Jesse & Cap'n Jack: NEW LEBANON CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and SCHOOL

National Register

Reverend Finis Ewing 1773-1841
image via Wikimedia Commons
in the U.S. public domain

In 1979 this church and school on State Road A in New Lebanon, Cooper County, Missouri was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

From the nomination listing:

"The New Lebanon Cumberland Presbyterian Church is significant as an example of Greek Revival style architecture; it is important also as one of the earliest surviving churches of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination, and as the site of the first Cumberland Presbyterian seminary. The Reverend Finis Ewing, co-organizer of the Cumberland Presbyterian movement and eminent pioneer preacher was the founder of the New Lebanon seminary and served as the congregation's first minister."

1887 Railroad Map of Missouri (Cooper County)

Reverend Ewing left New Lebanon in 1831 (for Lexington, Missouri), long before the church building was built in 1860. In spite of his departure, the congregation continued to grow.

New Lebanon is about 25 miles south of Boonville. By the 1890s both N-S and E-W railroad lines passed through Boonville. At the time, 25 miles distance was sufficient to put Lebanon in the middle of nowhere and its population declined.

New Lebanon Cumberland Presbyterian Church
View from the SouthWest, taken ~1900-1920 (photographer unknown)

The Drinkwater Connection

Our Drinkwaters had moved from Tennessee (or Virginia) to Cooper Co., Missouri in the 1820's and 30's.

"Samuel Drinkwater was a 'brick maker' and it is easy to speculate that it was he who made the bricks for the church." History of New Lebanon, Cooper County, Missouri (1976)

According to the 1860 U.S. Census for Lebanon Township, Cooper County, Missouri,

S Drinkwater was 37 (a couple years younger than John Thurston Drinkwater). John does not appear to have had a brother named Samuel. He may be a cousin, but that's just a guess.

John T. Drinkwater, blacksmith;
grandfather of M.E. Drinkwater

Subscriptions to the Cumberland Presbyterian church building fund of 1859-60 ranged from $1 to $200, totalling $3200. Subscriptions came from church and community members.

John T. Drinkwater pledged $30. -- History of New Lebanon, Cooper County, Missouri (1976)

"Brick for the new building was fired a few yards from the site, while pine lumber was hauled with teams and wagons from Boonville. The building was completed June 3, 1860 at a cost of $3230.83."
-- National Register Listing (1979)

According to a biography sketch of John T. published in 1895, he was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Montserrat at that time. It is not a stretch to assume that he was also a member of the same denomination when he lived in New Lebanon. John also had a grandson named Finis, perhaps after the reverend. Finis died in his infancy.