Like the other churches in Smithville, (Baptist and Methodist) the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in the Solomon log school house before the Civil War. In the list of members were Mr.and Mrs. William Dunagan, James Baker, Rev. William McBride, Elizabeth McBride, Joseph Taylor, (my father) Cicero Taylor, Mrs. McGee, Mrs. J.M. Self, Carrie Self and George Thornburgh. Some of the ministers before the Civil War were the Revs. John Miller, Absolum Fortenberry, and William Murrow. Those preaching after the Civil War were Revs. Absolum Fortenberry, Robert Evans and James W. Wilson. George Thornburgh represented the eldership of the Old White River Assembly of Presbyterian churches which met in Evansville, Ind. in 1872. The church at Smithville had been recognized as the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. in 1966 or 1967. They continued to worship in the old log school house until the Methodist erected their building in 1975. They then worshiped with the Methodist congregation.

The following information was taken from the Fortenberry history written by Louise Kaiser Meyer in 1953. My grandparents, Sevier and Walker Barnett Fortenberry, were charter members of the Presbyterian Church organized at Smithville in 1896. The congregation worshiped in the school house until they could build a church in 1901. It was located on the west side of town on what then was known as the Evening Shade road on a plot of land donated by Lo Henderson. The pulpit and pews were made by Coffey Lumber Co. in Black Rock. In the pulpit the white oak walking stick of my step great grandfather, Joseph Taylor, was designed in the front. The congregation was small and disbanded about 1915. The pulpit with its white oak walking stick was sold to the Presbyterian Church in Paragould. Some families who attended church there were the Fortenberrys, Hillhouses, Kaiser, Hendersons, Rudys and Taylors.

This writer remembers going to church there when quite young. The small white building and the furnishings were very attractive. The organ, carpet and chandeliers caught my eye. The organ was two octaves wider than any I had seen. A beautiful wine carpet covered the aisle and chancel which was enclosed with carved wood railing.

The property was sold to a Missionary Baptist Church which disbanded in a few years. It was eventually sold to Mr. and Mrs.Gene Williams and the lumber was used to build their home which was torn down about three years ago leaving a vacant lot.

History Of A Church, A People,
Walking Cane
Times Dispatch, January 1953

Pilgrimages are an essential heritage of race and mankind, History records many famous pilgrimages, the faithful still tum toward Mecca. The Israelites journey to Jerusalem and modern man revisits the scenes of his childhood or dreams of conquests. Religion prompted crusades and pilgrimages and it is no different now as man still clings closely to those things associated with the Supreme Power, historical background and family connections serving to sharpen such impulses. Cal Sharp and Tim Watson of Saffell and Strawberry respectively, drove to Paragould one morning in January 1953 to view again a church pulpit that was used in the early era of Lawrence County's religious movements and to see with their own eyes, how a walking cane was fashioned to become a part of a pulpit and the cane, as identified with a church and men in Lawrence county.

The picture is not too clear but on close inspection the reader will see that a walking cane, cut in half by a master workman, is fitted into either side of the front of the pulpit and the circumstances surrounding this unusual pulpit will be of interest to many in this county. Mr. Taylor an eminent historian, supplied the factual data in letter written in November in which he said: "There was a terrible drouth in 1874, the year of the "Hot Wind", the first ever known in that section of the country. We had a bumper crop the next year,1875. John Sharp with his wagon and ox team helped us in gathering the corn crop. I remember the folks saying the steers tried to eat corn as they worked and Mr. Sharp instead of using muzzles, buckled straps around the noses of the animals so they could not open their mouths. "John Sharp was a close friend of my father. My father was born in 1823 and had then reached the ripe old age of 52. He had hair as white as the new fallen snow and was amply capable of growing a white beard a foot long, which he did as was his custom. Mr. Sharp gave him a walking stick made of white oak, to aid him to get about in his remaining decrepit years. He died 26 years later in 1901. "I kept that walking stick 20 years after my father died. When we built the Presbyterian Church in Smithville, I had charge of having the pulpit and pews made. The Black Rock Fumiture and Lumber Co. manufactured the fumiture. I took the walking cane to Mr. Coffey and instructed him too work the walking stick in front of the pulpit, which he did. He cut about 12 inches from the lower end, accurately split the upper part, including the bow, stripped the two bow halves opposite each other, he place some rosettes around them as you can see. It made a beautiful design. When the church ceased to exist, the property was sold. The Presbyterian Church at Mammoth Spring bought the pews and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Paragould, obtained the pulpit, and there on that pulpit you will see John Sharp's walking stick which he gave to my father 77 years ago.

The older Sharps and others of that era are gone. The old John Sharp water mill is history but a walking cane, which belonged to pioneer men and became part of a church pulpit, prompted Cal Sharp and Tim Watson to make the pilgrimage to Paragould and Mr. Sharp had the picture made, which forms a part of this article, a patern of mens devotion to his creator." J.L. Bland The above article was furnished by Mrs. Vera Fortenberry Wilford.