History of the Pilgrim's Rest Primitive Baptist Church, Cherry Rige, Union Parish Louisiana ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives by T. D. Hudson, 4/2008 http:/www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************ ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= History of the Pilgrim's Rest Primitive Baptist Church, Cherry Rige, Union Parish Louisiana Researched & written by Timothy D. Hudson, 2007. ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= INTRODUCTION ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= At this time, very little is known about the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church. About all we know is that in March 1850, the church acquired five acres of land located a short distance north/northwest of Farmerville, roughly four miles south/southeast of the Village of Cherry Ridge. Based upon those involved in this land donation, it appears that Elder James Taylor served as the pastor of Pilgrim’s Rest, whereas Edmond Hayes and John T. Matthews probably served as deacons. Moreover, the man who gave the land to the church, John W. Hendrick, was almost certainly a church member. Pilgrim’s Rest Church undoubtedly formed in the mid-1840s, following the significant migration into the Cherry Ridge community during the 1840 – 1846 period, primarily by settlers from central Alabama. Many of them followed the Baptist faith, a denomination that had gone through much internal conflict in the 1820s and 1830s over the question of missions. In the mid-1830s, the Alabama anti-mission faction of the Baptists, those who wished to maintain traditional Baptist doctrines and practices, had begun to formally split from those who supported missions, Sunday Schools, Temperance Societies, etc. The traditionalists styled themselves as Primitive Baptists, but many referred to them as Hardshell Baptists, Old School Baptists, or the antis. Beginning in the mid-1830s, Primitive Baptist Churches across the South began withdrawing from the Missionary Baptist Associations and forming their own Primitive Baptist Associations. We do not know exactly how long the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church remained in existence. Churches in those days often formed when groups of like-minded pioneers settled near one another in an unpopulated region. In some cases, these churches lasted only a few years, but sometimes they flourished for a few decades and then waned as the original settlers died or moved away. At this time, no further record has been found of the church after 1850. ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= LOCATION OF THE CHURCH ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= John W. Hendrick gave five acres of land to the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church in 1850. Unfortunately, the clerk who recorded the conveyance, Cloud T. Barton, made an error in giving the land description. However, Hendrick almost certainly gave a small portion of his farm to the church, and so the church probably lay in Sections 26 or 27, Township 22 North, Range 1 West. This is the region between the Cherry Ridge Road and Highway 15, located between Farmerville and Spearsville, some eight or ten miles north/northwest of Farmerville. All of the men involved in this donation lived in this same vicinity – within a few miles of each other on thesouth/southeast side of Cherry Ridge. Thus, there can be no doubt but that the church lay in this same vicinity. ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= HENDRICKS DONATES LAND TO PILGRIM'S REST ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= The record showing John W. Hendrick’s donation of five acres to the church is recorded in Union Parish Conveyance Book D, pp. 158 – 159. We can see evidence of the strong feelings that this mission vs. anti-mission conflict generated among those involved in the wording of the record below ======================================================================================= The State of Louisiana } Know all men by these presents that I John W. Hendrick Parish of Union } a citizen of the aforesaid Parish as well as for the } respect I bear of the redumus [sic] Earthly Kingdom as for the Spread and prosperity of the Same give Grant and bequeath unto the Primitive Baptist Church called Pilgrim’s Rest in the afforsaid [sic] Parish the following described tract or parcel of Land Situated in Said Parish...commencing at the point when the Public Road known as the Mathews Road now crosses the branch known as the Rabun or Meeting House branch...containing five acres be the same more or less to have and to hold the Same together with all and singular the privileges and appurtenances to the Said tract or parcel of Land to the only proper use and benefit and advantage of the said Pilgrim’s Rest Church So long as she Remains as a church of her present faith against the Claim of me my Heirs and assigns and against all other claims in witness whereof I have hereunto Subscribed my name in the presence of James Taylor, Edmund Hayes, and John T. Mathews on the 20th day of March 1850... attest: John W. Hendrick Edmund Hayes James Taylor John T. Mathews ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= MEN ASSOCIATED WITH PILGRIM'S REST PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= Without any church minutes, we cannot say for certain who belonged to Pilgrim’s Rest Church. However, the record above leaves little doubt but that John W. Hendrick, James Taylor, Edmund Hayes, and John T. Matthews belonged to the church. All four of these men lived near each other on the south/southeast side of the Village of Cherry Ridge. Moreover, it seems very likely that Edmund Hayes and John T.Matthews were deacons in the church. James Taylor, a Primitive Baptist minister, probably served the church as pastor and may have also belonged to the church. ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= JOHN W. HENDRICK ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= A native of South Carolina, John William Hendrick (12 Oct 1801 – 1860/1870) moved from Mississippi to Union Parish in the mid-1840s. He settled a few miles southeast of Cherry Ridge, in north/central Union Parish Louisiana in 1844. In the 1850s, Hendrick moved to what is now Lincoln Parish, and died there between 1860 and 1870 (this region belonged to Jackson Parish between 1845 and 1873). His widow, Sarah Elizabeth Powe, still lived in this vicinity in 1870, but died by 1880. ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= ELDER JAMES TAYLOR ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= Born in Hancock County Georgia, James Taylor (5 Feb 1795 – 31 Oct 1858) was the son of William Taylor and Catherine Gray. The Taylors moved to Putnam County region by about 1806 or 1807, and then on to Butler County Alabama in 1818. The Taylors followed the Baptist faith, with many of them joining Pigeon Creek Baptist Church in the 1820s. James Taylor became a Primitive Baptist minister, but likeothers in his family, he farmed for a living. Taylor’s younger brother, John Taylor, and sister, Sarah Taylor Deanes, moved west to northern Louisiana in the latter 1830s, leaving James and their other siblings in central Alabama for a while longer. James’ brothers, Alexander M. and William B. Taylor, and sister, Permelia Taylor Gilbert, both left Lowndes County in about 1841 and moved to Union Parish Louisiana. William Taylor, Permelia Taylor Gilbert, and their nephew, Allen J. Futch, all settled a few miles south/southeast of the Village of Cherry Ridge, in the north/central portion of the parish. This region is the precise location of the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church. It appears that James Taylor remained in Alabama later than his siblings, until the mid or latter 1840s. He did not own any real estate in 1850, but about 1851 he purchased 80 acres a few miles south of Cherry Ridge, near the plantations of his relatives and near the location of Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Church. James Taylor is believed to have served as the pastor of Liberty Hill Primitive Baptist Churchlocated adjoining the plantation of his brother, Union Parish Judge John Taylor, some ten miles or so to the east of Cherry Ridge. Liberty Hill formed originally as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church soon after John Taylor’s arrival from Alabama. It converted to a MissionaryBaptist church about 1845, and appears to have disbanded in the latter 1840s and reformed as Liberty Hill Primitive Baptist Church. ======================================================================================= EDMUND HAYES ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= A native of Georgia, Edmund Hayes (9 July 1805 – 30 July 1882/1883) married Alpha Woolley (22 July 1815 – 1870/1880) on 20 January 1833 in Bibb County Alabama. In the latter 1840s, the Hayes family left Bibb County Alabama and settled a few miles south of Cherry Ridge, in Union Parish Louisiana. Between about 1847 and 1850, Hayes purchased a total of 240 acres of government land located a few miles south of CherryRidge near Taylor and Hendricks. He lived there in 1850, when he worked as a farmer. Between about 1857 and 1860, Hayes left Union Parish and moved northwest to Columbia County Arkansas. He settled in the Town of Magnolia and worked as a merchant in 1860. Between 1860 and 1870, Hayes moved to Henderson County Texas, where he lived in 1870. However, by 1880 he had returned to Spearsville and lived next to his son, Basil V. Hayes. The fact that Edmund Hayes witnessed the land donation to Pilgrim’s Rest Church alone suggests that heserved as a deacon of the church. However, the minutes of New Hope Primitive Baptist Church in Spearsville prove that he was a Primitive Baptist deacon. The minutes of the New Hope conference held on 13 November 1875 gives this information: "After divine service by Elder H. B. Howard the church went into conference... open the door of the church Bro. Deacon E. Hays presented A letter from Elm Ridge Texas. The letter being Read and satisfactory Bro. Hays was rec’d. into the fellowship of the church...? Hayes served as the moderator of church conferences, as association delegate, etc., indicating that he had served as deacon in a Primitive Baptist church for many years. Hayes was buried in the Bethel Cemetery. ======================================================================================= JOHN THOMPSON MATHEWS ======================================================================================= ======================================================================================= A native of Alabama, John T. Mathews (31 Jan 1819 – 27 Jan 1895) was the son of John Mathews and Elizabeth Harris. He was a brother-in-law to Elder James Taylor, in that his sister, Winifred Mathews, married Taylor’s brother, Alexander M. Taylor. John T. Mathews married Lydia Moseley on 12 January 1837 in Montgomery County Alabama. He moved to the Cherry Ridge vicinity at the same time as his relatives, inthe early-1840s. He bought several tracts of government land located about one mile east of Cherry Ridge between 1852 and 1859. By 1860, Mathews had a house full of daughters, but no sons who survived infancy. He registered to vote in 1867 as a resident ofUnion Parish, but apparently, in the latter 1860s Mathews left Cherry Ridge and moved to Hempstead County Arkansas. He lived in Nevada County Arkansas in 1880. John T. Mathews was buried with his first wife, Lydia, in the Mt. Ephesus Cemetery in Nevada County. ======================================================================================= File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/union/churches/pilgrims-rest-church-history.txt ##########################################################################################