As a young girl, Sunday meant going to church at the Fork Ridge Christian Church, located on Fork Ridge Road in Marshall County, West Virginia. We lived on Fork Ridge about 8 miles from Moundsville, the church was about 1½ miles further at the intersection of Brushy Ridge and Fork Ridge.
According to a history of the church written by one of my aunts who is still living, "Beginning in 1896 the congregation met in the Terrill, Upper Bane and Harris schools for lack of a regular meeting place. In 1898 the present building was erected by contractor Morgan Hicks. The land was donated by John Pierce and is deeded Sept. 20, 1898. Stone for the foundation was taken from the Joseph Parks farm and the stonemason was David Briggs."
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| Fork Ridge Christian Church ~ 1938 |
This photo above, courtesy of C. P. Rulong, shows the Fork Ridge Christian Church in 1938. Above the door it reads: “Fork Ridge Christian Church, Built 1898.” Although it is hard to see, there is a small building at the left edge of the photo just behind the fence that was a coal shed.
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| Fork Ridge Christian Church |
The picture on the right shows the church after the vestibule was added. This photo, found on the Marshall County GenWeb site, was undated. This is what I remember the church looking like when I attended there as a child. I remember sitting on those steps in the summer for Christian Endeavor (CE) youth meetings.
Going back to the history written by my aunt … “Charter members included Mr. & Mrs. John Pierce, Mr. & Mrs. A. Muldrew, Mr. & Mrs. S. M. Stewart, Mr. & Mrs. Uriah Harris, Mr. & Mrs. O. H. Lydick, John Day, A. Lowe, Tom Richmond, Johnson family, and Cummins family among others.”
Uriah Harris is my 2nd great-grandfather; his wife Mary Ann was a Lydick. The Stewart's had a son, Orrin Homer Stewart, who married Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Harris, a granddaughter of Uriah & Mary Ann. Mary Bane Cummins married Oscar Leslie “Bones” Harris, a grandson of Uriah & Mary Ann.
My aunt also wrote that, “The church was closed in the mid 1920's and reopened in June of '29 or '30. Only Sunday School was held for 2 or 3 years. Rev. Howearth held a revival in 1932 when more than 40 people joined the church.” I found baptismal records for three ancestors that likely resulted from that revival:
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| Mrs. Dessie (Aston) Harris, my grandmother |
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| Lawrence Harris |
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| Opal (Stewart) Lautar |
Tomorrow in Part 2 of this series, I'll post a few more of these baptismal records, including my mother's, and talk a little more about the church.
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