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The Heritage of Jamieson Memorial Methodist Church
1830 – 2001
Complied by James and
Louise Sheppard
Clarksville Church
A deed is recorded in the clerk’s
office in Boydton dated January 12, 1835. It records the sale of a lot 45
feet wide and 100 feet deep (one tenth of an acre). Caleb Turner, his wife,
Ann, and Henry D. Turner sold the lot to Ira L. Thomas, William Sharpe,
Daniel F. Thomas, Edward A. Holloway, and Edward Tarwater, trustees. The
deed states that these trustees and their successors in office “shall erect
& build there, a house or place of worship for the use of the members of the
Methodist E. P. Church in the United States of America…” This was the
Methodist Episcopal Protestant Church. This deed is recorded in Mecklenburg
Deed Book 27, pages 521-524. The lot was located where our old parsonage
new stands, next to our parking lot, and is across Fifth Street from today’s
church.
We know little about the
members or the trustees who built the first church. Twenty five year old
Edward A. Tarwater came to Clarksville from his birthplace in Brunswick
County, Virginia and married Eleanore T. Royster in 1834. We believe she
was either a sister or niece of Clark Royster, the founder of Clarksville.
Tarwater, a businessman, was for a short time a partner with B.F. Avery in
his plow company. Tarwater evidently sold his interest in the plow business
when Avery moved to Halifax County, Virginia. Avery later moved his plow
business to Kentucky where it became the largest plow company in the world.
Edward A. Holloway had signed as surety at the marriage of Tarwater, which
meant he was a relative or close friend. Holloway was 34 years old and a
very well to do merchant when he signed as a trustee. Daniel F. Thomas
married Martha Greenwood in 1833. The Greenwoods owned a large amount of
land and lived on the Iron Gate Road in the house owned by Harriet and Jesse
Overstreet. The lot purchased for the church was next to the log already
owned by Daniel Thomas. We found no information on the other two trustees,
William Sharpe and ira Thomas, in the 1850 census. They probably had moved
from the county or had died by that date.
We do not know
exactly when the construction of the church was started or finished. The
deed was signed in 1835 but was not recorded in the clerk’s office until
1838. No picture or sketch of the old church has been found. One account
says that the church was made of brick and had an interior balcony. (The
balcony would have been for the slaves and free blacks.)
In 1832
Randolph-Macon College had opened in Boydton only 10 miles from
Clarksville. This college to train Methodist ministers would supply
preachers to Clarksville on many Sundays for the next 35 years. At times,
the chaplain of the college would also be the preacher at Clarksville.
Often students would preach or assist in the church services from time to
time. This would end when the college moved to Ashland, Virginia in 1868.
The first minister that is known to serve our church was J. R. Bennett who
was appointed in 1840 to serve Clarksville and other churches in the
charge. Clarksville was a part of the Granville, North Carolina Circuit at
the time of the building of the Clarksville church around 1835. The records
show in 1841, that Joseph R. Brown and John C. Garlick were the presiding
elder and preacher. In 1844, Jacob Manning became the preacher.
From 1844 to
1857, we have few records of the Church. Two major events happened that
affected the Clarksville Church during this period. On was the split in the
Methodist Church of America, mostly over slavery, in 1845. The other event
was the Civil War caused partly by the same issue, slavery. The South with
its large plantations growing cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane, depended on
slavery more that the North with its small farms and industry. Thus the
southern way of life could not continue without slaves while that of the
north would not change very much. It is easier to rally to a good cause
when it doesn’t affect your pocket book. The drive to abolish slavery grew
in the North until it became almost a religion of it’s own. Abolition in
the North had its foundations in the churches. This was very strong in
protestant churches such as the Methodist. A great many Methodists in the
South and in Clarksville didn’t own slaves but some very influential
Methodists did. Even many of the southern Methodists who were against
slavery didn’t want Northern Methodists telling the South how to run their
businesses and lives. The problem grew until the Methodists split into two
denominations in 1845. Most of the churches from Washington, DC north
became the Methodist Episcopal Church of the North and those in the south
became the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In Border States like Maryland
some towns had Methodist churches of both denominations.
The Civil War
started 16 years later in 1861. Methodist preachers and laymen served in
the armies on both sides. Some preachers served as chaplains, but many
served as combat soldiers. Some of the members of the Clarksville Church
were soldiers. However, there is no list of who they were. This terrible
war ended on April 9th, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, VA. The
hard feelings did not end for a long time and even today some harbor bad
feelings. The two branches of the Methodist Church did not reunite until
1939 when the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Methodist Episcopal
Church North, and the Methodist Church. The Methodist Protestant Church, a
smaller third group of Methodist had split off in 1830 for other reasons.
It did not object to slavery, but rather objected to centralized power by
church administration. The split in Methodism may be the reason we find no
records of the Clarksville Church between 1844 and 1852.
The War had also
caused the closing of Randolph-Macon College in 1863. It reopened in 1866.
James M. Lewis was at the College when it reopened and is believed to have
preached at the Clarksville Charge at the same time. This changed in 1868
when the college moved to Ashland, VA just north of Richmond.
In 1873, Herbert
Bacon became the Clarksville minister. About this time, a disaster hit.
There was a fire at the Church. The Richmond Christian Advocate ran
an appeal by the preacher, Herbert Bacon, which read in part:
“But
children, there is a great gap yet between the amount which I have received
and that which is necessary for the repairs of my church…I ask you t help to
repair the injury which the fire doeth…There, that rich man who lives near
you of Richmond…go to him… may be he will open his heart and purse to you…
Ask for help for the church in Clarksville.”
There is no
information on how bad the fire was, but the church was repaired.
In 1876, James
Jamieson became the regular preacher and stayed until he died in 1880 (see
section on ministers).
Twenty-four year
old J. B. Winn came as the minister in 1889 and stayed through 1893. In
1893, he married a local girl, Annie Stuart Dabbs. On April 1 of the same
year, the most traumatic event in the history of the town of Clarksville
took place. Every building on both sides of Virginia Avenue burned from
Fourth Street to the river. Thus the church was one block from
destruction. This fire destroyed almost every business in Clarksville and
many homes. Many of the men who owned the businesses, which were destroyed,
were members of the Methodist Church. Also, some of the homes destroyed
were those of church members. The people and the churches of Clarksville
picked up the pieces and began life again. Strong faith was a factor in the
recovery of the town and recover it did.
J. W. Baker
became the preacher in 1894. At that time, Clarksville was part of a charge
consisting of Clarksville, Ephesus, St. James, and Rehoboth. Ephesus was
located on Trottenridge Road, St. James was in Boydton, and Rehoboth was
located on the Phillis Road, which runs from Boydton to the Buggs Island
Dam.
The Clarksville
Church Circuit bought a tract of land on the southern corner of Fourth
Street and Commerce Street. Clarksville lot number 124 was purchased at the
price of $475 for “the use and occupancy of the preacher of the M. E. South
(Methodist Episcopal Church South). The deed says that J. G. Barnett and
Mary K. Barnett sold to W. H. Chapman, and H. H. Moore & L. E. Finch,
Trustees of the Clarksville Circuit ME Church South, one half acre with
buildings and shall be kept and maintained for preachers of the ME Church
South. The trustees were from different churches in the Clarksville
Circuit. L. E. Finch was from Boydton, W.H. Chapman was from Clarksville.
It is unknown which church Moore represented. In many of the records, all
the churches in the circuit are reported on as if they were one church.
Evidently, Clarksville was doing well in attendance and contributions, and
hoped to become a station church (one which had a preacher of its own
instead of sharing one with several other churches). Later, Clarksville
did become a station and the parsonage belonged to Clarksville Church. In
1921, after building a new parsonage, the old parsonage was sold to the
Willis family. Carter Willis, a local businessman, and his wife, Ruby,
lived in this house for many years. The house still stands today.
Clarksville was
at different times, in first one circuit and then another. It was even
changed from one conference to another in the early days. On reason for
this was its location near the North Carolina border.
In 1896, the
Ladies’ Aid Society was formed. This organization of the Methodist women
went through many name changes over the years and today we know it as the
United Methodist Women.
“W. E. Cooper
came as the new preacher in 1900. It was during his stay that a new church
was built and named in memory of James Jamieson. Mecklenburg County Deed
Book 59, page 201 shows that on May 4, 1901, Wayne Gooch and wife Lucy, sold
a lot to W. H. Russell, George W. Wells, J. J. Liggon, A. Pryor Wilkinson,
and J. H. Howerton, trustees of the Jamieson Memorial Methodist Episcopal
Church South, This is the lot our Church stands on today. The Clarksville
Lot Number 88 was purchased for $150.00. The lot had a fron of 88 feet and
was 210 feet deep. The driveway on the East side of the Church today, where
we have handicap parking is still an extension of Caroline Street and may be
opened as a street at any time the town makes that decision.
Members of the
families of many of these trustees are still members of our church today.
Archer and Sue Ligon are of J. J. Ligon’s family and Evelyn Howerton who
married Arthur Russell is one of our oldest church members.
It is interesting
that Wayne Gooch, who sold the lot to the church, was a saloonkeeper and
legal whiskey distiller. He was also a bootlegger on the side. This was at
a time when many in the Methodist Church were very active against whiskey.
Gooch was known to try to maintain good public relations with all of the
churches. He may have offered them the land at a very reasonable price.
We don’t know
when the construction was started on the new church or exactly how much the
cost was. In the minutes of the Quarterly Conference in 1900, we find the
following:
To Be
Continued
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