Locklin Baptist Church, southern Rusk County

I found a church called Locklin (Lockland) in the Mt. Zion Baptist Association minutes, as well as it being mentioned in the Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church minutes. The exact meeting location is unknown to this author, but we can get a general idea.

The Locklin post office (1902-1905) is described as 4-1/2 miles south of Mt. Enterprise (this is from the old town, not the present location). Hattie M. Ruark was appointed postmaster of Locklin, Texas March 17, 1902.The Locklin post office was discontinued June 30, 1905, and the mail sent to Mt. Enterprise. (A History of Rusk County, Dorman H. Winfrey, Waco, TX: Texian Press, 1961, p. 149; Rusk County Texas History, Rusk County Historical Commission, Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1982, p. 57). Hattie Ruark (who married Robert Griffin) is buried in the King Cemetery, which is about 3 miles southwest of present-day Mt. Enterprise.

A Lockin letter from “Uncle Pete” to the Henderson Weekly Times (Thursday, July 13, 1899, p. 2) mentions R. H. Coston, Bird Gatlin, and J. E. Jenkins. This also suggest the area southwest of Mt. Enterprise.

This area (including post office, church, and branch) can be found under several spellings – at least these three, Locklin, Lockland, and Lochland (with Locklin being the correct post office spelling). Lockland Branch (US is roughly located south of US Hwy 84, east of FM 3055, and west of CR 3207. It appears to empty in to Wooten Creek, southeast of present-day Mt. Enterprise. TopoQuest gives this information about the Branch: “Lockland Branch is a stream located in Rusk County, TX at N31.88295° W94.70799° (NAD83) and at an elevation of 351 ft MSL.”

I recently found a document in which an application is made to the Post Office Deparment for a post office at Locklin. This supplies information about the proposed location of the post office (and thereby the community, generally). The document indicates that the originally proposed name was Rook, and that name was struck out and changed to Locklin. The Mount Enterprise post office is 4-1/2 miles is an northerly direction of the proposed Locklin Post Office; a Post Office named Stevens is 5-1/2 miles in a westerly direction; Linnflat is 7-1/2 miles in a southerly direction. It is also to be 1 mile east of Angelina Creek (apparently the east fork of the Angelina River). The post office was to supply about 225 people. The application says Locklin has a mill, gin, and store. No church is mentioned. This document is dated June 1, 1901. Perhaps the church no longer existed, or perhaps it was not in the genre of things to be considered in the application.

John Birdwell Isbell pastored Locklin in 1883 (Mt. Zion minutes).