Smyrna and The Sacred Harp

The people of the Smyrna Baptist Church and the Oak Flat Community of Rusk County, Texas, have a long and full connection to singing from The Sacred Harp, going back to the time of the constitution of the church – and before (likely as long as people have lived in this area). When W. M. Cooper released his fourth edition of The Sacred Harp in 1907, the then pastor of Smyrna served on the revision committee. Elder John Franklin McLendon was the pastor of Smyrna from 1904 to 1910, and he served as moderator of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association from 1890 to 1917, longer than any other man. In 1890 McLendon was president/chairman of the East Texas Musical (Sacred Harp) Convention. McLendon came to Texas from Barbour County, Alabama (already an ordained minister) and might have personally known W. M. Cooper.

Near the end of Elder McLendon’s ministry at Smyrna, Benjamin Lewis Vaughn confided in his pastor of feeling a call to preach the gospel. He was later liberated by the church to preach on September 17, 1910. Just a few months previous to this (July 1910) he wrote a song titled A Golden Crown to Wear. This song was published in the eighth edition of The Sacred Harp by W. M. Cooper, probably circa 1915-16.