Interesting reading. This has some KEY information to those of us that are researching our ancestors. All rights given to the church and their web-site. mttaborucc.org/aboutus.aspx It would be nice if a group of us visited the Church at some point through the year for a Sunday service. Thoughts? Mt. Tabor United Church of Christ was founded in the year-of-1883 as Mt. Tabor Reformed Church. A Saturday evening prayer meeting was held in the home of Katie Crotts and it was proposed that a church be built in the Crotts community to meet the spiritual needs of the families in that community. Attendance at Pilgrim Reformed Church was problematic because travel was by walking, horseback, or horse drawn vehicles. Rev. Thomas Long was the founding minister for Mt. Tabor. He presented the proposal for a community church to the Classis of North Carolina. In its May meeting of 1883, the Classis authorized the building of a church in the Crotts community. Worship services were held in homes and under a brush arbor. The first Mt. Tabor Church was constructed in 1884 on land deeded to the first consistory by Catherine Crotts, Mary Ann Crotts, Robert Lee Crotts and his wife Rachel E. Crotts. The first elders and deacons were: David H. Tysinger, David Crotts, Jr., Alexander Burkhart and John H. Crotts. Robert and Rachel Crotts deeded another piece of land for the cemetery in 1889 toi4iders and deacons: David Crotts, Lemuel Burkhart, John H. Crotts and GO. Musgrave. The land on which the church was built was to have been inherited by William Clennet Bennett Crotts from his parents Michael and Catherine Crotts. William had died in the Civil War. Robert Lee and Mary Ann Crotts were his children and Catherine was his mother; all of these names were on the first deed along with the name of Robert’s wife, Rachel E. Crotts. Preserved for history are twenty-two names recorded as charter members. The twenty-two names can be divided into four clearly defined family groups and those family groups were: the Crotts family, the Fritts family, the Musgrave family and the Lohr/Smith family. The charter members were Katie Crotts, Sallie Crotts, David Crotts, Sr., Andrew Crotts, Bettie Crotts, John H. Crotts, Elizabeth Crotts, David Crotts, Jr., Mary Fritts, John Henry Fritts, Isabel Fritts, Sarah Burkhart, Lemuel Burkhart, Rachel E. Crotts, Amanda Crotts, Jeanette Beck, 0. H. Tysinger, George Musgrave, Isadora Musgrave, Martha Musgrave, Mary Malinda Lohr, and Martha Jane Smith. The first church facility served the dedicated and devout community members for 25 years. In February, 1909, a building committee was named. Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly, a supply minister and a member of the first graduating class at Catawba, was named chairman. The committee was composed of the following: W. T. Everhart, John Henry Crotts, J. M. Crotts, Frank Lohr, Martha Frances Smith, W. A. Beck (Andrew) and three-teen-aged girls-Lillie Kepley, Hattie Crotts and Clatie Smith. One year later in February, the first service was held in the new church. Jacob Calvin Leonard stated in his book, “The work was accomplished because the people had a mind to work” Sunday school rooms were added in 1937 during the pastorate of Rev. J. M. Andrew. In 1947, Mt labor detached from the Lower Davidson Charge and became an independent church. The decision was made by elders: Carl Smith, Henry Everhart, James Grubb, George Smith—Deacons: J. C. Crotts, Brantley Beck, Thomas Fritts and C. R. Cook. The parsonage was completed and pastor Rev. Alfred Sandrock became the first full time minister. In 1956, the consistory voted to begin a building fund for a third Mt. Tabor church building. A building committee was formed: Bruce Crotts, chairman, Bill Layman, Albert Scarlett, Larry Pugh, Artis Smith, Baxter Smith, Bobby Varner and Max Smith. The beautiful new facility was completed in 1966 with movement from the old church into the new church sanctuary on July 17. Mt. Tabor Church is everything the families in the Crotts community had carefully orchestrated it to be, a spiritual entity that would serve as a door to eternity. It basks in a spiritual sunlight that a loving and merciful God has richly blessed. Today, under the ministry of the Rev. Darrell Sluder, the family oriented church of 1883 continues that family tradition with 15 grandchildren of charter members supporting and growing the activities of the United Church of Christ which evolved from the Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Church affiliations.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:47:33 +0000
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