History of St. James C.M.E. Church
By Members
Looking into the past history of St. James C.M.E. Church shows that the first church was built in 1873. They worshipped in only one room, with a porch where upon nails had been driven to hang their coats and hats. The church was built by the trustees who purchased the property for
$25.00. The trustees at that time were: John Cook, Edward Moffit, Edward Swade, Henry Rogers and Smith Ritchey. There was no pastor in charge, so the members sang hymns arid joined in prayer.
In 1875, the Rev. Cam Jackson, who was the great grandfather of some of our present members, the Bryant’s and the Stones’, became the first pastor.
In 1903 the trustees decided that the small modest church had become to small for the growing congregation. The trustees at this time were: LS. Deckard, Henry Groner, Wash Martin, J.T. Frazier, Rube Stone and Ned Moffett. They purchased a large piece of property at the cost of
$400.00. They made a down payment of $10.00 with monthly payments of $10.00 until the amount was paid in full.
The church building was erected in 1904, under the leadership of the Rev. G.W. Benson, the
pastor in charge. Rev. G.C. Rawlston, the presiding elder and Bishop C.H. Phillips. There was also a building committee headed by Henry Groner, President, Ed Woody, Treasurer and William Crawford, Secretary. The year of 1904 was also the year that the Colored Methodist Church went into the General Conference.
One of the citizens of this black community, Mr. Henry Hendricks, built this beautiful church.
The original church building is still standing with very few repairs. We have the same pulpit and pews from the first church.
There are two bell towers and one belfry, with each tower having had a purpose. The first bell
means to welcome people to church and for Sunday school recognition, and the second bell is to notify the people of the town when someone has died.
From an interview on tape at the Morton Museum, Mrs. Pearl Pempleton who was the church
pianist for 50 years, describes the beautiful windows in the church. The two large windows on the west and one on the north cost $500.00 each and were imported from Europe. This was a lot of money back in the days when people only received a dollar a day and had to save their money until they had enough to buy things. Some of the windows were donated by different people in memory of their families. To change anything about our edifice would strip our present generation of a profound heritage given to us by our ancestry.
The bell that is presently in the church is the same bell from years ago. This bell’s original cost was $600.00. One of the stories about this bell is how, in the old days some of the members and the pastor would get into his carriage and go to Lindsay, which is about four miles away, just to listen to the ringing of the bell. In those days when there weren’t many cars, it was easy to hear the clear, beautiful tones of the bell.
Our ancestors came to church in horse drawn wagons and tied their horses to the cedar trees on the west side of this church, as well as, to the north side where you will see one concrete hitching post still remains on the grounds. In the early church there was a pool in which they baptized and the older members who have passed on related that there was much rejoicing and singing done there. The bell ringer at that time was Rev. J.H. Waters, along with Rev. Wm.
Becknell who assisted the minister in charge every possible way.