USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 63
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All the circuits in Southeast Missouri werd attached to the St. Louis District, and Rev Samuel Huffman was the Presiding Elder o: this district from 1858 until the beginning o: the war. There were regular circuits at that time at De Soto, where F. S. Beggs was the pastor in charge, at Jackson, where J. Linar was pastor, at Fredericktown, where J. E Baker was pastor, and Bloomfield, which was
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under the charge of F. S. Beggs. The society at McKendree chapel, in Cape Girar- deau county, which was the oldest Methodist church in the state, remained faithful to the old organization and within this eounty there have been a considerable number of its ad- herents.
In 1864 the Farmington circuit, embracing the counties of St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and parts of Iron, Madison, Washington and Jefferson, was reorganized, with Rev. N. J. Giddings as the Presiding Elder. This eireuit was divided in 1866. One year later the church purchased a building at Farmington, formerly occupied by the Christians, and used it as a place of worship. In 1887 there were churches at Perryville, Cedar Fork, Cross Roads, St. Mary's and Independence.
At the present time there are in Southeast Missouri the following church organizations, all of which are contained in the Farmington distriet which is a part of the St. Louis Con- ference, besides the names of the organiza- tions there are given the pastors of the dif- ferent places at the present time : Belgrade, C. W. Jennings; Bloomfield, O. R. Sides; Bloomfield eireuit, D. W. Fields; Bonne Terre, A. Tremayne; Chapin, V. L. Miller ; Cornwall, M. W. Krieger; Courtois, J. II. Hieks; De Soto, Arthur A. Halter; De Soto cireuit, Albert Maynard; Doe Run, Jesse J. Pruitt; Farmington, J. W. Borah; Flat River, D. E. Barrett; Fruitland, A. II. Barnes; Irondale & Graniteville, Robert Tre- ganza; Ironton, W. T. Street; Lutesville, D. R. Cole; Mountain View, C. V. Bryan; Patten, -; Perryville, M. O. Morris; Poplar Bluff, F. E. Duboys; Poplar Bluff circuit, G. W. Davis; Puxico, J. A. Kirkman.
BAPTISTS
In 1821 the Bethel Association of the Bap- tist church had fourteen churches and a mem- bership of 417. Some of these churches were in Arkansas and they were later dismissed to form a new association in that territory.
In 1825 Pendleton church was organized in a settlement six miles west of Farmington. The settlement was made up of immigrants from Pendleton district, South Carolina, and the church became a member of Bethel Association in 1826. At that time James Hol- bert was pastor, remaining as such until 1838 when he was succeeded by Elder William Polk.
Bethel Association held its meeting in 1827 at Providence church in Fredericktown, Sep- tember 22 to 24th. The sermon was preached by Elder D. Orr; Wingate Jackson was the moderator and Simeon Frost, elerk. There were present messengers from nine churches: Providence, Bellevue, St. Francois, IIepzi- bah, New Hope, Pendleton, Crooked Creek, Little Floek and Liberty. The minutes of this association show that there had been 17 baptisms during the year and that there was a total membership of 227.
The meeting of the association in 1837 was with the Pendleton church in St. Francois county and in 1838 at Hepzibah church in Ste. Genevieve county. In 1840 the meeting was held with Bethel church, in 1841 the as- sociation met with New Hope church in St. Francois county. At that time a church known as the Colony church in a settlement five miles east of Farmington was received as a member of the association. In 1859 the as- sociation met in New Hope church in St. Francois county. The sermon was preached by Elder William Polk who was also modera-
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tor. There were three new churches re- Zion, Harmony, Mount Moriah, Pleasant ceived-Mount Zion, Locust Grove and White Oak Grove. At this time there were 19 churches in the association with a total membership of 834.
Bethel Association did a great work in or- ganizing new associations. In 1824 nine churches were dismissed to form the Cape Girardean Association. In 1829 it dismissed four to form an association in Arkansas. Two were dismissed in 1831 for the Franklin Association and nine in 1859 to form the Cen- tral Missouri Association. Finally many of the churches in the association joined others, some churches were led off to other doctrines and the association ceased to exist as an or- ganized body of Baptists.
The Cape Girardeau Association of Bap- tists was organized at Hebron, Cape Girar- deau county, June 12th to 14th, 1824. The following churches took part in the forming of the association: Bethel with 41 members, Dry Creek with 28 members, Tywappity with 11, Clear Creek in Illinois 66, Apple Creek 15, Ebenezer 17, Big Prairie 19, Hebron 26, Shiloh in Illinois 28, Jackson 8, making a total membership in the association of 248.
From 1824 to 1832 the meetings were held regularly, a good spirit was manifest and much work accomplished. The association was a missionary association and was con- stantly raising funds and providing ways for missionary work. From 1832 to 1860 the as- sociation changed in character. In 1832 there were twenty churches located in Cape Girar- deau, Scott, Mississippi and Perry counties. At the meeting in 1840, eight of the twenty churches comprising the association with- drew and formed what was called the New Cape Girardeau Association. It was com- posed of churches at Cape Girardeau, Mount
Grove, Cypress, Pleasant Hill and Little River. The division in the association had arisen over the question of missions; twelve churches had adopted anti-mission principles, while the eight which formed the new asso- ciation, held to the former ideas of the im- portance of missionary work. This New Cape Girardeau Association, as it was called, had a prosperous history from 1840 to 1860. As in the case of all other denominations in this part of the state, the war brought to the Bap- tists very great difficulties and discourage- ments. Many of the ministers were driven away from home or else were compelled to give up preaching for a time. From 1864 to 1867 there was only one minister in the terri- tory of the Cape Girardeau Association en- gaged in preaching. This was the Rev. John H. Clark, who had been licensed to preach by the Cape Girardeau church in 1842 and con- tinned his active labors as a minister until his death in 1869.
The Cape Girardeau Association met in 1864 at Hubble Creek church. Only nine churches were represented. They reported 58 members having been baptized during the previous year, but 48 of these were from one church, Pleasant Grove. The meeting of 1865 was held under very great difficulties. The test oath was enforced and none of the ministers were willing to take it. Accord- ingly they had to preach in violation of the constitution of the state. There were nine- teen churches at this time on the list of the association, but only six of the number sent messengers to the meeting. New ministers were added to the association from 1867 to 1870. Among them were G. F. Brayton, J. G. Shearer, James Reed, J. S. Jordon, Jonas Hoffman, B. L. Bowman and J. T. Ford.
In 1876 there were twenty churches in the
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association, but they dismissed some of these to form a new association in Scott county. In 1878 the association was composed of twenty churches in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Scott, Mississippi, Perry and New Madrid. The total membership was 557. The ministers at that time were T. A. Bowman, John T. Ford, C. B. Ford, J. F. Godwin, Z. A. Hoppas, J. M. Warren and W. H. Welker.
In 1881 the meeting was held at Cape Girardeau. Elder J. Hickman was modera- tor and T. A. Bowman, clerk. There were at that time fourteen churches with a member- ship of 426.
By successive divisions the Cape Girardeau Association has come to include only the terri- tory of Cape Girardeau and Perry counties. The meeting in 1911 was held at Crosstown in Perry county.
In 1911 the Cape Girardeau Association re- ported sixteen churches having a membership of 1,560. They were: Allenville, 24; Bur- fordville, 37; Cheney Fork, 48; Cape Girar- deau, 329; Leroy, 53; Gravel Hill, 62; Round Pond, 49; Iona, 77; Jackson, 296; Lithium, 82; New Bethel, 116; Niswonger, 28; Oak Ridge, 158; Pleasant Grove, 123; Bethlehem, 74; Whitewater, 42.
Of the churches of this association Jackson is the oldest. It was organized April 30, 1824, largely from members of Bethel church and it finally absorbed the best and most progressive element of that church. Cape Girardeau church was organized in 1834 by Elder Thomas P. Green with nine members. The pastors of the church before the war were T. P. Green, J. H. Clark, Sam- uel Baker, S. H. Ford, W. F. Wilson, James S. Green, A. Sherwood and J. C. Maple.
This church at Cape Girardeau, which is the most important owing to its situation of Vol. I-30
the church in the association, has had a mnost interesting history. Owing to the unfortu- nate circumstances most of the old records of the church were destroyed, but Mrs. J. C. Maple, who was for many years a member of the church in the early period, wrote a sketch of the early history which is reproduced here through the kindness of Dr. J. C. Maple. It contains much of interest and importance concerning these early years.
"This sketch of the early history of the church," says Mrs. Maple, "must be largely reminiscent; made up from the recollections of a child, and of what was told her, and of occurrences that I remember. The church records having been lost, I may be able to re- view some things that will prove of interest to the present membership.
"Rev. R. S. Duncan, in his history of Mis- souri Baptists gives the date of the organiza- tion August 13, 1834, with nine members. The church was instituted in the little brick schoolhouse that stood almost directly west of the present residence of L. J. Albert, Sr. The traek of the Cape Girardeau and Chester railroad runs near the location of the build- ing.
There is now no means of knowing the names of the original nine, but I feel confi- dent that John Juden, Sr., John Juden, Jr., Abbie Block Juden, his wife, and Captain William Surrell and his wife, Ann Surrell (nee Juden), were among the number. Rev. Thomas P. Green was instrumental in bring- ing about the organization and was its first pastor. John Juden, Jr., was the first clerk and senior deacon and continued to fill both offices until his removal to New Orleans, La., a few years later.
"The church must have taken steps very promptly to secure a house of worship, and the brick building on Lorimier street was
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erected. It was the first and for a long time the only Protestant house of worship in the city.
"An occurence, connected with the first services held in this house, served for a long time to fix dates of events, by the habitual saying 'these things occurred before or after the floor of the church gave way.' The late Mrs. Louisa Rodney, who had a remarkable memory for dates, told me it was in 1839. Mrs. Mary La Pierre connecting the time with some items of family history corroborates that date. If they are correct, I was only two and a half years old, yet some of the events were indelibly fixed in my mind.
"The Cape Giarardeau Association was to hold its annual session with the church, and the workmen were very much hurried to get the house in condition to be used. Situated on a hill that sloped to the south, it was very easy, and inexpensive to arrange for a base- ment room half way under the building. The floor above was to be supported by substan- tial pillars but there was not time to finish the basement and temporary supports were arranged. A stump, that had not been re- moved served as a base for one of these im- provised pillars. My impression of the day is that it was very bright and beautiful and the house was crowded to its utmost capacity. The people were also dressed in their very best attire. The pews were not in, but tem- porary seats had been made of planks.
"I remember very distinctly sitting by my mother, and looking at Rev. Mr. Edwards who was preaching the introductory sermon, when suddenly the floor seemed to sway under me, and when I looked up I saw the red-top-boots of my brother-the late C. G. Juden-go out of the window south of the pulpit. Then my father said to my mother, 'Sit here until I come back,' and took me in his arms and
placed me upon the lap of Uncle Thomas Juden who was sitting on the pulpit steps. From this safe haven I looked with bewilder- ment upon a panic, such as is seldom wit- nessed.
"The first law of nature seemed to have as- serted itself, for every one was trying to es- cape from the building regardless of every- thing and everybody else. Clothing was torn, slippers lost, bonnets crushed, jewelry torn away and broken, while many bruises and hurts were inflicted by the merciless crowd. It is strange, but true, that no one was seriously injured.
"After almost every one had left the build- ing, my father, after getting my mother out unhurt, came for me. Uncle Thomas told him that I had been a good girl and did not cry. This praise was very pleasant to me, but I think it was not goodness, but the sight of that screaming, struggling mass of humanity so bewildered me that I forgot I could cry.
"Investigation showed that the prop placed on the stump had acted as a wedge, and sc split it that the floor had sagged only a little way, but enough to produce the fright of the entire audience. The damage to the floor was easily repaired, and the length of time the build has stood, and the many, many times it has been filled by attentive worship ers prove how substantially it was built.
"The membership of the church must have increased rapidly between the time of its or ganization and the opening of the house o: worship. Besides those I have already men tioned I recall the names of Mr. and Mrs William Johnson, his mother, Mrs. Johnson Cynthia Johnson, wife of Thomas Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs Campster, whose stone residence still stand; near the Campster schoolhouse, Mr. and Mrs
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Thomas Joyce, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ander- son-(Mr. A. was a half-brother of the late Dr. W. B. Wilson), Mr. and Mrs. Baker Gorden, Mrs. Clark, a sister of Mrs. Gorden. This Mrs. Clark's son, John Henry Clark, Mr. Clark's sister, Mrs. Samuel Gorden, Mrs. Smarr, another sister of J. H. Clark, Mrs. Al- fred Ellis, Mr. and Mrs. Sutton, Mr. and Mrs. Case, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Juden, Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Juden (the father and mother of Mrs. J. C. Maple, who wrote this sketchi), Mrs. Wathen who was one of the early teach- ers in this community, and her daughter, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Captain Watson, Mr. Porter, who came from Hickman, Kentucky, and after a few years residence here returned to Hickman, Joseph Gorden and wife, William MeKnight and wife, parents of Mrs. Emma Kimmel, and others whose names I do not now recall.
"There were some things in connection with the building of the house of worship, which I remember to have heard discussed that make me quite certain that Mr. Ander- son and Mrs. Ellis came into the church at an early date, if they were not constituent mem- bers.
"Captain Ellis, though not a member of the church, was a staunch Baptist in principle and a man of large means. He made a liberal contribution to the building fund and offered in addition a lot on the east side of Lorimier street north of Broadway for the use of the church if they would build thereon. Mr. An- derson was a man of limited means, but of- fered the lot on which the house was built, stating that this was all he was able to give. The church accepted this offer, hoping that Captain Ellis would increase his contribu- tion, at least, to the value of the lot. Per- haps he was a little sensitive over the matter ; at any rate, he did not increase his contribu-
tion. The choice proved to be an unfortu- nate one, for after some years it cost the church large sums of money to prevent the house from being undermined by the con- stant washing away of the earth forming a deep ditch. That ravine offers a lesson of the importance of taking things in time. A lit- tle ditch was formed by the rains in the gar- den of Mr. Ollar which joined the church lot on the west and ran towards the east. The people were used to hills and hollows, and were unconcerned about the small ravine thus formed.
"The church had preaching every Sunday. Each family had its own pew, and it was the custom for parents and children to sit to- gether. The pews were also supplied with Bibles and hymn books. Another custom, which we would do well to follow today, was when the pastor read the scripture lesson, the congregation was reading it too; thereby im- pressing it upon their minds, through two channels, the eye and the ear.
"A Sunday school was established at an early day. I have no recollection of the time when I first went to Sunday school, but I re- member my father going with me every Sun- day. He took his children to the Lord's house, and after school closed, he usually took us for a little walk, but returned and we were all seated in the family pew before the preaching service began. In those days it was not optional, with the children, whether they attended church services or not, at least I never learned it. I do not remember the name of the superintendent.
"As has been said Thomas P. Green was the first pastor. I think it must have been shortly after his death that Dr. Russell Hol- mon of Alabama visited the church and preached for a few weeks, to the delight and edification of the membership. He received
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a hearty call to the pastorate, but did not ac- cept. The facts in regard to Dr. Holmon I obtained from letters of my father written to my mother, in August, 1843, while she was absent from home at a health resort.
"I think the church must have been with- out a pastor for some time, for my father died in August, 1844, and Rev. Edward Hempstead was sent for to preach the funeral sermon.
"John Henry Clark was ordained in De- cember, 1844, and following his ordination supplied the pulpit for a few months. I re- member his ordination. He preached a ser- mon previous to the laying on of hands from the text, 'Mary Hath Chosen that Good Part which shall not be taken away from her' -- Luke 10-42.
"Rev. Samuel Baker a native of England, then a young man, became pastor. He in after years attained high eminence as a man of great learning. Was pastor of churches in New York City, in Chicago and other cities. His last years were spent at Russellville, Kentucky.
"S. H. Ford became pastor in 1845. He en- tered the editorial field at Louisville, Ken- tucky, a few years later; was editor and pro- prietor of the 'Christian Repository,' a monthly magazine, for more than fifty years. His wife, Sallie Rochester Ford, attained equal eminence with her distinguished hus- band as an author.
"Rev. W. F. Nelson was for a time profes- ยท
sor in a theological seminary, while Dr. Adiel Sherwood was an author and college president of several institutions of learning. Thus we see, in that day the church had the best talent in its pulpit.
"On October 4, 1857, J. C. Maple was or- dained at the call of this church. He had been
stated supply from the first of July preceding this date."
Dr. Maple served as pastor in 1860. Dur- ing his term there were about 100 members of the church and Thomas Juden and Thomas Baldwin were deacons and the latter was church clerk. Dr. Maple gave up the care of the church in 1860 and removed to Jackson. Here he engaged in teaching school until the outbreak of the war. The school was closed at that time and he then preached part of the time at Jackson and part of the time at Cape Girardeau until 1864. On his removal to Kentucky in that year, he severed his con- nection with the church for a time.
Between 1864 and 1874 there were a num- ber of pastors, among them Rev. Mr. Bray and J. S. Jordan. In the latter year Dr. Maple returned to the church and served as pastor for three years.
Among the pastors since that date have been Rev. J. Hickman, Rev. Mr. Daniels, C. J. Tate, Rev. Mr. Duvall, J. O. Willett, and A. M. Ross. The present pastor is F. Y. Campbell.
The church worshipped in the old house on Fountain street nntil 1894, when a new house was constructed at the corner of Broadway and Spanish. This was during the pastorate of Mr. Daniels. Later an addition was made to the house under the pastoral direction of C. F. J. Tate. This house is still in use though the congregation has purchased a new lot and plans the erection of a more suitable building.
Among the other organizations in the as- sociation were Union church organized in 1832, Pleasant Hill in Scott county, organized in 1828; Pleasant Grove in Perry county in 1839, Mount Moriah in Scott county in 1830, Ap- ple Creek in. 1820, Ebenezer in the big bend
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of the Mississippi, Cape Girardeau county in being called Liberty. Old Mines was organ- 1821, Cypress in Scott county in 1821, Hub- ized in 1834 in Washington county by James Williams with a membership of 16. Union church in Ste. Genevieve county was organ- ized May 7, 1832, by Elder James Williams, T. B. Green and James Cundill. ble Creek in 1861, Harmony in Mississippi county in 1830, reorganized in 1855, Little River, later called Sylvania, in 1845 in Scott county, and Goshen near Oak Ridge in 1841.
Franklin Association was organized at the house of J. C. Duckworth in the year 1832 At that time there were ten churches repre- sented, ten ministers and a total membership of 374. The territory embraced in the asso- ciation consisted of the counties of Franklin, Washington, and parts of Jefferson, St. Fran- cois, Gasconade, and Crawford.
The second annual meeting was held at Potosi in Washington county in 1833. There were at that time 13 churches and a member- ship of 544.
In 1835 the association met at the Provi- dence church in St. Francois county, there were then 20 churches, 15 ministers and a membership of 797. By 1839 there were 26 churches, and among the prominent minis- ters were John Hutchings, Uriah and Josiah Johnson, Isaac Benning, Z. Jennings, Simeon Frost, J. C. and P. P. Brickey, J. H. Banbo, and James Glenn.
In 1844 the session was held at Union church in Ste. Genevieve county. After cut- ting off a large number of churches, thirteen remained with a total membership of 1,482.
Among the prominent churches of this body were Black River situated on the middle fork of Black river, organized in 1833 by Elder H. Lassiter. Among its preachers have been R. S. V. Caldwell, H. M. Smith, J. N. Russell and J. R. Pratt.
Another of the old churches was Liberty, called Bellevne, organized June 9, 1816, by Elder Felix Redding, who was its first pas- tor. This church was anti-missionary but was organized as a missionary church in 1829
The most prominent minister of the period of this association was James Williams, who was a native of Kentucky and came to St. Louis and later to New Madrid, where he suffered the loss of property in the earth- quake of 1811. After the earthquake he re- moved to Cape Girardeau county and began the work of preaching about 1816. He then moved to Madison county and in 1832 to Washington county. Through his work a number of churches were organized in these various counties and he was a very active and able man. He died in Jefferson county in 1861.
Franklin Association in 1910 had 25 churches with a membership of 2,911. The churches were: Bismark, 126 members; Bonne Terre, 176; Belleview, 33; Big Creek, 34; Cove, 42; Cantwell, 56; Chestnut R'ge, 91; Doe Run, 141; Desloge, 164; Elvins, 224; Flat River, 459; Farmington, 184; Genevieve, 40; Hopewell, 105; Ironton, 168; Irondale, 41; Knob Lick, 20; Leadwood, 289; Liberty, 55; Little Vine, 73; Providence, 47; Hercu- laneum, 90; St. Francis, 87; Union, 153; Mt. Zion -
Black River Association was organized with churches dismissed from Cape Girardeau As- sociation, in 1835 at Greenville, in Wayne county. The churches entering into the or- ganization were Black River, Cherokee Bay, Columbia, Big Creek, Bear Creek, and Green- ville. There was an aggregate membership of 188. The ministers were Henry McEl- murry, William Macom, and S. Winningham,
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Elder McElmurry was moderator and S. J. McKnight, clerk. Within a few years Elder William Little, B. Clark, and N. G. Ferguson were added to the list of ministers.
This association was an aggressive and ac- tive one and grew rapidly. Its territory in- cluded the counties of Wayne, Stoddard, Dunklin, and Madison with parts of other counties. In 1850 the association dismissed twelve churches principally in Wayne county to form a new association and in 1857 five churches were dismissed to form Cane Creek Association in Butler county. This left 18 churches in Black River Association and its territory was reduced to Stoddard and Dunk- lin counties.
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