Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Liberty Baptist Church (Lauderdale Co.) Records (Z/0997).
Creator/Collector: Sandra Saunders Sibley.
Date(s): 1845-1890.
Size: 0.30 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, June 1970; Reprocessed by Allyson Hartling and Laura Heller, 2024.
Provenance: Gift of Sandra Saunders Sibley in June 1970.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Liberty Baptist Church (Lauderdale Co.) Records (Z/0997), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

History/Biography:

Liberty Baptist Church

The Liberty Baptist Church was founded on May 31, 1845, on the border of Lauderdale County, Mississippi and Sumter County, Alabama, on what is called Liberty Church Road. The nearest community may be Alamucha, Mississippi, about 4.5 miles northwest of the church. A congregation gathered at the house of Ambrose Yarbrough to organize themselves and devise written certificates of membership to present to the presbytery by William P. Carter and Ambrose Yarbrough. On this day, the members devised a constitution with twelve articles. Those who signed the constitution represented the Carter, Culpepper, McGreger, Lard, Watkins, and Yarbrough families. Officers of the church were elected, placing Willis McGreger as clerk and elder Ambrose Yarbrough as “supply.”

The church also agreed that the “monthly meeting be on the third Sabbath and Saturday before in each month.” For each entry, the clerk states that they met on Saturday before the third Lord’s Day in the month after services by a church elder conference convened. This may mean that these were Seventh Day Baptists, meeting for church services on Saturday instead of Sunday followed by conferences to discuss church business and procedures.

It should be noted that in the ledger the church’s name is given as Liberty Baptist Church on the title page and for conference meetings dated 1845 through 1852. However, in 1853, the clerk began using the name Baptist Church of Christ at Liberty through the 1880s.

Ambrose Yarbrough 

Ambrose Yarbrough was born in Anson County, North Carolina, on February 19, 1772, the son of Amelia Millie Lee (1740-1811) and Jonathan Yarbrough (1742-1811). His siblings included William Yarbrough (1762-1850), Rebecca Ann Yarbrough (1763-1839), Mary Yarbrough (1769-1827), Joseph Yarbrough (1770-1822), Humphrey Yarbrough (1770-), Amelia “Millie” Yarbrough (1780-1845), and William Yarbrough (1786-1854).

In 1804 in Georgia, Ambrose married his first wife, Elizabeth Culpepper (1782-1821), and the couple’s children included Hardy Yarbrough (1810-1877), Joseph B. Yarbrough (1819-1869), and Frances Yarbrough (1821-1866). In 1823, Ambrose married his second wife, Phoebe Holcombe (1780-1858), and the couple had no children.

For his military service, Ambrose was a private in McCrory’s Regiment of the West Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812. He died in Sumter County, Alabama, on July 20, 1861. He is buried in the Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, in Rosser, Sumter County, Alabama.

Hardy Yarbrough 

Hardy Yarbrough was born in Jackson, Georgia, the son of Elizabeth Culpepper (1782-1821) and Reverend Ambrose Yarbrough (1772/1779 – 1861). His siblings included Ambrose Amon Yarbrough (1806-1879), Ambrose Yarbrough (1810-1866), Joseph B. Yarbrough (1819-1869), and Frances Yarbrough (1821-1866).

On November 15, 1831, Hardy married Rachael Yarbrough (1812-1890), and had children James Yarbrough (1834-1862), Drury Hutchins Yarbrough (1834-1917), Elizabeth Yarbrough (1838-), Joseph Yarbrough (1842-1891), John D. Yarbrough (1843-), William Maurice Yarbrough (1847-1923), and Ambrose Yarbrough (1850-1933).

He joined the Baptist church in 1830, and by 1837 he had traveled to Alabama and joined the Harmony Church by letter of reference. He remained a member of this church until 1845 when he and several others organized Liberty Baptist Church. Soon, he was an ordained deacon of this church and licensed to preach. In 1857, a presbytery was called for, composed of his father and church elder Ambrose Yarbrough, Willis Wolf, and J.K. Ryan, and he was ordained minister.

Died at his residence in Sumter County, Alabama, on February 28, 1877, of consumption after a lengthy illness.

 

Scope and Content Note:

The collection contains a thermofax copy of the transcript of the original church ledger, which at the time of the transcription was owned by Mrs. Liz Culpepper. The ledger itself contains lists of members, baptisms, minutes of church meetings, called conferences, held in the church before the church service, rules of decorum, two obituaries, and an index of names. The ledger was transcribed by Sandra Saunders (Mrs. John) Sibley of Okolona, Mississippi, with the desire to learn more about her family history. Sibley became invested in Baptist history the more she worked on the transcription. She also completed the transcription for the church’s 125th anniversary of the founding of the Liberty Baptist Church.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Transcript, Liberty Baptist Church (Lauderdale Co.) Records, 1845-1890.
One manuscript of 110 pages total consisting of a transcript of the Liberty Baptist Church original church ledger which lists of members, baptisms, and minutes of church meetings, called conferences, held in the church before the church service. Also included are rules of decorum, two memorials, and an index of names. The transcription was made by Sandra Saunders Sibley.

Box 1, folders 1-9

 

Box List:

Box 1, Folder 1: Title page and introductory materials, n.d.
Box 1, Folder 2: Records, Pages 1-6, May 31, 1845 – September 1845.
Box 1, Folder 3: Records, Pages 7-21, October 18, 1845 – September 28, 1850.
Box 1, Folder 4: Records, Pages 22-36, [ September 28, 1850] – October 1857.
Box 1, Folder 5: Records, Pages 37-51, [October 1857] – September 1862.
Box 1, Folder 6: Records, Pages 52-66, May 1863 – November 1869.
Box 1, Folder 7: Records, Pages 67-81, February 1870 – April 1877.
Box 1, Folder 8: Records, Pages 82-96, May 1877 – November 1887; September 1874.
Box 1, Folder 9: Records, Pages 97-101; Index, [1874-1890; n.d.].