Snapshots of History

By Editor | February 26, 2025 |

By Mike Avitt
I’ll ask my readers to take note of an upcoming event in Benton on March 15, 2025.
The Benton Museum will be hosting an Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. to show off the new, remodeled museum section in the Benton Community Center.
I got a sneak-peek recently while attending supper there. The remodel is very attractive and there are some new features which you will see when you attend. Any town that cares about its past is a thoughtful town indeed.
I’m always looking for information about Ringgold County’s early rural churches. I found an interesting article in the June 11, 1874 Ringgold Record about a man who recorded his trip from northwest Ringgold County to Afton.
Information this early is difficult to find, so I was pleased to find this.
The man was obviously headed to Eugene because that town was on the Afton-to-Mt. Ayr road. The man encountered two schoolhouses and a church in the vicinity of the Thomas Shay property. He said one school went by the name of Pollock or Johnson and was built by a Mr. Green and a Mr. Rodgers. The other was called the Dunlap Schoolhouse and there was a William Dunlap living in this area. In fact, our traveler says when he passed the Dunlap property, he could see a church building.
The only description he gives is that the church was built last year. He also states that a retail store is being built nearby. I have to think he is in Eugene but he doesn’t use that word.
The Eugene Post Office started in 1857 and the town in 1874 or 1875. William Dunlap is buried in the Eugene Cemetery.
But, while looking at an 1875 map, I see a church I’ve never seen before. All the places I’ve mentioned so far are in Jefferson Township, and my newly found church is in section 29 of Jefferson Township. Eugene is in section 13 of Jefferson Township. So, now I have one more thing to research.
Another article I found was in the January 17, 1974 Record-News concerning the early religious history of Ringgold County. A “History Highlights” article reprints an article written by Edward Branford Heaton in 1872.
E. B. Heaton was a farmer, a minister, a surveyor, a Civil War veteran, a teacher, and postmaster of the Kew Post Office. Kew was a community a little southwest of Eugene. More commonly, it was between Tingley and Knowlton. I’ll share some of Heaton’s writings.
In the summer of 1855, a minister from Decatur County attempted to organize a Sunday School class in Schooler’s Grove (Ringgold City). Caledonia, Mt. Ayr, and Ringgold City were the first three towns established in Ringgold County, all in 1855. Rev. D. T. Sween also visited the Wendell Poore vicinity near present-day Delphos.
Later that year, Rev. W. C. Williams came to Ringgold County to organize classes in Washington Township and Mount Ayr.
In 1856, Rev. Williams visited other townships including the farmstead of Joseph Quinn in Jefferson Twp. It is believed the efforts in the Quinn community led to the construction of Ringgold County’s first church building. The Mount Zion Church was built in 1858 in section 12 of Jefferson Township and was affiliated with the United Brethren or the Methodist Episcopal. The building only lasted a few years.
It was a log structure and probably wasn’t kept up well. Weather, critters, and lack of funding may have led to structural decline. It was probably very small, as well.
In the fall of 1856, Rev. Jessie Sherwood, of the Chariton Methodist District, was appointed to Ringgold County. In his 1872 article, Mr. Heaton explains there are three Methodist Churches on the circuit in Ringgold County: Goshen, Mt. Ayr, and Caledonia. The Mount Ayr church was the only church in the county with a bell in 1872.