RELIGION PMSS Records of Church Memberships Baptisms Weddings II

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 34: RELIGION
PMSS Records of Church Membership, Baptisms Weddings II
Letters of Transfer and Special Events

RELIGION PMSS Records of Church Memberships Baptisms Weddings II

William and Fern (Hall) Hayes wedding at PMSS, June 6,1940.. [hay0127]


TAGS: Chapel, Pine Mountain School Church, church records, church memberships, Chapel weddings, church baptisms, church transfers, Burton Rogers, Edith Cold, Dorothy Nace, Arthur Dodd, H.R.S. Benjamin, church and community, church committee, WWII, Glenn LaRue, holiday observances, vesper services, service flag, memorial plaque by Miss Christensen, Inquirers’ Class, church music, guest speakers, 1949 graduation


RELIGION PMSS Records of Church Memberships, Baptisms, Weddings II, 1947-1950, 1951, 1964

The PMSS Records of Church Memberships, Baptisms, Weddings, etc., were largely documented by Edith Cold, Grace Rood, and Dorothy Nace. They focused on the later Pine Mountain Boarding School years from approximately 1941 until the closure of the Boarding School in 1949. This is part II, covering 1947-1949 (plus two letters dated 1951 and 1964), of a two-part series. The first part covers 1941-1946.

CONTENTS: PMSS Records of Church Memberships, Baptisms, Weddings II – IMAGES 030 – 063 (1947-1949)

[NOTE: All documents are typewritten originals unless stated otherwise. The following list of contents is generally in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

1947

[Note: Images 030-031 are handwritten by Edith Cold.]
030 April 3, 1947: Marriage ceremony for David Martin and Patsy Hall, both graduates of PMSS; Rev. Quinten Alfors of Wheaton, IL, officiated.
Easter week (March 31 – April 6) observances, such as daily meditation in the Chapel and Mr. [Arthur W.] Dodd’s organ music.
Good Friday – Vesper service reading by Mr. [H.R.S.] Benjamin; Dodd’s choir. Rev. Glenn P. LaRue presided at the communion service on Easter morning.
031 May 11, 1947: Vesper service at Laurel House where the service flag hung, led by LaRue; “Two ex-servicemen, Charles Creech and Elmer Lewis, lowered the flag. In its place is a beautiful plaque decorated by Miss [Abbie Winch] Christensen and containing the names of those whose lives were lost in the conflict.”
May 23, 1947: Senior commencement; address by Dr. Clayton Feaver of Berea College; 26 graduates.

1947-1948

032 The following Church Committee was appointed for the year: Burton Rogers (chairman), A.W. Dodd, Gordon Nichols, Ronald Henderson, Dorothy Nace, H.R.S. Benjamin (ex officio)
October meeting; communion officiated by Mr. Nichols; January meeting in Old Log during which Dorothy Nace was chosen as clerk of the Pine Mountain Church and secretary of the Church Committee meetings. Mr. Benjamin will conduct a Inquirers’ Class; “The exact relationship of staff and students who have church memberships in other places, to the Pine Mountain Church was discussed.”

033 Burton Rogers, staff advisor to the Student Chapel Committee, gave a report of their work; suggested future speakers.

034 Holy Week 1948 observances, including Chapel organ music and readings. Good Friday observances, including no afternoon school activities and organ, choir, and recorded music.
March 28, 1949. Easter observances: Three students joined the Pine Mountain Church: Charlene Lewis, Leone Sturgill, and Jim Cheney.

035 April 2, 1948. Recorded by Dorothy Nace, Clerk. Church Committee Meeting in Mr. Benjamin’s office; Inquirers’ meeting in progress; three students asked to be baptized; questions about transfers of memberships from home churches. 

062a June 14, 1948. Letter of transfer to Dorothy Nace, from L.R. Tagg, Pastor, First Methodist Church, Paxton, IL, certifying that Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were members and have asked to be transferred to Pine Mountain Church membership.

036 September 3, 1948. Church Committee Meeting recorded by Dorothy Nace, Clerk. Burton Rogers called a meeting of last year’s church committee for a review of the previous year’s work. Present were: Rogers, Dodd, Ronald Henderson, Benjamin, Nace. Letters of transfer were done for the Hendersons, Dodd, and Nace. “Burton Rogers reported that he was trying to get more information about a nation-wide Community Church organization….” 037 and is working on getting guest speakers and listed suggestions.

038 Membership list of Pine Mountain Church. 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949.
039 Membership list, continued. 

040 List of persons granted letters of transfer, 1946 and 1949.

041 List of weddings in Pine Mountain Chapel.
“First Wedding: May 10, 1924, Will Browning, school farmer [and] Louise Will, music teacher and housemother, Carl Michel, Presbyterian minister, officiated” and others.
042 Weddings, continued.

043 List of infant Baptisms

044 Church Committee for the year 1948-49: Burton Rogers (Chairman), Dodd, Ronald Henderson, Mrs. M. Holsinger, Benjamin (ex officio), Nace (Clerk).
List of guest speakers at morning Chapel services, fall and Spring terms.

045 List of special events planned for Christmas vacation 1948.

1949

047 January 3, 1949. Church Committee Meeting at Jubilee [Cottage]; recorded by Dorothy Nace, Clerk. Rogers presented a list of guest speakers for spring term. Discussion about communion; Baccalaureate speaker; donation of candlesticks; 048 Inquirers’ Class; graduation “postlude.”

049 January 13, 1949. Letter to Rev. John Piper, Middlesboro, KY, from Dorothy Nace, Clerk of Pine Mountain Church, expressing appreciation for the candlestick holders that he left the Pine Mountain Church on Christmas Day when he officiated at the communion service.

 058-058a February 7, 1949. Two-page handwritten letter to “Miss Dorothy [Nace]” from Betty Nichols, Merchantville, NJ, who is joining a church in NJ, and asks for a letter of transmittal from Pine Mountain Chapel.

060 February 28, 1949. Carbon copy of a “letter of dismissal” to Rev. Carl McIntire, Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood, NJ, from [unsigned], Chairman of the Church Committee and Clerk of Pine Mountain Church for Betty Huff Nichols, former member of the Pine Mountain Church.

050 February 10, 1949. Church Committee meeting at Far House recorded by Dorothy Nace, Clerk. Subjects covered: upcoming communion service by Glyn Morris; Inquirers’ Class; search for a baccalaureate speaker; Benjamin’s suggestion of a pre-baccalaureate service; scheduling April and May Chapel services; 051 students’ attitudes towards speaking at Chapel services; members’ suggestions that “more public speaking experiences should be given (students)….” 

046 February 12, 1949: Memorial service for Robert Wheeler Creech, (son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Creech) killed in Marine action in the south Pacific; Easter Sunday observation; Baccalaureate Sunday speaker and recital; graduation of 22 students on May 20 during which “[t]he class presented ‘A Ballad of Pine Mountain’ which they had written together with Miss Mary Ruth Heil.” 

1950

052 February 2, 1950. Church Committee meeting at Big Log; members were Nace (clerk and convener), Ronald Henderson, Grace Rood, Brit Wilder (absent). Discussed: diverse staff needs for Chapel services; lack of staff at Rev. Jackson’s Sunday afternoon service for the community; 053 Burton and Mary Rogers invited staff to a cooperative staff supper at Big Log, followed by social hour and worship service led by Nace.

054 February 5, 1950. Pot-luck supper held at Big Log, followed by a worship service.

055 [No date. Handwritten notation: “1950”] Church committee meeting in Jubilee House, recorded by Rood. Present: Misses Nace, Stahl, Rood, Mrs. Brit Wilder, Hobart Wilder. “Turns had been taken by the various churches including Creech, Big Laurel, and Pine Mountain” for evening vesper services; a rotation plan was suggested. Discussed: Sunday School in Laurel House for small children.

056 November 20, 1950. Church Committee meeting at the Hospital, recorded by Rood. Present: Misses Nace, Stahl, Rood, and Dr. [Gordon] Brown. Discussed; Joining in a Big Laurel service, inviting Rev. White for a December 17 Chapel service; Dr. Brown’s invitation to Zande House for a vesper sing on December 24, possible watchnight service on December 31.

057 November 1, [no year]. A note To Miss Rood from “BR” [Rogers], enclosing a memo about church services, asking for Church Committee’s advice.
057a October 31, 1950. Memo to Rogers from R. [Ruby] Lanier who commented on the poor singing in the Chapel and the need for a “singing school.” He asks that Rogers work with Dr. [Francis] Hutchins to send someone from Berea [College] for an all-day singing.

059 MISSING IMAGE

061 [No date] Letter of transfer from H.W. Baumer, Minister, Eighth Evangelical and Reformed Church, Cleveland, OH, certifying that Dorothy Nace is a member and recommending, at her request, her transfer to the Pine Mountain School Church for membership.

1951, 1964

062 May 12, 1951. Letter of transfer to Rev. Charles E. Liston, Galesburg, IL, from Nace, certifying that Ronald A. and Elizabeth Thrall Henderson are members of the Pine Mountain School Church who have asked to be transferred to his congregation.

063 October 26, 1964. Memo “To Whom It May Concern” from Burton Rogers, PMSS Director, certifying that records in his office that Pearl Taylor was baptized on Thanksgiving Day 1945 “in the Pine Mountain Church which was organized at that time as a school Community Church, but which has not been continued in such organized form.”


GALLERY: PMSS Records of Church Memberships, Baptisms, Weddings II


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SEE ALSO
CELIA CATHCART “A Funeralizing on Robber’s Creek”
GLYN MORRIS 1941 Religion in the Mountains
RELIGION A Mountain Funeralizing
RELIGION Statements of Belief at Pine Mountain Settlement School
RELIGION Student Reflections on Religion at PMSS 1940’s
RELIGION Vespers Service William Hayes c. 1942