Echoes From The Attic and Poems, From Towering Belfry, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Dec. 2000
Typed by Belford Carver
Written by by Edna F. Campbell
Copyrighted by Edna F. Campbell
With special thanks to her family for permission to use her works.

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FROM TOWERING BELFRY

CHIMING CHURCH BELL REVERBERATES LOUD ECHOES OF YESTERYEAR

Reminiscent of the days when all church-goers were reminded of the worship service hour 
is the sound of the bell, sending its peals from the belfry of the Seventh Day Baptist 
Church.

The Seventh Day Baptist Church, on South Holly Street, holds another mark of 
distinction in being the second oldest church in Hammond.

About seventy-seven years ago, first seeds were sown for the beginning of the church, 
taking root in a meeting held in the home of Benjamin booth, but actual organization was 
later in the year 1889.  

At the first meeting officers were elected which included moderator, O. B. Irish; clerk, E. 
W. Irish; trustees, T. R. Saunders, Benjaman Booth and Bert Lamphere.  The group 
received assistance from a visiting minister, Rev. A. E. Main, who was here on a visit 
from his home in a northern state.

The first deacon was E. W. Irish.  Charter members included a number of the very early 
settlers of Hammond, O. B. Irish, Sarah A. Irish, Helen Irish, F. R. Saunders, Mary 
Saunders, A. B. Lamphere, Dora Mott, Grace Mott, W. R. Potter, W. H. booth, W. R. 
Rich and Mary E. Rich, and the visiting minister Rev. Main.

Thoughts stemming from the first meetings were the desires to build a church.  As a 
result, Mr. Charles E. Cate, learning of the organizational meeting, offered the group their 
choice of two plots of ground.

The church site was chosen and a building erected at the cost of 4500.  The first Sabbath 
Day Service was held April 5, 1890 during the pastorate of Rev. A. B. Prentiss.

It was during the pastorate of Rev. George W. Lewis, successor of Rev. Prentiss, that the 
towering spire was constructed rising 30 feet about the tower, build by Bert Lamphere.

The second deacon ordained was J. W. Thompson and the third, W. R. Potter.

In May 1897, two important additions were noted, the first was the presentation of a 
silver communion service given by the Oliver Davises of Nortonville, Kansas, which is 
still a cherished treasure.  The other was the acquisition of the same church bell that calls 
its worshippers to the Sabbath services.

A church parsonage was the culmination of long harbored dreams in 1899, during the 
pastorate of Rev. G. M. Cothwell, and in 1901 gasoline lamps were installed and a well 
was put down.  This was during the pastorate of Rev. Charles Sayne.

The next pastor was Rev. A. P. Ashurst, and in 1908 Mrs. Phoebe Mills was elected 
church clerk.  Her sister, Mrs. Margaret Eggers has served as pianist for many years.  
Ellis Thompson was installed a deacon in 1916, and Paul Campbell became a deacon in 
1956.

Making notable donations to the church were the late Mrs. Edna Cambell, and Mr. 
Charles Hummell.

Among other pastors listed in serving were Rev. L. D. Seago, Rev. Ferne A. Wilson, Rev. 
R. J. Severance, Rev. Theodore Hibbard, and Rev. Fred Kirtland.

The present pastor is Rev. Earl DeLand, whose wife is the former Miss Pussis Coalwell, 
who attended the church from the time she was 18 months old until she married.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC AND POEMS, by Edna F. Campbell, n.d.)