"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.

Approaching Launch Day

Ed's heading to Kennedy Space Center this week in hopes of watching Space Shuttle Atlantis on its last launch. Ed is Ed Reynolds, a writer for Black and White magazine, with whom I share earth space. He's been writing about outer space and NASA for several years now, long before I got to know him, so I had to go back into the B&W archives to see what he's written about shuttle flights and NASA before today (see below).

Spaceflight is a big deal to him -- for reasons that keep threatening, like the changeable weather in Florida, to become clear -- and he has been looking forward to this final big event at least since his last trip down in April ended in a disappointing delayed lift off that he had to miss.

Rain is predicted for launch day, Friday the 8th, and also for Saturday, an alternate day, but there is always a chance the weather will clear just enough for the launch. If it doesn't go off this week, NASA will postpone it until July 16. My main hope, beyond my wish for success - for everyone - for this last shuttle mission, is that Ed'll be able to catch a few winks while he's down there, even if this is a mind-blowing event during which no one in his or her right mind would sleep.

If you want to read about Ed's previous shuttle launch experiences, here are links to his articles in past B&W issues:
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2006-08-10-170164.112112-Rocket-Man.html
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2005-07-28-133474.112112-Liftoff-Letdown.html
And more articles on space here:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/edreynoldswriting

PRATT CITY JOURNAL | Fraternal Cemetery photographs

PRATT CITY JOURNAL | Fraternal Cemetery

This post is a collection of links to information, and also opinion, on the area that is generally known as the Fraternal Cemetery in the Pratt City area of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. It will be the first, I hope, of several posts about the Fraternal Cemetery and related cemeteries, their condition, history, and the part of my family who is buried there.

DATA on location and contents

Birmingham Historical Society has designated the area part of their Historic Cemeteries, and does not use the name "Fraternal Cemetery." Here is their description and a link to their page:
"Crest of Sheridan Road, Irish Hill, Pratt City 
Includes graves of English, Scottish and German immigrants who worked in the Pratt coal mines and other early 20th century industrial operations in this area" http://www.bhistorical.org/things_to_do/destinations.html#HC

Maps and USGS survey info found of the Fraternal Cemetery via the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (USGS GNIS):
GNIS in Google Maps: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gazpublic/getgooglemap?p_lat=33.5426057&p_longi=-86.8861034&fid=118608
Terra Fly: http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?referer=usgsgnis&latitude=33.5426057&longitude=-86.8861034&tfaction=fly
and regular Google Maps.

A link on this USGenweb Archives Project page for Jefferson County cemeteries will take you to a very incomplete survey of a few graves, and some photos.

There are 138 entries at Find-a-Grave.com's entry for Fraternal Cemetery.
Photos on Flickr.com of the cemetery grounds and some of my family's graves.

EVIDENCE OF CLEANING AND CARE
Photos of a clean-up day YEAR UNKNOWN by the Knights of Columbus Council 10567 of Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Adamsville. The next year they cleaned up some more.

2004 Resolution by the state legislature commending Pratt City residents for cleaning up the Historic Fraternal Cemetery, including "long-term plans for the Fraternal Cemetery include installing an iron gate to limit after-hours access and re-roofing a storage shed."

OPINION

A recent (Jan 9, 2011) letter to the editor at al.com from Virginia Whitlock of Pelham describes a little bit of the condition of much of the cemetery grounds.

More discussions about the cemeteries' condition here and here beginning Jan. 16, 2011.

More discussion on Ancestry's discussion boards: Jefferson County
And, of course, you can "like" Pratt City Fraternal Cemetery on Facebook.

More about the work of the Diocesan Commission on Race Relations

previous post this refers to: http://rachel-dobson.blogspot.com/2010/01/race-relations-and-episcopal-church-in.html

Alabama’s Episcopal history dates back to the first decades of the nineteenth century. The two oldest parishes in Alabama are Christ Church, Mobile (now in the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast) and Christ Church, Tuscaloosa, dating to about 1828. Most early large landowners in Alabama owned slaves, and Episcopalians were no exception to this. As in other states and early territories, Episcopalians were also often well–educated professionals and leaders in the state legislature, judicial system, and in local governments. The labor of enslaved Africans supported the building of churches directly. Indirectly (or directly), the slave system supported the church because a large landowner, by having slaves do the work (who were often also managed by an overseer) was able to take his attention away from responsibilities on the plantation to focus on other responsibilities such as civic government, and/or developing the parish. This is just one example of how slaveowning supported the development of churches in the local society.

This phenomenon did not just happen in Alabama, or only in the South. Other Episcopal dioceses in the United States have taken seriously Resolution A123 and are researching and documenting their early connections to slavery and segregation. Two examples are the Dioceses of New York and Pennsylvania. Some of this work has been inspired or spurred on by the research of Katrina Brown, whose ancestors the DeWolfs were the largest slave owning family in US history, and were also Episcopalians, including local bishops and one Presiding Bishop. Her research came together in the award –winning film, Traces of the Trade, and some of her cousins who participated in her project have also gone on to do work on reparations and racial reconciliation. Episcopalians have a history as old as this country tied up with slavery, with the oppression of a group of people. Now many Episcopalians throughout the United States, in the North and the South, are working to remedy the wrongs of their ancestors.

In Alabama, parishes' histories in race relations are varied. Although some parishes are younger they often have just as interesting a history as the older parishes. In Jefferson County, parishes such as Church of the Advent were founded and developed by the wealthy industrialists of the area. Part of the history Episcopalians must examine and deal with is that the industrial wealth of the relatively young city of Birmingham and surrounding settlements was built in part on the system of convict labor, which consisted of forcing convicts – who were always predominately African Americans – to work under often horrific conditions. The system of convict leasing in the South and the industries who used it have been recently documented by Doug Blackmon in his book, Slavery by Another Name.

The parish historian at Canterbury Chapel, Tuscaloosa, Kelley Hudlow, has another sort of history to gather. Canterbury was only established in the 1940s, as a mission of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa. Canterbury’s history in relation to race has been mostly (but not entirely) in our involvement in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, most notably because the Reverend Emmet Gribbin helped Autherine Lucy as she enrolled in the all–white University of Alabama in 1956. There were several parishioners at Canterbury who supported him, some who worked within the UA administration, like Jeff Bennett, President Carmichael’s assistant, and Sarah Healy, Dean of Women, who acted as a go–between in talks between Ms. Lucy’s representative and the administration. This period of history has been carefully detailed by E. Culpepper Clark in his fascinating history of the period, The Schoolhouse Door.

To be continued.

Race Relations and the Episcopal Church in Alabama

It's been about a year and a half since I posted here. I'm now working on a different church history project, but just as interesting in it's own way, and even more challenging because of it's ramifications for our present and future life on earth.

Saturday, I attended about my fourth joint meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama’s Commission on Race Relations and parish historians, at St. Mark’s in Birmingham. I have been attending as an assistant parish historian from Canterbury Chapel in Tuscaloosa. I finally decided to “blog” a little bit about it partly because we need to spread information about our work, and this is one – but only one – way to do that. And, also because this area of Alabama church history is fascinating to me for several reasons. More about that later.

Our group is preparing for the Diocesan Convention in Florence in mid–February. Bishop Parsley has given us a few minutes in the midst of a tightly packed schedule of events that weekend to tell delegates and attendees about “the commission.” Along with our fifteen minutes of fame on Friday at noon, we will have an exhibition in the same conference space. It will consist of three large (36x48") panels making a timeline of the history of the Diocese of Alabama from 1828 through 2010. We also plan to have handouts for those interested in researching their parish’s history and someone there to answer questions about the group and the work. So if you are going to the Diocesan Convention, please look for us.

Who are we and what are we doing?

In 2008, at the 177^th Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church in Alabama, the convention passed two closely related resolutions in response to the resolutions adopted by the national church at the General Convention in 2006 concerning race relations and reconciliation (the primary resolution was A123, but there were four in all).

One resolution (#3) urges parishes to include a prayer for peace in weekly prayers of the people, and affirms our Baptismal Covenant that calls each of us to ‘strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.’”

The other resolution (#5) calls us, as the Church, to be “ ‘the repairer of the breach’ consistent with Isaiah 58:12,” calls for a Day of Repentance to be declared” within the diocese, and “that the Commission on Race Relations be directed to develop resources for both parish and diocesan use, to document the role of The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama in condoning and supporting slavery, segregation, discrimination and the efforts undertaken by the Church to repair and rectify the same and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit toward the responses that will lead us to peace, harmony and reconciliation.”

So, they did and we are.

Individual members of the group have been working on various projects, some working on documenting their parish’s history, taking oral histories of older parishioners who have long institutional memories, others are researching the early history of their town and/or county, gathering information about the larger land owners, who inevitably were also the larger slave owners, to see what these slave owners had their slaves build and what their money supported. More on the projects in a future posting.

Click here and search for 'slavery' to see listed all Episcopal Church resolutions on slavery.

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/