Church and Family History Research Assistance
for Primitive Baptist Churches in Edwards County, Illinois
CHURCHES:
BON-PAS (BOM-PAS)
Bon-Pas Church was organized Saturday, October 23, 1824, by Elder Elias Roberts and others. The minutes of Little Wabash Church show that brethren John Rankin, Eli Stuart, Daniel Bidwell, Aaron Williams, James Garrison, Jacob Baker, Jonathan Stuart, and Thomas Pool were appointed to attend Bom-pas on that date to aid in constituting a new church. During the first full year of its existence, the church received 46 new members by baptism, and a few more by letter. This church was a charter member of the Little Wabash Association, in 1825.
A history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties states that Elias Roberts was the first Baptist preacher in the area, and that his denomination built a frame meeting house, 50' by 60' in size, adorned with a spire and supplied with a bell, in 1838. The Grayville Church was organized in 1838, and later built a meeting house which fits this description. It was located near the northern boundary of Grayville. The "Labors and Travels of Elder Lemuel Potter" also confirms that the church building at Grayville had a bell in 1865, when he made his first visit there. From these facts, it appears that the Grayville Church was a second church in the same area as the Bon-Pas Church. Very little information is available about the Bon-Pas Church.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Bigelow, Dickersen, Hearn, Hensley, Kellet, Payne, Roberts, Wilson (very incomplete list due to loss of records).
LONG PRAIRIE (WEST SALEM)
Long Prairie Church was organized on July 1, 1825, with eight charter members, viz., Isaac Greathouse, George McCown, Sarah Clark, Margaret McCown, Jonathan Shelby, Thomas Carney, Polly Mitchell, and Margaret Sams. It began as an arm of Bon-Pas Church. The presbytery was composed of Elder Elias Roberts (moderator) and Elder John Clark (clerk), and Brethren Martin, Nathan Bigelow, Jeremiah Wilson, B. T. Edmund, and Marion and Charles Hensley.
In December 1825 the church elected Elder Elias Roberts as her pastor; he was followed by Elders John Miller, Richard Gardner, Jeremiah Doty, C. S. Mading, David S. Ford, Lemuel Potter, Felix Potter, and Harrison C. Bell, up to the year 1883.
The first meeting house was erected prior to 1835, and later fell into a state of disrepair. The church then met in homes and schools, until 1876, when the present building was constructed.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Aaron, Anderson, Anglin, Arnold, Ashmore, Begley, Bell, Binion, Blakney, Blood, Bond, Boyd, Breen, Brown, Buccallato, Buhl, Bunting, Carney, Carson, Chrisman, Clark, Clodfelter, Coats, Corum, Cox, Curneal, Curtis, Devor, Diesher, Doss, Doty, Dunavan, Duncan, Embree, Farnsworth, Ferguson, Ford, Frost, Fuller, Gardner, George, Gowin, Grafsue, Greathouse, Hans, Hart, Hazel, Hefton, Henby, Hill, Hinby, Hoeszle, Hughes, Humphrey, Inyart, Israel, Jackson, Jones, Judge, Kitchen, Lake, Lang, Lee, Leigh, Lomas, Luthe, Mading, Malone, Marks, McCown, McCrary, McFarland, McKinzie, McWhorter, Merrin, Miller, Misonheimer, Mitchell, Montgomery, Moore, Mounts, Myers, Nandsier, Nanny, Oliver, Orr, Overstreet, Parker, Phelps, Potter, Price, Pullen, Reeder, Rice, Rogers, Russell, Ruth, Sams, Sandefur, Sarks, Schrader, Shan, Shelby, Shockley, Simpson, Stennett, Stone, Summers, Sutterfield, Tarpley, Taylor, Thomas, Thompson, Tomblinson, Tomlison, Travers, Vaughn, Walker, Walser, Walston, Walters, Wardell, Warmoth, Watson, Wheeler, Whitaker, Williams, Wilson, Wyatt.
BIRK'S PRAIRIE (ALBION)
Birk's Prairie Church was organized in about 1826. It was known locally in more recent times as the "Elder Church." It was probably organized by members dismissed from Bon-Pas Church. Birk's Prairie was named for Jeremiah Birk, an early settler on the prairie. Therefore the church (now gone) and cemetery are referred to as Birk's Prairie Church and Cemetery. In its early history the cemetery was referred to as the Elder Cemetery.
The following article is copied from the Albion Times dated December 7, 1943: "The Elder Primitive Baptist Church, also known as the Birk Prairie church, about seven and one-half miles southwest of Albion, was totally destroyed by fire about noon on Thanksgiving Day. Sam Puntney, a member of the church, and Elders Doty, Knight and Charles Jones, Baptist ministers, had just finished cleaning up the church, unused as a place of worship for the past seven or eight years, for services which were planned to begin soon. They had cleaned the interior of the building when sparks from a brush fire in the church yard fell on the shingle roof and ignited the building. It was completely destroyed in about half an hour's time. There was no insurance."
Part of the records have been located, but the early records are among those which are lacking.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Allison, Baxter, Boultinghouse, Brown, Cole, Copeland, Copelin, Cullen, Cullison, Davis, Ellison, Etheridge, Ethridge, Glover, Ham, Hensley, Hickman, Higginbottom, Hodgson, Hughes, Hunsinger, Jones, Jordan, Judge, Lane, Little, Locke, McCrary, McKibben, Moore, Morris, Orr, Puntney, Rodgers, Schofield, Sheridan, Smith, Spencer, Sullivan, Taylor, Vincent, Wade, West, Whitlow, Williams, Young (very incomplete list due to loss of part of the records).
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE SOURCES IN THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST LIBRARY:
Minutes of the Little Wabash and Skillet Fork Associations; part of the records of Long Prairie and Birk's Prairie churches.
PLEASE HELP us obtain additional records or photographs of the churches in this county.
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