THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARIE BAPTIST CHURCH

This week marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of Marie Baptist Church in Laurens County.  This church, like many of its kind throughout our community, has been a common thread that has bound our citizens together through the good times and bad times.  The small country church, called by some a dying breed, still perseveres.  These churches are a testament to the loyalty, devotion, and generosity of their members.

In the latter decades of the 19th century, the community known as Marie had no churches.  The closest Baptist churches were First Baptist Church of Dublin and Poplar Springs North.   In July of 1886, members of the community accepted Capt. L.C. Perry’s offer to sell his land to build a school, with two stipulations - that being that the school would be used as a church at times and that the school be named “Marie,” in honor of his daughter.  Occasionally services would be held in the schoolhouse, an unpretentious structure described by historian Emma Perry as “dilapidated, unceiled, and unpainted.”  During the summer of 1899, Rev. R.E. Neighbor of the First Baptist Church of Dublin, came to the community to preach.  After preaching to members of his own church in the morning, Rev. Neighbor preached to the sometimes overflowing crowds from Marie in the afternoon.  When the crowd grew too large, the Reverend stood in the doorway and preached inward and outward.  The old schoolhouse was moved to Highway 441 and refurbished into a pastorium.

Marie School

At the end of the revival on September 24, 1899, thirty-six of those present joined together and officially organized Marie Baptist Church.   The founding members of the church were: Charlie Bell, Otto Daniel, R.T. Dominey, M.S. Jones, D.E. Hobbs, A.G. Hobbs, Porter Gufford, J.T. Orr, J.F. Rozar, William Scarborough, J.L. Wyatt, Margaret Dominey, Lula Dominey, Lucy Dalton, Minnie Gufford, Emma Gillis, Anna Hobbs, Effie Hobbs, Sallie Hobbs, Johnnie Hobbs, Tobitha Jones, Fannie Jones, Ella Jones, Marcia Jones, Nannie Jones, May Jones, Bertha Jones, Dora Lyles, Charastie Perry, Emma Perry, Celia Scarborough, Laura Scarborough, Emma Wells, Leila Orr, S.M. Jones, and Bessie Scarborough.  Milton S. Jones, William Scarborough, and Otto Daniel served as the first deacons of the church.  The first trustees of the church were Milton S. Jones, S.M. Jones, R.T. Dominey, J.T. Orr, and Otto Daniel. 

First Church ca. 1900. Church in the mid-20th Century.

Many outstanding ministers have served Marie Church since its founding.  They are J.T. Smith, 1899, J.E. Duren, 1902, H.T. Smith, 1903, F.R. Bisby, 1905, T. Bright, 1906, T.E. Toole, 1908, O.O. Williams, 1910, T.J. Barnette, 1915, J.E. Townsend, 1917, C.C. Maples, 1940, Alvin G. Hurst 1941, Edward Straney, 1941, C.D. Graves, 1944, Frank Cochran, 1945, M.H. Hendricks, 1947, E. Beckworth, 1949,  W.S. George, 1950, J.J. Morrow, 1951, Harold McManus, 1953, William H. Lowe, 1958, Allen J. Freeman, 1960, J.A. Patterson, 1966, R.T. Russell, 1971, Charles Duncan, 1971, Roy Cable, 1972, Jack Sapp, 1975, Louis Lambert, 1977, Jimmy Napier, 1979, William Wood, 1982, Frankie Hodges, 1983, Hubert Hollis, 1984, Raymond Dunn, 1984, W.E. Flanders, 1989, John Gibbs, 1994, Robert Rogers, 1994, and Jim Dorriety, the current new interim pastor.

Sunday School Class 1918

              Rev. J.E. Townsend served the longest, beginning in October of 1917 and ending his twenty-three and one-half years of service in March of 1940.  Rev. J.T. Smith was a member of the Hardy Smith family and served as Superintendent of the Laurens County School system following the death of another minister, Rev. W.S. Ramsay.

Marie Baptist Church was assigned to the Ebenezer Association of Baptist churches in East Central Georgia.   Marie joined a new association on November 30, 1911, when the Baptist churches of Laurens County formed the Laurens County Baptist Association.  The Association rotated its annual sessions every year.  In October of 1931, Marie Church hosted the twentieth annual session.  C.D. Graves served as moderator.  J.H. Witherington served as the clerk and treasurer of the organization, which only had assets of $97.09 after the bills were paid.  R.W. Eubanks was chairman of the executive committee.  James L. Keen, W.P. Perry, E.M. Witherington, H.C. Burch, and W.M. Herndon represented the five districts of the county.

James L. Keen, Sr. opened the session with a devotional message, and W.R. Lanier gave the opening prayer to a crowd of nearly one hundred messengers from the association’s churches.  Most of the first meetings consisted of business matters with a few sermons in between.  The delegates voted to erect a suitable grave monument to honor the memory of Rev. W. E. Harville, one of the association’s most outstanding members.  Other matters discussed included a county-wide Sunday School revival, a resolution supporting temperance, and a request for the county to continue the use of a county police force.  On the second and last day of the session, each church gave a report of their harvest from gardens to support missionary programs.  Otto Daniel, who served as a messenger from Marie Church and as a delegate to the state convention, led the singing during the two-day session.  The ladies of the church, who were always behind successful events like this, made sure that everyone was fed and that the church and its grounds were immaculate for their visitors.

During the year of 1930, the Sunday School Department of Marie Church had eighteen teachers under the supervision of Superintendent Otto Daniel. Collectively, the teacher taught two hundred fourteen people, who attended at the rate of ninety-three and one-half persons each Sunday.  The twenty-one-year-old church, valued at forty-five hundred dollars,  had three hundred fifty members and eight rooms, seven of which were classrooms.  Douglas Daniel was the church clerk, and  W.W. Wells served as the church treasurer.  The pastor’s salary was six hundred dollars, which was only exceeded by Laurens Hill Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, Dublin.

Over the last one hundred twenty-five years,  the faithful members of Marie Church have built the tiny one-room church into one of the finest little country churches in this part of the country.  Eight rooms were added in 1927, and at the midway point of this century, thirteen more rooms were added. Both of these additions were aided by the generous donation of lumber by D.D. Wright and E.E. Swinson.  There is not enough room in this column to cite all of the donations of time, money, and material given by church and community members.  Twelve more rooms were constructed in 1962.  The sanctuary was enlarged in 1968, and a north wing was added in 1977.   Congratulations to all of those with connections to Marie Church.  May she continue to prosper in the service of our Lord for many more centuries to come.