"Southern" Methodist Churches in Rural Faulkner County
Compiled by Robert W. Meriwether 
 
On June 18, 1936 the Arkansas Methodist, a weekly newspaper printed in Little Rock, published a special "Conway District Centennial Number." Included in this special edition were the following articles on churches of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in rural Faulkner County. Each article was written by the ordained Methodist minister who was pastor of all the churches in his circuit, although he sometimes had the assistance of "local" preachers. The church membership figures, which appear in brackets [], are from the Journal of the North Arkansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (October 1936). 
 
Conway Circuit, by Rev. Donaghey W. Duran  
The Conway Circuit dates back into the last century. It has changed considerably at various times. Some of the churches helping to make the change in its early history have long since been abandoned and other churches have taken their places, thus keeping pace with the changes in population. During a part of the time, Holland, one of the oldest centers of Methodism in this section of the state, has been on the Circuit. The Circuit now comprises Graham's Chapel, Macedonia, Mayflower, Providence, and Salem. (1) 
Graham's Chapel [85 members] is located six miles east of Conway on U.S. Highway No. 64. It serves a large area, being the only Methodist church on the highway within sixteen miles of Conway. The present building was erected in 1895 by J. R. Kelsey. It was partially wrecked by a storm in 1897. In the early Nineties, Jacob Sanson gave the plot of land, and a two-room parsonage was built. The partition was removed from the parsonage, and both Baptists and Methodists preached in it for several years. The church was named for Rev. T. A. Graham, one of the pioneer preachers of this section. (2)  
Macedonia [11 members] is located three miles northeast of Conway. It was built by the Freewill Baptists in the late Eighties. About the year 1905, Rev. F. S. H. Johnston, then pastor of the Methodist church in Conway, conducted a revival at Macedonia and organized a Methodist church. Rev. J. H. Glass was Presiding Elder. The Methodists bought the church and Dr. C. J. Greene was one of its pastors, serving it apart from Conway Circuit while he taught at Hendrix College. 
Mayflower [47 members] is a little town ten miles south of Conway on the Missouri Pacific Ry, and U. S. Highway No. 65. The Baptists and Methodists both meet in the Baptist church. The Methodists have the larger membership and their pastor is now pastor of both bodies.  
Providence is located six miles west of Mayflower. The history of the church dates back into the early part of the century. It serves only a small area.  
Salem [125 members] is the "hub" of the Circuit. It is located just out of Conway on the west. It serves a number of people living in and about the edge of town and also the farmers living some miles out. Salem is a half station. The church was organized in the early Eighties while Conway was young. In 1926 the present building was erected under the leadership of Rev. R. L. Long. It is a beautiful and commodious structure.  
[The article is accompanied by a picture of Rev. Duran and of the churches at Macedonia, Graham's Chapel, and Salem.]  
Greenbrier Circuit, by Rev. Bates Sturdy  
The Greenbrier Circuit is composed of six churches as follows: Greenbrier, Centerville, Republican, Blackfork, Batesville and Mallettown [Conway County]. (3) 
The Greenbrier church [137 members] is favorably located near Conway, the city of colleges, where Hendrix, State Teachers and other institutions are established.  
The records show that an organization was here in 1888. The people at that time worshipped in the old Masonic lodge hall, which stands within two hundred yards of the site of the present church. Fire destroyed the church of that early day some years later, and the present building was erected some 26 years ago.  
The Wilson family has played a prominent part in the church from an early day. J. R. Wilson, father of the present R. A. Wilson, was a charter member of the church. 
 
Rev. R. S. Maddox was pastor in 1888 and a long list of men have followed him, such as R. H. Culpepper, W. P. Hamilton, I. F. Harris, Z. W. Griffin, A. J. Cullom, L. A. Campbell, J. C. Floyd, G. L. Horton, R. R. Ennis, Arthur Smith, [M. C.?] Bevins, J. T. Gossett, B. E. and R. A. Robertson, Paul Bates, George Hooten, R. E. Wilson, Baskin Edington, A. Wall and Frank Matthews. (4) 
The Centerville church [175 members], which was formerly known as Union Grove, is the home church of Senator H. B. Hardy, who is very active in its promotional interests. It is the result of the union of two churches, both Methodist, namely - Pleasant Hill and McNew Chapel. A custom gradually arose of holding a meeting about midway between these two churches. A proposition was made and accepted in the Quarterly Conference to have one church building. Then Centerville, or Union Grove, were the names given the church. Rev. A. E. Goode, who was Conference Evangelist, was assisting the pastor, Rev. J. T. Gossett, in a meeting when the union of the two churches came about.  
Centerville is a large community located nine miles northeast of Greenbrier. A large consolidated school system is operated there. Under the capable leadership of Superintendent H. L. Grover, the day school is moving on nicely, and also through the consecrated efforts of Mr. J. C. Selby, the church school is doing well.  
The church has been served in the past by numbers of good men such as Speight, Goode, Robertson (B. E. and R. A.), Ellis, Bates, Hooten, Wall, Eddington, Wilson and Nabors.  
In 1894 Rev. Irvin F. Harris5 held a revival meeting at the old Cash Springs Church, which resulted in a large number of conversions and additions to the church. There seems to have been an organization before this, but the date is obscure. The name was later changed to Republican upon a post office being established there about 1900. In later years the church almost ceased functioning, but through the untiring efforts of Rev. R. A. Robertson, it was revived, reorganized and at the present time [46 members] leads the circuit in up-to-the-minute regularity in its financial obligations and program as a whole. A number of men have faithfully served the church as pastor.  
The Blackfork church [71 members] was organized in 1868 and the people worshipped in a little log house. Rev. Elbert Smith was the pastor at this time, and did faithful work. In 1871 the log house was torn down and a board house 30 x 24 feet was erected on the site. When the North and South Methodists, which had come into existence here, were separated from the other, the little church suffered much and almost ceased being a church at all; but it was later reorganized and a Sunday school, Epworth League, and church services are had with fairly good interest. (6) The church as been served by Revs. A. C. Ray, Anderson, Corley, Hall, Gardner, Lindsey, D. C. Ross, Floyd Biggs, John Villines, J. T. Gossett, A. E. Goode, B. E. Robertson, J. A. Ellis, Paul Bates, R. E. Wilson, George Hooten, A. Wall, R. A. Robertson, H. R. Nabors, W. B. Eddington and Frank Matthews.  
The Batesville church [also know as Martinville, 33 members] was organized in 1890 at the present site on Highway 65 near Martinville. (7) A Sunday school has been run almost every Sunday since its organization. Captain W. W. Martin was one of the charter members of the church. The present condition of the church is promising and encouraging. A list of men have directed the church as pastor, among whom was dear old Bro. R. N. Davis who passed away at Lanty several years ago at a ripe old age.  
The church at Mallettown [Conway County, 118 members] has a long history. In 1876 the good work was being promoted there. For years the Mallets have had their residence in this rugged community. It is really a big community of kinfolk. Preachers of Gospel emerged from the community. The names, John, Jim and Frank Mallet are familiar to numbers of people who sat under the ministry of these men of the local ranks. The church school under the leadership of Ben Mallet is in pretty good shape and doing fairly good work.  
The Greenbrier Circuit is an old circuit and has in its bounds many fine people. Its general membership is composed of farmers and their families, and the hand of welcome is extended to those who come as messengers of the cross by numbers of the folk and you enter into their hospitality gladly.  
[The article is accompanied by pictures of Rev. Sturdy and the churches at Centerville, Republican, Blackfork, Greenbrier, Mallettown, and Batesville.]  
Naylor Circuit, by Rev. Clarence Wienland  
Though the Naylor Charge has been under several different names and has embodied different churches at different periods, it is an old community in Methodism; the churches at Holland, Naylor and Mt. Vernon being founded around the time of the Civil War. (8) 
At Oakland [174 members], formerly called Holland, there stands in a large well-kept cemetery, an old log building, built before the Civil War, and though not now in service, it has been a great influence in the community. Across the road was built the new church, a single-story frame building, whose heavy bell was removed several years ago and lifted to a platform at the rear of the church. From this church have gone two ministers to our Arkansas conference, one who will soon join the Conference, and two local preachers. Alva Goode, Speer Duran, and Frank McCarty. Both this church and the one at Naylor have parsonages and electric lights. Both have Missionary Societies, Church Schools, and [Epworth] Leagues from which spiritual light will continually be sent into the world.  
At Naylor [111 members] the original church still stands, an old log house which was located some three miles southeast of the present location, and which was used as both school and church having in it the old split logs for seats. As small as the building was, it sent out some influential men and women. It was in this small log building that Mrs. Reynolds, the mother of the president of Hendrix College, worshipped. About 1875 a much larger frame building was erected, and the name Pleasant Valley given the church. It was here that Dr. [John Hugh] Reynolds grew up and was trained in the "faith of our fathers," to which he so tenaciously clings. About 1886 he left the community, but he still considers it the old home place, in which a sister and other relatives still live.  
Recently he was reminiscing: "My memory only goes back to the frame church located about where it is now I attended church and Sunday School there. I remember some of the older members like Colonel Flippin, J. M. Brady, the Grahams, Mrs. W. H. Lankford, Gus Graham, who later became a preacher. I have a very vivid memory of the church when Rev. A. C. Ray was pastor. He was much above the average pastor, an elderly man, perhaps sixty years of age; was an able preacher, and many people were attached to him. He was a much beloved pastor. Revivals in the summer time received great emphasis and were great events in the community. Sometimes the revival would become so absorbing that the people would bring their noon lunch and stay all day. Indeed, the revival was almost the only source of recruiting membership in the church in those days and many conversions took place at that time. While we had a Sunday School, it was not highly developed and did not become an evangelizing agency. The church had considerable influence on the life of the community and its moral influence was marked." 
Rev. J. A. Reynolds, pastor at Ozark, and Seth C., a lawyer in Washington, D. C., brothers of the president, are also of Pleasant Valley church. A second honor and challenge which we send is that of having a young man attend Sunday School for 11 consecutive years only missing one Sunday three years ago when he was so sick he could not possibly go.  
When Bro. Hutchinson [sic] (9) came to the charge in 1914, he came as a builder of churches. That year the church at Naylor burned and in its place he was in charge of building the present church, surmounted with a wooden hand which he carved, the index finger pointing heavenward, a symbol of worship, and a memorial to a consecrated builder . (10) 
Also at Bethlehem [41 members], four miles north of Naylor, may be seen a memorial to his hands. This church was begun just before a revival meeting, and while it was in progress the pastor would work until time for service, turn from the saw to the pulpit, and after which all would eat dinner at the church and continue the building until chore time, when the farmers would go home to get ready for the evening service.  
In 1880 E. E. Jones came to the church at Mt. Vernon [23 members] and for over a half century was an active member. Other members who have helped to keep the church moving are the Adkissons and Clarks. Both Mt. Vernon and Naylor are on State Highway 36, seven miles apart. Six miles southeast of Mt. Vernon is the small frame church, Hammons Chapel [24 members]. One other minister, Rev. J. D. Hammons, now Presiding Elder of the Little Rock District, has also gone into the Methodist ministry from this community. Naylor circuit is justly proud of the fine group of Christian laborers she has sent into the harvest field to work for the Master. 
 
[The article is accompanied by pictures of the Bethlehem, Oakland, Hammons Chapel, Mount Vernon, and Naylor churches.]  
Vilonia Circuit, by Rev. Martin A. Bierbaum  
The Vilonia Circuit is made up of the following churches: Vilonia, Cypress Valley, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Olive and Sixteenth Section. Vilonia is located between Beebe and Conway on U. S. Highway 64.  
Of the five churches, Vilonia [187 members] is the largest in size and member- ship; and is a half-time appointment. The church was organized in 1884. The first members were members of the Cypress Valley church who had moved into Vilonia. The pastor preaches at Vilonia the first and third Sunday mornings at 11:00 o'clock and also the second and fourth Sunday nights. This church has a membership of 188, and a Sunday School enrollment of 120. The Young People's Division has a membership of 55. The Woman's Missionary Society, although small in membership, is very active. It makes a large pledge to the foreign work considering the small membership. The Society is operating a Gift Shop up town as well as selling homemade ice cream each Saturday afternoon; the receipts are expected to be used in repairing and re-furnishing the parsonage.  
The Church School, of which J. M. Hanna is General Superintendent, is doing fine work; we have an excellent group of officers and teachers. (11) 
The Cypress Valley church [101 members], which is the mother church of the Vilonia church, is located five miles southeast of Vilonia. This church was organized in 1859 with five charter members: Mr. and Mrs. Drewry Ballard; Mrs. Mary Downs, grandmother of Dr. J. H. Downs, our physician at Vilonia; Mrs. Mary C. Edwards, mother of E. H. Edwards, our Church School Superintendent at Cypress Valley; and Jas. A. Anderson (not the one who wrote our "Arkansas Methodist Centennial History," but another man who too made a preacher but joined the Little Rock Conference). This organization built a log church which was also used for a school house. The present building was built in 1870. Will Dallas, a member of the church, entered the Methodist ministry, but later joined the Nazarene Church. Horace M. Lewis, our pastor at Morrilton, was converted in this church.  
The pastor preaches at Cypress Valley Saturday night and the fourth Sunday at 11:00 0' clock. The Sunday School has the largest attendance of any church on the circuit.  
Mt. Carmel [45 members] is located five miles south of Vilonia on the old Little Rock road. This church was organized in 1907 [another source says 1885] by a local preacher, who had been preaching at the school occasionally. The site was donated by Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Tucker. The first trustees were: W. R. Clark, G. W. Tucker, and J. Ballard. The church was organized with 38 members. W. F. Blevins was the first regularly appointed pastor, who, as a result of the summer revival, increased the membership to 100. The first Sunday School Superintendent was named Graham. The Freewill Baptists have preaching here the Saturday before first Sunday and the first Sunday and cooperate with us in a Community Sunday School. The Methodist pastor preaches here Saturday night and the second Sunday at 11 :00 o'clock.  
The organization which was the beginning of the Mt. Olive church [54 members] was known by the nickname "Old Women's Church," due to the fact that several of the older women kept the organization going. This group met in the school house then known as Stevens College which was the only school for some distance. This church was organized before the Civil War. The writer was unable to find out what years. When the present Mt. Olive church was built in the winter of 1878-9 it absorbed this older generation.  
Under the older set-up Aunt Susan Brannon was the main-stay of the organization and kept it going. During the time before and after the Civil War, two local preachers, Rev. I. N. Pace and Rev. Robert Kirkman, supplied this church for years. The organization was then on the Mineral Circuit, Searcy District, White River Conference.  
The Mt. Olive church was principally built by the Sparrows, Frank Bradford, Bob Reynolds, E. W. Wilkerson, and sons, A. C. and R. K., and others whose names we are unable to give.  
This church has been a wonderful church in its days. There are now 66 names on register, but only six live in the immediate community, and the present pastor been unable to locate more than 20 of the ones on the roll. The others have either died or moved off and have been lost sight of.  
We have a Sunday School with an enrollment of 35; Wade Henderson is the Superintendent.  
The pastor preaches at this place the first and third Sunday nights. This church is located about four miles southwest of Vilonia.  
The Sixteenth Section church [Lonoke County, 37 members] has been organized a long time, but the writer was unable to get the necessary information. This church is located 12 miles southeast of Vilonia and six miles west of Ward. Tom W. Russell has been the Superintendent for years. The Sunday School has 35 enrolled. The pastor preaches at this church the fourth Sunday morning at 9:30 o'clock. 
 
The entire Vilonia Circuit this year has paid 100 percent of the Conference Claims Acceptance by Easter, repeating what we had done last year for the first time in the history of the circuit.  
We are now beginning on our training program for the year with local training classes and correspondence work; our goal is to earn 50 training credits by Annual Conference. 
 
Most important of all, we are launching our evangelistical program and are planning to have simultaneous revival meetings for Sixteenth Section, Cypress Valley, Mt. Carmel, and Mt. Olive, beginning August 9, and culminating our special efforts with a Circuit Wide Revival August 23 at Vilonia with our Presiding Elder, Rev. William Sherman, doing the preaching. We are hoping and praying for 50 additions on profession of faith.  
[Accompanying this article was a picture of Rev. Bierbaum and the churches at Vilonia, Cypress Valley, Sixteenth Section, Mount Carmel, and Mount Olive.]  
Although just across the line in Pulaski County, in 1936 the Cato Methodist Church [68 members] on the Cato-Bethel Circuit served several Faulkner County families. In the northeast section of the county there were in 1936 Methodist churches at Enders [76 members] and Mount Pleasant [123 members] on the Quitman Circuit. For more information on the Enders (formerly Sulphur Springs) Methodist Church, see Gracie McAnless Mahar, "Enders (Sulphur Springs)," Faulkner County: Its Land and People (1986), pp. 293-4.  
Footnotes  
l. Former "Southern" Methodist churches in the Conway-Mayflower area which had been closed before 1936 include Gold Creek, Preston, and Mount Olive (Round Mountain). See Robert Owen Crossman, "History of the Mayflower United Methodist Church" (Typewritten: 1974), in the Hendrix College Methodist collection. The list of Faulkner County churches on pages 431-2 of Faulkner County: Its Land and People (1986) also names Acklin Gap, New Hope, and Pine Mountain as former Methodist churches in the Conway area.  
2. Thomas Alexander Graham was born in Tennessee in 1827. He was licensed to preach in 1852 and came to Arkansas six years later. He served as pastor of several "Southern" Methodist churches in south and central Arkansas, including Mount Vernon (twice), Pinnacle Springs, Martinville, and Conway Circuit (twice). "Father" Graham, as he was called, retired in 1894; he died in FIoresville, Texas in 1906. James A. Anderson, Centennial History of Arkansas Methodism (Benton, Ark.: L. B. White Printing Co., 1935), p. 186.  
3. The Methodist Church at Pinnacle Springs had been disbanded by 1936. According to the list of Faulkner County churches in Faulkner County: Its Land and People (1986), there was at one time a Shady Grove Methodist Church in the Wooster area. However, in 1992 long-time area residents Ed McMillen, Thayer Hendrickson, and Hattie Ann Kelso had never heard of a Methodist Church at either Shady Grove or East Shady Grove.  
4. See also the articles by Jerry A. Pulliam and Blake Lieblong on the Greenbrier Methodist Church in Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings (Winter 1977), and the article by Blake Lieblong et al., "United Methodist Church, Greenbrier," Faulkner County: Its Land and People (1986), pp. 165-6.  
5. Rev. Harris was recognized as "one of the most effective rural revivalists" of the Arkansas "Southern" Methodists. He transferred to Northwest Texas in 1901. Anderson, Centennial History of Arkansas Methodism, p. 161.  
6. The "Northern" and "Southern" branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the U. S. divided in 1844-45 and were not reunited until 1939. Margaret Ann Ross identified the camp at Blackfork as an institution of the "Northern" Methodists in her article on "Early Camp Meetings in Faulkner County, Arkansas," Arkansas Historical Quarterly (Summer 1951).  
7. In 1936, U. S. Highway 65 ran north from Conway through Wooster and Bono to Damascus along the present-day routes of Arkansas Highways 25 and 285.  
8. "Southern" Methodist churches in the Naylor area which had closed before 1936 include Bailey Chapel at Enola and Bristol.  
9. The preacher was Rev. J. F. Etchison who was pastor of the Naylor Circuit in 1913 and 1914.  
10. See also Grace Langford Prothro, "History of Pleasant Valley (Naylor) Methodist Church," Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings (Winter 1969-70).  
11. See also Mary Jane Scott, "United Methodist Church, Vilonia," Faulkner County: Its Land and People (1986), pp. 164-5.  
 
Faulkner Facts and FiddlingsVolume XXXV, Spring and Summer, 1993, No. 1-2, pages 8-16