Appalachian History

"Well, I have talked considerably over an hour. I did not intend to. But hear me, let's think about these things. I tell you I never - I tell you I never want to see a revival in this city, or anywhere else, that isn't bottomed on bed rock. Let's go down until you hear your boot heels grating and grinding against the Rock of Ages. None of your corn stalk revivals!

"We want the sort of revival that will make men do the clean thing. If we can have that sort of revival I want to see it - but not corn stalk revivals. Do you know what a corn stalk revival is? Well, if you were to pile up a lot of corn stalks as high as this house, and burn them up, there wouldn't be a hodful of ashes. We want a revival of righteousness - we want a revival of honesty; we want a revival of cleanness and purity, of debt paying, of prayer meetings, of family prayer, and of paying our brothers a little more salary. That's the sort of revival we want. The Lord give us this sort!

"One more illustration in conclusion. Some months ago a man was fearfully crippled in his right leg by a railroad accident. It was fearfully mangled and bruised. They wanted to amputate the leg, but he said: "O I don't want to lose my limb; preserve it if you can." They watched at his side until at last the surgeon said: "My friend, the crisis has come when we must amputate your leg." He said: "Doctor, has it reached that point?" "Yes," said the surgeon. "Well," said he, submissively, "if there is no chance to save my leg, get your knife and go to work."

"When they got all ready and laid the patient on the table to commence the fearful operation, the surgeons desired to administer chloroform, but the mangled man said: "I do not want to take that; if I die I want to die in my full consciousness, but I want you to let me know by some sign when I begin to sink, so that I can breathe my spirit out in prayer." They told him that he couldn't stand the operation without chloroform, but he said that he could.

"The doctor picked up the knife and said to the patient, "If you see me lay the knife down on the table you may know that you are sinking."

"The doctor commenced the operation, and the man did not flinch. When he struck the arteries he laid his knife down to adjust them, and the young man took it for a sign that he was dying, and commenced praying. The surgeon picked up the knife and resumed his work. In a few minutes the operation was over, and he saw he was saved, and he turned to the surgeon and said: "Doctor, when you picked the knife up from the table and began your operation, it was the sweetest sensation I ever felt in my life."

"What do you mean?" said the doctor. "I mean," said he, "that those sensations meant life for me." Now, brother, when God Almighty throws down the pruning knife it is a sign that you are sinking - the sword of the Divine Spirit cutting through the tendrils of sin; but, thank God, He has not laid down the sword. The sword of the Spirit means life. O brother, come to life in the presence of Jesus, and die in his love. God help us to take these things home with us!

--from Quit Your Meaness!

Wherever American evangelist Samuel Porter Jones preached, liquor stores closed, theaters and jails emptied, and cursing was reduced to whispers. The Reverend Jones (1847-1906), or "just plain 'Sam Jones,'" as he preferred to be called, was born at Oak Bowery, AL, and reared at Cartersville, GA. He studied to be a lawyer, but drinking and gambling soon brought him to the brink of ruin.

At his father's deathbed, he fell on his knees and repented of his sin. He preached his first sermon one week later and was licensed to preach in the Methodist Church after only three months. He served several pastorates but gained fame as a lecturer and evangelist. Soon he was conducting campaigns in some of America's largest cities, reaching the peak of his popularity in the early 1880s. Rarely spending time at his home in Cartersville, Jones preached his "quit your meanness" theology in cities across the United States.


Sources: www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1606
www.biblebelievers.com/jones_sam/jones_s01.html
www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?id=147&rc=1&list=multi

It was in the summer of 1897 that I heard of one of these outdoor meetings and decided to attend for two or three days. I was driving a horse hitched to a two-wheeled cart. Arriving late in the evening and tying the horse to a sapling, I entered the preacher's stand just as the announcement of services was being made.

In the course of his remarks, the speaker said that there had been instances of stealing from the vehicles on the grounds and that other mischief had been done by hoodlums. It was stated that if such activities continued officers would be called to police the ground and catch the offenders.

Hearing this, and knowing that my few belongings were in a suitcase in my cart, I slipped out and hid under a thick bush where I could see my vehicle by the reflection of the light and also hear the preaching at the same time. I was only a few minutes in that place of concealment when I began to detect that some persons were bent on mischief. Soon I saw some young men searching in a wagon. Next they came to my rig and began to search it. In a loud gruff voice, I asked them what they were after. They peeped around to see where the voice came from, but could not see me for the thick underbrush. They turned back to the cart.

Again I asked them what they wanted in that rig. They replied they were after water. I asked them if such a place looked like it had any water, and then ordered them to make themselves scarce or they would find something they were not looking for.

All the while, I kept in the dark so that no one might see how young or small I was. They quickly left to other parts of the ground. Several gangs of hoodlums were around that night, and it was well that I took it upon myself to police my vehicle.

The Harris family.

In two or three days after I came the meeting closed with a number of conversions, some sixty in all. On the closing night there was a testimony service. It was suggested by one of the preachers that only the converts in that meeting were to testify, and each was to tell whom God had used in bringing him to Christ.

Among the Christians present was a little, sweet-faced girl about fifteen years of age, who was very timid. Yet of the sixty that testified that night this little girl was given credit for more than half of the number, the balance being divided among other Christian workers.

The preachers, some six or eight, had about a dozen to their credit. Thus, we see that when the heavenly record is opened at the rendering of rewards, many who credit themselves with so many converts will be crestfallen as they hear the judgment of justice at the great tribunal of God and find that they have gained only a small increase for the amount that the Lord has invested in them. Ministers should be very careful about stringing the fish that others have caught.


---excerpt from TEARS AND TRIUMPHS, The Life Story of a Pastor-Evangelist, by John William Harris, Louisville KY, Pentecostal Pub, 1948

John William Harris (1870-1960) was a widely traveled evangelist. His ministry began in 1896 and it flourished at the turn of the century. He held meetings primarily in Ohio and surrounding states, including Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. He also ministered extensively in Kansas and Texas. He settled his family in Hinton WV.


sources: www.voiceofthenazarene.com/pdfs/h-folder/HDM1864.PDF
http://mountolivetcamp.ratcliffs.net/olivetpart1.pdf

Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church, originally located eight miles north of Jonesborough, has been accepted by historians as the first organized church body in Tennessee territory. Tidence Lane moved from North Carolina in 1776 to the Watauga Settlement, where he established and pastored the first congregation.

The first church was constructed of logs with a clapboard roof. A single window provided the light for the pastor to read his text and "line off" his hymns. There was a large fireplace, one window placed high in the end of the building out of the range of Indian gunfire, and a heavy wooden door. The seats were of split logs and had no backs.

In 1785, Jonathan Mulkey succeeded Lane as pastor.

By 1786 there were seven Baptist churches organized in upper East Tennessee; Kendrick's Creek (Double Springs); Bent Creek (Whitesburg); Beaver Creek (Sullivan County); Greasy Cove (near Erwin); Cherokee Creek; North Fork of the Holston (Abingdon, Va.); and Lower French Broad (Dandridge).

Pastor Mulkey was instrumental in forming the first Baptist Association in Tennessee, the Holston Baptist Association, in October of that year, and remained active in it till the end of his life.

By 1817 Buffalo Ridge had a membership of 300, but for many reasons, membership declined over the next several years. Around 1815 some preachers began preaching a "Reformation."

Jonathan Mulkey served Buffalo Ridge for forty-one years until his death in 1826. When the weight of his years laid heavy upon him, and his health had faded, the congregation placed a chair near the pulpit for him to sit down and "pour out his soul in melting exhortations to a devoted people who would listen to his every word."

The church suddenly found itself without a pastor; furthermore the change in doctrine caused a division in the church and a loss of many members. Membership declined to 23 in 1828. Better times returned to the church with the selection of Rees Bayless as pastor. Membership increased over 300 percent during his pastorate.

Congregation from Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church baptizing members at Gray Station, Tennessee, 1931.

Several newly organized Baptist churches sprang up over the next few years, including Limestone and Union. Some members left Buffalo Ridge to join these churches, causing another drop in membership. In the 1854 epidemic of cholera, Buffalo Ridge lost 19 members and the association reported 168 deaths overall.

By 1848 a new building was needed and a committee was appointed. Church minutes record that "Reverend Martin Kitzmiller preached the first sermon that ever was preached in the New Brick Church, March 22, 1851." The debt on the new brick church was settled in July 1858.

During the late 1800's and early 1900's, Buffalo Ridge slowly lost membership due to population shifts and the isolated location of the church. By 1915 the church had only 77 members and closed due to a lack of support. For nearly ten years, the only time the church doors were opened was for an occasional funeral service.

The church was revived by Missionary S.W. Tindell in the early 1920's. On October 1, 1922, the membership decided to relocate at Gray's Station (now Gray, TN), about one mile from the original site. The first services in the new location were held in the upper room of Maden & Saunders Store. After a time, the congregation moved to the "upper room of the canning factory", then to the high school building. For a while, meetings were even held under a tent. In 1927 the new church building was completed.

On top of Buffalo Ridge in the Buffalo Ridge Cemetery is a marker telling all who visit there that they are standing on very historical and memorable ground. This marker is inscribed: "Here stood Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church 1778 First Baptist Church in Tenn. Pastors Tidence Land, organizer 1778-1785, Johnathan Mulkey 1785-1826. Baptist Historical Society & E. Tenn. W.M.U. Golden Jubilee memorial 1938."


sources: The Overmountain Men, by Pat Alderman, The Overmountain Press, 1986
http://jctcuzins.org/church/carrier.html
History of Washington County Tennessee, Watauga Association of Genealogists - Upper East Tennessee, Walsworth Press, 1988.
The Baptists of Tennessee, Volume One, by A.B. Tindell et al., Kingsport: Southern Publishers Inc., 1930.



religion+in+Appalachia Baptists Buffalo+Ridge+Baptist+Church appalachia +appalachian+history

From the 1927 divorce case filed by James R. Seawall against Dorothy Elizabeth Seawall in Knox County Fourth Circuit Court, Knoxville, TN:

"After their marriage, and in the year 1923, the defendant began to neglect him, and to absent herself from his home, and to spend the greater part of her time with her parents; that from December 1923 she has wholly separated herself from him and has lived with her parents.

"He respectfully avers that he has done all that he knows how to do to make her a loyal husband, and to properly provide for her and their children, but avers that she has not reciprocated, and that she has wholly separated herself from him, willfully and maliciously and without any just or reasonable cause, for two whole years and more, to wit four years next preceding the filing of this bill. And so complete has been the separation that this Complainant has not so much as seen the defendant since January 1924.

"Complainant would further show that he is a traveling salesman covering all the Southeastern part of the United States, and that as such he was sent to Knoxville more than two whole years ago next preceding the filing of this bill, and that he took up his bona fide residence at Knoxville on or about April 1, 1925. That he has since continually resided here, as his home, and that he is a bona fide citizen and resident of Knox County, TN.

"He would show that the separation herein complained of took place in the State of New York on or about December 30, 1923, and was wholly uncalled for, and inexcusable, and that it was without any just or reasonable cause. That the only cause which could have been assigned was a difference in religious affiliations, but this Complainant respectfully avers that the defendant knew his affiliations before their marriage, and that she, a Catholic, could not convert him to her belief, and therefore, and for no other cause, deserted him and his home."

INTERROGATORY PROPOUNDED to Mrs. Lela Guerard by the Complainant in the above styled cause, and answered by the said witness under oath.

Q. Please state your name, age and residence?
A. Lela Seawall Guerard, 32, San Antonio, TX.

Q. Do you know whether, during the marriage relation, or during the time when Mr. Seawall and his wife were living together, the Complainant supported his wife as a husband should?
A. I saw a good bit of them for about two months after the marriage; at that time his wife and her family seemed very much attached to Mr. Seawall. She wrote me several times between that time and the time I heard of the separation; there was nothing in the letters to suggest that she was not happy with him; certainly no complaint of his conduct towards her.

Q. State fully, if you know, how Mrs. Seawell conducted herself with reference to properly keeping her home, remaining with her husband, preparing his meals, doing his mending and housework, and general work that is ordinarily done by a housewife for her husband?
A. So far as I knew up to the time I left there was no complaint; from the time that I came to Texas I only know of what happened by complaints he made about the way things were going. He complained in his letters about her frequent and repeated absences from the home and neglect of household duties.

Q. Did you know Mrs. Seawall's parents?
A. Yes.

Q. What was their attitude toward the homelife of James R. Seawall and his wife? That is to say, did they at any time so interfere with the affairs of his home as to cause his wife to be less affectionate toward him? And did they, or either of them intermeddle in the affairs of his home so as to estrange his wife from him?
A. The attitude of Mrs. Seawell's parents up to the time I came to Texas was very friendly; their attitude later I only know from his letters to me, and what he told me when I visited him about two years ago during the time he was separated from her; in those conversations he attributed his entire trouble to differences in religion and interference in their affairs by his wife’s mother and father.

Q. Was Seawall kind and good to his wife?
A. Judging from what I saw during the time I was with them, from his and her letters, and his talk of her with me, I would say that he was.

Q. Was there anything in his conduct toward her that would justify her in leaving him and going to her parents and remaining out of his home for days at a time, or weeks, and finally deserting him?
A. Nothing in the world that could be imagined from what I know of their affairs, or know of the parties.

Q. Have you been in frequent and continued correspondence with Mr. Seawall since he and his wife’s marriage and separation?
A. Yes; I am his sister.

Q. Do you know of any reason why these parties cannot get along and live happily together except what you have already stated?
A. None in the world; I verily believe that though she is an ardent Catholic and he a Protestant, that this obstacle could be overcome, but for the interference of her family. With those two situations I see no chance of happiness for them. She has evidently chosen her parents and their wishes in preference to those of her husband, and between him and her parents there is a gulf that can not be bridged.


Full document here, from collection of Tennessee Electronic Library/Volunteer Voices



religion+in+Appalachia divorce+cases appalachia +history+of+appalachia appalachian+history

Middlesboro Daily News
Middlesboro, KY
Feb. 5, 1921

There are some persons who are emotional to such an extent that they completely lose control of themselves and let their emotions sway them. When persons of this nature are overcome by their emotions, they cannot control themselves and they are not in a position to judge of their actions.

Mrs. Lucy Chadwell, a member of the church of "Holy Rollers," who lives in the East End, by her own admission in police court today, is such a person. When Mrs. Chadwell, accompanied by her daughter, attended the services last night in the Second Baptist church, and her religious feelings overcame her so that she shook and rolled, thereby throwing those present at the service into a state of alarm and disturbance, the Rev. A.L. Chadwell of the Second Baptist church, swore out a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Chadwell on the grounds of disturbing the peace and breaking up religious services. 

When arraigned before Judge Wood in police court this morning. Mrs. Chadwell declared that she did not mean to create a disturbance or to break up the services. "I was so overcome with the spirit of religion," she told Judge Wood, "that I could not hold myself back. The Holy Ghost was within me and I could do nothing but give demonstration to my feeling."  During the hearing, which was attended by a large number of the members of Mrs. Chadwell's church, a demonstration was given showing how services are conducted by "Holy Rollers." 

Judge Wood placed Mrs. Chadwell on probation, with the warning that if any more complaints of a similar nature are made, he will be compelled to deal more severely with the offender.


source: http://kykinfolk.com/bell/newspaper_abstracts.htm



Holly+Rollers religion+in+Appalachia Bell+County+KY appalachia appalachia+history history+of+appalachia

"Some boys git it in their heads that they can make a sight of money selling liquor. The law cracks down on them almost as soon as they git a start. We see it happen every day around here. You've got to keep the law paid off a good and plenty or else the penitentiary is where they's going to land. Now if they does pay off, where is the profit left from selling? Ain't none. So there they is. I told Cap if he had it in his head to do that, he better be clearing his head of it right now.

"I don't blame him one bit for having his mind set on making a little money to have fun on. Seems like me and Calvin ain't never done a thing ever but work hard all our lives. Some folks find pleasure in going to meeting on Sunday. But it's no church I've had sight of here in Knoxville where the ones coming in and out ain't dressed up fit to kill. Some says it's all the same in the eyes of the Lord about how you dress. But I knows if He's got sense at all, He knows our clothes is too wore out for Sunday strutting. I know they's shabby in my own sight.

"Calvin and me both can read right well. In times back we use to read the Bible pretty much. But seems like you always come across something you can't make out straight. So we just stopped reading it. Looked a pure shame, as wore out as we was, to read things that upset your head.

"I guess I got on to the main of it, though. I know that Jesus Christ died to save sinners. And all that me and Calvin have to do is trust in Him. And we do. And we believe in Him. I don't see where they's any way to keep me and Calvin out of Heaven. Calvin moved away from the mountains to keep a killing from happening. That clears what's said about not killing. We ain't never stole and have always told the truth. We never brought false witness against nobody.

"They's more to it, but I counted them off one day and we is all right. Calvin and me ain't never harmed a living soul in our lives. So I ain't bothering about Hell if I never gits inside the door of a Knoxville church. When me and Calvin gits there I'd be more than glad to do what I could to help others git in.

"They's some folks, not a thousand miles away from here, that are going to need a heap of help. Ah, Lordy, yes!"

Lola Simmons
Knoxville TN 1938 or 1939

Such as Us: Southern Voices of the Thirties
by Tom E. Terrill, Jerrold Hirsch
UNC Press, 1978


Lola+Simmons Knoxville+TN Tom+E.+Terrill Jerrold+Hirsch moonshining religion+in+Appalachia appalachia appalachian+mountains+history