This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Cemetery Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/XV.2ADI/433 Message Board Post: The Liberty Methodist Church is located at Liberty, Arkansas in Ouachita County. The Reverend John Livingston Wells, a pioneer of Methodist Protestant Churches, established it in 1848 as a Methodist Protestant Church. He organized all the M.P. churches in south Arkansas. According to old letters and land deeds the early church was composed mainly of the Smith and Wells families and their connections. The Smiths came into the area in the early 1840s and the Wells' soon after. Mrs. Mary Ann Smith, by then a widow, was the earliest church leader. She was known as a devout Christian and a "shouting Methodist". It was said she could "shout down a good meeting any time". Her sons and daughters entered the church at an early age and John William and Frances Marian remained active members until their deaths. John and Susan Burns and Sam Halton donated land to build a church and school. Early known members came from the Wells, Neely, Smith, Wilson, Haltom, Shirey, Clawson, Perry, Myatt, Burns, Sims and Cramer families. No doubts there were others but the courthouse in Camden was destroyed twice and our records are incomplete. The present courthouse is the fourth building to house records in Ouachita County. This area has been populated since the Middle Ages when the aboriginal Indians lived here. The later tribes included the Quapaws, part of the great Sioux nation. By the 1700s fur traders and explorers had moved upriver from Monroe and white settlers followed, some bringing their slaves, to the rich farmlands. Frenchport and Ecore Fabre were major trading posts along the river. By 1843 Ouachita County had separated from Union County, the population was around 9,000 and the area was flourishing. More settlers had turned from trading to agriculture, the main cash crop being cotton. Everyone grew enough food and livestock for their own use and for sale or barter. Cotton brought high prices as did timber. Camden, formerly Ecole Fabre, was a prosperous city and its location on the Ouachita River gave access up and down river. Ouachita County was the second wealthiest in the state. When the Rev. Wells arrived he found a community anxious for a church. At the beginning they met in a one-room log schoolhouse that stood on the old Caleb Gibson place near the big spring that provided water around here. There is no record as to why the church was moved to its present location, but the major wagon roads changed and this was a more central location. A school and a two-story church were erected facing the east. The top floor was leased to a Masonic order for their meetings. In the winter of 1865-66 Albert Wells moved here from Columbia County and became church leader, succeeding Mrs. Mary Smith. He remained leader until his death. Sometime in the late 1800s after the Civil War, the church and school burned and the present house was built. John F. and Susan Burns added more land to the church holdings to accomodate the church, cemetery and school. Mr. Vernon Myatt, a carpenter, was an active member here and he along with Jack Sims and Isaiah Smith constructed the present building. I. T. Wells, a member who owned a sawmill in Kirkland, donated the shiplap lumber. No doubt the entire membership gave of their resources and labor to complete the task. Few structural changes have been made over the years and the original pine floor still remains. In 1924 J.E. and Sue Anderson and W.A. Smith donated more land to the church and school. The old Liberty School consolidated with Louann in the early 1940s and the building was moved. In 1939 Liberty Church voted to merge with the Arkansas Methodist Conference which later became the United Methodist Church. The congregation remained active for several years but by 1978 such a few were left that Liberty had to withdraw from the Conference of the United Methodist Church. They managed to retain their church worship with extension pastors until Winston Roden came to preach in 1982. With such determined members, the church has remained strong, adhering to the scripture: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty", I Corinthians 3:17. Transcriber's Note: This history appeared in the church bulletin dated September 8, 2002. The transcriber has no further knowledge of any of the families mentioned.