Mt. Ararat Primitive Baptist Church

Henderson Primitive Baptist Church (formerly called Mt. Ararat)

• Other names: Mt. Ararat,[i] Mt. Homer, Chalk Hill
• Type: Primitive Baptist
• Language and/or ethnicity: Predominantly Anglo-American
• When organized: July 16, 1853
• Charter members: David Risinger, William Baker, James C. Durham, Isaac G. Parker, Martha Baker, Ann Durham, and Polly Parker
• First pastor: probably Thomas Brittain
• Other pastors: J. E. Hardie,[ii] John Anderson Hill, Jube Lee Davis; J. A. or J. H. Fields, 1917-1937 (or is this J. A. Hill); Ernest Sumner Morrisett, 1940-; John Clifton Richard Hawkins, 1956-1960; R. G. Rhodes, 1960-1961;[iii] John Wilton Dunn, 1963-1970; M. L. Harris, 1970-1971; J. H. Cayce, 1971-1983; Marvin Smith?, Jesse Alton Davis
• Current location: County Road 412D, Hickey Community
• Other locations: Hickory Flat, Henderson, Antioch (Pone), US Hwy 79 N
• Affiliation: Unaffiliated currently (past: Union, Little Hope, Fellowship)

The Mt. Ararat Primitive Baptist Church was constituted July 16, 1853 in the Hickory Flat community (probably at the Hickory Flat Schoolhouse),[iv] by Thomas Britton[v] and James Loden.[vi] The first members were David Risinger, William Baker, James C. Durham, Isaac G. Parker, Martha Baker, Ann Durham, and Poly/Polly Parker.

The church met at Hickory Flat community until their meeting was moved to Henderson. (The histories of Mt. Ararat and Siloam may intersect in Henderson.) From Henderson they moved to the Antioch/Pone Community, possibly using the Antioch School House as a meeting place. In 1917 they built and occupied a building on what is now County Road 401 South. In 1958, the church changed locations again, and this seems to have precipitated a split.

First Sunday in February 1958 (Feb 1), “By motion and second the church agreed ed (sic) to move the church to a more desirable and suitable location for the service of this church, this was carried by majority of votes...”

Mt. Ararat purchased land on US Hwy 79 North between Henderson and Carthage, and purchased the Cumberland Presbyterian Church building at Brachfield, moving the building to their new location.[vii] It appears the church moved to first meet in this building on the Carthage Highway May 4, 1958. On the conference of the meeting weekend of the first Sunday and Saturday night in September 1958 (Sept 6) the church dismissed the building committee as having fulfilled their duty. At this time, they also withdrew fellowship from five members. It seems that these five members and others continued for a time to act as the Mt. Ararat Church at the old location. Perhaps it is for this reason (and the possible confusion) that in 1960 the church meeting on US Highway 79 “...agreed to change the name of this church to Mt. Homer Primitive Baptist Church...”[viii]

Mt. Ararat Primitive Baptist Church and Chalk Hill Primitive Baptist Church consolidated in 1995, and the name was then changed to Henderson Primitive Baptist Church. The meeting location on US Highway 79 was kept. The church continued to meet on Carthage Highway until November 2017. The church once again moved, and the building was later sold.

The Henderson Primitive Baptist Church (old Mt. Ararat) is currently meeting on County Road 412D, which can probably be considered in the Hickey Community. The benches and pulpit used are from the building on US Hwy 79. The church meets the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. The current pastor Jesse A. Davis was ordained by the Chalk Hill Primitive Baptist Church in 1995.

Mount Ararat Primitive Baptist Church (No. 2)

After the split in the Mount Ararat Church circa 1958, both sides initially continued under the name Mt. Ararat, then the majority for a time – 1960-1968 – changed their name to Mount Homer. I have arbitrarily designated “No. 2” the side in the numerical minority.

A few documents have survived that show a Mt. Ararat Church (No. 2) operating “Eight (8) miles southwest of Henderson, Texas…” after the majority voted to move their meeting east of Henderson on US Hwy 79.

In January 1959, the five disfellowshipped members agreed “to continue for the faith as once delivered to the saints.” They did not endorse the action to move the Mt. Ararat church and declared themselves “to be the true Mt. Ararat primitive church in order…”

There are at least two public documentations of the church continuing to meet under the leadership of E. S. Morrisett. Henderson Daily News (Thursday, July 23, 1959, p. 10) carried an announcement of “Services scheduled at Old Mt. Arrat.” The description is the old location “about six miles southwest of Henderson on the old New Salem Road.” Services started at 10:30, with preaching at 11 by E. S. Morrisett, and “dinner on the grounds.”

A program of the “General Assembly of All States Bible Forum,” to be held June 23—June 26, 1960 documents the church’s existence at that time. The 13th Annual Session of the Assembly was to meet with the Mt. Ararat Primitive Baptist Church “Eight (8) miles southwest of Henderson, Texas.” The program suggests that E. S. Morrisett was the pastor of the Mt. Ararat Church. He may have been the only pastor of this division of Mt. Ararat. He moved to Lubbock circa 1961, and the church probably discontinued meeting by the mid-to-late 1960s. (In addition to these documents, a few people living can remember homecomings and Sacred Harp singings at this old location in the 1960s.)[ix] The building at 6591 County Road 401 South, built in 1917, is now a residence. (See picture. The part circled in red was the church building used by Mt. Ararat Church from 1917 until the 1960s.)

A Primitive Baptist Church at Antioch ostensibly mentioned in an obituary of Johnathan J. Peters (who is buried at Bethel Cemetery on CR 314 South) is simply the Mt. Ararat Church meeting at Antioch. The obituary of Peters says of him: “He professed religion shortly after he moved to Texas [1852, rlv] and joined the church of the Primitive faith and order at old Hickory Flat, following the church to Henderson, thence to Antioch, and lived a faithful member until his death.” (“Obituary,” Henderson Weekly Times, Thursday, June 14, 1900, p. 2) The movements of the Mt. Ararat Church – from Hickory Flat to Henderson to Antioch – fit the description in Peters’s obituary, and J. J. Peters was a deacon in the Mt. Ararat Church.

---

[i] Additionally, there are a number of misspellings of Ararat – Arat, Arrat, Arrarrat, etc. In my lifetime I have generally heard locals pronounce the name as ˈeɪ ræt or ˈær ræt (two syllables) – rather than ˈær əˌræt (three syllables), as the spelling and a dictionary might suggest.
[ii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13490855/j-e-hardie
[iii] Possibly Raymond Guy Rhodes: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200295850/raymond-guy-rhodes
[iv] The presbytery was called “By the Brethren and sisters in the Nieghborhood of David Risinger’s to meet them at the School house in the Nieghborhood for the purpose of constituting them into a Church.” (p. 150, 1886-1917 minutes)
[v] The surname spelling on his tombstone is “Brittain”. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41329707/thomas-brittain
[vi] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32766664/james-m-loden
[vii] “Between 1945-50 the [Cumberland Presbytrian] church building [at Brachfield] was sold and moved to a location on the Henderson-Carthage Highway to become Mt. Ararat Primitive Baptist Church.” “Brachfield Community,” Mary Frank Deason Dunn, Remembering Rusk County, 1992, p. 50. The church minutes corrects the date to a little later than when Mrs. Dunn remembered. This article also mentions Mt. Ararat: “Pone-Compton,” Donald C. Whitehead, Remembering Rusk County, 1992
[viii] On November 10, 1968, “The motion was made and carried that we change the name of this church back to the original name of Mt. Ararat Church.” Minutes Book Aug. 18, 1917-June 28, 1981, p. 181
[ix] That the other (No. 1) church changed its name back to Mt. Ararat in 1968 at the least implies that the No. 2 was no longer in existence by that time.