The Wild Rose Standalone Church

The Standalone Church began in Rose, Wayne County, New York. They lived in District Number 11 in Rose. They built a school because they didn't want to attend the Griswold or Covell schools. Robert Jeffers (1769-1844) donated the land. The school was referred to as the "Spunk" school or the "Jeffers" school. The church was held in the school. In New York, the group was often referred to as the "Neversweats". Rose Neighborhood Sketches by Alfred S Roe says the term came about because they had long meetings that went long into the night, sometimes nearly until morning. They could go to these long meetings (services) and get up to work and never tire. There was no church organization .

Many of this group left New York for Wild Rose and the Church in Wild Rose went by the Standalones. One meaning of this reflected the lack of outside organization but also their creed that they stood alone before God at judgment. By the time the pictures were taken most of the older members had died off. Common surnames of members were Jeffers, Jenks, Bailey, Pease, Woodward, Dale, Page, Darling and Woodward.

The church building was located partly where the first row to the south of the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery is today. The building itself was bought by Ike Smith, who owned the farm next to the cemetery, and moved the the farm to be used as a farm building. Ike Smith's wife Effie was a daughter of William Jeffers, Jr. and grand-daughter of William Jeffers, who owned the land she inherited as well as donated the land for the Cemetery. The cemetery was originally called Standalone but later the cemetery association changed it because they thought "Standalone" was too cold.