Who was Harry Morse ?

[Scott Pitta]

Albert Varnell became Oneness under the ministry of Frank Ewart while he pastored in Los Angeles. I figure it was in 1917.

Here is the quote from the Phenomenon of Pentecost:

“It was in the Seventh Street Mission that Evangelist Albert F. Varnell was convinced and was baptized into the name. He became a useful worker and many of the missions in the northern part of this state originated in his tent revivals.”

Varnell then travelled back to Visalia where he pastored the Pentecostal Mission. That was in 1919. By 1923, JJ Mundy and Fred Earl Poole, PAW ministers, were also working at the same mission.

Fred Earl Poole was at the Visalia Pentecostal Mission from 1918-1929. He then moved to Chico, Ca and died in 1931.

[Scott Pitta]

Dale Struble was born in New Mexico and pastored in Albuquerque from 1930-1945.
Dale and Nellie became pastor of the First Pentecostal Church of Visalia in 1945-1950.
In 1949, he taught at WABC.
He then pastored in Turlock. His pastorate in Modesto began in 1954.
He was Western District secretary/treasurer in1945 and in 1965.
By 1980, they lived in Visalia. In 1995, he made his home in Heaven.

[Scott Pitta]

Mattie Crawford penned a book titled "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit" back in 1926.

Here are a few quotes. Enjoy.
Just as God has manifested himself to this world in a threefold manifestation, or in three different ways, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so there have been three dispensations, or periods of time.

Jesus, the Son of the Father, was promised to a lost and dying world, to redeem us and to become the propitiation for our sins. God promised also, beginning at the first of the major prophets and ending with the last of the minor prophets, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus called "the promise of the Father."

Before Jesus our Lord and Savior went forth on the mission of his ministry, he received the unctionizing power of the Holy Spirit. At the waters of baptism the godhead in all its fullness came upon and within Jesus.

The name of God (which means the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) was revealed her on the day the spirit came, and the name was Jesus. Here we observe that all the chimes and notes of his ancestral names are rolled into one, Jesus.

[Scott Pitta]

Mattie Crawford penned a book titled "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit" back in 1926.

Here are a few quotes. Enjoy.
Just as God has manifested himself to this world in a threefold manifestation, or in three different ways, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so there have been three dispensations, or periods of time.

Jesus, the Son of the Father, was promised to a lost and dying world, to redeem us and to become the propitiation for our sins. God promised also, beginning at the first of the major prophets and ending with the last of the minor prophets, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus called "the promise of the Father."

Before Jesus our Lord and Savior went forth on the mission of his ministry, he received the unctionizing power of the Holy Spirit. At the waters of baptism the godhead in all its fullness came upon and within Jesus.

The name of God (which means the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) was revealed her on the day the spirit came, and the name was Jesus. Here we observe that all the chimes and notes of his ancestral names are rolled into one, Jesus.

[Scott Pitta]

Thnik it not Strange, by Fred J. Foster came in the post today. He praises the Durham "finished work" revelation. Foster does claim Howard Goss was baptized in the name of Jesus by Parham.

I had hoped he made reference to material that I did not already have, but sadly, that is not the case.

He does mention Harry Van Loon by name but adds no significant details abou him.

[Scott Pitta]

Finding documents dealing with early Pentecostalism has been the single largest challenge for putting together the events of early California Pentecostalism.

I found 2 bound volumes of the Stockton Independent from 1918 and 1924. Those are years that are not part of the online archive for that paper.

So now I am turning pages, looking for articles for the Pentecostal Mission. So far, nothing has been found. There are no church adds in the paper. The Sunday edition does have a list of churches, but not of the Pentecostal or Peniel churches.

Hopefully, there will be some useful data gleaned. When I am done with them, I suspect I will donate them to the San Joaquin Historical Society.

[Scott Pitta]

Turning pages on 2 years worth of dusty newsprint gets a little old.

I did find 2 articles about Herbert Buffum from 1924. There was also a small announcement the Rode quartet from Oakland would be at the First Pentecostal Church of Lodi.

Not sure which Pentecostal Church of Lodi was meant. Not sure if the quartet was Julius Rode. The minister Julius Rode was living in Stockton in 1924. The pastor of the Lodi church in 1924 was DCO Opperman.

There is no mention of the Peniel Mission or the Pentecostal Mission at 24 South park Street. The paper seldom covered revivals from any cburch. It may be that Lydia Swinton, pastor fof the Pentecostal Mission on Grant Street simply did not advertise.

In that paper, in those years, churches did not place adds of any kind.

Kinda frustrating there was not more info in the paper.

Now I'm back on the hunt for other early Pentecostal data from the 1920's California.

[Scott Pitta]

The family of William Francis Manley donated some artifacts to the AOG archive this week. In return, the AOG archivist wanted my biography of William Manley to donate to the Manley family.

I cleaned up my Manley file and I just emailed it away.

I am not a historian. But I did manage to put together a timeline for the life of William Francis Manley. He was Free Methodist, then Holiness, then Pentecostal. He was at Azusa Street and he was responsible for introducing Pentecostalism to San Francisco/Oakland.

By 1914, he was back in Los Angeles, where he spent the rest of his life writing and pastoring a Pentecostal Mission. He passed in 1936.

Harry Morse began the Pentecostal Mission in 1915. By that time the Household of God church Manley had founded was no longer operational.

Manley was a newspaper publisher, author and for many, a healer.

He was one of the few Pentecostals who preached at Zion, Illinois after the passing of Dowie. Parham and Cook are also in that group.

The Manley bio was the first I put together. He had quite the paper trail, and so he was easy to follow.

This is the first of the biographies of early Pentecostals I have shared with others.

Some questions are answered. Many others are not. The very notion a person can write a biography about a person they have never met is problematic.

So I have gathered what data I could find, and perhaps it will provide real historians with material of use.

[Scott Pitta]

A songbook by W.E. Kidson came in the post. It is dated 1943.

It was printed for the Eugene Garrett Healing Campaign.

Not sure who Eugene Garrett was.

Songs noteworthy include:

All in Him by Farrow
What Did the Do ? by L.C. Hall
I know Him by L. R. Ooton
I Still Believe It's True by Kidson
If the Devil Would Stay Home by Herbert Buffum
In Him Dwelleth by Hall
Coming as a Thief in the Night by G. T. Haywood
Repent and Be Baptized by Mrs. Edward Stinnet

Other hymns by Hall, Ooton and Haywood are included.

Plus all the usual favorites.

Flipping through an old hymnal brings up old memories of singing songs in places from long ago with friends who have passed on. Some of those old songs I have not sang in decades. It is strange to me that this collective memory is fading away from contemporary society.

Perhaps I am feeling my age on this chilly winter morning.

[Nicodemus1968]

Originally Posted by Scott Pitta

A songbook by W.E. Kidson came in the post. It is dated 1943.

It was printed for the Eugene Garrett Healing Campaign.

Not sure who Eugene Garrett was.

Songs noteworthy include:

All in Him by Farrow
What Did the Do ? by L.C. Hall
I know Him by L. R. Ooton
I Still Believe It's True by Kidson
If the Devil Would Stay Home by Herbert Buffum
In Him Dwelleth by Hall
Coming as a Thief in the Night by G. T. Haywood
Repent and Be Baptized by Mrs. Edward Stinnet

Other hymns by Hall, Ooton and Haywood are included.

Plus all the usual favorites.

Flipping through an old hymnal brings up old memories of singing songs in places from long ago with friends who have passed on. Some of those old songs I have not sang in decades. It is strange to me that this collective memory is fading away from contemporary society.

Perhaps I am feeling my age on this chilly winter morning.

I remember those mornings in the U.P, it was so cold the snow would freeze. You take deep breath’s and your lungs would feel like they’re frozen. Yet, that area is definitely Gods Country.