Sacred Harp Markers, Almost: McMahan

The historical marker for Bethel Primitive Baptist Church at McMahan, Caldwell County, Texas does not mention Sacred Harp, but the church has long been associated with the book and music. The Spring Session of the Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Convention has met here annually since 1962, and randomly beginning as early as 1934 (most earlier records are missing). The church and marker (Marker Number 9758) are located on FM 813, about 1/2 mile west of the intersection of FM 813 and FM 86. The Jeffrey Cemetery is adjacent to the church building. This marker was apparently erected in 1986 during the Texas Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary).

Marker Text:

Bethel Primitive Baptist Church

This congregation was organized June 19, 1852, in the home of John Fleming near this site. Elders George Daniels and Reuben W. Ellis from the Plum Creek Primitive Baptist Church were called to serve as pastors by the charter members: James Jeffrey, Mary Ann Jeffrey, John M. Fleming, Abigail Fleming, Richard Cole, Sarah Cole, John B. Jeffrey, Elinder Jeffrey, Robert McFeron, and Sarah McFeron. A church building was erected at this site in 1901. Bethel Primitive Baptist Church continues to minister to McMahan and the surrounding area as it has since 1852.

Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 – 1986

List of Sacred Harp Historical Markers

The following list links the series of ten historical markers that mention Sacred Harp in some way. Some are official state historical markers, while others were erected by other entities interested in historical preservation. They are listed in alphabetical order, rather than by the date on which they were posted.

• B. F. White, Harris County, Georgia
• Bethel Church, Anderson County, Texas
• Double Springs, Winston County, Alabama
• East Texas Convention, Rusk County, Texas
• Holly Springs, Carroll County, Georgia
• Kentucky Town, Grayson County, Texas
• Shoal Creek, Cleburne County, Alabama
• Vilulah Settlement, Randolph County, Georgia
• W. G. Griffith, Shelby County, Texas
• Wells, Cherokee County, Texas

If any reader is aware of other markers that mention Sacred Harp, I would like to know where they are located. Thanks!

Sacred Harp Markers, Vilulah Settlement

Text on marker:
VILULAH SETTLEMENT
This marker is erected in memory of those pioneer settlers who laid the foundation of Vilulah Community and built its early progress upon the principles and practices of its Church.
Meeting under a bush-arbor in 1867, seventeen members constituted the Vilulah Baptist Church. They named it after the loved hymn-tune - Vilulia in the old Sacred Harp Song Book - afterward shortening the name to its present spelling.
Land was given for the church by “Uncle Bobby” Knowles. The committee appointed to choose the church name were James N. Bigbie, who lost an arm while serving with the U.S. Army in the Mexican War, and Captain William Forsythe Davis of the Confederate Army. These and the following were honored founders of Vilulah Community: Albert Bailey, who gave land for the school, Jarrett Ragan, Abner Belcher, Judge Irvine Saunders, Baal Smith, Dr. Thomas Bigbie, A.S.A. McLendon, Alexander Morgan, Andrew Blackburn, Benjamin Joiner.
This roadside park was sponsored by the Vilulah Community Improvement Club. Winner of awards in the Chattahoochee Valley Contests of 1952-1953.
120-6   GEORGIA   HISTORICAL   COMMISSION   1955

This marker is located at the intersection of County Road 160 and County Road 153 at the Vilulah Baptist Church at Coleman, Randolph County, Georgia.

Sacred Harp Markers, Bethel

The Bethel Church and Cemetery historical marker is located near Frankston in Anderson County, Texas – about 5-1/2 miles south of Frankston off of State Highway 155, 1/2 mile east on County Road 327. The marker was created in 1994.

Some people mentioned on this marker, at Find-a-Grave:
Daniel Cook
Elizabeth Willingham Cook
(Their son is linked to their memorials, though the memorial has the wrong gravestone picture)
Daniel Parker
James Madison McCarty

Marker Text:

BETHEL CHURCH AND CEMETERY

  The Rev. James Madison McCarty (1802-1869) is the first Primitive Baptist minister known to have served in this area. In 1853 Bethel Primitive Baptist Church of Christ was established as a member of the Union Association organized by Daniel Parker.

  Church services were held one weekend a month. Members of the congregation participated in holy services of communion and foot washings during conference meetings. Singing for the services was performed in the non-instrumental sacred harp method. The church was the primary religious and social gathering place for the Sandflat community.

  The oldest documented burial in the Bethel Cemetery is that of the infant child of Daniel and Elizabeth Willingham Cook, who died on August 7, 1855. Among those buried in both marked and unmarked graves in the cemetery are veterans of the Civil War, World War I and World War II.

  After the railroad was built through the county in 1900, bypassing this area in favor of Frankston to the north, the Sandflat community began to decline. Worship services at Bethel Church ceased in the 1940s. The cemetery remains as a reflection of the area’s heritage.

(1994)

Sacred Harp Markers, Shoal Creek

This marker is located at the site of the old Shoal Creek Baptist Church meeting house, in Cleburne County, Alabama, in the Talladega National Forest.

This marker has text on both sides.
Side 1:

SHOAL CREEK

BAPTIST CHURCH

The first of three Baptist Churches was built on 

this site about 1842 as white pioneer settlers

increased. The present building was constructed

about 1895. The only surviving church book

 begun in 1898, shows sixty-eight male and

seventy-six female. In the early years

of the twentieth century the population decreased

to the point that the diminishing membership

ceased meeting here in 1914. Occasional events,

including weddings, reunions, and “old-fashioned”

church services are held at the church by reservation.

Since 1921, an annual Sacred Harp shape note singing

held each Labor Day is the only regular service.

(Continued on other side)

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 2017

Side 2:

SHOAL CREEK

BAPTIST CHURCH

(continued from other side)

The 2.83-acre site is private property surrounded

by the Talladega National Forest: the U. S. Forest

Service maintains the road leading to the site.

For more than a century, descendants of early

settlers have periodically maintained the building

and its adjoining cemetery. In 1986 they formally

organized the Shoal Creek Church Preservation

Society under the leadership of William Lee

Jones, grandson of an original builder. This

non-profit entity represents scores of area families

bearing such names as Cheatwood, Holley,

Edwards, Coleman, Roach, Dunn, Thompson,

Johnson, Knighten, and Jones.

ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 2017

This marker was erected, dedicated, and unveiled on Monday, September 4, 2017, at the annual Labor Day singing at the Shoal Creek Church. The Shoal Creek church web site presents pictures of the dedication and gives the original text for the marker, some of which was not included. Concerning Sacred Harp, the wording was slightly different: “A Sacred Harp shape note singing, begun in 1921, occurs here every Labor Day, drawing hundreds. While this is the only scheduled event each year...”

Sacred Harp Markers, Wells

An historical marker for the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells relates the a cappella singing of the church to Sacred Harp, which continued to be sung in the building for many years after the church ceased to function. The marker was approved/erected in 1984 and apparently updated in 2012.

The last line of the original marker read:
“Although the Primitive Baptist Church no longer exists in Wells, the church building still stands as a reminder of its history.”

It now has:
“The Primitive Baptist Church congregation no longer exists in Wells. Due to damage in 2012, the church building no longer stands.”

This marker is located on FM 1247 in Wells, Texas, at the location where the church building used to stand.

Original Marker Text:

Primitive Baptist Church

of Wells

  Alabama native Francis Marion Sessions is credited with the organization of the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells. Prior to his 1890 arrival in the town, Primitive Baptists traveled to Angelina County to worship in the Old Sand Hill Primitive Baptist Church. Although a formal organization date for the Wells church is unrecorded, Sessions and others began meeting in their homes and in the public schoolhouse and in 1918 purchased this school building and property for use as a permanent place of worship.

  Early leaders in the church included members of the Childers, Wilson and McAdams families. Often in attendance at the monthly services were residents of Angelina, Nacogdoches and Trinity counties. Hymns were sung in special arrangements without the accompaniment of musical instruments, a tradition in rural America known as sacred harp singing. The Old School Primitive Baptist Church, as it came to be known, often served as a gathering place for area harp singers.

  Sessions’ death in 1930 was followed by that of other older members of the church, and the congregation eventually ceased to meet. Although the Primitive Baptist Church no longer exists in Wells, the church building still stands as a reminder of its history.

Marker is Property of the State of Texas (1984.2012)

Francis Marion Sessions, who is mentioned on the historical marker, at Find-a-Grave

Sacred Harp Markers, Holly Springs

Text on marker:
When Georgians B. F. White and E. J. King compiled the songbook, The Sacred Harp, in 1844, they were continuing a singing tradition, which would ultimately become identified with the book. Thousands of southerners would be exposed to music through the singing schools taught from The Sacred Harp.
Sacred Harp singing or Fasola singing uses four shapes to identify the notes to be sung and is performed without the assistance of musical instruments. Traditionally the singers solmize or “sing” the notes, using the syllable “fa,” “sol,” “la” and “mi” prior to singing the words. The singers gather at “singings” and “conventions” to perform the music. These gatherings are usually great social events and once were often the center of rural community activity, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Holly Springs church very early became the site of what was to become one of the most popular of the 20th Century Sacred Harp singings in the country as the tradition spread far beyond the South.

This marker is placed in 1980 on the property of the Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church near Bremen, Georgia, at the southeast corner of US 27 and Interstate 20. It was erected by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and is part of Georgia Historical Society/Commission historical marker series.

Sacred Harp Markers, Kentucky Town

This marker is located at SH 11 and Kentucky Town Rd., about 3 miles west of Whitewright. It was erected by the Texas Historical Commission and Grayson County Historical Survey Commission in 1965. Marker Number 7389.

Marker Text:

KENTUCKY TOWN

When first settled in 1830’s was known as Annaliza. Renamed by Kentucky emigrants in 1858. Unique layout gave town protection against Indian attacks. On freight and stage routes. “Sacred Harp,” a robust frontier gospel style of singing and composition, began here. During Civil War was Quantrill gang rendezvous. (1965)

Kentucky Town, Grayson County, Texas

The brief mention of “Sacred Harp” as “a robust frontier gospel style of singing and composition” that “began here” perhaps leaves the reader in wonder and confusion. Those who know The Sacred Harp began in 1844 in Georgia will know one thing it does not mean. Perhaps what was intended is that “Sacred Harp” in Grayson County (or the general area) began at Kentucky Town (i.e., the first singing, singing school, or singing convention).

R. A. Caylor (1845-1920) mentioned Sacred Harp in the area when writing to The Musical Million.

Sacred Harp Markers, B. F. White

Text on marker:

B. F. WHITE

—1800-1879—

  Song writer, teacher, editor, lived in Hamilton, 1843-c.1868, was mayor, 1865. Near this spot in 1844 he published Sacred Harp, a “fa-sol-la” acappella singing school book now in its 14th edition. 

  White taught in a local academy, conducted singing schools in many places and organized singing conventions, some of which still exist.
  He died in Atlanta and is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

(Below the marker text is a short line of music (tenor, last bars) from B. F. White’s tune The Morning Trumpet.)

The B. F. White historical marker was erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, and Friends and Family of B. F. White in 1984. It is placed on the town square of Hamilton, Harris County, Georgia, between College Street/US 27 and the Confederate Monument.

Sacred Harp Markers, W. G. Griffith

The next marker is not specifically a Sacred Harp historical marker, but Sacred Harp is mentioned in the plaque placed at the tomb of Wyatt Greer Griffith, in Mt. Bethel Cemetery. The plaque was sponsored by the Mt. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church near Gary, Texas, and was erected in 2002. Below is an excerpt from the plaque. (The entire text can be read on the picture below or at the Find-A-Grave link above.) In the past one of Brother Griffith’s sons told me that The Christian Warfare was his favorite song in The Sacred Harp.

Wyatt Greer (W.G.) Griffith was born about two miles east of Gary, Panola County, Texas on June 6, 1891. He was the oldest of four boys born to Wyatt Marion Griffith and Lenora Morris...He pastored nearly 50 churches, as many as 5 at a time, in 8 counties in Texas. He received $4.50 for his first revival...Some grandkids fondly recall his singing. Often, he sung The Sacred Harp note names, not the song’s words. Thus, “Jesus Loves Me” sounded like this: “Sol, La, La, Sol, La, Sol, Sol; La, La, Fa, La, La, Sol, Sol.”...He...died of a bleeding ulcer, March 3, 1974 at the age of 82 years, 8 months and 25 days...

Sacred Harp Markers, East Texas Convention

East Texas Musical Convention

Texas State Historical Marker # 15375

Approved in 2004, installed in 2005

Sponsored by the East Texas Sacred Harp Convention

Text on marker:

East Texas Musical Convention

Sacred Harp (Fasola) singing is based on a system of shaped notes, dispersed harmony, and minor chords. In its origins it was rural, folk, religious music that allowed singers to interpret, or personalize, the sounds. Brought westward by migrating settlers, and kept alive through special songbooks, it found a welcome home in East Texas, where many settlers were from the south. Tradition holds that the East Texas Sacred Harp Singing Society, forerunner of the East Texas Musical Convention, dates to 1855. Suspended briefly during the Civil War years, the annual conventions, centered on six area counties, have maintained their popularity through the years. (2005)

Due to the fact that the East Texas Convention was a moveable convention with no certain location – and that the exact location of organization is uncertain – the historical marker was placed on the grounds of the Depot Museum in Henderson, Texas. Since the marker was received from the Texas Historical Commission, the Convention could not just write what we wanted. Information had to be submitted to the Commission and they wrote the text of the marker. Some of us were not completely satisfied, having asked the marker to be changed to the following text (and which we thought was done):

Sacred Harp (Fasola) singing is based on a system of shaped notes and Four-Part Harmony, with emphasis on dispersed harmony and minor chords. In its origins it was Rural, Folk, Religious Music that allowed Singers to Interpret, or Personalize, the Sounds. Brought westward by Migrating Settlers, and kept alive through special songbooks, It found a welcome home in East Texas, where many Settlers were from the South. Tradition holds the East Texas Sacred Harp Musical Convention dates to 1855. Suspended briefly during the Civil War years, the Annual Conventions, centered on six area Counties, have maintained their popularity through the years.

Even this text was not how we would have written it, but was a compromise suggestion with what the Commission sent to us.

Sacred Harp Historical Markers, Double Springs

In the past I started a list of historical markers about or that somehow refer to Sacred Harp. I don’t think I’ve ever posted any of that information. This one is located on the Courthouse lawn, Double Springs, Winston County, Alabama. It was erected in 1944.

To the Memory of the Brothers
SEABORN M. DENSON and THOMAS J. DENSON
 (1863 — 1935)    (1854 — 1936)  
Who Devoted Their Lives and Gifts to Composing
And Teaching, over Most of the Southland,
“THE SACRED HARP”

THIS STONE IS PLACED
In the Midst of Their Field of Labor by the
Loving Hands of Their Families, Pupils of Their
Singing Schools, Legions of Singers and Other
Friends in the Summer of the Year 1944,
THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF “THE SACRED HARP,”
While
“Uncle Seab” and “Uncle Tom” sing on —
[line of music]
way o-ver in the prom-is’d land.
Committee:
L. P. ODEM - RUTH DENSON - Dr. GEORGE P. JACKSON