Map of Edwardsville showing the Universalist Church
Across the street from the church sits a cemetery, likely established by the church the church.

Universalist Church

Edwardsville, Ohio

1835 – 1890s

Without the Edwardsville Universalist Church there would not have been a First Christian Universalist Church of Blanchester.

The First Universalist of Blanchester began four miles to the north in Edwardsville as the Universalist Society of Toddsfolk. Situated on the C&C Turnpike (Cincinnati – Columbus) Edwardsville was a logical location for the area Universalists to meet.

Although they might have meet earlier, 1832 is the first mention of any Universalist gathering. Meeting at first in homes and barns, in 1835 they organized as the Universalist Society of Toddsfolk (some records say, "Todds Fork" or "Toddfork"¹), making them the first official Universalist group in the area. Two years later, in 1837 they reorganized as a church, and the following year, built a church in Edwardsville.

With the pending arrival of the railroad (1852) many members began moving into Blanchester to be nearer to the railroad and the businesses that arrived with it. For the first few years, the Blanchester Universalists held services at the schoolhouse that then faced W. Center St. In 1852 the Blanchester Universalists incorporated and in the same year built their church.

It appears that the church in Edwardsville continued after the split, at least until the 1890s. Ministers are recorded as preaching in both places, and we do know that the Rev. Samuel G. Dunham preached at both locations in the early ‘90s. Edwardsville continued to be listed in Convention records into the 1920s.

The Edwardsville Society was likely organized in part by a “Gen.” Benjamin Baldwin² who lived nearby and whom Robinson describes as:

[A] reliable friend of liberal principles. He was an intelligent and influential man, and devoted to our cause. He was one of the first to make an effort to establish Universalism in Southern Ohio. Although a layman he often spoke in public in its defense. Subsequently he moved to Illinois.²

At about the same time the Universalists began meeting in Edwardsville the Rev. Erasmus Manford, a circuit rider, preached near Edwardsville. A letter of Manford’s suggest that he did so at the invitation of Gen. Baldwin.⁴

Now for a bit of speculation:

In 1846 the East Fork Universalist Society was fellowshipped by the Ballou Association.⁵ The East Fork of Toddfork is about ten miles to the east of Edwardsville. Both the name and location suggest that this Society was in some way connected with the Toddsfolk/Edwardsville Society. Perhaps, when the decision was made to gather as a Society in Edwardsville some decided that Edwardsville didn’t work for them. It is also possible, and I think more likely that as members from Edwardsville stated moving to Blanchester to be closer to the railroad, those from the east of Edwardsville began to think of forming their own society. Which they did in 1846.

Ironically, in 1857 with the arrival of the railroad in Cuna, OH, many of the folk from East Fork moved into Cuba. The organization of the Cuba Church in 1868, led to the East Fork Society being absorbed into that church.

Edwardsville Cemetery

The Edwardsville Cemetery sits across from the site of the Universalist Church, and was more than likely established by that church. The cemetery sign erected by the township says established 1875, but Warren County maps show it as early as 1856. Marker dates suggest 1835, the Society was organized.

Notes

1. If the correct name is "Todd's Fork," that comes from the name of a fork of the Little Miami River by the Little Miami River of that name.
2. Gen. Benjamin Baldwin was also one of the early settlers in Harlan Township. He was the son of Samuel Baldwin, who came to this township very early. H.N.Baldwin, as he was generally known, was perhaps the most prominent of the early settlers, and it is a matter of regret that so few dates and facts regarding, For several years he was commissioned and served in the Ohio Militia. He was elected and served several terms as Justice of the Peace. He was elected as tire Jacksonian candidate as the representative of this county in the Ohio Legislature, of which body he proved to he a valuable member. In was in 1834 he was appointed and commissioned one of the Associate Justices of the Common Fleas Court for Warren County. The title, "General" was an honorary title bestowed upon Baldwin by the people of the area.
He was a man of more than ordinary abilities, of superior natural attainments and possessed of those qualities and honesty of purpose which made him an honored and valuable member of the community and period in which ho lived. [History of Warren County, Ohio 1882.]
3. Robinson, The Universalist in Ohio. p. 39
4. Ibid. p. 39.
5. Ibid. p. 148

Bibliography

- Blanchester Area Historical SocietyBlanchester Area Heritage (1994). Curless Printing Company, Blanchester, Ohio "Credit given to Lillie B. Wade for writing much of this history many years ago with updates by Ethel J. Lyttle."
- Robinson, Elmo Arnold, 1923, The Universalist Church in Ohio. The Ohio Universalist Convention.

[Posted: 09.20.26]

[Church history may be updated as new information comes to light.]

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