HISTORY OF OUR BUCK'S GROVE COUNTRY CHURCH
by Stella Kroth Manuel

     Among our very earliest settlers in our community of Buck's Grove were the families of Beach, Loughmiller, and Hallock. Times were hard in those days, as was always the case in pioneer life.
     Ox teams and wagons were the mode of travel. Corn meal and flour were obtained only by taking the grain to the mill at Valley Falls and later people were happy by having a mill built at LaClede. Necessities were hard to obtain and luxuries none.
     But these people being Christians, felt the need of worship, so three families organized a church. Services were first held at the home of 0. 0. Beach, better known as Grandfather Beach. Later services were at the schaol house which stood near our present pleasure resort, namely, the "Heath Hole". Services were held each Sunday with preaching every other Sunday. Dr. Channel was the first minister. Later services were held at the Rock School house every alternate Sunday to make it more convenient for all.
     Various means of travel were used in going to church. Some rode horseback, hayracks were not uncommon. One family tells of going on the running gears of a wagon, and walking was always in good taste.
     Choosing ones wearing apparel was a simple matter for the girls. As a general rule each girl, having but two dresses, would wear their next week's dress, fresh from the laundery.
     About this time the people began talking of building a church. Money was scare, but by subscription $1,000 was raised. Mr. Beach gave them a mule which was sold for the sum of $100. Mr. Sarm,el Myers had previously donated an acre of his land for a cemetery. At this time there were about a dozen graves, so it was agreed upon to build the church on this plot. John Bottom, Henry Kroth and Simeon Beach were the building committee. Mr. Coverdale and Mr. Ellis were the carpenters. Work was begun on the building about harvest time in the year 1879.
     The church was dedicated in the summer of 1880 with no debt against it. However, the seats first used and at the time of the dedication were but two inch planks on blocks of wood. Later these were replaced by chairs. By the year 1896, the church was too small to accomodate the congregation so twelve feet was added to the building, aisc, a belfry which added much to its appearance.
      Why call it Buck's Grove, you ask?
      A little Post Office had been established just south of where Mr. Channel's house stands (Mr. Russell Martins now). This Post Office was kept by Ebenezer Huffman. One day a young man jokingly remarked about calling the office Buck's Grove, as the woods around about was owned by a Mr. Buck. So, the name was sent in, approved and recorded as such in Washington, D.C. So, since that time we speak of our church, school, and community as Buck's Grove.
     Simeon Beach was Class Leader for the service after Sunday School. He used some peculiar methods sometimes. When he felt like it, he let the meeting take care of itself. If things were quiet, he sat down waiting for a volunteer and might take thirty winks. Robert Loughmiller took Simeons place for a time before Frank and Charley Kroth's tenure. Sometimes George or Charley or George, Simeon's sons, would lead. So much criticism was aimed at these testimonial meetings in our Methodist Churches, that they were banned as out-moded and most unproductive. The question is, what have we put in its place that demands a man to stand and give account of his aims and hopes in a spiritual way? Sunday School teachers that Laura Loughmiller remembers are: Mrs. Noah Downs, Annie Nicholas, Edith Loughmiller, John Venneberg, Naomi Heath Bottom, Nancy Hallock and Lettie Nicholas. Frankie Bahret Bottom was communion steward for many years.


BUCK'S GROVE
by Lorah Kroth

     A century has passed since the Buck's Grove Cemetery was started in 1864. Two persons buried in that first year were Thomas Bottom, who died at Beach's in March, 1864, and Charles Beach, a soldier of Company B, lith Kansas Cavalry Vbi=teers, who died November 6, 1864, in the Army, as a result of measles. Since then how many of our loved ones have been placed in the cemetery beside the Buck's Grove Church with the hope of a resurrection morn, for:

Somewhere in back of the sunset
Where loveliness never dies,
They live in a land of glory
With the blue and gold of the skies.
And we, who have known and loved them
And whose passing has brought sad tears,
Will cherish their memory always
To brighten the passing years.

     The Buck's Grove Church has had a regular pastor since its beginning in 1879. The following is a list of those who have served as pastors:

D.J. Crooks, 1879-1880	C.E. Tanner, 1918-1920
L. Laverty, 1881-1881	G.G. Garretson, 1920-1922
H. 0. Pasley, 1881-1884	R.E. Williams, 1922-1923
S.P. Lamb, 1884-1885	E.B. Kingbury, 1923-1923
R.T. Baldwin, 1885-1886	J.P.Groh, 1924-1927
E.H. Bailiff, 1886-1888	J.H. Parker, 1927-1929
J. Biddison, 1888-1890	J.C. Paschal, 1929-1932
R.V. Bestep, 1890-1891	N.J. Adams, 1932-1936
T.B. Gray, 1891-1894	C.H. Ocheltree, 1936-1937
J. Biddison, 1894-1896	Herschel Straw, 1937-1939
V.H. Calvin, 1896-1899	G.J. Rhodes, 1939-1940
C.J. Harned, 1899-1901	Samuel Cookson, 1940-1942
I.J. Cakes, 1901-1903	George Engel, 1942-1943
C.S. Varner, 1903-1904	Alex E. Eckert, 1943-1947
J.W. Johnson, 1904-1906	V.C. Green, 1947-1948
J.H. Kuhn, 1906-19O7	Thomas E. Ream, 1948-1950
J.H. Zabriskie, 1907-1908	Orville Knapp, 1950-1951
J.A. Rousey, 1908	Robert E. Pennock, 1951-1953
J.S.W. Dean, 1908-1910	Carl & Delta Liggett, 1953-55
W.W. Clawson, 1910-1911	W.E. Hurtig, 1955-1958
A.M. Crippen, 1911-1913	Howard Caskey, 1958-1960
A.0. Raymond, 1913-1915	Paul D. Holter, 1960-1964
A.D. Wood, 1915-1918	Bill E. Bell, 1964

     The Buck's Grove Church continues to serve its community and in ways best expressed in this article written by William Henry Boddy:

My Church

     Before I was born, my church gave to my parents ideals of life and love that made my home a place of strength and beauty.
     In helpless infancy, my church joined my parents in consecrating me to Christ and in baptizing me In His name.
     Mr church enriched my childhood with the romance and religion and the lessons of life that have been woven into the texture of my soul.
     Sometimes I seem to have forgotten and then when I might surrender to futile and foolish ideals of life, the truths my church taught became radiant, insistent and inescapable.
     In the stress and storm of adolescence, my church heard the surge of my soul and guided my footsteps by lifting my eyes to the stars.
     When first my heart knew the strange awakenings of love, my church taught me to chasten and spiritualize my affections; she sanctified my marriage and blessed my house.
     When my heart was filled with sorrow and I thought the sun could never shine again, my church drew me to the friend of all the weary, and whispered to me the hope of another morning - eternal and tearless.
     When my steps have slipped and I have known the bitterness of sins, my church has believed in me and wooingly she has called me back to live within the heights of myself.
     Now has come the children dearer than life itself, and my church is helping me to train them for all joyous and clean and Christly living.
      My church calls me to her heart. She asks my services and my loyalty. She has a right to ask it. I will help her do for others what she has done for me. In this place in which I live I will help her keep aflame and aloft the torch of a living faith.

"Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them,
Thousands of aching brains where their's are at rest and forever,
Thousands of throbbing hearts where their's have ceased from their labor
Thousands of restless hands where their's no longer are busy
Thousands of weary feet where their's have completed the journey."

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