Antioch Primitive Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Antioch Primitive Baptist Church, out in Jasper County. Now, every congregation has to start somewhere, and this one started in somebody's living room. The year was 1841, and John and Mary Richardson opened up their home so that a church could be born inside it.

That's not a small thing, friends. You open your door like that, you're inviting history in to sit down for supper. The folks who came together to make it official, what you'd call the Presbytery, were Nancy Laird, James Richardson, John Richardson, and three Elders: Levi A.

Durham, Edward Parsons, and Josiah Wheat. Six people standing in a house, speaking a church into existence. And then there were the charter members.

Say these names slow, because they deserve it. Elijah Allen. Mary Bolin.

Martha Crockett. Jeremiah Day. Hilliard and Sarah Durdin.

Olive Hart. Joseph and Nancy Laird. And the Richardson family came in strong: Benjamin, Eliza, James, John, two Marys, Rebecca, and Robert Richardson.

Two Marys. The roll keeper wasn't taking any chances on confusion, so they wrote them down as Mary the first and Mary the second. Practical people, these founders.

By 1842, they had built their first house of worship right there on that site. Made of logs. Nothing fancy, nothing fragile either.

And here's the thing that ought to stop you for a second: services have been held at that site regularly ever since. Not occasionally. Regularly.

That log church started something that just kept going. In 1850, Antioch Cemetery was established there as well. So the living kept gathering, and the departed were kept close.

A home, a handful of faithful people, a log building, and a piece of ground set aside for the long sleep. That's the whole foundation. And it held.

What the marker says

Organized 1841 in the home of John and Mary Richardson. Nancy Laird, James and John Richardson, and Elders Levi A. Durham, Edward Parsons, and Josiah Wheat acted as Presbytery. Charter members: Elijah Allen, Mary Bolin, Martha Crockett, Jeremiah Day, Hilliard and Sarah Durdin, Olive Hart, Joseph and Nancy Laird; Benjamin, Eliza, James, John, Mary (1), Mary (2), Rebecca and Robert Richardson. Services have been held here regularly since first house of worship (made of logs) was built at this site in 1842. Antioch Cemetery was established 1850. (1972)