New Hope Primitive Baptist Church Richmond Township

New Hope Primitive Baptist Church / North Bluffton United Baptist Church / New Hope United Baptist Church / New Hope Regular Baptist Church By Pauline Brown 1974 Located five miles southwest of Richmond, MO, on the hill road to Orrick, MO. New Hope Church was organized in 1827, as North Bluffton United Baptist Church at or near Bluffton, first county seat of Ray County. Original members were James Holman, Nathan Smith, Joseph Ballew, John Bateman, and Aaron Linville. Elder William Turnage was the first pastor. In 1829 they reported 48 members. The first building was early pioneer and was built soon after organization. In 1846 the church was moved to higher ground, thought to be the south side of the ridge on which the present New Hope Church is located. There must have been a cemetery started as farmers report having plowed up stones with inscriptions on them. This building must have been of logs and was probably on the land of Elder James Williams, father of Anna Eliza Williams who married William A. White. They are buried in the present New Hope Cemetery. The church changed its title from United to Regular in 1845 and later to Primitive Baptist. A building was built at the present location in 1872, frame, at a cost of $600.00 and was dedicated by Elder William T. Brown who is buried in the present cemetery. The present frame structure is probably the fourth building for this church. The land was deeded by the White and Williams families. The road formerly passed east of the cemetery and continued around the south side of the cemetery. It now runs west of the church building. The name was changed to New Hope in 1846 when the church was moved to higher ground. This is the second oldest congregation in Ray County, Old New Garden being the first. The burial place of Elder James Williams, Aaron Linville, and other pioneer members is unknown to me. They may have been buried in the cemetery plot by the second church site. In the present cemetery, Aaron Linville is represented by William J. Proffitt and Leah (Proffitt) Peck whose mother was Rebecca Linville, who married William Proffitt, son of John Proffitt, who settled in the Buffalo Settlement in 1816, the next year after the first settlement in Ray County. Aaron Linville who accompanied John Proffitt to Ray County from Campbell County, Tennessee, seems to be the father of Rebecca. The Brown came to Missouri in 1829 from Rutherford County, Tennessee. The Whites came to Ray County in 1837 from Amherst County, Virginia. The Crowley's came to Bluffton in 1817, having spent two years in Sugar Tree bottom, Carroll County, after leaving Campbell County, Tennessee. Stanton R. Lillard came to Ray County in 1856, having been born in Madison County, Virginia. Elder William Turnage's first son was born in Ray County in 1816. So these families buried in these three cemeteries have been long time residents of Ray County, Missouri. Their lives have intermingled; the early ones attended the same churches, sometimes having known each other before coming to Missouri. Their children have intermarried. These three cemeteries contain the grave sites of many of the pioneer residents of Ray County and their descendants. Information from Pauline Brown New Hope Primitive Baptist Cemetery

Back

Home