Information Sheet

 

 

R         Central Missouri Association of United Baptists.

599                  Minutes of annual meetings, 1859-1996.

                                    Forty volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are minutes of the annual meetings of the Central Missouri Association of United Bap­tists, beginning with the organizational meeting in 1859.  The Association consists of churches in southeastern Missouri, primarily in the counties of Dent, Iron, Reynolds, and Wash­ington.

 

The Central Missouri Association of United Baptists was organized in October 1859 at Mount Pleasant Church in Iron County, Missouri.  It consisted of eight churches dismissed from the Bethel Association of United Baptists to form a new association.  In attendance were dele­gates from Bethlehem, Mount Pleasant, Big Creek, Sugar Tree, Pleasant Grove, Mount Zion, Mount Gilead, Locust Grove, and White Oak Grove, representing a combined membership of 289 indi­viduals.  Nelson Adams was elected the first moderator and Joshua Mason the first clerk of the new association.  The Association had increased to ten churches by 1860, but only three, Mount Pleasant, Pleasant Grove, and Mount Zion, convened for associations during the Civil War.  There was no meeting in 1864, when Gen. Sterling Price’s Expedition came through southeast­ern Mis­souri.

 

The Association has met annually without interruption from 1865.  Many different churches have had membership over the years.  The core area has been in Washington, Iron, Dent, and Rey­nolds counties, but churches from Crawford, Franklin, Madison, St. Francois, and St. Louis coun­ties have also been represented.  Since 1945 the First United Baptist Church of St. Louis has also been a member of the Association.  Various member churches hosted the event un­til 1955, when the Association bought a lot and building in Bunker, Missouri.  Beginning in 1956 and continuing through 1996, the Association has met at the Tabernacle at Bunker.  In 1996, sixteen churches rep­resenting a combined membership of 1,433 individuals sent delegates to the annual meeting.  In­cluded in the Association were two St. Louis churches, one from Pa­cific, and another from Arnold, Missouri, and one from Cahokia, Illinois.  Since 1973, Kenneth R. Parker has served as moderator of the meetings.

 

The minutes of the Central Missouri United Baptist Association are complete from 1859 through 1996.  They exist in two forms.  A bound printed volume contains typescripts of the min­utes beginning with the organizational meeting in 1859 and continuing through 1957.  The minutes of subsequent meetings are available in printed pamphlets which are prepared at each meeting of the Association for distribution to member churches.  The minutes contain varying amounts of in­formation, but generally include lists of churches and delegates attending the an­nual meeting, sta­tistical data on church membership, financial information, reports on church work, and letters pre­pared for correspondence with other associations.  The modern minutes also include reports on church auxiliary work, lists of ordained ministers, and lists of church officers and their mailing ad­dresses.

 

 

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