The Power of the Gospel in a War-Torn Town
- Athens, Alabama -
(1865-1910)
By
Andrew B. Ellis
December 15, 2000
“The richest heritage of any people is the lives
and memories of the good and great who have preceded them.”[1] As a heritage to the residents and members
of the church of Christ in Limestone County, Alabama, a documented history is
certainly in order to understand “where we’ve come from.” This work is a succession to the prior one,
“A
History of the Restoration Movement in Limestone County Prior to the Civil War,” which covered the early days of the Restoration
Plea in Limestone County up to the War Between the States. It is the purpose of this work to recap the
years of the War leading to about 1910; which will not only document the
history in factual material, but will also the encounter of the first major
division among the Restoration Cause.
The Christians in this region today owe a deep debt
of gratitude to the work of several men who helped bring the cause of Jesus
Christ to Athens and all of North Alabama.
Perhaps the greatest initial influence of the pure and simple gospel
taught in the “Reformation Principles” of the 1800’s was Barton W. Stone, who
spoke fluent Cherokee and reportedly spoke 5 Indian tongues. It is our hope that the reading will be
enjoyable, but also inspiring to others to seek and explore the historical past
while directing into the headwinds of the future. Lessons can be learned, and wisdom can come from the mistakes and
misfortunes of those who have gone before us.
There is an important interruption that must be
made here. One thing that is important
to realize is that during the early times of the Restoration Movement, the
terms “Christian Church”, “church of Christ”, and “Disciples of Christ” were
synonymous terms. A reader of this
brief history should understand that these terms were all viewed to be
scriptural in nature by nearly all leaders in the movement, although the terms
represent very different theologies today.
Indeed within each of the three terms, many segments divide convictions
and interpretations even to the present.
This essay will address the first of these divisions in the example of
the Athens Christian church of 1903 later on.
Tolbert Fanning was familiar with North Alabama because
he lived in Lauderdale County most of his young life. James Matthews baptized Fanning in Cypress Creek, but Fanning’s
response was queued by the sermons of B.F. Hall; a man very influential in
North Alabama and a student of Barton Stone.
Stone had baptized Hall in Kentucky while he was a student at Stone’s
school for young preachers. A short
biography will help us understand why his work in Athens and Limestone County
is so valuable to the local heritage.
Some of Tolbert Fanning’s life exploits would
include the founding of the Christian Review, a paper which Fanning
turned into the hands of J.B. Ferguson, a promising, young, charismatic
preacher who was Fanning’s partner and apprentice. This mistake in handing over the paper to Ferguson led to the
call to Alexander Campbell to come to Nashville and settle the fiasco. Jesse Ferguson had begun teaching things not
grounded in the Bible, such as speculation over the realms of the dead,
communication with the dead, and other topics such as this which led to his
public downfall, and the Christian Review’s demise.
Fanning counted his losses and moved on. In 1844 he started Franklin College,
a Christian school for secular education and in scholarly and Biblical things,
but also in everyday practical knowledge for working on a farm. Students would work 8 hours in the classroom
and 4 hours on the farm daily. This was
not only so for students, but Fanning was documented later as saying, “the
difficult thing is getting the teachers to work.”[2] Some of Fanning’s students included David
Lipscomb, William Lipscomb, and T.B. Larimore.
Fanning started the Gospel Advocate with
William Lipscomb (David’s younger brother) in July 1855.[3] Amid trials and difficulties of the war
beginning in 1861, the Advocate was not able to survive because the mail
services had stopped. With little over
5 years of monthly publishing, the Advocate closed its doors on the
publication. For our purposes, it helps
to know that the Gospel Advocate was a voice echoing the work in Limestone
County, as well as nearly every county in the south. The Advocate was perhaps the best-known method of media
communication among brethren in those days.
In 1866 the Gospel Advocate was reborn after
a quietus from the difficulties of the Civil War. Primarily by the hands of David Lipscomb, the Advocate was
brought back after the Civil War as a weekly, rather than a monthly. Now replacing his brother William, David
Lipscomb brought this effort to light with much sweat and tears. Fanning was instrumental in keeping
experience in the editor’s chair of the Advocate. This interesting story of the rebirth of the Advocate
is told in great detail in Earl West’s “The Search for the Ancient Order”,
Vol. II. The Gospel Advocate
was an ever-present voice for the work and progress of the cause in Limestone
County, Alabama. In the October 30,
1866 Advocate, James M. Pickens reported results the travels of he and
E.G. Sewell; “Since (my marriage), I have returned to North Alabama, and during
a meeting of four days at Frankfurt, added twenty-one; quite a number of them
from the Baptists and Methodists.”[4] Tolbert Fanning, however was the strongest
early voice of truth in the City of Athens.
On July 3, 1868, Fanning remarked, “I could hardly recognized the
war-torn town of Athens,” indicating his familiarity with the town. Apparently Tolbert Fanning had been through
Athens on several other occasions whether preaching or traveling south to
Decatur.
Fanning went on to Decatur from Athens, and on a
train to Florence, Fanning stopped at Mountain Home, where Courtland is
today. On the train he came in contact
with a young T.B.Larimore. Larimore was
on his way to Corinth, Mississippi to hold a meeting. This was the first time Larimore had seen Fanning since he
graduated from Franklin College the year before and begun preaching. Larimore was 25 years old at this time. “Fanning mused himself that the young
Larimore seemed to be a ‘sensible, modest, and earnest advocate of the truth’”.[5]
In the early days after the Civil War, Fanning
preached fairly frequently in Limestone County. One story is told of Fanning’s return to Limestone County to the
area around Big Creek (present-day Oakland community) for a gospel
meeting. When he arrived at the meeting
spot he noted there were only 4 people present for the meeting. Having an audience – however a scant one –
Fanning went ahead and preached. Due
primarily to Fanning’s persistence, three of the four people present were
converted to Christ.[6] Upon returning in October of 1869, Fanning
came and preached at the local Baptist church, which was altogether encouraged
in those days. The Baptists and members
of the “Campbellite” doctrines were not in bad sorts with one another until
later years over the dogmatic positions each would make over entrance to the
Kingdom of Christ. However, it should
be noted that R.W. Officer later stood trial in Limestone County before the
Baptist Convention. His charges were
“preaching Campbellite doctrine.”
The Editor of the Athens Post was a strong
proponent of reporting the presence of visiting preachers in the area, and also
the content of their sermons. How
amazing are the changes that have taken place regarding this type of activity! How dare our media report the content of a
gospel sermon!
The Editor of the Post was very much
impressed with Fanning and encouraged him to engage in a written debate with
T.B. Espy, the preacher at the Baptist church in Athens. Espy simultaneously wrote the Editor of the Post
and asked him if he was ‘willing’ to publish the content of the written debate
with Fanning. For 6 weeks Fanning and
Espy engaged in debate in the Athens Post, beginning in the October 8,
1869 edition.[7] On October 29, 1869, the Editor of the Post
reported, “Espy will be absent next Sunday.
He has resigned from preaching and moved to Arkansas.” Nothing else is documented that would
explain the effectiveness of Fanning’s study and debate skill, but in this
case, it is clear the Baptist preacher could not answer the challenge.
The Gospel Advocate reported the Obituary for
“Brother Tucker” suggesting that Lipscomb himself was well acquainted with the
man as he was a member of the church in Mooresville. Lipscomb went on to report of his Meeting held in Mooresville on
October 14, 1866.[8]
There have been alleged occasions when Alexander
Campbell himself came to Limestone County… specifically Mooresville. An 1888 article in the Athens Post
states that Campbell preached at Mooresville, however, there is no evidence to
support that claim. Several things
negate the claim, not the least of which is Campbell’s extensive written record
of nearly every place he goes, at very specific times in his life. His trend of writing includes times and
locations, but also causes for his visits to places. The article of the Post remarks “he came into Mooresville
on the train” and yet the tracks were not even in Mooresville at the time. Although Campbell’s son-in-law and daughter
did however live near Limestone County after the Civil War, there is not
evidence that Alexander Campbell set foot on Limestone County soil..
The Hazard of the Die records the preaching travels of Tolbert Fanning
in 1869 and states that “Continuing
along the valley of the beautiful Tennessee River, he passed the farm of J.T.
Barclay, son-in-law of Alexander Campbell and the first man sent out by the
American Christian Missionary Society, who had returned from his work in
Jerusalem.”[9] Barclay’s father, Dr. Thomas Barclay, was a
Physician and Teacher who bought Monticello after the death of Thomas
Jefferson. Due to looters and the lack
of privacy, the Barclay’s sold Monticello and moved back into the country of
Virginia near Charlottesville.
Unfortunately the facts in this are not clear as to whether this Barclay
is the same man as the first Missionary sent to Jerusalem. Dr. Robert Richardson, Alexander Campbell’s
biographer, recorded the following in his Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, “…Mr.
Campbell’s youngest daughter, Decima, was married to J. Judson Barclay, setting
out immediately for the island of Cyprus, where Mr. Barclay was United States
consul.”[10] Was it Thomas Barclay or J. Judson
Barclay? At any rate, there is indeed a
discrepancy as to the true records. But
the fact that Fanning passed by Judson Barclay’s Farm in Wheeler Station – near
Confederate General Joe Wheeler’s farm – is true. Fanning was closely associated with Alexander Campbell until
Campbell’s death in 1866. It is
presumed that Judson Barclay preached in Mooresville, and perhaps it was he who
was documented, rather than his father-in-law Alexander Campbell. This is the only tie to Limestone County,
Alabama that Campbell would have, and this did not occur until after his death
in 1866.
Many, if not most of the gospel sermons in the
county were preached by less-well-known preachers than the highly publicized
David Lipscomb, Tolbert Fanning, or Barton W. Stone. One of the preachers with an astounding impact on the souls of
listeners was John Taylor. Taylor was a
bit of a ruffian, a man who might be considered a menace to the more
aristocratic brethren. There are many
stories of the life of John Taylor, all of which are extremely amusing and
entertaining to the simpler side in all of us.
John Taylor lived a long life from 1807 to 1905. In 1868, a young T.B. Larimore took a
preaching tour in North Alabama with the older gentleman. Taylor was a man of no formal education, a
man of many trades; he was a farmer, a blacksmith, a carpenter, and rumored to
have been able to do nearly any trade with his hands.
One story relating to Taylor was in relation to his
Bible, his mule, and his ever-present willingness to proclaim the word of
God. Taylor rode a mule everywhere he
went in later years. He never in his
life rode a train, even when offered a ticket by some brethren who offered to
pay his way to Florence for a Gospel Meeting.
When offered this ticket, he replied “No, brethren; it runs too
fast. Why, God bless you, I might
faint. If I had to go to New York I
would rather walk than get on that thing.”[11] One wonders if brother Taylor would fly in a
jet airplane. I suppose it is unlikely!
It is also documented of Taylor that he carried his
Bible in his hat everywhere he went.
His Bible was worn through on the front cover where it rested on his
head, and likewise his head bore a bald spot where the Bible lay. It was never an “immortally strong”
reputation that preceded Taylor where he went, nor were the brethren left
awe-stricken at his presentation of the doctrines of God, but it was the
persistent cultivation of the talents and gifts he had.[12] Undoubtedly, T.B. Larimore acquired some of
his most admirable traits from this man whom he spent much time with while he
was a young, moldable preacher.
Larimore’s character, like Taylor before him was the thing which would
make him an extremely profitable worker for the Master’s cause.
Where Taylor would impact the Limestone county
region is mostly in the Poplar Creek, Shanghi, Big Creek and Mooresville
communities. Poplar Creek was the area
that was strongly established with the Cherokee Indians years before from
Barton Stone’s influence; although never really documented. By this time, and shortly after, Poplar Creek
Baptist church – a short distance through the field from the Christian church –
would also be the scene of the heresy trial of R.W. Officer; one of the
strongest converts from the strong denominational format of the Baptists. It was with his Bible in his hat, and his
body perched on his trusty mule that John Taylor made the most lasting
difference, stopping and preaching when any opportunity arose, and preaching
meeting-after-brush arbor meeting throughout the county. This is what made the theology of the
Restoration Movement so appealing to many people. How could a man be so impassioned for the Lord?
Before we reach the strong impact of T.B. Larimore,
there are some other preachers whose influence must not be discounted. It should be noted that James H. Dunn was an
old gentleman who “died with his armor on.”[13]
It is presumed that he actually died while presenting a sermon behind the
pulpit. Dunn was a very old man when he
died, and it was well known that he would ride twice a month to preach all the way
from his home at the Reunion Church to the churches of western
Lauderdale County near Waterloo; which is about 90 miles. J.H. Dunn is buried in the Reunion Cemetery,
as he was a faithful worker to that congregation. The life of J.H. Dunn was documented in the Gospel Advocate
after the war.
Also influential in the 1860’s through the 70’s was
James M. Pickens, an educator, preacher, and politician who lived near
Courtland and was associated with the Mountain Home School, where he served as
President and administered even while T.B. Larimore began teaching there
himself.
One of the local papers said of Pickens, “he is one
of the ablest ‘divines’ in the country.”
Many believed Pickens was an able speaker… until he got into
Politics. Many of his close friends
stated of Pickens that he never knew the influence he could have because he was
‘corrupted’ by Politics.[14] Apparently Pickens was not as influential as
he could have been with two men at least; Pickens got into a dispute when his
neighbors were fighting and threatening to shoot each other. When Pickens tried to stifle the fight, he
somehow got in the middle of the two men and was shot himself, ending his
life. Pickens was shot with a 45
revolver in 1881. It was rumored that
he was going to run for Governor of Alabama, until he was killed in this tragic
way. Pickens preached in Limestone
County repeatedly in the brush arbors, tent meetings, and in the Courthouse.[15] James Pickens often wrote for the Gospel
Advocate, reporting in October 1866 of his preaching trip through North
Alabama with E.G. Sewell, and his marriage to Mary C. Williams at the close of
the trip.[16]
Yet another preacher who had some influence in this
period of time was Jacob Creath. Creath
was a champion of conservatism, and adamantly opposed the implementation of the
innovations of the Missionary Society and Instrumental Music at a time when not
many knew why to oppose them. Jacob
Creath showed with sound reasoning that to adopt the Missionary Society, as a
means of expediency for preaching was to trample the wisdom of God set up in
His church. In 1870 the Courthouse was
rebuilt - after being destroyed by Union troops 5 years before – and some
Christians were meeting there in small numbers. Jacob Creath preached Saturday and Sunday, the weekend of May 27,
1870 in the new Town Hall in Athens, which was located on the east side of the
square and seated over three thousand.
June 3 marked another occasion when Creath spoke in the Courthouse.[17]
Limestone County seemed at that day and time to be
a bit on the rural side to attract so many “big” preachers. It is puzzling when one looks at the lack of
technology, and lack of highways then, comparing to the infrastructure and ease
of the Interstate Highway system today, it is puzzling why some of these men
might have so often come to Athens. For
one thing, the Nashville-Decatur railroad ran right through Athens. Athens was a comfortable small town that met
the needs of many who would traverse the ways to Decatur or even further south
to West Point, or Birmingham. When one
left Athens, the railway went North/South, and also East/West. So actually, Athens was a crossroads even in
those days, even as it is today.
Chattanooga, Memphis, Nashville, or Birmingham was all readily
accessible from Decatur, which was a scant 12 miles from Athens. There was also a large Depot in Athens; the
stopping spot for weary travelers and especially preachers was enticing for
many. In addition to others who
regularly made it down to Athens, David Lipscomb held a Protracted Meeting at Reunion
the week of July 22, 1870. “Many
Additions” were made to the church at that time.[18]
During this time, there were some 6 or 7
congregations of the Lord’s people meeting in the county. For the most part, these congregations are
still in existence today. The first
‘documented’ church was the Mooresville Christian church, which obtained its
deed on July 7, 1851.[19] Also meeting at this time were the Poplar
Creek church, which in all likely-hood was the congregation planted by Barton
W. Stone in the 1830’s, but never documented.
This congregation is no longer in existence on its original location,
but it was located near the TVA Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant meets the Tennessee
River. Big Creek was another
congregation, along with Shanghi, both of these churches were in the western
areas of the county. These
congregations joined some years later to become the Oakland church of Christ,
which is still in existence today.
Reunion Christian church was the 2nd
congregation documented in the County, obtaining its deed on property in August
of 1858.[20] In the 1870’s, the Bethel congregation
was planted. Originally meeting in a
log cabin east of the building which stands today on Highway 72, the cabin was
outgrown and a second building was erected about 1 mile west of there. A cyclone demolished that building around
1900, and the members erected a third building about 200 yards east of there,
with a cemetery behind the building. A
few years later, this third building was outgrown and the present building was
built. The Bethel church was
instrumental in the planting of a church in the city limits of Athens during
the late 1870’s, along with Larimore and Jacob Creath who held meetings in the
Athens Courthouse.
F.D. Srygley writes of
Larimore concerning his character and lifestyle in this way;
“To love
everybody, and to be beloved by everybody, seem to be two fixed laws of his nature. If you see him at a big fire in a city,
where everybody is excited, the engines all at work, and the police scolding,
threatening, commanding… he is cool and collected, polite, and
courteous, very likely with his hat in hand bowing and begging pardon of some
street gammin for being jostled against the little fellow in the crush and
excitement of the great crowd. Nobody
speaks coarsely or impolitely to him.”[22]
Larimore was the kind of man that helped the gospel
grow from a small potted plant into a climbing tree for the next
generation. He was a man of impeccable
manners and politeness, while a gentleman still in the pulpit. It is told that Larimore took a nap every day,
and would insist on sleeping on the floor.
He believed this would help in his stature and form in the pulpit,
aiding his already clean-cut appearance by adding more credibility.
In 1878, T.B. Larimore started the
Mars Hill Bible College, in Florence, Alabama.
Many who sat at his feet are documented in F.D. Srygley’s Larimore and
His Boys, and one of these young men was T.L. Weatherford. Weatherford was a married man with children
and a farm, yet when he faced the future of the church, he believed it his duty
to make the efforts to sit and the feet of Larimore and be educated for
service. This he did, along with many
others, and Weatherford became a strong preacher and elder in the church at Big
Creek, in Limestone County. T.B.
Larimore would not only be very busy with his school administration at this
point, but remained diligent to the preaching of the word of God in every
opportunity. Larimore held a meeting in
the Athens Courthouse in 1888. This
meeting was a product of the group of Christians who would later plant the Athens
Christian church. Brethren at the Bethel
church had come into town from Eastern Limestone County to aid in preaching
and starting a group here. More will be
stated on this group later.[23]
R.W. Officer – Heretic or
Gospel Preacher?
During the late 1870’s a man came on the scene in
Limestone County named R.W. Officer.
Officer was born in Murray County, Georgia, August 18, 1845. It is said of Officer that the first night
he attempted to preach was the night he obeyed the Gospel. At 25, he came forward at a service in the
Baptist church in which he was raised and said, “I believe with all my heart
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I want to be baptized.” The preacher, stating that was not in his
discipline book refused to baptize Officer on these grounds. Officer continued, “I am in the condition of
mind the Ethiopian eunuch was in when Philip preached unto him Jesus. I want to find a man who will be as kind to
me as Philip was to the eunuch. Can I
find him here to-night?”[24]
Officer was first employed as a
missionary with the Lincoln Baptist Association, for each of his six years; he
was called to defend the charge of heresy.
R.W. Officer was a man who clearly reasoned himself out of the wiles of
denominational edicts and conformed to the truth of God’s word. He began preaching the word, and as T.L.
Weatherford, a friend of Officer and a student of Mars Hill College reported,
“Officer preached at Big Creek (present-day Oakland church of Christ) this past
Sunday, with seven additions. Officer
is a bold preacher of the truth.”[25] Officer became an amazingly effective and
successful preacher of the gospel.
Srygley’s book of Biographies and Sermons recounts the “Heresy
Trial of R.W. Officer” and recalls the word-for-word transcript of the trial,
which was held the Poplar Creek Baptist Church, through the field from the
church of Christ by the same name. Of
Officer, Srygley speaks;
“He was a constant and careful student of the Bible; and
original and independent thinker, and a fluent and vigorous speaker. He traveled extensively and labored vigorously
in word and doctrine publicly and from house to house in the mountain region of
North Alabama… He quoted scripture so readily and copiously from all parts of
the Bible…”[26]
Officer defended
the truth of the Word of God so patiently and boldly that he would’ve easily
fit into the armor of the soldiers of the first century. He, like Larimore was a man of impeccable
manners, however, he displayed a fiery attitude and sternness that showed a
true conviction of faith. Officer would
never cease to be persecuted by the Baptists, and yet he continued his zeal for
spreading the simplicity of the scriptural plan for man’s redemption to
God. Officer would become a strong
supporter and active evangelist of the gospel’s spread to Oklahoma and other
Indian territories before the Reservation laws. He continued to work with the Indians to implement the
disciplines of a life in Christianity over the sluggish principles of their
Indian heritage. An Indian named
Towacany Jim gave officer the name “White-man-not-afraid-of-thunder” for
fording a swollen river in the dark of a stormy midnight to meet the Indian and
bring encouragement to the brethren.
These men,
including many details we have lost through the course of time, are the men who
helped the cause of Christ to stem the tides of denominationalism in the late
19th century. T.L.
Weatherford, T.B. Larimore, R.W. Officer, David Lipscomb, and John Taylor are
but a few men who helped sow the seeds of the gospel, which led to a strong
body of Christians across the county.
The Coming
of the Storm in Limestone County
Larimore, Creath,
and the brethren from Bethel could have all anticipated the storm to come in
the Athens church. The issues of
the Missionary Society and Instrumental Music in the Lord’s churches were
uprooting and severing churches all over the country. Fortunately, the Athens brethren avoided the trouble until about
1900. Records have been kept of the formal
planting and first meeting of the Athens church in 1893. As mentioned before, Larimore held a meeting
in the Courthouse in 1888. Christians
met in 1892 in the city, when W.Y. Haggard moved to Athens to open his
Photography Studio. Haggard was a
Christian, and was interested in helping the cause in Athens any way he
could. Meeting in Haggard’s upstairs
studio on the west side of the Courthouse Square in Athens, the Christians had
their first real home since they had begun meeting together in the Courthouse
and Town hall in the early 1870’s. In
1893, the Athens Post records the Athens church of Christ as the
only church of Christ in the city.
In 1901, the
elders of the church in Athens acquired the property on the corner of Madison
and Market Streets. No longer standing
today, the original building was connected to the rear of the current U.G. White
hardware store. The new church met in
the building for approximately three years, when the implementation of the
Organ split the church.[27]
In 1894 due to
the efforts of A.C. Henry, a representative of the American Christian
Missionary Society, a gospel meeting was held in which he adamantly encouraged
the Athens brethren to engage themselves in the work of the
Society. Holding to the typical
arguments of expediency for its existence, the Society had successfully
preceded the Organ in nearly every church where the Society was supported. Athens, Alabama would not be immune
to this progression, and continued efforts by A.C. Henry and others aided in
the secular attitude toward the scriptures, which prevailed in the 1903
division of the church.
In 1903, a Mrs.
McClellan gave an organ to the church for the purpose of her daughter’s
wedding. After the wedding was over,
the supporting brethren prevailed over the opposing brethren, so the organ
remained in the building. Leaving the
premises, the brethren in opposition to the organ did everything they could to
secure legal ownership and deed to the property, but to no avail. Finally, in 1919, the Athens church of
Christ attained clear title on the property from 16 years before, and the Athens
Christian church was evicted from the property, being required to attain
their own meeting place. Purchasing the
lot on the opposing corner to the building, the Christian church
brethren built a building, which remains today as the only Christian church
in Athens, Alabama.[28]
The Athens
church of Christ would remain the only church of Christ in the city until
World War II. In 1943 the Eastside church
would be established, and the Northside church would follow in 1945.
Sadly, this era
of history from 1860 to 1910 will close with the division of the Lord’s church
in Athens, so typical of the churches around the country during this time. Possibly the most harmful thing to the
Lord’s church throughout this time period was the unwavering insistence of
brethren toward the innovations of the Society and Instrumental Music. These innovations were merely the vehicle by
which the consciences of deeply devoted brethren would be trampled. It seems that once the wheel of ‘progress’ started rolling, there was no
satisfaction for the supporters until the objectives were accomplished. The love of Christ and concern for the
conscience of brethren seemed to take a back seat, while the proponents had
their way. While County churches were
not so affected, the Athens church (later Market Street church)
continued its struggle with issues, yet grew and grew in membership and the
spread of the gospel in spite of the pervading controversy.
The growth of the
Athens church set the stage for some phenomenal progress for the cause
of Christ in the Twentieth Century.
Before the turbulent times of the 1950’s come along, the growth of all
of the Athens churches stimulated a flurry of church plantings over the
years.
As noted above,
all of the residents and members of the church of Christ in this area today and
deeply indebted to the men who worked diligently to bring the gospel to light
in a dark Antebellum society. Let us
learn from our past, and honor those men gone before us by our own continued
work in the cause of restoration. “For
the fields are white for harvest.”
[1] Introduction to Preface, Life of Alexander Campbell, Thomas W. Grafton. 1897
[2] The Search For The Ancient Order, Vol. I. p. 283. Earl Irvin West.
[3] The
Search For The Ancient Order, Vol. I, p. 286.
[4] Gospel Advocate, Vol. 4, Oct. 30, 1866. J.M. Pickens.
[5] The Hazard Of The Die, James R. Wilburn, 1969.
[6] Robert Turner, Preacher and Historian, Personal Interview, August 2001.
[7] Athens Post, October 8, 13,15,29, November 12, 1869.
[8] Gospel Advocate, Vol. 4, October 14, 1866. David Lipscomb.
[9] The Hazard Of The Die, p. 254, James R. Wilburn, 1969.
[10] Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, Vol. II, p. 647. Robert Richardson.
[11] Larimore and His Boys, p. 46, F.D. Srygley, 1891.
[12] Larimore and His Boys, p. 48, F.D. Srygley, 1891.
[13] Athens Post, 1880. Note to the Editor.
[14] ‘Corrupted’ in Politics in that day simply meant that one was sunken in the media and involved in Local political causes.
[15] Robert Turner, Preacher and Historian, Personal Interview, August 2001.
[16] Gospel Advocate, Vol. 6, Oct. 30, 1866. Jas. M. Pickens.
[17] Athens Post, July 1870.
[18] Athens
Post, July 1870.
[19] Limestone County Record, July, 1851.
[20] Limestone
County Record, August, 1858.
[21] Patsy Weatherington, of Chester County, TN. Relative of T.B. Larimore.
[22] Larimore and His Boys, p. 228-229. F.D. Srygley
[23] Alabama Courier, October 5, 1893.
[24] Biographies and Sermons, p.310ff. F.D. Srygley.
[25] Gospel Advocate, Sept. 20, 1877. T.L. Weatherford.
[26] Biographies and Sermons, p. 321ff. F.D. Srygley.
[27] Limestone County Record, June 1950. Testimony given under affidavit of Mrs. Lena P. Henry, member of the Market Street church of Christ. Mrs. Lena Henry was well acquainted with the ordeal of the property transfer and arguments over the use of the organ in the worship. Throughout the division in 1903, Mrs. Henry was associated with the Athens church from its beginning in 1893.
[28] Limestone
County Record, June 1950.