Cool Springs Missionary Baptist Church

Founded in 1869

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
Submitted Photos

The name Cool Springs calls to mind a wooded bower where weary wanderers of long ago found peace and rest in the springs’ restorative waters.

And when a church is named Cool Springs Missionary Baptist, it is lovelier still, for it speaks of refreshing the soul and spirit. Psalm 104:10 reads, “He sends springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.” This was the motto verse for the church’s 150th Anniversary in 2019.

The man who would establish this church, Alexander Clark Ramsey, was born in 1812 in Jackson County, Georgia, to John and Sarah Anderson Ramsey, according to Ramsey family history provided by Beth Jones and Judith Abernathy.

Their research also shows that “Sarah Anderson Ramsey was ¾ Cherokee and Creek Indian. She moved to St. Clair County, Alabama, with her children after her husband died in Rhea County, Tennessee, in 1829. The family believes that Alexander Clark also came to St. Clair County c1829 as well.”

Records show that at age 22, Alexander “entered land at Cool Springs with the government” in 1834, and by that same year, he had married Nancy Ann Ross, born in 1803 in South Carolina.

Alexander and Nancy Ann built a home in Cool Springs and reared a family of three sons. Two died during the Civil War: The first, recovering from wounds was returning home by train; however, the train crashed, and he died in the wreck. The second son died of measles.

The third son, John Washington Ramsey, returned home and lived his life in Cool Springs. Oral history states that when he returned from the war, John Washington could not embrace his family until his clothes were boiled and he had rid himself of lice.

The nearest church, Ashville Baptist, lay five miles northeast of Cool Springs. To attend this church, worshipers traveled these miles, by walking, by wagon, or by horseback. Inclement weather made this journey tedious.

We know the Ramsey family worshiped there from Mattie Lou Teague Crow’s history, Ashville Baptist Church and Its Beginnings. In her research, she discovered among Col. John Washington Inzer’s notes about the church a paper dated 1858, which listed those who pledged money toward constructing the second Ashville Baptist sanctuary. The listed names included “Clark Ramsey,” who pledged $10.00 – not a meager sum in those days.

Realizing the advantages of a local church for the Cool Springs families, Alexander Clark Ramsey and his son, John Washington, with other Baptists, organized Cool Springs Missionary Baptist Church in 1869. We do not have the names of the Charter Members other than John W. Ramsey, for the church’s earliest existing record book dates to 1883, 14 years after the organizing date.

The original church bell still in attic today

These were Reconstruction years and money was scarce. The men of the church and community felled trees, notched logs and constructed a log sanctuary which stood on the same property as today’s building and near the springs’ refreshing waters. Winter heat came from a log burning fireplace.

The 1883 minutes book lists 37 male members and Rev. J.S.E. Robinson as pastor. Rev. Robinson (1849-1924) pastored St. Clair County Baptist churches for over 50 years and preached revivals almost every year. A brief history of Friendship Baptist gives an account of a revival Rev. Robinson preached there. “He was asked if it were true that he had converted 60 souls during the revival. His answer rang out, ‘I never done it. God done it!’”

The walls of the log church resounded with Gospel preaching for 22 years, until the congregation needed a more commodious sanctuary. In a transcribed talk presented by Bessie Whitfield Burttram at the church’s Centennial Anniversary, she stated that in the January1891 business meeting, “Bro. W. Johnson was endorsed to have a bill of lumber cut for the new church building.”  Then in March, “… a committee of five members was appointed to ascertain the indebtedness of the new building and to assign to each male member his portion of the cost.” The dates of completion of the building and the first service are unrecorded.

The 1891 building had two front doors – one for men and boys and other for women and girls. Judith Abernathy recalls her Aunt Roberta Ramsey Ensey telling how her “best beau” would walk her to the women’s door and then he entered by the men’s door.

Although remodeled and updated over the years, that building still serves the congregation today. The two front doors are gone, and all enter to worship through the same double doors.

In January 1913, a motion was made and approved “…to sell the timber on the church lot.” The timber sale resulted in $13.58, and they “purchased new seats for the church.”

Cool Springs has always had a concern for the spiritual and physical needs of its congregation and others. Church records show that in 1925, Mr.  A.L. Galbreath, a farmer, told the membership that he had planted a five-acre plot “for the Lord.” When that was harvested and sold, “He brought the money received to the church to be divided between the pastor and the orphan’s home.” In those days, pastors were often paid with farm produce. Cash would have been a Godsend in 1925.

Today, Baptist churches conduct Sunday school classes for all ages. This wasn’t always the case. Sunday schools originated outside of established churches and were interdenominational. 

In a Jan. 6, 2012, online article titled, “Sunday School an Evolving Institution,” it says that denominations moved slowly in organizing Sunday school classes. The same article states that “The Southern Baptist formed its Sunday School Board, now Lifeway Resources, in 1891.” Therefore, it’s not surprising that in April 1895 a motion to organize Sunday school at Cool Spring didn’t carry. They later approved Sunday school classes, but church minutes seem not to have recorded the date.

 Membership increased, and church minutes show that in1936 the congregation approved remodeling and adding Sunday school classrooms, and Alabama Power installed electricity that summer.

For classrooms, the church decided to dig a basement under the 1891 structure. In a recent interview, Beth and Ross Jones and Judith Abernathy, told the basement’s history. “In 1936, teenage boys with a short mule named Bell, a slip scrape, shovels and picks dug the basement under the supervision of the older men. Church members picked up rocks to make the basement foundation to the addition. One of the men hauled them over here on his Studebaker truck.”

The US economy had improved by 1936, but in 1937, it took a dive which lasted until late in 1938. This unexpected decline involved the church members’ finances, so, completing the remodeling and basement rooms progressed at a tortoise pace.

In speaking of this, Judith told that in a business meeting someone suggested that the ladies of the church might give their Sunday eggs to help pay off the indebtedness. “The women sold eggs gathered on Sunday and put that money in the collection.”

It took from 1936 until 1938 to complete the remodeling, “However,” Beth Jones observed, “we have a full set of Sunday School rooms still in use today under the sanctuary built 132 years ago.”

A significant 1938 event occurred when Dr. Jacob Gartenhaus, director of the Southern Baptist Home Missions Board, accepted an invitation from the Cool Springs WMU (Women’s Missionary Union) to come speak to their group. Cool Springs’ WMU invited all churches to attend his presentation but as reported in The Southern Aegis of Feb. 3, 1938, due to inclement weather, only Cool Springs folk attended. “However,” the article continued, “Dr. Gartenhaus expressed a desire and determination to visit again.”

Dr. Gartenhaus, a Jew, was born in Bukowsko, Poland, in 1896. As a young adult, he came to New York City where he converted to Christianity. He attended Moody Bible Institute and the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He served 27 years with the Southern Baptist Home Missions and was known as the “Southern Baptist Jew.”

Eighty-five-year-old June Smith, WMU member, recently told of WMU women quilting for the public. “We put the money in the WMU treasury,” she reminisced, “and that money went to missions. We’ve always been big on missions – and still are.” Cool Springs’ heart for mission continues strong today.

What would a Baptist worship service be without instruments to accompany the singing? However, beginning with the Reformation, protestants congregations sang acapella, for the organ represented the religion they protested. And 350 years later, most rural churches in the United States still sang without instruments.

Hymnbooks came with lyrics only. Instruments were also expensive, but the invention of the pump organ made that instrument affordable, but churches still resisted purchasing them. 

We see that at Cool Springs in 1901, the motion to purchase a pump organ did not pass. Opinions changed by 1902, and the congregation approved buying an organ, and Myrtie Whitfield was organist for many years. One can only imagine the harmonious blend of voices and music the first Sunday it was played.

Today Leah Attaway plays the piano for the church. She studied piano for 10 years with Electa Stevenson, the well-respected piano teacher in Odenville, then continued music studies at Samford University.  Leah’s first cousin, Kerry Montgomery, serves as song leader.

Singing schools that were held in churches became popular in the 19th Century and continued until into mid-20th Century.  An announcement for one at Cool Springs appeared in the July 7, 1915, The Southern Aegis: “The Eureka Normal School of Music will hold an eighteen-day service under the direction of Homer E. Morris of Oneonta at Cool Springs five miles southwest of Ashville beginning July 12, 1915.”

The cost for 19 days’ study was $1.50, and for those coming from a distance, boarding for the duration was “very reasonable.”

All Day Singings occurred once a month in many St. Clair County churches, and singers from all over the county attended. In the Dec. 6, 1928, issue of The Southern Aegis, “Cool Springs News,” we read, “Cool Springs Singing Society attended the singing at Poplar Springs and report a good time.” Another in the April 1931 issue announced that at the All-Day Singing at Cool Springs there would be quartets from “Leeds, Acmar, and Odenville. …We are expecting a grand day. Bring well-filled baskets (of food).”

The St Clair News-Aegis of April 16, 1959, announced that “Lee Smith and the Master Workers Quartet from Akin, South Carolina, and Rick Mays and the Jubilaires Quartet of Birmingham” would be at Cool Springs, and that Ray Wyatt was the program chairman.

Beth Jones recalled that once when she was a child, she had the mumps and couldn’t attend. “Our family lived about 3/10 of a mile from the church, and that day, cars were parked all the way to our barn. I was on our front porch, and with the church windows open, I could hear the singing. We used to have big singings.”

Cool Springs Cemetery

Vacation Bible School (VBS) began at Cool Springs in 1947 under the ministry of Bro. Oscar Mitchell, and it has continued every year since then. Bro. Mitchell’s wife, Nellie, directed that first year.

Later, Peggy Jarrett directed many VBS weeks and is remembered for her concern for children. “I never will forget,” a church member said, “how when she always prayed, ‘Bless the children.’ She worried about children.”

Other VBS directors from bygone days include Margaret Sellers and Mary Ramsey.

June Smith’s family joined the church in c1950 when she was 12 years old, and she remembers well VBS time. One of her teachers, Gladys Smith, became her mother-in-law when June and Ralph Smith married.

Recently, she told how Lena Morris and Ruby Kirkland prepared cookies and juice each day for the children. “Mrs. Morris would squeeze oranges and make fresh juice for us.”

Today, Regina Ash directs VBS, and the entire church participates.  Each year, between 50 and 60 children attend – Peggy Jarrett’s prayers answered. The purpose of VBS is teaching children about the Bible and God’s gift of salvation. Each year, children come to faith in Jesus Christ through this church ministry. These new converts wait until after the yearly revival to be baptized.

Until recent years, most churches held revivals every summer. Through the 1950s, the evangelist preached a morning service, had lunch with a church family, made visits in the afternoon, and preached at night services.

Churches announced revivals, as in this Aug. 8, 1917, ad in The Southern Aegis: “A series of revival services is being held at Cool Springs Church by Rev. E.P. Moore, who has many old friends in this community.”

Cool Springs scheduled revival week at the end of July. If the first week proved especially effective with many converts, a revival could continue for two or three weeks. Extended revivals were called “protracted meetings.”

The Ramsey sisters reminisced about revivals. “Ladies of the church took turns cooking for the evangelist and had the meal ready after the morning service,” Judith recalled.

Rev. Pearl Tinker was their favorite evangelist, for he brought his family and stayed with the Ramseys. “Judith was friends with the older daughter of the pastor, and I was friends with the younger daughter. We went to all the dinners!” “But,” Judith added, “we girls waited until the grownups had eaten.”

When revival ended, “Baptizing Sunday” came soon afterwards. This service occurred at the “Baptizing Hole” on Canoe Creek until the installation of the indoor baptistry in the 1980s.

Ross Jones recently reminisced, “The baptizing hole was originally a ford, so it was a rather shallow place with some areas deep enough for baptizing.” Beth joined in, “On Saturday before baptizing, some of the deacons would build steps going down from the bank into the water.

“Then on Sunday morning before the baptizing, John Ramsey, one of the deacons, would carry a long rod and go down the steps and check to make sure no holes had washed out during the night that could cause someone to fall. Then before baptizing started, a deacon would precede the pastor into the water to scare off the snakes.”

When the church added the baptistry inside the church in the 1980s, Pat Massey thought a painting of the Baptizing Hole would be a good background scene, showing “the olden days.”  He commissioned Karl Scott, St. Clair Springs artist, to paint the scene, and the church paid the cost.

The most recent update to the sanctuary occurred in 2016. For 10 years the congregation had saved money to install a cupola for the original church bell. Several carpenters assessed the structure and determined the bell was too big and heavy for a cupola. Since the old Cool Springs School bell would fit, it hangs in the cupola today. The historic church bell remains in the attic and is rung on Memorial Day.

The Cool Springs School stood across the road from the church and to the left of the cemetery. Organized toward the end of the 19th Century, classes first met in the church, it seems, for church records of July 1899 state, “Permission was granted for the church building to be used as a school.” Sometime after that, the community constructed a school on land donated by the Ramseys. It stayed in use until the 1940s when Cool Springs students were sent to Ashville school.

After building a home in the area in 2010, Chuck and Regina Ash wanted to worship in a local church, and after visiting other churches, they joined Cool Springs, and they both participate in church ministries. Chuck had grown up in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, so when he and Regina chose Cool Springs Missionary Baptist, Chuck was baptized by emersion as required by Baptist. “I had to learn how Baptist do things,” he said.

Chuck learned well, for on March 20, 2022, he was ordained as a deacon along with David Murphree, Steve Ray and Jacob George. These four serve in fellowship with the other deacons: Ross Jones, Jim Montgomery, John Ray and John McWaters Sr.

Jacob commented on how the church had influenced his life, for he had grown up being taught the Bible and the things of God. “The church family itself has played a big part in me learning how important family and good friends and fellowship are,” he said. “At Cool Springs, most of our members are older, so, for me as a young man, it’s good to be around their wisdom.”

Brother Curry Harris has pastored Cool Springs since 1989. He also refers to the congregation as family. “In my 34 years, we have laughed, wept, celebrated and mourned. We celebrate marriages and births and watch children grow up. They feel like my own children.”

Of church members’ funerals, he said, “We weep and mourn for the family and our church family, but we celebrate that because of Jesus, they are with Him and we will be together again one day.”

Of the camaraderie and fellowship of his congregation, he recalled a September 17, 2023, picnic at Camp Sumatanga. “We prayed for each other’s needs, worshiped the Lord, enjoyed His beautiful nature and studied God’s Word. We ate together – Yes, fried chicken and banana pudding because we’re Baptist! Afterwards, some played horseshoes, children rode bikes, and others enjoyed walking or just talking and fellowshipping.”

Brother Harris’ plans for Cool Springs include to continue reaching out to the community and to continue fighting the good fight.

The ministries of this church are founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ who said, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14, NIV Translation)

Composer John Peterson used this verse when he penned the chorus of his gospel song, “Springs of Living Water.”

Drinking at the springs of living water,

Happy now am I, my soul is satisfied.

Drinking at the springs of living water,

Oh, wonderful and bountiful supply.

Cool Springs Missionary Baptist Church, a refreshing oasis in a chaotic world, invites you to come.

Healing hands of St. Clair

County has a long history of medical excellence

Story by Joe Whitten
Submitted photos

St. Clair County throughout its history had a thriving medical community with doctors practicing medicine in all parts of the region. Many of the names are familiar to this day, stemming from their descendants perhaps or a particular road or place in the county that bears their name.

They were pioneers in the county’s history, and a sampling of the details of their lives gives a glimpse into who tended to the medical needs of St. Clair’s early settlers.

DR. WILLIAM A. BEASON

Dr. Beason was born in 1867 to Rufus and Carrie Ann (Staton) Beason in St. Clair County and was the eldest sibling of Flora (Beason) Montgomery, George D. Beason, Charles W. Beason, Martin V. Beason, and Sidney L. Beason. He was also the great grandson of St. Clair County pioneer Curtis Grubb Beason and the great-great grandson of American Revolutionary patriot Capt. Edward Beason.

On Oct. 30, 1901, with Rev. Noah A. Hood officiating, Dr. Beason married Ms. Lillie Eugenia Phillips at her family home, known today as the Phillips-Cunningham House.

The bride was the daughter of James Madison and Elizabeth (Yarbrough) Phillips and the granddaughter of Littleton Yarbrough. The couple lived for many years in the Byers-Prickett House with Mrs. Beason being noted as a gracious, Southern hostess.

“Dr. Beason was loved and respected by all who knew him intimately and was a man of strong convictions and always outspoken for things he believed to be right.” He was known to never drive over 35 miles an hour. When asked why he didn’t drive faster, he would always reply, “At 35 miles per hour, a car is still cheaper to run than a horse.”

Of his beloved wife it was said, “No man ever had a nobler and more helpful companion. She knew his work and helped him in its performance in many ways.”

Mrs. Lillie Beason “was widely known over the state. She took great interest in educational affairs” and always remained active in supporting “many movements for the betterment of her people.”

For several years she held the office of chairman of the St. Clair County Board of Education, earning her the noteworthy recognition of being the first woman elected to office in St. Clair County. “She was also president of the Baptist Missionary Union and a leading member of the Ashville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” and “was a brilliant woman… (with) many cultivated talents.”

Both were laid to rest in Ashville City Cemetery.

DR. JAMES MADISON McLAUGHLIN

Dr. McLaughlin was born in Leeds in Jefferson County on March 22, 1838, to John and Margaret (Brinker) McLaughlin. The doctor’s father was an early settler of the State of Tennessee and was the son of Alexander Andrew McLaughlin, who had emigrated from Scotland to Tennessee.

James attended public schools and later read medicine with Doctors Robertson and Freeman in Springville. He later attended Atlanta Medical College, now the Emory University School of Medicine. During this time, he enlisted in Company C of 18th Alabama Regiment, CSA and was soon afterwards promoted to Captain. In 1864, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and held that position until the close of the war.

Dr. James Madison McLaughlin

On Jan. 4, 1871, James married Isadora Forman, the daughter of James and Parthenia (Dean) Forman. The bride’s father was noted as taking a “… leading part in all matters and issues in which people were interested,” and being “… true and energetic in behalf of his friends…”

The bride’s mother was the daughter of Nathaniel and Parthenia (Edmundson) Dean, and the granddaughter of Benjamin Edmundson, a Virginian patriot who fought for independence as a lieutenant in the American Revolution. In her obituary, Mrs. Forman was remembered as “… always cheerful…” and “… a faithful and affectionate wife and mother,” who was “… thoughtful of every interest of her children…”

In 1875, the doctor opened a pharmacy and two years later welcomed his only child, Katherine, into the world on March 27, 1877. She would later marry Jacob Forney, a president of Jacksonville State University, who was the son of General John Horace Forney and nephew of Alabama U.S. Rep. William Henry Forney.

It could never be said that Dr. McLaughlin did not live a full life. During his 70 years, he was a member and elder of the Presbyterian Church, a Mason and Knight of Pythias, Mayor of Springville three times, examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, and for the Equitable Life Insurance Company; member of the board of pension examiners, county health officer, member and one of the organizers of the St. Clair Medical Society and counselor of the State Medical Society.

After declining in health for two years, Dr. McLaughlin passed away and was memorialized as being “… closely associated with all movements for growth and prosperity of our county,” and giving “… freely of his time, energy and guidance for its welfare.” Furthermore, “(h)e was beloved by all with whom he came in contact and held the respect and admiration of all his business and political associates.”

The magazine, Confederate Veteran, honored Dr. McLaughlin and observed that he was “… a loving husband and father, a good citizen, a brave soldier and a Christian Gentleman.” 

DR. FINIS E. PERKINS

Dr. Perkins was born on March 2, 1859, near Trussville to William Washington Perkins (1829-1910) and Elizabeth (Praytor) Perkins (1832-1886). Dr. Perkins financed his dental training by selling Bibles and began practicing dentistry about 1880. 

He had offices in Birmingham, Springville, Odenville and in other small towns in St. Clair County. One of his main interests was to teach dental care and health care to public school children. For at least 50 years, he was a regular visitor at many schools and always emphasized that every bite should be chewed 32 times.

Dr. Finis Perkins

A part of every lecture was a Biblical quotation from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

He cooked most of his own meals and used olive oil exclusively to cook with because he considered animal fats to be bad for the teeth, gums and the human body. Wherever he ate, private or public, he first asked God’s blessing on that meal.

He was an active member and financial supporter of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Norwood in Birmingham.

Dr. Perkins was attracted to St. Clair Springs because of the healing powers of the sulfur waters available and in 1896 built a cottage there. He also took annual trips to Pike’s Peak and maintained a summer home there for many years.

Dr. Perkins never married and practiced dentistry up to his death on June 21, 1950, at the age of 91.

As Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician known as the Father of Medicine, once said, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is a love of humanity.”

The same could be said for St. Clair County’s early hands of healing.

Slasham Valley

Meandering through time

Story by Joe Whitten
Submitted photos

Several lovely valleys run through St. Clair County and bear the name of the streams meandering through them: Coosa Valley, Cahaba Valley, Beaver Valley, and Shoal Creek Valley. 

And then there’s Slasham Valley. Why name any place Slasham? A local fellow recently commented that he hoped it had nothing to do with slashing somebody. And it doesn’t.

The name’s origin rests in folklore passed down from the 19th Century. The story has been recorded in Mildred Wright’s book, Josiah W. Wilson and Lydia Melinda Wilson and Slasham Valley, St. Clair County, Alabama Kinfolk. “Tradition holds that in the early days of the settling of the valley, a house-raising was in progress. An Irishman with a heavy brogue stopped and offered to do work for a meal. After being served once, he said, ‘May I have another slosh o’ ham?’” Folk had fun mimicking his heavy Irish brogue in the retelling, and thus was the valley named.

When in the 19th century this occurred, we have no record. However, the earliest obituary mentioning Slasham Valley is found in Pell City Library’s online copy of By Murder, Accident, and Natural Causes. It reads: “Jun. 27, 1883, Southern Aegis: Died. Odom. On June 23, 1883, in Slasham community, this county, John Odom, about 22 years old.” The name no doubt predates this obituary by a number of years, for the north end of the valley consisted of enough families by 1830 to organize Hopewell Baptist Church.

Alsoin Josiah W. Wilson and Lydia Melinda Wilson and Slasham Valley, St. Clair County, Alabama Kinfolk, Mildred Wright gives the location of Slasham Valley, writing, “Slasham Valley lies east of the town of Ashville, between Canoe Creek Mountain and Beaver Creek Mountain. The primary watercourse is Permeter Creek. ‘Permeter’ is the colloquial name for palmetto (U.S. Government geological survey map, Steele quadrangle). Highway 33 runs the course of the valley.”

Lelias Kirby, born 1895, included the town of Steele in his sweeping description of the valley. His parents L. S. and Nannie Lee Spradley Kirby were married February 7, 1884, and settled in Slasham Valley near the Etowah County line above Hopewell Church on today’s Rainbow Drive. In the introduction to Lelias’ booklet, How Me and Amos Won WWI, Lou Harper states, “Although Slasham does not appear on any map of Alabama, Dr. Kirby claims it does exist somewhere in a circle taking in… Steele and Ashville.” In the book, Lelias writes that the community was “…located between Greasy Cove and Smoke Neck. …It was 10 miles to the nearest little village, Ashville.” Smoke Neck seems too expansive because it was in Etowah County. Today Smoke Neck is Southside, Alabama.

Aunt Cattie (herb doctor),Curtis Franklin, Marshall Jester

Today, Slasham Road begins in Ashville at 10th Street and Greensport Road and runs from there to County Road 33 near Gum Springs Baptist Church. It is a peaceful valley of farms and homes.

Stewart and Nannie Kirby’s family consisted of daughters: Elsie, May, Geneva, and Anna; sons: Joe, Amos, Lelias, Otis and Taylor.

Lelias became a well-known physician in Birmingham and authored 3 booklets: How Me and Amos Won WWI, Corncobs, Cockleburs and Country Boys, and Cotton Picking’ Coon Huntin’ Country Boys. Otis became a Methodist Minister, serving in the North Alabama Conference for many years. He authored It All Started in Slash-Ham. In these books, the Kirbys recorded their growing up in Slasham, St. Clair County Alabama.

In How Me and Amos Won WWI, Lilias told how the family “…walked two miles to Mount Hope Methodist,” and said, “I could see the lizards playing races across the rafters.” He told how their pastor, J. M. Wigley was encouraged as he preached his long sermons “…by a chorus of ‘Amens!’ from the ‘Amen Corner.’”

J. M. Wigley, a college student, lived in Steele and “…walked five miles through the flat woods” once a month to preach at Mount Hope. This was November 1913, and “…the log road was very muddy, but he arrived on time—11:00 A.M.”

Lelias recalled a non-religious family in Slasham that “never attended church.” However, at Bro. Wigley’s encouragement, the whole family attended a service. Two of the younger boys went to sleep on a pallet with other children. The Methodist in the South in those days were called “Shouting Methodist.” This was not “speaking in tongues,” but understandable shouts of praise to God. Therefore, as the service and preaching progressed, the saints of the Lord began rejoicing by shouting “Hallelujah!” “Praise the Lord!” “Glory to God!” As these praises reverberated from wall-to-wall, one of the boys awoke, grabbed his brother and said, “Quick, let’s head to the barn; Ma and Pa are fighting a-gin.”

Maragret, J. C., & Hubert Franklin

In his section on church life, Otis Kirby, in It All Started in Slash-Ham, writes “Mt. Hope [Methodist] Church was a large, unpainted frame building. I remember sitting on rough-hewn benches and reading my little Olivet picture card… The church stood on the banks of Big Canoe Creek in the northeastern corner of St. Clair County where Auberry Bridge spanned the creek.”

In her History of Steele, Alabama, Vivian Qualls records that “Bro. Wigley” was J. M. Wigley who pastored the Steele Circuit in 1913 and 1914. And in History of Methodism in Alabama and West Florida by Marion Elias Lazenby, Rev. James Milton Wigley is mentioned six times. The last reference is in 1929 when the Methodist Conference appointed him “Financial Agent” to Athens College.

The Kirby children attended Ford Schoolhouse. As related by Otis in It All Started in Slash-Ham, the school was named after “Uncle John and Aunt Jeff” Ford because they lived close to the school and “the teacher always boarded with them.” Constructed of boards, the school had one unpainted room. The teacher’s desk sat on a raised section that ran the width of the room. Being on the stage gave the teacher “…better oversight of the student body and indicated who was boss.”

“The water bucket,” Otis continued, “was placed on a shelf on the wall outside the front door. Everybody drank from the same dipper. We ‘toted’ water from the wet-weather spring down in Uncle John’s pasture.”

According to both the Kirby brothers’ memories, one end of the Ford Schoolhouse rested on the ground while the other end stood about three feet off the ground and was partially underpinned.  Otis related that “…on rainy days goats and hogs would move out of the flatwoods and shelter themselves under the schoolhouse.” The animal noises sometimes drowned out the human voices. There were cracks and holes in the floor, and Otis recalled one winter when his brother “Amos quite accidentally (?) let a few red-hot coals drop through the holes onto the backs of the hogs.” This caused a pandemonium of grunts and squeals as the hogs fled the shelter and headed to the woods—for a few days.

In the April 1997 issue of Cherish: The Quarterly Journal of the St. Clair Historical Society, Ada Wilson Sulser (b1897-d1988) wrote memories titled “Zion Hill Schoolhouse.” She attended there beginning in 1903 and recalled that the school located next to Zion Hill Church held “…classes from November to April, weather permitting.” She also mentioned classmates: “Homer Waldrop , Clem Lowery, Claudie Wilson , Dora Putman, Houston Cobb, Clara Wilson, Wakely Wilson and Vivian Palmer.”

“The schoolhouse burned twice,” she recalled and added, “It was a standing joke that when a member of a certain family was expelled, the schoolhouse would burn.

Curtis and Lurla Fail Franklin set up housekeeping in Slasham Valley around 1925. In time the family grew to include five children: Hubert, Margaret, J. C., and Billy. All three boys became Church of God ministers and evangelists. Billy Franklin’s son is Jentezen Franklin, internationally known evangelist and pastor of a mega-church in Gainesville, Georgia. In 2008 his book Fasting was on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Today, 95-year-old Margaret Franklin Berry cherishes memories of living in Slasham Valley and attending Ashville elementary school. Her best friend at school was Betty Jean Hodges. “The family lived right in the middle of Ashville,” she recalled. “In fact, the first time I ever saw an electric refrigerator was at their house. She and I were in school together, and I went home with her for lunch one day. Her mother had frozen some little popsicles for us. I’ll never forget that.”

After the third grade, the family moved to Birmingham. Margaret’s father, John Curtis Franklin, had a job in Avondale. “He was a paint sprayer. And that’s when they used lead in the paint,” she told the interviewer. “Well, daddy got really sick. He had ‘paint poison,’ and ended up having to have his leg amputated. It was a terrible time. He was crippled and walked on crutches the rest of his life after the amputation. So, we moved back and forth from the farm to Birmingham several times.”

It was the Great Depression years, and the Franklin family would live in Birmingham for a while and then back to Slasham for a while during those Depression years.

“When we first moved back from Birmingham to Slasham,” Margaret reminisced, “the farm had been leased out to a sharecropper, and we couldn’t move into that house that daddy owned. So, we rented a house. We had no electricity in the area at that time, and I am positive they had no running water. Everybody had wells. But there was a spring on the place that daddy rented, and that’s where we kept our milk to keep it cold. I guess the milk was ice cold, for the spring water certainly was. Every night for dinner, mother would send me and my brother Hubert down there to get the milk out of the spring.”

Although it was hard times during the depression, Margaret recalled that Pawpa J. G. Baswell, her step-grandfather,  “…had six sons and they all had houses all down Slasham… All you had to do was to let somebody know you needed help and help was there.” She thought a moment, then spoke of God’s goodness. “I can hardly ever think about all those years and what we went through, without knowing that we were so blessed, and that God took care of us. All of us.”

After commenting, “I’ve not thought of some of this in years,” Margaret recounted things she and Hubert enjoyed as children.

“On one of our returns to Slasham, we lived in an old house that had a porch, and when they picked cotton, they made one end of the porch, the cotton spot. I don’t remember how they enclosed it, but they would just pile that cotton up there, on and on and on until the day they took it to the cotton gin. Hubert and I used to play in that cotton. We’d jump around in it just like kids today jump on a trampoline. That was so much fun!”

Then another memory came to mind. “When we needed cornmeal, they would send Hubert and me out to the corn crib to shell corn. I remember gallon buckets of shelled corn, and I’d go with my daddy when he’d take it to the mill to have it ground. It was so fascinating to watch that miller pour the corn into that hopper, and it come out cornmeal.” She couldn’t remember the name of the grist mill her dad used.

A community event Margaret recalled was Box Suppers. In the 1930s and ‘40s, schools and churches would raise money by sponsoring “Box Suppers.” Girls would prepare a picnic lunch to place in a decorated box for this community event where the “box suppers” were auctioned, with the money going to the sponsoring school or church. These events were announced in the papers as seen in the Southern Aegis of January 29, 1920. “Box Supper at Zion Hill Saturday night Jan. 31st. Bring boxes and have a good time.”

Margaret remembered participating as a young girl. “You would just spend days and days decorating a beautiful box with ribbons and all kinds of decorations. And you’d think up something really enticing that you hoped would tempt the guys, you know. And they would bid on the box, and whoever bought it was who you ate with. Of course, you hoped that one of the guys you liked would be the one who bid on it! I must have had a sweetheart who I was wanting to bid on it.”

 Margaret’s family attended Gum Springs Baptist Church in the old building and in the current building. The first sanctuary was across the street from today’s Gum Springs and located near the cemetery on that side of the road. There seems to be no photo of that first building.

An annual special occasion was “Decoration Day” (Memorial Day) each year on Mothers’ Day at Gum Springs. In olden days, the week before Mothers’ Day, community folk would clean the cemetery so graves would look nice for flower decorations on Sunday. On that Sunday, folk recalled old memories, enjoyed good preaching, joyful singing, and “dinner on the ground” after morning service. In truth, this event was a community reunion.

All day singings and singing schools occurred at Gum Springs Baptist and at Zion Hill Methodist. Margaret recalled them, saying, “They had Sacred Harp singing at Gum Springs. And they had special people come who taught us.” They called those events “singing schools.” Sacred Harp singing had no musical instruments, for the voice was the “sacred harp.”

County newspapers announced these singing Sundays, as in this September 28, 1922, issue of the Southern Aegis “Slasham News” column: “There will be a singing next Sunday at Zion Hill. Everyone come and bring your books.” Sacred Harp singers used special books which used fa sol la musical notations.

All Day Singings was another type musical event. They were also announced in the Southern Aegis, as in this October 17, 1917 issue. “All Day Singing at Gum Springs. Joe Baswell will sing at Gum Springs the third Sunday in this month, beginning about nine o’clock a.m. and sing all day. Everybody have [sic] an invitation to go and especially the singers, and still more especially those who will carry DINNER out for we may go, and if we do, it will take a lot of it, you bet.” You can’t have an “All Day Singing” without “Dinner on the Ground.” These were social as well as spiritual events.

Bo Davis, a 5th generation Davis living on the Slasham Valley Davis Farm, recounted interesting information in a recent interview.

The original Davis house burned and Bo’s great granddad, James Davis, rebuilt it. It still stands today on Davis Drive. “My Granddaddy, Robert Ely Davis, was born in 1878,” Bo said, “and the house burnt when he was two weeks old. His sister grabbed him up, pillow, mattress, and all, and carried him to the smokehouse.” Later, when the excitement of the fire came to an end, Jim asked, “Where’s the baby?” “He’s out there in the smokehouse,” they told him. And there they found him, sound asleep.

From the burned home, “They saved some of the sills and used them when they rebuilt the house,” Bo told the interviewer. “In that old house—my granddaddy’s house—the lumber on the walls are boards 25 inches wide. That lumber was sawed in 1878 when they built the house. They had a sawmill, and they sawed the planks and built the house back around the chimney of the old house.”

 Bo was born in this house on December 21, 1943, and the valley was blanketed in ten inches of snow.

After Zion Hill Methodist Church burned, the Methodist Conference decided not to rebuild and all that remained was the cemetery. However, Bo remembered two preachers who came and held revivals on Zion Hill property.

One evangelist held services under a “brush arbor.”  An online article, “The history of Brush Arbors,” gives this description: “Rural folk built a brush arbor by putting poles in the ground for the sides and then poles across these uprights. For the roof covering, they cut bushes and branches and laid them across the roof poles for a covering.”

Bo recalled that a “Rev. A. E. Jones would come from Gadsden and hold a week or two brush arbor revival on Zion Hill. He’d come down to my grandmother and get permission to run power lines down to my grandaddy’s house so they could have lights at night.”

“There was another preacher who ran a tent revival,” Bo recollected. “I think his last name was Bowlen who lived down around Margaret. He had tent revivals there back in the ‘50s.”

Slasham Valley has been a place called home for almost 200 years now. Settled year-by-year by families relocating from other states, it became a sweeping valley of farms and homes, schools and churches, and cemeteries, for with living comes dying. Folk who live, or have lived, in the valley speak of it with affection and love, and for all of those who have called it home, the lyrics of a song as old as Slasham hums in their hearts:

Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Home, home sweet home

There’s no place like home.

Dr. William Dempsey Partlow

Ashville doctor leader in state mental health care

Story by Robert Debter
Submitted Photos

artlow would become a leader in mental health care, making an impact across Alabama and be instrumental in service to those with intellectual disabilities with a facility named for him. 

Long before there was an Alabama Department of Mental Health, Partlow Developmental Center was established in 1923 to allow individuals with intellectual disabilities to receive treatment in a state facility. It was located in Tuscaloosa, two miles from Bryce Hospital, and was the only one of its kind in the state until 1970.

Partlow was born on Feb. 4, 1877, in Ashville to David Alonzo and Modena Catherine (Beason) Partlow, who were married in St. Clair County on Sept. 13, 1866.

His grandfather, Dempsey Partlow, came from South Carolina to St. Clair County and was married on Feb. 26, 1839, to Mary Montgomery.

Through his mother, Dr. Partlow is the second great grandson of Edward Beason, a captain in the American Revolution and great grandson of Curtis Grubb Beason, who built the Beason House and the Teague Hotel.

David and Modena started their life together with very little, and they struggled for the first years of their marriage. But love, self-sacrifice and courage led David to open one of the first steam sawmills in northern Alabama.

David and Modena’s love story made a deep impression on their nine children, especially William. He perceived well the limitations of his family’s finances, but this only served to stimulate his determination. Educated with mother’s sound principles and encouraged by her love and devotion, he started making his own way at the age of 16. Deciding early on to pursue a career in medicine, he deprived himself of the usual teenage life and devoted his time to studying.

William graduated from St. Clair College, which became Ashville High School, in 1897. After graduation, he took the position of assistant to the principal at the college and used his earnings to finance his continuing education in the medical field. He studied at the State Normal School at Florence and in 1898, entered the School of Medicine of the University of Alabama at Mobile. On April 3, 1901, William graduated as valedictorian in his class and shortly after, became an intern at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa.

Almost a year later, the young doctor accepted an appointment as a medical officer for the marine quarantine service in Mobile Bay. His chief duties were to visit the ports of Central America, study Yellow Fever and recommend methods of safeguarding Mobile’s port against the disease.

In October 1902, Dr. Partlow rejoined the staff of Bryce Hospital and ever since was associated with Alabama State Hospitals. Upon his return to Bryce, he served as Assistant Physician and devoted his time equally to Male and Female Wards. In 1908, Dr. Partlow was promoted to assistant superintendent of the Alabama State Hospitals and 11 years later was elected superintendent by the board of trustees of the various hospitals.

Bryce Hospital

In 1923, Dr. Partlow was honored for “his advocacy of the establishment of such a sorely needed institution, and his persistent efforts, which brought into being” the Partlow State School for Mental Deficients.

Dr. Partlow never ceased in his study of the care of his patients and was highly regarded among American psychiatrists. In 1922, his alma mater, the University of Alabama, bestowed him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

He was greatly noted in his lifetime for his intelligence and the humane care he showed. During World War I, Partlow was chairman of the Medical Advisory Board and since 1919, was a member of the State Board of Health. In his WWI Draft Card, Dr. Partlow is described as tall with a medium build, brown hair and blue eyes.

On April 26, 1905, he married Margaret Nixon in Jefferson County, Alabama. They would have 48 years and five children together. Mrs. Partlow was noted as being an inspiring and devoted wife and lady.

Throughout the 16-year period of 1919 – 1935, funding for mental health was not appropriated by the Legislature and through effective management of his administration, Dr. Partlow was able to keep the institution on self-sustaining basis. During this time, his effectiveness led the hospital to raising almost $2 million for modernization and expansion.

Partlow also championed a medical college in Birmingham and was often spoken of and seen as the father of the college. 

The doctor passed away at the age of 76 at his home in Tuscaloosa on July 7, 1953, and was interred two days later at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park Cemetery. Margaret was reunited with him three years later on Dec. 14, 1956.

On Oct. 29, 1941, Dr. Partlow was honored in a ceremony at the Bryce Hospital Assembly Hall directed by the Board of Trustees of the Alabama State Hospitals. Dr. George Denny praised Partlow as a great man and credited his qualities of “rare executive ability, iron will, rugged determination, intellectual and moral courage and common sense.”

He also observed Dr. Partlow’s “human sympathy, human modesty, and sense of humor blending with a rich measure of patience.” Dr. Denny closed saying, “… Dr. Partlow has set a standard of public service in Alabama that merits the accolade of universal acclaim and appreciation … For he is indeed one of the select number of Alabama’s ‘tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the clouds, in public duty and private thinking.’”

Ashville centennial

As city celebrates 200 years, a look back a century ago

Story by Robert Debter
Submitted Photos

On the heels of observing the bicentennial of Ashville, memories and remembrances of the centennial celebration, April 26, 1923, emerge.

The event was conceived as a tribute to the soldiers of St. Clair County, both living and deceased, who had fought in the War Between the States, also known as the American Civil War. The event was spearheaded by Ashville Chapter 1488 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and great care was given over to the preparation of the event, which would culminate in the unveiling of a marvelous marble statue, procured from the McNeel Company in Georgia at the cost of almost $2,500.

In the Feb. 23 edition of the Southern Aegis, owner B.B. Cather, vowed “… to do all it can to help the U.D.C. women pay for their monument and at once wishes to state that any subscriber who loves this paper and wants to help these women can settle with them court week. One half of every dollar paid to them on subscription, new or old for the Southern Aegis, in the next 30 days will be given to this organization or the Monument fund.”

The March 29th edition printed the following notice:

Unveiling Confederate Monument

to St. Clair County Heroes

celebrating Ashville Centennial, April 26th

Public Cordially Invited

On the historic spot in Ashville where 62 years ago, the flower of St. Clair’s young manhood, marched forth to defend their homes and the sacred causes of the Confederacy, the Daughters of the Confederacy have erected a memorial to their loyalty, courage, and devotion.

They have selected April 26th, (Memorial Day), for the day of unveiling.

Ashville St. Clair Courthouse

Few towns can boast of 100 years of existence, such is Ashville’s Birthday. The Daughters have been asked by prominent and former citizens of Ashville to include a centennial program in the day’s celebration, which they are glad to help plan.

A parade headed by a Brass Band, composed of school children, Daughters, Veterans, and floats representing each business in town will take place in the morning, following this will be a Centennial program at which time, Hon. James A. Embry, a lifelong Ashvillian will preside.

The principal address will be delivered by Hon. O.R. Hood of Gadsden, a former son of Ashville.

The unveiling program will be held in the afternoon, at which time, Mrs. W.A. Beason, President of the Ashville Chapter U.D.C. and General Chairman of the day’s festivities will preside.

Principal address of the unveiling will be delivered by Mrs. E.L. Huey of Bessemer, State President U.D.C., gifted and beloved Alabamian.

The big event

Alongside the unveiling and celebrations, a grand homecoming was planned. Chairman Lillie (Phillips) Beason, wife of Dr W.A. Beason, and her publicity committee set to work and issued more than 500 invitations to reach veterans and their families, originally from Ashville, who had since relocated to other parts of Alabama and the country.

John Washington Inzer

On March 5, the Aegis reported, “The Monument Committee who has charge of the day’s program are to be congratulated upon securing Col. Oliver R. Hood of Gadsden, a former son of Ashville, of whom we are justly proud to deliver the Centennial address. Hon. James A. Embry, one of Ashville’s most brilliant and prominent attorneys, whose life has been spent in this peaceful city, has accepted the committee’s invitation to preside.”

As the day approached everyone was encouraged to “… greet every visitor with a smile and a welcome – leave that frown off your face for Ten days and be what God intended you to be, a booster for the Home Comers.”

Undoubtedly on that April morning the old veterans, such as Judge John W. Inzer of Ashville and John Washington Laster Jr., of Springville, recalled their days of service and those whom they marched and fought alongside, saw torn by war and perish from cannon, rifle and saber, and those they suffered with in prisoner of war camps in Illinois and Ohio.

To a crowd of over 2,000, the monument was unveiled by Misses Mattie Lou Teague and Sally V. Inzer. It was reported that the proceedings “… will be long remembered by every person who attended. Ashville was beautifully bedecked with flags and bunting.”

As for the veterans, they “… were treated royally and they seem to have appreciated to the fullest extent all that was done in honor of their dead comrades.”

Remembering the words of General Douglas MacArthur in his farewell address to the cadets as West Point in 1962, “… [T]he soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”

Ashville, Alabama

A time to celebrate 200 years of history

Story by Robert Debter
Photos by Becky Staples
Submitted Photos

Hometown parade a big draw for event

It is 1822 in Alabama: statehood is still a recent memory – achieved in 1819 following two years under a territorial government after separating from the State of Mississippi. There are 32 counties, the state capital is located in Cahaba, near Selma, Israel Pickens is the newly elected governor, and the population is over 125,000.

These were the days when great men and leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, still walked and wrote, and those who would become great leaders and better men, like John C. Calhoun, learned from them.

In St. Clair County, established in 1818, many of the distinguished and proud names, their descendants still living here, have created new lives and started families in this virgin land, hewn from the wilderness by the hands of heroes.

The Alabama Fever Land Rush and the War of 1812 had brought them here. From Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia they came: Ash, Battles, Beason, Chandler, Cobb, Cox, Cunningham, Green, Hodges, Jones, Looney, Newton, Phillips, Thomason, Yarbrough and more.

These families and others settled in and around the center of the young county, which was known then as “St. Clairsville.”

On Nov. 28, 1822, this thriving town was incorporated, and on Dec. 12, it was made the county seat. Shortly after these events, the name was changed to “Ashville” in honor of John Ash, a pioneer, early settler, and leader who became St. Clair County’s first elected judge and would later serve in the state legislature.

Celebrating 200 years

These stories of struggle and sacrifice, journeys and new life, muskets and covered wagons, and the triumphs of resting one’s boots and putting down roots in a fresh, new God-given land, were celebrated by citizens of Ashville, descendants and friends from near and far on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in an impressive bicentennial event.

Great care in preparation was evident. Ashville Mayor Derrick Mostella took charge and established a bicentennial committee, co-chaired by Ashville City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tempore Sue Price and Becky Staples.

Working with Ashville City Clerk Chrystal St. John, they made sure the day of celebration would be nothing short of the honor deserved by those who paved this path 200 years ago. Joining them were members of the Bicentennial Committee: Robin Bowlin, Rena Brown, Jeanna Gossett, Susan Kell, Billy Price, Janice Price, Nancy Sansing, Ricky Saruse, Chad and Esther Smith, Rick and Liz Sorrell, Dr. Jay Stewart, Renna Turner, Denise Williams and Nick Wilson.

Other events became part of the celebration. In the weeks leading up to the day, a 5-K run was held, and Ashville High School seniors Joe Stevens and Rachel St. John earned the titles of “Mr. and Miss Ashville Bicentennial,” awarded to them by the Bicentennial Committee for winning the high school essay contest.  

The events of the city’s celebration began at ten o’clock on the steps of the oldest working courthouse in the state of Alabama. Mostella welcomed the crowd by thanking everyone for coming out to the “greatest city in the greatest county in the greatest state.” William “Bill” Watkins, a naval veteran who served during the Korean War and is commander of St. Clair SCV Camp 308, who led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Newly elected St. Clair County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon offered prayer, followed by commencement speech by director of the Ashville Museum & Archives, who began by asking all veterans from all branches of the U.S. Military to be recognized.

Guest of honor and grand marshal James Spann

A concise history of the founding and naming of Ashville followed with a recognition of several other historic and noteworthy family names: Ashcraft, Bothwell, Box, Byers, Cason, Crow, Hood, Inzer, Montgomery, Nunnally, Partlow, Robinson, Sheffield, Teague and dozens more.

“Ashville is the type of town that Americans treasure,” he quoted from author, historian and leader Mattie Lou (Teague) Crow. “Our old homes are beautifully kept. The courthouse, built in 1844 to replace the original log building, serves well the people of St. Clair County. The natural beauty of the location of our churches and other old buildings that here for a century give the town the looks of a safe place to live, a place where people share in meaningful work and play.”

Others joined the celebration with performances by saxophonist Kevin Moore playing the Star Spangled Banner, and Chris Cash singing America the Beautiful.

Bunting adorned buildings and streets throughout the city. Patrons toured its three museums: the Ashville Museum & Archives, the John W. Inzer Museum and the Historic Ashville Masonic Lodge and Mattie Lou Teague (Crow) Museum. Reenactors gathered between the Inzer Museum and the Historic Masonic Lodge, joined by a historic fife and drum band from Rome, Georgia.

The county seat’s historic courthouse square was alive with activity, from hand forged knives display to face painting for the children to special offerings by the St. Clair Historical Society, Springville VFW Post 3229, Ashville Masonic Lodge 186, Ashville High School and Pine Forest Baptist Church.

Carriage rides and a petting zoo highlighted the day’s events as did live music performed by the Martini Shakers, and Berritt Hayne, a native of St. Clair County who contended as a finalist on The Voice.

Guest of honor and grand marshal for a grand parade had historic ties himself. James Spann, the noted broadcast meteorologist, is a grandson of former St. Clair County political leader and businessman, Judge Curtis Adkins. His uncle, Joe Adkins, followed his father into the banking world and also served as mayor of Ashville.