Information Sheet

 

 

R         Big Buffalo United Baptist Church (Benton County, Mo.).

417                  Record book, 1869‑1894.

                                    One volume.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

This is a record book of the Big Buffalo United Baptist Church in southeastern Benton County, Missouri.  The volume includes the declaration of faith and rules of church order, min­utes of church business meetings, 1 August 1869 ‑‑ 29 April 1894, and mem­bership records.

 

The Big Buffalo United Baptist Church served a small congregation living in the vicinity of Big Buffalo Creek in Benton and Morgan counties.  The records of the church consist of a single volume containing primarily the records of monthly business meetings, 1 August 1869 ‑‑ 29 April 1894.  There is no information on the organization or early history of the church.  The dec­laration of faith and rules of decorum, which appear to have come from another volume, and the first min­utes of the record book all indicate a fully formed and active church by Au­gust 1869.  Records on pages 105‑106 show the location of the church as Benton County in 1869, but the monthly meet­ings were held at Riverview in Morgan County in 1883‑1884.  The present church building was occupied on 30 January 1891.

 

Routine business as recorded in the minutes included the admittance and dismissal of mem­bers, the election of officers, and appointments of delegates to annual associational meetings, first of the Concord Baptist Association, and, after 1872, the Lamine Baptist Asso­ciation.  In 1901, Big Buffalo Church joined the Benton County Baptist Association.  The minutes also include in­vesti­gations and expulsions of members for un­christian conduct.  Al­though there are cases of ex­pul­sions from the church on charges of drunkenness, dancing, and fiddle playing, most seem to have been the result of members joining another church, usually iden­tified as one of the Camp­bellite sects.  The congregation numbered thirty‑six individuals in 1869.  Incomplete membership records are en­tered at the end of the volume.

 

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