Belleville United Methodist Church

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Plain Traditional

Featured by: AHPP

Location: Lockesburg, Sevier, N. side of road, 1/4 mile east of intersection of US 59 and State Highway 317

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1904-1905 plain-traditional style church.

Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/01/12

SUMMARY

The Belleville United Methodist Church is being nominated to Arkansas Register of Historic Places because of its significance as an excellent example of a plain/traditional church in the community of Belleville. The church was constructed in about 1904 with a wood frame and with local labor and minimal detailing. This one room church has been serving the community around Belleville for many years, and hopes to continue this service into the future. It is being nominated under Criterion C with local significance and a period of significance of 1904.

ELABORATION

There were a few churches built on the same site of Belleville United Methodist Church before the current building was erected in 1904. The first church was said to have been a log cabin constructed on three acres of land donated by Isaac W. and Elizabeth C. Jackson and Henry C. and Harriett Pride (Part NW l/4 SW 114, Sec 35, T9S, R30W) and an adjoining three acres donated by Thomas S. and Mary Ann Bell (Part NE 1/4 SW 1/4, Sec 35, T9S, R30W) both dated July 26, 1854.[1] Handwritten notes by Mrs. R J. Graves in 1962, state that the original church building was constructed in 1856.[2] The date of 1856 may be true but it would be more feasible to say the church was constructed in 1854 since the land was donated at that time for the purpose of erecting and building a house of worship.

It is said that a second church was later constructed south of the original building.[3] It may have been constructed on land donated by A. C. and M. S. Steel. On October 15, 1881, the Steels donated one acre of land part of NE 1/4 SW 114, (same section as above).[4] On August 25, 1884, A C. and M. S. Steel made another donation of three acres including the previous one acre donation.[5] The date of construction and exact site of this second church is unknown but the generally accepted theory is that this second church was built northwest of the current church on the largest hill in the cemetery. Both of the original church buildings contained schools, as one of the early instructors, the Honorable Surrey Gilliam, made mention of this in a 1947 letter to Mrs. G.C. Allen of Commerce, Texas.[6] The still active Belleville Lodge #35, Free and Accepted Masons which was chartered in November 6, 1866, was said to have held their regular meetings in the early church.

The present church was constructed in 1904-1905 after a land exchange between church trustees for the Belleville Methodist Episcopal Church South and F. C. Appleton and S. W. Appleton.[7] The area was apparently a prominent community during the early establishment of Sevier County as the Belleville community was in existence before there was ever a town of Lockesburg. According to an abstract of land owned by the late Allan and Ozella Baker, some of the lands were laid out in blocks. The deed from Mr. and Mrs. Appleton refers to the "city" of Belleville.[8] Ruth Harrison Bales of Stamps, Arkansas, remembers that an uncle of her father showed her and her brother slash markings made on a large tree at the church and on a tree at an intersection along the road farther to the east. He told them that the slash marks were made by soldiers to mark the trail for Indians being moved to the Oklahoma Territory.[9] Also, Gladys Bassham-Harrison told that when she moved into the community in the 1920's the road past the church was still called the "old Military Road".[10] Microfilm of 1898 De Queen Bee newspapers accounts have articles written in the 1890's about men gathering at Belleville for a big barbecue prior to their leaving to fight during the Civil War.[11] In the cemetery, a marker on the grave of Mrs. Repsy Steadham Johnson states that she was the first one buried in the cemetery. Her date of birth is listed as 1820 with death being in 1858. There are many families with four to five generations buried in the cemetery.

There are currently over 800 identifiable graves in the Belleville Cemetery.[12] One large area of the cemetery is unusable because the generation of people in the community all now dead and most of them buried in the cemetery stressed that new graves must not be made in that area because of the many, many un-marked graves there.[13] One historic account that has been handed down from previous generations is that during a flu or cholera epidemic, workers from a nearby sawmill were kept busy digging graves for the other workers who succumbed to the illness. In 1997, a logger in the area discovered a row of unmarked graves along the entire west line of the cemetery.[14] It is not known if these graves are those of the sawmill workers, but Belleville has future plans to research the entire the cemetery after achieving historic status. A non-denominational Belleville Cemetery Association was established in 1945 and this organization is still very active in the maintenance of the church and cemetery which is known to be one of the better kept cemeteries in the area.[15] The arch over the gate with the name of the cemetery on it was placed there in 1968. The late D. E. Sharp, one of the helpers putting up the arch, asked the question that day of, “reckon who will be the first to be carried under the arch?” It was Mrs. Alice Phillips Bizzell of Lockesburg.[16] Cemetery association sponsored homecomings have been held annually since 1946. Former residents or their descendants come from coast to coast to attend these homecomings. The June 3, 2012, Homecoming featured Mr. Bill Worthen of Little Rock as the guest speaker.

During the construction of the present church, Mr. Tom William was the lead carpenter or foreman as told to Margaret Johnson Wall by Grace Pickens Harrison who died January 10, 1996, at the age of 101 years. Other carpenters she named were Pickens, Hull, Casey, McElroy, and Graves. She also told about her father donating trees for the lumber to make pews and how she and her sister, Ada Pickens-Middleton, had to help their father cut the trees because their brother got busy elsewhere. According to Mrs. Harrison, the trees were cut into lumber by George W. Hull at his sawmill and the pews were built by Mr. Williams and Athel Casey.[17] One of those pews is still in the church. A long bench from the second early church had been saved for use in the church but it was so long that it had to be cut into two benches to be used in the present church. Sadly, they and two antique pulpit chairs were stolen from the church in the 1980s. A majority of the present window panes are old enough that the glass has bubbles or other imperfections in them. These windows are currently being restored by Mr. Tom Parker. The building had a wood shingle roof until the 1940's when the shingles were covered with modern roofing.[18] As part of the current restoration process, the current roof was installed in March 2012. The floor of the current church had a small hole burned in the floor where the wood stove once stood. Grace Harrison said that they never knew how that burned spot happened because they were always careful to be sure that all fire was extinguished before leaving the church. They knew of a thunderstorm during the week the hole burned in the floor so they surmised that lightning must have hit the chimney, traveled down the stove pipe to the stove and off onto the floor. Mrs. Pickens-Harrison stated, “If someone had built a fire in the stove and burned the hole in the floor, only they and God were to ever know.[19]

The building was wired for electricity in November 1949 when Southwest Arkansas Rural Electric Association began providing electricity to this rural area. [20] According to a scrapbook kept by the Melrose-Belleville Rural Improvement Association, new flooring was applied over the original in 1960. The flooring was basketball court wood salvaged from a fire that destroyed the Lockesburg High School Gymnasium in the late 1950s. Propane heating was added at this time also.[21] With the exception of Nat Harrison, all the men placing the floor were over the age of 60 years. Those men were Emmett and Roy Harrison, Earl and George Johnson, Logan Green, and Charlie Beavers. The wallpaper on the upper walls was covered with paneling similar to the beaded 4 ft. wainscot. A suspended ceiling was added at this time to lower the ceiling to the top of the paneling. Currently, the Belleville Cemetery Association is in the process of restoring the interior of the church to a 1904 likeness. This includes removing the suspended ceiling and paneling that is covering the original ceiling and silver/white wallpaper. According to the scrapbook mentioned above, new pews were purchased in 1959 replacing the handmade pews. The new pews were assembled and varnished by church members.[22] In 1978, Bennie Ray Harrison was instrumental in collecting donations to put electric heat and air conditioning in the building. When the present roof was put on, the wood shingles were removed along with the old asphalt roofing. At that time, the chimney was removed as electric heat and air conditioning was being used. The "bookcase" that was the support for the chimney is still in the church. The present building originally had only small steps at the main entrance to the church. In 1984, a large concrete portico with wide steps and a handicapped ramp were built. In 1987, a roof was built over the porch. It was constructed in the style of the original building. The handicapped ramp was relocated in 1998 for better accessibility and to preserve the integrity of the church foundation. The damaged exterior siding was replaced with the same type of siding as the ruined siding.

[1] Sevier County Deed Record Book, 2012.

[2] Graves, 1962.

[3] Unknown author, c. 1881.

[4] Sevier County Deed Record Book, 2012.

[5] Sevier County Deed Record Book, 2012.

[6] Gilliam, 1947.

[7] Sevier County Deed Record Book, 2012.

[8] Baker & Baker, n.d.

[9] Bales, c. 1999.

[10] Bassham-Harrison, c. 1999.

[11] The DeQueen Bee, 1912.

[12] Belleville Cemetery Association, 2012.

[13] Harrison & Johnson, c. 1982.

[14] Clay, 1999.

[15] Belleville Cemetery, 1945.

[16] Sharp, 1999.

[17] Pickens-Harrison, 1992.

[18] Bell, c. 1970.

[19] Pickens-Harrison, c. 1992.

[20] Southwest Arkansas Rural Electric Association, 1949.

[21] Melrose-Belleville Rural Improvement Association, c. 1999.

[22] Melrose-Belleville Rural Improvement Association, c. 1999.

SIGNIFICANCE

One part of Belleville United Methodist Church’s significance is that early members of this church were developers of the local area. The community was named for the Bell family and their family members continue to play a prominent part in the local community. Not only did Thomas Bell and his wife donate land for the church, they continued to work toward the establishment of the Belleville Methodist Church. Thomas served eight years as a local Justice of the Peace and his son, George, was elected County Treasurer and County Judge from 1898-1902. According to the family history written in the Sevier County Family History book, Thomas served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and died in service in 1865. His sons, George and Joseph, also served in the Confederate Army. George Bell's son, Marlin, served in the Philippines in the Spanish American War. George’s son Asa, his son, Greer, and Greer's family were members of the Belleville Church (Sevier County Family History Book, 1978). This was typical of many early settlers of the area.

Another example of a church and community founder is Andrew Pickens. Pickens was an original member of the trustees of the church. Three additional family members have been active in the church. One is known to at one time have been a minister. Other prominent families included the Lockes, who donated land for the town of Lockesburg and many of whom are buried in the Belleville cemetery; the Steel family, many of whom were prominent attorneys, legislators and judges: the Harrison family of which William (Willie) became a well-known Methodist minister, and John Stallcup, who according to a family story written in the mid 1930's and on file in the Sevier County De Queen Branch library, made a trip to Camden to redeem title to land he had homesteaded but had not made the required trip to Camden, Arkansas to file the proper papers. Someone who had never been to Sevier County had filed papers. Mr. Stallcup discovered the person trying to "steal" other people’s land and through probably not so gentle persuasion redeemed his own land and that of many of his neighbors who could not make the trip to Camden at the time (Stallcup Family, n.d.). Many Stallcup descendants are still active in the local communities. The Sharp and Cannon families are two families descending from John Stallcup. A good example of another Methodist minister active in establishing the church was Riley A. Presson who has descendants still living in the community. In the aforementioned Locke family, Permelia, better known as Aunt Kit, was related to Mary Todd-Lincoln. Other members of the Todd family were listed as members of the Belleville Methodist Church. The original church register has been lost; however, it was transcribed into a new register in 1904. The first infant baptism is not dated; however it was the son of J. B. Graves and Repsy Graves. Two other Graves children are listed, but no date or name of parents is given. In 1883 five Bell children were baptized. These were followed by more Graves, Bell, Zachry, Waters, Presson, Williams, Harrison, Woolever, and others. The earliest members listed in the "new" register were Mrs. Repsy J. Graves, Mrs. Martha Graves, and Mrs. Harriett C. Graves. No membership dates are available. John R. Graves was married at Belleville Church in 1879. Other undated marriages were listed under the last names of Pickens and Luther. Beginning in 1885, most of the members have dates of membership listed by their names.

In 1995, the local company of Sons of Confederate Veterans made identification and verified that more than 30 confederate veterans are buried in the cemetery (Leathers, c. 1990). These are men who had monuments at their graves. It is unknown how many, if any, are resting in unmarked graves. This number of confederate veterans

buried in the Belleville cemetery is larger than in any other cemetery in Sevier County.[1] The Belleville Church was an extremely significant collection point during the early stages of the Civil War as H.H. Ridings (1912) commonly wrote of his company’s experiences in preparing to fight for the confederacy. Ridings mentions that the collection point for the regiments was usually at Belleville church, adding that the cavalry from Texas would meet there as well.[2]

Belleville United Methodist Church is also significant because it is an excellent example of a plain/traditional church in the Belleville area. When communities in Arkansas were first founded, style was the last thing on people’s minds. It was more important to erect a place where they could gather for religious, social and educational purposes. For many communities throughout Arkansas, Belleville amongst them, a one-room church was just the right fit. Small details were added, but construction was kept simple, rectangular, and gabled. This allowed the church to be put up quickly and cheaply. In Belleville, the main detail is the corner pilasters with capitals seen around the church. The plain/traditional construction of the Belleville church points to its utilitarian use by the local community. It served many people in many ways, making it a central part of the Belleville community, and giving it a high degree of significance.

[1] Sons of Confederate Veterans, 1999.

[2] Ridings, 1912.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baker, A., & Baker, O. (n.d.). [Abstract of Belleville]. Unpublished land Abstract.

Bales, R. H. (c. 1999). [Historical account]. Unpublished personal interview.

Bassham-Harrison, G. (c. 1999). [Historical account]. Unpublished personal interview.

Bell, G. (c. 1970). [Historical account]. Unpublished personal Interview.

Belleville Cemetery Association Meeting Minutes. (1945). Lockesburg, AR.

Belleville Cemetery Association. (2012). [Index of tombstones]. Unpublished official Record of Tombstones.

Clay, H. F. (1999). [Historical account]. Unpublished personal interview.

The DeQueen Bee. (1912, April 19). War reminiscenses. The Dequeen Bee.

Gilliam, S. E. (1947). [Personal letter]. Unpublished letter to G.C. Allen.