Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/259

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 199 Rebecca Randol, Frances Hitt and William Matthews. The board which took part in the organiza- tion of the church was composed of Elder David Greene and Deacons George Laurence and Henry Coekerham. The officers of the church as organized were : David Greene, pastor; Thomas English, deacon. In August, after the organization, Thomas Bull was elected writing clerk, and in the following April, William IMatthews was elected singing clerk. Thomas English, who was thus one of the charter members of the church, was a native of Georgia. He came to Missouri about 1804, and lived in the Ramsay settlement. He re- mained a member of the church and a deacon until his death, May 16, 1829. He left a large family of sons and daughtere, and his descendants still live in Cape Girardeau county. His wife, Jane, was also a member. He died in 1842. William Hitt, who became a member of Bethel church in 1812, and who afterward served as its clerk for a number of years, was one of the prominent members. He was the grandfather of the late Deacon Smith Hitt of the Cape Girardeau Baptist church. Ben- jamin Hitt, who also united with Bethel church in 1812, was the father of the late Judge Samuel Hitt, of Cape Girardeau. The Randol family was one of the early Baptist families in the district. Enos Randol united with Bethel church in 1808. His son, Enos, was a sergeant in Peter Craig's com- pany of mounted rangers that fought the battle of the Sink Hole. The Randol family still live in Cape Girardeau county. Edward Spear, who was one of the charter members of the church, was afterward a lieu- tenant in Craig's company, and was killed at the Sink Hole. Some of the other members of the church in the early time were William Smith, John Sheppard and his wife, Nancy; Isaac Shep- pard, who united with Bethel church in 1809. Isaac Sheppard was elected deacon and treas- urer, and was also one of the judges both of the common pleas court at Cape Girardeau and the county court. Ezekiel Hill, Rachel Hill, William Hill, the Thompson family, John Daugherty and Hiram C. Davis were also among the early members, having imited with the church prior to the year 1820. John Juden, Sr., was a native of England, and came from Baltimore in 1805 to Missouri. In 1820 he and John Juden, Jr., joined Bethel cliurch. This family and its descendants were very prominent in Cape Girardeau coimty for many years. On October 11, 1806, the congregation voted to erect a meeting house. In pursuance of this resolution, a small log house was built on the farm of Thomas Bull. It proved, however, to be too small and in 1812 was replaced by a hewn log building. This second house was well and strongly constructed of poplar logs. It was thirty feet by twenty-four feet in size. This house was used by the church until about 1861. The church then transferred its ses- sions to a house northwest of Jackson on Byrd 's creek. Sometime, about the same date, tlie old house was sold to a resident in the neighborhood who moved it away, about the distance of a mile, and rebuilt it into a barn. Some of the logs of the old house were saved at the time of the sale, and from them were constructed a number of walking canes and two gavels. One of these gavels was pre- sented to the Baptist General Association of the state at its meeting in St. Joseph in the year 1875 by the Rev. Dr. J. C. Maple. It was handsomely inscribed and is still in