Organized Religion

Organized Religion. . Randolph County's religious roots reveal a deeply tolerant and progressive community. Beginning in 1814, members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) first worshiped collectively in the area. Other frontier believers worshiped before the preaching of Methodist circuit riding ministers. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, comprised of an African American congregation, held services near Modoc as early as 1831. Followers of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) also settled in the county in the early 1830s, and Mormon founder Joseph Smith even visited Randolph County in 1834 and baptized believers in the Mississinewa River near Deerfield from the 1820s to the late 1850s, strong abolitionist beliefs of Randolph County citizens caused many residents to provide safe haven to escaped slaves from the south in route to Canada as part of the "Underground Railroad" the path to Canada that ran through Randolph County was often referred to as the "Quaker Trace". The charismatic Christian Evangelist Billy Sunday preached in Randolph County in 1922. Today, nearly 100 churches of various denominations dot Randolph County's towns and countryside. Such denominations include Baptist, Catholic, Congregational Christian, Disciples of Christ, Society of Friends, Jehovah Witness, Lutheran, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Wesleyan, as well as many other independent, non-denominational congregations. In recent years, the settlement of Mexican migrants has resulted in an increase in the county's bilingual and Catholic populations.