Dayton History Point -- Somewhat Important (Cincinnati: house, college, live)

[CarpathianPeasant]

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The father of the Wright Brothers was a bishop in the United Brethren church, the church very briefly described in the thread Cincinnati V. Dayton as "American made in 1800." The family moved to Dayton because he took a job with the church in Dayton.


If someone is interested, here's a church history. Another well known name in there is William Otterbein as in Otterbein College in Ohio.

Our History | Church of the United Brethren

　

Now, in case I miss it, will someone send me a private message when someone from somewhere else currently located somewhere else (who just happened to be in town for a while) comes along to ask something like "How does this relate to Dayton?" or maybe "What's the point?" and picks out a piece of it to post something so it doesn't make sense. Thanks in advance.


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[randomparent]

People don't know this? It's not like Wright's history with the United Brethren Church is a big secret. What am I missing here?

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by randomparent

People don't know this? It's not like Wright's history with the United Brethren Church is a big secret. What am I missing here?

I'm sketchy on details as to why, and I'm not only native, I've got a West Side ancestry and I didn't know much. I don't know for sure, but these are possibilities:

1. I think the publishing house was torn down in the western downtown urban renewal (where Sinclair College now is) and it was the United Brethren local headquarters that was renamed "the Center City building" some years ago. In other words, name's gone and I think what church offices remained after the church split were moved across the river a few blocks from the Art Institute.

2. The bulk of the flock has been considered Methodist ever since the split was essentially finalized, and the seminary property also went.

3. The huge influx of people that came for WWII wartime production came from elsewhere and local history wasn't a concern, especially since nothing much was preserved locally until about 30 years ago. Indeed, Dayton as a whole was rather scrapped with the growth of suburbia.

Those are just some thoughts.

[randomparent]

Maybe I'm just lucky to be a sixth-generation Ohioan of Brethren roots, at least on one side, although in recent generations the family adopted the Methodist church as their spiritual home for reasons you noted above. The other side of the family comprises those pesky WWII Appalachian Baptists. It always surprises me what people do not seem to know about Dayton or even Ohio, but as you pointed out, Dayton has become a more transient place in the last few decades, and perhaps it's unreasonable to expect someone on a two-year assignment to Wright-Patt or doing a residency at MVH to delve into the historical nitty-gritty. Of course, I still have much to learn, too, and I connect dots all the time. I now live far from Dayton, but I still read copiously about Ohio history, and my immediate family members, none of whom are from Ohio, roll their eyes when I want to spend every visit roaming the countryside looking for overgrown cemeteries or talking to the docents at every tiny homestead museum in western Ohio.