52 Photos Week 36: Religion

Question

Time for the next 52 Photos challenge!

This week's theme:

RELIGION

To participate, simply:

1. reply below, and
2. add a photo that fits the theme to this week's free-space gallery.

If you use a social network (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) please share the photo there as well, using #52photos and #wikitree. This can be a great way to involve more family members. If you use a blog, include a link to your blog post in your answer below so we can all read it.

Members who participate every week can earn challenge badges. Click here for more info. If this is your first time participating and you don't have the participation badge, or if you pass a milestone (13 in 13, 26 in 26, 52 in 52) please post here.

For help with how to add photos, see here.

Answer 1

My great uncle Gustav and great aunt Caroline with there baby baptized in the Protestant church in Varde Denmark 

The photo are taken in 1922 the baby’s name is Karen 

She was my favorite great aunt 

Comments

Susan this a wonderful photo of your favorite great aunt and her new baby in a long baptismal gown. Gustav certainly looks very happy.

---

What a beautiful photo.  I love the gown.  Thanks for sharing this Susan.

---

Thank you, Susan, for another wonderful photo. It is beautiful and the parents look so pleased and are dressed so nicely. I love the baptismal gown.

---

Karen's baptism was a very important day for her and her parents. Her baptismal gown is gorgeous. And your picture is wonderful. Thank you for sharing, my friend.

---

Thank you Caryl for your kind comments you are so sweet

---

Thank You sweet Cheryl you are sweet you are righ it is a great day for the parents when there children are baptized in church.

---

Thank You sweet Robin for your kind comments

You are so sweet

---

Thank You sweet Alexis for your kind word yes I think they both look amazing

Answer 2

This is a 1923 photo taken on the Sunday my father, Clare Alexander Lovelace Jr., was baptized at St. Paul Methodist Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma. My grandparents are sitting on the church steps.

Comments

Again you come with a wonderful photo Alexis of your father being baptized at St. Paul Methodist Church fabulous photo thank You for sharing

---

What a precious picture.  Thanks for sharing it Alexis.

---

Thank you Susan, it is in his Baby Book.

---

Thank you Caryl.

---

Very 1920's looking photo - one of my favorite eras.

---

Thank you SJ. I always think the clothing is interesting.

---

Alexis, what a precious moment in time. I love their clothes and the proud look on your grandparents faces. Your dad looks so sweet.

You never fail us with your pictures.

Thank you.

---

Thank you Cheryl, I have to admit that I would not have known what the photo was about if my grandmother had not written about it. Wish she had written more names of relatives, but I should have asked her.

---

What a wonderful photo, Alexis! I love the way everyone is dressed. Thank you for sharing this.

---

Thank you Robin.

Answer 3

I posted a photo of my sons baptism in October 2002. He was aged 5 months old.

https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/52_Photos_Week_36_Religion

Comments

here it is:

---

Robynne, I love that you delayed your son's baptism so your whole family could be together for such a joyous occasion. To have your son baptized in the same cathedral as your husband may be a new family tradition.

Thank you for sharing this story and beautiful picture.

---

Thanks SJ

Much appreciated.

Answer 4

My grand uncle Curtis Benham Pruett who went by "Ben", was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bellingham, Washington for 50 years.  Here is a picture of him at his graduation and another in his later years.  I was lucky enough to spend time with him.  He was a very genuine and loving person.

Comments

Thank you Caryl for your photos of your handsome grand uncle Pastor Ben, his congregation must have really loved him for them to keep him for 50 years.

---

Pastor Ben looks like a lovely man. How lucky that you had him in your life.

Thank you for sharing his picture and story with us.

---

Thank You Caryl for sharing those two photos of you uncle Curtis how how amazing he was the first paster of the Baptist Church in Bellingham in Washington

It most have been so great you actually have spend time with him

Thank You for sharing this wonderful photos

Answer 5

When my grandparents retired to the mountains in 1969, the local church was in complete disrepair and had not been used for years.  My Grandmother helped spearhead an effort to restore the church and restore it they did.  The Callahan Chapel is open to this day - I spent many summer Sundays there as a child.

My mother and sister visited there a few months ago and sent me this pic.

Comments

Thank you SJ, I love the shingle siding. The church where I taught GED was restored back to the original siding like this. Your grandmother is certainly to be commended for such a wonderful restoration.

---

Beautiful chapel.  I would like to visit.  Thanks for sharing SJ.

---

SJ, your grandmother is a wonderful person. I think is it awesome that she was the force behind having this church restored. It is beautiful.

Thank you for the story and the picture.

---

What and incredible photo of the Local church SJ thank You for sharing

---

SJ, this is a beautiful chapel. And it's wonderful that your grandmother took on the project of restoring it. Thank you for sharing the photo.

Answer 6

3x Great Uncle, George Albert Snyder, Reformed Church Pastor and from 1904-1908 the President of Catawaba College in Salisbury, North Carolina

Answer 7

Rev Anna Howard Shaw (Shaw-5115) was the first woman ordained a Methodist Minister.  See detailed story at: https://www.wikitree.com/photo/pdf/Shaw-5115    “The Woman Preacher Who Faced Down a Sea Captain” “Two factions in the East Dennis Methodist church (Cape Cod-where she was minister from 1878-1885) were at each other and couldn’t get along.  She said ‘I will refuse admittance to any among you who bring personal criticism into your public prayers.’ One retired sea captain stood up angrily. ‘I have prayed in this heavenly way for 50 years before that gal was born," he pointed to Shaw. ‘And she can't dictate to me how I shall pray in the future.’  

Problems continued in the church until Reverend Shaw said she would resign and went home to her boarding house on Bridge street, East Dennis to pack her bags.  The parishioners would have none of it.

“But before she could leave, a delegation of church goers surrounded her house. They were led by the same captain that she had earlier banished from the church. He had heard about the sermon and agreed that the young woman preacher was indeed correct in her assessment.

‘Its high time quarrelling and backbiting were stopped,’ he told the crowd. ‘I've come here to say that I'm with the gal. She got real spunk. Put me down for my original subscription and ten dollars extra!’”

Comments

Thank you for sharing this great story about Rev. Shaw.

---

Wow, I went to her profile, and that is an awesome story! Too bad she didn't live long enough to see women gain the right to vote. She definitely had character.

And by the way, you and I are distant cousins. We're both descended from both Henry Kinne, and Joseph Knight.

---

The names Knight and Gardner are in my ancestry as well.

Credit has to be given to the Captain also. At sea the captain has to be in control as the deckhands can be a hardy lot. It is not always easy to leave that attitude at the wharf. His gesture showed he could be a bigger-than-life man; not to take credit from Anna Shaw.

Answer 8

52 Photos Week 36 - Religion

I started going to the First Baptist Church of Momence when I was 6 years old. It was such a beautiful church, full of gorgeous wood and wonderful hiding places for a curious young child. As I grew a little older, I started going to Vacation Bible School, and shared a picture last week of a group of us sitting in the sanctuary. During VBS, we would often run in and out of the parsonage to get kool-aide and snacks, and it soon became another one of my favorite places to be.

 When I became the historian of the church I found that the parsonage was originally built in 1914. When I was living in California, the parsonage had been moved from it's original location to about five or six blocks away. 

My husband (Mike) and I met and married. That was when I found out that his sister owned the parsonage, it was a rental, and that her and her husband were trying to sell it. Mike hated the house when he looked at it, but all I could see was the house through the eyes of a child. My grandma even make the comment "you think you are really going to live in this house?"

So, we bought the house, and after 20 years of  Mike remodeling, it was finally complete. And I know this is a long story, but I have to tell you - when he took one of the pieces of wood off from around the window, on the back side of it were the words "Hess Lumber". That was a business that was owned by my husband's 2nd great grandfather. When I researched that, I found that we owned a "Sears" house that was built by his 2nd great grandfather's company.

We both love our house now.

Comments

What a lovely home.  And what a charming history. Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing this photo and the story.

---

Thank you, Robin. You are always so sweet to me. 

---

Cheryl, I love your home too. Thank you for sharing the story and photo of it being your church parsonage. It is wonderful that you have remodeled and kept it in pristine condition.

---

Thank you, Alexis. I think our childhoods kind of run parallel to one another. I always wait to see what you comments are going to be.

---

What a wonderful home and story thank You Cheryl for sharing those two wonderful photos

---

What a beautiful home!  I love old homes Cheryl, so much better than new ones.  My great grandparents built a "Sears" house in Santa Rosa in the 1920's.  It was one of my favorite places to visit. Thanks for sharing.

---

Thank you, my friend. You are so sweet.

---

Caryl, That is so nice of you to say. I love old homes also. The wood is so beautiful in them. And they are solid. Thank you for your nice comments.

Answer 9

This is my Aunt Mary on her Confirmation Day about 1911.

Comments

What a wonderful treasure of your aunt Christine on her confirmation she look adorable

Answer 10

This photo, from about 1933, is of my husband's aunt, Beulah Marie Shaules. She became Sister Antonia when she joined the convent in about 1928 when she was 18 years old.

In 2003 most of the family, four generations, attended the celebration of her Silver Jubilee -- 75 years in the profession. Unfortunately she died one year later, at the age of 94. She was well-loved and the matriarch of the family.

Comments

robin what a wonderful photo of your husband aunt sister Beulah

94 years old a very high ages

Thank You for sharing this wonderful photo

---

Thank you, my friend, for your kind words.

---

Lovely photo.  Thanks for sharing Robin.

---

Thank you, Caryl.

Answer 11

One of my ancestors was the Reverend John Philip Boehm, founder of the German Reformed Church in the U.S. I have a photo of the plaque in the church built over his grave but have no clue on how to add it. And...I did read how to add photos, it makes absolutely no sense to my little dinosaur brain.

Comments

They do have a rather complex system here for adding photos. If the photo is not already on wikitree, but is on your computer, you have to click on the link near the top of this page that says "this week's free space gallery". Do a "right-click" and open it in a new tab. Then go to that tab, and on the right hand side of the page, above the photos, there will be a link that says "upload new image". Click that, and you'll get a dialog box that allows you to upload it to that page. Then you have to copy the image from that page, and paste it into this page.

Some of my ancestors were German Reformed. I wonder if any of them knew your ancestor? Where and when did yours live? Mine were in Pennsylvania and one branch lived for a time in northern Maryland. Mine came over between 1720 and 1752. Several of my Winebrenner ancestors were German Reformed ministers.

Answer 12

This is St Benedict Biscop Church in Wombourne, Staffordshire, England, and back in the 19th century, was where many of the Powney/Pountney family were baptised or married. My gr.grandfather Elon was baptised there in 1863.

Comments

What a fantastic church from Staffordshire in england  David I love the old churches in england

Thank You for sharing

---

Don't you just love the steeple Susan? I have been looking for an older photo of the same church. :)

---

I absolutely do I actually se the church because we have three time drove around Uk and visit old castle and churches

I love to visit the English churches very much

We have a friend that actually live in Staffordshire we know for 25 years but unfortunately he died only last month

Answer 13

So my grandpa went to Prairie Bible Institute to impress a girl. 

I know he also went because he thought it would be a good and valuable thing to do. But I think it was mostly for the girl. 

A woman he was interested in had been to Prairie Bible Institute, and she told him she thought it would be a good place for him. So he went.

(It may have been some kind of hint that she was trying to send him 1,700 miles away to central Canada. But he was undeterred.)

He didn't end up with that woman, though. When he came back, he spent the summer working at a children's Bible school in northwest Arkansas. 

There was a woman working at the school who had also been to Prairie Bible Institute a few years ahead of him. Since they were both alums of the same school, they introduced themselves.

The woman was my grandma, and they were married two years later, at the church in Arkansas where they met.

And so my grandparents met because my grandpa had been trying to impress a different girl. But I don't think they tended to tell the story that way. 

Comments

Jessica, thank you for the lovely story and the wonderful photos.

Answer 14

During a trip home this past July my Aunt and I went around visiting some of the local cemeteries and getting pictures. One trip was to the cemetery at Piney Flats United Methodist Church, as we were about to leave she asked me if I had ever seen a picture of the stained glass window dedicated to my Great Grandfather B. L. Ford. I didn't remember even knowing about the window. 

Luckily, the minister was at the church to let us in and I was able to get some pictures of the inside of the sanctuary and of the stained glass windows. The Piney Flats Union Church was built in 1914, my great grandfather passed away in July of 1910. His children were young, my great grandmother began teaching school and eventually was principal of some of the local schools.

Below is a close up of the bottom of the window and a picture of the window in the center of two other stained glass windows.

Comments

Wow Emily gorgeous photos of the mosaic window

---

Emily, I took a class in stained glass windows at Cal. State Fullerton in 1975 and made one very small leaded window in the class. It really gave me an appreciation for these windows. I have since made few copper foiled things. Thank you so very much for sharing these fabulous windows. Even back in 1914 these windows would have been expensive and a wonderful legacy for your family. Thank you for sharing these gorgeous photos.

---

That's really cool.

Answer 15

My parents, Ralph Stewart Shane, Jr. and Mona Ann Osborne, had to be baptized into the Episcopalian church so they could have their wedding at All Saints by the Sea Episcopalian Church in Santa Barbara, California though they were nominally of a different religion at the time, although they were not devout in that one, either.  I always wondered why they were so set on having their wedding at that church, but perhaps it was the church that my mom's parents, William Gray Osborne and Edith Alice Clarke Osborne attended, or maybe they just liked the look of it or it was a trendy place to be married at that time.

Answer 16

My sister, Suzanne "Susie" L Sims-Chang (1949-....) has been involved in Children's Ministries most of her life.  In fact, she is still leading the kids at a church in one of the poorer neighborhoods in Albuquerque, NM.

She had developed many games and stories surrounding the Bible.  In 1999 I took the trip from South Dakota to NM for a brief visit.  I saw some of her works.  I suggested that she should find a way to share her stuff with other children ministries.

We then decided to start a ministry which we called "Susie's Kids".  We offered a monthly newsletter, about 10 books and numerous games and puzzles using Bible Stories themes.

We also attended many conventions.  Below is a photo of our booth at a St Louis convention in 2003.  As you can most likely tell, I am about 9 years older than Susie.

We priced the items for sale at what they cost us for materials, printing and postage.  We took no salaries.  So, the items were very reasonable.  We were able to get enough to keep the ministry going at about a break even point.

Although we hoped we were making a difference, we continued to  aged, it just became too much for us.  So, we called it quits in 2009.  We both missed the sharing, but time has a way of slowing us all down.

Comments

What a lovely story. But, Bill, I can't see your photo.

---

not sure why you can't see the photo ... when I go to the space it is there??

---

I see it now! Lovely photo! And I can relate to the "slowing down".

Answer 17

This is my mother, Milagros Victoria Gila Hernández, on the day of her First Communion (1956). My grandmother had asked her to keep her mouth shut for photos, because she had lost some teeth, but she was so happy with her dress that she just couldn't stop smiling.

Comments

adorable!

Answer 18

I will use my great-great grandfather, Peter Winebrenner, as he is from far back enough to be really interesting, I have photos of him, and I know a lot of stories about him. He also kept a diary, of which I have copies of sections. While his family was from Pennsylvania, his parents had (seperately) left to go west. They met and married in Ohio, where they lived for a few years before moving on to Noble county, Indiana.

Peter had a grandfather, uncle and cousin who were all preachers. They had all been ordained by the German Reformed Church. His cousin later started the Church of God.

Above, Rev. Peter Winebrenner, probably around 1870.

Peter was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1857. He was a circuit rider for that church in much of northeastern Indiana. If any of you have relatives that lived in that area between 1850 and 1900, they may well have known him. Below is Merriam Christian Chapel, his home church.

Answer 19

This is my dad's father, Victor, at his confirmation in the Lutheran church.  It's a detail from a larger photograph.

Answer 20

Here's my grandfather Sven Albert Laurin back row, second from left at his Confirmation

Comments

Thank You Keith fir sharing this magnificent photo