Shep's Place Family Tree

Interesting Letter From A Former Gallia County Baptist Minister.
Is Pleasantly Located.

Editor Bulletin: Many of my old friends in Gallia requested me to write to them after I reached my destination, and it will be impossible for me to write them all in person, and as nearly everyone reads the county papers, I would like to have a little space in your columns for that purpose. I left Gallipolis No. 3 and stopped off that night in Columbus with my old friend Rev. L. I. Hart, formerly of Crown City, O., but now pastor of the Neil Ave., M.E. Church of Columbus. attended church that night, and made a short address. Rev. Frank Richars, Chaplain of the O.P. and some other Gallia county friends met me at the church and we had a good time together. I also called on Moses Nye, the converted Jew that was in Gallia county last spring, and found him busy at his desk, preaching Christ by the use of his pen, and fighting sin in all its forms.

He is certainly called, and being used of God among the people. He and his devoted wife both prayed for me that the Lord would be with me on my journey and bless me in my work, be3fore I left them and the Lord was present and I went on my way encouraged, and feeling it was good to have been there. I left Columbus next morning at 9 a.m. and arrived at Chicago at 6, and had to wait till 11 that night to get a train for Corydon, and arrived next day at 2 p.m. Rev. J.H. Perry formerly of Gallipolis, met me at the train and took me to his hospitable home and I am still with him. He is the pastor of the Corydon Baptist Church and is nicely situated and well liked by the people and dooing well. This is a fine country, nice rich black loam farming lands, ranging in price from $60 to $150 per acre. Corn, Hogs, cattle and fruit are the principal farm products. j There are a great many hogs on nearly all the farms and they bring from $7.50 to $8.50 per hundred. The farmers call them the "Mortgage Lifters." There was a very large apple crop here this year. Money seems to be plenty. I noticed an ad in the Corydon paper "Plenty of money toloan at 5 percent." I was over and spent a few days in Allerton, a very nice country town of about 1000inhabitants, and preached on Sunday at the Baptist Church, and they seemed anxious for me to take charge of the church at once for one half time at a salary of $450. I thought I would rather wait awhile and learn more about the people and place. I will go back in two weeks and hold a series of meetings, and then decide for the future. I go to another church next Sunday. There is a large vacant field here forministers, and I have been requested to go other places, and the State Missionary offered me a field to hold special meetings. The customs and mode of worship are quite different here from what I have been used to in Ohio, and I donot know whether I can acquiesce to their way or lead them out as I see it or not. The people are very plain, common and sociable folks. They hav many more societies and forms connected with the services here and goon the entertainment idea that is now crowding its way in so many churches, more than they do on real spiritual worship and true devotion to God. I attend a revival meeting in Allerton at the M.E. Church where they had three organs, one piano, and an orchestra, consisting ofhorns, violin and other instruments and kept them all going in all the services but the spirit of God did not seem to be present to bless and save the people. The Baptist Evangelist has a magic lantern and gives a show every few nights and you may know that kind of performance in the temple of the Lord will never suit me. Love and best wishes to all my old friends. My postoffice for the present is Corydon, IA.
Yours truly,
N.B. Burnett

Exerpts from an article by James Sands:

"Siloam Church was organized in 1876 with a church being erected in 1877 on the farm of William Holley. Some of the organizers besides Mr. Holley and Mr. Burnett ‎(Napoleon)‎ were: Mary Burnett, John Sheets, Brice Sheets, Jack Sheets, and James Smith. In the 1890s a number of small coal mines were opened up in this part of Guyan Township and Siloam Church grew by 1901 to have 220 members. That year in fact Siloam was the largest Baptist Church in Gallia County after Gallipolis and Rio Grande.

Many of the worshippers at Siloam came from a community called Saundersville which was situated right on the Gallia and Lawrence county line. In 1892 Saundersville recorded a population of 400 thus making it the largest village in Gallia County. In due time many of the smaller coal mines were closed and the membership of Siloam Church began to dwindle. By the 1930s Siloam had preaching only once a month, it being too small to afford a weekly service.

Napoleon Burnett....was a layperson when Siloam was organized. By profession Burnett was a teacher in one of the small one room schools near Siloam Church. In 1886 Napoleon was called to the ministry and he preached his first sermon in a neighbor's home. In due time Burnett became the pastor of Siloam Church, as well as the pastor of several other Regular Baptist churches in Gallia County. In fact at one time Burnett was pastor to 4 Baptist churches at the same time...

Burnett according to the Gallia Times "was a preacher without parallel in the eccelesiastical annals of Gallia County." He was a much requested guest speaker in other churches. During World War I Burnett traversed the country preaching "The Signs of the times". His sermons were noted by the newspapers and there was a great deal of debate for some months in the various newspapers about the connection of World War I to Bible prophecies. Every service that year where Burnett preached, he closed with the same hymn: "O I see the gleam of the golden morning bursting through this veil of gloom, O I see the gleam of the golden morning just beyond the tomb."

When Burnett was 68 years old he was living in semi-retirement in Huntington, W.Va., he received a message to come to Guyan Township to preach the funeral of a person Burnett had converted in his ministry. The message said for Burnett to catch the Sunday morning train for arrangements had been made for his fare. Burnett phoned back that it was against his religion to ride either the train or a steamboat on Sunday but that he would make it to the funeral just the same.

Burnett started out from Huntington on foot. A friend in an automobile passed by Burnett on the road and offered to take Napoleon to the ferry. But here Burnett refused to cross on the commercial ferry but instead coaxed another friend to take hinm across in a fishing boat. From there Burnett walked 9 or 10 miles back into the hills and arrived at the cemetery rested and ready to preach about 2 hours before the service. It was Burnett's belief that if one caused someone to work on the Sabbath by paying for transportation, meals, etc. one was breaking the Sabbath. The man in the auto and the man in the fishing boat were not working.

Said Burnett about this incident: "It is just as wrong to purchase a ride and cause others to violate God's law in working as it is to purchase anything else or labor on the Lord's day and I cannot be a true servant of the Lord and not practice what the Bible so plainly teaches. It pains my heart and wounds my soul continually to see the way ministers and church members...banquetting, carnal pleasures, revelings, games and fleshly mirths.

Burnett died in 1919 and his funeral was held at Siloam Church. It was reported that Burnett's was the largest funeral ever held in Guyan Township up to that time. The undertaker was Coleman R. Halley. Ironically only a very small stone marks the burial of this man who had converted to Christ over 2,000 people from the hills and hollows of the county. ..."