Coldwater Baptist Church

Submitted by Nelda G. Liles

The Coldwater Baptist Church and Cemetery is located at Hagewood, Natchitoches Parish, LA on LA Hwy 6, about eight (8) miles west of Natchitoches, LA.

In 1891, Isaac Angelo Ellzey, son of John Hill Ellzey and Mary Jane Sibley Ellzey, donated two and one-half acres of land on the north side of the LA Hwy 6 and Hwy 117 junction, to be used for school and church purposes as noted in the Coldwater Baptist Church records. In the next few years following this donation, a building was constructed on this property, and was used as a meeting place, a school, and a post office.

The Coldwater Baptist Church was organized in 1912, with Rev. C. Williamson as its first pastor.The following persons were listed as charter members:

Mr. and Mrs. George Berry
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wyatt
Mr. Walter Wyatt
Miss Mamie Hubbard
Mrs. James Wesley Sanders (Ada Wiggins)
Mrs. Wallace Marion Stephens (Janie Wiggins)
Mrs. Martha A. Brown Ellzey (wife of Isaac Angelo Ellzey)
Mr. and Mrs. J. Cullen Brown (Mary Emmagaard Ellzey, sister of Isaac Angelo Ellzey)
Mrs. Ambrose John Martin (Lurline Elizabeth Ellzey, daughter of Isaac Angelo Ellzey)

Both Janie Wiggins Stephens and Ada Wiggins Sanders were nieces of Isaac Angelo Ellzey, daughters of DeWittie Jane Ellzey Wiggins.

In 1914, property was purchased from Mrs. Lurline Elizabeth Ellzey Martin ($5.00), and a church building was constructed at the present site of the Coldwater Baptist Church. It was not until 1949 that a cemetery was established on property adjacent to the church, although Laura Anderson Sibley (1873-1936, wife of Edward C. Sibley, mother of Mary 'Evie' Sibley McQueen), who had specifically requested burial near the Coldwater Church, was buried at the front left of the church in 1936. The first burial in the Coldwater Baptist Church Cemetery was that of Andrew B. Miller, 02 Sep 1951, son of William Wesley Miller and Georgia Trammel Miller..

Prior to 1949, the people of the community had buried their loved ones in the Pine Grove Cemetery, which is located approximately one mile south of the present location and one mile east of LA 117, on Natchitoches Parish Road 632. The Pine Grove Methodist Church and the adjacent Pine Grove Cemetery had served as a focal point for this settlement area since about 1850.

Coldwater Baptist Church has been served by many fine and distinguished pastors, among whom was Rev. Oliver S. Roberts, serving from 1925-1933 and 1941-1951, the longest term overall as well as the longest continuous service. Rev. J. P. King served from 1960 to 1970, and Rev. Troy V. Wheeler served from 1975 to 1984, when he retired from active service. Rev. Wheeler continued to fill the pulpit in times of need, and remained a loyal and faithful friend of the church to the year of his death, 1992. The Coldwater Baptist Church continues to serve the people of the Hagewood, LA area as it has done for the past eighty-five years.

References:

1. Minutes and records of Coldwater Baptist Church, Hagewood, LA.
2. Conversations with community residents.