remained in the parish until 1911, and was succeeded by the Rev. Otis E. Gray. The present vestry of the church is composed as follows: E. A. Mize, senior warden; Dr. W. G. Beitzel, junior warden and clerk, and W. W. Hetherington, T. L. Lawrence, Clyde Hastings, J. W. Barlow, W. J. Brownson, Henry Diegel and Sheffield Ingalls. ST. MARK’S ENGLISH LUTHERAN. The history of English Lutheranism in Atchison is interesting. The work of establishing St. Mark’s was fraught with hardship and discouragement. Several of the early efforts failed. But the battle was renewed and success at last achieved. Early in 1867 J. H. Talbott, through the _Lutheran Observer_, called attention to Atchison as a point for a Lutheran mission. By correspondence he secured the interest of Rev. Morris Officer, then secretary of the general synod’s home mission board. At the convention of the general synod at Harrisburg, Pa., in 1868, the Rev. Officer persuaded the Rev. M. G. Boyer, then pastor at Marklesburg, Pa., to become a missionary to Atchison. Rev. Boyer and his young wife arrived here June 30, that year. Price’s Hall, South Fourth street, between Main and Commercial, was rented and fitted up as a meeting place. Services were begun and a Sunday school organized. On September 20, 1868, the congregation was organized with twenty-five members. The first church council consisted of C. Weber and H. Gehrett, elders; J. H. Talbott, J. Beamer, H. Snyder and F. Brendt, deacons. In the spring of 1869 the board of church extension granted the congregation a loan of $500, which amount was invested in the purchase of an excellent lot on Kansas avenue. There were bright hopes of having a chapel soon, but these hopes were scattered when an aged minister advised delay on account of the financial stringency of the times, and the numerical weakness of the church. Among the members at this time was the Rev. A. W. Wagnalls, afterward one of the founders of the publishing house of Funk & Wagnalls, New York City. While here he was in the real estate business. At his suggestion the congregation purchased a fifteen acre tract adjoining the city of Atchison on the northwest, which section was platted and offered for sale with the hope of making enough profit to erect a church building. “In this the Lutherans were disappointed,” says the historian, “for they sold only enough lots to pay for the land.” After that venture the congregation used the Congregational church building. About that time many English Lutherans left the city. Rev. Boyer resigned at the end of the year 1869, and for ten years the church was without a pastor. The Rev. Wagnalls supplied the pulpit now and then until his removal in 1876, but finally the congregation disbanded. The lots belonging to the church were sold for taxes, but were redeemed at the eleventh hour through Mr. Talbott’s efforts, and deeded to the board of church extension.