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    Why Our Church was named "Free Communion"

In the 1700's Alice Martin Parrott, wife of Pompey (Pomp) Parrott & the mother of Ralph Parrott came by the land as her inheritance from her family.  Some believed Alice obtained a large amount of property by way of a government grant rather than family inheritance probably because almost all the land in that area was originally from Revolutionary War land grants made to soldiers after the war for our nation's independence.  Because the government had little or no money, tracts of land were given to ex-soldiers as payment for their services during the war.  The only problem was the lands the government gave to them happened to be located 300 miles into Indian territory.  The land's ownership was in dispute because the Cherokee tribe sold it to a large speculator but the land they sold was part of the Shawnee Tribe's ancestral lands.  So the Cherokees sold the Shawnee's land to an American, and so the grants were all but worthless.  Speculators set up shop all along the East Coast and bought the worthless grants from soldiers for a penny or two an acre then resold them at a huge profit to settlers streaming across the mountains through the Cumberland Gap a decade or so later.  Many of the original families who settled in that area, The Martins, Parrotts, Kennedys, Stovers, and so on, bought large tracts from these land speculators and settled there.  Some of these tracts were several square miles in size but had been divided several times by inheritance until there were few or no large tracts left.  Alice Martin Parrott owned the tract where the present church property is located.  As a young woman she deeded the 1/2 acre to be used as the site for a log building which was built by the men of the neighborhood and used as both a church and school, which was the practice back in the middle 1800's.  Her only stipulation in giving this property was that the building be called "Free Communion."  The original log building burned to the ground around 1910 and was replaced by the boxed schoolhouse sytle building.  The county built the present day Independence School in 1951 and Free Communion along with all the other little one room schools in this part of the county were closed and folded into it.  Sister Carmon Stover's father, Andrew Stover, was born in 1885, and her mother, Ona Stover, was born in 1890 and both her parents attended school at Free Communion and later also attended church there as well.  Sister Carmon Stover was baptized at Free Communion at the age of 13 years old and was therefore a member of the Lord's Church for 74 years and attended all those years at Free Communion.  Let us follow her example of being truly faithful & dedicated to the Lord and be ever greatful for setting such a great example before us as current members of God's Kingdom and Free Communion Church of Christ.  May God bless and keep us all in the hollow of His hand! 

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.  But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon."    1 Corinthians 3:10

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