The History of NEW United Methodist Church
Past and Present

The church has been in existence for over 114 years.

In the early 1800’s there were three small areas on Kent Island where the black residents gathered for worship.  The black families who lived south of Stevensville were in the Batt’s Neck area, “Fredericktown”, those north of Stevensville to Love Point were Stevensville or on the “Lot” and others east of Stevensville lived in Chester.

On July 5, 1873, Mr. Samuel Ringgold and his wife, Mary E. Ringgold acknowledged a forgoing deed to be their respective act. This act was testified by Mr. John O. Phillip, one of the Justice’s of the Peace of Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.  This deed was to the land where Wesley Episcopal Church was built along with land for burial purposes.  

On August 2, 1873, another deed was recorded by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ringgold for another piece of land adjoining the first piece.  This land was purchased for the sum of three hundred dollars.  Its purpose was to be used for a parsonage for the pastors.  The persons who purchased the land were men from all three communities and they were Alexander Hazelton, Perry Lee, Charles Dunn and Alexes Lee.  These men were the first charge trustees.

The Wesley church property at one time had a separate building that was used as a school and was later torn down when the building on the Love Point Road was made available to Negroes.  One of the earliest School teachers was “Aunt Rachael Lee”!  She taught some children in the community how to read and write.  She was also the church organist.  

The first church of the 1800’s was replaced in 1912 by a second one.  Some of the former trustees were: the late Robert Green, Clinton Spence, James Dorsey, Robert Fisher, Dorsey Dunn, Janie Green, Cornelius Sewell, Jacob Lee, Aquilla Lee, Charles Heath, Eugene Cromwell, William Dorsey, Mr. Anderson, and Daniel Smith.  Wesley served as a meeting place for the St. Luke’s Society.  The late Mrs. Julia A. Spellman organized a Gospel Choir and a singing and praying band was an organization within the church. 

The late William Tanner, a farmer of Kent Island owned the land which now houses NEW United Methodist Church located in Chester.  In February 1878, the late Alexander Hazelton, Henry Heath, and William King purchased the land to build a place to worship for a minimal fee of $50.  These men became the first trustees of the church.  This place of divine worship was to be known as “Methodist Episcopal Church.”

According to the cornerstone laid in October 1909, the church services began under the name of “Union Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.”  The church property also had a separate building that was used as a one room school for African American children in Chester.

In Fredericktown, as it was then known, on Batt’s Neck Road, in Stevensville, Maryland is where “Ezion Methodist Episcopal Church” was located. 

In 1878, Dr. J. H. Weedon, “in consideration of $1, deeded to Thomas Stansbury, James Brown, Henry Wilson, Solomon Heath, Charles Sheppard, and Charles Ringgold; Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Kent Island, about a quarter of an acre of land at the bridge on Batt’s Neck Road near the public road leading from Love Point.  Just where this church was located is not clear.  In 1877, the Atlas of Kent Island records a site of a church in the vicinity but it appears to be somewhat to the east of the present church. “Ezion” was one of the oldest African American churches within the Kent Island-Stevensville area.  This building dates back to 1903; the congregation can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century.  One deed is traced to 1895, recorded in Liber WHC-10, page 377.  The deeds were hand written and almost impossible to read.