John Minton Lord (1839-1924) served with his brother, Jeremiah, for the 3rd Georgia Regiment of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was wounded and left for dead at Gettysburg. He lay for nine days under an apple tree, with both legs badly injured, until he was found by Union soldiers. He recuperated in a Union prison for almost a year, spending the remainder of the war on crutches.

After being released in 1866, Lord moved with his widowed mother from Wilkinson County (Georgia) to Columbia County (Florida). His neighbor, Miles Tanner, decided to follow them to Florida along with his wife and children. Three years later, thirty-year-old John Lord married the Tanner’s 16-year-old daughter, Jane (1853-1936), on November 28, 1869.

I guess Lake City was getting too crowded for them, so the collective Lord and Tanner clan decided to move into frontier Sanford in 1874. They settled along the northern shores of Lake Jesup, becoming one of the first settlers in the area that became known as Elder Springs. This settlement is along the original Orlando-Mellonville (Sanford) Road, now County Road 427, between County Home Road and the Florida 417 toll road.

The Sanford and Indian River Railroad came to town in 1883, stopping about two miles north of the Lord homestead called Rutledge station. It ran north to Sanford and south to Oviedo. This opened the area to settlement, and within a few years, a schoolhouse was built for the community near the current site of Seminole State College. The community was first called Lord’s Settlement and then Clyde, for a few years having a railroad flag stop under that name.

The Lord/Tanner clan differed in beliefs from those of another local church and formed their own congregation in 1886. They worshipped for the first four years at the schoolhouse. Its first pastor was Reverend Edward F. Lee.

They affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal (South) denomination and lobbied for a church building in their community. The campaign helped spur the sale of the Methodist church on Mellonville Road at Fort Reid, called Ernest Chapel. It was sold in 1889, and the proceeds were divided between the congregants in south Sanford and those closer to town. The downtown faction used the funds to construct the First United Methodist in downtown Sanford.

With money from the Ernest Chapel sale, they constructed a chapel on an acre donated by the Lord family. Under the supervision of builder James Milton Wynn (1865-1944), they broke ground in May of 1890, and the first service was held there on August 17, 1890. They called the church Ebenezer Chapel, named for a line in the famous hymn “Come to Thou Fount of Many Blessings,” which says, “Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer.”

The Sanford methodists donated the furnishings for the Ebenezer Church, including a pulpit, benches, and other worship equipment. John M. Lord donated the organ. The early families were Lord, Tanner, McBridge, Stenstrom, Thomas, Riley, Cowan, Moye, Karel, Nolan, Lynch, Evans, Fortier, and Evans.

The old wooden chapel served the community well until 1961 when the congregation built a new sanctuary behind the old one. With the new building, which still exists today, the church renamed itself Christ United Methodist Church. Over the next decade, the old church was not cared for and began to fall into ruin. Its weather-beaten walls badly needed new paint and repairs, but many of its trustees felt it wasn’t worth the cost and that they would do better to reclaim the space for more parking and visibility from the Old Orlando Highway (as it was known until the 1980s).

Old timers, both current members and those who had moved to other cities, protested. Among them was Edna Lord Norman (1907-1980), granddaughter of founder John Minton Lord. Another, Clarence Wynn, said his father was painting the church on the day of his birth. Wynn warned, “Just remember that once it is torn down, it can never be put back up.”

Despite the warning, the trustees voted to tear down the historic chapel in 1972. However, on October 17, 1975, a stone monument was placed to commemorate it.

Under its new name and building, the church continued to operate until the end of 2017. The following summer, the United Methodist Conference under district superintendent Rev. Dr. Robert B. Bushong confirmed the closure. The assets were transferred to the Sanford United Methodist Church. Its property was sold, and it now operates as the denominational church New Creation Community Church.

The roads around Elder Springs—John Lord Street, Nolan Road, and Wynn Street—bear the names of the church’s and community’s original founders.

References

• WPA Church Records: Ebenezer M. E. Church, South
• First United Methodist Church of Sanford: Early beginnings | Laying the foundation
• Sanford & Indian River Railroad Wikipedia
• Rootsweb John Lord Family History
• Ebenezer Church Plans Dedication of Monument (Orlando Sentinel, October 17, 1975)
• Ebenezer’s Fate to be decided by United Trustees (Orlando Sentinel, February 3, 1972)
• Jane Ward Tanner Lord Burial (FindAGrave)
• 1936 Seminole County Map
• 1960s US Topographical Map
• 1890 Orange County Map
• 1879 Orange County Map
• County Property Appraiser Records
• Christ UMC Discontinued (2018)