"History of White County", Chapter II

History of White County is a 1935 book by Monroe Seals.
==CHAPTER II==
===Education===
Some of our educators ranked well with any in the State. Prof. R. L. Jones,
State Superintendent of Schools, two times, head of one of our State Normals,
and Superintendent of Schools for Memphis; W. N. Billingsley, President of the
State Text Book Commission and teacher in one of our State Normals; Harrison
Martin, after teaching several years in this County went west and established a
noted law school in California; Thomas L. Passons, teacher in Tennessee
Polytechnic Institute; Prof. Kittrell, who taught two years at Hutchings
College, is now Registrar at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute; Q. M. Smith,
teacher in "White County High School one year, is now President of Tennessee
Polytechnic Institute; Martin White, noted as a teacher here and in Texas; Ed
Rotan, noted both in Tennessee and Texas as a teacher; Joel Barnes, S. H.
Proffitt, W. T. McCall, B. 0. Duggan, were all Presidents of the State Teachers'
Association; Joe McMillan, brother of Benton McMillan, taught in Sparta and
later at Andrew Jackson College.
Prof. H. F. Srygley taught his first school in White County. He is now Supt.
Nashville City Schools.
The early settler either taught his own children, or some one in the
neighborhood was selected for that purpose. In the early days the text books
used were Goodrich Readers (McGuffey's not coming into use until 1836),
Webster's speller, not the famous blue back, but one by Webster before the blue
back and different (I once owned a copy); Jedediah Morse's early days the text
books used were Goodrich Readers (McUniversal Geography, Pike's Arithmetic with
all calculations in English money and Smiley's arithmetic. Writing was done with
a goose quill pen made with a sharp pen knife, and samples I've seen were
excellent. The teacher gave instructions to one pupil at a time, the pupil
coming at his call up to his side and reciting. Discipline was usually severe,
the hickory being in frequent use. Girls and boys sat on different sides of the
room and played on separate grounds. The first school houses were built of logs
and had benches made of split logs with legs and leaned against the walls, or
without backs. To pass the school and yell, "Schoolbutter," was a challenge to
the whole school. The teacher calling out to his boys, "Catch him." Then they
proceeded to do so and demanded of the offender that he would treat the school
or take a ducking, or both.
The first chartered school in White County was chartered as Priestly Academy
in 1815, with Dr. Hezikiah Priestly as its head. Dr. Priestly was also pastor of
the Presbyterian Church, the only church in Sparta then. The church services
were held in the Academy which was located where the old cemetery now is. The
school campus gradually filled up with graves until it became a cemetery. This
school was probably conducted as an unchartered school before this for the
school house was built as a church and school in 1813. Dr. Priestly continued as
head of the school until his death in the early twenties. Rev. Memucan Wade, a
Cumberland Presbyterian, succeeded Dr. Priestly in church and school, the
Cumberland Presbyterians having captured most of the Presbyterian churches of
this section in the revolution which took place after 1810. Priestly Academy
continued until 1831, at which time a brick county academy was built. This
school was headed by a brilliant young lawyer, David Ames. The school now went
out from the sponsorship of the church, and yet the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church reached its prime of influence in 1834, being then the largest
congregation in the County.
A rival school to Priestly Academy was started in a log house on the hill,
then called East Sparta, in 1823. It was not successful. Rev. William Jarrett,
(born in 1797, died in 1860) came here in late middle life. Having a horrible
throat trouble, he taught school. He stuttered badly. It is not known how long
Ames taught nor when Jarrett came, but Jarrett was teaching in the Academy in
1846. In 1850 the Academy was sold and the proceeds used to purchase the brick
residence of H. L. Carrick which was converted into a school called Nourse
Semimnary with Prof. Nourse in charge. It is probable that Nourse taught the
last year or two in the Academy. In 1882 a frame addition was made to Nourse
Seminary. In 1887 Dibrell Normal was erected on the foundations of Nourse
Seminary with Prof. Nourse in charge. It is probable that taught one and a half
years before McCall came. This later became the Sparta City School. Under the
administration of Mal C. Wallace in 1924 a new city school was built at a cost
of $90,000.00. Arless Passons, one of the strongest teachers in administration
in Tennessee, is now principal. In 1910, due to the efforts of Miss Ella
Snodgrass, then County Superintendent, White County High School was established.
A building was erected at a cost of $20,000.00. This burned in January, 1918. It
was rebuilt at a cost of $75,000.00. This building also burned November 25,
1932. It was rebuilt in 1933.
Cumberland Institute. The charter for Cumberland Institute was granted in
1825. A man named Compton was then at its head. It was in existence before 1810.
Cumberland Institute was one of two classical schools in the Cumberland Mountain
region, the other being Alpine in Overton County. Some of the subjects taught
were Higher Mathematics, Latin, Greek, and German. Cumberland Institute was a
boarding school and at one time is said to have had students from seven states.
It was sponsored by the Presbytery and one of the buildings on the campus was
known as Preachers' Hall, where candidates for the ministry lived. Perhaps the
most famous head of this school was Rev. James Williams. He became nationally
known after his death through pupils he had taught. Part of his fame rests on
the fact that this Presbytery has now become famous as one of the Special
Presbyteries under the direction of Dr. Warren H. Wilson. Williams was at one
time head of Old Zion Academy. He died in Texas. After Williams left Cumberland
Institute French Crawford was at the head of the school for a while, but it soon
disbanded.
Onward Seminary. This school was chartered about 1840. The high mark of its
influence was reached during the administration of W. N. Billingsley who taught
there for fourteen years. Some pupils of this school during that period were R.
L. Jones, Judge Harry Camp, Captain James Camp, M.D., Willie Belote, M.D., A. F.
Richards, M.D., R. E. Lee Smith, M.D., Prof. W. E. Shockley and S. H. Proffitt,
both of these last filling the office of County Superintendent. During this
period there was a society of pupils and neighbors, called the Atheneum, which
got together for debates, essays, music, both vocal and instrumental, talks, and
fun. William Marcus Taylor and John Sparkman also attended school here.
Old Zion Academy. This school was established about 1825 and was later
chartered. Some of the teachers in this school whose names have come down to us
were T. L. Mitchell, Fons Holmes, James Nowlin, Rev. James Williams, Dr. A. F.
Richards, R. L. Jones, D. L. Dansden, and Harry Camp. There is now a good brick
public school there.
Yankeetown. This school was established by a colony from the North about 1840.
Col. S. H. Coims gave the land for the school. Prof. Abbott was the first
teacher. Yankeetown furnished three or four persons nationally known. It is now
a public school and the best equipped rural school in the County.
Doyle College. Was established in 1884. Rev. William Huff was its President,
and Ben Gist was president of the Board. It ran for forty years but its greatest
success was during the first ten years. Some of its noted pupils were: L. D.
Smith, who at his death was Attorney General of Tennessee, Judge D. B. Bell, a
popular Judge in Texas; Supreme Court Justice D. L. Lansden; Supreme Court
Justice F. T. Fancher; J. B. Hill, President of the L. & N. Railroad; Lawyers J.
M. Welch, J. W. Scott, and Waggoner. Teachers who were products of this isters,
Brett, Brown, Cameron, Carver, Hampton, Porter, Seals, Scott, and Wagogner.
Teachers who were products of this school were numerous. Perhaps Miss Minnie
Moyers is the best known. Doyle was for many years the intellectual center of
White County. The school is now a public school.
Peeled Chestnut. In 1845 an academy was chartered at Peeled Chestnut. Little
is known of this school now.
Eaton Institute was founded just before the Civil War. Its only period of note
was the two and a half years during which W. N. Billingsley taught there.
Ver Del Normal was established by John S. Cooper in 1887 and named for his two
daughters, using the first syllable of each name. Their names were Vernon and
Delmer. It was short-lived.
Hutchings College was remarkable for its influence. It was established as an
unchartered school by our Ex-State Senator, Ransom Hutchings, in 1897. A
graduate of Pleasant Hill Academy, just out of school, ambitious and eneregtic,
he conceived the idea of building a college. With not a dollar he burned the
brick himself and with his own hands built his school, and opened it debt free.
Judging from its work and influence it was the greatest school in the County in
its time. The influence of the school reached out beyond the bounds of our
County. Besides Mr. Hutchings there were the following teachers: Miss Patty
Irving, W. B. King., whose biography may be found in Vol. II, "Noted Men in
Middle Tennessee," J. B. Rollins, who afterwards was County Superintendent of
Grundy County for sixteen years, and Dr. Mayberry, now a physician in Teaxs.
Some of its pupils were Rev. Sam Edwards, once County Judge of Putnam County,
and Tom Kittrell, Bursar of Tennessee Polytechnic Institute.
Some of the early unchartered schools of White County were Union, established
in 1826, and taught by Benny Mays, and Upper Cherry Creek, established in 1845,
and taught by Fletcher Jackson. There were other schools, both chartered and
unehartered, but even the names of some of them are now lost.
The first record of public schools in this County was in 1838. The scholastic
population of the County in that year was 2,886, and the County in that year
received from the State Fund $1,798.41. In 1850 the scholastic population was
2,500. There were fifty teachers and as many schools. In that year the pub-lie
school fund amounted to $1,550.00. No records of schools were kept by the State
until 1858. The State Treasurer then acted as State Superintendent of Schools.
W. F. McGregor, State Treasurer, in that year appropriated $2,262.00 to White
County for public education. The State School Law of 1867 provided for a State
Superintendent and for a County Superintendent of Schools. Under this law
negroes and whites alike shared in the benefits of public education, negroes
heretofore not being admitted to public schools. Since then negroes have had
their own schools and their own teachers. W. F. Carter was the first County
Superintendent of White County. In his first report he reported as a total
enrollment in the schools of the County 2,505 pupils, 200 of whom were negroes.
Salaries averaged twenty-five dollars a month. After Carter, Dr. W. S. Findley
was County Superintendent for a number of years.
The subjects taught were Reading, Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar, and
Spelling, the last named being emphasized very much. Not much attention was
given to writing. Little folks were not taught writing at all until they were in
their teens. Some attention was given to public speaking and occasionally an
essay was presented by some young lady on some such subjects as, "Improvement of
Time," "Obedience to Parents," "Industry," and the like.
The County Superintendent visited the schools once a year. As late as 1890 the
schools ran only about three months. They usually began in July and had two
weeks intermission for fodder pulling in September. Children carried water for
the school from some convenient spring. It was a treat for two little boys to go
to the spring. Students took turns sweeping the house. In some schools this was
managed by the girls only. Students sometimes had to walk as far as four miles
to school.
There was a prejudice against the public schools because they were at first
only for those who could not pay tuition. All those who were able to do so sent
their children to the private academies. Public schools, for the most part, were
taught in church houses or in houses used for both church and school. Schools
were stopped for protracted meetings.
The consolidating of schools in this County began with the building of the
consolidated school at Old Zion in 1914. Under the superintendency of R. L.
Sutton the building of school houses received a great impetus. He also put on
school busses which transported students to the consolidated schools and to the
High School, thus enabling large numbers of pupils to get the benefits of the
High School. This was an outstanding feature of progress. Before the secondary
schools came into existence most of the County schools were one teacher schools.
During the days of the Secondary Schools there was a large number who had a
higher grade of education than any arrangement before or since.
===Religion===
In our early history superstition was widespread. It was sometimes mixed with
religion. A man had a full jug of liquor behind the door and a fiddle hanging on
the wall. He would get converted at a meeting and go home and throw the fiddle
out a back window, but leave the jug behind the door for future use. Most people
then believed in witches. In one neighborhood in the lower end of the County the
children had been afflicted strangely and much stock had died. "Witches are at
work," they said. In this neighborhood was a witch doctor named Bear. He was
sent for and came. He drew a picture which he called "according to the
scriptures" then he molded a silver bullet for his gun, loaded the gun, saying,
"I could kill her, but I'm only going to cripple her." At a little past four
o'clock in the afternoon he shot. Thirteen or fourteen miles away, in the North
of the County, at the time he shot, a woman named Nancy Gunter was carrying in
some wood for the night. She fell, saying, "Oh, Lord I've stumped my toe." It
was noticed that she limped ever after this.
This story was about on a par with another one. A man said to his brother,
"Jim, the witches are about to ride me to death." "You lie, Bill," said Jim. "No
I don't, they shake a bridle over my head, turn me into a horse, ride me through
the keyhole, and ride me sixty miles arriving at the back of my field before
day, and there they hitch me to a dogwood until daybreak." "Bill, you lie," said
Jim again. Then Bill proposed that Jim come over the next morning that he would
gnaw the dogwood and that he would lead Jim to the spot. Jim came over next
morning to find that Bill had gnawed a gap out of the wooden headboard of the
bed. Some old women used to put a ten cent piece of silver in the churn when the
butter would not come. It is said that an occasional woman still does that.
Pioneers refused to burn sassafras for fear the lightning would strike the house.
Methodist, Baptists and Presbyterians were the denominations of the County.
Presbyterians were organized into a church at Cherry Creek as early as 1800.
This was the first church organized in the County. This church was organized as
a result of a camp meeting held on Cherry Creek by the famous Lorenzo Dow in
1800. Camp meetings were common in the early history of the County. There were
various places at which these were regularly held. Besides Cherry Creek camp
meetings were held at Mount Gilead, Mount Pisgah, one in walking distance of
Sparta, and other places. Mount Gilead was a camp ground before the church there
was founded, which was in 1826, the present old cemetery there being the hitch
ground for the campers. To these meetings the people came in wagons with food
and cooking vessels, on horse back, and walking, camping out for weeks at a
time. Usually some local preacher did the preaching or some minister who was
known to White Countians.
Strange things happened at these meetings. Some people would take the jerks,
jerking backwards and forwards. The jerks described to me by those who saw them
were forward. For instance a woman would take the jerks. In two or three jerks
the combs came out of her hair, and so violent and sudden were the jerks
forward, that the hair would pop at each jerk like a whipcracker. Usually the
ones who took them were sinners or backsliders. When the person affected would
pray, the jerking stopped. A person might take the jerks at home, on the way to
church, and some took them who had not been to church at all. Another phenomenon
which seemed to have passed away was the trance. A person under the powerful
preaching, the pioneer preacher having a few sermons on which he had labored for
a life time, and especially the realistic descriptions of the judgment day, and
at the close of the sermon all about Gabriel blowing his trumpet, his voice,
which was cultivated for all his ministry so as to be effective, the minister's
firm conviction of the power and presence of the Divine Being, this sermon to
men, most of whom, were of limited education, was calculated to stir them to the
depths of their being. People would go into a trance, sometimes, for a few
hours, in some cases for three days and nights. If left alone, the person
invariably professed conversion at the end of the trance, and lived a Christian
life afterwards. After the trance passed, the persons would rise, and begin to
tell about being in Heaven, whom they saw there, and the conversation they had,
too. I have seen one or two in a trance as late as the year 1889.
Shouting was common. I saw a lady begin to shout, clapping her hands, looking
up all the time, while standing on a six-inch plank which was used for a seat.
She turned around on this plank while looking up three times without falling. At
Dodson's Chapel a woman began to shout at the north bank of the river opposite
the Sally Dodson place. She kept her head up and went across the dry river bed,
walking over the large, slick rocks without falling. Other strange things
occurred at meetings, the reason for which has been a mystery to most people.
Our early history was one of religious polemics, as is Been in the rise of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Mormon Church in 1810, the early division
of the Baptists into two groups, one being the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Baptists,
led by the Dentons in the mountain sections of Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky,
and later by the rise of the Disciple Movement, and still later by the Baptist
Church of Christ, commonly called "The Baptist," and last by the Baptist Church
of Christ as Founded on the Scriptures. The first division of the Baptists
mentioned above came in 1823. We have never had a first class religious debate
in our County. Lida Stone and Josie Williams, Christian ministers, debated with
Rev. Dick Simpson on Cherry Creek. The audience claimed Simpson was the winner.
Another audience might have reversed this decision. Dr. Brents, noted Christian
debater came to the Methodist Church where Dr. Collinsworth had lectured for
twelve days, having left for McMinnville the previous day. Brents remained in
Sparta for four days to "clear up some of Collinsworth's mistakes," and to tell
the story as Dr. Brents told it. Brents upon leaving went into Dr. Rudd's drug
store saying, "I'm going to McMinnville to meet Collinsworth, I've not been
feeling well for a few days, let me have a package of Simmon's Liver Regulator."
Dr. Rudd replied, "If you are going to meet Collinsworth, you had better get two
packages."
Isaac Woodard, who has been heard by some now living, was the greatest
opponent Isaac Denton ever had. Woodard was a Methodist minister. He never
attacked Denton or anyone else with logic. This would have been folly, but he
attacked hitm with ridicule, sarcasm, epithet, and other species of wit. Riding
along the road one day he met Denton. An argument ensued. Woodard must have been
worsted, because he invited Denton down off his horse to settle the argument
with fists.
When Woodard was old he had three divisions to the one sermon he preached,
each division half an hour long. He had large audiences. Division One was on the
Presbyterians; this is a summary: "There are the Presbyterians. They believe in
the final perseverenc of the saints. One of them, my neighbor, got drunk last
week and beat his wife. He was a nice saint, a wife-beating saint. He may have
been a nice fellow before the devil shot the feathers off of him. A Presbyterian
preacher told me that he was sorry for me, as I had to move by the almanac. I
told him that I was sorrier for him, as he had to move by the boot jack. I'd
rather be under a Bishop who is a hundred miles away than be under an Elder next
door, pecking and spurring at me like an old dominecker rooster all the time. A
presbyterian deacon cheated his neighbor out of his horse, then went to prayer
meeting and prayed for his neighbor's conversion. He thinks he is going to
heaven, but there are three who know better. Down in his own heart he knows
better, the Lord knows better, the devil knows better. When he dies he will try
to go to Heaven, the devil will try to drag him to Hell. There will be an awful
scuffle, until, finally both will go kerflop right of into Hell. One of my
neighbor ministers, a Presbyterian, cuts ice off the pond for use in the summer.
He uses it in the summer, too. Listen to one of his sermons and you will agree
with me."
Division Two was on the Baptists: "There's Ike Denton slandering the Lord,
saying that there are infants in Hell. I never heard of but two places where
there were no infants, one is Hell, and the other is the Baptist Church. Denton
claims that Christ organized the Baptist Church. I cannot believe that Christ
ever made such a mistake. Denton claims that the devil holds most of the world
in spite of God, that God cannot get what the devil has. God is stronger than
the devil, and if Denton was better acquainted with God than he is with the
devil, he would change his mind. It is suspicious when a preacher knows too much
about the devil. Denton knows more about the devil than any one I know." For
half an hour his thrusts were worse than he made against the Presbyterians.
Division Three, the Methodists. Here he reached the climax of his sermon,
being severer than on either of the other two. "There's your little two by four
Methodist preacher. Your uncle Ike can preach three times on Sunday and go on
about his business. Your little sissy preacher preaches once and he is so
exhausted that when he reaches the house, he has to get some of the sisters to
fan him. Some Methodist preachers are like Si Dugan's old red steer. They make
noise enough to pull the world, but not a pound will they pull. There's your
little sissy Methodist preacher who streches up two or three inches taller,
saying, 'I'm not afraid of the devil.' Well, I do not know about that, but I'm
sure that the devil's not afraid of him. There are some Methodist preachers who
will never create a flutter in the world unless it is the chickens getting away
when he goes home with some one for dinner." He won his battle with the masses
in this way.
====The Presbyterian Church U. S. A.====
The Presbyterian Church U. S. A. has the following churches in White County:
First Presbyterian, Sparta, Hickory Valley, and a larger parish composed of Blue
Springs, Cherry Creek, Robinson's Chapel, Spring Hill Community Church, and
Johnson's Chapel. The churches of this larger parish are bound together by a
larger parish council which determines the policies for each. Cherry Creek, the
oldest church in the group, was organized in 1800 and remained Presbyterian
until 1833 at which time, being then the only Presbyterian Church in the
Cumberland mountain section, it went into the Cumberland movement and became
Cumberland Presbyterian. After the union of Cumberland Presbyterians with
Presbyterians in 1906 Cherry Creek returned to the mother church, being the last
church in this section to leave the Presbyterian Church and the first to return
after the union. In the days when it was practically the only church of any
denomination covering a wide territory it had a membership of nearly four
hundred. It has been called the mother of churches in White County, twelve other
churches having been organized out of its membership. Blue Springs was organized
in 1820 as a Presbyterian church, but soon after became Cumberland Presbyterian,
Presbyterian again after 1906. Robinson's Chapel was organized as a Cumberland
Presbyterian Church in 1882 and became Presbyterian in 1906. Johnson's Chapel
was organized as a Presbyterian Church in 1800 became a Primitive Baptist Church
in 1833, then Christian Baptist in 1844, again Presbyterian in 1.911. Spring
Hill was organized as a community church, Presbyterian in government, in 1924.
Each church elects one member to the parish council. The Presbyterian Church in
Sparta was organized first as a Presbyterian Church in 1813, went into the
Cumberland movement sometime in the early twenties and was reorganized as a
Presbyterian Church after the union in 1906. Hickory Valley Presbyterian Church
was organized under the name of Union in 1805, became Cumberland Presbyterian in
the early twenties and again Presbyterian after 1906; but the community was
divided on the question of union, a part wanting to continue as Cumberland
Presbyterian. These continued their organization and held Union church. The
factions in favor of union with the mother church moved further up the valley
and built the present Hickory Valley Church. The combined communicant membership
of the Presbyterian churches in White County is five hundred and eighty-seven.
====Cumberland Presbyterian====
The Cumberland Presbyterians have two churches in White County, Old Union in
Hickory Valley and Old Zion. Together they have forty-five members.
====Methodists====
The first Methodist Church established in this section was Bethelehem Church
established in 1818. Bethelehem Church was then in White County, now in Putnam.
The Methodist Church in Sparta was established in 1828. The congregation
worshiped in the Courthouse until the present house was built in 1852. Colonel
Bill Stokes while holding Sparta tore out the floor and used the church as a
stable for his cavalry horses. The United States Government later paid the
church damages. Mount Gilead was established in 1826 on the site of the old
Gilead camp ground. It is the oldest Methodist church now in White County. The
other Methodist churches of the County are Mount Carmel, Findley, Almyra, Shady
Grove, Ravenscroft, Wesley Chapel, Doyle, Dodson, Fraizer, Lost Creek, Rogers,
and Mount Piszah. These are all Southern Methodist Churches. Their combined
membership is twelve hundred and eighty-six. The Methodist Episcopal Church has
two churches in White County, Peeled Chestnut and a church in Wild Cat Cove. 
They have a combined membership of two hundred.
====Churches of Christ====
The first sermon preached by a minister of the Disciple Movement was in Sparta
in 1834 by Raccoon John Smith. There are three branches of the Disciple Movement
which claim Raccoon John Smith as one of their early ministers. The Christian
Baptist Church, the Church of Christ, and the Disciples of Christ. In the days
of Smith no division had come. A camp meeting was ending just out of town and
the preachers would not announce the meeting for Smith. Judge John Catron was
holding a term of the Court of Appeals: in Sparta at the time. He had known
Smith in Kentucky, and he dismissed his Court and he and the Sparta Bar attended
Smith's meeting. Preachers of this Movement continued to preach in Sparta from
time to time but no organization was formed until 1842 when Jesse Sewell
organized the church. The congregation worshiped in the Courthouse, in the
schoolhouse, and in private homes until 1853. In that year this congregation and
the Cumberland Presbyterian congregation bought the old County Academy which
they used jointly. Two years later the Christians bought out the other interest
and worshiped there alone until they built a brick church on the present site of
the Church of Christ in 1887. This building was destroyed by fire in 1927. The
present handsome structure took the place of the one destroyed in the same year,
the congregation having their first meeting, a wedding service, on Thanksgiving
night. The other Churches of Christ are, Bethelehem, Doyle, Jericho, Walling,
Quebeck, Hebron, O'Connor, Cherry Creek, Big Spring, Board Valley, Ravenscroft,
Eastland, Lost Creek, Hickory Valley, Corinth and DeRossett. The total
membership of the Churches of Christ in White County is twelve hundred and
twenty-five.
====Disciples of Christ====
Disciples of Christ are represented by one church, First Christian Church of
Sparta. The congregation has one of the best houses of worship, in this, section
of Tennessee, which was erected in 1928.
====Baptist====
The Baptist Church is represented in White County by four branches. The
largest unit of the Baptist Church in White County is the Missionary Baptist
which has congregations in Sparta, Pistol, Hampton's Cross Roads, Liberty, New
Hope, Pleasant Hill, Boiling Springs, Doyle, Gum Springs and Greenwood. They
have a total reported membership of thirteen hundred and seventy-five. The first
Baptist Church organized in our section was the old Cane Creek Church organized
in 1821 in what was then White County, but now Putnam. Another branch of the
Baptist Church is the Baptist Church of Christ, generally called The Baptist.
These are sometimes nicknamed "Stypeites." This branch of the Baptist Church
came into being at Greenwood in White County and takes it nickname from Rev.
Jacob Stypes who was the leading spirit in the beginning of the movement. This
denomination has congregations at Macedonia, Spring Hill, and Bethel with a
total reported membership of three hundred and thirty-two. About fifteen years
ago there was a split in The Baptist Church, one faction taking the name The
Baptist Church of Christ as Founded on the Scriptures. The leader in this
faction was Rev. James Luney who was a White Countian. They have no church in
this County. An old branch of the Baptist family which was once powerful in the
County is the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Baptist Church. They are represented now by
only one congregation in White County, Philadelphia, with a reported membership
of ten. The Free Will Christian Baptist Church which was at one time a part of
the Disciple Movement and became a separate organization after the disagreement,
between Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone is represented in White County by
congregations at Baker's Cross Roads, Board Valley, Glade Creek, Hensley's
Chapel, Millsap Grove, Pleasant Ridge, and Yankeetown, with a reported
membership of two hundred and fifty-two.
====Church of God====
The Church of God as we know it in White County today came out of an older
Holiness Movement which began in this County in 1895. The first preacher of this
movement in White County was a man known as Evangelist Butler. He preached
rather widely over the County. Rev. H. C. Morrison had held one revival in this
County before this time with no apparent results. Shortly after the coming of
Butler came Rev. Thomas Curry, a man of comprehensive mind, a close reasoner and
diligent in his labors. The County was stirred over doctrine as a result of his
preaching as it had not been for half a century. Most of the churches in the
County contributed members to this cause. He believed in no church organization
but in the sanctified meeting together to worship. Old Zion finally went down.
So did Baker's Cross Roads, and various other churches lost several members to
Curry. A debate between Oscar Jones and Curry on one side and Elam and
Goodpasture on the other did no injury to Curry's cause. One of the results of
this movement was the Church of God. They now have congregations at Black Oak,
Cassville and Bon Air, with a reported combined membership of one hundred and
sixty-seven.
The Church of the Nazarene came out of the same Movement in White County as
the Church of God due largely to the preaching of Rev. Thomas Curry. Both the
Church of the Nazarene at Sparta and at Doyle were organized as a result of
Curry's work. They have a total reported membership of one hundred.
====Negro Churches====
There is a negro Church of God in Sparta with perhaps thirty members. This
church was organized in 1927.
The first church for negroes in White County was half a mile north of Sparta,
west of the Cookeville Road where the junction of the Cherry Creek Road is made.
This Church was founded soon after the Civil War and continued until in the
eighties. Since then churches for negroes have been organized in Sparta. The
first Baptist Church of Christ was organized May 5, 1906, by Rev. J. H. Hillman,
Rev. W. M. Hamilton, Levi Maddox and Elisha Fleming. It has a membership of
thirty-five. Another negro church in Sparta is Kynett M. E. Chapel, Rev. R. R.
M. Robinson, pastor, with a total membership of eighty-six. Still another church
in Sparta is Murray Chapel, a M. E. Church with a membership of thirty. For a
long time the negroes had a church on the Warrior, but this church was disbanded
several years ago. There is an M. E. Church at Yankeetown with a membership of
about forty.
====Mormons====
The first Mormon who came to White County for any length of time was named
Miller. He preached here and in adjoining counties all summer, but when autumn
came, his dead body was found under a flat rock in Putnam County. This was in
1887. Two years later, the Southern Convention of Mormons with headquarters at
Chattanooga was held at the Sparta Courthouse. At that time forty-five members
were taken into the Mormon Church. Prof. James Nowlin, a prominent teacher, and
Van Haston, County Surveyor, joined them, the former going to Utah.
====Spiritualists====
There are a few Spiritualists in White County. The first Spiritualist of
prominence in this County was Mrs. Echols. According to her neighbors she seemed
to be successful in telling how many people had died in any home she might
enter. She said that the spirits would come into her home at night and eat
pickles out of her pickle jar.
===The Place of the Church in Pioneer Life===
Some people have supposed that the religion of the Pioneers was rather a
stiff formal affair. It was not so in White County. The church fostered more
than formal worship. Gatherings of young people for picnic occasions were
frequent. The camp meeting furnished an outlet for social life. People coming
from so many different communities and living together camp style for weeks at a
time came to know each other well and to enjoy each others' fellowship. People
looked forward with eagerness and planned their work so as to be free from
responsibilities during the period of the camp meeting. The coming together of
the pioneers in social and religious contact was not unlike that of the Jews in
Old Testament days. But the camp meetings were not the only great occasions when
people got together. There were singing schools and singing. People traveled
great distances to these singing schools and singings. Very much was made of
singing on all religious occasions. Every church had a song leader who knew half
a dozen short meter tunes and as many long meter ones. The preacher would give
out two lines of a hymn then the congregation" would sing it, then he would give
out the next two lines which would be sung in the same way and so on to the end.
This was called "lining the hymn." The church served as a gettogether
organization and social center. The minister and the school teacher who were
often the same person had an influence over the life of the community which
nothing in our time even approximates. They molded the life of the time in which
they lived and religion was a real, moving force in people's life. Even people
who were not religious had great respect for worship and for the things
belonging to the church, as the Lord's Day. Preparation was made on Saturday for
Sunday. All baking was done on Saturday so that in the average home there were
no fires kindled for cooking purposes on Sunday. Saturday afternoon was used as
a time for recreation, shooting matches, games, and sports of all kinds known
then, but Sunday was the Lord's Day in which there were none of these things.
Category:"History of White County"
Category:Texts