Old Spring Hill Church
 Photo courtesy of Rex Jones.
A Church in the Wildwood
By Harold Graham
It is April 2004 and you are in a remote area of southeastern Newton County. You turn right off the public highway onto a narrow lane that leads through oak trees and thickets. A minute later you see your destination: first the ancient cemetery, then the simple frame church, all neatly preserved in 1950 style as if the congregation is waiting for you.
You listen. Only silence, except for the complaint of a blue jay from a century-old oak tree. But you expect any moment to hear a congregation of voices break out in the hymn
Oh, come to the church in the wildwood,
Oh, come to the church in the dale
No place is so dear to my childhood,
As the little brown church in the vale.
Their voices, however, have been silent for half a century now.
When John and Young Edward Wall moved with their families from Perry County, Mississippi, to the area south of Hickory in Newton County in 1836, they set about to clear the forest and till the land. They were soon joined by many other families along the hills and hollows of the Souinlovey watershed. Virtually all the families were farmers and tilled the bottoms and hillsides with cotton, corn, wheat, and other crops.
Pictured Left: Cornerstone of Old Spring Hill Methodist Church, ca. 1838
Religion was wanting and the Wall brothers sought to build a church and to recruit a minister to serve it. They named the church Spring Hill. According to Browns History of Newton County, John Carstarphen and Joel C. Carstarphen were the first ministers. John Carstarphen patented land in both Newton and Jasper Counties on January 5, 1841. He apparently died before 1850, and John Wall took in and cared for his widow Ann and her son Joel. Following the death of his father, Joel Carstarphen filled the pulpit on Sundays and taught grammar school to the children of the community during the week. WPA Records indicate that brothers James and Joel Carstarphen preached in this church. James Cartarsphen was an early settler of Jasper County, but it is not clear whether he was a brother or son of the elder John Carstarphen. James patented land in Newton County in 1859.
This church was likely the first Methodist church in the county. The first building was constructed on land donated by Edward Young Wall and given the name Spring Hill for the hillside that is was built on and for a nearby spring.
The first members in the church no doubt were from both Newton and Jasper Counties. While we do not have a record of the first worshippers, the pioneer families who lived nearby included (in addition to the Walls) Henry P. Atwood, John and James F. Dupriest, Hopkins, Perrys, Tisdales, Dearings, and Caraways.
The first meetinghouse was a frame building measuring approximately 30 x 40 feet. A cemetery was started at the rear of the meetinghouse. This meetinghouse and cemetery served the community for the better part of two decades, but was poorly situated on a hillside with a marsh at the edge of the cemetery. It was then abandoned for a new location about a mile away.
Oh, come to the church in the wildwood,
To the trees where the wild flowers bloom;
Where the parting hymn will be chanted,
We will weep by the side of the tomb.
New Spring Hill Church, as the second church was called, was likely built about 1857, as the first burials are from that date. It remained in use until the 1950s, then, because of declining membership, church services were discontinued.
New Spring Hill Church was built on land belonging to Young Edward (Ed) Wall, but was only donated as a church site in 1884 and after his oldest son, James Appleton Wall, came in possession of the land.
New Spring Hill Methodist Church with classic double doors. Although Allan Jones states that the double doors were not used for that purpose, in early church buildings women were expected to enter by one door and sit on that side and men were expected to enter by the opposite door and sit on that side. No mixing was permitted.
New Spring Hill Church still stands today. Except for some natural weathering, little has changed from its appearance in 1950, thanks in great measure to Rex Jones, who purchased the property, and to his parents, Allan and Sandra Jones, all whom have dedicated much of their time and resources in keeping the church and nearby cemetery in mint 1950 condition.
A record no doubt was kept of the early church members. That record, however, has apparently been lost to the ages. The first available minute book was published in 1888, and for the most part contains few records earlier than 1870. Sixty-two names are listed at the beginning of this book. These are given below with their initial date of membership:
John F. Dearing --1870
Oliver Hopkins --1868
Abner Perry, n/d
S. B. Avery 1881
L. P. Dearing 1874
H. V. Hopkins 1874
W. E. Hopkins 1874
Cora L. Hale 1888
Edwin L. Dearing 1884
Mary L. Dearing 1885
Ella J. Dearing 1888
F. M. Wall 1864
J. E. McHenry 1881
J. P. Wall, n/d
W. F. Parks 1881
Geo. W. Wall, n/d
W. W. Cox --1870
Julia Cox 1856
Nancy Hopkins 1826
B. E. Caraway 1849
L. V. Cox 1888
M. S. Adcock 1850
L. C. Adcock 1888
Zadie McHenry 1881
Lou E. Wall 1884
L. M. Avery 1870
J. D. Morgan 1873
Sallie Morgan 1873
Leroy Hopson 1881
S. Y. Wall, Jr. 1887
B. A. Dennis, n/d
S. S. Hughes 1888
W. D. Hopkins 1887
E. C. Wall 1888
Thornton Williams, n/d
H. C. Adcock, n/d
W. N. Raines, n/d
Sarah Perry, n/d
Mary Wall, n/d
Elisabeth Wall, n/d
Susan Tucker, n/d
Elizer Varnell, n/d
Mary Williams1870
S. A. E. Gibson, n/d
M. E. McClindon, n/d
Anna Hopson, n/d
Nanie Hopkins, n/d
Parillie McClinton, n/d
R. A. E. Raines1874
Mary E. Adcock, n/d
Sarah McHenry, n/d
Nannie Gibson 1883
Henry E. Sharp, n/d
Louie Wall, n/d
Bulah James 1884
Emma Gibson Hamrick 1886
Mrs. Z. A. Dennis, n/d
L. A. Tisdale 1886
Sallie Parks, n/d
Mattie Cornette 1888
N. A. Wall Sandford 1888
Arrina Adcock 1888
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References
- Brown, A. J., History of Newton County, Mississippi, from 1834 to 1894, Clarion-Ledger Company, Jackson, Mississippi, 1894
- Personal Knowledge of Allan and Rex Jones
- Spring Hill Episcopal Methodist Church Register, 1888
- Strebeck, Lois Tessmer, Newton County Mississippi Cemeteries, Volume II, Dogwood Printing, Ozark, Missouri, 1993
- WPA Records, ca. 1936
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