Vol 2, pages 1-100 - My Primitive Methodist Ancestors

60 PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH.
canvassed, but with little practical result until, under the vigorous leadership of Jeremiah
Dodsworth, what had been deemed almost too much to hope for was achieved.
A family mansion in Little Stonegate was bought for 800, and on the site of the
demolished building Ebenezer Chapel was erected and opened in November, 1851, by
Jeremiah Dodsworth ;
two famous divines, Dr. Beaumont
SIK JAMES MEEK.
and James Parsons, also preaching sermons in connection
with the notable event. A new era in York Primitive
Methodism began by the dedication to the service of God
of Ebenezer, which right through and beyond the middle
period of our history was the recognised centre of Primitive
Methodism in York. How many old Elmfieldians
retain vivid recollections of the march to and from the
plain chapel in Little Stonegate hard by the venerable
Cathedral ! With it, too, are inseparably associated recollections
of Sir James Meek, as yet our only Knight and man
of title, who it must be confessed wore his honours meekly
and discharged his civic and Church duties with true gentlemanliness
and modesty. H. J. McCulloch had his title
too, being almost invariably known as "Captain," and
he was for some years actively associated with Little
Stonegate ;
at one time indeed having charge of the service of praise. It was in
1853 that Alderman James Meek transferred his membership from the Wesleyans
and brought his class with him. As a leader, he was conscientious in the discharge
of his duties. It. was no uncommon thing for him to travel from Scarborough, or
wherever he might happen to be at the time, for the express purpose of meeting the
members of his class. Though we thus couple Sir James Meek and " Captain "
McCulloch in the same paragraph, because Providence made
them contemporaries and fellow-citizens and colleagues
in church-work, it is none the less true that they were
very different men. Propinquity showed them to be a pair
of opposites. Not only were they marked off from each
other by external differences in appearance, tone, manner,
but these differences ran down into still deeper underlying
differences. Yet both were identified with Ebenezer
and interested in its prosperity, and both, though in
contrasted ways, played their part in those wider
connexional movements, near the vortex of which York
was brought by the founding in 1854 of Elmfield school
with its rudimentary ministerial training college, and by
the establishment in 1866 of the Primitive Methodist
Insurance Company with its managerial office at York.
To these we shall return in considering the origin and
CAPT. H. J. MCCCLLOCH.
development of our Church institutions. Meanwhile, let it be noted that the fact
of the Conferences of 1853 and 1864 being held at York seems to indicate that