07/27/2026
Hello Friends of Waubonsie Church! Hope you are all well and keeping cool. Rain is coming, eventually!
Sorry that it has been awhile since I posted anything. The summer months are too hot to do much of anything at the church, so no activities are scheduled. Joyce has been out there to check on everything. She found our road sign had been blown over and some major limbs blown down. That has been reported to the trustees but, due to the heat and some family visiting in June and July, I have not been out there since Memorial day. That is on my list of things to do soon.
The next installment of the Church history, starts with Sunday School held there:
A note in the book I use refers to a passage by A.J. Buckingham who wrote about Sunday School on June 18,1939: He wrote that Burr Oak Sunday school was organized in Feb of 1895 by William Marshall who was the founder of Burr Oak Church. (Maybe some of you know where Burr Oak was?). A.J. wrote that Waubonsie and Walnut Grove Sunday schools were organized some years before that. Prizes were often given for the schools who provided the best Sunday program.
In May of 1899 at one of the local services, William Marshall talked to the attendees about having a non- denominational convention every year to be held at each of the schools in turn. It was agreed upon by those present.
Name of the Organization was Lyons Township Sunday School Convention. Officers were to be chosen by residents of the township and all schools were urged to be represented with a program. Family participation was the focus. Topics were to focus on the Bible and Sunday School.
Officers were: President Charlie McManigal
VP Lafe Wolfe, Secretary John Marley, and Treasurer A.J. Buckingham.
The first convention was held at Burr Oak in July 1899. There were 4 Sunday Schools in the township: Burr Oak, Elm Grove, Waubonsie and Walnut Grove. Walnut Grove did not participate until 1902. John Bowels was the first salaried minister at Burr Oak, beginning in the spring of 1899. A couple years later, Wrights school district became the fifth Sunday School at the conventions. These conventions occurred for 40 years. Several superintendents participated but M.W. Hubbell served for the longest.
A destructive hailstorm postponed one service at Burr Oak in July of 1907. The only other postponement occurred June 21, 1931 at Walnut Grove due to muddy roads. Those were the only 2 postponements anyone remembered ever happening in 40 years. No complete cancellations of any convention was ever recorded.
Sunday school missionaries came in to help. Three were from Red Oak: last names of Thomas, Spurrlock, and Bently.
The Rejuvenation
The Waubonsie church became active as a congregation through the efforts of Harold (Cub) and Frances (Hayes) Decker in 1945-1960s. They trimmed trees, carried water from home for cleaning, mowed by horse drawn mower.
In 1946, Orie Livengood became Sunday School Superintendent and revived the program. Frances Decker succeeded him in 1955. Orie was preacher and Frank Oleson was 1962- 1966.
On Memorial Day, May 31, 1950, the first Memorial Day Service was held at Waubonsie. Rev. Peter Jacobs gave the address.
The Church Bell……
weighing 60 pounds, was given to the church in memory of Arthur Bateman, by his wife, Lillie. Mr. Bateman always walked to Sunday School and one day he passed away while walking to Sunday School.
Mrs. Bateman’s brother brought the bell from near Longford, Kansas. He drove it to Waubonsie in his pick up truck. The bell was originally in Abilene, Kansas, childhood home of President Dwight D Eisenhower.
The bell sat on the steps of the church for several weeks until after church on August 7, 1955, it was installed during a basket dinner.
Cub Decker and his son in law, Earl Hatcher, and others, devised a way to get the bell into the belfry. Making a hole in the ceiling in the back of the church, the bell was pulled up by a team of horses and a pulley system. It was attached to the rafters by ropes. With a rope hanging from the bell, the bell rung out for church services, weddings, funerals and other special occasions.
( Personal note: my husband and I rang the bell after our wedding on July 12, 2003. I remember it being rung at a few church services since then, but not many, before the rope was cut due to worries that the bell may fall from it’s attachment.).
As I have been told, bringing the bell down from the belfry, encasing it outside in a secure and weatherproof encasement near the front of the church, is one of the projects to be done as soon as quotes are given and monies secured to do so. And, yes, the plan is to make it available for ringing at special occasions!
Our next plan is to have an Open House in late September or early October to celebrate the 140th year that this current church has been here. If anyone has some ideas of what to do, and if anyone would like to help with this celebration, please reach out. We would love to have ideas from our church family.
Reach out here or message me on FB.
Be safe. Keep cool. Live life to the fullest!
The history I post here comes from the book by the late Dr. Marianne Ranson Giangreco, Ph.D.
“The Waubonsie Church”.
Used with permission of her daughter Mary Giangreco Burgeson.
