When I last posted about my research on Rhoda Caroline, I
had sent an e-mail to the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository
and hadn’t received a response. I was
considering sending an e-mail directly to the archivist inquiring about records
for the Elm Street Methodist Church.
Also, I had ordered the Elm Street Methodist Church records on microfilm
from the TSLA.
Shortly after sending in my order to the TSLA, I received a
phone call and e-mail from them telling me that those records actually covered
3 reels of microfilm. They asked if I
wanted to send in more money to order the other 2 reels, since I had only sent
in a check to cover the cost of one reel.
There was nothing on the TSLA’s microfilm ordering page indicating the
number of reels for a particular record group.
I wrote back saying that I was interested in the membership records for
the Elm Street Methodist Church and if they were on one reel than I’d like to
purchase that. The staff found that those
records were on one reel of microfilm and so they sent that reel to me.
In the meantime, I sent another e-mail to the archivist’s
personal e-mail address of the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History
Depository and received a reply. I told
them the name of the family I was looking for.
Since the records that were available were from the mid-1880’s, I
thought it best not to ask if there were records for Richardson and ask about
records for people with the last name of Womble.
I received a response which contained a decent about of
information about the Womble line I’m researching. I asked about the possibility of purchasing copies of the
information that had been found and sent a check to them.
I haven’t received the copies yet, but I imagine that
they’ll appear after the holidays. Last
week, I received the microfilm reel I had purchased from the TSLA. I went to my local library to look at the
records on the reel. I found some of
the records that the archivist at the Tennessee Conferences Archives had found
for me. While I looked through the
membership records for the name Womble, I also searched for Richardson and
Mijers, which is the name of a person who co-signed the marriage bond with John
Washington Womble. I didn’t see anyone
with the last name of Richardson or
Mijers.
While looking at the records I noticed that Rhoda Caroline
or Callie as she’s listed in the Elm Street Methodist Church membership records
was received in 1885. Her daughter,
Maud was also received later that same year.
John Washington Womble was received in 1886 and it’s noted that it was
done via vows. I’m not sure what the
significance of that is. I’ve heard
that when someone joins another church as a baptized adult that they’re
received. If they’ve never been baptized
then they might be baptized when they join a
church; however, if John W. Womble hadn’t been baptized then I would
think he would’ve been when he was received.
So again, I’m not sure if it’s significant that when he was received it
was with vows. Could he not join in
person and so conveyed his intention to join the church via vows?
Since both Rhoda Caroline and her daughter were received
without any vows or baptism, it seems likely that they had already been
baptized when they joined this church.
Maybe this is a question to ask the archivist when I receive my
copies? I also should ask about other
Methodist churches in Nashville that may have records available dating back to
around the Civil War or at least ask what happened to the early membership records
for this church.
Based on what I’ve read about using church records in
genealogical research, it seems that the records are sometimes only really
great if the person recording the information was extremely thorough in their
record keeping. My extremely limited
knowledge of Methodist church records is that that particular denomination was
not big on keeping records as a general rule.
So perhaps what I found is as good as it’s gonna get for me.
I’m happy that I sought out this information since church
records are still uncharted waters in my genealogical skills. I have a bit of experience in obtaining
them, but this is the deepest that I’ve ever dove into the religious records
pool of genealogical documents. Still
after having found this tidbit of information, I’m left with a “what’s next”
feeling. I’d really like to milk these
records for every once of information, but I’m not sure that it’s really
possible.
I do think that it would be a good idea to see if I can
dredge up other church records for this family. Since I found them belonging to a Methodist church, then there’s
a good chance that I may be able to find them belonging to another Methodist
church in another locale. Hopefully,
the more information I can find about John Washington Womble the more
information I will locate about his wife, Rhoda Caroline Richardson.
