"Days past holds interesting history for Pleasant Hill"

by Dottie A. Sims
Appeared in the "Henderson Daily News" on Sunday, Oct. 1, 1978

Perhaps it was the clear, cool spring at the foot of the sand hill, or maybe the Indians had long been enjoying the water from the spring when the first white settlers arrived. At any rate, there was nothing more inviting than a drink from the spring on a hot dry day! Rivaling the attraction of the spring, one has only to climb to the top of the hill to be met with the breathtaking beauty of the rolling hills of the country for miles around. This is true in the spring when the grass is green or the fields are red with Crimson Clover or blue with Bluebonnets or even in winter when white with snow. Today, as I stand and view the cattle on the many hills, I can envision the buffalo as they must have been in times past. I can almost see the Indian hunters as they rushed out of the wooded places and took a choice animal for their food and clothing - hear their shouts of conquest. Looking out upon the surrounding hills, I hear pumps of a hundred oil wells, cars speeding by honking their horns, transport trucks roaring past, a train in the distance, the lowing of a cow and the shout of children playing. I hear these noises and I wonder how do they compare with the sounds of long ago or the silence? I remember the big oak tree that stood just south of the church next to the highway and how we would scramble for a parking place in its shade on the hot days, but progress demanded its removal. One oak tree still stands near the church that is so old and gnarled it must have been the tree under which the lunch was spread on that first Graveyard Working Day in 1887. And right there was the old tabernacle which once sat almost in the shade of the old oak tree. It was labeled an eyesore, so to the back of the church it was retired. But the memories of the picnics, revivals and even quilting parties linger on. How many romances had begun there as people, especially the young, would gather there and visit for hours on the old wooden benches? How many souls were saved under its roof? Sometime prior to the year of 1856, the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church was organized, making it the oldest church in the Mt. Zion Association, according to the 1977 minutes. For 122 years, Pleasant Hill Church has been at this same location on Highway 323 about midway between Henderson and Overton. The history of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church - as we know it - began with Captain Robert W. Smith who was born in North Carolina in 1814 and moved to Texas in 1836. He was a veteran in the Army of Texas, he fought in the Battle of San Jacinto at the age of 22 and, in the battle of Neches in 1839, he fired the shot that killed Chief Bowles of the Cherokees. He also served as captain of a company under the command of General James Smith during the Regulator-Moderator War. He donated the ground on which the Pleasant Hill Church and cemetery are located. He was an early sheriff of Rusk County and he was married to a beautiful lady named Jane Watkins. He died in 1851 and is resting there in a grave with a historical marker in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Capt. Smith first donated the land to the Presbyterians in the year 1845 and about the year 1856 the Presbyterians swapped it to the Baptists for some land at Old London. The Baptists have carried on hte work of the Lord at this location for 122 years. Judging from past records of this church, there have been some heartbreaking hills and valleys for its membership. Many times wayward members had to be excluded. The records show numerous deaths, marriages and births. It staggers the imagination to think how many! When President Lincoln was struggling with the problem of slavery, Pleasant Hill was doing business for the master. During this period, there were many runaway slaves and renegade Indians passing through the country terrorizing the women and children. Through all the hardships, with the Lord's protection, the tiny log church (which was also used as a school house) survived until in later years a modern one room structure was erected. This building was used until after the oil boom and, in 1937, a brick building was erected. To this building Sunday School rooms were added and a new educational department was built in 1977. The church building, the three bedroom brick parsonage and the land have a total value well over $150,000 at this time. It is recorded that in the year 1922 the pastor was paid $100 for his year of work. This year, 1977, the pastor was paid $9,200. Looking through the record books, I was appalled to discover many pages torn from those percious records. Apparently some people did not want a record of their waywardness kept and so proceeded to mutilate the books. This is regretful, for it breaks the chain and makes it impossible to have a complete record of many of our older church members. I was priviliged to sit and listen to many reports of the Pleasant Hill people of long ago by a lady we all called "Aunt Kate" Maxwell. She was baptised in the church in the spring of 1904. During her lifetime she attended many weddings, funerals and other gatherings including the annual Graveyard Working Picnic, which she never misswed. The cemetery, located across the highway from the church, gave young lovers a place to stroll hand-in-hand while the older people took care of the meal preparations for the annual picnic. The annual Pleasant Hill picnic had its beginning on the first Saturday in July of 1887 and has continued ever since. Jess Hamilton is credited with getting the graveyard working started. It is reported that, in the year 1884, Hamilton rode up to the cemetery on a slick black horse to visit the graves of some of his loved ones only to find the weeds and bushed had grown so thick and heavy he could not locate the graves. He saw the need for a graveyard working and climbed upon his horse to enlist the aid of several neighbors. They discussed his plan to meet on a special day with a picnic lunch to work in the cemetery in the morning and eat and visit in the afternoon. Three years later, in 1887, the first graveyard working picnic took place. There is no work done on this day anymore because the wealth of the oil field has made it possible to hire a year-round caretaker. People come now to just visit and renew old acquaintances. Beside the marker of Capt. Robert Smith there is another marker inscribed "Samuel Smith, born August 22, 1765, died May 27, 1856". This man was no relation to Robert Smith, the donor of the land to Pleasant Hill. It is reported that George Boatright's first wife was the first to be buried in the cemetery, but this cannot be verified as many of the gravestones are so weather-beaten and unreadable. Many markers bear the names of those who fought in several different wars: World War I, World War II and the Korean War. The most prominent dates on the gravestones are those dated March 18, 1937 marking the graves of 112 teachers and students killed in the New London school explosion. There have been many pastors at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church through the years: Merit Melton was the first pastor G.W. Rodgers 1856-1891 ? Sanders 1891-1892 Robert Wilson 1892-1894 J.C. Jones 1894-1898 W.A. Reagan 1898-1899 W.H.H. Hays 1899-1900 J.R. Carmicle 1900-1901 T.V. Bently 1901-1903 ? Pruit 1903-1906 J.J. Burks 1906-1909 E.H. Garner 1909-1910 J.J. Burks 1910 T.V. Sinn 1910-1913 W.W. Jarrell 1913-1914 J.R. Welch 1914-1915 E.E. Jones 1915-1917 M.L. Vaughn 1917-1918 J.R. Welch 1918-1919 E.E. Jones 1919-1920 J.R. Welch 1920-1928 W.H. Little 1928-1929 J.R. Welch 1929-1944 Z.E. Wolverton 1944-1945 A.J. Kirkland 1945 G.D. Walters 1945-1950 G.B. Crawford 1950-1955 Franklin Shephard 1955-1959 L.H. Owen 1959-1963 Arthur Smith 1963-1967 Harold Davis 1968-present (1978)