Some great notables had lived and died in this church.

Tradition had it that one of the charter members of this church was a candidate for president of the United States against James Buchanan.

Of course he was not elected, as you know, and I suppose you have noticed nothing in our national history about this particular man running for president, but you recall that the history of a nation and the history of a local country district have a way of reading differently.
But this aspirant to the presidential office was not the only great man who had been a member of Mount Olivet church.

The older citizens told of a certain Preacher Crookshank who was pastor of this church during and prior to the Civil War and was also a member of the State Legislature; and, according to these biographers, he was the sole cause of the State remaining in the Union.

It seems from all reports that Preacher Crookshank was not only a statesman of renown, but also a masterful theologian of Mount Olivet's particular faith.