Ebenezer Church   The Ebenezer Church evidently was a community in itself, though very near Boyce, about two miles northeast. near Cottonwood Creek. Josiah Leake lived at Ennis and knew people who lived east of Boyce. He is thought to have been instrumental in suggesting names, as were W. T. and J. D. Roberts, two brothers from Mississippi, who lived near Garrett. Theodosia (Hall) Ellison and the Green Davis family completed the original membership. In October, 1880, a Baptist Church of Christ was constituted at Boyce schoolhouse. A majority of the members were young - only Mr. and Mrs. Burford and Mr. and Mrs. King were over 35 and all were recent settlers in the county. Schools and churches were often quite close together in those days, since travel was either by foot, horseback, buggy or wagon, with school children usually walking. One of the reasons for moving the church meetings from Boyce School to Ebenezer School was that there was a better place for the mules and horses to graze. Most of the Ebenezer members had a common school education. Some of the ministers had little more, though all were thorough bible students. Penrod and Leake were presumably the best educated of the church's ministers since both had advanced study. Grove Creek served as the baptismal place for Ebenezer Church - its location pointed out by Mr. Edward R. Clark, the able Boyce historian. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to this day (1990) with large trees shading the area. There is a very old bridge over the creek at the location. The creek on one side has a gradual incline for a bank and, on the other, a bluff about three or four feet high. The church never had a large membership, but the loyalty and faith of its members is demonstrated by events chronicled in the record book. The first church minute book ended in June 1892 with the church having recently moved into its first building and changing the name to Central Baptist Church.No other minute books have been discovered. In 1892, the Table of Churches, Membership and Days of Meeting showed: "Central: Pastor: W. I. McClung, Ferris; Clerk, F. J. Herndon, Boyce; Membership 55; meeting the Saturday before the 3rd Sunday." In 1893, the Association had changed its name from Waxahachie to "Ellis County Baptist." The messenger was J. H. Hankins. The statistical table showed "Central: Pastor: P. M. Murphy, Palmer; Clerk, J. b. Kinsey, Boyce; Membership 48; meeting the Third Sunday and Saturday before." In 1894, the messengers from Central were Joe Kinsey, J. H. Hankins and W. T. Roberts. The minutes spoke of organizing a Womens Missionary Union. The statistical table showed: "Central" Pastor. P. M. Murphy, Palmer; Clerk, J. H. Hankins, Boyce; Membership 45. 1895 showed the same pastor and clerk. In 1899, the membership was listed at 83 and the value of the church property was shown as $1,200.00. Some of the other messengers, pastors and clerks over the next few years were: J. H. Smith, T. C. Coley, R. F. Butler, D. I. Crawford, Henry Borders, W. F. O'Reilly and S. E. Brittain. In 1903, there were 38 baptisms and the membership was listed at 102. A Sunday School was shown for the first time with an average attendance of 40. In 1908 the pastor was W. Z. Corbin, Palmer ,and the membership was 72. There were no records found for 1907 through 1913. In 1914, Central at Boyce, as it was now usually called, was served by J. V. Goble, pastor; J. A. Wesson, Clerk, Waxahachie. There were 71 members. In 1918, the pastor was L. A. Herrin of Waxahachie and George Ranton of Ennis. The years 1917 through 1919 are missing, and when records are again available, there is no mention of Boyce or Central. It appears that the little Baptist church had run its course. Reference: Ebenezer Baptist,. Ellis County, Texas.   Copyright © 2002-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Monday, 10-Sep-2018 10:23:32 MDT