Old Zion Church was located in Section 35, Range 16 West, Township 39 North, Lake Road 54-65, Anderson Hollow.  The Zion General Baptist Church was started April1895 by Br. Elder. T. M. Mace, S.M. Burch, A. J. Miller, Paster J. W. Scott, Deacon and D. N. Scott.    Deacon Charlter members were:  S. M. Burch,  S. E. Burch,  S. F. Scott,  S. E. Jeffries,  M. E. Allen,  J. A. Webb, Elizabeth Burch, Simon Scott, Elizabeth Scott, James McDowell, Amanda McDowell.  In later years the church was disbanded and the building was torn down.

Information from Shirley Kohlstaedt via Sharon Shipman

Information also appears in the Bagnell Dam Anniversary Book, page 72.

MT. HOREB BAPTIST CHURCH - DECATURVILLE, MO.

The following is a copy of a paper from "Missouri Miscellany, Vol. 14"  Random Notes From Linn Creek "Reveille",. 1896 - 1954.  Copy made and donated by Mrs. JoAnn Wood.

Mt. Horeb Baptist Church.  Located 4 miles west of Decaturville, MO.  Built 1898.  The church cemetery is on the east side of the church property.  Rev. Wheeler Davis organized the church and served as first pastor.  Jim McGuire served as the 1st Clerk.  Charter members were:  Jim McGuire,  Thad McGuire,  Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Looney,  Martha Jane Burns,  Tom Wade Dickerson,  Joe Thomas,  Wheeler David,  Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rogers,  William and Polly McGuire, and Mr. and Mrs. Ed Case, colored.

Other early members were:  Fanny Bell,  J. W. McGuire,  Nate McGuire,  Martha McGuire,  Andy McGuire,  John W. McGuire,  Lewis Looney,  Jim Looney, Linda Looney, Kathern (sic) Looney,  Lou Looney,  Manda Looney,  Joe Looney,  Alpha Looney,  Rosa Looney,  Frank Rogers,  Eli Rogers,  Mae Rogers,  Mrs. Frank Rogers,  Mrs. John Baker,  Mrs. Suel Eidson,  Jane Jackson,  Samburn Moore,  Margaret Moore,  Jim Moore,  Lou Moore,  John Ginnings,  Harvey Ginnings,  Doc Ginnings,  Sarah Jane Ginnings, and Jess Looney.
(Camdenton, MO, "Reveille,"  23 Jan. 1948, page 2)  Submitted by:  Allison Adair Patterson, Kansas City, MO  [email protected]  4/99

Photo provided by June Firestone

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This is part of a condensed version of Mrs. Clyde (Fern) Moreland of the Camden Co. Historical Society, which appeared in the Nov. 23, 1962 Reveille newspaper.

When Abraham Leffert passed away in 1877 on the farm he homesteaded in the 1860's, his grave, marked by a fieldstone, became the first in what is now the Myetta Cemetery.

After the Leffert homestead changed hands several times, it was purchased in 1890 by Albert S. and Lilly Coleman.

When the Hines Chapel burned, it left Dry Ridge without a church or a school.  Highway 5 south of Camdenton runs along Dry Ridge, roughly, from where Highway 5 intersects Highway 7 to just before Highway 5 reaches Decaturville.

In 1897 "Uncle Albert" Coleman gave a verbal promise of an acre of land to build a Union Christian Church.  Work to build the concrete church was started immediately.  It was about 5 or 6 years later before the church got a floor.

The first sermon in the church was preached by Rev. William Bury Gregory from a pulpit made of a post driven into the ground with a board nailed across the top.  The Bible he used is now owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. Herb (Mildred) Cooley.

A legal deed was drawn up and signed by Albert S. and Lill Coleman "for one dollar and the love and respect for the Church of God."

By 1956 it had become evident that that the building was unsafe.  The congregation decided to build a new church and took legal steps to have the church become the property of the Missionary Baptist Church.  Howard, Hazel and Russell Parrish, owners of the surrounding land, donated an acre of ground to enlarge the cemetery.  After the new church was built, in the fall of 1978 the church was burned beyond repair by an arsonist.  Again the congregation had the church rebuilt, which was bigger than the other two.

Dating from 1897, the church is (this year) 103 years old, and dating from 1877 the cemetery is 123 years old.

OLD LINN CREEK, MO.  CHURCHES

Pictures contributed by Mrs. Sharon Shipman