Transcribed and submitted by Mr. K. Verdaine Hooper
Union North Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Church Building in 1918
Located southeast of Fairfield
on the road that divides
Grover and Leech townships
** transcribed of the image:
Fourteen longtime members of the Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church which celebrated its 100th anniversary recenetly are pictured on the steps of the church. The picture was taken Sunday, October 26th, as 175 persons attended a dinner celebrating the occasion. The church is located six miles east and south of Fairfield.
Front row:
Henry Wagner, Charles Fenton, Tulsa, Okla.; Mrs. Hattie Hart, Golden Gate; Mrs. Mable Bell, southeast of Fairfield, and Mrs. Myrtle Baker, Mills Shoals.
Second row:
Jack Hallam, Rigdon Hooper, Curt Xanders, Lem Harris, all of whom live southeast of Fairfield and in the church vicinity; Frank Harris, northeast of Fairfield, a church elder; Frank Holloway, Merriam, and Frank Leach, Golden Gate. --- Press Photo
The following information is from a collection of things belong to my grandmother, Ruth Wilson Hooper. This is a part of a history of the church that was prepared in 1952 by my father, Kenneth Hooper (1917-1975)
Mr. K. V. Hooper
It was on October 23, 1852, that the Union North Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized with 21 members. The organization meeting was held at the Andrew Neel home, near the site of the present church. Andrew Neel's home was the place where Curt Xanders lived in mid-1900s.
The first pastor of the church was Rev. James Gaston. The first Elders of the church were Daniel Wingate, George Merritt, Thomas Wilson, Andrew Neel, and Wiley Hooper. Mr. Hooper was Ordained as a Cumberland Presbyterian minister in 1870.
Services were first held in the Neel home and probably in other member's homes. Soon after the organization, a log church house was erected south of the present building. According to records, the present church was constructed in 1875.
Names of the early pastors include: Rev. James Gaston, Rev. W. H. Sampson, Rev. M. A. Marlow, Rev. Wiley Hooper, Rev. J. W. Borah, Rev. J. Lathom, Rev. Joseph Wood, and Rev. A. R. Sandlen. Names of some more recent pastors (prior to 1952) include: Rev. John Phipps, Rev. Stella Phipps, Rev. Ralph Carpenter, Rev. George Coleman, Rev. J. L. Mitchell, Rev. Troy Alexander, Rev. John Dean, and Rev. Lloyd Blades.
Elders in 1952 were Kenneth Hooper, clerk, and also a licentiate of Ewing-Mclin Presbytery for ordination as minister of the Gospel (was ordained in 1954), Lyman Elliott, Harvey Wagner, Frank Harris, and M. S. Trousdale.
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