Search for the exact location of the old Lebanon Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church continues

Several weeks ago in this space, I wrote about how family history researcher Sandra McCollum of Jackson, Miss. was trying to locate the site of the old Lebanon Church in Wilcox County. Sandra is descended from a number of early Wilcox County pioneers, including many who attended the Lebanon Church. Oddly, no one alive seems to know exactly where this old church was located.

Old newspapers say that the Bethel Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at Oak Hill can trace its origins to the Lebanon Church. In 1856, Lebanon Church divided into two churches to serve its widely scattered members, which led to the formation of Bethel ARP Church. Lebanon Church was apparently founded around 1822, and old newspapers indicate that it was located somewhere near Camden.

Not long after the column about McCollum’s search ran in the paper, I received a nice e-mail from Barney McIntosh of Camden. He said that it’s possible that an old abandoned church on County Road 51 is all that remains of the former Lebanon Church. This church is about 10 miles south of Camden, beyond where the pavement ends, on the north side of County Road 51, not far from the old Neenah community.

McIntosh said that this church is hard to see from the road because parts of it have fallen in. He noted that there is a cemetery behind the church and that he has relatives buried there, including his fifth and sixth great-grandparents. Around a portion of the cemetery, you can also see remnants of a mote that was dug around some of the graves, he said.

Reading all of this from McIntosh, it reminded me of an old cemetery that I visited a couple of years ago on County Road 51. According to a sign out by the road, that cemetery is now called the Jordan Cemetery, but it may have been called something else years ago. I can say for certain that this cemetery is, at least partially, surrounded by a trench or ditch, which I presume was dug long ago to drain water away from the graveyard.

This old cemetery contains about 25 graves. The first known burial there was Catherine McLeod, who died in her twenties in 1825. The last known burial there was George S. Bolton, who died in 1888. Other names that you’ll find on headstones there include members of the Baldwin, Marshall, Martin and McIntosh families.

After receiving the message from McIntosh, I pulled the Jordan Cemetery up on Google Maps, and it appears that we are both talking about the same place. You can also see what appears to be the remnants of an old church a short distance west of the cemetery. On the day that I visited the cemetery, I didn’t see the church, so it must be hard to see from the road.

In the end, the mystery remains over the exact location of the old Lebanon Church. If anyone in the reading audience has any additional information they’d like to share on the subject, please let me know. It would be nice to finally settle this question once and for all for local history buffs.