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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 33
where they had been. The men's outhouse was about 23 feet from the northwest corner. The women's outhouse was about 89 feet from the southeast corner. Jones remembered when the funeral of the Reverend John Jones (1886-1935), his great uncle, was held in the church, and “so many people were in the church for it that the plank floor fell in.” McKinley's wife, Melissa, told him she had been handed out of the window. With a smile, Jones said, “I guess she was about 8 years old. She claims to be younger than I am.” McKinley Jones said he was young then, “but old enough to be plowing with a mule,” which was what he was doing when J.E. Jones “fell dead.” “We were on one side of the creek plowing; he was plowing on the other. We heard a noise.” [NOTE: On January 10, 1997, Reverend Jones brought Mr. Albert Robinson (age 83) to meet with Curry. Carolene Wu, RSA Cultural Resource Manager (CRM) was invited to join the “visit.” Mr. Robinson (now deceased) had lived in the Union Hill Community and also attended the Union Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Robinson and Jones talked back and forth between themselves about their remembrances of the church and the people, and, as often happens when two people get together, one reminded the other of a person or happening in the past, and then they discussed it. Curry wrote copious notes, interrupting occasionally to ask a question to clarify what was being said or to pose a question when the discussion slowed. The following sections, which discuss the church, congregation, school that was held in the church, the nearby lodge, and the Inman Cemetery to the south of the church, compile the information learned from the visit with Reverend Jones and Mr. Robinson. Albert Robinson said his family lived on the land of John Grayson (B-51 on the Army Real Estate Map). He said they lived about a quarter mile from the church. His mother was Delphie Robinson. He said he was about 9 or 10 years old when his father, George Robinson, died, which would put the date in the mid-1920's.] The Pastors and Congregation of Union Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The parents of Reverend Jones, McKinley Jones (born in 1893) and Mary Lou Lanier Jones (1906) told him that they went to the church as early as 1911. They were married in the church in 1922. Reverend Jones recalls that in the early 1930's, Surrey (spelling?) Mitchell was pastor. “He pastored there until the government took over.” People entered the room through the square vestibule, sat on the wooden slat seats, and Pastor Mitchell stood in the front to preach. He was a man of medium build. “He wasn't a whooping preacher, but he was loud. He was a singing preacher.” Surrey Mitchell had services in the church twice a month. He was also the pastor of another church in Athens. Nevertheless, Sunday school was held every Sunday, led by Jim Holden. He was the Sunday School Superintendent. Sunday School was divided into two groups, “one for little bitty children and one for adults and older children.” Surrey Mitchell received very little pay for his preaching??"he received very little money. “People didn't give money. In those days, they gave chickens, turnip greens, eggs, or whatever the garden had.” In order to support his family, Mitchell was also a tenant farmer on Rob Camper's farm on old Madison Pike. “On the farm he did whatever there was to be done. He'd be out there making molasses, or if the machinery was broken down, he'd be out there fixing it, and he sang just as much in the field as he did in church.” 33 - (4066)