HISTORIC CHURCH MINUTES LOANED TO SEMO

The original minutes of the proceedings of the Old Bethel Church one of the first permanent non-Catholic churches established west of the Mississippi River have been loaned to Southeast Missouri State University.

The documents have been loaned by Terry Begley, whose family has held the records for more than a century.

Begley loaned the original manuscript volume to the university in July for deposit in its Regional History Archives at Kent Library. The minutes will be administered, preserved and made available to the public for use at Kent Library, university officials said.

"The real importance of this donation is that it keeps in Southeast Missouri a historical source that is relevant to the region," said Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History.

He said the proceedings also offer insight into "life in Missouri in the 19th century and are a vital resource for a dimension of religious history that is frequently overlooked."

Old Bethel (Baptist) Church was organized July 19, 1806, on land about one mile south of Jackson. The Old Bethel minutes have been in Begley's family's possession since the church dissolved in 1867.

A group of Baptist pioneers from Georgia organized the church in 1806. Services were held at Bethel until 1861, when sessions were transferred to Mt. Pleasant on Byrd's Creek northwest of Jackson. After 1867, no entries were made in Old Bethel's minutes.

A Cape Girardeau accountant, Begley graduated from Southeast Missouri State in 1960 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration.