Extinct churches E-G

Ebenezer Baptist Church was a black church (probably missionary Baptist) in the town of Easton in the extreme northeastern corner of Rusk County. The building was still standing late in 2007 (I haven't been by there recently). There is an existing Baptist Church is in Easton. I do not know if there is any connection.

Enon was an old church in the Mt. Enterprise area. I believe it may have been a predecessor to the Mt. Zion Church where the Mt. Zion Baptist Association was organized.

Faith -- the church on US Hwy 64 named Tyler Road Baptist Church began under the name Faith Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Chuck Shirley. Faith is first mentioned in the Mt. Zion minutes in 1982, and last mentioned in 1987. In addition to Shirley, W. C. Dawkins and Thomas Beene also pastored there. Tyler Road is mentioned in the 1988 local mission report. I am not sure of the exact relationship of these two churches.

First Missionary Baptist Church was organized sometime after 1900, and disbanded circa 1980. It was not represented in the Mt. Olive Association after that time. The building still exists on FM 1798 in Laneville and is now part of the structures owned by the First Southern Baptist Church.

Forest Hill church is mentioned in the Smyrna Baptist Church minutes as a church with whom she regularly exchanged visiting brethren in her early years. (Minutes & Centennial + 5: History of the Smyrna Baptist Church of Rusk County, Texas, p. 8)

Grace Independent Baptist Church is one of several names of churches that met in the building at 1817 US 79 South in Henderson. If I remember correctly, after Grace it was called Liberty, and maybe briefly The Potter's House Baptist Church. I'm not sure whether some of these were just name changes, or some of them were actually different churches that met in the same building. Texas State Bank is now located on this property.

Extinct churches A-D

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church -- met somewhere in the Compton, or Pone, Community.

Boll’s Prairie -- this church is listed in the 1896 Mt. Zion Association minute I have. Its location is not given, so it may not even be in Rusk County. I mention it here in case someone is familiar with an old church or community by this name, possibly in Gregg, Panola, or Rusk counties.

Broom’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church -- is mentioned in the Mt. Zion Baptist Association minutes. Location uncertain.

Buford -- There was once a Missionary Baptist Church in the Buford Community. At present the only information I have on this church is from a brief memory written by my great-grandfather, Marshall Lewis Vaughn, listing it among the churches he remembered pastoring. The Buford community was just west of Henderson on FM 13, near the current Rusk County Expo Center and airport. I talked to former county commissioner Kimble Harris (who grew up there and has lived there for years) about it. He said that was the Buford Community, and there was once a school and a church building. The school building was on the north side of FM 13, and the church building on the south side, in what would now be the northwest corner of the airport property. The Free Will Baptists probably also met here.

Chalk Hill Primitive Baptist Church -- met in the Chalk Hill Community, in the building currently used by the Chalk Hill Community Church. Chalk Hill and Mt. Ararat (aka Mt. Homer) merged to form the Henderson Primitive Baptist Church, and they meet in the Mt. Ararat building west of Henderson on US Hwy 79.

Cool Springs -- is located west of Laneville off FM 1798 and at the end of CR 4181D.

Dewey MBC -- there was a Missionary Baptist Church briefly in the Dewey Community, on CR 3206 west of Mt. Enterprise. Missionary Baptist preachers held revival meetings in the school building. My father remembers at least Ellis Woolverton and Raymond Scruggs preaching there. According to Centennial + 5: History of the Smyrna Baptist Church of Rusk County, Texas by J. W. Griffith, the church at Dewey called for the ordination of Raymond Scruggs in 1923 (p. 27). He was ordained on Sept. 8th. So there was a church there at that time.The school building was somewhere west of the intersection of CR 3206 and CR 3155, on the south side of the road.