The Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church is located seven miles east of Clarksville, Tennessee, in the Sango Community.

This history has been written from a limited number of sources. The oldest available session minute was dated November 30, 1913. The older minutes have been destroyed.

Outgrowth of the McAdoo church. The Bethel church is an outgrowth of the McAdoo Cumberland Presbyterian Church. [History of Tennessee (Nashville: The Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1886), p. 801.] The charter members of the Bethel church were members at McAdoo at first, but they pulled off from McAdoo and organized a church of their own at Sango. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

Organizer. Rev. J. M. Gill probably organized the church [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.] sometime before 1873. [Annie Comperry (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.)] The following persons were charter elders of the church: Jacob Rudolph, J. Madison Rudolph, W. H. Crouch, S. T. Halliburton, and C. T. Rudolph. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]
[It has been determined after the writing of this thesis that the church was organized by Rev. Harris Lackey Burney.]

The land. George Halliburton gave the lots on which the church and manse were built, as well as the ground for the cemetery - located directly across the road from the church. Although he was not a Cumberland Presbyterian, he deeded the land to the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The deed stated that the land would revert back to the original heirs when it ceased to be used as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

The church building. The Bethel church has had only one church building - the one now used. However, it has been remodeled one time. It was a big square building at first. The pulpit was in the center of the north side of the building. There were three rows of pews, with two aisles. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

In 1901, Sunday school rooms were added on three sides of the building, a vestibule was built at the southwest corner of the building, and the pulpit was moved to the north-east corner. The pews were rearranged to face the altar, with one aisle which extended from the vestibule to the altar. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

The manse buildings. The Bethel church has had two manse buildings. The first one was a two-story framed structure which was located on an adjacent lot to the church. It has been impossible to determine when this building was built. The first mention of the manse in the session records was on December 1, 1924, when the session voted to do some repair work on the roof of the manse. [Minutes of the Session of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church Book 1, p. 70.]

The old manse was torn down, and a modern frame house was built on the same lot. It was completed on January 1, 1953. The house had five rooms and a bath, which cost five thousand dollars - the most of the material and labor being donated. [Joe Westcott (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

Split in congregation. Rev. G. D. Robinson was the pastor of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church at the time of the attempted union. He went with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. in 1906. A few of the members followed Rev. G. D. Robinson and joined the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

Conflict. Both the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and the Cumberland Presbyterians worshiped in the Bethel church from 1906-1912. Many times the Cumberland Presbyterians had the doors locked against them, and they had to conduct services on the outside. On one occasion, both the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and the Cumberland Presbyterians met in the church with their ministers. Both ministers conducted services in the church at the same time - one preached to a congregation in the front of the building, while the other preached to his congregation in the rear of the building. It has been said that the Cumberland Presbyterian minister had the stronger voice and could be heard above the other minister. [Joe Westcott (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

Discouragement. The dispute of the ownership of the church property was placed in the hands of the civil court. Many of the Cumberland Presbyterians became discouraged and left and joined the local Methodist church. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

Settlement of the church property. A letter was sent to H. N. Luch, an attorney, on February 12, 1912, by the clerk of the session of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. It read as follows:

Woodford, Tenn.
Feb. 12, 1912

H. N. Luch
Sir:

At a called meeting held on 11th, Instructed by the session at Bethel, I am authorized (as clerk) to notify you that they are ready to abandon the church at once and you can have possession at your pleasure.

Respectfully,
Al Miller, Clerk
by order of the Session. [Letter (This letter was pasted to the inside of the front cover of the Minutes of the Session of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church Book 1.)]

 

At its fall meeting, 1913, Clarksville Presbytery sent Rev. J. E. Powers to preach to the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The first session meeting that he had with the Bethel church was on November 30, 1913. The elders who attended this meeting were: L. P. Frey, A. B. Woodson, and D. T. Foust. The following letter, from attorney H. N. Luch, was read to the session:

Nov. 28, 1913

Rev. J. E. Powers
City

Dear Sir:

The Congregation of Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Bethel have the exclusive right to use and possession of the church at this time and this is handed to you that you may let the members of the church know that they have a perfect right to lock the doors and otherwise secure the house against use for worship by the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and that such exclusion peaceably employed is in all respects lawful.

Yours truly,
H. N. Luch. [Letter (This letter was copied in the session minutes of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church on November 30, 1913, pp. 56-57.)]

After the reading of this letter, the session ordered that the house be locked, and that the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., be prohibited to use the building. [Minutes of the Session of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church Book 1, p. 57.]

The session met the next day to continue the business of the previous meeting. The minutes of this meeting read as follows:

Dec. 1, 1913 Session was reopened with prayer by Moderator. Present Elders, L. P. Frey, A. B. Woodson, and D. T. Foust. After consultation the session proceeded to the lock the house and put new locks on doors, and directed the Clerk to notify the Rev. G. D. Robertson pastor of the USA congregation through the mail.

Elders L. P. Frey and A. B. Woodson was appointed a committee to open doors for the USA people that they might remove any property belonging to them in the church. Blessed with prayer. - D. T. Foust, Clerk [Letter (This letter was copied in the session minutes of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church on November 30, 1913, pp. 56-57.)]

No further mention has been made of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., in the minutes of the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Time has healed many of the hard feelings caused by the attempted union, although many people of the Sango community recall these bitter experiences.

The following ministers have served the Bethel church during the corresponding years: G. J. Donnell, 1894; Robert Adair, 1887; J. W. Sullivan, 1888-89; R. S. Blair, 1890; J. L. Ewing, 1891; N. F. Gill, 1892-1894; J. J. Rye, 1896; H. M. Gardner, 1897-1901; C. W. Welch, 1902-1903; J. W. Turner, 1904; R. F. Adair, 1905; G. D. Robinson 1906; W. H. McLeskey, 1911-1912; A. L. Greene, 1913; J. E. Powers, 1914-1920; N. R. French, 1921-1923; W. A. Blades, 1924; E. Reub, 1925; A. H. Sykes, 1926-1927; A. W. Clinard, 1928-1934; J. W. West, 1935-1940; J. T. Coleman, 1941-1943; J. W. West, 1944-1947; Raymond Kinslow, 1949-1951; Z. N. Clinard, 1952-1953; and Joe Westcott since 1954. [Minutes of the Cumberland Presbyterian General Assembly 1894-1955, (statistical tables).]

Entertained presbytery. The Bethel church was a member of Lebanon Presbytery until 1899. Lebanon Presbytery met with the Bethel congregation in the fall of 1884. [Minutes of Lebanon Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Fall, 1884.] The Bethel church became a part of Clarksville Presbytery in 1899. [Minutes of Tennessee Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church October 17-20, 1899, pp,. 47-48.] Since that time, Clarksville Presbytery has met with the Bethel congregation on the following dates: March 25-26, 1924; [Minutes of Clarksville Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church March 25026, 1924, p. 5.] March 28-29, 1933; [Minutes of Clarksville Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, March 28-29, 1933, p. 1] and September 28, 1948 [Minutes of Clarksville Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, March 30, 1948, p. 4.]

Entertained synod. Tennessee Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has met with the Bethel congregation one time - October 8-10, 1929. [Minutes of the Tennessee Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church October 8-10, 1929, p. 1]

Members who have entered the ministry. The Bethel church has had two members to enter the ministry. They were Will Woodson and Benjamin T. Watson. The latter joined the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., later. [Halley Miller (This information was received by the author in a personal interview on September 19, 1955.]

[Source: Ollie Newsome Harvey. "A History of the Existing Churches of Clarksville Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church." B.D. Thesis. Cumberland Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1956, pages 19-26]