This document summarizes a project to map the Log Providence Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery to document burial locations and preserve the legacy of the historic African American church. Students created a detailed map of the cemetery identifying headstones, possible unmarked graves, and burial patterns. The map will help avoid future disturbances and allow planning of new burials. The project also provided historical context on the church and individuals buried in the cemetery.

1. Preserving a Legacy:
Mapping Log Providence
Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery
Melissa Anderson
Matthew Boulanger
Danielle Miller
University of Missouri-Columbia

2. Three Creeks Region
 Settled between 1800-
1830
 Land speculators and
gentry-class farmers from
Kentucky, Tennessee,
Maryland and Virginia
 By 1860:
 60% of land owners held
slaves
 Titles to 86% of region held
by slave owners
 Average of 10 slaves per
land owner

3. Church History
 Established in 1866 by newly emancipated slaves
 32–49 Founding Members
 Separated from New Salem Baptist Church
 First African-American church in Boone County
 Permanent structure built in 1871 from 1500 logs
 Name changed to Log Providence at that time
 Destroyed and rebuilt twice as a result of fire

4. Rheubin and Overton Bass
 Overton Bass
 Born 1900
 Died 1905
 Rheubin Bass
 Born 1871
 Died 1907
 Children of
founding member
Reuben Bass

5. Eliza Gray
 Founding member
 Born 1818
 Died 1888
 Distinct style common
to period
 Outline separating
writing from image
 Image is hand(s)
 Stone reset on new
base

6. Church History
Photo from Harris Family Photographs, c. 1880’s-1960’s, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia, MO
 Nearby pond used for baptisms until ca. 1930
 Reverend Grant Hayes shown here, 1924 or 1925
 Church became central meeting places for freed slaves
in Three Creeks region

7. Reverend W. M. Coleman
 Longest term prior to
current pastor Rev.
David Ballenger
 1925-1944
 Started several
traditions
 Annual Basket Dinner
 Homecoming
 Pastor’s Appreciation
Day

8. Cemetery History
 Groundskeeper moved several
stones during the 1920s
 Horse-drawn sickle mower could
not navigate around them
 Many displaced stones not
reset in the correct location
 Church fires destroyed many
burial records
 An unmarked grave was
encountered during a recent
interment
 Congregation requested that the
cemetery be mapped to avoid
future disturbance Photo from Harris Family Photographs, c. 1880’s-1960’s,
Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia, MO

9. Henry Ellis
 No known history for this
individual
 Toppled and broken like
many other stones in the
cemetery
 Tombstone style similar to
Eliza Gray
 Use of “colored” even in a
predominantly African-
American church

10. Goals and Objectives
 Produce a map for planning
future burials
 Analyze burial distribution and
patterning to assess unmarked
and out-of-place stones
 Document cemetery as an
archaeological site
 Provide documentation for the
ASM
 Provide historic context for
nomination of the site to the
NRHP

11. Methods and Materials
 Location of features recorded using GPS
 One inch soil cores used to assess soil
stratigraphy
 Numbered features to provide reference
for cemetery committee
 Input points into ArcGIS 9.1
 Evaluation of unmarked stones
 Identification of any family burial plots

12. Headstones and Markers

13. Stones
(Possibly Headstones?)

14. Determining Patterns
Straight Lines, Consistent Measurements

15. Determining Patterns
Headstones Show Similar Patterns

16. Determining Patterns
Recent Identification by Others

17. Known Headstones
& Likely Headstones

18. Completed Map

20. Acknowledgements
 Funding for this project provided by a
Student Research Grant from the
Missouri Association of Professional
Archaeologists
 Dr. D. Wescott
 Deacon Dennis Smith and the
congregation of Log Providence Baptist
Church