Stubblefield Church

Duane's take

Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight from the official marker for Stubblefield Church, out in Houston County, and I'm just here to pass it along. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a piece of land and a man willing to put his name on it. In August 1872, a Civil War veteran by the name of Wyatt M.

Stubblefield bought land in this area from a man called J.D. Poole. The community, in time, took on his name.

That's the kind of quiet legacy a man leaves when he plants himself somewhere and stays. At that same time, something else was taking root. The New Ivie Missionary Baptist Church, a group that grew out of the Old Ivie Board Baptist Church, began meeting in the local schoolhouse.

Early members included church clerk Mrs. W.M. Campbell, and L.A. and Cornelia Ainsworth, James Helton, the Reverend T.D. and Ann Suttles, and the Reverend W.L. and Sarah Gates.

Suttles served as presbyter and moderator. Gates served as pastor. Between those two men, the congregation had leadership and it had a voice.

Now, a schoolhouse will get you started, but a congregation with any ambition at all is going to want a proper sanctuary. And so they built one, a wooden church structure, a few hundred yards east of the school. That sanctuary burned.

They built a second. That one burned too. Some congregations would've read the smoke as a sign and scattered.

Not this one. Church members erected their third sanctuary in 1926. You get the sense these were not people who gave up easily.

By 1934, the congregation was going by Stubblefield Church, and that year they began something that would outlast the hard times ahead: annual homecomings. The very first one honored the church's oldest member, a man they called Uncle Billy Campbell, brother of the Reverend John Campbell, who conducted area revivals. There's something right about that, honoring the oldest one first, the one who'd seen the most.

Then came the lean years, the Depression era, and this is where the story gets quietly remarkable. Two couples contributed much to keeping the church alive during the nineteen thirties and forties. Edd and Irene Lenderman, and Hiram and Maggie Lenderman.

Edd and Irene gave the congregation almost twelve acres of land to grow cotton, and the money from that cotton went to pay the preacher's salary. Meanwhile, the broader membership saved butter money and egg money, small as that sounds, to send for missionary offerings. When cash was scarce, the community found other currencies.

Then came World War II, and the community's population declined. Through the nineteen fifties, the church discontinued regular services. A long quiet settled over the place.

But here's what the marker wants you to know, and it's worth sitting with. Descendants of those initial members and leaders, the Sutleses and Gateses and Campbells and Lendermans and the rest, they still meet annually at the Stubblefield homecomings, held each May. To honor the faith and dedication of the early residents.

Two sanctuaries burned. A depression came and went. A world war thinned the community.

And still, every May, they come back. Wyatt Stubblefield bought a piece of land in August 1872. He couldn't have known what that land would hold.

What the marker says

Stubblefield Church Records indicate that Civil War veteran Wyatt M. Stubblefield bought land in this area from J.D. Poole in August 1872, and the community later took on his name. At that same time, the New Ivie Missionary Baptist Church, a group that grew out of the Old Ivie Board Baptist Church, began meeting in the local schoolhouse. Early members of New Ivie included church clerk Mrs. W.M. Campbell, as well as L.A. and Cornelia Ainsworth, James Helton, the Rev. T.D. and Ann Suttles, and the Rev. W.L and Sarah Gates. Suttles served as presbyter and moderator, and Gates as pastor. After meeting for some time in the schoolhouse, the congregation built a wooden church structure a few hundred yards east of the school. This sanctuary burned, as did the second. Church members erected their third sanctuary in 1926. In 1934, the Stubblefield Church, as it was then called, began holding annual homecomings. The first honored the church's oldest member, "Uncle" Billy Campbell, brother of the Rev. John Campbell, who conducted area revivals. During the 1930s-40s, two couples--Edd and Irene Lenderman and Hiram and Maggie Lenderman--contributed much to keeping the church active. Edd and Irene gave the congregation almost 12 acres of land to grow cotton to sell for the preacher's salary. During the lean times of the Depression era, church members also saved butter and egg money to send for missionary offerings. The community's population declined during World War II, and the church discontinued regular services during the 1950s. Still, descendants of the initial members and leaders continue to meet annually at the Stubblefield homecomings, held each may to honor the faith and dedication of the early residents. (2003)