between the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Anglicans in Ingersoll in the 1840s and 1850s was written by the son of the first pastor of Knox Church, Rev. Robert Wallace (1820–1897). The Presbyterian church sometimes drew followers who could not abide the "ranters" presiding at the other churches. Trinity United Church The United Church was formed in 1925 to complete the national movement underway for decades to unite Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches across Canada. The Methodists were originally reformers in the Church of England (Anglican Church) in the 1700s who formed their own church movement when reforms were rejected. The earliest Methodist missionaries to the Oxford settlement came with permission from Thomas Ingersoll, who mourned the loss of Gideon Bostwick's evangelical powers, but saw the need for other forms of spiritual leadership. Two of his daughters eventually married Methodist missionaries. As the hamlet of Ingersoll grew in the 1820s, Methodists used the log schoolhouse on Oxford Street for worship, and shared it with the Anglicans when Rev. John Rothwell arrived in 1834. Two branches of the Methodists developed in the hamlet, each with its own church building by the 1850s (Episcopal Methodists on Charles Street at the foot of Oxford Street, and Wesleyan Methodists on Oxford Street across from the Town Hall). The original "Two Tower" church on King Street West was built in 1865 for the Wesleyans. With expansions over the years, it eventually became the home of both Methodist congregations along with some of the Presbyterians in the town. The three-portal entranceway that was added to it and the name Trinity were symbolic of the union. Sports history Baseball The New England settlers of Oxford-on-the-Thames brought with them an early version of the stick and ball game now known as baseball. This was played in the Great Barrington area in the 1790s, and was a part of the Queen's Birthday celebrations in pioneer Oxford, as immortalized in the writings of Dr. Ford which gave nearby Beachville its fame as the birthplace of baseball in Canada. By the 1860s a Canadian championship circuit had been developed from Oxford. Ingersoll's team took the title in 1868 and went on to display its prowess in matches against American teams in the 1870s. By the 1930s Ingersoll had a semi-pro team that recruited Oscar 'Lefty' Judd (1908–1995), a phenomenal pitcher from Nissouri township who helped propel the team to the provincial championship