Pine Springs and J. C. Jones

What is now the Roquemore Missionary Baptist Church originally had the name Pine Springs, and for a time Mt. Hope, before changing to Roquemore in 1919. I do not know for certain whether Pine Springs/Mt. Hope died out and a church was organized in the Roquemore Community, or whether Pine Springs/Mt. Hope simply moved their meeting location and took the name of the community. The Pine Springs Church was organized in or around 1870. I think the church is probably continuous but with three different names. I believe the following is correct, or very close: the church was organized in 1870 as the Baptist Church of Christ at Pine Springs. The name was changed to Mt. Hope in 1884, and to Roquemore in 1919.

The following is an excerpt from a laminated page of the church minutes I was allowed to copy:

January conference 1880

Church met in conference on Saturday before the 4th Sunday in January after Services by the pastor Opened the doore of the church and Received Elder J. C. Jones, Sister Nancy M. Jones and Sister Mollie Jones by letters. Taken up Reference in regard to answering the letter from Missionary Board and agrees to answer the Board and Say to them that we are not in harmony with their proceeding and will not Send them any [funds mocilanous]. Granted letters of dismission to Brother Jessey Owens and Sister Henryetta Owens. [Read and adopted] J C Jones Mod J A Propes C.C.

The words in brackets [] are words of which I was uncertain. However, “funds,” “Read and adopted” are likely correct. The only word I could think might properly follow “funds” was “miscellaneous,” but it does not look like that.  It is not clear what Missionary Board they have reference to, but other church minutes and/or comparison of Mt. Zion Association minutes around this time might eventually help clarify what board is meant.

The pastor J. C. Jones is apparently the John Jones recorded in the 1880 Rusk County census living in Precinct 7. He was 37 years old, born in Texas, listed as a “Minister.” His wife Nancy was 31 years old, also born in Texas. They had three children: Mary 13; William 10; and Maggie 2 (all born in Texas). Also in the home was Bowlin Jemison (Jimmerson?), listed as a servant. The homes counted next to them were Henry & Amanda Ascue (Askew?) and Clayton & Lydia Jones. This is probably Thomas Clayton “Claytie” Jones (1856-1926), son of Thomas Clayton “T C” Jones (1803–1861) and Mary Ann Smalley (1823–1906). “Claytie” had a brother named John, and this minister next door probably is his brother. If this is correct, the pastor J. C. Jones is John Jones, son of Thomas Clayton “T C” Jones and Mary Ann Smalley. If this is correct, the census is incorrect giving his birth in Texas. The Jones family was still in Tennessee in 1850.

His wife might be Nancy McNeese, daughter of Josephus McNeese and Lavenia Mills, who married a John Jones in Panola County in 1862. The McNeeses had a Sugar Hill post office in the 1860 census.

In the 1878 minutes, J. C. Jones is listed at Sugar Hill, which is given as Rusk County.

In the 1883 minutes, his address is Henderson and he is pastor of Pine Springs.

I found this information on Greasy Kitchen. What is now most often called Leopard Cemetery (because the John Leopard tombstone is the only one now visible) was originally called the Pine Springs Cemetery, and had quite a few graves. However, it was also known as “Greasy Kitchen” for the following reason: “Strangers traveling through the country in wagons stopped and camped at Pine Springs Church. While there, one group slaughtered a pig, beef (or bear?), and left the church so greasy and dirty it received the epithet, ‘Old Greasy Kitchen.’” “Pine Springs, Also called Greasy Kitchen,” Mary Frank Dunn, East Texas Family Records, Rosemary Whipple, editor. East Texas Genealogical Society, Volume 4, Number 2, Summer 1980, pp. 20-21.

Henderson Missions, Southern Baptist

It appears that in the late 1930s and afterward the Southern Baptists in Henderson got busy spreading missions across the city, which ended with churches north, east, south, and west (just barely west)

Second Baptist (west of First Baptist, on West Main Street). It would seem that Second Baptist would be the oldest of the missions, judging by the name of the church. However, that is not the case. It is not the second Baptist church organized in Henderson, so the name choice must have been based on another reason. A sentence in a history of First Baptist Church suggests 1950: “In March of 1950 the Brotherhood organization began the First Baptist Mission on Texas Street. This church is now the Second Baptist Church located on West Main Street.” However, the church’s record gives the organization as October 4, 1961, with Paul Adams as the first pastor. This agrees with the statement in the history of Mission Springs Baptist Church: “…in 1961, a division arose within the congregation over whether or not the congregation should move from the church site. About half of the church membership, including church pastor Paul Adams, were in favor of moving the church to Henderson. Unable to reach an agreement satisfactory to all, brother Adams resigned and with the dessenting (sic) members, removed to Henderson where they founded the Second Baptist Church on West Main Street.” The 1962 Texas Baptist Annual lists Second Baptist as a newly organized church. Nevertheless, I have been told by persons who remembered that First Baptist started a mission down the hill in the area of Texas Street. Perhaps the mission work of First Baptist Church on Texas Street, and the group from Mission Springs combined to form Second Baptist Church.

Southside Baptist (south side of Henderson). Southside started as the Maddox Addition Mission of First Baptist Church, circa 1939, based on newspaper reports. Rezin R. Davidge was pastor in 1940, and possibly the mission pastor. Organized in 1944, according to East Texas Baptist Area information. In the 1980s, the church relocated their place of meeting from the Maddox Addition (the building on Jacksonville Drive) to 1801 Old Nacogdoches Road.

Eastside Baptist (east side of Henderson) organized in 1946 (according to East Texas Baptist Area information). Donald Richardson Turner was the first pastor. The mission started under an arbor, and later a small one-room building on the site where the building currently stands. Eastside dissolved after 2020, or more technically merged with Pine Hill Baptist Church. Now the building at 2300 East Main Street is used as a “campus” of Bethel Bible Church of Tyler. Eastside was a mission of First Baptist Church.

Henderson Daily News, Friday, August 5, 2016, p. 7

Trinity Baptist (north side of Henderson). Information on their web page at hub.biz says the church was established in 1952. First Baptist Church history gives that date as well. Trinity was a mission of First Baptist Church. Trinity Baptist Church meets at 1100 Kilgore Drive in Henderson.

Emmanuel Baptist (southwest side of Henderson). A much-later Southern Baptist mission work was Emmanuel Baptist Church. Emmanuel started as a mission meeting in the skating rink – probably in the late 70s or early 80s. In 1982 they requested a zone exemption to build on South Evenside.

Longview News Journal, Wednesday, July 14, 1982, p. 10-A

John Birdwell Isbell, Baptist preacher

John Birdwell Isbell (1830-1904) served Smyrna Baptist Church in southern Rusk County (possibly while they still met at old Chinquapin, or at Redland) as pastor from February 1889 to August 1893. J. B. Isbell was born in Alabama, possibly Jackson County, on February 14, 1830. J. B. and his brother, Allen Richardson Isbell, apparently ventured to Texas because their grandparents John Birdwell (1770–1854) and Mary Allen Birdwell (1780–1840), uncle Allen B. Birdwell (1802-1893), and other members of the Birdwell family had moved here. Their parents and most of their siblings stayed in Alabama. Several are buried in the Old Bethel Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery at Asbury, Marshall County, Alabama.

At least some of the Birdwells were in Texas by 1841, and Allen Birdwell purchased property south of present-day Mt. Enterprise in 1843. J. B. Isbell was still in Alabama as late as 1852, when he married Martha Jones. He was in Texas by 1859, when he married Martha E. Battle. Allen apparently came later, between 1880 and 1897. His son Richard was in Linn Flat in 1880.

John B.’s mother, Sarah Birdwell Isbell, was the daughter of John Birdwell and Mary Allen Birdwell. John and Mary settled in 1805 in Madison County, Mississippi Territory (which territory became Alabama Territory in 1817 and the State of Alabama in 1819). Sarah married Levi Isbell on Saturday, August 10, 1816, at Enon Baptist Church, which then stood on the western bank of the Brier Fork of the Flint River. This church is now known as the First Baptist Church of Huntsville. August 10 is the marriage date in their son Elijah Miller Isbell’s Bible. The Madison County Marriage Book Vol. 1, page 257 Index has Aug. 30; the license itself appears to read “3d day of August, 1816.”)

John B. Isbell was a constituting member of the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in November of 1874. He pastored Locklin Church in 1883 (see Mt. Zion Association minutes). On March 4, 1887, with W. H. H. Hays, M. L. Hines, and J. F. M. Reid, John Isbell formed the organizational presbytery organizing a Baptist Church at Mt. Enterprise with 22 individuals who had been members of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church at Lawsonville. John B. Isbell pastored Friendship at Jumbo in Panola County 1888-1890 (see Mt. Zion Association minutes).

From the Smyrna Church minutes:

“Sat. before the 3rd Sun. in Feb. 1889… On motion the church went into an election of a pastor which resulted in the favor of Bro. John Isbel as pastor.”

“Sat. before the 3rd Sun. in Oct. 1889…After divine service by Eld. John Isbel Smyrna Church convened in conference. Moved and second that we elect a pastor for the year 1890 which resulted in favor of Bro. John Isbel.”

In addition to these churches, associational records show that John B. Isbell pastored Union Springs, near Linn Flat, Nacogdoches County (1879) and Union, Douglass, Nacogdoches County (1883). Isbell must have been ordained circa 1879. He is not found in the lists of Mt. Zion Association licentiate or ordained ministers in the 1878 minutes. He listed as an ordained minister in the Mt. Zion Baptist Association minutes by 1880. It is believed that the Isabel Chapel Church and Isabel Chapel Cemetery (though misspelled) in the Sand Hill Community was named for this family.

John B. Isbell moved to Timpson by 1900, and was a member of the Baptist Church there. Disagreements concerning the work of the Baptist General Convention of Texas divided many associations and churches, and the Baptist Church at Timpson split in 1902, shortly before Isbell’s death. The two churches became known as the “North Side Baptist Church” and “South Side Baptist Church.” The South Side Church affiliated with the recently-organized Baptist Missionary Association of Texas. The fact that Elder John B. Isbell’s funeral was held at the South Side Church suggests that he stood on the BMA of Texas side of the division, and was a member of the South Side Baptist Church at Timpson at the time of his death.

John Birdwell Isbell was the grandson of John Birdwell, nephew of Allen Birdwell, first treasurer of the Mt. Zion Association, and cousin of G. P. Birdwell, first president of the B.M.A. of Texas. In 1874 he was a charter member of Pleasant Hill Church in the Bogg Community of Nacogdoches County. He lived in Mt. Enterprise and later Timpson, where he is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery. His brother Allen Isbell is buried at the above-mentioned Isabel Chapel Cemetery in the Sand Hill Community.

John Birdwell Isbell married Martha Jones January 1, 1852 in Jackson County, Alabama. After her death, he married Martha E. Battle in 1859 in Nacogdoches County, Texas. It is believed that he had no children who lived past infancy. The following mortuary notice was found in The Galveston Daily News, Sunday, January 31, 1904, p. 6.

ISBELL.—Timpson, Tex., Jan. i—Rev. J. B. Isbell died after several weeks’ illness and was buried by the Masonic fraternity.

His tombstone inscription reads, “God’s finger touched him and he slept.”

Other information.

Military service.

John B. Isbell served in Company A, O. M. Roberts Regiment 11th Texas Volunteer Infantry during the War Between the States (Confederate widows’ pension application filed by Martha E. Isbell).

Some marriages performed by J. B. Isbell in Rusk County, Texas:

• Bode Hammage/Harnage to Milly Thompson August 4, 1866
• Ogean Farlton to Selvey Nichols September 6, 1866
• Wiley Johnson to Tenny Vinson January 21, 1879
• George Moore to Jennie Porter March 20, 1879
• M. W. Stephens to Elizabeth Coats August 31, 1879
• W. C. Reeves to Lula Reed March 2, 1880
• W. P. Matthias to E. M. Stanley August 1, 1881
• J. H. Parker to M. H. Wilson October 10, 1881
• John T. Keeling to Susan Parker November 10, 1881
• J. H. Carroll to Fannie C. Eidson February 2, 1882
• Wyatt Benson to Frances Garland February 11, 1882
• S. R. Smith to Mary Ann Matlock February 22, 1883

As found in: 

• East Texas Family Records, Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1979
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1983
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 8, Number 1, Spring 1984
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 8, Number 2, Summer 1984
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 8, Number 3, Fall 1984
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 1985
• East Texas Family Records, Volume 9, Number 3, Fall 1985

John Birdwell Isbell in the U.S. censuses:

• 1850 Jackson County, Alabama
• 1860 Nacogdoches County, Texas
• 1870 Rusk County, Texas
• 1880 Rusk County, Texas
• 1900 Timpson, Shelby County, Texas

Isbell Family Preachers.

Alabama

• Charles Levi Isbell (1843-1913)
• James Richardson Isbell (1824-1911)
• James Robert Isbell (1900-1973)
• Jesse William “Corn” Isbell (1829-1913)
• John Derris Isbell (1903-1954)
• Levi Isbell (elder, 1770-1850)
• Levi Isbell (younger, 1797-1896)
• William Miller Isbell (1831-1897)
• Zachariah Isbell (1867-1946)

Arkansas 

• John S. Isbell (1848-1923)
• William Dolphis Isbell (1866-1913)
• William Sherman Isbell (1891-1987)

Mississippi

• Albert C. “Elbert” Isbell (1855-1905)

Tennessee

• James Franklin Isbell Sr. (1881-1954)

Texas

• James Owens Isbell (1879-1950)
• John Birdwell Isbell (1830-1904)
• John Winfield Isbell (1876-1942)
• Cousin George Preston Birdwell (1838-1916) was also a Baptist preacher

A Valuable Man Passes To The Great Beyond

“A Valuable Man Passes To The Great Beyond,” who once pastored Baptist churches in Rusk County.

James Anderson Long was born near Clayton in Panola County in the Pineywoods of East Texas, a land of trees and hills and hollers – and home to some of the older Baptist work in Texas. He died in Levelland of Hockley County in the Great Plains region of West Texas, a flat country of grasses rather than trees.[i] Hockley County itself and the Missionary Baptist Church of Levelland were both organized in 1921.[ii] Bethel Church at Clayton was organized in 1843. Quite a change! J. A. Long died in Lubbock after an unsuccessful surgery for appendicitis. His labor in the gospel ministry led him from one side of Texas to the other. (Panola County borders Louisiana and Hockley County is only about 30 from New Mexico.)

In 1883 J. A. Long professed faith in Christ, united with the Mount Hebron Missionary Baptist Church in Long Branch, and was baptized by C. H. Gipson. The Mt. Olive Church licensed Long in December 1896, and ordained him to the work of the ministry in April 1897.

In 1894, J. A. Long married Minnie Ola Lawrence in Panola County, and they were blessed with 12 children – which included one pair of twins. All lived to adulthood, except their first-born son, who died at three months of age. Both J. A. and his wife taught school early in their lives.

Before leaving East Texas, J. A. Long pastored at least the following churches, in Panola County: Bethel (1903-1907), Mount Hebron (circa 1906); in Rusk County: Smyrna (1901-1904), Zion Hill (1906-1907); in Shelby County: Buena Vista (1898-1900), Good Hope (1898-1900), Pleasant Grove (1898).

Based on available newspaper reports, J. A. Long was pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church in Paducah, Texas circa 1914-1919. According to his obituary, J. A. Long also pastored or preached in the following West Texas towns: Farwell, Lubbock, Morton, and Sudan. He was a very active minister in the work of the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas.

“Reverend James Anderson Long came to Levelland to pastor the Missionary Baptist Church in February 1925. In March he helped build the First Baptist Church in Levelland, a 28 x 40 building at Fifth Street and Avenue L. Prior to this the congregation met at the school with the other denominations. He also pastored churches in Sudan, Morton and in Terry County...In 1909 the family moved from Carthage to Hall County and lived near Memphis, where Reverend Long pastored a church. In 1910 they went to Donley County, where Reverend Long farmed and pastored a church at Lelia Lake…In 1914 they moved to Paducah where Reverend Long bought a farm…He sold this farm in 1919 and the family moved to Hollis, Oklahoma. Here they bought a farm and Reverend Long was pastor of a church at Dodsonville, Texas and several other churches nearby. They remained there for several years until Reverend Long accepted the pastorate at West Camp, near Farwell, on the state line between Texas and New Mexico…Reverend Long and family arrived in Farwell in the fall of 1922…In early 1924 Reverend Long was called as a missionary preacher, which meant he could hold revivals anywhere he was asked to preach. So, he moved his family to Lubbock, to be more centrally located. He was away from his family so much he decided to accept a church at Levelland…”[iii]

When J. A. Long died in 1927, the Smyrna Church in Rusk County (my home church) elected a committee to write a memorial resolution for him, as was their custom for their deceased church members – even though Brother Long was not and had not been a member of the church (demonstrating the love and respect they still held for him long after he had removed from the area).

James A. Long, Minnie Ola Long, and their two oldest daughters, Dora Margaret and Lola Belle.

---

[i] Several years ago, a man who lived in Levelland told me, “There is not a bridge in our county.”
[ii] Though Hockley County was created in 1876, it had no organization as a county until 1921. All judicial business was transacted in Lubbock. In 1921 county officers were elected, a county seat selected, and a courthouse built. Hockley City (now Levelland) was chosen as the county seat, probably mostly due to its central location in the county. (Hockley County 1921 – 1971: The First Fifty Years; Epilogue 1971-1976, Lillian Brasher. Canyon, TX: Staked Plains Press, [n.d., circa 1976], pp. 74-76)
[iii] Hockley County 1921...1976, Lillian Brasher, p. 93. Note that some sources say that Long came to Levelland in January 1926. The resolution to the discrepancy may be that he came to the church as pastor in Feb. 1925, and moved to the city of Levelland in Jan. 1926. He pastored there until his death in January 1927. Note also that First Missionary Baptist of Levelland, organized in 1921, still exists under the name Fifth Street Baptist Church, which it adopted in 1946. Fifth Street Baptist Church affiliates with the Plains Baptist Association, Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, and the Baptist Missionary Association of America. Oddly, the Southern Baptist Church calls itself “First Baptist Church,” but was not organized until three years after the first Baptist Church in Levelland! See Brasher, page 285.

Elder M. Lepard

Mathias Lepard pastored the Baptist Church at Henderson.

In 1850, Mathias Lepard was possibly living in or around Franklin County, Alabama. He reported a meeting with J. H. Rowland at Harmony Church in Franklin County in December 1850, and that he and Brother Rowland were spending their time riding and preaching within the bounds of the Big Bear Creek Association (Tennessee Baptist, Saturday, January 18, 1851, p. 3).

“Elder M. Lepard…had then [1853] but recently entered the State. As a preacher he was earnest, and a bold defender of the principles of that sect everywhere spoken against. The churches in Rusk County felt the power of his ministry only a short time, until a cancer claimed him as its victim. While absent from his family, in Tennessee, seeking medical aid, he passed to the upper sanctuary, in January 1859, and rests from toil and suffering.” Flowers and Fruits, Morrell, pp. 328-329.

Mathias Lepard may have lived in Cherokee County, Texas in 1853. At least he wrote a letter to the Tennessee Baptist from Cherokee County  in November of 1853. He reported a meeting at Ebenezer Church in Smith County in which 31 members were added to the church. (Saturday, January 14, 1854, p. 4).

M. Lepard preached the introductory sermon at the newly organized Texas Baptist General Association in 1853. This general Baptist organization was formed at Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas, in 1853. It met only two years; in 1853 at Larissa and in 1854 at Tyler G. G. Baggerly and M. Lepard – both of whom pastored the Baptist Church at Henderson – were active in this short-lived organization.

Elder M. Lepard was one of the presbytery ordaining John Whitmore to the ministry, at Ebenezer Church in Smith County. (Tennessee Baptist, Saturday, August 5, 1854, p. 3).

In 1854, Matthias Lepard wrote to the Tennessee Baptist: “The Baptist Church at Bellview, Rusk co., commenced a meeting Saturday before the 3rd Sabbath in August. I arrived there Monday. We continued seven days, during which time the good Lord revived the work in the church, many anxious persons crying for mercy. That, with the meeting in September, resulted in the addition of twenty odd. Fifteen followed Christ in baptism. Among that number was the wife of Bro. J. R. Wood, of Tenn., and one son and daughter. May the Lord still revive his work in Bellview.” (Saturday, November 18, 1854, p. 4).

M. Lepard married Almeda Wood in 1855. She was a daughter of John Rucker Wood and Agnes Payne Harris, and a sister of Agnes Wood who married a Baptist preacher, John H. Rowland. John R. and Agnes P. Wood donated the land for the Harmony Baptist Church at Bellview. In 1870 widow Almeda and son Mitton (or Milton) Lepard, were living with John & Agnes Rowland – who would have been her sister and his aunt and uncle. In 1860 they were living with her parents. In 1878, she married Charlie C. Owen or Owens. In 1880 they were living in Overton.

Mathias Lepard died in January of 1859 (according to Z. N. Morrell, while in Tennessee). At the time of his death, he was a member of the Harmony Baptist Church at Bellview (now called Pirtle). The following resolution of respect was adopted in their church conference in February of 1859 (though the paper has a typographical error of 1858). Since he died in Tennessee, a burial in Tennessee is assumed.

The Tennessee Baptist, June 11, 1859, page 4

Rusk County Baptists, 2020

Number of Baptist Churches in Rusk County, Texas in 2020: 49 or 97?

In researching for my Rusk County Baptist history, I became interested in the religious makeup of the population. I looked at the information from the data collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) for 2020. This is reported at the Association of Religious Data Archives site. A comparison of the number of Baptist churches I have located in Rusk County versus the data compiled by ASARB shows how far off our understanding of religious bodies in the United States is or can be. For 2020, ASARB identified 49 Baptist churches in Rusk County. I have identified 97 Baptist churches in Rusk County, that I believe existed in 2020 (even that is tricky, until I have contacted every one of these churches). I do not blame ASARB; they do not have the personnel and financing to do “boots on the ground” research for every county in the United States. They depend on reporting. However, the Rusk County Baptist History Project shows almost twice as many congregations and adherents as the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies found. [Note: I used estimation based on known numbers in order to come up with the number of adherents (church members) in each group for which I did not have statistics.] The ASARB count had 5 Baptist categories. I have added two that were missed. I have also changed National Missionary Baptist Convention (which is one specific convention) to National Baptist Conventions, in order to represent several conventions that have the name “National” in common.

Details and Explanations.

American Baptist Association. Total 16; count off by 6 churches. [Two of these have disbanded since 2020, and there is one new Hispanic church/mission, which I do not know whether it existed in 2020.] I estimated the total membership based on the average membership of the churches that were counted.

Baptist Missionary Association of America. Total 4; count off by 1 church, and no member statistics were given. I obtained my church member statistics from the 2017 BMAA Directory & Handbook, the closest date that I had to 2020.

Independent unaffiliated Baptists. Not counted. I identified 7 unaffiliated Baptist churches in Rusk County. One has disbanded (not sure whether that occurred before or after 2020). One of these may be in the BBFI (it used to be). I estimated the total membership based on the average membership of the similar churches (ABA, BMAA) in the county, but the total is probably high. I suspect that some of these churches tend to remove non-attending and non-resident members more so than the ABA & BMAA churches.

Primitive Baptists. Not counted. Even I did not know this church still existed until I started the Rusk County Baptist History Project. I thought they had disbanded, but the church simplyy changed meeting locations. I estimated the total membership based on the attendance.

National Association of Free Will Baptists. I used and repeated the ASARB count, but wonder if the Mt. Olive Church at Compton had already closed by 2020.

National Baptist Conventions. Total 36; count off by 31 churches. The African-American Baptist churches were severely undercounted. I lumped all these in one category since ASARB had only one category, but some of these churches probably participate in different National or General bodies than others. I estimated the total membership based on the average membership of the churches that were counted.

Southern Baptist Convention. Total 29; count off by 2 churches. Southern Baptists usually collect statistics diligently and accurately (as best we Baptists can). The count difference between mine and theirs might occur for any number of reasons. For example, two Kilgore churches are just barely in Rusk County and participate in the Gregg Baptist Association. They might have gotten counted with Gregg County (it takes a bit of carefulness to determine which county these two churches are in). One SBC church in Henderson merged with another church. I estimated the total membership based on the average membership of the churches that were counted.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the total population of Rusk County, Texas was 52,514 in 2020. If my estimation is reasonably accurate (which I think it generally will be) and if my math is correct (which it often is not), Baptists make up about 38% of the population of Rusk County.

Note: This is a preliminary finding, which I may need to adjust as I move this work forward.

Book review of Smyrna history

A History of Smyrna Baptist Church, 1873 – 2008. By James W. Griffith and Robert Lee Vaughn. Mt. Enterprise, Texas: Waymark Publications, 2009. 115 pp. 

In the words of that old song “brighten the corner where you are,” the church at Smyrna has been fulfilling its mission in south Rusk County, Texas for well over a century. First, the authors show proper deference to the congregation’s Georgia roots, home of half of the charter members coming from the Powell Creek church dating from 1786. Organized in 1873 at Chinquapin Spring, Smyrna’s initial action was to launch into a protracted revival meeting for several days, which added more new members. A spirit of local cooperation ensued from the start with fifth Sunday meetings and association and district meetings. Smyrna even invited visiting brethren to monthly business meetings. 

For its first fifty years, frequent mention is made of church discipline for sins great and small. Nevertheless, these were the days of ALL day church sings, dinner on the grounds, free will offerings of money and food for the needy, and visits from overseas missionaries from as far away as Syria. Since Smyrna evolved slowly into becoming a missionary Baptist church, the authors devote some time to the controversy of the day between the Board Party Faction and the Mission Party Faction. To students of Baptist history, this book opens a small window into how missions were funded and the controversy between R.C. Burleson and B.H. Carroll and those who opposed mission boards. The authors conclude that “unended bitterness” resulted from the early twentieth-century schism between Baptists. In 1892, the church moved a few miles and by 1907 had located in the Oakflat community where it is today. Over time it has often shared its facilities with the Methodists. 

Several customs and policies are worth noting such as the first women on committees about 1910 and one long-serving pastor between 1910 and 1930. Traditionally, pastors were recalled once a year by a church vote. In 1921, John Waller was so beloved that he was called to serve as pastor indefinitely. Other customs included the annual cemetery day, church reunions, third Saturday night church sings (including Sacred Harp music), and writing resolutions of respect for deceased members. In 1918, a resolution of support was offered for all their soldier boys in the Great War. 

In spite of strong emphasis on local control, Smyrna church was a key player in the Mount Zion Baptist Association and a big advocate of the associational missionary concept. Several young men were “liberated” (called) for the ministry in those early days. Shifting demographics saw a decline in church numbers as well as church discipline after World War II. Death and urbanization reduced membership, but these did not diminish the zeal for missions and the gospel. 

The research is good, and the writing flows fairly well. Leaders and church programs are covered equally well, and the appendices contain lists of former members, pastors, clerks, deacons, and current members. There is also a good historical representation through photographs. As the book of Revelation records, “To the Angel at the church in Smyrna write, ‘Keep the faith and pass on your traditions.’”—Reviewed by Don Brown, Adjunct Professor of History, Dallas Baptist University

Texas Baptist History: the Journal of the Texas Baptist Historical Society, Volume XXXII, 2012, pp. 87-89