Down this road from Bethlehem Baptist Church

in which my great great grandfather was a charter member,

and past this farm,

you’ll come to Mt. Olive Baptist Church. It was here that my grandfather was ordained as a minister in 1886. He was 39 years of age at the time and served as a pastor here 2 different times. The Versailles Statesman published that as of 1927, he’d married 125 couples, as well as conducted 225 funerals. I wonder how there could have survived all these years 2 Baptist churches so close to each other. This one was originally a log school house but burned and was rebuilt by 1914. It sure wasn’t a good-paying occupation as in 1912 the salary was $100.00 per year, payed by the quarter. No wonder they had to farm as well as be pretty much indispensable for weddings and funerals,
prayer meetings, Sunday School, Sunday services and don’t forget the Revivals and Camp Meetings. Not to mention offering various sorts of family counseling for the sick or homebound, marriage counseling, excessive alcohol consumption or treatment of family or neighbors — some of these you certainly didn’t discuss in those days. Such a full time job for so little. As you ponder these things, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the photos we took as we wandered around the church yard.









For other Thursday Doors, please visit Norm 2.0 and he’ll guide you to the list of wonderful doors around the world.
Enjoyed this post and the photos.
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Thank you so much! Much obliged 🙂
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Lovely article! Thanks for this glimpse into your family history.
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Thank you! Dived into the ancestry search after Christmas to put some pieces together. Loving the finds!
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That’s a lovely little church. Thanks for sharing your personal connection.
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Thank you! Hoping to have enough interesting finds to share again sometime. May be some travel in my future??
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Perfect doors, and the heart wreaths remind us we can never have too much love in our life especially in reference to God. 🙂
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Most definitely! Thanks for visiting 😊
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Lovely rural church nicely captured 🙂
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I like the church, but I especially like the farm shot. 🙂
janet
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Thank you! It was along a curve and so really had to slow down for that shot. I was really pleased that it turned out.
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Lovely to see the old photo, too.
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Thank you! I was happy to find it in my stash 😊
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I think you have hit on the head why the church is so different today…..they certainly tended to their flocks. Lovely old church and I really liked the history behind it!
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Thanks! I definitely agree!
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A small church, but just as much work! Love that the church is white and quaint looking. Nowadays many are in business districts. Thanks for coming by!
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Thank you!
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What a great story of family history to go along with the photos. Enjoyed! 😊
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Thank you very much! Have a nice rest of your day 😊
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