Black Oak Community
Celebrates 150 Years

 

by: Bobby McDonald

Travel down Hwy 69, south of Como, to a little knoll surrounded by giant Black Oak trees and a historic white, frame church building, and you're at the heart and center of the Black Oak Community. Sunday, May 28th, marked the 150th Anniversary and Memorial Day Service of the small community, in southern Hopkins County.

The Community was founded on the "Caddo Trace" and once boasted a Post Office, Foster's General Store, a schoolhouse, cotton gin, syrup mill, and sawmill, to name only a few of the businesses. First white settler in the community is credited to David Attaway and soon the Earharts, Fosters, Abels, Bullocks, Sheltons, Lovings, Fowlers, and Jones joined him in making their homes on the banks of Caney Creek.

Hardy pioneers carved farms from the dense forests that surrounded the area and conducted "log rollings," to build their homes and barns, while the womenfolk quilted, canned, and harvested a plentiful supply from the family gardens. Life was tough, but the hardy families persevered and built a community based on the principals of faith, as they formed a church to be the center of life in the small community. The first church was made of logs, and the current building was built in 1909.

 

The Black Oak Baptist Church, at 150 years old, has been called a variety of names including, The Baptist of Christ Church, The Black Oak Church of Christ, The Black Oak Missionary Baptist Church, and finally the current Black Oak Baptist Church. On May 31, 1856, elders John J.D. Davis and Daniel Ramsey met with a group of people at the Black Oak School House on the Bullock Land in the Caney Community for the purpose of organizing a church. Charter members included: H.W. Townsend, Stephen Bullock, Canter Irby, Rebecka Jane Byrd, Amanda Ford, F.M. Ford, Penelope Floyd, and Malindy Bullock. John Davis was the first pastor of the church.

 

 

The Black Oak Cemetery, next to the church, traces its roots back to the first known grave of  Ava Paige Oliver, a young mother, who left 5 orphan children. Three families in the community took the five children and reared them to adulthood, in Black Oak.

Members of the pioneer families of the community were on-hand, Sunday, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Black Oak Baptist Church and the community that their ancestors created. Some 125 individuals made the pilgrimage back to the community for the occasion.

 

 

The Women of the Black Oak Community have assembled a collector's limited edition cookbook, entitled "Black Oak Baptist Church -- Celebrating 150 Years," that is for sale for $10.00 a copy. Proceeds will be used in restoration of the historic church building. Copies can be obtained by contacting Jorene Orr, at P.O. Box 1309, Sulphur Springs, TX.

To "whet" your appetite, the following two recipes are from the collection:

Nell Frost's Buttermilk Pie

1 - 9 inch unbaked pie crust
2 cups sugar
3 Tblsp. flour
3 beaten eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine the sugar and flour. Add beaten eggs, buttermilk, melted butter,
and vanilla. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes
to 1 hour.

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Sunday Lima Beans

Cindy Thomison


2  pkg. lima beans, cooked and drained
1/4 cup butter
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Tblsp. flour
1 Tblsp. paprika
2 cups sour cream

Saute onions and mushrooms in butter; stir in flour and paprika. Add
beans and sour cream, and heat thoroughly before serving.

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