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Pastors serving this Society or Class, as it was sometimes called in the Conference
minutes, were appointed to the Rancho Circuit with Rancho, some ten miles distant, as head of the Circuit.
The parsonage was located there. The pastor came once a month to hold services and the presiding elder visited
once a quarter to administer the sacraments. They visited members along the way and were overnight and Sunday dinner
guests in nearby homes.
Every fifth Sunday a Presbyterian preacher, Parson John Hodges, who
lived two miles north of Wrightsboro, would ride in to deliver the sermon. He made an impressive figure, always
attired in a knee-length black coat, a white shirt, black string tie, and a narrow-brimmed black hat with a high
crown. Behind the pulpit he would place his saddlebags containing his Bible, song books, and perhaps a clean white
shirt in the event of a wedding before he returned home. He performed more marriage ceremonies than any other preacher
in the South part of Gonzales County at that time. He was also the founding minister of the Pilgrim Presbyterian
Church.
During those first years the Church people were faced with many problems. Learning to become, and to assume the
responsibilities of, an independent congregation was not easy. Efforts. to organize and sustain interest in Sunday
School and Leagues were successful to a degree. Stewards were
often slow in meeting the finances, yet, in answer to the question asked in Church Conference, "What is being
done for the poor of the Church?" the answer was "We have no indigent Church members." Collecting
did not come easy. One member, living some ten miles away, would not pay her
Church dues until a "runner" was sent to collect them. J.D. Patteson would put his young sons,
Buff and Dock, on horses and send them out as the collecting stewards. Today those young boys are among our oldest
living members.
In 1888 Pastor C.H. Maloy reported, "As to my disciplinary claims which I must meet, I have allotted your
part as $40.00, this in addition to annual payment of $35.00 due on the Rancho parsonage."
From the time in 1894 when the stewards reported the entire assessments paid in full and in 1895 when J.T. Graham,
pastor in charge, reported "this is one of the best Churches in the Circuit with less trouble with regard
to finances than any other," this has been consistently true of the Congregation's stewardship.
Church Conference records dated Jan. 1, 1893 reveal that "Society" or "Class" in the title
was changed to "Church." Records from 1900 to 1916 are not available. There is a Church roll left by
Bro. R.S. Adair in 1904 naming some 114 members. In a note attached to the roll he told of sending letters to many
members telling them in each case that they were to return the letters immediately if they did not want them. This
was probably the first effort at what has later become known as "clearing the rolls." Some family names
on that list were:
Baker, Barnett, Bartlett, Beasley, Beverly, Bishop, Burt, Chandler, Colley, Carpenter, Davidson, Dowdle, Finch,
Gossett, Graves, Hamilton, Huband, Norris, Norsworthy, Pace, Parks, Passmore, Patterson, Patteson, Perkins, Phillips,
Ragland, Rainey, Rhodes, Roberts, Sansom, Sharp, Smith, Sullivan, Thomas, Turner, Webb, Weber, Weekley, Wheat,
White, Williams.
Camp meetings, held under brush arbors built by men of the Church,
saw a great outpouring of the gospel and a large ingathering of souls. The meetings were held while the crops were
laid by waiting for them to mature before the harvest season. These arbors were constructed of tall forked poles
to support a frame for the brush roof. One-by-twelve-inch planks were used for seats. Coal tar torches, giving
a dim light, clouds of oily smoke, and odor enough to drive away mosquitoes, were used to light the arbor. The
pump organ was moved from the school to the arbor for the duration of the meeting. This was covered by a wagon
sheet to protect it from the elements,
Some families would camp nearby, but most local families would come to the morning service, go home to do afternoon
chores, and return for the evening worship. Before the service grove meetings, one place for the men and boys,
and another place for the women and girls, were held some distance from the arbor. From these meetings after singing,
praying, and testifying, the people were ready to go into the night service. When the call came at the close of
the sermon for sinners to repent, these personal workers, as they were called, would pass among the Congregation
and speak to the unsaved souls.
The services of an evangelist were usually secured for these meetings. One who especially pleased the people was
Charlie Whittier Byron, an Englishman who had been a circus clown in his younger days. He was small like Charlie
Chaplin, wiry and peppy. He had composed several songs which he often sang in the service. The one which seemed
to be his favorite had these words, as recalled by A.L. Patteson:
While walking out one evening,
Not knowing where to go,
And just to pass the hours
Before we held the show,
The Bethel Mission Band passed
All singing with their might,
I gave my heart to Jesus
And left the show that night.
Mr. Byron was definitely popular enough to be invited back for second and third
summers!
The last minister to serve the Bundick Church was Marcus Williamson who served through 1907.
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