e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online

United Brethren

Religions of West Virginia Section 2 of 19

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The Church of the United Brethren in Christ began in the late 1700s among German immigrants and officially formed in 1800. It spread to West Virginia through settlers and traveling preachers like Christian Newcomer and Michael Moses. The first permanent church was built in 1847 near Point Pleasant.

In 1857, West Virginia churches formed their own group, and by 1897, it was called the West Virginia Conference. The church allowed women to preach as early as the 1850s.

In 1889, the church split. One group, led by Bishop Milton Wright, stayed separate. The larger group joined with another church in 1946 to become the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

In 1968, this group merged with the Methodists to form the United Methodist Church, now the largest Protestant church in West Virginia.

The smaller group still exists as the Church of the United Brethren, with a few churches in West Virginia.

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