FAIRY
BAPTIST CHURCH CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
April, 1983
Across
the Fence
By
Arvord
AbernethyBy
Arvord
Abernethy
It was my pleasure to get to attend the Centennial Celebration of
the Fairy Baptist Church Sunday. You will find a copy of the history of
the church elsewhere in this issue. The pastor, Bro. Bob Ray, had two of
the older members, Mrs. Dorothy Abel and Mrs. Bea Clark, to read the
history. Both of the ladies were baptized into the church back on that
July day in 1922. Mrs. Abel is the church pianist.
When I arrived, many were just finishing off their last piece of pie out
under a large tent in the yard. From the looks of everything, that part of
the celebration was a great success.
After registering, I got to meet several people that I had not seen in
some time. The most I was surprised to see was Rev. Grayson and Betty
Tennison; both are looking real well after these many years. After Betty
and I looked at each other’s snow capped heads, she remarked that we
both must be using the same kind of water for our shampooing. Bro. Grayson
is the son of Rev. R. C. Tennison who served the First Baptist Church here
in Hamilton back in the 1940’s.
The Tennisons served the Fairy Church in 1945-1947, and then they went to
Brazil as missionaries in 1949. After many years in Brazil, where
Portuguese is the official language, they were sent to Portugal, where
they served for some 17 years. For the last five years, they have been at
the First Baptist Church in Jacksboro, Texas. Right now they have
everything packed and ready to return to Portugal for mission work
there.
Three other former pastors were present and got to tell of their
experiences there at Fairy. All of them spoke of the warm and generous
hospitality they found in the Fairy community. Most of them were still
college or seminary students while serving there; so the eggs, vegetables
and other things they would find in their cars were always a very welcome
sight. As one former pastor put it, “A lot of chickens have gone into
the ministry there at Fairy.”
Former and present members were given a chance to express themselves as to
what the church had meant to them and in most cases they expressed what
the church had meant to their children.
The present pastor, Rev. Bob Ray, has had a very successful and unique
ministry there. This was his first pastorate, and after 17 years is still
his first pastorate. You will read of some of fine work there, when you
read the history. He has had a wonderful helper in the person of his wife,
Rosalind. With her radiant personality and fine musical ability, she has
been able to do much with the young people of the community and that had
added much to the effectiveness of the church’s ministry.
During the program, Rosalind directed the choir, and most of them were
youth, in singing some fine songs. To me, Fairy has always been a fine
place of good singing. Back when they had the school there, there was
always a fine choral group ... ... ... ...Howard Payne. He gave a great testimony and then sang “To God be the Glory”. Bro. Grayson had mentioned that when he came to Fairy he weighed 140 pounds and when he left he weighed 185 pounds. Young Ray said that he could beat that for when he came to Fairy he weighed 30 pounds and when now he weighed 200 pounds.
If you could read the Haile family history that Mrs. Babe Garner wrote, you would see in there several times where she would write when it was time for the arrival of another child, the children were sent to the neighbors and papa went to get Dr. Young. Dr. Young was the main doctor for the Fairy community for a number of years and probably many of the children got their first spanking from him. Dr. Young donated much of the land for the churches to use “to encourage the cause of Christianity.”
Fairy has an interesting history in itself. It was first called Martin’s Gap, named after Jim Martin who was killed by Indians there in the 1860’s. As the community grew, the people made application for a post office and names were submitted. Capt. Battle Fort suggested the name of his midget daughter, Fairy, so when the office opened on March 17, 1884, it was called Fairy. The town and churches continued to use the name, Martin’s Gap for a number of years, but finally changed over to Fairy.
Fairy, the daughter, was an interesting person who never grew very much; possibly never growing to four feet in height or weighing much over fifty pounds. Alma
Corrigan’s father, George Blakely, operated a store in Fairy about the turn of the century, so they would visit out there after they moved into Hamilton. She remembers one time, when she was out there and Fairy wanted to get into a buggy, so she just picked her up and set her in the buggy.
Fairy’s father was a colorful character himself. Fort seems a little strange for a name, but when you add Battle in front of that and then Captain in front of that, you do have a strange sounding name. That is the name his tombstone carries. Capt. Fort was a Civil War veteran and always played an active part in Civil War Veteran’s reunions. He kept his battle scarred uniform of gray and it was buried with him.
After the church services, I took time to go by the well kept Fairy Cemetery and to go to the Fort family plot. There in a neat, clean plot, enclosed in a freshly painted iron fence, rest Fairy and her family in sight of the village that bears her name. Her stone reads: Fairy Fort Phelps October 7, 1865-October 22, 1938.
ACROSS THE FENCE
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