Charter member descendants still attend church ancestors founded 100 years ago
By MAMALENE PARR
Special to The Journal
BLODGETT -- The year 1903 brought change, including a new name for our community and a new church. Originally this community was named Liberty. The postal service was going to put an office at the store here when they discovered another Liberty near Houston. Because they couldn't have two offices with the same name in the same state, it was decided to call this Blodgett, after John and Margaret Blodgett who owned the store.
The post office only lasted two years.
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| Liberty Missionary Baptist piano player Jerry Parr is also in the shot at top right - see the lady at right holding the baby? That's Lurlene (Mamalene) Parr holding Jerry, posing with everybody who went home with Arch and Cassie Smith one Sunday (circa 1943) to eat lunch. In 1919 a tornado destroyed the original church - the building behind, that wasn't destroyed, was the Liberty School, where the church was founded in 1903. And how else would you celebrate a 100 year anniversary, if not with a covered dish dinner after the Sunday morning service? | |
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Before Liberty Missionary Baptist Church was organized, people drove wagons to church at Monticello, so with the slow method of travel we wanted a church in our own community. Our school house was a boxed building and that's where our church was organized and continued meeting for the first 10 years. In 1913 it was moved to our present location, now the corner of Farm to Market 135 and Highway 21. In 1917 Margaret Blodgett made a deed to the church and its heirs forever for $15.
The first building was only one big room. Before daylight on April 9, 1919, the building was destroyed by a tornado that also destroyed many homes.
The second building was also one big room with a curtain in the corner forming a square to be closed off for a Sunday school room. There was no electricity and no gas for heat and no restrooms. Kerosene lanterns hanging from the ceiling provided what light they had. A wood heater for such a big room wasn't much heat.
For a long time Liberty had an organ played by Delmer Ward. Time came when they decided we needed a piano. Times were hard, no one had any money, so they borrowed $200 from Lucian Jones to buy the first piano. Men would work a "Lord's Acre" in cotton to sell to make the payments. They would only make a little, maybe $25 or $30 a year.
While Brother Dean Blackwell was pastor an old farm house was moved and added to the building. Those were the first Sunday School rooms.
The farm house had a room that extended out to the south and was furnished with a bedroom suit, table and chairs, a small kitchen cabinet and a small cook stove, no water. This was for the pastor to spend the weekend in.
The third building was built in 1975, a brick building,builtwhile Brother Charles Clark was pastor. The church was given a new piano by Miss Catherine Stovall. By this time we had water, restrooms and a water cooler.
We built a fellowship hall.
This building was converted into classrooms when we built the present building in 1995, under the leadership of our current pastor, Brother Gary Griffith.
In 1943 the home of Mrs. Cassie Smith, the church clerk, was destroyed by fire and the church records were lost in the fire.
But some of the charter members were Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Smith, Mr. Cap Garretson, Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Bradford and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Jones. Mr. Albert Jones swerved as one of the first Deacons. Six generations later and with an unbroken link in generations, descendants of Albert Jones still worship at Liberty. Four generations are present in almost every service.
In September, we celebrated our 100th anniversary.