St. Thomas Episcopal Church has survived despite struggles, challenges

From Tennessee-

The St. Thomas Episcopal Church is one of the oldest congregations in Elizabethton and meets in one of the oldest churches in the city.

According to a history of the church compiled and written by former Vicar David Michael Doty in 1993, the earliest record of Episcopal church activity in Elizabethton comes from the diary of the Rev. William E. Skiles, a deacon associated with the Order of the Holy Cross in Valle Crucis, N.C. Traveling far and wide on his horse Henry, Mr. Skiles was instrumental in the founding of schools and churches throughout western North Carolina. In 1859 in a report to the Diocese of North Carolina he wrote about visiting a church in “Elizabethtown” in Tennessee.

However, Doty notes that the first documentation of Episcopal church services in Elizabethton occurs in the 1892 diary of Bishop Quintard, printed in the journal of the 1893 convention. It notes that Rev. C.F. Berry and the bishop visited the town of Elizabethton and had night services in the Presbyterian Church after having services in Johnson City.

More here-

http://www.starhq.com/2012/01/20/st-thomas-episcopal-church-has-survived-despite-struggles-challenges/