Mexico Missouri message., 1911-07-13
EARLY RECoLLECTIoNs.
Audrain's First Organized Church
and First Day School.

mad a most pleasurable talk with
our venerable friend, Royal a
Jesse, one of Gods noblemen, one
of the best men we have ever
known
Bro. Jesse was born within &C
miles of Richmond, Va, in 1881,
When he was but two years Of age
with his parents he came to Mis-
souri, and they settled on Cedar
Creek, near the present site of
Stephens Store. The parents re
manned there till the following
October when they settled on a
piece of land three miles south
west of Mexico, near where the
Jesse school house stands. The
farm is now occupied by two men
Mr.. Day and his family living
ON one side of the road and Mr..
Armstrong and his family living
on the opposite side of the road.
The territory all about then was
in Galloway county, and Mr.. jesse
says he never had to move to get
into Audrain county.
Mr. Jesse can remember when
Mexico did not have a house. Re
members Judge John b. Morris as
the first merchant. There was not
a church nor a school house in the
county.
The first school ever taught in
the county was presided over by
his brother, John p. Jesse, who
finished his education in Old Vir-
ginia at the age of Ii years. The
first school house was an arbor.
built by the side of a log corn
crib. The pupils went into the
corn crib when it Stormed or rain
ed, but on strict orders they kept
out of the crib at all other times.
the school house was built on
Saturday and school took up the
following Monday. Slabs were
used for seats. James f. Kilgore,
a fine young fellow, who lived on
the old John Hampton Kilgore
place, southeast of Mexice, was a
pupil in this first school and he
had board at the Jesse home at
81 30 per month.
Mr.. Jesse then told us of the
first organized church in the
county-old Hopewell Baptist
church, which stood originally on
the farm now owned by Mr.. Jung.
two miles west of Mexico. His
father and mother, William
Morgan Jesse and Mary Ann
Jesse, Francis Armistead and wife
and one daughter and John Jesse
were on the list of charter mem
bers. Old Sister Beatty was also
one of the first members. The
church was organized at the
Thomas Hook home, the farm now
owned by E. c. S. Miller, where
the lamented Ben Cauthorn died a
few years ago. Mrs. Hook must
also be included as a charter men,
Der of this church. Mr.. Jesse'S
father and a colored man called
/" Doc" sawed the floor for this
first church building. They hoist
ed log upon scaffold, to an
elevation above a man s head. and
Father jesse stood above the log
and jerked the saw up and doc"
stood under and jerked the saw
down. They could saw about 100
feet per day in this rude way.
In later years a second house
was built on this same spot. Then
still later the church was moved
to its present site, near Thompson.
just at this time, as our Thompson
correspondent stated last week,
there is a definite movement on
foot to change the location of the
church again, take it on into
Thompson.
Anderson Woods was the first
preacher at HOpewell. This church
licensed William Morgan Jesse to
preach. He was 81 years old at
the time and did not know his let
terS. His wife taught him how to
read and he became highly verSed
in the Bible-perhaps nobody in
Mexico today knows it better
and he was pastoral Hopewell for
20 years, for which service he per
hapS never received as much as
T2O in money. But those were