The first ecclesiastical edifice erected within the present limits of Bigelow Township was the white church, which stood on the east bank of Big Tarkio, on a farm now (1882) owned by B. M. Beesley,
on the southeast quarter of section 32, township 61, range 39.
This church was built in 1860 by the M. E. Church, South, at a cost of about six hundred dollars. The organizers of the congregation
were Isaac H. Jones, now of Rulo, Nebraska, and his wife ; Isaac Jarvis and wife, Mrs. Susan D. Easley, Mrs. Elizabeth Poindexter, U. T. Cranmer and wife, and Mrs. Mary A. Spoonamore. The first
sermon was preached in this church on the 4th of July, 1860, by Rev. Mr. Dodd, of Calloway County, Missouri.
In the winter
of 1871, the structure of this, the pioneer church of the township, was destroyed by fire. In the succeeding summer the "Brick Church" was built by the
congregation of the burned church. This they located on the southeast quarter of section 29, one mile north of the site of the old White Church. It is a neat building, thirty by fifty feet in
the clear, and was completed at a cost of $2,000. It is one of the best buildings of its
character in the county.
Shiloh M. E. Church, South
Also in Bigelow Township, is a frame structure, which stands on the bank of the Missouri River, in section 23, township 61, range 40. It is a building thirty by
forty feet in extent, and was erected in 1873, at a cost of about seven hundred dollars. The principal members who built this church were George H. Walker, A. I. Griffin and Robert Adkison.
