Riley's Chapel 1843

Circuit Rider. Eggleston. Public Domain

In Oklahoma Methodism in the Twentieth Century by Leland Clegg and William B. Oden (1968) there is mention of the first annual Conference of Methodism in Oklahoma conducted by the Indian Mission Conference with Bishop Thomas A. Morris officiating.  The event convened at Riley's Chapel, a chapel erected by Thomas Bertholf in 1843 near Tahlequah. It was named for a famous Cherokee Methodist family. The date of the conference was October 22,1844 and the opening worship was conducted in English and the concluding worship in Cherokee and Choctaw (pg. 24). Today, a historical marker identifies the location.