Elder N. Conner

Elder N. Conner probably never lived in Rusk County, but he did pastor at least one church here. He is listed as the pastor of the Mt. Carmel Church in southern Rusk County in 1858.

He served as the first clerk/secretary of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association, formed in 1857 while meeting at the Mt. Zion Church at Lawsonville in Rusk County. He probably was a member and/or pastor of the New Salem Church near Douglass in Nacogdoches County, since he attended the association as a delegate from the New Salem Church. (The pastors are not named in the 1857 minutes book.) In 1859 Conner was pastor of the New Salem Church, as well as the Baptist Church at Melrose (in Nacogdoches County).

His first name remains unknown, as does what happened to him. Early in 1859 he was engaging to go on a trip back to South Carolina to visit his old home, family, and friends. Perhaps he never returned to Texas.

Conner was ordained at the \Anderson Baptist Church, by John Scott Murray and Amaziah Rice. The Anderson Church House was located about 1-1/2 miles south of Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina. The statement that “Conner’s labors as a Baptist minister have been confined to Texas ever since his ordination” implies that Conner was ordained and shortly after left for Texas.

Note: The New Salem Church mentioned below was in Nacogdoches County, not Rusk County.

Tennessee Baptist, Saturday, March 12, 1859, p. 1

There as some minutes of the Anderson Baptist Church online, HERE, 1868-1875.

New Hope Baptist Church at Iron Mountain

J. W. D. Creath wrote in 1850, “From this point [Dallas County, rlv] I travelled about 200 miles South-east, to attend the Soda Lake Association, which commenced on Saturday, before third Sabbath of this month, with the New Hope church, Rusk county. This is, also, a flourishing body, on the east side of the Trinity river, (the other on the West.) [That is, the Trinity River Association which was previously described, was on the west side of Trinity River, and Soda Lake Association was on the east side of Trinity River, rlv].” (“Texas Correspondence,” Sept. 25th, 1850, from J. W. D. Creath. South Western Baptist, Wednesday, October 23, 1850, p. 2)

The New Hope Church of the Soda Lake Association was in southern Rusk County. It is listed in the 1856 minutes of the Soda Lake Baptist Association, with an Iron Mountain post office. The delegates to the association were B. F. Stamps, A. S. Meckeborough, and H. King.[1] New Hope’s pastor was M. M. Wallace, and the church had 50 members in 1856.[2] Wallace mentions this church in 1855 correspondence with The Texas Baptist:

“When this meeting [in Crockett, Houston County, rlv] closed, brothers Paxton and Rowland, and the writer, met at New Hope Church, Rusk county, on Saturday before the third Sabbath in September. We preached four days, and truly we had a refreshing time, for our God came near us. One dear soul professed to find peace in believing in Jesus Christ. Eight members were added to the church during the meeting, by experience and baptism. And thus our meetings ended. To God be all the glory, and we will praise him for ever and ever.”[3]

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[1] Britton F. Stamps attended the formation of the Mt. Zion Association the next year (1857) as a delegate from the Mt. Carmel church. A. S. Meckeborough (sic) was the brother of Mary Ann Mickleborough/ Micklebrough, wife of William Howerton. William and Mary Ann were both members of Mt. Carmel church. H. King might possibly be Harrison King, who is buried at Sacul, which is in the general area.
[2] Southwestern Seminary Library in Fort Worth, which has the 1856 minute, also has a minute from 1854. New Hope Church is not listed in it.
[3] “Letter from Brother Wallis,” The Texas Baptist, Wednesday, October 31, 1855, p. 2. “Brother Wallis” is Milas Milford Wallace (1810-1867), who is buried at the Jacksonville City Cemetery,. The correspondence is dated Nacogdoches Co., September 24, 1855, and reports on protracted meetings in four churches he pastored: Palestine, Cherokee County; Mt. Zion, Rusk County; Crockett, Houston County; and New Hope, Rusk County.

Organization of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1854

The following newspaper report discloses the year of the organization of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in the Lawsonville/Concord area of Rusk County. The reporter is M. M. Wallace (spelled Wallis in the paper), who was the pastor, present, and participating in a protracted meeting at Mt. Zion in 1855. Source: “Letter from Brother Wallis,” The Texas Baptist, Wednesday, October 31, 1855, p. 2. “Brother Wallis” is Milas Milford Wallace (1810-1867), who is buried at the Jacksonville City Cemetery, but apparently living in Nacogdoches County at the time (the correspondence is dated Nacogdoches Co., September 24, 1855).

The protracted meeting was held in early September 1855. Wallace wrote that the Mt. Zion Church was organized by Isham H. Lane “about one year past” – making the organization of the Mt. Zion Church sometime in 1854. It was organized with about seven members.

Mt. Zion is significant in its place in the early history of Baptists in Rusk County (and East Texas). The church building was the location of the organization of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association in 1857. Mt. Zion was the mother of several churches, including (I believe) Holly Spring (now named East Holley Spring) and Union Spring near Concord, and the Baptist Church in Mt. Enterprise (now named First Baptist Church). The church building was located in what is now the Campground Cemetery, east of Mt. Enterprise.

The other preachers mentioned at the meeting are John H. Rowland, at the time from Palestine, and who married Agnes Wood from the Bellview/Pirtle Community of Rusk County; Isham H. Lane of Cherokee County; and J. E. Paxton of Louisiana.

The Birdwell and Isbell families

A little information the Isbells and Birdwells, from various sources, some previously posted.

Sarah Birdwell Isbell was the daughter of John Birdwell and Mary Allen Birdwell who settled in 1805 in Madison County, Mississippi Territory, which became Alabama Territory in 1817 and the State of Alabama in 1819. She 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, a few hundred yards north of the old terminal of the North Huntsville Executive Airport. This church is now known as the First Baptist Church of Huntsville. This is the marriage date in their son Elijah Miller Isbell’s bible. …

Levi Isbell married Sarah H. Birdwell at Enon Baptist Church in Huntsville, Madison County, Mississippi Territory (now Alabama), on Saturday, Aug. 10, 1816 (per son Elijah Miller Isbell’s Bible). (Madison County Marriage Book Vol. 1, p. 257. Index says Aug. 30; the license appears to read “3d day of August, 1816.”)

At least two of their sons came to Texas, John Birdwell Isbell and Allen Richardson Isbell.

ISBELL.—Timpson, Tex., Jan. 29—Rev. J. B. Isbell died after several weeks’ illness and was buried by the Masonic fraternity. The Galveston Daily News, Sunday, January 31, 1904, p. 6.

Allen Richardson Isbell

• Born 9 November 1821, Jackson County, Alabama
• Died 31 December 1897, Rusk County, Texas
• Buried Isabell Chapel Cemetery, Sand Hill, Rusk County, Texas

John Birdwell Isbell

• Born 14 February 1830, Alabama
• Died 28 January 1904, Shelby County, Texas
• Buried Woodlawn Cemetery, Timpson, Shelby County, Texas

Some have thought that John B. Isbell organized the Isbell’s Chapel Baptist Church, which existed for many years in the Sand Hill Community south of Mt. Enterprise. However, this appears to be in error (unless there was an older Isbell Chapel Church). Records show this church was organized November 25, 1900, and J. B. Isbell was not involved in the organization. The church and/or community was probably named for him or his brother (or both). 

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 City Cemetery. His brother Allen Isbell is buried at the above-mentioned cemetery in the Sand Hill Community.

John Birdwell Isbell married Martha Jane Jones January 1, 1852 in Jackson County, Alabama. She was born in 1835 in Alabama and died before 1859 in Texas. After her death, he married Martha E. Battle in 1859 in Nacogdoches County, Texas. Martha was born 1843 in Alabama and died in 1925 in Texas.

John’s occupation and calling was farmer and Baptist minister, Farmer. His estate was in probate February 12, 1904. John has no children listed, but Nellie Jane said he said that one child died on their trip to Texas. His second wife Martha said she had two children but none were living at the time of the census. He performed the marriage for his brother Lige and Liza Jane in Alabama in 1862. He performed the marriage for his nephew Dick in Texas in 1878. He was Justice of Peace, in Shelby County, Texas in 1900.

During the Civil War, he served in Company A, O. M. Roberts Regiment 11th Texas Volunteer Infantry.

Some marriages performed found in the following books:

East Texas Family Records, Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1983
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38046/m1/1/zoom/
East Texas Family Records, Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1979
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38061/m1/1/zoom/
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

The Battle family (in-laws)

1860 Rusk County

• Isaac Battle 1205/1221 35 male farmer b. GA
• Elizabeth A. 51 female b. SC 
• Thomas I (probably J) 19 male b. GA
• Levi F. 17 male farm laborer b. GA
• George W. 14 male b. Ala.

By 1867 were in Nacogdoches County

1870, an Isaac & Elizabeth in Chireno, Nacogdoches County

(nearby was Thomas J/Susan M. Andrew J./Martha and Levi F./Sarah)

• Isaac Battles 66 b. GA
• Elizabeth Battles 59 b. SC

V. T. Vaughn

From Smyrna Baptist Church history, by J. W. Griffith

“Bro. V. T. (Thornton) [Vaughn] was mentioned earlier. He served the church in many capacities and was ordained to the full work of preaching the gospel of Christ on February 16, 1902. A presbytery met to ordain Bro. V. T. Vaughn on December 1, 1901, and proceeded in regular order. The clerk reports that everything was found satisfactory except ‘on the one point, and that is, there is no demand for Bro. Vaughn’s ordination.’ Perhaps it was an anticipatory move on the church’s part, for by the following February the Isbell Chapel Church had called for his ordination, and it was promptly concluded. Bro. V. T. Vaughn was a peacemaker.”

The beginning of the old Shiloh Baptist Church

Tradition has held that the Shiloh Baptist Church was organized in the 1840s. That tradition is proven correct. The date of the church’s organization is mentioned in a report of a protracted meeting held in 1855, in a letter to the Tennessee Baptist periodical, from its pastor William Guinn and church clerk A. M. McKnight.

“This church was constituted seven years ago, on thirteen members, five males and eight females...”

Seven years from March 1855 would put the organization of Shiloh Church in 1848 (possibly even 1847, if they are using rough rounding). (According to Sarah McKnight’s obituary, the McKnight family arrived in Texas in 1847.)

I was not surprised that the tradition is correct and the church is that early. I was just surprised that I found it! I was looking for something else – and found that and this as well. (Ephesians 3:20)

The pastor, William Guinn, in 1860 lived up the road near Clayton in Panola County (but earlier was in Rusk County; San Cosme, 1856; Mt. Enterprise, 1857). He was from Tennessee. The church clerk, Andrew M. McKnight, was born in Georgia and came to Texas from Alabama in 1847. The McKnights lived in the Shiloh area somewhere (their post office was Minden). Andrew married Sarah Ann Hudman in 1840. In the 1850 census they are enumerated in Rusk County next to Josiah Johnson, the man who gave six acres of land to the deacons and members of Shiloh Baptist Church in 1857. In 1860 they are enumerated between Wiley Astin Parker and G. C. Anderson. Andrew McKnight died between the 1860 and 1870 censuses (some sources give 1860 and some 1862).

Tennessee Baptist, Saturday, March 10, 1855, p. 4.

Debate Held in Rusk County

 

Mount Enterprise Progress, Friday, November 28, 1941, page 1

Note: This debate was held at the Sulphur Springs Community in southern Rusk County, not the city of Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County.