In the northeastern part of Madison County close
to Leake county line before the year 1851 was a
church by the name of county line church. In the Good
Hope community was known as the Arm of county line
church.On April 12,1851 the people of this communuity
came together and organized into a church which is
the Good Hope Baptist church. They met in a log
school house and were led by Elders R.F. Crenshaw and J.L. Hines in the organization of a church. There were twenty-three charter members name's; Thomas Evans, Nancy Evans, Sam Palton, Johnathan Patton, Franklin Patton, Nancy Martin, Elise Martin, J.T. Mathershed, Catherine Mathershed, Sammie Martin, Henry Wakes, Mary Jane Wakes, Jackson Dehart, Emily Dehart, Edwin Branch, Suasanah Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell, Mary E. Mitchell, James Mitchell, Robert Stevens, Nancy Mitchell, D.G. Mclamore, Julian Sims.
(1954) The Good Hope church is 104 years old. From the time of the organizing until about three years ago the church was having services only once a month. Then it went to half-time services twice a month and one year ago the church went to full time services every sunday.The church has a sunday school and a training union, services on sunday morning and night,Mid week prayer services, a W.M.S.
There are 58 members with 4 deacons. The church has been pastored by the following ministers; Rev.J.L. Hines, Rev. R.F. Crenshaw, Rev. L.C. Merchant, Rev. B.A. Giddings, Rev.W.R. McNutt, Rev.William McMurtry, Rev.S. Rushing, Rev.B.W. Elington, REV. RG BARRETT, Rev.J.M. Vinson, Rev.E.T. Dendy, Rev.J.M. Dotson, Rev.A.B.Hill, Rev.E.J. Hill, Rev.T.G. Ward, Rev.W.E. Dear, Rev.G.W. Nutt, Rev.J.T. Ellis, Rev.John Thompson, Rev.J.L. Boyd, Rev.L.B. Golden, Rev.J.T. Phillips, Rev.N.H. Roberts, Rev.B.T. Collins, Rev.J.B. Perry, Rev.C.J. Olander, Rev.W.E. Fergarson, Rev.A.E. Lucas, Rev.J.M. Metts, Rev.B.D. Hardin, Rev.E.F. Lee, Rev.John Defore,Rev.G.R. Hudson, Rev.Leo Mamgum, Rev.Millard Purl, Rev.John W. Broster, Rev.J.B. Gray.(end)
Information from a WPA Form in 1936 states that the first building was a large frame structure and it had a slave gallery built into the back of it. Good Hope Baptist Church building was built in 1854,10 miles north of Camden,Mississippi on Camden Pickens Road in Madison County, Mississippi.. A new building was built in 1899 and dedicated by Reverand Thomas Ward of Lena, MS. The present church is a large frame house, painted white and has plain windows. The same bell is in use, that was used by the first church. The seating capacity is 300.
Register books of baptisms, members and deaths are 3 Vols. "Church Registers" Vol. 1 1860-1872, Vol. 2 1873-1900 Vol. 3 1901-1941 kept by R.S. Barrett, clerk, Camden, MS. Sunday School records 10 Volumes, one for each year 1931-1941 kept by Mr. R.S. Barrett, Camden,MS.
Good Hope Baptist Church has sent out four ministers since it's organization. Two of these men were REV. J.T.BARRETT, (deceased) and REV. J.L. BARRETT, Oak Grove, LA.
Church Register Vol.1 in poor condition.They have been unable to find a deed for the church as of 1936, but he was "working on it".JBW
"For more than eighty years she lived on the side of that red clay hill in the heart of rural Madison County, rural Mississippi.
She lived up there with the Mansells and the Gobers and the Kernops and a few--mighty few--others.
She could sit on the front porch of her tin-roofed, white frame house and look down the hill, across the cemetery, and beyond the similary tin-roofed, white frame Good Hope Southern Baptist Church.
She could see Good Hope Cemetery, with its white stones, grey stones, and broken stones; it's sagging wire fence and it's disjointed gate.
And on down the dusty--or muddy, depending on the weather--dirt road she could see Good Hope Church and the rickety, rough tables beneath the trees--the tables without the benches that were used once each year, for dinner-on-the-grounds at revival time.
These two landmarks, Good Hope Church and Good Hope Cemetery, were the focal points of her life....."
"For a wedding present her father built her and her new husband a two -room farm house. They never moved away. Instead, the Barrett's of Good Hope just added rooms as their family grew through 14 children...."
"...She spent most of her life there on the side of that hill. And yet, her spirit reached from one end of the southland to the other."
"The influance of this stooped, white-haired woman, who seemed the embodiment of faith, hope, and charity as Christ taught it, stretched across the South through dozens of the young Southern Baptist preachers whose lives she touched as they stopped for a time in the Good Hope pulpit on thier way through college and seminary into the sanctuaries of the great Southern Baptist Convention....."
"Rev. John DeFoore recalled at her funeral"
"Mrs. Barrett and I used to sit for hours in the front of her fireplace. She could ask me questions about the scriptures all afternoon." "When I look back now I know she knew the answers all along. She just wanted to be sure I did..." "If she had the answers, Mrs. Bbarrett acquired them over the 87 years she worshipped in Good Hope Church.
She died in 1968, six months short of her 100th birthday. She was active until her last two years; and read her bible, daily, until her eyes dimmed at 96.
Susie Mitchell was born Febuary 11, 1896,after her parents moved to Madison County, Mississippi, from South Carolina. She was married to Richard Stancil Barrett in 1887 in Good Hope Baptist Church where she had been baptized into the fellowship at the age of 11...."
(For the entire transcription of Susie Mitchell's diary click on the link below...(coming soon)
History of cemetery will go here. Steven is trying to contact the caretaker of the cemetery, Alton Cobb. Here is an excerpt from Steven's e-mail about it
"primarily to see if he has the written records of ALL those interred at the cemetery. Keep in mind that many many headstones are missing at GHBC and what may appear as large vacant areas at the cemetery are really populated with deceased souls. None of which we will know who they are unless we can find these church burial records. We know they exist from the 1940's WPA that indicated that Rev. Barrett held the burial, baptism and marriage records. But who has them now?"
| NAME | B. DATE | D. DATE | INSCRIPTION | COMMENTS |
| Cotten, B. F. | 12/27/1853 | 7/28/1913 | Age 59yrs 7 Mo 1 Day | |
| Cotten,Bettie R. | 4/4/1860 | 3/16/1933 | 72 Yrs 11 MOS 2 DAYs | Elizabeth Rosana Barrett |
| Cotten, Joseph Stancil | 12/19/1882 | 7/9/1885 | Aged 2 YRS 6 MOS 10 DYS | Son of B.F&E.R. Cotten |
| Barrett, Rev. R.G. | Unreadable | Unreadable | Holy Bible | Reuben Galitan H/O Susie Mitchell |
| Barrett,Jane McMullen | 6/27/1883 | 6/3/1955 | In Thee O Lord Do I Put My Trust Into Thy Hands I Commit My Spirit | |
| Barrett, Hal L. | 2/2/1884 | 3/12/1967 | ||
| Cotten,Ellie Wilburn | 12/9/1886 | 7/31/1963 | ||
| Cotten,Ola Cauthen | 7/26/1889 | 8/29/1961 | ||
| Cotten,Joe W. | 12/6/1926 | 12/16/1971 | MS S1 World War II | |
| Smith, Nancy | Unreadable | Unreadable | ||
| Hemingway, Henrietta | 4/2/1936 | 3/3/1917 | W/O G.T. Mitchell | |
| Mitchell, George T. | Co G 21 Miss INF CSA | Military Stone | ||
| Mitchell, Loyd H. | 9/4/1871 | Aged 16 Yrs 7 Mos 13 Days | Son of J.H.& S.Mitchell | |
| Mitchell, Susannah | Unreadable | Unreadable | ||
| Barrett,Elisabeth | 7/1/1837 | 9/19/1899 | Aged 62 Yrs 4 Mos 18 Days | W/O J.N. Barrett |
| Barrett,J.N. | 7/26/1831 | 6/4/1904 | Aged 72 Yrs 1 Mos 8 Dats | Mason Emblem |
| Barrett, John C. | 7/26/1864 | 1/25/1941 | John Christopher Columbus Barrett | |
| Barrett, Elisha G. | 7/25/1869 | Aged 11 Yrs 1 Mo 21 Dys | ||
| Mitchell, Bettie D. | 1859 | 1948 | Double with Robert C. | |
| Mitchell, Robert C. | 1859 | 1950 | Double with Bettie D. | |
| Drapes, Mary J. | 9/15/1829 | 12/10/1891 | W/O W.G.Drapes | |
| Drapes, W.G. | March 5 | Unreadable | Stone Broken Up | |
| Barrett, George H. | 3/1896 | 5/1968 | Double Stone with Lucille | |
| Barrett,Lucille R. | 4/1893 | 5/1956 | Asleep in Jesus | Dbl with George |
| Barrett, Richard Stancil | 4/15/1866 | 4/12/1948 | At Rest | Double Stone with Susie Mitchell |
| Barrett, Susie Mitchell | 2/11/1869 | 8/8/1968 | At Rest | Double with Richard |
| Barrett, Edward L. | 4/17/1888 | 3/31/1947 | ||
| Barrett, Helen Estelle | 3/27/1904 | 9/19/1914 | ||
| Barrett, Leonard Posey | 3/13/1909 | 8/5/1909 | ||
| Barrett, Wesley Burks | 2/27/1919 | 8/20/1920 | ||
| McDaniel, Oliver P. | 4/27/1857 | 2/24/1936 | Double with Nannie | |
| McDaniel, Nannie M. | 2/1/1867 | 6/3/1957 | Double with Oliver | |
| McDaniel, Joseph H. | 8/3/1896 | 12/19/1913 | S/O Oliver & Nannie McDaniel | |
| McDaniel, Hallie Tim | 8/18/1889 | 10/19/1891 | S/O Oliver & Nannie McDaniel | |
| McDaniel, Nannie | 4/13/1892 | 7/31/1892 | D/O J.A & L.N. | |
| McDaniel, W.T. | 8/1/1820 | 3/17/1899 | ||
| McDaniel, Mary E. | 12/9/1836 | 11/11/1916 | Thy Beloved is Asleep in Jesus | |
| McDaniel, Newton A. | 1/29/1905 | 5/3/1905 | N.J.& Emma | |
| McDaniel,Son | 1900 | 1901 | S/O N.J. & Emma | Stone broken in pieces |
| McDaniel, Morris | 7/3/1912 | 3/25/1926 | Son | Double Stone with mother |
| McDaniel, Emma | 8/20/1869 | 3/30/1926 | Mother | Double stone with son |
| McDaniel, Newton J. | 5/7/1858 | 4/6/1937 | ||
| McDaniel, Alberta | 8/13/1892 | 5/14/1927 | S/O N.J. & Emma | BPOE |
| McDaniel, Evelyn V. | 8/31/1937 | 6/25/1938 | Gone But Not Forgotten | |
| McDaniel, J.M. | 3/22/1852 | 2/26/1915 | At Rest | |
| McDaniel, Sarah E. | 4/22/1848 | 2/1/1931 | Our Mother At Rest | |
| O'Briant, Carrie McDaniel | 3/10/1880 | 1/21/1962 | ||
| McDaniel, Earl Davis | 5/3/1909 | 7/30/1922 | ||
| Barrett, Edward Tully | 6/17/1897 | 3/31/1985 | ||
| Barrett, Dallas Clement | 9/23/1860 | 11/13/1947 | Mason | Double stone with Sallie R. |
| Barrett, Sallie R. | 1/11/1860 | 10/29/1949 | Mason Star | Double stone with Dallas C. |
| Barrett, Grover C. | 8/20/1887 | 3/5/1912 | Aged 25 Yrs 6 Mos 15 Dys | Woodmen of The World Memorial |
| Barrett, Henry L. | 7/19/1895 | 5/1/1981 | Double stone with Lucille B. | |
| Barrett, Lucille B. | 10/11/1914 | 2/2/2003 | Double stone with Henry L. |
