Ebenezer Church
The Ebenezer Church evidently was a community in itself, though very near
Boyce, about two miles northeast. near Cottonwood Creek. Josiah Leake
lived at Ennis and knew people who lived east of Boyce. He is thought
to have been instrumental in suggesting names, as were W. T. and J.
D. Roberts, two brothers from Mississippi, who lived near Garrett.
Theodosia (Hall) Ellison and the Green Davis family completed the original
membership. In October, 1880, a Baptist Church of Christ was constituted
at Boyce schoolhouse. A majority of the members were young - only Mr.
and Mrs. Burford and Mr. and Mrs. King were over 35 and all were recent settlers
in the county.
Schools and churches were often quite close together in those days, since
travel was either by foot, horseback, buggy or wagon, with school children
usually walking. One of the reasons for moving the church meetings
from Boyce School to Ebenezer School was that there was a better place for
the mules and horses to graze. Most of the Ebenezer members had a common
school education. Some of the ministers had little more, though all
were thorough bible students. Penrod and Leake were presumably the
best educated of the church's ministers since both had advanced study.
Grove Creek served as the baptismal place for Ebenezer Church - its
location pointed out by Mr. Edward R. Clark, the able Boyce historian. It
is a beautiful and peaceful place to this day (1990) with large trees shading
the area. There is a very old bridge over the creek at the location.
The creek on one side has a gradual incline for a bank and, on the
other, a bluff about three or four feet high.
The church never had a large membership, but the loyalty and faith of
its members is demonstrated by events chronicled in the record book. The
first church minute book ended in June 1892 with the church having recently
moved into its first building and changing the name to Central Baptist Church.No
other minute books have been discovered. In 1892, the Table of Churches,
Membership and Days of Meeting showed: "Central: Pastor: W. I. McClung, Ferris;
Clerk, F. J. Herndon, Boyce; Membership 55; meeting the Saturday before the
3rd Sunday."
In 1893, the Association had changed its name from Waxahachie to "Ellis
County Baptist." The messenger was J. H. Hankins. The statistical table
showed "Central: Pastor: P. M. Murphy, Palmer; Clerk, J. b. Kinsey, Boyce;
Membership 48; meeting the Third Sunday and Saturday before." In 1894,
the messengers from Central were Joe Kinsey, J. H. Hankins and W. T. Roberts.
The minutes spoke of organizing a Womens Missionary Union. The statistical
table showed: "Central" Pastor. P. M. Murphy, Palmer; Clerk, J. H. Hankins,
Boyce; Membership 45. 1895 showed the same pastor and clerk. In 1899, the
membership was listed at 83 and the value of the church property was shown
as $1,200.00. Some of the other messengers, pastors and clerks over
the next few years were: J. H. Smith, T. C. Coley, R. F. Butler, D. I. Crawford,
Henry Borders, W. F. O'Reilly and S. E. Brittain. In 1903, there
were 38 baptisms and the membership was listed at 102. A Sunday School
was shown for the first time with an average attendance of 40. In 1908
the pastor was W. Z. Corbin, Palmer ,and the membership was 72.
There were no records found for 1907 through 1913. In 1914, Central
at Boyce, as it was now usually called, was served by J. V. Goble, pastor;
J. A. Wesson, Clerk, Waxahachie. There were 71 members. In 1918,
the pastor was L. A. Herrin of Waxahachie and George Ranton of Ennis. The
years 1917 through 1919 are missing, and when records are again available,
there is no mention of Boyce or Central. It appears that the little
Baptist church had run its course.
Reference:
Ebenezer Baptist,. Ellis County, Texas.
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