Information Sheet

 

 

R         Liberty Baptist Church (Washington County, Mo.).

196                  Records, 1884-1952 (bulk 1884-1925).

                                    Two volumes and one folder.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are record books and miscellaneous papers of the Liberty Baptist Church northwest of Potosi in Washington County, Missouri.  The records consist of minutes of meetings and member­ship information, 1884-1952, and a few pieces of correspondence, 1891-1936.

 

The Liberty Baptist Church was organized sometime after the Civil War by former mem­bers of the Mount Zion (later Fourche-à-Renault) Baptist Church in Washington County.  Its congre­ga­tion was slightly smaller than the parent organization, and remained so throughout its exis­tence.  The congregation disbanded in the 1950s or 1960s.

 

The surviving records of the Liberty Church consist of two volumes of church records and one folder of miscellaneous papers.  The record books include membership rolls with dates of ad­mis­sion and dismissal, some entered as late as 1952.  Minutes of monthly business meetings of the church are nearly complete for 1884-1925, with single entries for meetings in 1934 and 1951.  The minutes are usually a pro forma compliance with church rules governing business meetings.  They are a bit more detailed after 1910, apparently the result of the ap­pointment of a new church clerk.  Aside from routine matters, the minutes note only the ex­pulsion of offending members and the dif­ficulties in engaging pastors to serve the rural con­gregation.

 

Miscellaneous papers of the church, filed chronologically in the folder, include letters of ad­mission and dismissal, some correspondence, and a fragmentary copy of the Articles of Faith of the church.  Undated items are filed at the end of the folder.

 

 

Shelf List for this collection
Index cards for this collection
Questions? Use our Researcher Registration Form
Return to WHMC-Rolla's home page.