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)