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 pre-dates 1878.
It is in the same general area as both the Alton Meeting Room, founded in 1849, which is one of the 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, IL that started one year earlier in 1848, and was active thru 1879.
In 1909, one meeting went with the Tunbridge-Wells (TW) split, and continued to exist in some manner thru 1917.
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.
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.
Correspondent 1879
- 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.
Sources
- Centennial History of Madison County, IL
- ancestry.com
- 1879 List
- Gruen history courtesy of Barbara Taylor 2020.