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Rev. John T. Johnson, who was born in Erie, PA in 1823, came to the Wayne Circuit in 1858 and continued there until the Civil War began. In that year, he began holding services and prayer meetings for the people of Davis Creek, Cabell County in their homes, newly completed barns, and, weather permitting, in the open under the trees. This practice was to continue for thirty years, until a permanant building was erected.
       In 1861 the hostilities reached even into the churches, and Rev. Johnson was chosen the Chaplain of the 8th Virginia Cavalry, Confederate States of America. This unit was formed at Green-Bottom in Mason County under the leadership of Captain Albert G. Jenkins, a Harvard trained lawyer.
       Following the War, Rev. Johnson returned to this area to hold services monthly on the Wayne-Cabell Circuit. On Dec. 23, 1866, he performed the marriage of Almeda Topping and Marlin T. Blankenship who, much later, were to figure prominently in the building of Dillon Chapel.
       Today, we salute Rev. John T. Johnson, the Pennsylvania-born Yankee, who became the Chaplain of the 8th Virginia Cavalry.

Following Brother Johnson was Brother Hiram Moore, a Kentuckian by birth, who came to this circuit in 1857. He was followed by two brothers from Green Valley: Rev. Charles Crook (1859-1872) and his brother Rev. John Crook. Both were felt to be good preachers by the people whom they served.
       They were typical of the black-suited circuit riders who traveled many miles over mud roads in all kinds of weather so that the Word of God might reach the remote areas of Cabell and Wayne counties which at that time was not much more than pioneer communities. For many, they were the only source to perform weddings and conduct funerals and baptisms.
       Many of these pastors traveled on Saturday staying overnight with the local families and getting up refreshed for Sunday services. (They soon learned where the most hospitable families and the best cooks were.)
       These early preachers were the source of the old saying: "The weather is so bad no one is out but fools and Methodist preachers!"
       Today we salute these hardy men, who braved the elements to serve God in those backwoods areas, hungry for His Word.

Rev. Adam Given was the main promoter and builder of a church building for the Davis Creek Community which became known as Dillon Chapel. Rev. Given, who was born Sept. 28, 1829, and died Nov. 3, 1899, served 41 years as a Methodist preacher. He was considered the most intellectual of all the early preachers and earned the reputation of never being late for his appointments, which were scattered all over Wayne and Cabell counties. At his death, he was buried in Bowen Cemetery, Bowen, West Virginia.
Today we salute Rev. Adam Given, the intellectual circuit rider, who was the first man to have the foresight to promote a permanent church building in the Davis Creek Community. And who had a reputation for never being late for his appointments, even though his only mode of transportation was a horse.

CENTENNIAL MINUTES
SALUTE TO THE PREACHERS

January 22 - Rev. Marlin Blankenship (1843 - 1900)

Rev. Marlin Blankenship came to Davis Creek from Four-Pole about 1880 and soon after was called to serve as "lay preacher" to the community. He conducted worship services, preached funerals, laid out the dead, preached camp meetings and revivals, nursed the sick -- all without pay. Along with Adam Given, the circuit rider assigned to this community, he was instrumental in the building of a permanent church home at Dillon Chapel, where he served until his death in 1900. He died as a direct result of nursing a typhoid victim, John Love, who had been deserted by his family and left to die alone without medical care or food. Rev. Blankenship contracted typhoid and died before his patient. He is buried in Crook Chapel Cemetery, Green Valley.
We salute today Rev. Marlin Blankenship, who in addition to raising six children and caring for an invalid wife, devoted his life in service to his God and his community.

Reece Randolph Dillon (born in Franklin Virginia in 1830 died Cabell Co. in 1888) was a pioneer timberman who purchased 1,000 acres in 1858 from Paul Davis, the first settler for whom Davis Creek was named.
       Those who knew Mr. Dillon said that the snow never got too deep nor the winter too cold for him to cut timber with a hand saw and haul it to the Guyan River with a team of eight oxen. Working out in the winter of 1888, the worst in memory, he took pneumonia and was struck down in his prime at 58. He is buried on land that was part of his farm, now in the possession of Laddie Meadows.
       A well-respected member of the community and a devout member of the church, Reece, Sophia, Adelaide, and their 13 children lived in a log house on the site of the J. J. Bolin house across from the present church.
      Mr. Dillon had pledged the land on which to erect a church building shortly before he died. A lengthy law suit followed involving his widow and Thomas Thornburg, who held a deed of trust for $1,000. Mr. Thornburg signed the deed on the land already pledged by Mr. Dillon.
       The trustees had the last word -- as a memorial to Reece Dillon, they named the church in his honor.
       In our congregation are many members who are descended from Reece Randolph including: Paul Jeffrey, Viv Jeffrey Tommy Jeffrey, Jason and John Jeffrey, Paula, Ashley and Andrew Jenkins,Judy, Joe and Jesse Pullen, Evelyn Eden, Shannon Blankenship, Katherine Nash and her children, and Nannie Wilson. They are a living memorial to the church he envisioned.