"At Dye Rock crowds were exceedingly large and many at the altar"

Dye Rock Church is one of the early sites of the Pentecostal movement in south Alabama whose location and history I would like to find. I wrote about it in a post a few years ago here, which quoted a note in a 1915 issue of Word and Witness (a COGIC newspaper at that point). Recently, I realized that several Pentecostal archives have banded together to form the Consortium of Pentecostal Archives, so I redid a search for "Dye Rock" and found another previously unknown newspaper article in a 1919 issue of the Christian Evangel (subsequently known as the Pentecostal Evangel, and that's how it is often referred to). (The link above to their site is to the 'About' page with a list of the participating archives.)

In a short article, "An Evangelistic Tour," S. C. Johnson tells about his travels via a very winding path from Missouri, through Arkansas, down to the Gulf and then over into the Wiregrass region of Alabama: "At Hartford [Ala.] I fell in with Bro. Dan Dubose [sic]. Was with him three weeks witnessing souls saved and baptized (Acts 2:4). At Dye Rock crowds were exceedingly large and many at the altar."

It might be significant from an administrative standpoint that Johnson traveled to Dye Rock in 1919.  In the 1919 article, Johnson mentions going on to Dothan, where he was appointed "State evangelist and assigned to visit all the assemblies." In the minutes for the A/G southeastern district meeting in Dec. 1919, S. C. Johnson was appointed to a committee to settle problems with the way churches were grouped together into districts (The First Fifty Years - A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965) by Robert H. Spence, p. 29).  As I noted in the earlier post, "Die Rock" was one of “the original line-up of churches that were part of the old Southeast District,” and put in the "Dothan Group" in 1915 with assemblies in Dothan, Madrid, Haleburg, and Wicksburg (Spence, 21). I'm just speculating, but, Johnson may have been visiting Dye Rock four years later in part to find out what, if any, problems this church might be having by being in the Dothan Group.

In the 1915 Word and Witness note, Dye Rock is "near Midland City, Ala."  Midland City falls in a bee line between Wicksburg to the southwest and Haleburg to the northeast. (However, Grimes, apparently within the geographical grouping of the Dothan Group, and just south of MC, is in the Clio Group, with churches much further north. That's a political mystery I'll save for another day.)  Six years ago, I visited Midland City and asked the librarians there if they had ever heard of any place or church called Dye Rock, but they had not. For now, its location is still a mystery, but I know there is a source waiting to be discovered that tells us its location and possibly some of its place in the history of the early Pentecostal movement in Wiregrass Alabama. 

Click here for a few photos of Assemblies of God churches in south Alabama and early sites.

WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Documenting the Early Days of Pentecost in Alabama

Re-posted October 7, 2008 | This entry is directed particularly to members of Assemblies of God congregations in Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Houston, and surrounding Alabama counties. I want to share a sampling of what I have learned about the Pentecostal movement in southeast Alabama from about 1906 to about 1916, and to pose questions that I still have about the history. I hope it will reach Pentecostals, and others who are interested in their local history, and get them thinking about what they have heard and remember about the old days “when Pentecost came to Alabama.” I would very much like to hear/read your feedback. Many thanks goes to the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (http://ifphc.org/) for permission to quote from their archived documents and to post some of their historic photographs. See their posting about this project at http://ifphc.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/documenting-the-early-days-of-pentecost-in-alabama/ -- Rachel Dobson
Tent meetings, such as this one in Maryland in 1915, were common in Alabama and other places. Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594309577534/


The Names and the Places

We know the names of many of the founding pastors and members, like Mack Pinson, Dan and Jim Dubose, Wayne Tomlin, J. S. Wooten...
An important part of Assemblies of God history that may slip away more easily than the names of the founders are the locations of the early Pentecostal tent revivals and camp meetings – the temporary places where the Holy Spirit changed people’s lives permanently.

Organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914. Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594313001794/

Documenting the Spirit-filled Places

This is part of a project to help locate and document some of the places in the history of the early Assemblies of God movement in southeast Alabama.

We already know some of the story of the early organizing of congregations in the area. Early Pentecostal newspapers, Robert Spence's The First Fifty Years, and other sources, many available in the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center in Springfield, Missouri, and congregational histories like that of El Bethel's in Coffee County by Laurelle Dubose Weatherford, provide a good foundation to which more details may be added as they are uncovered. (See the bibliography at the end of this post.)

Scene beside Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, about four miles south of New Brockton, Alabama, May, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571143678/in/set-72157605566040085/
EARLY REVIVAL LOCATIONS

El Bethel Assembly, Coffee County

For example, Mrs. Weatherford writes in her history that in August of 1906, Rev. M. M. Pinson came to Coffee County and “erected a tent at New Tabernacle Church,” which was attended by Dan and Jim Dubose. From this revival grew the congregation that became the El Bethel Assembly of God. (Weatherford, p. 1.)

New Tabernacle Church, June, 2008.http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2754877328/in/set-72157605566040085/

El Bethel Assembly of God, May, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2570327971/in/set-72157605566040085/

Enon Baptist Church, Coffee County

Enon Baptist, at the junction of Coffee County roads 147 and 148, was the site of a Pentecostal revival in the summer of 1907 when a deacon invited Dan and Jim Dubose, brothers who had received the Gift of the Holy Spirit “to start a revival in his church.” --Robert H. Spence, The First Fifty Years, p. 10.

Enon Baptist Church, May, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571144366/in/set-72157605566040085/

Highfalls Assembly, Geneva County

In June of 1907, Dan Dubose went to Rev. Pinson’s revival at Highfalls in Geneva County, “where he received the Gift.”

The meeting at High Falls was highly significant in that it provided a base of operations for the Pentecostal message and movement in southeastern Alabama. From this one revival, the nucleus for what is today the High Falls Assembly of God Church was formed and individuals, such as Dan Dubose, received personal experiences that would mean the formation of other Assemblies. --Spence, The First Fifty Years, p. 9.

Was the revival at the same place where the church stands today, or somewhere nearby? Is it possible to discover where other early revivals and camp meetings took place--gatherings that started Assembly of God congregations, and where early members were touched by the Holy Spirit?

Highfalls Assembly of God, May, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571161630/in/set-72157605566040085/

Holloway Tabernacle, Geneva County

HEALED OF ASTHMA

I have been asked by some in these parts, who know the facts in the case, to write you of the healing of my two little boys, now five and seven years old respectively. The oldest one was born with asthma, and the youngest one took it after he was born. In November 1911, I had Bro. M. M. Pinson and Bro. Wayne Tomlin to pray for them, and the Lord healed them both, and they are still well, praise his name. -- G. W. Grimes, Coffee Springs, Ala.--Word and Witness, March 20, 1914, p. 1, http://ifphc.org.

G. W. Grimes and Wayne Tomlin were both associated with Holloway Tabernacle. Was this church the site of this healing?

Holloway Tabernacle Church, June, 2008.http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2711825290/in/set-72157605566040085/

Holloway Tabernacle Historical Marker, June, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2711013657/in/set-72157605566040085/

MORE GOOD NEWS...NEW BROCKTON, ALA.
Wayne Tomlin has just closed a blessed meeting in town, and will open in a new church just completed 7 miles south of Enterprise on August 22. --Word and Witness, August 20, 1912, p. 3, http://ifphc.org.

Where was this “new church...7 miles south of Enterprise”? Was it Holloway Tabernacle in Coffee Springs, or else in Central City or in another nearby community?

Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, Coffee County

Newspaper notices give clues to the location of revivals or camp meetings.
Did Wooten Chapel grow out of the local camp meeting “held four miles below New Brockton” in 1915?

LOCAL CAMP MEETING – NEW BROCKTON, ALA.

Aug. 7th to 27th. Will be held four miles below New Brockton, Ala. Expecting W. P. Mims from Clanton, Ala. also Rev. W. B. Jessup from Meridian, Miss. For information write J. S. Wooten, Rt. 3 Elba, Ala. All invited. --Word and Witness, August, 1915, p. 8, http://ifphc.org.

Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, May, 2008.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571143388/in/set-72157605566040085/

Bethel Assembly, Ariton: original location, Barbour County

Remembering and finding old locales bring back the Spirit-filled events that took place at these meetings, and honors the early Pentecostal organizers who made the spread of the Gospel their life’s work.

The original location of Bethel Assembly, June, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2690983270/in/set-72157605566040085/

Bethel Assembly, now in Ariton, Dale County, was originally located further up Highway 51, just over the Barbour County line. “The Bethel Assembly of God of Ariton was begun after Rev. Martha Joiner and Rev. Donnie Metcalf held two tent meetings in the summer of 1921. Those who were converted desired to become a part of the relatively new organization, The General Council of the Assemblies of God. The church was set in order and was affiliated with the General Council in Springfield, Missouri, September 28, 1921, with approximately thirty members. A building was erected two miles north of Ariton, just off Hwy. 51 during the winter of 1921-1922. Rev. Dan J. Dubose was the first pastor.”

Source: the history page of Bethel Assembly of God: www.meetmeatbethel.com/History.htm.
Many thanks to Angela Downing for her help, and especially for calling members of Bethel Assembly to get directions for me to this location.

QUESTIONS

Here are a few other revivals and camp meetings that I hope to learn more about in this research...Do any of these names or places ring a bell with you? There are many more churches that grew out of revivals and camp meetings in the area.

Midland City, Dale County, Alabama

Where was the annual camp meeting at Midland City held?

MIDLAND CITY, ALA.

Our first annual camp meeting closed Sunday night. Bro. Wayne Tomlin of Enterprise, was in charge, and did most of the preaching. Other preachers and workers were with us and were blessedly used by the Lord. People came from far and near to hear the word, and the attendance was by far the largest in the history of the work at this place. God was present at every service to save, heal, and fill with the Spirit.-- H. W. Bryant.
--Word and Witness, October, 1913, p. 3, http://ifphc.org.

Dye Rock Church (Dale County?)

Another question is: Where was Dye Rock (or Die Rock) Church?

MIDLAND CITY

We have just had a big revival at Dye Rock Church near Midland City, Ala. Sister Joyner held a three days meeting and the Lord wonderfully blessed. The power of God fell on all one evening and little children from five years up began to praise God and shout and dance. Eight received the baptism as in Acts 2:4 and several were saved. We are looking for greater things from the hand of God. The enemy is stirred but the work goes on just the same. -- J. A. Moss, R. 2. --Word and Witness, August 1915, p. 8, http://ifphc.org.

"Die Rock" was one of “the original line-up of churches that were part of the old Southeast District” noted by Robert H. Spence in The First Fifty Years, p. 21.

"A Holy Place"

The Azusa Street Mission in 1906. Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942939/in/
set-72157594313088839/

These early Pentecostal organizers and participants met the Holy Spirit in revivals and meetings throughout the Wiregrass region and all over Alabama in the early part of the twentieth century.

Although temporary, these locations will always be filled with the Spirit because of the people and the events that took place there. The sites of early revivals and camp meetings, like the mission at Azusa Street and the site of the General Council Meeting at Hot Springs in 1914, are places where holy events took place, places to be identified, and in Darrin Rodgers’ words: “shared...with the next generation.”

Internet Resources

Part of the purpose of this research is to create resources that will be available to anyone who is interested in the early history of the Assemblies of God in south Alabama. Blogs and Flickr.com are just two ways to post information and images on the internet, so that others can view and post comments, even their own reminiscences. At my Flickr set, “Early Pentecost in Alabama,” you can view more photos, and read text from primary and secondary sources on the history of Pentecostalism in Alabama:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/

An Internet Community through Public LibrariesIn addition, a world map on Flickr allows the photos to be "geo-tagged" or linked with their location on the map.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/map/

And, a basic Flickr.com account is free, so that others who have historical photos are able to post their own, and contribute to a growing body of knowledge on the history of Pentecostalism. Even if you don't have a computer yourself, many public libraries have free computers that allow users to browse the web and view Flickr and other sites.

The Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center - the official archives of the Assemblies of God, USA - also has a Flickr account with wonderful historical images of early revivals, camp meetings, posters, and the founding individuals of the organization:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/

WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Public libraries with internet access

Public Libraries in the Wiregrass and surrounding areas in southeast Alabama that have computer/internet availability are listed below. If your library is not listed here, but it does have internet access, please contact me. For more information on other libraries in Alabama, go to http://www.librarytechnology.org/publiclibraries.pl?State=AL OR http://www.publiclibraries.com/alabama.htm

Coffee County
Elba Public Library 406 Simmons Street, 334-897-6921
http://www.elbaalabama.net/life-in-elba/library “Computers available with internet access.”

Enterprise Public Library 101 East Grubbs Street 334-347-2636
http://www.enterpriselibrary.org/
“Computer Access Four computers available to patrons for research and educational purposes (one hour time limit per day), one computer for e-mailing (fifteen minute limit), one word-processing computer.”

Covington County
Andalusia Public Library, 212 South Three Notch Street, 334-222-6612, ONLY have online catalog http://www.andylibrary.com/default.htm. No description of services.

Opp Public Library (Cross Trails Regional Library), 1604 North Main Street,
334-493-6423 http://www.opplibrary.com/
Yes, they do have computers available for public use.

Crenshaw County
Luverne Public Library, 148 East Third Avenue, 334-335-5326
http://library.luverne.org/
Must have a library card to use computers – some limitations, but basically they are available for research: http://library.luverne.org/computer_usage.asp

Dale County
Ozark-Dale County Public Library, 416 James Street, 334-774-5480, http://www.odcpl.com/
“Free Internet is offered to adults and children. Children under the age of fourteen must be accompanied by an adult seventeen years of age or older.”

Geneva County
Geneva Public Library 312 South Commerce Street 334-684-2459 (Emma Knox Keenan Public Library) http://www.genevapubliclibrary.org/ . See an article about their computers here: http://genevapubliclibrary.org/content/blogcategory/44/50/

Houston County
Houston-Love Memorial Library, 212 West Burdeshaw Street, Dothan, 36303; 334-793-9767.
http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/
http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/computerlab.htm
Computer classes listed on a calendar (which may determine when computers are available for general use by patrons?)

WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Select Bibliography

These are sources used in the Wiregrass Journal posting: Documenting the Early Days of Pentecost in Alabama.

Newspapers:

Word and Witness (Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: www.ifphc.org).
Christian Evangel (Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: www.ifphc.org).
Dothan Eagle (Alabama Department of Archives and History, and www.Ancestry.com).

Books and Internet Resources:

Robert H. Spence, The First Fifty Years – A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965), Assemblies of God, 1960s.
Laurelle DuBose Weatherford, “El Bethel Assembly of God History,” self-published, 1992.
Historical Atlas of Alabama, edited by W. Craig Remington and Thomas J. Kallsen, 1997.
USGS Geonames Database: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic.

Photographs:

Historical photographs from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/.
All other photographs by Rachel Dobson. These photos and more, including Shady Grove Assembly and Chancellor Assembly in Geneva County; Wicksburg Assembly, Houston County; Bethel Assembly, Dale County; Haw Hill Assembly and Wise Mill Assembly, Coffee County; and two churches in Brownville, Conecuh County, are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/.

WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Flickr Slideshow

As part of this project, I have created a slide show of my first research trip to Coffee and surrounding counties, on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/

After experimenting in both Panoramio and Flickr, I chose the latter to do this initial work in, because of the variety of other organizing and exhibition choices, NOT because of Flickr's lovely map. Unfortunately for me, Panoramio has the rich, beautiful Google Earth map as its foundation, but little in the way of organizing and exhibiting venues (like slideshows), except for tagging.

Most of the newspaper sources quoted in the slideshow are stored at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (iFPHC.org).

WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Introduction

This is the first of periodic entries on the more personal side of my research into the early history of the Assemblies of God movement in (mostly) southeast Alabama, for an independent study in the Masters’ program in the School of Library and Information Studies at The University of Alabama.

WHAT, WHERE, and HOW : For this research I will identify text references to tent revivals, camp meetings and brush arbor meetings of the Assemblies of God Church and its predecessors in southeast Alabama, focusing on Coffee, Dale, Houston, Geneva, Covington, and Conecuh counties, and into the bordering areas of the Florida Panhandle, from about 1906 to about 1916. Then I plan to travel around and attempt to discover where the actual locations of these early meetings were. By accessing archival materials at the Flower Center and other Pentecostal archives, by reading local histories and genealogy work, by traveling to the areas, visiting present-day Assembly of God churches there, and by interviewing A/G members and old-timers, I hope to document actual locations, photograph them, find corresponding US Geological Survey locations, and map and record my findings, thus adding to the foundation of knowledge about this religious group that was and continues to be very influential in American culture.

WHY : This project is a multi-layered one in which my personal and scholarly interests have converged in the field of Library and Information Studies. Exploring and mapping the woods and lake where I grew up, studying early Irish monastic culture and later medieval devotional practices in art history make up some of the back story for how I became interested in this topic and developed this project.

Underlying it all, however, is family history. My great grandfather, Lafayette Snellgrove, and my great-great uncle, Handy Washington Bryant and their families were born and raised in Coffee, Dale, and surrounding counties. Lafayette and Handy were both ordained ministers in the newly organized Assemblies of God, and my great-great aunt, Daisy Snellgrove Bryant, was licensed to preach. Early in this research I discovered that they also attended the earliest organizational meetings for the Southeastern District of the Assemblies of God. Lafayette Snellgrove in 1915, and the Bryants in 1916, and 1917 (Spence, 18-28).

Maps may be the resource that pulls this information together. One of the most exciting aspects of this research is the web-based map I hope to create and develop over time. Imbedded with much of the data and images I am collecting, I hope it will turn out to be a small treasure trove of south Alabama religious history. A click on the location of an early 20^th-century revival, for example, could bring up a window displaying a thumbnail image or explanatory text with URLs for further sources. A prototype in Google Maps and the very beginnings of one in Google’s Panoramio is bringing mixed results. More to come.

ABOUT THE SOURCES : The early history of the Pentecostal movement and the organization of the Assemblies of God has been written about by a few able historians, usually focusing on the better-known pastors and leaders, and defining organizational events. But there are many undiscovered details about the movement’s ordinary participants in places like south Alabama, where a culture of revivals and camp meetings already permeated the rural landscape.

The Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, the Archives of the Assemblies of God (iFPHC.org), has a large collection of archived materials on the Pentecostal movement, including periodicals, photographs, oral histories, audio and video recordings, and ephemera concerning the movement’s early formation and history. Many of these items have been digitized, including newspapers published by early Pentecostals. There are other archives and sources for primary materials, which I will detail in later entries.

Secondary sources focusing on the A/Gs in Alabama are few but concentrated. In the 1960s, Robert H. Spence, now president of Evangel University, wrote The First Fifty Years – A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965). A dissertation covering many details and some of the “on-the-ground” evangelizers of the movement in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida was written by Gary McElhany in 1996. Assemblies of God Heritage magazine constitutes a rich source of writing on the history of the Assemblies of God, including early Alabama. Congregational histories by the children of early organizers, such as Laurelle DuBose Weatherford’s “El Bethel Assembly of God History,” ca. 1992, are also vital contributions.

MORE ON WHY : All of these historians are members of the Assemblies of God, often going back a generation, sometimes more. My situation is different. Except for the ancestors I mentioned above and a few cousins, none of my family now is Pentecostal. I was raised in the Episcopal Church, the other end of the Protestant spectrum from Pentecostalism. Growing up, I also attended my grandmother’s big downtown Baptist church every time I visited her. Maybe because one of her parents was Pentecostal while the other was Primitive Baptist, my grandmother has always been interested in other religious persuasions besides her own, particularly Roman Catholic. And she has sometimes taken me along with her. When I was about twelve, we went for a long weekend to a Christian camp (whose affiliation I do not know) at Rock Eagle, Georgia, where I witnessed for the first time healing with laying on of hands, speaking in tongues and interpretations. When she brought back holy oil from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she prayed over me as she dipped her finger into the tiny vial and made the sign of the cross on my forehead. I imagine this exploration will be a continuation of my family’s somewhat eclectic religious genealogy and would be fascinating to her.

SUPPORT: Travel for this project was supported in part by the Jewel Sandoval Fund of the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, and in part by the UA Graduate Student Research and Travel Support Fund.