BAPTISTS MOVED INTO LONGVIEW DURING 1860s ***************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net Director of the Computer Interest Group, ETGS 25 April 2002 ***************************************************************** Originally published in the East Texas Family Records, Volume 4, Number 3, Fall 1980, by East Texas Genealogical Society. BAPTISTS MOVED INTO LONGVIEW DURING 1860s Article reprinted courtesy Longview Newspapers, Inc. from the LONGVIEW MORNING JOURNAL Centennial Album dated May 3, 1970. Provided by Nrs. James Selman, 912 Arkansas, Longview, Texas 75601. In that long line Of men and women moving westward in search of a new life at the close of the Civil War were a number of devout Baptists who settled in Longview. Believing that no community could long stand without the aid of God these pioneers made the establishment of a church their first undertaking after building homes for shelter. The exact date of organization of the Baptist Church in Longview is not known, but is generally believed to have taken place in 1871 in the home of one of the charter members. Enrolled at that first session were Mr. and Mrs. F.J. HARRISON, Mrs. A.W. MORRISON, Mr. and Mrs. U. G. NORTHCUTT, Mr. and Mrs. A.B. ESLEY, Mr.and Mrs. F.L. UHALEY, Elizabeth BURKE, the Rev. and Mrs. U.S. L.S. MARKHAM, Fannie SPEAR (Mrs. Frank YOUNG), Dr. T.M. COLEMAN, and the Rev. and Mrs. SNODGRASS. Miss Fannie Harrison (Mrs. Jere C. Turner Sr.) was the first new member added to the roll. Also included at an early date were the memberships of Mr. and Mrs. B.K. Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth Franks, Mrss. M.T. Jacobs, J.L. Finch, Major and Mrs. J.F. Flanagan. Once the organization program was completed, the little congregation started the building fund which made possible the erection of a one- room frame structure. Dr. A.E. Clemmons was pastor and moderator of the conference August 31, 1874 which appointed the first board of trustees. B.K. Smith, F.J. Harrison, W.G. Northcutt, F.L. Whaley and L.S. Markham, to locate a site for the building. The trustees secured a deed for two lots donated by the Texas & PacifIc Railroad in September. This first house of worship was located at the northwest corner of South Fredonia and South Streets. Built of the best lumber from nearby nine forests, it had two sets of steps leading up to the high, broad columned porch where a knotted bell rope hung from an old fashioned belfry. Two sets of double doors of dark oak ornamented with transoms opened into vestibules where buckets of fresh water drawn from the cnurch well were placed. Inside the building were three sections of stiff backed pews. The men traditionally sat on one side of one church and the women on the other. The baptistry, choir loft and reed oroan were placed near the pulpit. A series of tall, clear glass windows ventilated the building in summer and a wood burning stove heated it in winter. The room was lighted for evening services bv a coal-oil chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling. Mrs G.M. Tabler, who operated Lonoview's Magnolia Hotel around the corner on Cotton Street, was responsible for polishing the chandelier and keeping it filled with oil. When Whalew and Harrison learned that an adjoining lot was about to be sold, they purchased it for $90 to insure future development. The original pastorium was built there in 1913. The first educational building was dedicated in 1929. The congregation operated under the name Baptist Church of Longview until 1913 when it was incorporated as the First Baptist Church of Longview. Trustees S.C. Forman, E.H. Bussy and J.V. son Sr. conveyed the property at this time to the new board including L.J. Everett, president, Bussey, secretary, John M. French, E.B. Prothro and L.T. Bailes. The first great revival meeting, which was held during Dr. Clemons' pastorate ifi the 1870s was often recalled by such old­-timers as O.H. Pegues, Mrs. W.S. Mayfield and Mrs. M.T. Jacobs. About 1839 while the young Scotchman, Dr. A.B. MacCurdy, was pastor, the little frame church was razed to make way for a second building. Only four pastors served the church until the need for a larger building was felt. In 1913, under the leadership Ol one Rev. James E. Hughes, a third church building was erected. The pastor became ill during the construction and died in a Dallas hospital while dedication services were being held. Other pasoors who served the church include A.B. Vaughn, W.H.Dodson, G.W. Griffin, A.J. Wharton, F.A. Lee, William Thomas Tardy, Franz Marshall McConnell, Robert W. Merrill, Asa A. Duncan, ames R. Magill, Oscar L. Smith, Russell J. Pirkey, William H. Joyner, John L. Wharton, A.A. Dulaney, and O.K. Keegan. Dr. H. Morros Ford is the current church pastor. The church fostered the growth of a number of missions and at least one foreign missionary, Miss Laura Couplan, a musical missionary to China. She encouraged the efforts of Miss Kathryn Hong, who became a missionary to her people after study at Baylor University. The service honor roll contains the names of six young men, Jose Munden, Lucilius Whaley, L.W. Broaddus, W.M. Scroggins, Claudius Pegues an Eugene Pegues, who served in the Spanish-American War. Another 29 men, Charles Bazzell, William Cabbiness, Clarence Cocke, Aubrey Capps, Nell Hall, J. Russell Hurst, Harvey T. Nelson, Roscoe F. Northcutt, Hosea Sims, Thornton E. Welch, Fred Ray Aten, W.D. Northcutt Jr., J.W. Harrison Jr., Albert Pegues, 0. Thomas Welch, John T. Buckley, Sam Compton, Robert Algie Curtis, Grover C. Finch, Tom D. Harris, Garland Joplin, Leon D. Northcutt, Frank F. Persons, Howard F. Watts, Rogers L. Whaley, Percy Curtis, Frank J. Northcutt, Earl D. Smith and Bill N. Taylor were in service in Aorld War I. Sims died in camp during an influenza epidemic. In World War II the church lost 20 members who died in service. They were Lester Black, Byron Brooks, Lonnie Clark, William Paul Clemerits, Chal Daniels, Reed Dominy, Ray Ferrell, Fred Ford, Joseph Kellis, Eugene Knoy, Gordon Kent Jr., Ray Lee King, Wayne Meissner, Weston Moore, William F. Northcutt, Laverne Pliler, Dale B. Stamper, Cecil Smith, Artie Whitlow Jr. and J.A. Whitworth.