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The Universalist Church

This church edifice, standing on Warner street, in Davis' addition to the village of Farmington, and known also as the "Union church," is in no small degree the result of the determined energy and zeal of Mr. Sergus P. Lyon, whose object in its erection was not only to secure a place wherein he and his fellow-worshipers might hold such service as their hearts and consciences approved, but to be able to offer the same privilege to other Christians of whatever creed; to be able, as Mr. Lyon himself says, to extend to others a courtesy which had been denied to themselves.

Before the building of the church, Universalist worship had been held in Farmington from time to time, whenever both a preacher and a place of meeting could be secured. Among the first of these ministers was Rev. Mr. Woolley, of Pontiac, who preached occasionally in a room over George Wright's wagon-shop, and afterwards in a room which Mr. Lyon had fitted up to be used by Henry P. Dailey for a school-room, but also with a view to its use for purposes of worship. This school- and preaching-room had been adapted from the old red store of George W. Collins.

At first the Universalists were very few, not more than five or six in number, - Messrs. Lyon, Philbrick, Green, Blakeslee, and two or three others, - and their commencement was extremely unpromising. At their first meeting, notwithstanding it was invested with the charm of novelty, there could not be seen the flutter of a solitary ribbon among the hearers, - not a female was present; but in a very short time there were three ladies who attended regularly. From this beginning the numbers increased so much that after a while it became necessary to place props under the floor of the meeting-room to insure its safety.

In the spring of 1853 it was thought that the time had arrived when they should have a more commodious and proper place of worship; but when a subscription was circulated for the purpose of raising the means, Mr. Lyon was told that his life would not be long enough to secure the necessary sum. The fallacy of this prediction was soon shown, for in nine weeks from that time the site, embracing nearly one acre upon the Delos Davis plat, had been purchased for two hundred dollars, and the building materials bought and delivered upon the ground ready for the commencement of the work of erection. During that summer the church was completed, and was dedicated and occupied the same season. That edifice is their present place of worship, being on the easterly side of Warner street, and the lot on which it stands extending on that street from Thomas to Third. The size of the church is thirty by forty feet, and its cost was nine hundred dollars. The society purchased and owns a share in the bell of the Methodist church (which stands near by), as their own tower was not built with view to such a use.

The parties who have served this congregation since Rev. Mr. Woolley have been Rev. Mr. Cook, now residing on his farm in Eaton county, between Delta and Grand Ledge, Rev. A. Knickerbocker, who remained ten years, and was succeeded by Rev. H. Sisson, who was followed by Rev. A. M. Sowle, the present pastor. The congregation is now numerous and flourishing.