1900 -- East Texas Union Meeting

When the East Texas Union Meeting met in 1900, the clerk was ordered to print 200 copies of the minutes. At least one of them has survived. I found it in the Charles Brightwell papers in the archives at the East Texas Research Center at Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas. It is very short, so I typed it up to share with anyone who might be interested in either the genealogical, religious, historical or regional aspects of it.

Cover
Minutes
of the
Third Annual Session
of the
EAST TEXAS UNION MEETING
-- of the Regular --
PREDESTINARIAN or PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
FAITH and ORDER
Held With Pleasant Hill Church, Cherokee Co., Texas
Beginning on Friday Before the First Sunday in September 1900

Page 1
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31
The Union Meeting organized by electing Elder S. A. Hutchins moderator, and brother A. M. Starling clerk.

1. Called for letters from the different churches. One received from Mt. Zion, Salem and Pleasant Hill churches, all of which were read and received.

Adjourned till Saturday, 10 o'clock a. m.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 1
The Union Meeting met pursuant to adjournment.

Brother J. B. Branch was present from Concord church and was received without letter into the body.

2. The subject of organizing the Union Meeting into an Association was taken up and discussed, and on motion such organization was defered for the present.

3. On motion it was agreed that in the future, the pastor and clerk of the church where the Union Meeting is held shall be the moderator and clerk of the Union Meeting.

4. On motion the clerk was ordered to have two hundred copies of our minutes published.

The next session of the Union Meeting will be held (Divine Providence permitting) with Salem church, in Smith county, Texas, 7 miles south of Overton in Rusk County, commencing on Friday before the second Sunday in July 1901.

5. On motion the minutes of the day were read and adopted, and Union Meeting adjourned to the time and place above mentioned.

ELDER S. A. HUTCHINS, Moderator.

A. M. STARLING, Clerk.

Page 2
Articles of Faith.
I. We believe in only one true and living GOD, who is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible; and that there are three in the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

II. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the revealed word of God, and the only rule of faith and practice.

III. We believe in the doctrine of eternal and particular election of a definite number.

IV. We believe that as by one man sin entered into the world, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; and that man in utterly unable to recover himself from sin by his own free will and ability.

V. We believe that sinners are justified in the sight of God only by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

VI. We believe that the saints are preserved in Jesus Christ and kept by the power of God through faith, ready to be revealed in the last times.

VII. We believe that baptism, the Lord's supper, and washing of the saints' feet are ordinances of Jesus Christ, and that believers are the only subjects of these ordinances; and that immersion is the only mode of baptism.

VIII. We believe that no minister has the right to administer the ordinances save he is called of God, as was Aaron, and comes under the imposition of the hands of the presbytery.

IX. We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead (Adam man) both of the just and the unjust, and a general judgment. That the joys of the righteous are eternal, and the punishment of the wicked will be everlasting.

Page 3
Scale of the Churches

Church Post Office Pastor Post office of clerk Messengers

Mt. Zion S.A. Hutchins* Rusk, Texas A.M. Starling Forest, Texas S.A. Hutchins, A.J. Hugghins, A.M. Starling

Meeting Day 4; Members 12; Baptized 2

Salem C. Brightwell* Overton, Texas J.H. Wilson Omen, Texas C. Brightwell, J.H. Wilson, Thos. Arnold

Meeting Day 2; Members 20; Dead 1

Pleasant Hill C. Brightwell* Overton, Texas G.R. Dowdy Bullard, Texas W.F. Breedlove, L.H. Hugghins, R.M. Breedlove

Meeting Day 1; Members 20

Concord C. Brightwell* Overton, Texas [clerk not listed] J.B. Branch

Meeting Day 4; Members 13; Dismissed 1; Dead 1

*Ordained ministers

NOTES: Pleasant Hill met in Cherokee County and Salem in Smith County; based on the addresses of the pastor and clerk, Mt. Zion may have been in Cherokee County. Salem still exists; its meeting house is on the road between Troup and Wright City in eastern Smith County. I am not familiar with the others. C. Brightwell was Elder Charles Brightwell, who lived in Rusk County in the Leverett's Chapel area (between Overton & Kilgore). Charles Brightwell (1844-1913) was probably born in Georgia, where he married Margaret Caroline Ball. They came to Texas from the Macon area of Georgia. The moderator and clerk may have been Swan Alvin Hutchins and Alexander Moses Starling.