A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Clayton Baptist Church

CLAYTON W.Va. (Hinton News) - This week's piece is about the early history of the Clayton Baptist Church in Clayton, West Virginia. One of the first permanent settlers in this region was the Graham family in 1813. A plot of land was given by the Grahams to be used for a church.

It was deeded to a Board of Trustees: Henry Still, John R. Ballangee, David Graham, Larry Graham and Samuel Ayers on February 21, 1851. This plot was used as a cemetery for the community and they erected a log cabin on it that became known as the “Graham Meeting House” to hold church services and other functions in the small town of Clayton.

It was utilized by the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians who resided in the area. School was also conducted in the meeting house until it was destroyed by fire in 1882. The origins of the Clayton Baptist Church date back to 1781 when members of the Old Greenbrier Baptist church and the man for whom Alderson, West Virginia is named, John Alderson reached out to the adjacent communities that surrounded Alderson to get the 12 people that made up the charter roster of the church.

When this church was first started it was referred to as the Baptist Mountain Grove Meeting House. As the population of this area grew the one-room Bush school was built to educate the children. In this same building the “Baptist Church” was organized that preceded the formal founding of the “Clayton Baptist Church”. This church was eventually called “The Hope Baptist Church.” The black and white photo of the one-room school is the only photo of the Bush School I have ever run across in all of my years of collecting local history.

In 1902 the community came together with C.H. Graham conducting the meeting and it was decided to construct a Baptist church. This is what would become the “Clayton Baptist Church.” Money was started to be raised for the construction and work soon commenced. Although work was stalled for various reasons over the years, the community never lost faith, and met on August 8, 1908, to formally dedicate the “Clayton Community Church”.

Work again fell to the wayside but was completed and opened its doors for service on September 16, 1909. The church was dedicated as “debt free.” This was the first time that the new bell for the church that had been donated by Kyle Ballangee rang and the sound echoed through the valley.

Central Baptist in the town of Hinton, West Virginia gifted the newly formed church a chandelier of oil lamps to be used for evening and nighttime services. Central Baptist also donated the seating that completed the church and allowed them to conduct regular services. I have yet to find an early photo of this church. I am including one of how it looks today that was provided to me by my friend and fellow historian of this area Karen Richmond Wygle.

My family has ties to this story just like many of my others. My grandfather David Eugene Jones became a faithful member after marrying my grandmother Catherine in 1952. They moved to Clayton where he farmed while starting his career in the maintenance department of the Alderson Federal Prison.

Grandpa became the Sunday School Superintendent as can be seen in this original Fiftieth Anniversary of Clayton Baptist Church pamphlet dated August 8-9, 1958. After purchasing their farm and moving to Pence Springs in 1962 he transferred his membership to Pence Springs Community Church where he later became a deacon of the church and one of the Sunday School teachers. Other prominent family names of the community are listed such as Hedrick and Ballangee. My mother's father Bernard Thompson was a faithful member of the Clayton Baptist Church until he passed away in 2018.

If you have a story from the area's history to share, send an email to news@hintonnews.com.

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