The Mill Creek Baptist Church is located in Anderson Township
of Clark County Illinois or about nine
miles south and a little
west of Marshall, Illinois.
On March 4,1876
twelve members in good standing of the
Freedom Baptist Church were granted authority by said church in its
regular business meeting to oranize a Baptist Church at the Choctaw
School. Their membership at the Freedom Church was to
terminate
when the new church was organized. The Moderator of this
meeting was
Thomas McCollum and the Clerk was John
G. Harner. The members
were as follows:
George
Eckels
Edward Huffington
Mary Ann Eckels
Olive Johnson
Andrew Flemming
Harriet Huffington
Louisa Flemming
Thomas McCollum
Catherine Gregory Jane McCollum
Sarah
Smith
Elizabeth Zellers
On April 15, 1876 a council convened
at the Choctaw School for
the purpose of organizing a Baptist Church. Serving on this
council
were Brother Asa Smith, Moderator; Brother Francis Esley, Clerk;
Brother Squire Mundy; Brother Daniel Davis; and Brother L.Y. Black.
The Mill Creek Baptist Church was constitued with twelve charter
members.
For eighteen years they used the log
building of the school
which was located about thirty rods down the road
from where the
church was built. The present Choctaw School is
now across the
road from the church.
In 1894 the
present building of the Mill Creek Baptist
Church was erected on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Ledermann.
The vestibule and the belfry were built in 1900.
It is said that
many times a preacher would come into
the community, go to
the home of one of the nearby members, they would ring the bell,
then about an hour before the service
light the lamps, and by
service time the church would be full of
people, this without
prioir knowledge that the preacher was coming to conduct a service.
The Mill Creek
baptist Church has ordained four ministers:
J.C. Craig in 1900; Frank Ammons, December 12, 1954;
Bert Eckels,
date unknown; and James Turnicliff, date unknown.
The church celebrated the
100th anniversary of its founding
with a homecoming in 1976.
At a business
meeting of the Mill Creek Baptist Church on
April 13, 1980, a motion was made, seconded and carried
that the
doors of the church be closed. It was also voted to sell the
contents of the church and give the money to the Baptist
Children's
Home at Carmi. Later in the summer at a farm sale the contents
of
the church were sold and a check in the
amount of $1,640.00 was
sent to the Illinois Baptist State Association for
the Baptist
Children's Home.
Ministers who have served the church
are as follows: L.Y.
Black, S.T. Reynolds, J.G. Vickers, George Eckels, B. Stephens,
Elihu
Stanberry, W.P. Andis, J.N. Poe, B.F. Hayes, J.C. Craig, W.P.
Chamness, J. Turncliff, L.G. Fasig, James Paddock, R. McCroy, Bert
Eckels, W.N. Babb, Brother Mitchell, Harry Conrad, W.A. Howell, M.V.
Gilbert, J.T. Combes, Grant French, J. Claypool, Hugh Russell, W.A.
Fuson, Dale Rhyne, Clebert Weger, Jessie Gettings, Chester Chilton,
O.B. Salmon, Tommy Martin, Frank Ammons, Bob Phillips, Gaylord Green
and Glenn E. Arbuckle the last pastor.
