A Mt. Carmel neighbor - Cool Springs

A neighboring and sister church to Mt. Carmel was the Cool Springs Baptist Church. Like Mt. Carmel, Cool Springs Church no longer exists. Unlike Mt. Carmel, Cool Springs survived into the twentieth century. This church met located in southern Rusk County, about 4 or miles west of Laneville, Texas.

Cool Springs Cemetery

It is not known for certain when the first burial at Cool Springs took place. The oldest marked grave is that of Elizabeth Brown, who died 23 Oct 1865. Considering the church existed in the 1850s, earlier burials seem likely. The last burial was evidently in 1938. Mr. Gerald Risinger remembers attending a funeral about that time. The church building was still standing then. According to her gravestone, Mary Annie Hodges died 11 Oct 1938.

Members of the New Salem Invicibles have led out in trying to restore this historic site and burial ground of pioneer Rusk County citizens. See also Cemetery project.

Cool Springs Baptist Church

Cool Springs was a member of the Judson Baptist Association in 1856, represented by messengers L. Newsom, J. Harmon and I. Lacy; M. M. Wallace was the pastor. Then in 1857, Cool Springs was among the original thirteen churches that met at Mt. Zion Church, Rusk County, Texas, to form the Mt. Zion Baptist Association. Mt. Zion Association met with Cool Springs 1881 and 1891. The church still meeting in 1903; My great-grandfather -- M. L. Vaughn -- pastored there 1902-03.

In the late 1800s, Cool Springs regularly sent to and received correspondents from the Smyrna Baptist Church (according to Smyrna's minutes). Names of correspondents were not often recorded in the minutes, but some mentioned were Bros. McNight, Bro. Murry, and Vince Blair. Some members of the Lacy family were connected with this church (see also Lacy-Still). A district meeting met with Cool Springs in the summer of 1879.