Ariel Primitive Baptist Church
Crawford County, Ga.
1837 - 1850
Upatoi Primitive Baptist Association
THE FIRST SESSION AS WRITTEN IN THE CORRESPONDING LETTER
"Dear Brethren in the Lord, we a few of the scattered Baptist Churches, of the Primitive Order after having met in Council at Union Church, Marion County, Georgia by delegation, November 4, 1837 were constituted into an Association denominated the Apostolic Baptist Association. We therefore, as an association, do offer a friendly correspondence to our sister associations, of our faith and order. Dear Brethren, by the mercies of a kind Providence we have been permitted to meet gladly, and joyfully to sit together. Harmony, love and peace seemed to exist during the whole meeting among the Brethren, being of one mind and speaking the self same thing. We have appointed our next association at Valley Grove, Talbot County, Georgia on Saturday before the first Sunday in November next. We desire our Brethren, of our faith and order to meet us in our next association. Dear Brethren, we desire that the Great Head of the church may protect you and us and enable us to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace". Yours in strong bonds of the gospel, Joseph J. Battle, Moderator; John W. Turner, Clerk."
Thirteen Churches were in the constitution of the association of which Elders Battle and Turner were Moderator and Clerk. In addition to Union other names of Churches follow: Union, Girard, Alabama; Valley Grove, Talbot County; Mt. Erion, Marion County; Upatoi; Mt. Carmel, Muscogee County; Sardis, Marion County; Ariel, Crawford County; Ramah, Marion County; Horeb, Talbot County; Lazar Creek, Talbot County; Hepzibah, Marion County; Phillippi, Marion County. Messengers composing first session: Elders: James Madden, John R. Russell, M. L. McPherson, Moses Smith, J. W. Turner, James Barrow, Joseph Battle, J. G. Barry, Andrew Hood. Brethren: Jesse Tomblin, Robert Toler, John McDowell, William Bowden, Abel Windham, Samuel Mauk, Green Huff, John Walker, Isaac Callaway, Levi Wheelis, Samson English, Warren Dykes, Peter Stewart and G. Yelvington.
Ariel Church, Crawford County, which was one of the churches in the constitution in 1837, was dissolved in 1850.
Taken from
"History of the Upatoi Primitive Baptist Association"
1837-1962
Elder Bentley Adams, Moderator
J. F. Parker, Clerk
L. O. Bishop, Asst. Clerk
Transcribed by Kim Gordon ←
I afraid I don't have any information that will add to your
information base, but I just wanted to write a note to say thank you for posting
this page. I was doing a web search to learn more about churches in Crawford
County Georgia, because my ancestor, Robert F. Missildine, lived for a while in
Crawford County. He was born in London, but came to America as a child with his
family in 1815 and they settled in Charleston, SC. We know quite a bit about
him after he arrived in Montgomery County, Alabama, where he was a Primitive
Baptist preacher, but we did not know much about his stay in Crawford County. I
was actually just trying to glean a little information about the history of the
Baptists in that time and location, then your page popped up.
Not only was I excited to see a Primitive Baptist Church pop up, but what really
caught my eye was that it was called "Ariel" Primitive Baptist Church. I had no
idea if it had anything to do with my family, but I thought maybe it did because
my grandfather's name was Ariel. My heartbeat increased as I clicked on the
link and saw a history of the church through its minutes. Then, there was the
name Robert F. Missildine and even some incident of controversy with Primitive
Baptist and Missionary Baptist issues. He was ordained to preach there, and his
wife's family was also involved in the church there because her name was Matilda
Knighten and Josiah Knighten, mentioned in the minutes, was probably her father
or her brother. There was even a note about him being excluded from the church
because of running out on a debt. We had seen some information about someone
from Georgia collecting on a debt when he was in Alabama, but didn't know any
more about it.
And we never knew why my grandfather's father chose to name him Ariel, other
than that it was a name in the Bible. But now we know! Robert's son, William,
would have about age 5 when they came there, and a young teenager when they left
there. William's 23rd child (yes that's right - 23rd) was my grandfather, Ariel
David Missildine and obviously the name, Ariel, held some good childhood
memories for his father, William, from his time growing up in that church. And
that name, Ariel, has been passed down for five generations. My father was
Ariel, Jr., my brother is Ronald Ariel, his son is Ronald Ariel, Jr. and his son
is Caleb Ariel. I know my father would love to have known where his name came
from. He died in 1988, but his descendants will know!
And this information puts a missing piece of the puzzle in place about his
life. I wish I could know what the debt was for that he ran out on, but I don't
know if we will ever find that.
Thanks again for making it possible to know more about the life of one of our
main ancestors.
Sincerely,
Brent Missildine ←
Prattville, Alabama
This page was last updated Sunday, November 25, 2007
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