Two Church as Old as County

The First Baptist Church organized in Paris, May 7^th, 1831, and the Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church, organized in November 1825, are still functioning. The Baptist Church was organized at the home of Eli Bozarth, four miles south of Paris. The charter members were: John and Mary Suney, Paul and Sarah Hereford, John H. and Matilda Curry, Benjamin and Mary Sumey, Isaac Coppage, Edward and Lucretia Turner, Nancy Donaldson, Mary Smith, C.C. Acuff, Peter N. Mahan, James C. Mahan, John Hocker, Fannie Pool and one colored man named Peter.

The Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church had as charter members, Jas. McGee, John McCarney, Margaret Elizabeth, Mary B. and Rosa Ann McKamey, Mary Ann McGee and Marietta, a colored woman.

Other old churches in Monroe county were organized on the following dates:

Baptist:

Mt. Prairie Baptist Church, April 15, 1837;

Crooked Creek Baptist Church, March 18, 1840;

Long Branch Baptist Church, February 1844;

Salem Baptist Church, May 1857;

Mt. Airy, February 1868;

Methodist:

Paris, March 1832;

Spencer Chapel, 1832;

Mt. Zion, 1858;

Goss, 1833;

Granville, 1840;

Greenwood, 1854;

Madison, 1868;

Monroe City, 1866;

Deer Creek, 1879;

Christian:

Madison, 1841;

Union, 1872;

Santa Fe, 1855;

Granville, 1858;

Pleasant Grove, 1862;

Monroe City, 1869’

Oak Ridge, 1871;

Mt Carmel, 1875;

Antioch, 1876;

Fairview, 1869;

Presbyterian:

Pleasant Hill, 1825;

South Fork, 1853;

New Hope, 1858;

Catholic:

Indian Creek, February 12, 1833

Source: Article and photos from the Monroe County Appeal Centennial Edition dated 13 Aug 1931. Submitted by Mary Beth Kirtlink.