Information Sheet

 

 

R         Mount Zion Baptist Church (Washington County, Mo.).

195                  Records, 1829-1853.

                                    One volume, with typescript.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are records of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, established in 1829 northwest of Po­tosi, Missouri.  The church was re-named Fourche-à-Renault Baptist Church in 1834.  Its re­cords in­clude membership rolls and minutes of monthly church business meetings.

 

The Regular or United Baptist congregation on Fourche-à-Renault Creek counted about thirty members after its first year of existence.  The number included a few slaves.  A hewn-log church was erected in the 1830s and a camp ground was established adjacent to the church build­ing.  Annual summer camp meetings were held on the site for many years.

 

The records of the church consist of minutes of business transacted on the fourth Sat­urday of each month, preceded by the church Decorum and membership roster.  Minutes be­gin on 10 Janu­ary 1829 and continue through 23 July 1853.  Regular business included admis­sion and dis­missal of members, and appointments of church officials and committees.  Charges against members, which had to be resolved before the congregation, are frequently entered into the min­utes.  The cases usually involved non-attendance at church services and improper conduct, and often ended in the expulsion of the offending member.  There were also hearings on cases con­cerning attendance at another church, slander of another church member, and co-habitation be­fore marriage.  An or­dained minister was stripped of his credentials to preach in 1833 for illegal proceedings as mod­erator.  The charges included “self-aggrandizement” with­out regard for the cause of religion.

 

Pagination, spelling, and dating of the entries in the record book are not consistent.  Only the first forty of approximately one hundred and fifty pages in the volume are numbered.  The min­utes are in chronological order.  An unexplained gap in the minutes from September 1842 through January 1844 may be the result of a missing page or pages.  Dates are generally noted in terms of the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in each month, the day specified for handling church busi­ness.  A reference calendar is included to determine specific dates.  The calendar and typescript of the minutes have been filmed in front of the original volume.

 

 

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