Sunday, November 15, 2009

Crayne Presbyterian Church Corner Stone

From The Crittenden Press, April 6, 1893.

The Corner Stone. Imposing ceremonies mark the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

On March 26, 1893, at 4 o'clock a large congregation from different parts of the county were gathered together at Crayneville, Ky to see Rev. B. T. Watson, your pastor, lay the corner stone of the new Presbyterian Church here.

All present joined in singing the grand old hymn, "How Firm a Foundation." Twelve elders were chosen from the following churches: Marion, Sugar Grove, Piney Fork and Crayneville. Each Elder took their stand at twelve stones of the foundation and remained there during the service.

The following records were deposited in the stone.
  • Holy Bible
  • Roll of Membership
  • One copy of Confession of Faith
  • One copy of C. P. Paper
  • One copy of Missionary Record
  • One copy of S. S. Comments
  • One copy of Rays of Life
  • One copy of Our Lambs
  • One copy of Crittenden Press
  • One copy of Marion Monitor
  • Roll of membership of the Christian Workers Society
  • Roll of membership of S.S.
  • A memento, a lock of hair of Mr. D. W. Deboe, and a silver dime giving the date when he was elected elder in the C. P. Church
These were placed in a small box and then placed in the box which was cut in the stone and the stone was laid in its place to stand as a monument that the people of this generation love and serve the Great Father of the Universe, who's Son is our "Chief Corner Stone."

This historic corner stone is resting today at the entrance of the new Presbyterian Church that was built after this old church was torn down in 2001, due to the tornado damage of Jan. 3, 2000.

From our home in Crayne there was just a field between our house and this church. As children we roamed and played around this whole area and around the church grounds. I would have been around 9 and my brother Billie about 12 years old. Billie was at the church during this time when some men were doing some work on the church's foundation.  When they removed the stone from it's place it was found that the metal box had all rusted and it was just bits of metal.  Most of the paper items had all rotted away.  You could see bits of Bible pages and a few scraps of paper with writing.   The piece of braided hair was still there and the silver dime.  Those two things was all that survived the water that had collected in the rock over the years.

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