Present day members of the Locust Grove Mennonite church live, speak, and wear clothing in ways that are very different from those of the Amish with whom they share the Kishacoquillas Valley. Yet we owe our origin to the Amish.

The earliest Amish settlers arrived in the Kishacoquillas Valley of central Pennsylvania in 1791. By that time the area had been purchased from the Shawnee Indians who had moved further west. A navigable Juniata River along with several improved Indian paths provided access to the area. The children of several Amish families who had settled in southeastern Pennsylvania in the 1730's and 1740's were eager to find new land and homesteads for their families. Within ten years, at least fifty Amish households were in the valley. Bishop Hannes Beiler, the first local Amish bishop, provided very capable leadership to the community from the time he arrived in 1806 until his death in 1842.

At the time of his death, the Amish were divided into three geographical districts to make it easier for people to meet together for worship. The first permanent division occurred in the late 1840's when fellowship broke down between what later became the Byler Church in the Lower District and the two other districts. The Byler Church, likely the remnant of the original Amish group, is known today for their yellow carriage tops. In the 1860's a division occurred between the more traditional Amish group and the less traditional group which became known as the Amish Mennonite. In 1868 this more progressive group built a church meeting house in Belleville, and in the following year they built a second one in Allensville. The two locations were provided for traveling convenience, with meetings held at each location on alternate Sundays. Ordained ministers shared the leadership responsibilities at both sites. Bishop Michael Yoder of Mattawana provided bishop oversight for these congregations after the former Bishop David Zook moved to Kansas in 1885. He served until Abraham D. Zook was ordained bishop in 1889 to provide oversight for the Amish Mennonite group which met both at Belleville and Allensville.

Abraham D. Zook, born in 1839, was ordained to the ministry in 1885 before becoming bishop in 1889. In his ministry he forthrightly confronted issues which he considered dangerous to the faith and values of Christian discipleship. His followers saw him as a courageous man of deep conviction who resisted worldly drift within the church. His courage and conviction came to be viewed as stubbornness by others, and produced serious tensions, resulting in a breakdown of fellowship between him and his fellow ministers.

In the mid 1890's, differences among the leaders and members arose and threatened the unity of the group. The issues were, in the view of some members, radical changes from the traditions of fifty to one hundred years earlier. These changes included evening services, congregational singing in four parts, dress customs, haircuts, mustaches, mode of baptism, buttons in place of hooks and eyes, folding buggy tops, and the use of the English language. Also, at this time the Belleville church building (Maple Grove) was being remodeled which exposed further differences within the group concerning the preferred style of the building itself.

In 1897, a panel of five bishops from states to the west was invited to Belleville to try to bring harmony. An agreement was reached which proved to be only temporary. The same issues surfaced again several months later, and again the bishops were called in. By this time deep personal differences had developed between Bishop Abraham D. Zook and Preacher Joseph H. Byler. The situation proved to be beyond reconciliation.

On Oct. 9, 1898 Bishop Zook withdrew along with 118 members from the larger Amish Mennonite group and began meeting on alternating Sundays in the Allensville and Belleville church buildings. They met in the afternoon in the same building in which services were held that morning. For a short time this new group was called the Abramite group, after their leader, Abraham D. Zook. After Zook's withdrawal, Michael Yoder from Mattawana once again assumed bishop oversight of the larger group which met at both Allensville and Belleville.

Bishop Zook continued to meet with his group in the Allensville and Belleville church buildings for over half a year until June 18, 1899. On that Sunday afternoon, the "Abramite group" arrived at the Belleville meetinghouse to find the building had been locked. Crist (Floyd-Crist) Yoder had playfully locked the building as a prank. However, the group was not humored by the prank and resented the act. That same day members of Bishop Zook's group appointed a building committee to construct their own building. Their reaction surprised Crist who later personally visited and asked each member of Locust Grove for forgiveness.

The Building Committee first met on June 20. Abiah Byler was selected Chairman, Moses F. Zook, was secretary, and Jacob Y. Zook, treasure. Other members were Jonas D. Yoder, John H. Yoder, and Israel T. Yoder. They first considered several possible locations for a meeting house east of Belleville before they chose the present one. Israel T. Yoder sold the first building lot to the group for $300, at a prime location one mile west of Belleville along the main road.

Israel T. Yoder lived below the church on the farm now owned by Sylvanus Peachey. As a farmer, he started a milk route in Belleville, distributing milk in a bulk tank on his milk wagon. Customers filled their containers from a faucet. In the spring of 1916 he moved to the house now owned by Gerald and Pat Yoder along Main Street. Later, when street lights were installed in Belleville, Israel was responsible to turn them on and off with a switch on his porch. In the early fall of 1930, Israel carried a small maple tree in a bucket from his house to the Locust Grove cemetery where he planted it. The tree still grows to this day in his honor as the only tree in the cemetery.

In approximately three weeks, the group broke ground for a new building. That first building was completed in 91 days. It measured 38' x 58' and cost $2,249.08. Jonathan Kurtz supervised the construction project. One of the charter members planted Locust trees around the church, providing not only shade, but also a name for the church. Samuel N. Yoder served as janitor in the new building and became the first salaried employee with an annual salary of $35.00. Abiah Byler, Jacob Y. Zook, and Moses F. Zook served as the first building trustees.

While the building was being constructed the group continued to meet every other Sunday in the Allensville church building. On the other Sundays they met in a house on the farm then owned by David Z. Yoder, more recently owned by Paul Hostetler, and currently owned by Sam Swarey. That house was later moved and has since been replaced, but once stood in the meadow behind the existing frame house on Hickory Lane. On one of the first Sundays the group met at this farm, they held their first baptismal service with a group of 10 girls. The group included Ella Hartzler, Keturah Hartzler, Rebecca Hooley, Annie May Hostetler, Rebecca Shultz, Arie Smoker, Bessie Yoder, Katie Yoder, Mollie Yoder, and Sadie Yoder. The girls knelt in the stream for baptism while Bishop Zook poured water from the stream over them. Bishop Zook very strongly encouraged this mode of baptism.

The first wedding in the congregation was held before the new building was constructed. Amos B. Glick (5/13/1873 - 5/29/1952) was married to Rebecca Peachey (8/20/1873 - 7/28/1900) on November 24, 1898. Rebecca died less than two years later. Her funeral was the first one to be held in the new church building.

The first worship service was held in the new church building on Oct. 15, 1899. Bishop Zook preached the dedication sermon. Joshua King from Lawrence County was invited to give a devotional meditation at the dedication. The young Locust Grove congregation found much in common with the King church of Lawrence County and frequently conferred with each other during the first few years. This church had been started by Shem King when he moved from the Belleville area to the New Wilmington area in 1863 along with several friends and relatives. Shem died in 1876 and his son Joshua King succeeded him in the ministry.

The first ordination in the Locust Grove congregation was held on January 14, 1900. Sam T. Yoder was selected by lot and ordained to assist Bishop Zook in leading the new congregation. On the following Sunday John L. Mast was ordained by lot, also by Bishop Abraham Zook. Preacher John S. Yoder, from the Mattawana congregation, moved to Belleville a few months later and also assisted with the leadership. He served until his death on Saturday, December 5, 1902.

More changes in leadership soon followed. Bishop Zook suffered a stroke and his ability to minister was curtailed. In 1904, Bishop Solomon Swartzendruber from Pigeon, Michigan and Cristian M. Nafziger from Croghan, New York came to assist the young congregation in more ordinations. Ben Glick was ordained deacon and Jonas D. Yoder was ordained minister. The fact that two bishops came from such distances indicates the extent to which the young congregation was looking for bishop help from other congregations which shared similar beliefs and practices.

In the early years Sunday evening services were not usually held in the church building. On the very rare occasions when evening services were held, families brought their own kerosene lanterns because the building had no lights. One of the first series of evening revival meetings was led by the "sleeping preacher" in 1904 or 1905. He was called "sleeping preacher," because before the service would start, he would lie down on the front bench and go into a trance. When it was time to preach, his wife would lead him by the hand to the pulpit. He would preach with his eyes closed. The services were very well attended, and many people responded to the evangelistic invitations given at the end of the services to go forward to the altar for prayer.

A strict discipline was maintained during these first early years. All married men wore beards without mustaches, similar to the Amish of today. Sam and Libby Hartzler were married on Thursday, Feb. 16, 1905, but he did not grow a beard and became the first married man not to wear one. Dan E. and Phoebe Yoder were married 2 years later, and Dan became the last to wear a beard of that era. (Dan died in 1966.) All clothing during this time was expected to be plain and without any buttons.

Bishop Zook's health continued to deteriorate during 1904 and 1905 because he suffered more strokes. In 1906 he became sixty seven years old, and he led the congregation in selecting by lot and ordaining John L. Mast as his bishop successor. Bishop Zook died in 1909 and by that time the congregation already contained 175 members, an average annual gain of eleven members. Thus within eight years of the founding of the new congregation, Bishop Zook had led the congregation through five ordinations, including three ministers, a bishop and a deacon.

This new leadership team, consisting of Bishop John L. Mast, Ministers Jonas D. Yoder and Samuel T. Yoder, and Deacon Ben Glick, provided nearly three decades of stability, unity, and effective preaching, during which the congregation was able to experience growth and maturity. Bishop John L. Mast served in this office for 31 years until he retired from active service in 1937. The next leadership change after the first decade did not occur until 1932, when John B. Zook was ordained.