The purpose of this document is to preserve the history of First Baptist Church of Hamilton by using the published minutes of the Leon River Baptist Association and the Hamilton County Baptist Association/Hamilton County Missionary Baptist Association/Hamilton Baptist Association.

In this work I have viewed the association as an extension of the church, the Baptist General Convention of Texas as an extension of Hamilton Baptist Association, and the Southern Baptist Convention as an extension of the BGCT--all a part of the work of our Master. "Go ye therefore, into all the world--teaching--preaching--baptizing--in Jerusalem, in Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth."

My thanks to Arvord M. Abernethy for information he has recorded and shared about this church and for his direction in where to look for additional information. Mr. Abernethy has been the historian of Hamilton County and Baptists in Hamilton County for decades. My thanks also to Lee Roy and Betty Williamson and to Jerry Stratton and to the Roberts Library, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for providing access to the minutes I did not inherit.

It is with gratitude that I pay tribute to my ancestors who have participated in Hamilton County Baptist Association and Blue Ridge Baptist Church since they moved to Hamilton County, October 31, 1907. Without them and their influence, this project would not have been possible. My great-grandparents, Thomas Edwin Stribling and Martha Mariah "Mattie" Kirkland Stribling, began the tradition of saving the printed minutes of Hamilton County Baptist Association. The tradition was continued by their children Anna Jane "Annie" Stribling, Neil Augustus Stribling, and John Thaddeus "Jack’ Stribling who served as clerks and treasurer of HCBA. Auntie (Anna Jane) is still the only lady ever to have convened an opening session of the annual meeting of HCBA. My grandparents-- James Wesley "Jim" Crain and Amanda Elizabeth Stribling Crain, and my parents-- Robert Verne Crain and Clara Elsie Fergusson Crain also continued the practice of saving the minutes and ensuring that I would inherit them. From infancy my parents took me to every Workers’ Conference and every Annual Association meeting.

It is with joy that I share my legacy.

Elreeta Crain Weathers

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Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Jeremiah 32:17

Ah, Sovereign Lord, 
you have made the heavens 
and the earth by thy great power and outstretched arm.
Nothing is too hard for you.