Chapter 1 HOW THE FACTS WERE GATHERED

The Commission on Church and Country Life of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America conducted the work whose results are summarized in this book. Several thousand persons assisted in collecting the data here given. Lists of churches were obtained from correspondents in every township in Ohio, and township maps were sent to them for marking the location of the churches. Ministers, clerks, and other officers of churches, district superintendents, and other denominational leaders gave indispensable information.

The very important material gathered by the Ohio Rural Life Survey, including country church maps of twelve counties and many data for seventeen other counties, was placed at the disposal of the Commission.

Invaluable assistance has been rendered by State, County, and Township Sunday School Associations. In about half of the townships, officers of the township associations supplied needed information. Miss Clara E. Clemmer, Secretary of the County Association, gathered nearly all the data for Preble County. The Rev. C. A. Spriggs, a Missionary of the American Sunday School Union, furnished most of the facts used in making the map of Pike County.

In a few counties, superintendents of public schools either gave desired information themselves, or supplied the names of others who did, and in some cases the agricultural agents lent a hand.

County atlases were consulted, and verifications and corrections were obtained from many sources. The topographical maps issued by the United States Geological Survey gave the locations of certain churches. The Year Books of the various denominational bodies were in constant use for verification and reference, as were the United States Census, the Ohio Statistical Reports, and other Government documents.

In the different sections of Ohio Mr. Gill made extensive investigations on the ground, while large numbers of country ministers and church members were consulted personally. Specific information has thus been collected in nearly every township, while at country church institutes and conferences in various parts of the State, many facts were secured from the discussions on rural church conditions. Not only has information, therefore, been received from very many people intimately associated with the churches of rural Ohio, but also, and very widely, from personal observation on the field itself.

In spite of all the care that could be taken, after the work on the township maps was thought to be finished, a few other churches were discovered. If, in the future, still other churches should be found which are not on the maps, the number of them will be insignificant. Their discovery will doubtless in no wise affect the conclusions which have been drawn as to the country church situation in Ohio, nor their omission impair the general usefulness of the maps.

In the constructive work of the Commission and of the Ohio Rural Life Association for rural church betterment, as well as in the survey, the Ohio State University, under Dr. Thompson, has always given free and valuable co?peration.

For all this kind assistance the Commission and the Association are deeply grateful, and here express their hearty thanks.

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