active thru 1879.

The correspondent of the main exclusive meeting from prior to 1878 thru 1879 was Auguste Mojonnier was also the founder of the Highland F.M.B.A. Elevator, described in a 1912 Centennial history of Madison County, IL, as a large plant and a successful enterprise, founded in 1869, who in 1883 sold it to John Guggenbuehler. Auguste was born in Switzerland in 1841, and died 1908 in Long Beach, California. He was the son of Frederick Samuel Mojonnier (1812-1886) and Rose Susanne Mojonnier (1815-1893) who both died in Highland, IL.

Tunbridge-Wells meeting

In 1909, one meeting went with the Tunbridge-Wells (TW) split, and continued to exist in some manner thru 1917. This meeting was in 1889 corresponded by S. Malan, presumed to be a relative of George Gruen's wife Freda L. Malan Gruen (1880-1943).

Grant meeting

There was a 2nd exclusive meeting in Highland that held conferences for the Grant brethren that the George Gruen family from Pekin, Illinois attended, before relocating in the 1910's to Abilene, Kansas to an existing Grant meeting there. It could be assumed that this meeting merged with the 3rd meeting whenever the Booths and Grants merged.

Booth-Ames meeting

There was a 3rd meeting of the Booth brethren in Highland, which George Gruen also visited, which became affiliated with the Ames brethren in the 1940's, which may presently be still meeting in nearby Edwardsville as the "Edwardsville Bible Truth Assembly".

Alumni of this latter meeting include:

• Henry C. Kuhlman (b. 1912 Troy, IL - d. 2017 Highland, IL), son of Herman & Hannah (Deterding) Kuhlman
  • 1st wife m. 1947: Lily Wedesky Kuhlman (d. 1984)
  • 2nd wife m. 1990: Evelyn Moore Werner-Kuhlman (b. 1932 Breese, IL - d. 2020 Edwardsville, IL)
• Leslie Laverne Winters (b. 1922 Erie, PA - d. 2011 Highland, IL), son of Emory & Ora (Fisher) Winters of Erie, PA.
  • 1st wife m. 1947: Joy Belle Koning Winters (1920-1990 Grand Rapids, MI)
  • 2nd wife m. 1991: Helen Frances Kyle Shaw-Winters

• John Gruen 1862?-1905 (b. 1840 Germany - d. 1905 Highland, IL)
• Elizabeth "Linoma" Lembach Gruen 1845?-1918 (b. 1844 Switzerland - d. 1918 Christian Co., IL)
  • George Gruen 1874-1899+ (b. 1874 Saline Twp., Madison, IL - d. 1956 Conneautville, Crawford, PA. Wife: Freda L. Malan Gruen 1880-1899+ (1880-1943)

Correspondents and/or brethren residing

• Auguste Mojonnier (EB) +1878-1879+ (b. 1841 Switzerland - d. 1908 Long Beach, CA)
• S. Malan (EB) +1889+
  • possibly Stephan A. Malan (1872-1915), who would have been 13 in 1889, a brother of Freda L. Malan Gruen (1880-1943).
• Mary Ann Vuaguariex Monnet (TW) +1896-1917+ (b. 1840 Luzern, Switzerland - d. 1920 Chicago, IL), died three months after her husband.
  • m. Jean/John Daniel Monnet (b. 1834 Italy - 1920 Chicago, IL), not listed as in fellowship with his wife;

Sources

• Centennial History of Madison County, IL
• Ancestry.com
• 1878-1917 TW lists
• 1879 List
• Gruen history courtesy of Barbara Taylor 2020.
• Leslie Winters obit