Cemeteries: Bethlehem Cemetery Newsletter #16 - January 1999, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Peggy Chandler Beaubouef, 2656 Hwy 1232, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** [These articles are taken from the Bethlehem Cemetery Newsletter published by the Bethlehem Baptist Church cemetery committee. They are posted here with the full knowledge and consent of the cemetery committee. Bethlehem Cemetery is located in Ward 8 of Winn Parish on Hwy. 1232. These articles were written by Peggy Beaubouef based upon information supplied by others. As with all secondary sources, the data shown should be used as clues to further research and verification.] Issue No. 16 Jan. 1999 HISTORICAL NOTES . . . Below is a history of Bethlehem Baptist Church written in 1995 on the occasion of its 120th anniversary. Very few records exist of our early church, making it very difficult to compile an extensive history. That fact makes it all the more imperative that we preserve what we do have and pass it on to the younger generations. There are several other churches represented in Bethlehem Cemetery. We would love to print your church history in this newsletter also if you will send it to us. Bethlehem Baptist Church 1875 - 1995 The year was 1875 and Ullyses S. Grant was President. Life in Winn Parish was hard, with Reconstruction proving to be much bloodier and more destructive than the previous years of Civil War. Outlaws such as the infamous West and Kimbrell Clan had ravaged the countryside with their brutality and lawlessness before finally being brought to justice. An era of homesteading had begun in Winn Parish, with more settlers moving in from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. In spite of epidemics of typhoid, smallpox, measles and diphtheria that plagued the area, the hearty, God-fearing inhabitants of the part of Ward Eight, Winn Parish known as Wattsville banded together to form a church. The name Bethlehem was chosen. Today, 120 years later, we celebrate the legacy left to us by those pioneers. On a crisp fall morning in October, 1877 three men set out, probably on horseback, from a little log cabin church to attend the 18th annual meeting of the Central Baptist Association at the Mars Hill Baptist Church in southern Winn Parish. Those men were James W. Garrett, Joseph Dodson Rudd, and S. N. [Syrus Newton] Dodson. Their names were entered in the minutes of the meeting as delegates from Bethlehem Baptist Church, newly accepted member of the association, thereby creating the earliest written record we have of our church. The minutes of the Central Baptist Association provide the only remaining evidence of the early Bethlehem Church. A recent study of these records provide us with a clearer picture of our history. Many others served as delegates through the years, I.A. Hargis, Sil Milam, W.S. Cockerham, William R. Griffin, J.C. Carpenter, G.W. Low, W.A. Carpenter, J.M. Machen, Walter Thompson, C.H. Elliott, C.M. Durham, Hardy C. Dodson, William Carpenter, George Bates, J.A. McQuillan, J.L. Megison, D.W. Sholars, A.A. Camp, E.T. Garrett, just to name a few. In that day, churches held services only one Sunday per month, depending on the availability of a preacher. Records show that Bethlehem, as a rule, met on the first Sunday of the month. The pastor listed through many of these early years was William Alexander Carpenter, a native son of Wattsville. He was what one might call a 'close cousin' of the old-time "circuit-riding" preacher. Some years he was shown as the pastor of as many as four churches at one time, each meeting a different Sunday of the month. Membership from 1877 until the early 1900s fluctuated dramatically at times. The 1877 minutes showed 48 members, but by 1884 that number had dwindled to 13. By the late 1890s total membership had increased to the mid seventy to eighty range. Records show that "exclusions" were common and frequent at Bethlehem as well as other churches in the association. Members were quite frequently called to account for drinking, card playing, unfit conduct, which ranged in seriousness from adultery to dancing, and for unfaithful church attendance and "coldness of heart". One has to wonder if we would join the ranks of the excluded if we had to meet those same standards today! Fortunately the records indicate the "Restoration" was possible. Bethlehem in 1877 reported three exclusions and three restorations. We are left to wonder if it was the same three! In 1927 a new wood frame church was built in the present day location. For more than ten years this building remained unpainted. In 1934, even though the Depression was taking its toll across America, the congregation managed to purchase a Washburn piano from W.A. Coon of Alexandria for $55.60. In 1936 the church was finally painted. After much hard work and sacrifice, the members of Bethlehem had built a church facility that was an asset to the community. On Saturday afternoon, February 4, 1939, this church was completely destroyed by fire. According to a newspaper article the cause was a defective flue, but local tradition has it that a lamp left under the piano to keep the keys from sticking was the cause of the fire. Whatever the cause, the effect was devastating. But true to their pioneer ancestry, the members of Bethlehem Baptist Church did not give up. To quote the newspaper account, "Before the smouldering embers cracked for the last time plans were started to rebuild the church home on the same site. A conference was held at the home of Mr. D.J. Riffe that same night and plans were begun for the rebuilding of the church." Newspaper articles in the weeks that followed told of the campaign to solicit funds for the rebuilding, and of church services continuing in homes and, when weather permitted, at the old church site. Work began on the new building in late March, 1939 and was completed in time for the annual summer revival in August of the same year. Sadly, even though the building was replaced, the history in the records destroyed by that fire was forever lost. By 1944 the church had grown to the point of full time status with services each Sunday. The next few years proved to be fruitful for Bethlehem. Records show that the church experienced wonderful revivals with many professions of faith. During these years Bethlehem licensed and ordained five men to the ministry, Bros. Ernie Yocum, Jewell Canerday, Merle Bates, Jimmy Yocum, and Glen Griffin. Church minutes also reveal the following entry on July 6, 1955: "Moved and seconded that Bethlehem Church grant the right to establish a mission point in Ward 10." In the margin was the notation "Mill Creek Baptist Church." God continued to bless Bethlehem. New buildings have been built and more land has been purchased. Little did those men and women of 1875 dream that their log cabin church would become what we see today. May we always give God the glory and honor for what has been done here, but may we also remember and honor those men and women down through the years that kept the doors of this wonderful old church open, through the hard times as well as the good. Let us pray that we do the same for future generations. by Peggy Chandler Beaubouef