I am interested in finding the early records of the Sweetwater Primitive Baptist Church and maybe the Rutledge Primitive Baptist Church from Butler Co., AL (both of which if they still exist are probably in Crenshaw County).

I descend from at least 4 ancestral lines from Butler Co.--Shows, Kent, Langford and Peek. A couple of side lines I've identified are Lucar and Ficklin, and I believe there may be Liles and Womack lines connected to Butler County too. Most of these lines were later associated with the Bethel Primitive Baptist Church in Caddo Parish, LA that is in an area just North of Shreveport. I also know of a man named John McCain who moved from Butler in the early 1850s to Caddo Parish, LA. He became one of the earliest ministers for the Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, which was founded in 1847.

My ancestor John Shows and his wife Hannah, who were living in Butler Co. as early as the 1830 census, joined the Sweetwater Primitive Baptist Church in Butler Co. in 1839. (This I learned from the research materials of a researcher I have not been able to locate.) Then John Shows moved from Butler to Caddo Parish, LA in the 1850s. John's daughter was married in Caddo Parish in 1855 and their youngest son was born there in 1858. However John did not move his letter of membership from the church in Butler, AL until 1860. It was recorded in the minutes of the Sweetwater Church that they were dismissed by letter in Aug. 1860. John and his wife joined the Bethel Church in LA that same year.

I am hoping that the minutes that recorded the dismissal letter of John Shows might still exist and might also have records of the membership and dismissal of some of my other ancestors. Perhaps someone can tell me where I might locate such records? (The minutes of the Bethel Primitive Baptist Church are on microfilm housed in the archives of the Noel Library on the campus of Louisiana State University at Shreveport and date back to 1847 when the church was started.)

Any information will be helpful.

Diana