Randolph County NC 2- more sites -an early church

Sandy Creek Baptist Church 

Liberty Township; east side Ramseur-Julian Road.

Thanks again to L. McKay Whatley for his blog, (my editing posted here) this one posted on April 12, 2009...link here.

"Sandy Creek Baptist Church is both the oldest organized church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Randolph County. A recognized landmark in religious history, it is noted by the nearby state historic marker as the “Mother of Southern Baptist Churches.” The congregation at Sandy Creek was founded by the “Separate Baptist” minister Shubal Stearns (1706-1771), a Boston native who led a group of eight families into the area in 1755. Most colonial or “Particular” Baptists were members of the Philadelphia Association and advocated a strict Calvinist theology of “what will be, will be.” Separate or “New Light” Baptists broke with this practice and proposed active campaigns to win converts with Sunday Schools, revivals and missionary work. Stearns’ efforts to awaken the religious impulses of the back country were wildly successful, with his original congregation of eight families mushrooming into 606 members by 1770...

Detail of corner notching

"The existing Sandy Creek Church is the third building to house the congregation. The first building burned about 1785, and the second, built across the road, was blown down by a storm. The third, according to strong local tradition, was built in 1826. The log building is approximately 20 by 25 feet in size.

"The log church was weatherboarded in 1870 and covered with asphalt siding in 1953; both coverings were removed in 2007 when several rotten structural timbers were replaced.   It is good to see one of the county’s most important historic landmarks is being well maintained by its congregation.

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This church was the beginning for many Sandy Creek Baptist Churches across the south. And I found one of the comments to this posting was by a cousin of ours, who had the same Thomas Welbourn as an ancestor through his son William, while our line is through his son Elijah, who was my 4th great grandfather, as I have mentioned several times in the last week.  There are more comments about the movement of this church at the link to Mr. Whatley's blog above.

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And another topic...happy birthday to my great grandfather, William Sandford Rogers, known (according to Poppy, my grandfather) as W. Sam Rogers, born 1850 in Huntsville TX, died May 29, 1879 in same town...at very young age. He's buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville, TX. 
His widow moved to Galveston, and at times the 2 young children lived with her, and at other times with Aunt A. Luella Rogers Ross and Uncle J. Elmore Ross.  It apparently was the "thing to do" to go by a first initial and a middle name, since W. Sam, A. Luella, and J. Elmore all did it.  Several children of theirs did the same thing.  I wonder what the thinking was behind it.