DANCING IS A SIN !
Charles Fenwick Reed was born in Durham County, England, in 1870. By 1890 the family had relocated to Liverpool and Charles soon started attending seminary school. After graduating, he was serving a parish on the Isle of Man across the Irish Sea from Liverpool. There he met Helena Mariah Fargher and fell in love. Unfortunately, his new vocation soon sent him to Canada to serve the Methodist Churches there. Their relationship, strained by the distance, still endured.
After two years in Canadian rural communities the Methodist church sent Charles to Indiana. He was assigned a church in the growing town of Terre Haute. The town was near 40,000 residents and businesses, schools and transportation were rapidly growing. So was sin. Known as a “sporting town” the citizenry had a resurgence of faith and 22 churches were built between 1882 and 1896.
Charles was sent to the fairly new Maple Avenue United Methodist Church. Another reverend at the church, E. S. Shumaker, worked with the Anti-Saloon League and would "suffer a martyr's death for the Temperance Cause" fighting against illegal liquor traffic for four decades.
Charles, now popularly known as Rev. C. Fenwick Reed the English Evangelist, was dedicated to eradicating another sin. Dancing.
Dancing was initiated by hugging. Hugging caused the urge for more body contact and that led to dancing and dancing led to sinful desires. Dancing was even more sinful than going to saloons.
Charles, now popularly known as Rev. C. Fenwick Reed the English Evangelist, was dedicated to eradicating another sin. Dancing.
Dancing was initiated by hugging. Hugging caused the urge for more body contact and that led to dancing and dancing led to sinful desires. Dancing was even more sinful than going to saloons.
In Terre Haute the reverend was united with a close friend from England named William White Pack. Rev. Pack attended to the need of a couple small churches near Terre Haute.
The next year Rev. Pack married a local girl and returned to England to show her off to his family in Liverpool. On the return trip they brought a friend.
On September 6, 1896 Rev. Reed went to Indianapolis to meet the Packs returning from England at the rail station. Getting off the train with them was Reed’s love Helena. The couple went immediately to the courthouse, got a license and then went to the nearby Roberts Park Church and got married. Returning to the train station the newlyweds returned to Terre Haute with the Packs.
The next year Rev. Pack married a local girl and returned to England to show her off to his family in Liverpool. On the return trip they brought a friend.
On September 6, 1896 Rev. Reed went to Indianapolis to meet the Packs returning from England at the rail station. Getting off the train with them was Reed’s love Helena. The couple went immediately to the courthouse, got a license and then went to the nearby Roberts Park Church and got married. Returning to the train station the newlyweds returned to Terre Haute with the Packs.
The Rev. C. Fenwick Reed’s sermon on the vice of dancing became popular and it grew after he published a pamphlet about it. But, it was not always met with acceptance. The next year in Shelbyville, Indiana, he told the town, it was one of the “worst towns this side of Hell”. He chastised the local churches for allowing their youth to dance and play cards because “they would soon walk hand in hand with Satan into Hell”. Greatly offended the local newspaper asked Reed for an apology. They never got one.
Never shying away from controversy, he angered a crowd at a church in Louisville, Kentucky, where they had an oyster and ice cream supper. The church cleared 49 and one half cents from every meal they sold. Reed chastised them for paying debts to the Lord with oysters and ice cream and just use the same enthusiasm in their religion. The local paper wrote “it is safe to predict that the oyster will be playing star engagements in the church kitchen long after every one of us is moldering in the grave.” They were right, the tradition does still continue.
Never shying away from controversy, he angered a crowd at a church in Louisville, Kentucky, where they had an oyster and ice cream supper. The church cleared 49 and one half cents from every meal they sold. Reed chastised them for paying debts to the Lord with oysters and ice cream and just use the same enthusiasm in their religion. The local paper wrote “it is safe to predict that the oyster will be playing star engagements in the church kitchen long after every one of us is moldering in the grave.” They were right, the tradition does still continue.
Reed traveled the Midwest with his messages with many successes and helped increase the attendance of many churches. He was a popular draw at revivals.
In 1904 he went to Bluffton, Indiana, for a 15 day revival. It was held at the Methodist Church (now called First United) at the intersection of South Williams and West Washington. During the meeting he had 795 people at the alter and almost the same number of conversions. The church grew to 1,200 parishioners. When it was over he was escorted to the train station while 300 Methodists sang “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder I’ll Be There”.
Bluffton, Indiana, Railroad Station 1900
In a strange act by Rev. C. Fenwick Reed he had thirty decks of souvenir cards handed out. Each card had printed on it “Souvenir of the Great Revival at Bluffton, Ind., February 1904. One of 1500 cards given to Evangelist C. Fenwick Reed. Avoid The Appearance Of Evil. What A Man Sows He Shall Also Reap”
The article of the meeting said there were 30 decks, which would be 1,560 without Jokers. The card I have is a United States Playing Card Company Canteen #515 card back (US29). Were they all printed on this brand? I don’t know, this is the only card I have ever seen. Maybe this story will lead to others being found.
The article of the meeting said there were 30 decks, which would be 1,560 without Jokers. The card I have is a United States Playing Card Company Canteen #515 card back (US29). Were they all printed on this brand? I don’t know, this is the only card I have ever seen. Maybe this story will lead to others being found.
For the next few years things went well for Reed. Until October 1913 that is. While preaching in Ohio he received a telegram he wife was suddenly very ill and he rushed home. She passed away before he got there. He was now a widower with two teenage boys.
The reverend’s dedication did not stop and he went back to saving lives. Over the next two years he started noticing a nurse named Frances Edwards attending his revivals, in and around Indianapolis. Reed found love again and in 1915 they married. Because she became sick on their wedding day he had the ceremony performed at her bedside.
The reverend’s dedication did not stop and he went back to saving lives. Over the next two years he started noticing a nurse named Frances Edwards attending his revivals, in and around Indianapolis. Reed found love again and in 1915 they married. Because she became sick on their wedding day he had the ceremony performed at her bedside.
The Reeds eventually relocated to Greencastle, Indiana, until 1937 when the Methodist Church decided he was needed in Louisiana. He was assigned to a tiny church in Sicily Island (shown on the left) and another in nearby Harrisonburg. Both had populations of around 300.
In 1942, while serving in Baton Rouge, Reverend Reed became ill and passed away. His widow would outlive him by 15 years. They are both buried in Roselawn Memorial Park in Baton Rouge.