The Holston Conference? What was that? A conference about cows? No, wait, that’s Holstein…

It all started with an article I found on page 3 of the Friday, 19 November 1841 edition of the Highland Messenger (Asheville, NC). The headline read, “A Catalogue of Contributors to the Preachers’ Aid Society of the Holston Conference.” And among those contributors were familiar names: Jacob Loy, W. Loy, Lewis Miller, Isaac Miller, H. Snoterly, and A. Sharp. Although I’m still unsure which one was H. Snoterly, the Snoterly/Snotherly/Snodderly families were intermarried with the Loys in (early 19th century boundary) Orange County, North Carolina; then East Tennessee; and later Page County, Iowa.

I recognized the other names from the family of Martin Loy’s (to America 1741) son George. George’s son “Fisher” John Loy, through both of his marriages, was brother-in-law to Lewis and Isaac Miller. Since Fisher’s brother Jacob would have been in Ohio at this time, the Jacob Loy here would have been Fisher’s son. The A. Sharp was likely Alfred Sharp, who married Fisher’s daughter Elizabeth. The W. Loy would have been William Loy, Fisher’s youngest brother, an ordained Methodist minister. Fisher’s son Jacob Loy’s wife Hazy (Hill) was sister to William Loy’s wife Duly (Hill). William and Duly’s daughters (Mary, Aletha, and Eda) married Isaac Miller’s sons (John F., Elijah, and Robert).

In mid-1840s William Loy and the Millers would migrate to Platte County, Missouri, and then to Page County, Iowa where William’s *brother* Jacob Loy, their cousin John Loy Jr.’s son David Loy (who married William’s brother Jacob’s daughter Elizabeth), and other Snodderly families also migrated. Shortly after, Fisher’s son Isaac Loy and family and Fisher’s grandson John Loy Weaver and family would also migrate to Page County Iowa.

According to a 1949 letter by William Loy’s granddaughter Vetta (Loy) Johnson, she said “we” still have the originals of William Loy’s original minister’s licenses. With my notes (i.e., spelling corrections) in brackets, here is Vetta transcription as follows:

The bearer William Loy is authorized to exercise his gifts and grace as ex[h]orter in the M. E. Church so long as his spirit and practice shall be in accordance with the Discipline of said Church. Signed in behalf of the J. M. Conf. for Clinton Circu[i]t, Knoxville District, Hols[t]on Conf. Sept. 22 1834 W. Patton P. E.

And the renewals of his license:

• Renewed by order of the J. M. Conf. Sept. 26, 1836 W. Patton P. E.
• Renewed by order of the J. M. Conf. Sept. 11th 1837 L. S. Marshall P. E.
• Renewed by order of Conference Loy’s Campground Sept. 7, 1839 J. Humming Pastor
• Renewed by order of Conference Big Valley Oct. 5 1840 C. Fulton

In a 1962 letter, Vetta said William was an ex[h]orter or local preacher in Clinch River Conference.

Although headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, at time of this 1841 Conference, the Holston Conference encompassed counties in North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, as well as Tennessee. The Conference takes its name from the Holston River. While researching online, I was surprised to find the Holston Conference still exists today, and much expanded in territory. It is among the annual conferences of the United Methodist Church.

The Preachers’ Aid Society is also in existence today, though I was unable to find one main website for it, just one in Massachusetts that covers all of New England and one that seems to be based in Illinois. Other Methodist Church websites in various states mentioned having a Preachers’ Aid Society meeting, but I was unable to locate any direct website. So apparently all the Conferences still have this Society. I had hoped there would be a URL for the Holston Conference’s Preachers’ Aid Society, to let others see it 177 years after this 1841 newspaper article.

I’ve encountered discrepancies regarding the year of William Loy’s (and allied families’) departure from East Tennessee to Platte County, Missouri. The biographical of William’s son George Tate Loy gives 1843 for the Missouri arrival, while George Tate Loy’s daughter Vetta (Loy) Johnson gave the move as Spring 1844, when her father was four years old, staying there for eight years. The earliest Missouri land record I found was in 1846, when William Loy of Platte County, Missouri residence, bought 138 and 84/100 acres of land at the Plattsburg land office. This was prior to their enumeration in the 1850 Marshall Township, Platte County, Missouri census. The following year, William and his household were in the 1851 Page County, Iowa state census, although the Millers were not listed. According to the History of Page County, Iowa vol 1 by W. L. Kershaw (1909) pg. 439, William was one of several settlers who came to Lincoln Township, Page County, Iowa, in 1851 and the Millers came to Tarkio Township in 1852.

In the late 1820s William’s first cousin (his uncle Henry’s son) John Henry Loy, who was my ancestor, left Alabama with his large family for Illinois because “the slavery issue was hot” where he was in the South. This was also William’s reason for leaving Tennessee, according to William’s descendants’ family tradition. Another similarity between these cousins was both were involved with the Methodist church. After arriving in Illinois, in the 1830s John Henry Loy and his descendants founded the congregation, and later edifice, that would be Loy Chapel (a.k.a. Loy Church), on the Methodist circuit.

Although I could understand the pressure in Alabama at that time, I was somewhat puzzled hearing of the pressure for William in Tennessee. During the Civil War, East Tennessee was virtually anti-slavery and pro-Union. (From accounts I’ve read, Union County, formed from sections of five different Tennessee counties in 1850, was named to honor the Union.) Yet, perhaps it wasn’t local pressure, but regional Church pressure. By coincidence, or perhaps not, the year William left, 1844, was the very same year the Methodist Church split due to slavery issue. The Southern churches then became the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Although Methodism was founded on anti-slavery beliefs, and the Southern churches were to adhere to it, there were gray areas that gave certain ones no choice either way. In Wikipedia’s article relating to the Church division, it tells of a southern Methodist Bishop who already owned a slave, but under good conscience could not sell her, only to have her fall into the hands of a cruel master. The Church did not reprimand him for owning a slave, but when he married four years later, in 1844, his new wife had previously inherited a slave. The General Conference drew the line and voted to expel him from office until the slaves were no longer under his ownership. The Southern churches broke off, infuriated that the General Conference, not the local Conference, could dictate authority in this matter. The October 1914 article The Methodist Episcopal Church and Reconstruction, by William W. Sweet, gives further information on this split.

Whether or not this 1844 Church split over the slavery issue was a factor in William’s migration from Tennessee to Missouri, I can only speculate. But according to another of William’s descendants, the slavery issue prompted his leaving Missouri for Page County, Iowa. Sherry told me the Millers, Loys, and some of the Aikens went to Missouri, in a vicinity that was pro-slavery and these neighbors asked them to leave. While the Loys, Millers, and Aikens were anti-slavery, it’s noteworthy to mention that Lewis and Isaac Miller’s father John (“Raccoon”) Miller was a large plantation and slave owner in Tennessee. [Edited on 9 December 2018: I was correct in my assumption! I recently came across an historical newspaper that gave remembrances by William’s son and grandchildren that William left Tennessee due to a church split over slavery!]

Besides the Loys and their allied families being mentioned in the Highland Messenger article, there were many other church members in the donor list. To benefit any researchers of these other names while doing their web search, I’m transcribing the complete list below. NOTE: Original newspaper article’s formatting often had donor with type of donation after name and continued on next line. Or a donor’s lengthy surname was hyphenated and continued on next line. For clarity, especially so these “broken-up” surnames will show complete and non-hyphenated in search engines, I’ve kept the text to one line in one table cell, placing a dash in cell below where continued text had been in original article. Using the dash as a place marker will also keep the integrity of how the original list of names were formatted.

Friday, 19 November 1841 Highland Messenger (Asheville, NC), pg. 3