"[Henry's] parents were devout Quakers of Pennsylvania but Henry was converted to the Methodist faith at a protracted meeting when a young boy. This fact led to unpleasant repercussions in the home as the staid and dignified Quaker parents were obliged to hear their son pray in the Methodist way as he went about his farm work.
"It is said that as he plowed he formed the habit of kneeling at the end of each row to pray. The longer he prayed the louder he became until he could be heard a great distance, much to the chagrin of his father, who felt disgraced before his neighbors. He was punished severely by his father but to no avail for Henry had become a true Methodist and could be nothing else. So his mother, in order to avoid an open, violent rupture between these two loved ones, advised Henry to leave the parental home even going so far as to say she had heard that there were some good Methodists!
"His home life thus dissolved, Henry, young and more or less unsettled, did as many young men have done, joined the army (War of 1812). Wounded and discharged, he started back home. His Christian faith still strong and his Methodist belief unshaken, he inquired for, and found, as he passed through Jefferson County, Ohio, others of like faith. He was directed to the home of Mr. Elias Pegg, asked for a night's lodging as he was weary and ill. Here he was kindly received, nursed back to health and later married the daughter, Isabelle Pegg."
Henry and Isabelle were married June 10th, 1813. They had eight children.
Continuing from the book: "Henry and Isabelle Innis finally established their home in Clinton Township [Ohio] in 1820, the home that was opened to their friends and neighbors for religious services; so long ago Henry Innis was the mainstay of the small group who felt the need of a church and his earthly remains lie in the small cemetery to the rear of the church which he founded."
from the book called, The McKendree Story: 125 Years of History of the McKendree Methodist Church.
Henry died May 20th, 1865, and is buried in the McKendree Methodist Church Cemetery in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio.
(photos by Jeremy Meadows)
A current photo of the McKendree Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio
1850 United States Federal Census, Henry Innis listed on line 33, Louisa listed on line 36
1860 United States Federal Census, Henry Innis listed on line 1
Direct line ancestry: Henry Innis --> Louisa Annie Innis --> Anna White Durrett --> Florence Faye Alkire --> Wilburta June Love --> Donald William Marshall --> Lora Marshall Nehring
