History of Mars Hill Church and Cemetery

Volume 4, Number 5 - Fall 1971

History of Mars Hill Church and Cemetery
Compiled by Herald Jenkins

JENKINS, MO. Oct. 26, 1970

In response to your letter of October 20th, yes you may use any or all of the book I compiled from the records of the Mars Hill Church: we have a campaign started now to establish a memorial trust, a perpetual trust fund for perpetual care of the building and cemetry, in a few years this building will be 100 years old plans are for another memorial book which will also feature this generations efforts to keep the memorial alive.

Should anyone desire a copy you or they can contact me I have several left this was not written or printed for sale but any contributions will be used for another book or some project I consider worthy.

History of Mars Hill Church and Cemetery

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FOREWORD

About every so often people or persons will indulge themselves in a spirit or "fit" of nostalgia, especially when a group of the so-called elder generation meet or gather and begin to reminisce of the past happenings, how needs were met and how things were done "in the good ole days".

Sometimes it does seem that some things were better or at least easier to live with in bygone days, but a close study usually reveals that there were problems and troubles usually caused by man’s inability to cope with problems which human minds and habits create. Too a close observance of the habits, reasonings, desires, diverse opinions and so on convinces us that those problems will continue to beset the human race so long as it remains "HUMAN".

At one time in Biblical history there is an account of a race of people who were conquered by foreign powers taken from the lands of their God-given heritage and spent many years as captives of their conquerers. Later when the opportunity was provided for them to return to their native lands and rebuild their cities or places of habitation seems as if this was done with speed and dispatch, due to this observation for it was said of them "for the people had a will to work" meaning that they all had a mind to supply a common need or work for the eventual good of all.

The following pages are reproductions of the original records of a group of people with a pioneer spirit and "a will to work" in unity for a common need for the good of all. Apparently this record was made with painstaking accuracy. The spelling may not have been perfect, but I would call the penmanship superb considering the fact that it was written with a quill pen.

I have searched high and low for pictures of the "horse and buggy days" but all I can come up with is photographs of some of the families of those early pioneers. There will be many who can point to these photographs and say, "That is my grandfather or grandmother so-and-so", and the reminisce will start of what my father or grandfather told me of those early days. I myself have many memories, many good and some not so pleasant. In the early days of the church much dependance was placed on the "circuit riders" or traveling preachers, men who felt the urge or call to spread the gospel of Christ. I have read the history of this particular circuit which reached from Springfield, Mo. to about Neosho, Mo. Seems there was about three of these circuit riders who were well-known and took care of this circuit. Their method of transportation was by horseback and their pack consisted of an extra shirt or shirt front, sometimes a pair of hand-knitted socks and of course their Bible.

To give an idea of the type or kind of Gospel some of these men preached, I will relate an anecdote which may or may not have been related in many communities across the land. There was a circuit rider sometimes referred to as "Old Hellfire". One balmy spring day as he was nearing the community of his ministrations, he spied the remains of a small hay stack. Being very weary and tired of body, he stopped, unsaddled his horse, staked the horse out to graze, took his pack as a pillow, chose the sunny side of the hay stack, and proceeded to sleep and rest. The horse and of course the preacher were spied by some of the boys of the community. Being pranksters by nature and probably recalling the preacher’s preaching, the boys set the haystack on fire and when the preacher awoke he was literally ringed in by a wall of fire. He, being sincere in his fear and belief of a fiery retribution of judgment and being more asleep than awake, is said to have raised to his knees and raised his hands heavenward and cried, "Oh Lord, I really did not expect to be counted worthy, but thought that I would receive credit for trying!"

To get back to the duties and habits of the circuit riders, they had no schedule to go by. They would arrive in a community at one of the homes where the good housewife would laundry and starch his shirt-front. She would get a little soot from the top of the oven of the cook stove and mix it with hog lard for blacking for his shoes.

One of the boys of the family would mount a horse and spread the word that the preacher had come, and "youns (you all) are expected at the meeting house tomorrow". Preparation would start. Those who could, went in the morning with ample food supplies and the meeting was on. Without a doubt, the church was the center of community life, influential in family and community affairs.

The first order of business was to spend a few kind words for those who might have died since the last meeting; the next to unite in matrimony those who were waiting for the preacher to come to marry them.

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Without any fanfare or ballyho, the meeting was on—preaching, singing, testifying, and a lot of giving God the glory for worldy substance, and for the privilege of being able to participate in meetings of that kind, fellowship with all ample food for the physical body and spiritual food to restore, to increase and sustain faith in a supreme God and to breed a spirit of tolerance, dependance and confidence in one’s neighbors and fellow-men.

I personally can remember the BIG MEETINGS and being a boy, expecially the big dinners where there was food of quality and quantity for all desires, and apparently judging from the conversations, the testimonies, and the actions of the people, the spiritual food was of the same quality and quantity as the other.

I too have remembrance, the first Sunday School I attended, of the collection of picture cards with their memory verses, the award I received for perfect attendance during some quarters of the years.

Now Mars Hill Cemetery is one of the best kept in the area. Several years ago the building was relinquished as a denominational institution, a cemetery association was formed, more land was acquired (donated), orderly plots staked or plotted, and many people are reserving lots for later use.

Cooperation is excellent, the expenses are met by private contribution which so far has been ample.

There is a board of elected trustees or directors, a secretary and a family paid for the maintainance of the cemetery. At the present time the trustees are as follows:

Pate Bassett, Rt. 1, Crane, Mo.

Dennis Burk, Rt. 1, Crane, Mo.

Herald Jenkins (yours truly), Rt. 1, Jenkins, Mo.

Glen Wiley (Bank of Crane), Crane, Mo.