Butcher, Auld & Dean, famous contractors of an early day, who built the first railroad between Atchison and St. Joseph, with their families, united with the Methodist church and became stanch supporters of it. J. C. Reisner, who came to Atchison in 1858, and his wife, Rebecca, were also prominent early members of the church. They built the Tremont House, which for a great many years was the leading hotel, located where the Burlington freight house now stands. Rev. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, pastor of Grace Church, New York City, was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Reisner. The fourth session of the Kansas-Nebraska conference, which met in Omaha in May, 1859, returned Rev. Collins to Atchison, and during that year Mr. and Mrs. John M. Crowell and the McCulley brothers united with the church. In December, 1859, Abraham Lincoln, on his visit to Kansas, spoke in the little church edifice on Parallel street, reference to which has already been made in this history. In the fifth session of the Kansas-Nebraska conference, Rev. Milton Mahen was appointed to Atchison. It was a critical period in the history of the town, and the Rev. Mahen was admonished to be very cautious on the question of slavery, but he had courage and patriotism enough to order the Stars and Stripes hoisted on his church. That year T. B. Davis and his wife, Kathryn, came to Atchison and became useful members. “Grandma” Davis is living in 1916, and on February 21, 1915, celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Owing to the great drought that visited Atchison in 1860, the church did not prosper greatly during the period of Mr. Mahen’s pastorate, but in the succeeding session of the Kansas conference, which met March 21, 1861, Mr. Mahen was returned to Atchison, and it was during this year that a severe storm, which destroyed Sumner, wrecked the church building so that extensive repairs were necessary. In the seventh session of the Kansas conference, March, 1862, the Rev. Mr. James Shaw was returned to Atchison.