HAYWOOD COUNTY TN - CHURCHES - Goodspeed's History of Haywood Churches ********************************************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Jane N. Powell ********************************************************************************************************** Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, p. 828-829 The early settlers of Haywood County brought with them the principles of Christianity. And the Methodists. Baptists and Presbyterians were the pioneer religious societies. The first Methodist ministers who labored in the now vineyard were Revs. Thomas Davidson, Thomas J. Neely, Arthur Davis, Brooks, Boswell, Jones and Judge D. 0. Shattuck. The first Baptist ministers were Revs. Hugh Coffee, Hosea Lanier, Obediah Dotson, Peter S. Gale, Robert Pulley, William R. Alexander, George W. Day and Champ C. Conner. The first Presbyterian ministers were Revs. Samuel Hodges (an Evangelist from Kentucky, who labored as a missionary, but did not locate here), John Gillespie, David Weir, Henry Woods, John E. Bright and others. Rev. Thomas Davidson preached the first sermon in Brownsville, and in the fall of 1827, the Methodists established a camp-meeting ground in a beautiful grove two and one-half miles southwest of Brownsville, and the services there were conducted by Rev. Davidson. And to him the honor of being the first circuit rider, and of organizing the first church in the county, that of the Methodist Society, in Brownsville, sometime between 1824 and 1827, is undoubtedly true. Rev. Reuben Alfin, who built the first log cabin in Brownsville, was probably the first resident minister in the county. Rev. Thomas J. Neely preached the first sermon south of the Hatchie River, in 1828, at the house of the pioneer settler, Benjamin G. Alexander, where he organized the first Methodist Church in that locality. A church edifice was erected there soon thereafter and named Antioch. The first Baptist Church in the County was established at Russell Springs, two miles west of Brownsville, some time between 1825 and 1830. According to the beat authority now at command, it was organized by the eminent pioneer minister, Hosea Lanier, who used to carry his gun with him in his early pastoral work, to protect him on his journeys through the foresssts, then inhabited with Indians and wild animals. This church organization was afterward moved to Brownsville, where the society erected a commodious edifice, which is still standing. It then took the name of the Brownsville Baptist Church. The first Presbyterian Church in the County was organized at Brownsville in August, 1829, by Rev. David Weir, and consisted of eighteen members. Lawrence McGuire, Archibald McNeal, John Rogers and John Albright were elected and ordained as elders. This soon became one of the most prominent Presbyterian Churches in West Tennessee. As the county became settled, and population increased, the Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians established churches atariousoints throughout the county. And later the Cumberland Presbyterians, Christians and other religious denominations followed. The first Sunday-school in the county was organized as a union school, at Brownsville, in 1831. And the first Sunday-school south of the Hatchie River was organized by Benjamin G. Alexander about the year 1830. Oliver Alexander, son of Benj. G., began organizing Sunday-schools in 1835, since which time he has organized a dozen or more in that locality. The Wesley Camp-meeting was established by the Methodists, in 1838, on Muddy Creek, in the extreme southern part of the county. The shelter for the same was erected by Oliver Alexander. Camp-meetings were continued until church edifices were erected generally throughout the county, and then discontinned. The Adas Israel was incorporated in February, 1880, and their new synagogue at Brownsville was dedicated March 2, 1882, by Rev. Dr. M. Samfield, of Memphis. Emil Tamm, of Brownsville, is the officiating rabbi. These people are very zealous in their belief and exposition of Judaism. Their present staff of officers are Emil Tamm, president; Alex. Steinberger, vice-president, and Gabe Felsenthal, secretary. There are many colored Methodist and Baptist Churches in the county. The citizens of Haywood County, are a church-going people, who have descended mostly from the first families of Virginia and the Carolinas.