Akron Church was in existence for at least
eleven years after the register
was begun in 1874. The records show that M. A. King (Akron #33,
Centerpoint #32)
was transferred by letter from Akron in April of 1885. Centerpoint
Church had
apparently been established before the Akron church disbanded, as N.
E. Brown
(#17) and Amanda King (#27) were listed as members of Centerpoint and
both died in
December 1884.
Centerpoint Church was probably located where
the Hazel Edwards Methodist
Church in Newark stands today. John N. Tomlinson had donated
that lot for a
building for union church services about 1883, and members of the Christian
Church
met there until 1890. Then Tomlinson gave two additional lots
to the Christian
congregation and they erected a frame building where the present Newark
Church of
Christ is located.
The Centerpoint congregation had 59 members
when the list was compiled. Many
of these members are found on the earlier Akron list. For example,
Harrison W.
and Jane Robertson transferred from Akron to Centerpoint, and then
on to Cleghorn
Chapel. Amanda and Ellen Tolbert also transferred from Akron
to Centerpoint, as
did W. H. and Sarah Tomlinson. Nathaniel M. Wilson
is listed as a member at
Centerpoint (#20), but his wife Sarah is not. She died in 1882
and Wilson married
Nancy Todd in 1885, so this list was prepared during that time span.
Not one person that I interviewed in the course
of this research had heard of
Centerpoint Church. The only reference I found, other than the
Cleghorn Chapel
book, was in the October 1979 Independence County Chronicle.
In an article about
the Agricultural Wheel, it was stated that one of the 39 Wheel organizations
in
the county, 410, was the Center Point Wheel, whose secretary was George
F. Crosser
of Newark. That group probably met in the old union church building,
by then
referred to as Centerpoint Church.
Some biographical information about the Centerpoint
members:
Martin Luther Arnold (#55) was the brother
of Nancy Arnold Todd (#40).
Lizzie Arnold (#39) was his wife and Thomas A. Arnold (#58) was their
son.
John W. Blalock (#43) and Martha Jane Blalock
(#15) became the parents of
four daughters. She had been born Martha Jane Walker in 1847
and had married a
Mr. Jones about 1867 by whom she had three sons. [WHO? WHO??
AND WHO???]
Della Boultinghouse (#52) and Henry Boultinghouse
(#59) were two of the four
step-children of Cal Seward. Seward was the brother of J. D.
Seward (#46) whose
wife was Mary Jane Seward (#48). Henry Boultinghouse married
Viola Crabtree in
1893, and Della Boultinghouse married William J. Cooper (#50) in 1888.
Jane Burns (#12) is listed in the Centerpoint
register, although her husband
Henry is not. They were married about 1878.
Lizzie Holderby (#6) and Mattie Holderby (#5)
were the daughters of Richard
and Martha Drennen Holderby. Martha Drennen Holderby was born
in Independence
County in 1839 and was #19 on the Akron list. Lizzie Holderby
married John N.
Tomlinson in January of 1888, and later married Walter Pascoe by whom
she had
three daughters [Rae Pascoe, who married Cecil C. Norris; Lena Pascoe,
who married
Ben Cole; and Addie Pascoe, who married Tom Self.] Another Holderby
daughter was
Molly who married Morgan Burns in 1881. Morgan and Molly Burns
are my
great-grandparents.
Porter Hulsey (#21) was the son of Warren
Hulsey (Akron, #2) and Frances
Reeves Hulsey.
Tennessee Lane (#41) appears in the Akron
list as Tennessee Coker (#21). She
married D. C. Lane on January 2, 1876, following the death of George
W. Coker in
1873. Her brother was Rufus Reeves (#10).
Glennie Richmond (#8) was born in 1866.
Her father died before she was born
and her mother later married, first, Carwill Smith and then a Mr. Williford.
W. H. Tomlinson (#19) and Sarah Tomlinson
(#29) transferred from Akron to
Centerpoint, and later to Cleghorn Chapel. Alvira Tomlinson (#7)
and Eliza
Tomlinson (#22) have not been identified, but they were not daughters
of W. H. and
Sarah Tomlinson.
Centerpoint
1. W. H. Gains by confession and baptism, dismissed
by letter
2. Mrs. W. H. Gains
by confession and baptism
3. H. Blevens
4. Laura McGravic
5. Mattie Holderby
6. Lizzie Holderby
7. Alvira Tomlinson
8. Glennie Richmond
Reclaimed
9. Mary Ellis
10. R. R. Reeves
11. Mrs. D. Harison
12. Jane Burns
13. William Mayhan
14. O. H. McGravack
by letter
15. M. J. Blaylock
16. J. C. Brown
withdrawn from
17. N. E. Brown
Deceased Dec. the 18, 1884
18. J. W. Hulsey
19. W. H. Tomlinson
20. N. M. Wilson
21. Porter Hulsey
22. Eliza Tomlinson
23. Jane Robertson
by letter
24. H. W. Robertson
25. Martha Hicks
26. Hellen Henderson
27. Amanda King
Deceased Dec. 1884
28. Annie Hulsey
29. Sarah Tomlinson
30. Katy Stephens
31. Maggie Owen
32. M. A. King
transferred by letter Feb. the 5, 1888
33. M. A. Thornton
34. Martha Finch
35. Amanda Tolbert
withdrawn from
36. Ellen Tolbert
37. Mollie Smith
38. Mollie Henderson
Deceased Nov. the 26, 1887
39. Lizzie Arnold
40. Nancy Todd
41. Tennessee Lane
42. George Staggs
Deceased April the 7, 1887
43. J. W. Blalock
by letter
44. R. H. Pectol
by letter from Pleasant Hill congregation
45. Eliza Pectol
by letter from Pleasant Hill congregation
46. J. D. Seward
ELDER - by letter
47. Mary A. Seward Deceased
Nov. the 26, 1887 [SAME DAY AS OLLIE HENDERSON]
48. Mary J. Seward
49. Margaret Seward
50. W. J. Cooper
51. Millie Reeves
52. Della Boultinghouse
53. Harriet Jones
reclaimed
54. Amanda Robertson
Deceased
55. M. L. Arnold
56. T. L. Jones
reclaimed Jan. the 12, 1890
57. W. T. Henderson
58. T. A. Arnold
59. Henry Boultinghouse