Olive Chapel — the Christians of section 11, organized January 1, 1841

1841 – present · Sundays 8:30 and 10:30 AM

The township's second congregation was a Restoration-movement society that has outlived every name it was called by. Chapman (1880) introduces it at full length: "Olive Chapel, on section 11, is a house of worship occupied by the 'Church of God,' 'New-Lights,' 'Campbellites,' or 'Christians,' as they are variously called; they prefer the last-mentioned title." The society was organized January 1, 1841, at the house of James S. Parnell; the organizing membership was James S. Parnell, J. S. Hooton, Esther Hooton, Polly Parnell, William Hooton, and Jackson Hale and wife. Elder John Spray was the first preacher and William Hooton the first elder — "and he has been elder ever since," Chapman adds in 1880. The chapel the society built was "a neat, substantial building, 34 × 48 feet, ceiling 16 feet high," costing $1,900, dedicated October 10, 1869, by Elder Summerbell of Cincinnati, Ohio. Membership stood over 150 in 1880, swelled by "a great accession" under the Rev. S. C. V. Cunningham's meetings of 1877, though Chapman notes the society was "now without a minister." Howard's second volume keeps the family in the same pew a generation later: Francis M. Hooton of Olive Township and his wife "are members of the Christian church located within two miles of New Carlisle" — Olive Chapel. The genealogical society's index carries "Olive Chapel Church | New Carlisle," its records held at the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library and the St. Joseph County Public Library, and its surname crosswalk files the founding family under the spelling "Parnall."

The congregation is seated and active today on the township's north side. Its own site, olivechapel.online, announces Sunday gatherings at 8:30 and 10:30 AM Eastern and describes "a church in New Carlisle helping people grow through Christ-centered worship, biblical teaching, and genuine community"; place data gives the address as 32987 IN-2, New Carlisle (telephone 574-654-3615) — State Road 2, on the section-11 side of the township where the 1869 chapel stood, though no source reached documents the exact continuity of site between the 1869 building and the present one. The site announces a "New Era" after "months of prayer, preparation, and restoring this space" — a congregation relaunched in a restored building — names a children's minister, AJ Jackson, and speaks of a "spirit-filled, full bible believing church." The chapel's burial ground is treated in the cemeteries article below: it is congregation ground now managed by Olive Township.

Sources

1. Chapman (1880), Olive Township chapter, p. 767 — first-hand, ldsgenealogy.com transcription.
2. Howard (1907), vol. 2, biographical sketches (Hooton) — ldsgenealogy.com transcription.
3. Olive Chapel, olivechapel.online — the congregation's own site, read in full, November 2026.
4. South Bend Area Genealogical Society, church-records index — records locations as indexed there.