History of Round Prairie Christian Church

    This is a followup blog to our previous posting at: https://bunkerhillhistory.blogspot.com/2022/02/history-of-round-prairie-church.html

    The Round Prairie Christian Church organized July 1, 1845 by appointing John P. Bayless and Samuel Wood to the office of Eldership.  Hiram Daughterty [Sic], and John Nesbit were appointed as Deacons at the same time.  About 1849, John W. Keller was added to the list of Elders and Johnson McGilvary and W.S. Spruill were ordained Elders.  Levi Miller and William Nesbit were ordained as Deacons at the same time.

    Johnson McGilvary went off to the Army and died.  In 1874, Peter C. Randle and Albert Fairchild were added to the Eldership and Benjamin Mize and Wm. Soapes to the deaconship.

    Elder Fairchild moved his membership and died  March 12, 1881.  Scott Mize was added to the list of Deacons by the church and Sanford Mize, at the same time, was appointed the same time as an assistant clerk for the church at Round Prairie.  The church continued to add persons to the roll until the membership reached 376.  The church was discontinued about 1918.  --Submitted by Helen Mize.

From Bunker Hill Revisited, Vol. 6, 1920-1940 by Carl Stanton

    March 25, 1932: the site of Round Prairie Christian Church located about 5 or 6 miles Southeast of the City was recently sold and the proceeds distributed to the National City Church at Washington, D.C., the neighboring Christian churches, and to missionaries.  

    While a church has passed, its memory and influence still live.  This congregations was organized on July 31, 1845. Its first officers were John P. Bayless, Samuel Wood, elders, Hiram Daugherty and Jon Nesbit, deacons.  Other office bearers remembered are John Keller, 1849; John McGilvery, W.P. Spruill, 1854; Peter Randle, Albert Fairchild, Benjamin Mize, William Soapes, 1874;  Scott Mize, deacon, 1881; Sanford Mize, clerk.  Trustees who served from 1912 to the date propery was disposed of are: R.N. Nesbit, J.R. Coatney and James Richards.  Early members still living are Mrs. C.A. Craw, Wichita, Kans. 95 years, and Mrs. Margaret Mize Teeters, Kansas City, Mo., age 86.  W.H. Groner, one of the ministers long since dead, who served for 37 years and baptized upward of 400 of its members, is lovingly remembered.

...Read more about this and other Bunker Hill, IL historical stories at https://bunkerhillhistory.org/

--Cite this story: The Bunker Hill IL Historical Society. "A Look Back in Bunker Hill History." Bunker Hill Gazette-News, April 7, 2022, February 10, 2022.  

Stanton, Carl L. . "Bunker Hill News 1932." In Bunker Hill Revisited, Volume Six, 1920-1940, p. 120. Bunker Hill: Bunker Hill Publications, 2006. Provided by the Bunker Hill Historical Society.

Redford, Carol, and Betty Triplett. "Bunker Hill History." In Reflections: A History of the Bunker Hill-Woodburn Area, p. 123. Bunker Hill: Bunker Hill Publications, 1993. Provided by the Bunker Hill Historical Society.