Dorcas Wills Memorial Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to give it its due. Way out in Trinity County, there's a congregation with roots that go all the way back to January 23, 1876. That's when the Rev.

D.S. Snodgrass formally organized what was then known as the Trinity Baptist Church in Christ. Now, you don't just organize a church without some folks willing to put their names on the line first.

The charter members who stepped forward were J.R. and Rachel Shaw, Mrs. S.J. Knox, O.G.

Shaw, Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Arnold, and Catherine Turner.

Seven names. A foundation. Snodgrass got right to work.

During his pastorate, which lasted until December 1877, two things of lasting consequence happened. A Union Sunday school was organized, and a sanctuary was built. Now that land the sanctuary went up on, that wasn't purchased.

It was donated, by the International and Great Northern Railroad. A railroad giving ground to a church. Trinity County has always had its surprises.

The congregation grew. It served. It led.

And then, in 1909, fire took the building. The whole church structure, gone. That's the kind of setback that ends some congregations and tempers others like steel.

This one kept goin'. Years passed. Members were licensed to preach.

A whole separate fellowship, the Calvary Baptist Church of Trinity, was formed by a group that came out of this very congregation. The reach of those original seven names just kept spreading. Then came 1934.

A new sanctuary was completed, and with it, the congregation took a new name. They called it the Dorcas Wills Memorial Baptist Church, in memory of Dorcas Sheffield Wills. A name chosen not in triumph exactly, but in remembrance.

In honor. The marker says it plainly: this church is an important part of the religious heritage of Trinity, and it continues to uphold the ideals and traditions of its nineteenth-century founders. From Rev.

Snodgrass standing up in 1876 with seven charter members and a donated piece of railroad land, to a congregation still standing, still reaching. Some stories don't need embellishment. They just need telling.

What the marker says

Originally known as the Trinity Baptist Church in Christ, this congregation was formally organized on January 23, 1876, by the Rev. D.S. Snodgrass. Charter members included J.R. and Rachel Shaw, Mrs. S.J. Knox, O.G. Shaw, Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Arnold, and Catherine Turner. During Snodgrass' pastorate, which lasted until December 1877, a Union Sunday school was organized and a sanctuary was built on land donated by the International & Great Northern Railroad. Despite early setbacks, such as a 1909 fire that destroyed the church building, the congregation grew in numbers and provided significant service and leadership to the community. The current name was adopted in 1934 upon the completion of anew sanctuary in memory of Dorcas Sheffield Wills. Over the years, several members of the congregation have been licensed to preach. The Calvary Baptist Church of Trinity was formed by a group from this fellowship. An important part of the religious heritage of Trinity, Dorcas Wills Memorial Baptist Church continues to uphold the ideals and traditions of its nineteenth-century founders. (1985)