Hinds County MsArchives News.....TRIP TO CHAPEL HILL. RELIGIOUS MEETINGHANCOOK CLUB MEETING, & c._ full text 1880
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Pattie Snowball http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004072 October 16, 2007, 10:53 am
Hinds County Gazette 1880
TRIP TO CHAPEL HILL.
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RELIGIOUS MEETINGHANCOOK CLUB MEETING, & c.
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At five o'clock on Saturday morning last, in company with Sam. M. Shelton,
Esq., we left the quiet and sleeping town of Raymond for Chapel Hill,
distance, via Dry Grove, about sixteen miles.
Thirty-five years ago there was a Methodist church five miles north of
Raymond, near the present residence of Mr. Z. Wardlow, which was known as
Chapel Hill, but that church was abandoned ( by whites) some years ago, and
although the neighborhood is still called Chapel Hill, it was not the Chapel
Hill which we visited on Saturday.
Thirty-five or forty years ago, W.C. DeMoss, then our Sheriff, owned a large
body of land in the southern part of this county, possibly between 2,000 and
3,000 acres. Tallahalah creek passes through it, and much of it was and is
yet highly productive and beautifully situated. It lies about six miles west
of Dry Grove, and about seven east of Utica. At a later periodpossibly
twenty-five years agothis land, or a part of it, was purchased by Capt. E.H.
Spencer. Capt. Spencer-moved upon it, and being a Christian man, at his own
expense erected a church, not far from his residencea very neat and spacious
building. It was named Spencer's Chapel, and was attached, Capt. Spencer
being of denomination, to the Methodist organization. About twenty years ago
Capt. Spencer sold out to Mr. Oliver, (who died in the Confederate service in
1863) and since that time the tract of land has been divided, and sub-divided,
and now portions of it are owned and cultivated by W.F. Utterback, Mr. Slater,
Mrs. Pittman and others, and the neighborhood has rapidly settled up, and with
a people remarkable for their intelligence, independence, thrift, and sound
morality and Christian virtues, Some ten-years ago a store was established
near the church and also a post office, the later taking the name of Chapel
Hill, and from that day to this the neighborhood has been known as Chapel
Hill. me. Flowers, a very gentlemanly man, is now the merchant there, and a
mail is furnished by a tri-weekly horse route, running through from
Terry, via Dry Grove, to Utica. Capt. Spencer and other leading Methodists
having removed from the neighborhood, and the Baptist denomination being very
strong some three or four years ago the Baptist purchased the church, still
hold it, Elder White of Utica now being pastor. So much for the past history
of Chapel Hill, and now for the present.
After a most delightful drive, passing through Dry Grove, between 7 and 8
o'clock, we reached Chapel Hill shortly after 9. Soon people of the
neighborhood commenced assembling, the programme being, as we were informed, (
a protracted meeting being in progress at the church,) prayer meeting at 10
o'clock, preaching at half past 11 o'clock, dinner at 2 o'clock, Hancock Club
meeting at 3 o'clock. The order of exercises was quite agreeable and
satisfactory to all and all promptly repaired to the House of God at the
arrival of the hour of prayer, and remained throughout the religious service.
The sermon was orthodox, scholarly, pointed and effective, and was preached by
young Mr. Cooper of the Baptist church, son of our old friend J. S. C. Cooper,
of the Midway neighborhood, this county.
After church the people were taken charge of the residents of the
neighborhood and abundantly fed, we falling in the kindly hands of Mr. W. F.
Utterback, at whose hospitable residence our creature wants were most
bountifully and elegantly supplied.
Between 3 and 4 o'clock, in the grove adjacent to the church, the Club was
called to order by president Carmichel, with Secretary Edward Moncure in
charge of the books. After the addition of new names to the roll, and the
transaction of other business, the president presented Sam. M. Shelton, Esq.,
who addressed the people in his usual effective, eloquent and happy style, and
greatly to the satisfaction and edification of all present.
At the conclusion of Mr. Shelton's address, the Club called for Geo. W.
Harper, who briefly responded.
Resolutions of thanks to the ladies for a banner, & c., were then adopted,
and the next meeting was ordered to be held at Dry Grove on the third Saturday
of September, at 11 o'clock, for which the chairman of the county executive
committee was requested to provide speakers.
The day's work having been completed, we then prepared for a homeward
movement, and found that we could reach Raymond by a route but 13 miles long,
instead of the 16 mile one via Dry Grove. We took a due north course from
Chapel Hill, thro' the old Spencer plantation, through Tallahalah swamp,
(about two miles broad,) crossing Tallahalah creek at a ford, and coming out
on the Utica and Raymond road between Lebanon church and the residence of the
late G. W. Osborne, and this is decidedly the shortest and best route from
Raymond to the Chapel Hill neighborhood. At tomes of high water, however,
Tallahalah cannot be forded, and the ford even at ordinary water is not
entirely safe for v---------- hands of persons unfamiliar ----. A driver
unfamiliar with it should ne carful.
Additional Comments:
Raymond, Hinds County, Mississippi
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