Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/553

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 493 lu 1868. The original inemhers were Levi E. Whybark and wife, Samuel W. Whybark and wife, J. J. Conrad and wife, Mrs. Mur- doek, Kaziali E. Sutherlin and Urriah D. Titus. A meeting house was erected by them in 1868. In 1880 a church was organized at Fred- ericktown, and on March 21, 1880, one at Poplar Bluff by J. W. Allen of St. Louis. The Poplar Bluff congregation erected a house of worship in 188-1 at a cost of $2,000. The churches of this branch of the Pres- byterian church are affiliated with the Northern Presbyterian General Assembly. Their work has prospered but has hardly kept pace with the work of the Southern Church. Recently an effort has been made to unite the Cumberland church — a venerable organ- ization with the General Assembly of the Northern Church. The great bulk of the Cumberland churches were merged with the church of the North. Some refused to enter the larger organization and out of this at- tempted merger came much bitter feeling and a number of suits to determine the own- ership of church property. Some of the Cumberland churches in Southeast ]Iissouri followed the ma.jority of churches of that connection into the Northern church but others have maintained their sepai'ate exist- ence. An account is here given of some of the Cumberland churches in this part of the state. Cumberland Presbyterians There are a number of Cumberland Pres- byterian churches in Southeast ^Missouri. The oldest one of these was organized at Clarkton in Dunklin county, in 1855 by Rev. G. W. Jordan. The members were: Jacob Trout and wife, William Pickard and fam- ily, Thomas P. Hord and wife, John Agnew and family and John Timberman and wife. In 1856 the congregation m-ected a meeting house of hewn logs and in 1866 they built a substantial frame structure which was dedi- cated in 1887 by Rev. B. G. Mitchell. Among the pastors of this church have been G. W. Jordan, J. N. Roberts, E. J. Stockton, James .McKnight, Rev. Mr. Cobb and W. W. Speuce. This church was for a time known as West Prairie church. A church was organized at Dexter, March 21, 1870, under the name of Mount Union church, the elders of the organization were Abner Warren, John Sitton and D. W. Mays. The name of the church was changed to Dexter church in 1875 and it was reorgan- ized in 1879 with M. P. Riggin and L. 0. Glascock as elders A church was organized at Maiden in Dunklin county, July 10, 1884, by Rev. W. W. Spence, who became the pastor of the church. There were abovit 20 members in the original organization. In 1887 a church was organized at Ken- nett. On November 12, 1858, four ministers, James Kincaid, S. Brown, J. W. Jordan and W. B. Province and several elders met at West Prairie church in Clarkton and organ- ized West Prairie Presbytery. The new presbytery was under the .jurisdiction of McAdoo Synod, which included 9 congrega- tions and 360 members. Its territory ex- tended into Ar-kansas until in 1877, when 4 of the churches were dismissed to the White River Presbytery and the southrn boiuidary of the West Prairie Presbyterj^ was made to coincide with the southern boundary of the state. In 1888 there were within the pres- bytery a total of 21 churches with 641 mem-