tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post5597994480485004552..comments2024-03-21T07:58:02.168-05:00Comments on Amateur Mormon Historian: Speedwell ChapelBrucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01543519825711760773noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post-63030708284458856662019-10-08T17:30:20.407-05:002019-10-08T17:30:20.407-05:00I have a photo of a cottage meeting of the early S...I have a photo of a cottage meeting of the early Speedwell branch that I would like to share with you... held in 1956 at the home of David Isaac Smith, and wife Ada. Their home was at the foot of the hill below the chapel that was to be built. I know the photo was 1956 with my mother, Ruby Dean Hopper Smith in the left rear side, holding my sister, Joan Smith, born January 1956. Elders Roger Doxey and Bert Sommer are Front and Center. Most all of these in the picture are Smiths. The lady to the far left is my Great Aunty, Maggie Bell VanBebber Smith, born in 1890. The older lady to right and rear is her youngest sister, Cora Ann VanBebber Smith, born in 1901. Elder Roger Doxey baptized Cora and Ruby both the same day, on Aug 26, 1956 in the Davis Creek, at Speedwell, TN. The man beside my mother is David Smith, double first cousin to my dad, and a son of Maggie Bell VanBebber Smith. Send me your email and I will send to you. SteveSmith41@yahoo.com<br /><br /><br />Steve Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07626803924872156975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post-24084954535552769662017-07-12T10:04:09.777-05:002017-07-12T10:04:09.777-05:00Thanks for your additions Steve. It is hard to kno...Thanks for your additions Steve. It is hard to know which date (1954 vs 1957) was right when your only sources are secondary. It shows up as 1954 in 9 out of 10 sources, but they all quote each other. Volume does not make a point more correct. But based on your experience I'll lend more weight to the 1957 date.Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543519825711760773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post-75572711559798201492017-07-11T20:03:15.294-05:002017-07-11T20:03:15.294-05:00Horace Tilman Smith along with several other Smith...Horace Tilman Smith along with several other Smith's and Shipley's were baptized in 1938. A renewed drive to build the Speedwell Branch appears to have been in 1956 when Elders Doxey and Summers were in the area and baptized my grandmother, Cora Smith, and my mother, Ruby Smith. I would have to say the year the chapel was built was 1957, from the stories I was told growing up in the church there. When I was baptized in 1971, the push began to merge Speedwell and Lafollette Branches together and to meet at Lafollette. The goal was to build a church in Lafollette, then later in Speedwell.<br />Steve Smith<br />Harrogate, TN. <br />Steve Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07626803924872156975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post-88363998822215909762017-07-07T22:37:12.722-05:002017-07-07T22:37:12.722-05:00Thanks for taking a moment to comment.
That is an...Thanks for taking a moment to comment.<br /><br />That is an awesome story. The branch president would have been F. Eugene Muggridge. I don't know him personally, but he helped write the one of the sources I am working from. Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543519825711760773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645379631135547997.post-27418286204660239952017-07-07T22:09:33.182-05:002017-07-07T22:09:33.182-05:00I served in the Kentucky-Tennessee mission from 19...I served in the Kentucky-Tennessee mission from 1971 to 1973, and had the privilege of reopening the Lafollette branch as my first senior companion calling 3 months after I arrived in the mission field. The newly called branch president was from Oak Ridge, and he picked us up early that first Sunday and took us to the house which had been purchased to serve as the Lafollete/Speedwell branch church. We arrived early and found a message which had been tacked to the front door, which read "we don't want you Mormons in our town, and if you don't leave, we will burn down your church and kill your missionaries". It was signed "Community for Christ". As far as I know, no one ever found out about the note other than the BP and us. As for me, I was kind of excited. Too young and dumb to be overly scared, I was pumped at being a martyr for the Kingdom.<br /><br />I loved my time there. Later, when I returned to Utah, I received an announcement that they were dedicating a new chapel there. Two years later, I returned to Tennessee to do my graduate work at the University of Tennessee and was invited to speak at one of their sacrament meetings. It was nice to be able to take my wife to the area and become reacquainted with the wonderful members there. Larry Chandlernoreply@blogger.com