George L Crookham’s son, O. C. Crookham married M. J. Walden, the daughter of Jonathan Walden, a founding member of Jackson’s Baptist Church. Jonathan and Sarah Walden, with her mother, Jane, were buried in the Pierce-Mather Cemetery, on land owned by W. W. Mather, also a founding member of the Baptist Church. Crookham, however, was a Methodist.
In 1872, the Methodist Church in Jackson appointed a committee to create a history of Methodism in the county. The first written evidence of Methodism in the county was in 1817 when a preacher was authorized to solemnize marriages, though tradition supports “that there were Methodist families, in what is not the town of Jackson, as early as 1805, and probably before that time.” (Jackson Standard, 16 Oct 1873, p 1 | newspapers.com)
The Standard History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio writes that “Mother Sylvester, who with her sister, Mrs. John Martin, was converted at the camp meeting held near the Salt Works in 1801.” George L. Crookham worked at the salt works when he migrated to Jackson County in 1799 and likely attended the camp meetings, if he became a Methodist.
Camp Meetings in the early 1800s were both social and spiritual events. Itinerant preachers would provide sermons and the attendees would sing hymns, pray and camp. They were common during the Second Great Awakening and organized by Baptists, Methodists and other denominations in the frontier where there were few established churches. In Jackson, the itinerant preachers recorded by the Methodist Committee in the Jackson Standard article were Laidley, Tevis, Westlake, Strother and others. “Occasional outdoor preaching was held and continued more or less for several years before any house was erected for that purpose.”
Until the courthouse was built in 1821, “preaching services were held in the woods in summer and in the homes in winter.” (Standard History, p 420) Early services were hosted in the homes of John James and Samuel Hall and in a log school house in Jackson until about 1835. The Methodist committee found an old class book from April 1830 and in the names recorded as members of the class were George Crookham, Sarah Crookham, Horatio Crookham, Euclid Crookham, Horace Crookham and other neighbors. Horatio, Euclid, and Horace are the children of George and Sarah and were born in the 1800s, making them in their 20s in 1830. It is likely the other children were not listed as they were likely in attendance with a younger class.
While the Crookhams are listed on the membership roll, the committee singles out others as faithful attendees and comments “the number of times that the other members were absent is not a cause for congratulations”. (Jackson Standard)
Sources
A Standard History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with an Extended Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development. (1916). United States: Lewis Publishing Company.
Dubourg, M. & Milbert, J. G. (ca. 1819) Camp meeting of the Methodists in N. America / J. Milbert del. ; M. Dubourg sculp. , ca. 1819. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98508274/.
“Historical Sketch of the ME Church at Jackson CH Ohio.”, Jackson Standard, 16 Oct 1873, newspapers.com
Finding the Yellow Bricks 