Email From Gary Aden to Gary Aden
Email Dated 5/8/2001 

      The fact that John Camp was the son-in-law of James Tarpley who
donated the Bell to the Burton Parish Church where so many leaders of
the Revolution, e.g., George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay,
etc., worshiped makes his treatment both by the times and by the DAR
that more surprising.

      The fiftth child of John and Mary Camp, Abner(7/12/1775 Rutherford
County, North Carolina-9/17/11853 Winder, Walton County, Georgia),
married in 1798 to Elizabeth RAGSDALE(7/15/1776 ?Virginia-3/10/1854
Winder, Walton County, Georgia), daughter of Peter Ragsdale and Sara
CHARLTON Ragsdale. Abner and his wife lived in a large brick house near
Jug Tavern(Winder). Both are buried in the Treadwell burying ground near
the old Treadwell home a few miles from Bethlehem. Abner was one of the
founders of the Bethlehem United Methodist Church. There is a State
Historical Marker on the site recognizing the Church as the oldest
Methodist Church in the State of Georgia and the contriubtion(1847) of
six acres of land for the Church by Abner's son-in-law, Reverend J.W.B.
ALLEN(4/19/1819 Jackson County, Georgia- 8/16/1890 Fayette County,
Texas) who had married Abner's sixth child(of seven), Martha(6/27/1814
Walton County, Georgia- 3/19/1906 Flatonia, Fayette County, Texas), on
December 2,1836.

      John W.B. Allen and Harvey Treadwell became guardians of Abner's
grandchildren, Satira, Arthur P., Susan E., Mary Ann, and Martha C.R.,
by the second child of Abner, Russell, who died in March of 1847. Walton
County is best known today as the home of Coca-Cola International. 

       Because of health considerations(nature unknown), Reverend J.W.B.

     Allen resigned as assistant pastor at the Bethlehem United Methodist
Church and established a pioneer Methodist Church in the new town of
Thrifty, Texas in 1852 which was the center of the cattle drives. There,
he emerged as one of the two celebrated community leaders(along with
Charles E. Mullins) of the town and the area which was prominent in the
cattle drive era. He also served as a cricuit minister on horseback
visiting the various emerging towns in the area until a traditional
Methodist ministry could be established. He visited the ill and
homebound in a horse and buggy. He wrote  a book entitled LESSONS FOR
YOUTH in 1883 which is in the Library of Congress and can be coveniently
be reviewed at the Barker Center of the University of Texas, Austin. In
these efforts, Martha was recognized as a full partner by the Texas
Christian Advocate which published her obituary in 1906. The couple
parented and raised ten children, eight(one child had died in infancy)
of whom they brought west to Texas from Georgia. Four of their sons saw
combat for the Confederacy in the Bank Raid in Louisiana. In addition to
her service as helpmate and wife to JWB Allen for sixty two years, she
was described as a patient, cheerful, and sweet woman. The TEXAS
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY is in the process of constructing a MEMORIAL to the
PIONEERS of THRIFTY TEXAS on the site of the now defunct town which will
recognize the contribution of Martha and her husband. The nearest major
population center to the memorial is in Brownwood, Texas. SITE SUMMARY:

ENGLAND: ALL SAINTS PARISH CHURCH-NAZEING
USA: COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG-JAMES TARPLEY'S STORE ON GOVERNOR SQUARE

James Tarpley presented the BELL to the Burton Parish Chuch,
WIlliamsburg, Virginia, in 1761, according to "Records of the Burton
Parish Church by Dr. William Archer Rutherford. A tablet placed in tower
of the church has the following inscription: "The gift of James Tarpley
to Burton Parish 1761" engraved on the bell in the tower. 
North Carolina: BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN near Gastonia
South Carolina: BATTLE OF COWPENS near Spartanburg
Georgia: State Historical Marker, Bethlehem- BETHLEHEM UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH

Texas: State Historical Marker(under construction) near
Brownwood-MEMORIAL TO THE PIONEERS OF THRIFTY TEXAS
Gravesites: Thomas Camp III- near Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Abner Camp and Elizabeth RAGSDALE Camp- Treadwell  Home, Bethlehem,
Georgia

Reverend J.W.B. Allen and Martha CAMP Allen-Flatonia, Fayette County,
Texas- Oak Hill Cemtery where Martha's headstone reads OUR MOTHER<
MARTHA ALLEN< BORN 1814< DIED 1907< AGE 93 YRS
I cannot account for the year of death on the headstone. Her death
certificate gives the date as March 19(nineteen) 1906(one thousand nine
hundred and six) due to "paralysis" and the article in Texas Christian
Advocate states that she died March 26, 1906. Go figure! Ain't geealogy
a precise science!