History
CAMDEN METHODIST CHURCH
The history of the people of Camden called "Methodist" is an interesting and varied one. With Methodist circuit riders, horse-borne Presiding Elders who traveled from church to church and community to community, Methodism came to this part of the state in the early 1800s. Originally known as the Methodist Episcopal Church South, small churches began to spring up around Wilcox County and the town of Camden.
The first recorded meetings of what would become Methodism in Wilcox County were between 1816 and 1822 in the Rock West and Possum Bend area, in private residences (recorded as three miles west of Camden) and at the Grover-Campground where "meetings were held there with vast crowds at times, and with grand results" [History of Methodism in Alabama pg. 212]. In 1822, William Hobbs and Benjamin Dunn (along with several others) built "a very common pole house, about three miles west of where Camden is now situated, on a place where Mr. R.E. Dunn [now] lives, and called it Shady Grove Church" [Wilcox Progressive Era, April 24, 1889]. "About 1826 they built a very neat hewn log house about one mile further east, and still called it Shady Grove Church. About this time John Hillis was licensed as a local preacher, and for several years did faithful service for the church; ploughing and working in his farm during the week and preaching on Sundays." Shady Grove Church is considered the first formal Methodist church structure in Wilcox County. Shady Grove Church membership moved to Camden in 1850.
Originally known as the Cedar Creek Circuit, the Shady Grove Church, the Shelter Church, Oak Lawn Church (possibly built on the site of the 1822 pole house), Tait's Chapel, and Society Hill were all active homes of faithful Christians. Many of these churches were closed as populations moved around the county. By the time the Camden church was being established in the mid 1800s, many of these members came to be part of the Camden church. Early services were led by: Wm. Hobbs, Benjamin Dunn, John Hillis, Paul F. Stearns, Ebenezer Hearn, James Thompson (1832-33).
The Protestant Methodist Church was founded near the Camden cemetery (behind the current Camden Baptist Church, near the water tower) around 1836 [the deed was signed in November 1835, the church was built in 1836], and was then moved to its present site as the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844. The present property was bought by the Camden Methodist Church's trustees from Judge and Mrs. John Bridges. These trustees included Ebenezer Hearn, James Thompson, James Asbury Tait, Henry Compton, and William G. Gilmore. A wooden frame building was then constructed on the present site to house "religious services." The Camden Methodist Church's membership in 1863 was 76 souls (Alabama Conference Records).
The original structure was replaced in 1882 with a "more adequate structure" (J. E. Tate article, 1944) and this building is reputed to have been destroyed by fire and rebuilt with the brick structure which currently stands on the corner of Broad and Clifton Streets in 1917.
Rev. Tate records that the current building was severely damaged by fire in December 1926, but rebuilt to its original design plans. Fire scorched beams in the sanctuary floors can still be seen in the basement crawl space in the sanctuary. It's important to note that the beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary were installed at the church's centennial celebration in 1944. These windows honor many individuals, including Rev. Dannelly, a former pastor, and other individuals who have served Christ in our church.
In 1954, under the leadership of the Rev. A. B. Carlton, the Camden Methodist Church expanded its building to include a fine fellowship hall and classrooms for its members. As families in the church grew and spread out in the surrounding community, the church again saw a need to expand its facilities and began working prior to the year 2000 to again expand the church building.
With an active membership of 273 in the year 2000, under the leadership of Rev. Alan McBride the church appointed a building committee headed by Joe Little to design and undertake our newest fellowship hall and education facility. The adjoining property of a former motel was purchased to make room for the expansion. The motel building was razed but a building used as a restaurant was kept for a youth activities center. A house, used years before as a parsonage and in later years as educational space, was moved from the premises and the present fellowship hall and kitchen was torn down to make way for the new building. When construction was finished the church now enjoyed new education space, a much larger nursery, administrative offices, and a new and expanded fellowship hall. Bishop Larry Goodpaster consecrated this new facility to the service of Christ on September 30, 2001.
In 2006, the church undertook a renovation of the church sanctuary and took in additional space once used as classrooms to create a larger worship area without changing the existing exterior walls of the building.
With support from the entire Camden and Canton Bend Methodist community, a major restoration of the youth building began in 2020, under the creative leadership of church members Lynn Chapman and his daughter Tara Chapman Falkenberry, along with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. The first youth event was held in October 2021, and the building was officially dedicated as the Peyton Burford Youth Center on December 19, 2021.
After a long period of prayerful consideration and discernment, Camden and Canton Bend churches voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church in May 2023. In August 2023, Camden and Canton Bend Methodist Church joined the Global Methodist Church.
List of Ministers at Camden Methodist Church
1846 T.C.P Shellman
1847 John T. Roper & Aleck McBryde
1848-49 Anthony S. Dickinson
1850 John L Sander & L.M. Wilson
1851 John W. Ellis & W.B. Tipton
1852 L Wilson & Walt Harris
1853-54 (Records Lost)
1855 Thomas S. Abernathy
1856 W.S. Winfield
1857-58 Thomas W. Lane
1859 George W. Brown
1860 James W. Glenn
1861 A. Adams
1862-63 Anson West
1864-65 Stephen A. Pilley
1866-69 Millard Law
1869 *newspaper article states Neil Gillis appointed pastor - but not noted in church records
1870 A.M. Douglass
1871 B.P. Saffold
1872 I.E. Betts
1873 A.M. Jones
1874 George F. Ellis
1875 Wallace W. Graham
1876 E.W. Soloman
1877-79 R.J. Briggs
1880 W. A Rice
1881 J. M. Crews
1882 C. R. Williamson
1883-85 W. G. Issacs
1885-86 I. F. Betts
1886-88 H. D. Hill
1889 J. W. Shores
1890-91 Dr. W. D. Taylor
1892-95 Robert. H. Lewis
1896-99 C. P. Atkinson
1900-02 Robert. C. Williams
1903-05 George. K. Williams
1906 John A. Thompson
1907-08 J. P. Sanders
1909 J. H. James (one record says Jones)
1910 S. G. Boyd
1911-13 S. U. Turnipseed
1913-15 P. S. Hudson
1915-17 O. S. Welch
1917-19 M. D. Taylor
1919-21 H. T. Strout
1921-22 J. L. Jones
1922-25 J. O. Wilson
1925-28 H. P. Childs
1928-30 A. L. Sellers
1930-31 Grant Gafford
1931-35 C. C. Wilkerson
1935-39 Samuel T. Trotter
1939-44 James E. Tate
1944-48 Thomas L. Hill
1948-51 Ovie W. Mathison
1951-55 U. L. Martin
1955-56 Henry Eddins
1956-57 A. B. Carlton
1957-62 Frank L. Scott
1962-65 Edward D. Henne
1965-69 Fred L. Davis
1969-74 Eugene Caddell
1974-76 Charles Corbitt
1976-79 John Whatley
1979-84 Herbert Hill
1984-89 Wesley H. Wachob
1989-91 James Love
1991-93 Ray Lane
1993-96 John Bonner
1996-97 Bobby Holladay
1997-02 Alan McBride
2002-06 Ronald Lee
2006-11 Edward Shirley
2011-13 Lowell Thomas
2013-22 Brian Dovey
2022-23 Jennifer Gregory
2023 - present Braxton Eldridge *September 1, 2023
CANTON BEND METHODIST CHURCH
The Church at Canton Bend was organized on December 12, 1897. Founding families include the Bryants, Marshs, Strothers, Smiths, Williams, Thompsons, Stoudenmiers, and Cooks. The church building was erected during the years 1912 and 1913. The site chosen for the building was near the location of an older church, the Cumberland Presbyterian of Canton, whose organization dated from the 1830s. The Presbyterian Church disbanded and its building was torn down.
On November 18, 1910, Mr. Percy Smith and Mr. Irvin Smith deeded land for the church building to the Camden Circuit Methodist Episcopal Church South of the Alabama Conference. This land adjoined the cemetery.
The list of church ministers shows C. P. Atkinson as the first minister of the church. As in the present, the minister of the Camden Methodist Church most often served the Canton Bend church as well. Exceptions found in church records are italicized below.
Pastors at Canton Bend:
1897-99 C. P. Atkinson
1900-02 Robert. C. Williams
1903-05 George. K. Williams
1906 John A. Thompson
1907-08 J. P. Sanders
1909 J. H. James
1910-11 S. G. Boyd
1912-13 S. U. Turnipseed
1913-15 P. S. Hudson
1914 J.G Jones
1915-17 T.Y. Abernathy
1917-18 H. T. Strout
1919-21 J. L. Jones
1922-23 J. O. Wilson
1924 B.E. Meigs
1925-28 H.P. Childs
1928-30 A. L. Sellers
1930-31 Grant Gafford
1931-35 C. C. Wilkerson
1935-39 Samuel T. Trotter
1939-44 James E. Tate
1944-48 Thomas L. Hill
1948-51 Ovie W. Mathison
1951-55 U. L. Martin
1955-56 Henry Eddins
1956-57 A. B. Carlton
1957-62 Frank L. Scott
1962-65 Edward D. Henne
1965-69 Fred L. Davis
1969-74 Eugene Caddell
1974-76 Charles Corbitt
1976-79 John Whatley
1979-84 Herbert Hill
1984-89 Wesley H. Wachob
1989-91 James Love
1991-93 Ray Lane
1993-96 John Bonner
1996-97 Bobby Holladay
1997-02 Alan McBride
2002-06 Ronald Lee
2006-11 Edward Shirley
2011-13 Lowell Thomas
2013-22 Brian Dovey
2022-23 Jennifer Gregory
2023 - present Braxton Eldridge *September 1, 2023
History revised March 1, 2026 by KLaw.
The history of the people of Camden called "Methodist" is an interesting and varied one. With Methodist circuit riders, horse-borne Presiding Elders who traveled from church to church and community to community, Methodism came to this part of the state in the early 1800s. Originally known as the Methodist Episcopal Church South, small churches began to spring up around Wilcox County and the town of Camden.
The first recorded meetings of what would become Methodism in Wilcox County were between 1816 and 1822 in the Rock West and Possum Bend area, in private residences (recorded as three miles west of Camden) and at the Grover-Campground where "meetings were held there with vast crowds at times, and with grand results" [History of Methodism in Alabama pg. 212]. In 1822, William Hobbs and Benjamin Dunn (along with several others) built "a very common pole house, about three miles west of where Camden is now situated, on a place where Mr. R.E. Dunn [now] lives, and called it Shady Grove Church" [Wilcox Progressive Era, April 24, 1889]. "About 1826 they built a very neat hewn log house about one mile further east, and still called it Shady Grove Church. About this time John Hillis was licensed as a local preacher, and for several years did faithful service for the church; ploughing and working in his farm during the week and preaching on Sundays." Shady Grove Church is considered the first formal Methodist church structure in Wilcox County. Shady Grove Church membership moved to Camden in 1850.
Originally known as the Cedar Creek Circuit, the Shady Grove Church, the Shelter Church, Oak Lawn Church (possibly built on the site of the 1822 pole house), Tait's Chapel, and Society Hill were all active homes of faithful Christians. Many of these churches were closed as populations moved around the county. By the time the Camden church was being established in the mid 1800s, many of these members came to be part of the Camden church. Early services were led by: Wm. Hobbs, Benjamin Dunn, John Hillis, Paul F. Stearns, Ebenezer Hearn, James Thompson (1832-33).
The Protestant Methodist Church was founded near the Camden cemetery (behind the current Camden Baptist Church, near the water tower) around 1836 [the deed was signed in November 1835, the church was built in 1836], and was then moved to its present site as the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844. The present property was bought by the Camden Methodist Church's trustees from Judge and Mrs. John Bridges. These trustees included Ebenezer Hearn, James Thompson, James Asbury Tait, Henry Compton, and William G. Gilmore. A wooden frame building was then constructed on the present site to house "religious services." The Camden Methodist Church's membership in 1863 was 76 souls (Alabama Conference Records).
The original structure was replaced in 1882 with a "more adequate structure" (J. E. Tate article, 1944) and this building is reputed to have been destroyed by fire and rebuilt with the brick structure which currently stands on the corner of Broad and Clifton Streets in 1917.
Rev. Tate records that the current building was severely damaged by fire in December 1926, but rebuilt to its original design plans. Fire scorched beams in the sanctuary floors can still be seen in the basement crawl space in the sanctuary. It's important to note that the beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary were installed at the church's centennial celebration in 1944. These windows honor many individuals, including Rev. Dannelly, a former pastor, and other individuals who have served Christ in our church.
In 1954, under the leadership of the Rev. A. B. Carlton, the Camden Methodist Church expanded its building to include a fine fellowship hall and classrooms for its members. As families in the church grew and spread out in the surrounding community, the church again saw a need to expand its facilities and began working prior to the year 2000 to again expand the church building.
With an active membership of 273 in the year 2000, under the leadership of Rev. Alan McBride the church appointed a building committee headed by Joe Little to design and undertake our newest fellowship hall and education facility. The adjoining property of a former motel was purchased to make room for the expansion. The motel building was razed but a building used as a restaurant was kept for a youth activities center. A house, used years before as a parsonage and in later years as educational space, was moved from the premises and the present fellowship hall and kitchen was torn down to make way for the new building. When construction was finished the church now enjoyed new education space, a much larger nursery, administrative offices, and a new and expanded fellowship hall. Bishop Larry Goodpaster consecrated this new facility to the service of Christ on September 30, 2001.
In 2006, the church undertook a renovation of the church sanctuary and took in additional space once used as classrooms to create a larger worship area without changing the existing exterior walls of the building.
With support from the entire Camden and Canton Bend Methodist community, a major restoration of the youth building began in 2020, under the creative leadership of church members Lynn Chapman and his daughter Tara Chapman Falkenberry, along with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. The first youth event was held in October 2021, and the building was officially dedicated as the Peyton Burford Youth Center on December 19, 2021.
After a long period of prayerful consideration and discernment, Camden and Canton Bend churches voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church in May 2023. In August 2023, Camden and Canton Bend Methodist Church joined the Global Methodist Church.
List of Ministers at Camden Methodist Church
1846 T.C.P Shellman
1847 John T. Roper & Aleck McBryde
1848-49 Anthony S. Dickinson
1850 John L Sander & L.M. Wilson
1851 John W. Ellis & W.B. Tipton
1852 L Wilson & Walt Harris
1853-54 (Records Lost)
1855 Thomas S. Abernathy
1856 W.S. Winfield
1857-58 Thomas W. Lane
1859 George W. Brown
1860 James W. Glenn
1861 A. Adams
1862-63 Anson West
1864-65 Stephen A. Pilley
1866-69 Millard Law
1869 *newspaper article states Neil Gillis appointed pastor - but not noted in church records
1870 A.M. Douglass
1871 B.P. Saffold
1872 I.E. Betts
1873 A.M. Jones
1874 George F. Ellis
1875 Wallace W. Graham
1876 E.W. Soloman
1877-79 R.J. Briggs
1880 W. A Rice
1881 J. M. Crews
1882 C. R. Williamson
1883-85 W. G. Issacs
1885-86 I. F. Betts
1886-88 H. D. Hill
1889 J. W. Shores
1890-91 Dr. W. D. Taylor
1892-95 Robert. H. Lewis
1896-99 C. P. Atkinson
1900-02 Robert. C. Williams
1903-05 George. K. Williams
1906 John A. Thompson
1907-08 J. P. Sanders
1909 J. H. James (one record says Jones)
1910 S. G. Boyd
1911-13 S. U. Turnipseed
1913-15 P. S. Hudson
1915-17 O. S. Welch
1917-19 M. D. Taylor
1919-21 H. T. Strout
1921-22 J. L. Jones
1922-25 J. O. Wilson
1925-28 H. P. Childs
1928-30 A. L. Sellers
1930-31 Grant Gafford
1931-35 C. C. Wilkerson
1935-39 Samuel T. Trotter
1939-44 James E. Tate
1944-48 Thomas L. Hill
1948-51 Ovie W. Mathison
1951-55 U. L. Martin
1955-56 Henry Eddins
1956-57 A. B. Carlton
1957-62 Frank L. Scott
1962-65 Edward D. Henne
1965-69 Fred L. Davis
1969-74 Eugene Caddell
1974-76 Charles Corbitt
1976-79 John Whatley
1979-84 Herbert Hill
1984-89 Wesley H. Wachob
1989-91 James Love
1991-93 Ray Lane
1993-96 John Bonner
1996-97 Bobby Holladay
1997-02 Alan McBride
2002-06 Ronald Lee
2006-11 Edward Shirley
2011-13 Lowell Thomas
2013-22 Brian Dovey
2022-23 Jennifer Gregory
2023 - present Braxton Eldridge *September 1, 2023
CANTON BEND METHODIST CHURCH
The Church at Canton Bend was organized on December 12, 1897. Founding families include the Bryants, Marshs, Strothers, Smiths, Williams, Thompsons, Stoudenmiers, and Cooks. The church building was erected during the years 1912 and 1913. The site chosen for the building was near the location of an older church, the Cumberland Presbyterian of Canton, whose organization dated from the 1830s. The Presbyterian Church disbanded and its building was torn down.
On November 18, 1910, Mr. Percy Smith and Mr. Irvin Smith deeded land for the church building to the Camden Circuit Methodist Episcopal Church South of the Alabama Conference. This land adjoined the cemetery.
The list of church ministers shows C. P. Atkinson as the first minister of the church. As in the present, the minister of the Camden Methodist Church most often served the Canton Bend church as well. Exceptions found in church records are italicized below.
Pastors at Canton Bend:
1897-99 C. P. Atkinson
1900-02 Robert. C. Williams
1903-05 George. K. Williams
1906 John A. Thompson
1907-08 J. P. Sanders
1909 J. H. James
1910-11 S. G. Boyd
1912-13 S. U. Turnipseed
1913-15 P. S. Hudson
1914 J.G Jones
1915-17 T.Y. Abernathy
1917-18 H. T. Strout
1919-21 J. L. Jones
1922-23 J. O. Wilson
1924 B.E. Meigs
1925-28 H.P. Childs
1928-30 A. L. Sellers
1930-31 Grant Gafford
1931-35 C. C. Wilkerson
1935-39 Samuel T. Trotter
1939-44 James E. Tate
1944-48 Thomas L. Hill
1948-51 Ovie W. Mathison
1951-55 U. L. Martin
1955-56 Henry Eddins
1956-57 A. B. Carlton
1957-62 Frank L. Scott
1962-65 Edward D. Henne
1965-69 Fred L. Davis
1969-74 Eugene Caddell
1974-76 Charles Corbitt
1976-79 John Whatley
1979-84 Herbert Hill
1984-89 Wesley H. Wachob
1989-91 James Love
1991-93 Ray Lane
1993-96 John Bonner
1996-97 Bobby Holladay
1997-02 Alan McBride
2002-06 Ronald Lee
2006-11 Edward Shirley
2011-13 Lowell Thomas
2013-22 Brian Dovey
2022-23 Jennifer Gregory
2023 - present Braxton Eldridge *September 1, 2023
History revised March 1, 2026 by KLaw.