This period begins with the establishment of Waverly with a population of 200 (Kalfs 1976, p21) in 1832, and ends with the incorporation of Waverly in January 1842, with a population of 306 (up from 200 in 1830; FNB History,21), the Waverly Presbyterian Church was established.

Following the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which cleared the Shawnee Indians from the area, settlers had moved into what was to become Pike County which was formed in 1815 with a population of 4,153 from land taken from four existing counties (Beekman 2003, p1),. All Land west of the Scioto River was part of the Virginia Military District, set aside for Virginia's veterans of the Revolutionary War. By the Northwest Ordinance Congress had opened all land east of the Scioto for settlement (History of the Scioto Valley, P. 696).

When in 1829, the routes for the series of canals linking the Ohio River with Lake Erie to the north were being planned, a village to be called Uniontown was seen as an important port on the branch of canal system passing through Pike County. When residents seeking to establish a post office found that a post office of this name already existed in another Uniontown, the name was changed to Waverly at the suggestion of Capt. Francis Cleveland, resident engineer of the newly constructed canal, who was much interested in reading the Waverly Novels of Sir Walter Scott. The village of Waverly was established in 1832 and incorporated in January 1842. By 1860 the population had grown to 900 (Hoover p. ).

Waverly citizen and leading businessman James Emmitt, son of Geroge Emmitt, came to Pike County in 1816 at the age of ten, and worked for ten years as a farm laborer, woodcutter ad teamster. He saw canal construction as an economic opportunity, first turning his home into a boarding house for canal engineers. When the Waverly section was completed in 1832, he purchased canal boats to carry grain, built a large grain mill and whiskey distillery, and raised hogs on the grain mash left from the distilling process. Only when cholera broke out in 1852 did he respond to public outcry over the bad odor by moving the hog farm further away (Beekman 203 p.5). James emmitt died in 1894.

Following the first group of European immigrants to southern Ohio, among the traders, trappers, surveyors, and land developers, came families of Scottish, Irish and English descent from New England, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Among these were many with Presbyterian traditions. They were attracted by stable conditions created by the Northwest Ordinance, and the Virginia Military Tract which extended from the Scioto River west to the Little Miami River.

A second wave of migrants came from Germany in the 1830's to the 1860's. They were seeking refuge from political persecution, and brought with them United Brethren, Evangelical, Reformed, Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditions.

In 1821 settlers from the Calvinistic tradition formed the Chillicothe Presbytery, which covered an area of six counties including Adams, Brown, Fayette, Highland, Pike and Ross, plus the eastern parts of Clermont and Clinton counties. The first Presbyterian congregation in Pike County was established in Piketon in 1832, with the Reverend Gamaliel Beeman as stated supply pastor until 1838.

In 1841 the Reverend William Burton of the Piketon Presbyterian Church became interested in establishing a branch church in Waverly. As noted above, in the year 1842, the Waverly Presbyterian Church was established, with the Rev. Burton as stated supply pastor of both Piketon and Waverly churches. This action may have taken place at the meeting of the Chillicothe Presbytery at the Pisgah Church on April 5-6, 1842, when John Carolus, the first elder of the Waverly Church was listed as an elder commissioner. The first trustees were Carolus, John Howard and Robert Emmitt, brother of James Emmitt.

The property of In-Lot No. 110 on East North Street came into the possession of the church as follows. On July 4, 1842, John Carolus and his wife executed a deed for 5/6 of lots 109 and 110 to William Burton, Isaac Watts, Robert Emmitt and James Tomlinson. Emmitt then deeded his 1/6 interest to Thomas Davis. On August 23, 1843, Burton, Carolus, Howard, Watts, Davis and Tomlinson executed a general warrant deed to John Carolus, Isaac Watts, and James Tomlinson, Trustees of the First Presbyterian Society of Waverly, Pike County, Ohio for the property on which the original building and, remodeled in 1883, still stands.

This period is marked by the upheaval of the Civil War, and the coming of the railroad to replace the canal as the major means of transportation. In 1862, when the county seat was moved from Piketon to Waverly much to the dismay of Piketon residents, the common Pleas Court hearings were held in the Waverly Presbyterian Church through 1865, for a rental of $117. According to some residents, school was also held in this church building for a time.

In the 1840's the divisions between Old and New School Presbyterians had reached southern Ohio. Chillicothe Presbytery, being Old School was not happy with the activities of New School Second Presbyterian Church among Waverly Presbyterians, so voted in 1847 to have Waverly separated from the Piketon Church. Waverly was for a time identified as New School, which may account for the Presbytery action in 1852 rejecting the idea of allowing Waverly to exists as a separate church. By 1870, the Old School-New School division was over and the Waverly Church was again recognized as a part of the Piketon Church. Waverly Presbyterian Church, having separated itself from Piketon in 1871, was reunited in 1873, but the separation was final in 1881.

During this period, three other Presbyterian churches were established in Pike County, but lived only a few years: Cynthiana 1846-1886, Omega 1878-1884, Buchanan which existed for a few years beginning in 1876 or 1887. The Piketon Presbyterian Church itself was dissolved in 1886, leaving Waverly as the sole survivor. Membership continued to be small. In 1876, for example, it stood at twenty eight. Elders elected on June 1, 1876 were Dr. John L. Caldwell and Prof. C. T. McCoy.

In 1881, the Waverly Presbyterian Church was reorganized by the Rev. Henry W. Biggs, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Chillicothe, with twenty four members, four elders (John L. Caldwell, Adam Gehres, S. M. Seibert and C.T. McCoy) and two deacons (William McKenzie and Robert Lowery). On February 26, 1884, the church was duly incorporated under the name of the First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Listed as incorporators were Adam Gehres, Eli Potts, C. B. Copple, William H. McKenzie and George Emmitt, (brother of James Emmitt who died in 1894). Gehres, Potts and Copple, as trustees of the old organization then deeded the property to the new corporation.

About this time a new church building was erected in place of the original building which was built in 1842 and lasted for 41 years until 1883. By that time changes were necessary. According to one account, the old building was torn down to its foundation and a new one built. According to another account, it was remodeled with the addition of two small rooms with the belfry and bell. A slab on the church building reads "Rebuilt in 1883," which indicates that the new or remodeled structure was at least started in that year.

Pastors 1842-1886

• Rev. Gamaliel Beeman, SS, Piketon only, 1832 - 1842 (10 years)
• Rev. William Burton, SS, Waverly and Piketon, 1842 - 1844 (2 years)
  • P, June 1844 - June 1849 (5 years)
• Rev. H. W. Taylor, TS, Waverly and Piketon, 1849 - 1850 (1 year)
• P, June 1850 - April 1851 (2 years)
• Rev. James Hueston, P, Waverly and Piketon, 1851 - 1853 (2 years)
• Rev. Wm. P. Eastman, Waverly and Piketon, 1853 - 1866 (Caldwell) (13 years)
• Rev. Arthur R. Naylor TS, September 1855 - April 1856 (Townsend) (1 year)
• George T. Crissman TS, (Some months in 1861 - 1863)(Townsend) (2 years)
• Rev. Irvin Carson SS, Waverly and Piketon, 1866 - 1867 (Caldwell) (1 year)
  • October 1869 - October 1870 (Townsend) 1 year
• Rev. John O. Proctor S, March 1876 - April 1877 (1 year)
• Rev. C. B. Gillette, SS, May 1877 - April 1878 (1 year)
• Rev. R. N. Adams, P, April 1878 - March 1881 (3 years)
• Rev. J. P. A. Dickey, Some month between April 1882 - June 1884 (2 years)
• Rev. J. W. Wilson, July 1884 - October 1885 (1 year)

[Note: "P" = Pastor, "S" = State Supplied, "S" = Temporary Supplied]

In 1916, some younger men of the Church bought a log house across for the Church and made it into a recreational room. About that time the Sunday School took on a new life. Shortly after that, at the prompting of the Presbytery, the long house was sold and a house bought on East Second Street which became the Manse. However the Manse was later sold because it was considered too large. The proceeds were invested for a time. In 1950 three members of the prominent Gehres family gave the church a seven room modern home which became the Manse. This released the money from the sale of the original manse to be added to the building fund which had been started by the efforts of the women of the Church.

Membership grew from 28 in 1876 to 80 in this period. Much of the time the ministers who served the church were stated supplies not full time pastors. Records show that from 1891 to 1914 the salaries paid by the local church ranged from $400 to $600 a year, one exception being $712.50. For part of this period, salary supplements were paid by the Home Mission Board.

The following reminiscences are from, 90 year old church member Claribel Fagan, 315 East North St., Waverly, as told to John Hamlin in August 2002.

"My mother told me that I first attended the Presbyterian Church with her in 1914 at the age of two, when Rev. Galbreath was Pastor, and I have been going ever since, that is, until I developed macular degeneration in about 1995. I have been a deacon and a Sunday School teacher. I remember how Rev. [William} Price shed tears when a Session voted not to allow a Negro to attend our church services. I remember what seemed a grand ceremony when Rev. [George] Masselink was ordained in our church. Most of our pastors lived in what is now a barber shop next to the Jail on Second Street."

Pastors 1886-1950

• Rev. William Morrison Galbreath, SS, April 1886 - April 1887 (1 year)
• Rev. T. S. McWilliams, June 1889 -
• Norman Jones, SS, 1890
• Rev. Frank G. Moore, SS, October 1891 - September 1892 (1 year)
• Jonah Smith, May 1893
• Rev. Edward M. Page, SS, October 1894 - June 1895 (1 year)
• Rev. Jacob F. Slagle, SS, November 1897 - December 1902 4 years
• Rev. W. M. Reese, 1903
• Rev. Scott I. Wallace, P, February 1904 - October 1905 (1 year +)
• Rev. I. N. Wilkins, SS, 1906
• Rev. Earl A. Miller, SS, March 1907 - January 1909 (2 years)
• Rev. James L. McWilliams, January - March 1920
• Rev. J. G. Galbreath, SS, then Pastor, February 1913 - March 1916 (3 years)
• Rev. George W. Bell, P, September 1920 - October 1922 (2 years)
• Rev. George L. Pake, P, April 1923 - May 1926 (3 years)
• Rev. T. C. Kerr, P, October 1923 - 1929 (3 years)
• Rev. William Price, SS, May 1931 - April 1934 (3 years)
• Rev. George Masselink, September 1934 - April 1935 (1 year)
• Rev. A. P. Donnelly, SS, May 1935 - May 1936 (1 year)
• Rev. Harry Wickerson, SS, then Pastor, December 1936 - February 1939 (3 years)
• Rev. Philip L. Williams, SS, September 1939 - May 1941 (1 year)
• Rev. Glen Sylvia, SS, September 1941 - September 1942 (1 year)
• Rev. Charles Mathew Brown, SS, March 1943 - June 1945 (2 years)
• Rev. R. L. Offield, SS, June 1946 - May 1948 (2 years)
• Herbert F. White, SS, December 1948 - May 1950 (2 years)
• Rev. Thomas M. Patterson, SS, June - October 1950

In 1950 a Building Committee was appointed to draw up plans for remodeling the sanctuary. Plans included a kitchen, rest rooms, a recreation room and a assembly room. In spite of an unexpected collapse of an entire wall, weakened by excavation, the building was completed along lines it had when the congregation moved to its new location in 2001.

Nest to the Church edifice there was a double building, really two buildings joined together. One Half was owned by Mr. And Mrs. D. Ray Gehres. When Mrs. Gehres died in 1958, it was disclosed that she willed her half of the building to the Presbyterian Church for educational purposes. The trustees then bought the other half and made it into the educational building which served the growing needs of the church.

Two developments had a profound effect on the First Presbyterian Church, Waverly The first was the construction of the uranium enrichment plant just south of Piketon in 1952. This brought in many temporary construction workers and, more important to the church, administrative and engineering employees. Many of the latter were or became Presbyterian. They had families with children who came to the Sunday School, one time had over 40 children. Membership grew from 118 in 1953 to 451 in 1967. Up until the mid 1980s two services were held each Sunday.

The other development was the establishment of Bristol Village Retirement Community in 1962. Waverly First Presbyterian was one of four sponsoring Presbyterian Churches (the others being Columbus North Broadway, Chillicothe First, Portsmouth Second). Under the leadership of the Reverend John Glenn then pastor of North Broadway Presbyterian Church, a government housing project constructed but never used by the Piketon Plant construction workers, was purchased and converted into a vibrant retirement community that celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2002, as one of the foremost retirement facilities in the nation. Since its founding, many of the members of the Presbyterian Church have been among the five hundred and more residents of Bristol Village.. This holds true in 2005, while the Piketon plant continues to down size and adapt to changing conditions, while the Sunday School children of former years have grown up and moved away.

Pastors 1950 - Present

• Rev. Eli Mowry, SS, January 1951 - September 1957 (6 years)
• Rev. Glenn Carlson, P, October 1957 - February 1961 (4 years)
• Ralph Lewis Lay Preacher, April 1961 - July 1961 (3 months)
• Rev. Roger Kelsey, P, October 1961 - April 1968 (7 years)
• Rev. Jack Lewis Pursell, P, January 1, 1969 - June 30, 1986 (18 years)
• Rev. Richard Secrest Hays, P, October 4, 1987 (Current)
• Rev. E. John Hamlin Parish Associate, September 28, 1997 (Current)