POCAHONTAS CHURCH CELEBRATES 175 YEARS TODAY

Polly Gailus, secretary of the Apple Creek Presbyterian Memorial Association, and Robert Hope, superintendent of grounds, study a Bible that dates to 1898. On the wall are faded photos of reverends who preached at the church over the years. There will be a special service at the church today.

A slave named Peter is buried in this grave next to his owner, Alexander McClain. Some graves in the cemetery date to 1822.

It was on May 21, 1821 that the Apple Creek Presbyterian Church was organized by rugged Scotch-Irish settlers who relocated to the area from North Carolina.

And today the 175th anniversary of the founding of the church will be commemorated by the Apple Creek Presbyterian Memorial Association -- and the public is invited.

"We're hoping to have over 100 stop by," said Polly Gailus, secretary of the association. "People can visit the old cemetery, do some genealogy and just enjoy the beautiful setting."

There will be a worship service at 11 a.m., followed by music and singing. Association President Harold Hope will welcome guests and G. Smoke Lauser of Presbyterian Children's Services in Farmington will speak on the topic, "Humble Heroes."

The church is located one mile east of Pocahontas off Route 532. It sits high on a hill. The history of the church is quite colorful.

So old is the cemetery at Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, nestled on a hushed hillside just east of Pocahontas, that many aged grave markers there cannot easily be read.

The names, birth and death dates hand-chiseled into them since 1822 have weathered and faded; green- and rust-colored moss cling to some of the white and gray stones.

Alexander McLain is buried there. He fought in the Revolutionary War as a private in the North Carolina Militia. He's buried next to a rock formation marking the grave of his slave, Peter.

A while back the Daughters of the American Revolution placed special markers at the graves. McLain's marker shows militia men with muskets in the woods, huddled around a flag with 13 stars. Peter's marker reads: "Peter, Beloved Slave of Alexander McLain."

Robert Steel and Charles Harris are the oldest occupants of the picturesque cemetery. Not much is known of them, but they went under in 1822.

There are 814 grave stones in the cemetery but more people than that are believed buried there.

A historical sketch

Apple Creek Presbyterian Church was started by two groups of Scotch-Irish settlers who relocated to the area from North Carolina in the early 1800s.

One group staked out land near Shawneetown and the other made homes in the Indian Creek area east of Fruitland.

With help and encouragement from the Rev. Salmon Giddings, a Presbyterian minister assigned to the area, the two communities united and formed the church at a point about midway between them -- near Uncle Joe Abernathy Spring (now Baldridge Spring) just east of Pocahontas. The church became the "mother church" of Presbyterianism in Cape Girardeau County, since it was only the third such church to be established west of the Mississippi.

The church was organized on May 21, 1821, with Reverend Giddings officiating at the organizational meeting held on the Hope farm, within sight of the present church.

Giddings used a 2-foot-high limestone rock as a rostrum while acting as moderator, according to church histories.

In 1822 church members cut logs from timber felled on the property and built the first church, which had 24 pews. For 10 years the building well served its congregation, but was replaced in 1831 with a larger framed structure nearby. Wooden shingles were tacked to the outside.

In 1873 the building was torn down and replaced by the present church. An organ was purchased in 1878, but caused dissension -- some church members believed it was sacrilege to use any instrument while singing God's praises.

At some point the organ was sold; however, it would return. A Sam Hartman acquired the organ, restored it and returned it to the church in 1969.

As membership dwindled, the church was dissolved as an active congregation in 1962. The Apple Creek Presbyterian Memorial Association was then formed to perpetuate its memory.

Excerpts from the church records

Nov. 15, 1840 -- Sampson W. Burch, an Indian of the Choctaw tribe, having resided in this county for two years, presented himself, and after examination was received as a member of this church.

July 22, 1842 -- Session consulted as to the proper way of commemorating the Lord's Supper; whether by sitting at tables, as did the Apostles, or ranging themselves in rows, as did the 5,000 when fed by Christ in the Wilderness.

Session Resolved: That henceforth we use tables at the Lord's Supper -- as being more solemn -- as drawing a more distinct line between the communicants and the impenitent.

Feb. 12, 1849 -- James Abernathy appeared before the session, admitted that he had been angry and had used profane language as unbecoming a Christian. He was admonished to be more careful. Soon after Henry Little plead guilty to the same offense.

May 21, 1871 -- On this day Rev. A. Munson, upon invitation of session, preached the 50th anniversary sermon from the text, 1 Sam. 7-12. "Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

Irene Kasten, in the epilogue of her booklet, "The History of the First Apple Creek Presbyterian Church," writes:

"Apple Creek is a typical country church standing among stately hickory, oak and gum. Measured by numbers it would not stand high in the list, but measured by the forces that have gone out from her by the life-giving streams of upright lives, she need not to feel ashamed. Her sons and daughters are found as officers and leaders in many city churches.

"As we think of the history of this church, we are persuaded there are so many scattered over the Southland and the welfare of the country church must not be neglected. They must be preserved that they may continue to pour into our cities small and great those forces that will keep them from destruction."