The loss of Baskerville, however, also opened the door for a founding member and elder of the church to become pastor. The pastorate of James Nicols marked the beginning of a new era. The turmoil of the Civil War era had already ended, and the disappointments of calling a pastor who could not come (Ross), a pastor who stayed for less than two years (Reese), and a morally defective pastor (Baskerville) now also ended. A period of drift set in.

On June 30, 1874, a special meeting of the presbytery completed Nicols' ordination examination and that evening ordained and installed him as the Laurel Church's third full-time pastor. Born in 1837, Nicols lived out in the country in Howard County next to the All Saints Church. If William Snowden remembered correctly that Nicols paid for the land in Laurel Factory on which the church building stood, Nicols must have been a man of some means as well as deep commitment to the Laurel Church.

The historian looks back on Nicols' long pastorate with mixed sentiments, On the one hand, Nicols ministered to the Laurel Church in a way no other pastor could. He was a close friend of the people, rooted in the whole history and experience of the church. And, in fact, a deep sense of mutual trust does seem to have pervaded his relationship with the church. On the other hand, Nicols provided little administrative leadership throughout most of his ministry. The church did not grow under his leadership but rather drifted quietly for some two decades. One cause of that drift was Nicols' health which was never very good. Within four years of his assuming the pastorate, in 1878, he tried to resign from the church for health reasons. Both the congregation and the presbytery, however, refused to accept his resignation. The statistics of the congregation for the following church year, 1879-1880, reflect the more general condition of the church in this entire period. Of the ten churches in Maryland Presbytery, to which the Laurel Church now belonged, Laurel and the Mt. Washington Church tied for 8th and 9th in size. Expenditures remained at virtually the same level as when Baskerville resigned as pastor six years previously; and in this same period the church grew by only two members.

The minutes of the Session for 1880 expressed with painful awareness the Laurel Church's own sense of its limitations. The 'State of Religion ' report for April 1880, for example, noted that during the year 1879-1880 the church experienced no special manifestations of God's love during the year. Attendance at Sunday and Wednesday evening worship was poor. The church had a small but 'healthy' Sunday School and showed a slight decline in membership. The report particularly lamented the church's isolation from other Southern Presbyterian churches, arguing that this isolation from other churches and pastors weakened it and prevented it from being able to compete with the churches of other denominations in the area, which were growing. Later in the year, the Session discussed the need to increase the activity and giving of the church but took no definite actions in that regard. Still later in 1880, the elders set for themselves the task of visiting all the members of the congregation from time to time to '...exhort them to greater diligence that the Divine blessing might be liberally bestowed upon this vine of His own planting.'

The Ladies Aid Society comprised one of the few active groups in the church at this time and for years to come. The year 1879-1880 provides a typical example of its contribution, just over $90 given to the church for building improvements. Although American Protestantism generally and the Southern Presbyterian Church in particular severely restricted the role of women in their churches, the Laurel Presbyterian Church had such a small amount of male involvement that at times it had to put women in official positions. The first known instance came in 1880 when the Session appointed a woman Sunday School superintendent.

Taken together, the statistics of the church and its official records provide a striking contrast. Statistically, women made up 56 (or 68%) of the 82 individuals who belonged to the church between 1880 and 1902. The church roll for 1899 lists only seven adult males (17 per cent) among its 41 adult members. Over a decade later, the church roll for 1912 shows 72 women (74 per cent) on a total list of 97 names. Yet, the records of the church seldom mention women or their activities, Yet, again, the whole church invariably turned to its women in times of financial need and depended upon them not only to fill the pews but also staff the Sunday School and participate in church activities.

This contrast between the role of women, over two-thirds of the membership, in the activities of the church and their lack of a significant administrative role reflected a much larger aspect of nineteenth-century American society. In the years after 1800, Americans increasingly defined the relationship between women and men in terms of 'spheres' of activity. Men worked out in the world. They displayed aggressiveness. Women, however, lived and worked in the home and acted in passive ways. Society expected women to counteract the aggressiveness of their husbands and sons and to nurture their families in a humble, Christ-like manner. In the course of the nineteenth century, American society increasingly defined religion as more within the female than the male sphere, women dominated the churches numerically, and church work proved to be one of the few significant places outside of the home where women could use their talents. Yet, the traditional European and American belief that women should have no voice in the churches also persisted. The Presbyterian Church in the United States was among the most conservative of the denominations concerning the role of women, and as late as 1925 it passed a resolution forbidding women to speak or pray in church meetings. Not until 1964 did it permit women to hold church offices requiring ordination. It ordained its first woman minister in 1965.

The minutes of the Session for 1880 record one more event which provides insight into the life of the church during Nicols' pastorate. At the end of the year Elder Pilson reported that a member (unnamed) of the church was spreading in the community 'unscriptural views' which denied both the existence of a soul and the 'annihilation of [the] wicked.' The Session asked Nicols to call on this man, warn him, and exhort him. The minutes for February 1881 note in passing that this member had stopped teaching his views. The congregation's brief flirtation with theological controversy highlights two important themes. First of all, the church expected its members to express their faith in conservative, traditional Presbyterian language and ideas. Secondly, the church allowed no room for overt public expressions of divergence which might harm the public image of the congregation.

As of 1880, then, the Laurel Presbyterian Church projected the image of a small church of limited resources unable to obtain and keep competent outside pastoral leadership. The church adhered to conservative principles in the place it gave to its women, in the range of public theological expression it allowed its members, and in its relationship to its community. It felt itself isolated denominationally.

And so the years went. In 1881, William Snowden, Clerk of Session, noted in the annual narrative that the church experienced a continued peace and harmony with numerous examples of mutual affection within the church. But in that same year, the congregation fell short in meeting the pastor's salary. Nicols responded in a statement to presbytery by saying that during 1880-1881 the church showed him 'many acts of kindness' far in excess of any salary that it might owe him. The death of Nicols' daughter in 1882 shattered the peace of the church, but the grief the church shared with the Nicols strengthened the harmony of its membership. Yet, the annual narrative for 1882 again noted the need for a more dedicated spirit within the church.

The statistics for that year also show that in April 1882 fully seventeen of the church's 37 members (46 per cent) were non-residents. Indeed, membership records indicate that from at least the 1880s the Laurel Church experienced a high rate of turnover with many members living too far away to participate actively in the life of the church. In short, the congregation's effective strength was considerably less than even the small official membership figures suggest. A century after 1880, most members of the Laurel Church believed that the church had become socially mobile only in recent decades whereas, in truth, social mobility actually shaped and limited the role of the laity in the life of the church from at least 1880.

During the next church year, April 1883 to March 1884, Nicols' health posed renewed problems for the church, and in September 1883 he again tried to resign his office in order to save the church from having to pay his salary. Dr. Lefevre, mentioned in Chapter One as one of the founders of the Patapsco Presbytery and a long-time friend of the Laurel Church, came down from Baltimore to moderate a congregational meeting and that meeting once again refused to accept Nicols' resignation. His illness lasted nine months all told, and at points the church feared he would die. During that time, Dr. Bullock, also mentioned in Chapter One as a founder of Patapsco Presbytery, filled the congregation's pulpit. Bullock had by this time become one of the Southern Presbyterian Church's most distinguished churchmen, having served as Moderator of the General Assembly. At the time he supplied Laurel for Nicols, he was serving as Chaplain to the United States Senate. Not until February 1884 did Nicols feel well enough to resume his duties.

As the years passed, Elder William Snowden increasingly took over the mantle Edward Snowden had once worn as 'chief' elder of the church. The year 1884 cemented that position for him. In April, Elder Robert Pilson attended his last Session meeting and soon left the community, leaving Snowden as the only resident elder. The loss of Pilson must have been a blow to the congregation as he had long been a prominent resident in Laurel . Years earlier, Pilson introduced the first loom for weaving cotton cloth into the Laurel cotton mill, superintended the cotton factory when it burned down in 1855, and in 1869 conducted then President Ulysses S. Grant on a tour of the rebuilt cotton mill.

Born in 1833 and living in an old family estate, 'Birmingham,' left to him by his grandfather, William Snowden belonged to the historic Snowden family which had long been a major influence in the Laurel area. In 1851, he married Adelaide Warfield, and three years later the young couple joined Snowden's parents in establishing the Oak Grove Church . Such was the congregation's trust in the younger Snowden, that when the unfortunate case of Baskerville came before Chesapeake Presbytery it sent him as its representative. Thus, we know that he served as an elder from at least 1874. Almost as a confirmation of Snowden's key role in the Laurel Church and certainly as a reward for his years of faithful attendance at presbytery, Maryland Presbytery elected him as its commission representative to the 1884 General Assembly of the PCUS.

Leadership of the church, then, devolved into the hands of Snowden and Nicols. The evidence suggests that they had some trouble sustaining it. A major renovation of its building, which included digging a cellar and putting a furnace in it comprised the only significant activity of the church from April 1884 to April 1886. The total renovation cost over $600 with the seldom spoken of but always active Ladies Aid Society financing the project. The narrative for 1885 recorded that two of Laurel 's three elders, one of its two deacons, and over one-half of the communicant membership lived outside of Laurel . As in past years, the presbytery continued to pay $250 of Nicol's salary. Elder Snowden, who in addition to his other duties also superintended the Sunday School, made the leadership situation of the church all the more murky when he moved to Baltimore in early 1881 leaving the Laurel Church with no resident elder.

In fact, some aspects of church life actually improved when Nicols was left to lead the church by himself. In the church year 1887-1888, the church experienced a minor resurgence particularly in the Sunday School, which shot up from a membership of 25 in 1887 to 75 in April 1888. The Ladles Aid once again distinguished itself by providing a substantial sum of money to keep the church out of debt. In October 1887, Maryland Presbytery honored Nicols by electing him, for the second time, Moderator of Presbytery. Still, in spite of this resurgence the activities of the church in the 1880s remained limited to four basic areas: worship, administration-finances-property, Sunday School, and the Ladies Aid Society. As always, the Ladies Aid Society plus a handful of men in the church sustained the congregation's life through their time and concern.

Nicols found it burdensome to have to lead the church by himself, and in September 1888, he appealed to the presbytery in his frustration. He shared with them again his feeling of being isolated from his fellow ministers. So limited was the leadership capacity of the church that Nicols could not even arrange a pulpit exchange because the church had no one suitable to host a guest preacher! In spite of Nicols' frustration, the church continued to grow in a very modest way over the next two years. As a result of Nicols' personal leadership, the church's Sunday School compared favorably in size with those of other churches in the presbytery. The congregation also acquired a new piece of property, on Laurel Avenue , In the late Fall of 1889 primarily through the efforts of Arthur P. Gorman.

The April 1890 narrative in particular portrays a definite sense of renewal. Attendance at worship improved and the church sensed in itself a deeper commitment to the Christian faith. Under Nicols, the Sunday School had reached the impressive size of 110 teachers and pupils. It functioned more as a community Sunday School than anything else since non-Presbyterians made up the large majority of both its staff and student body. The 1890 narrative does note that Nicols made sure that the Sunday School remained thoroughly Presbyterian in its teachings. By April 1892, however, the Sunday School dwindled down to only 32 students because Nicols felt compelled to move its time from Sunday afternoon to Sunday morning in order to allow him more time to work with it. When the church saw its Sunday School drop off so rapidly because non-Presbyterians were much less able to attend on Sunday morning, It moved the time of Sunday School back to Sunday afternoon and attempted to give Nicols more free time so he could oversee it. By April 1893, the Sunday School climbed back up to an enrollment of 75. In all of the years before 1900, this 'community' Sunday School run by Nicols and housed at the Presbyterian Church seems to have been (from the record as we have it) the sole 'outreach' ministry of the congregation in its community. Its large enrollment indicates that it did indeed fulfill a Christian education need in Laurel . The dependence of the Sunday School on Nicols further emphasizes how dependent the church was on its pastor in this period of little lay leadership. Its fortunes rose and fell with his.

The Laurel Church now entered the final years of Nicols' ministry. Late in 1892, Elder Snowden and his family returned to Laurel after an absence of five years, and the church now lived through a period of quiet stability marked by it own smallness. As in past years, the church relied upon friends, such as the Ober Family, for help. The narrative for 1894 records: 'Pastor's Salary paid in full for the year -- through aid from friends outside the church.' Indeed, the financial situation in that year reached such grim proportions that Nicols again considered resigning in order to help the church become more self-supporting, Snowden dissuaded him from doing so. In April 1895, Maryland Presbytery elected Nicols its Moderator for the third and final time.

Nicols' ministry ended when he died at his home outside of Laurel on December 21, 1895. Maryland Presbytery memorialized his life and work by remembering that he had lived with long periods of great pain and 'constant ill-health.' Through it all he distinguished himself by his 'self-sacrificing loyalty' to Christ and to the Church. In Laurel , Nicols' death confronted the church with a crisis as it lost the only man who had ever pastored it for any length of time. Nicols' pastoral ministry to the 'Presbyterian Church at Laurel ' encompassed two-thirds of the church's history, and his life and friendship encompassed it all.

The congregation moved quickly to end the leadership crisis caused by Nicols' death. In a congregational meeting called on April 19, 1896, it elected the Rev. G. Wilbur Shipley, a Methodist Episcopal cleric from Upstate New York, as pastor. Maryland Presbytery examined Shipley, who had studied for a year at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond , approved his call, and installed him as pastor at Laurel on May 24, 1896. As in the cases of both Reese and Baskerville, the church again immediately entered into a period of renewal. By April 1898 the church added fifteen new members and reached the unprecedented size of 58 communicant members. These new members included some staunch Southern Presbyterians such as Mr. George B. McGaughy, an ordained elder, and Mr. Allen Wood, a deacon. The Laurel Church immediately elected both of these men to those same offices in Laurel . Giving also rose substantially even as Maryland Presbytery reduced the amount of its support from $250 to $200 per year.

Shipley sought to regularize some of the financial and property matters of the church. He re-established the Board of Trustees, which had not met since 1868. But in everything the smallness of the church weakened its attempts to progress. Shipley had to call two congregational meetings before he could get enough votes to constitute the Board of Trustees, because, as he understood it, only men over the age of 21 could vote for the Board. Although this new Board never did meet, Shipley did have Articles of incorporation drawn up for the church. The 1898 Annual Report of the congregation presented an upbeat picture: Improved worship attendance, greater participation by the lay leadership, increased zeal in the Ladies Aid Society, a great increase in home Bible and catechism study, considerable improvement in the financial situation, and the organization of a Children's Missionary Society and of a Junior Christian Endeavor Society.

But once again it was too good to last. The church almost immediately lost its new lay leadership when the two new strong families, the McGaughys and the Allens, moved to Washington . But the worst was yet to come. It should have been a happy occasion when the presbytery elected Shipley Moderator at its April 1899 meeting. Instead, Shipley found himself presiding over a meeting that heard read a letter addressed to it from Elder Snowden and Deacon John W. Whiteside. In part that letter stated:

On account of the unsatisfactory relationship between Rev. G. Wilbur Shipley and many members of the Laurel Presbyterian Church, we request the Presbytery to appoint a committee of inquiry, at as early a date as convenient, into the condition of the church, and report to Presbytery the measures they deem best for the peace and welfare of this church.

Presbytery did appoint such a committee, and it met with Shipley and the Laurel church officers in that same month. All parties agreed that it would be best for Shipley to resign. He finally did resign in September, and in the next year presbytery dismissed him at his own request to Baltimore Presbytery in the Northern Presbyterian Church, even though he did not have a call to another parish.

Apart from the letter to presbytery, other evidence also indicates that the Laurel people liked Shipley neither as a person nor as a pastor. Membership, usually an accurate gauge of congregational morale and feelings, dropped precipitously between April 1898 and April 1899. Shipley's record some 25 years later, when he returned to the Southern Presbyterian Church to serve two of its Maryland churches simultaneously, shows that the problems he had relating to people pastorally were not confined to Laurel. He had to be relieved of the pastorate in one of those churches within three months, and the presbytery took the initiative to dissolve his pastorate at the other church before he completed four years there. More than likely, his having to follow the much beloved Nicols and being a northern Methodist trying to pastor a Southern Presbyterian Church only compounded Shipley's personality problems in Laurel .

The last years of the nineteenth century brought one more crisis to the Laurel Church. On December 15, 1899, a great fire destroyed the church's building. The fire could not have hit at a worse time as the congregation was without pastoral leadership and weakened by its strife with Shipley. Nevertheless, the membership displayed a strong desire to rebuild the church as soon as possible, and it once again turned to the Ladies Aid Society to provide a significant portion of the funds for rebuilding the church building.

Six patterns of congregational behavior, then, summarize the experience of the Laurel Presbyterian Church and its tenacity in the face of adversity in the nineteenth century. First of all, the fortunes of the congregation rose and fell in accordance with the quality of its pastoral care. Secondly, the church experienced a relatively low level of pastoral care. Thirdly, the congregation also had difficulty in maintaining its lay leadership. For the most part, its lay leadership did little more than function in a role subsidiary to that of the pastor for the maintenance of the bare essentials of congregational life. Fourthly, the congregation displayed a high degree of social mobility. Fifthly, the church depended upon the generosity of wealthy former members, friends, and the presbytery to keep its doors open. And, Finally, the church compounded the problem of its smallness by restricting the role of the majority of its membership, the women of the church.

Taken together, these six general patterns add up to a church with a very low level of activity and a relatively weak witness to its beliefs and message. The congregation had little sense of ministry except to sustain itself and its worship, educate its children as Christians, and raise funds for its needs and activities. Statistics for the nineteenth century confirm that most of the church's concern was with survival. 'Benevolence' giving to causes outside of the church remained low and accounted for only a small percentage of total giving. In short, the Laurel Presbyterian Church in the nineteen century was a small, denominationally isolated Southern Presbyterian Church that could just barely maintain itself organizationally.