Mt Gilead Methodist Celebrates 200 Years

Mt Gilead Methodist Church is preparing to celebrate a tremendous milestone. On September 20, the church will be celebrating their 200th year as a congregation. Starting at 10:30 a.m. with a picnic lunch to follow, they are excited and ask anyone to bring a lawn chair if they wish to join in on celebrating a long, historied life as a church. Below is a brief history of the church provided by Mt Gilead Methodist Church:

Mt. Gilead Methodist Church was organized in 1826. It was named Mount Gilead which means a hill of witness. According to church history and the Tennessee Conference, the Rev. Wesley Deskin was the first pastor. After serving four years he died in 1830 and was buried in Warren County.

The first church building was approximately 18x20 feet in size. It was constructed of logs with a large fireplace and chimney in one end and a door in the opposite end. The pews were split logs. The date of the construction is not known. It was located on the northeast corner of a three-acre tract of land owned by Washington Webb. On January 10, 1843 Mr. Webb deeded the tract to the church where the Mt. Gilead Cemetery is now located which was begun before the Civil War. In 1845 Mt. Gilead joined with other Methodist churches in White County to become part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

On October 17, 1908 one acre of land north of the original three-acre tract was bought from Montgomery Carter and wife, Emma, for $100.00. This enlarged the cemetery. The second building, a frame structure, was located near the log church and was constructed in 1887. This was the center of worship in the community for seventy-two years. Among those who worshipped in the white frame church were 33 young men who later entered the Christian ministry. This number included six sets of brothers. Five of the 33 ministers are buried in the Mt. Gilead Cemetery.

A tall marble shaft bearing the names of the 33 ministers was placed at the entrance to the second church building by the Tennessee Conference Historical Society and was dedicated October 6, 1963. In 1978, the Methodist General Commission on Archives and History registered Mt. Gilead as Historic Site Number 53. Dedication day was April 29, 1979.

In a report to the Quarterly Conference on January 10, 1887 by Pastor T. S. Cullom, he stated that the success of the Mt. Gilead Sunday School was due to the faithfulness of the efficient superintendent, Dr. W. S. Findlay. Dr. Findlay served as superintendent from 1884 until his death in 1908.

In 1949 a decision was made to build a new modern brick church and locate it across the road from the second church. It was built on land purchased November 12, 1912 from Logan Hensley and wife, Mary, for the sum of $75.00. May 7, 1950 was the final service in the old church. And by June 8, 1950 the building had been sold and removed from the premises. The pulpit, pulpit chair, bell, and lighting fixtures from the old church were transferred to the new building.

The opening service in the new building was held June 18, 1950. Dedication was a year later June 17, 1951. Church membership in 1951 was one hundred and forty and Sunday School membership was 80.

Mt. Gilead was a station church from 1956 to 1973 with a full-time minister. It was then combined with Cummingsville Church for a Mt. Gilead/Cummingsville Charge. It returned to a station church for several years. At present, Mt. Gilead is officially part-time as of July 2012, but there are regular services each Sunday, with a conference appointed minister.

In 1968 Mt. Gilead observed its first homecoming. By January 1984 a trust fund had been established to guarantee perpetual care for the cemetery.

In 1990 Charles Martin II became the 34th preacher to go from Mt. Gilead. He is an active minister today.

In 2003 and 2004 eight beautiful stained glass memorial windows were installed in addition to the stained-glass transom over the front doors. These were all sponsored and dedicated by family members.

One of the first church trustees was Samuel Henderson Keathley, son of Jesse and Susannah Keathley who were living in White County before the church was organized in 1826. They had eight children and over forty grandchildren. Seven of Mt. Gilead's 33 historical preachers were from the Keathley family. Now 200 years later at least nine descendants of Jesse and Susannah Keathley remain active in the Mt. Gilead United Methodist Church.