First Presbyterian Church (Bellevue, Neb.) [RG3234.AM]

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG3234.AM:  First Presbyterian Church (Bellevue, Neb.)

Records:  1850-1939

Bellevue, Sarpy County, Neb.:  Presbyterian church

Size:  1 reel of microfilm and 1 folder

HISTORICAL NOTE

In 1846 the Presbyterian Board of Missions sent Reverend Edward McKinney to establish a permanent site for the Omaha and Oto Indian Mission at Bellevue, Nebraska. The Presbyterians had been represented in this area during the preceding twelve years by John Dunbar and Samuel Allis.

The six eastern ministers who had settled at the Mission by 1850 met on December 26th of that year to organize the first church in the area to be known as Nebraska Territory. Samuel Allis was elected ruling elder and Reverend McKinney was installed as the first minister. McKinney left Bellevue in October of 1853, and was succeeded, as Mission Superintendent and church minister, by the Reverend William Hamilton.

The stability of the young church, retarded by lack of regular meeting places, was bolstered by a reorganization of the congregation on June 29, 1856. Two years later, in May of 1858, the church was reorganized again and a new, permanent building occupied. The congregation approved new Articles of Incorporation on October 4, 1899, which formally changed the name of the Bellevue Presbyterian Church to the First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, Nebraska.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of one reel of microfilm containing the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, Nebraska, arranged in two series: 1) Session books, 1850-1939; 2) Congregation Record, 1896-1922. Volume one and two of the records of the governing body of the Congregation, the Session, are particularly valuable for their description of the organizations and vocabularies. The volume of Congregational meeting minutes contains a useful history of the church from 1850 to 1898. In December of 1975, Series 3, records of the church’s Sabbath School, 1901-1907, were photocopied and added to the collection. This folder is not available through interlibrary loan.

DESCRIPTION

Series 1 – Session Books, 1850-1939

Reel 1

Volume

1. 1. Session Book, Presbyterian Church of Nebraska, 1850-1865

1. 1. Session Book, Record of the Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, Nebraska Territory, organized May 9, 1858

1. 1. Session Book, 1892-1915

1. 1. Session Book, 1915-1939

Series 2 – Congregation Record, 1896-1922

1. 1. Congregation meeting minutes, 1896-1922

Series 3 – Sabbath School items

Folder

1. 1. Sabbath school items

ADDED ENTRIES:

Allis, Samuel, 1805-1883

Bellevue (Neb.) — Churches

First Presbyterian Church (Bellevue, Neb.)

Hamilton, William, 1811-1891

Missions — Nebraska

Presbyterian Church in Nebraska

Sarpy County (Neb.) — Churches

Revised 07-06-2009   TMM