First Sunday School Convention - Winchester, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 37.748 W 090° 27.375
15S E 718317 N 4389688
The great trial of Mr. Paxson's life - his stammering speech - had now become almost unendurable to him. He wanted to speak fluently and with effect in behalf of the work so dear to his heart. He began to think of attempting a cure.
Waymark Code: WMK5Z3
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 02/18/2014
Views: 1
County o marker: Scott County
Location of marker: East side of Main (HIll) St. on The Beach building
Marker erected by: Literature and Civics Department of the Winchester Woman's Club
Date marker erected: 1923
Marker text: Here stood the old Presbyterian Church where Stephen Paxson organized the first Sunday School Convention, April 20, 1846
"PAXSON, STEPHEN, pioneer Sunday-school missionary and organizer in the Mississippi Valley, for forty years was a notable landmark in the West in Sunday-school work, and came to be known and esteemed as a veteran without a peer in Sunday-School service throughout the entire country. The story of his remarkable heroism, moral reformation, masterful oratory, and sublime achievements unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries in any sphere and in any section of the country, or in any line of activity.
"In the year 1838, Mr. Paxson moved with his family to Winchester, Ill., at that time within Morgan County. The though of God was not then in his heart. He was fond of worldly pleasures, especially of dancing, in which, in spite of his lameness, he became very proficient. He employed a fiddler, giving him a yearly salary to be ready at any time to supply him with music for that favorite amusement. It is also related that he often appeared on the street barefoot, and when provocation offered, he was ready for a pugilistic tournament. He never entered a church, or paid the least regard to religious observances. Finally, through the persuasive entreaties of his little daughter, he was induced to accompany her to her Sunday-school. That was the beginning of one of the most remarkable reformations and illustrious careers of usefulness that ever occurred. For four years he attended that school, never missing a Sabbath. He was converted and united with the church. At once he became interested in organizing Sunday-schools in other places in the county. He early saw the need of unification of methods of that work, and the better qualification of teachers. With that in view he first held a few mass-meetings of various schools within reach of each other in the woods.
"April 20, 1846, having made due preparation therefor, he summoned the teachers of the county to meet in convention in the old Presbyterian church in Winchester. As early as 1832 similar methods had been adopted in some of the Eastern States with excellent results, but later that means of increasing the enthusiasm and the teaching power of those engaged in Sunday-schools appears to have been little used, especially in the West. Mr. Paxson hit upon the same expedient, thus reproducing a comparatively forgotten agency, and made it more widely popular than in former days. From it sprang up the system of County, State, and District Conventions - agencies which have now assumed national and international proportions." - rootsweb.ancestry.com