Kansas City Meeting Room, KCMO
There was a Tunbridge Wells exclusive (TW) meeting room in Kansas City, Missouri that was founded prior to 1879, and active thru 1985. It is not known when this assembly closed. The assembly did not show up in the LoG's as a meeting room until 1889 or 1894, but John Wells resided in the area in 1879.
There was also a meeting nearby in St. Joseph, which met in the home of railroad executive John Fiske Barnard (b. 1829 Worcester, MA - d. 1910 Los Angeles, California, who resided at the northeast corner of Edmond & 15th Sts. in 1878-1879, started at least by 1875. He arrived in St. Joseph in 1870, although it is currently unknown if he identified with the PB by that point.
However it is safe to assume he was such by 1875, for while serving as the General Superintendent of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad, he accompanied John Nelson Darby during his final trip to North America to Council Bluffs (Iowa) and San Francisco, in northern California, as reported by the History of the Work of God in America by P.F. Jensen. Barnard left St. Joseph in 1888, it is currently unknown which branch he stayed with, if any. After retiring from the railroad in 1899, he did return to St. Joseph until 1907 when he relocated to Los Angeles for the remaining three years of his life.
From +1894-1895+, breaking of bread was in the home of Alfred Gill @ 72 South Valley St., KCKS. By 1896, it was meeting in the home of F.R. Griffith, nearby @ 66 South Valley St. There were also at least two brethren residing in KCMO at that point, that likely were commuting to KCKS for the meetings, P.H. Harris & J.H. Johnson. By 1908, it was meeting in the homes of C.E. Daughaday, first on Penn St., then Westport Ave. in KCMO. By 1911, the brethren had their own meeting room at 315 W. 43rd St., KCMO with three correspondents.
By 1933, they had relocated to a room at 911 W. 44th St., KCMO where they remained thru 1965. Mr. & Mrs. H.W. Williams are listed as having a residency in KCKS in a 1944 LoG, commuting to the KCMO meeting for breaking of bread. In 1949, Dr. Philip O. Bell was commuting from Lawrence, Ruth Brown and her daughter from KCKS, and Joy Kennedy Talbert from Emporia.
The 1950 supplement updates that Mrs. Talbert had moved away, the daughter was no longer accompanying Ruth Brown, and that Dan Andersen and family were residing at 500 Horne St., in Topeka, and holding a reading meeting in their home on Friday evenings at 7:30pm, but breaking bread at KCMO. It also notes correspondents Lloyd Odom had moved from KCMO to Odessa, while still commuting back for Lord's day, and Robert C. Guthrie had also moved away. Sam Hoff of 3120 E. 75th St. had been added, along with Robert Brand Bell.
In 1951, John J. Hughes of the North Star Route, and Mrs. Tom Fuller, both resided in Waldron, Arkansas, and the LoG for that time period indicates that KCMO was the nearest assembly (albeit 336 miles away). By that point, Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd Odom had relocated from Odessa to Grain Valley, just fourteen miles to the west. That year, Mr. & Mrs. H.C. Harris were living on Rt. 7 in St. Louis and breaking bread at KCMO.
In 1962, the correspondents included Samuel Hoff and his brother Wilbur, Avery B. Dixon, and Robert C. Guthrie (Overland Park, KS). The 1966 LoG included listing headings for both KCKS & Overland Park, KS redirecting to KCMO. T Peter Hulet resided at 5200 Newton St., in Overland Park. The 1981 LoG had listing heads for KCKS & Spring Hill, KS.
The meeting room was at 911 W. 44th St. for over forty years, then by 1977 had relocated to 9212 Oak St., to the lower floor of Child World School, a building that may no longer be there. By 1989, it was meeting in the home of Jerry Mittelstadt @ 9948 Charlotte, KCMO thru 1998.
Contents
Locations
- +1878-1880+: home of John Fiske Barnard @ northeast corner of Edmond & 15th Sts., St. Joseph
- +1894-1895+: home of Alfred Gill @ 72 South Valley St., KCKS
- +1896+: home of F.R. Griffith @ 66 South Valley St., Boston Place, KCKS
- take Grandview Car on Elevated Electric Line, K.C. Mo., to "Boston Place"
- +1896+: KCMO residency: P.H. Harris @ 711 E. 11th St., KCMO
- +1896+: KCMO residency: J.H. Johnson @ Office, Room 4, 619 Main St., KCMO
- +1908+: home of C.E. Daughaday @ 4165 Penn St., KCMO. At some juncture, written in the LoG, C.E.'s location was listed at 902 Westport Ave., where the meetings continued to be held presumably, although his old address is listed in the 1911 LoG.
- +1911+: 315 W. 43rd St., KCMO
- +1933-1973+: Room, 911 W. 44th St., KCMO
- address not listed in the 1955 LoG
- +1977-1981+: Child World School (lower floor), 9212 Oak St., KCMO, one mile north of Rt. I-435 at Holmes St.
- +1989-1998+: home of Jerry Mittelstadt, 9948 Charlotte, KCMO.
Meeting Times
- +1894-1895+: L.D. 11am, other meetings occasional.
- +1896-1908+: L.D. a.m.
- +1911+: L.D.: B.B. 10:30am, C.M. 3:00pm, G 7:30pm; Tues.: P 7:45pm; Thu.: R 7:45pm
- +1933-1944+: L.D.: C.M. 9:30am, B.B. 10:45am, G 7:45pm; Tues. & Thu P&R are same times as 1911.
- +1949+: L.D.: C.M. changed to 9:45am, P & R were consolidated into one/ Wednesday evening meeting.
- +1950+: Gospel meeting changed to 7:30pm on L.D., Wed. P&R meeting listed as as 7:45pm.
- +1951+: L.D.: C.M. 9:30am, B.B. 11am, G or R 7:30pm; Wed. P 7:30pm.
- +1955+: L.D.: C.M. 9:45am, B.B. 10:45am, G 7:45pm; Wed P&R 7:45am (probably pm).
- +1962-1964+: Gospel meeting had changed to 7:30pm.
- +1966+: Gospel meeting changed back to 7:45pm, Wed P&R 7:45pm correct.
- +1973+: Sunday evening meeting either Gospel or Reading meeting.
- +1977+: L.D.: C.M. 10am, B.B. 11am, G or R 8pm; Wed. P&R 8pm.
- +1981+: L.D.: C.M. 9:45am, B.B. 11am; Wed. P&R 6pm.
- +1989-1994+: L.D.: B.B. 11am.
Correspondents
St. Joseph
- +1878-1880+: John Fiske Barnard (1829-1910)
- 1879-1880+: H.C. Fassett, c/o W.M. Wyeth & Co.
- 1879+: T. Walker @ 1 mi. southeast of town
Kansas City
- John Wells 1879+
- c/o I.S. Ford, Esq.
- O.O. Roberts +1889+
- Alfred Gill +1894-1895+
- J.H. Johnson +1896+
- P.H. Harris +1896-1905+
- C.E. Daughaday +1908-1923+
- Henry August "Harry" Eichenberger +1911+ (1884-1971)
- George Weghorn +1911-1944+
- M.E. Petrequin +1914-1917+
- J.A. Daniels +1914-1933+
- William Osborne Bell +1927-1944+ (1880-1961)
- J. Paul Bell +1944+
- R.B. Bell +1949-1951+
- Robert C. Guthrie +1949+, +1962-1966+
- Lloyd Odom +1949+
- Sam Hoff +1951+
- Peter Hulet +1951+, +1973+
- Samuel S. Hoff +1962-1985+
- Wilbur R. Hoff +1962+
- Avery B. Dickson +1962-1966+
- Lionel Jerome Mittelstadt +1973+ (1928-2012)
- William M. Ward +1985+
- Jerry Mittelstadt +1989-1998+
Also See
Sources
- EB/TW AB's 1879-1885
- Ancestry.com