The neighborhood a few miles south of Decatur in which Sand Hill Church and camp-grounds are located, has- been a center of religious and educational activity since the earliest history of the county. During the whole of the preliminary period, a quarter of a century of pioneerism, the religious and educational factors and forces at Sand Hill dominated these sentiments in-the county. Thus this ground became a mecca where all resorted for worship and for educational purposes, and as a stronghold for piety, sanctified to the demands of religion and education, has left the seal of its impress for moral elevation clearly stamped on the body politic of the county.

Its proximity to the surrounding settlements contributed to its origin. The present location of the church is not the original one. The church was organized in the home of Jim Brooks, an early citizen to whom reference has been made. In the summer of 1854 the following persons met at Mr. Brooks' to organize the first church body of the territory: Rev. W. H.H. Bradford, Jim Brooks, Thomas Cogdell, Charles Browder, Benjamin Monroe, Dr. Standifer, Lemuel Cartwright and Rev. John Roe.
Rev. Bradford, commonly called "Buck," officiated at this early religious ceremony, ordaining and dedicating the church to the doctrines of Wesley, and became its first pastor. Thus the Methodists were the first to unfurl the banner of the Cross in Wise County.

Situated a short distance from Mr. Brooks' home stood a large sand hill from 'neath which a large spring issued, from which natural formation the church took its name-Sand Hill. In the fall of the same year a brush arbor meeting was held east and across the creek from the present Sand Hill camp-grounds, approximate to the home of Lem Cartwright. In 1855 the present Sand Hill community had been generally occupied, and its convenient center became the natural assembling point of the people for miles in all directions. That center was the home of Lem Cartwright above mentioned, and to this home the church was moved in the same year from its original location at Mr. Brooks', some miles to the south. Soon afterward, Mr. Cartwright vacated his home, surrendering it to the people for a church, and built a new house on the hill-ridge to the east.

"OLD SWAYBACK."
This was the inception of "Old Swayback," a building and a church revered in the memory of Wise County pioneers, and the scene of the earliest manifestations of religious enthusiasm and pious enterprise.

"Old Swayback" stood on the west slant of the prairie hill almost directly east of the present Sand Hill church, and was constructed of home-made boards for covering and green slabs for framing. A long ridge-pole ran along the center of the gable roof as the upper support of the roof boards. Finally the ridgepole sagged downward at the center, carrying the roof along and leaving the two ends projecting upward, from which peculiar defect the church got its name-"Swayback," affectionately referred to now as "Old Swayback."

By 1856 the increased citizenship demanded more commodious church quarters and a meeting of all denominations was held at "Swayback" to confer upon the matter. The conclusion to build a new church was arrived at and a committee appointed to locate a place for same, which was done at a spot near the one on which the present church now stands. The groves and contiguous spring were deciding factors in locating the church, as was also a gift of the land by W. A. King. Here the first building for religious purposes in the county was erected -a log structure twenty feet square with a dirt floor, built by the general help of the community.
Alternate Sunday services were held in it by the different denominations, though it is not reported that any other church organizations occurred there. Among the early ministers who preached here were: Rev. W. H. H. Bradford, Methodist; John Roe, Methodist; Rev. J. T. Willis, Baptist; Parson Windsor, Methodist; Rev. Gregory, Cumberland; Wm. Bates, Methodist; Rev. Aikens, Presbyterian; and Rev. Withom.

The custom of holding annual brush arbor camp-meetings was then begun and has been conducted as a time-honored practice to this day.

BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED.
The Baptist Church holds ground with the Methodist as a pioneer church organization, and some of the earliest and most devout preachers were of that denomination.
The organization took place in the fall of 1856 in the home of Samuel Perrin, who lived about a mile southwest of the present Decatur. Rev. J. T. Willis, of Denton Creek, officiated at the exercises, Colonel G. B. Pickett being one of the witnesses. Some time after this a small log school house was built by Wm.
and Samuel Perrin, Rich. Beck and Millholland, near where the Decatur and Boyd road crosses the Beck or Brady Branch, and to this place the church was moved and services afterwards held.

CHURCH ON CATLETT CREEK.
The above were the two early enterprises, the third occuring in the upper Catlett Creek community north of Decatur, which had as yet been without church advantages except those afforded by the Sand Hill and the Baptist church. But upon these latter the old settlers attended faithfully. It may be stated, parenthetically, that a serious and earnest piety distinguished the old settlers as a body. It was an hour of loneliness and isolation amidst the danger of which the people recognized the imminent need of divine assistance and guidance, hence their faithful journeyings to the altars for support and consolation. The strength and drawing power of Sand Hill lay in its ability to supply that need of Christian nourishment demanded by the pioneers in their struggle with life. In this way the old shrine at Sand Hill became one at which all gathered for supplication and to receive the outpourings of spiritual blessings; the holy fount from which gushed the waters of life bathed away the general fears and soothed the aching hearts. Small wonder is it that Sand Hill is revered in memory and affection, for there falling footsteps and drooping spirits have been strengthened and dull eyes brightened, and through the lowering clouds of grief and trouble, have been made to shine the brightening rays of comfort, hope and cheer, presaging a happier to-morrow and a joyous future- the bequeathings of an all-wise and kindly Father.

The Catlett Creek settlement had their religious beginnings in a service held in the home of Capt. John W. Hale, in the fall of either of the years of 1855 or 56. Rev. Stubblefield, a Methodist missionary to Sand Hill, was in charge. The following year a two days' brush arbor meeting was held in the timber midway between the homes of Col. G. B. Pickett and Capt. Hale, and continued there for many summers. Church services were continued in Capt. Hale's home during the winter for some time. No church house was built in the community before the war, and during that trying period the people went to Decatur to worship, this upon the advice of Rev. Bellamy who had moved into the county.

Tradition points to Gage's school house, which would now stand in the vicinity of Sycamore, as the first church and schoolhouse built north of Sand Hill and Decatur. This was a union church, built near the home of Jerry Gage, from whom it took its name.

In about 1870 the Gose schoolhouse and church was erected on upper Catlett proper, at a point north of Decatur, in the immediate vicinity of Major S. M. Gose's home, which furnished school and church facilities for many years. Reference has been made to the building of a schoolhouse and organizing of a Sunday school in the western part of the county by Col. Hunt. This perhaps was the lone example of religious and educational enterprise in that section for no other is reported for the period. The next activity occurs at Decatur, which will be described in another place.

SCHOOL BEGINNINGS.
The pioneers very early displayed a recognition of the value of education. The first little school is reported to have been started a year before the territory brought itself under the restraints of organized local government. The first school was taught by Eli Hoag in the summer of 1855, but the exact location is in controversy.
The school was conducted either at " Old Sway back " church or in the house of W. S. Hoag, a brother of Eli Hoag, the pioneer teacher. The latter dwelling stood on the banks of Walnut Creek, a few miles south of Decatur, and was afterwards torn down and moved to Decatur. This first school was sparsely attended and lasted only for a short season. A second and more successful term was conducted by Mr. Bleffins in the summer of 1856, the year of organization, in the little log school house described as having been located on Beck or Brady Branch, near the point of the Boyd and Decatur road crossing, which place is about half a mile southeast of the Baptist College in Decatur. o Professor Bleffins was a young and educated Virginia gentleman who had sought this mild climate in pursuit of health, and was highly equipped for the duties of teaching. A list of a few of the pupils is provided, to-wit:

The children of the Beck family and the following children of the two Perrin families: Jim, Mary, Will, Sabina, Sallie, Mandy, Mahalie and William. William and Susan Hunt, Charlie and Clabe Cates, Sam, Bartholomew and Simon Mill-holland, John, Ben and Nannie Howel.

The third of the pioneer schools was taught in the fall and winter of 1856, in the church house at Sand Hill, then but recently completed. Professor Wm. Fletcher, another educated Virginian, who -had come out in search of health, conducted this school in a highly efficient manner. Among the pupils who attended here were Joe, Lee, Jim, Fronie and Phoebe Crutch-field, the Beck children, the Pleas Byrant children, Clabe and Charlie Cates, Mary and Barnett Pauley, Robert M. Collins, John and Addie Newman, Cisely Ann, Thomas, Will, George and Glenn Halsell, and the Cartwright boys. J. D. White, one of the living pioneers, succeeded as teacher of this school in 1857. Pupils attended Mr. White's two terms from both Wise and Denton Counties, and some of them in after life attained to position and prominence, noted as follows:

Rev. Z. B. Carroll, Baptist minister; Rev. Lafayette Bullard, Presbyterian divine; Banfield Cogdell, a successful citizen of Hill County; Thomas Cogdell, a prominent banker of Grandbury, Hood County; T. S. Cogdell, a prominent farmer of Hood County, and R. M. Collins, who gained wide prominence as writer and editor.
Successful schools are also reported from Deep Creek and Prairie Point. In 1859 or 60, the third Virginian who was to come to Wise County for the restorative climate began a school on Deep Creek, this teacher being Robert Walker. The school was conducted successfully for a number of years, and almost all the children of the Deep Creek community had their educational beginnings there. Among them are mentioned: Brice and John Mann, Laura and Jim Young, Will Drew, Joe and Betty Woody, Ripley, Julia and Bettie Standfield, Jim Brooks, Will Holmes, Lawrence, Jr., Henry, Mary, Frank, and William Ward, Jim, Martha, Tom, Jess, Emma, John and Pink Boyd, Jim, Charles and George Reed, Frank and Marcellus Broadstreet, Jim Foster, Cephus Woods, Jess Carpenter, Mary, Emma, Ella, Annie and John Holmes, Alfred and William Manning, Jack, Dennis, Mary and Bettie Paschall, Willis Millholland, Mary and Micajah Britt, Sam Woody, Jr., the Cogdell children, Jasper Armstrong, Wm. Shoemaker, Jess, Jim and Chesly Walker, Mary, Jane and Jim Paschall, John and Mart Houston, Emma and Tom Crews, Francis Cherry and Seg Bradford.

The Prairie Point School was taught by John S. Morris, and continued with success for a number of years. The schools in the north part of the settlements were not so numerous nor so well attended, due to the sparser population. A school is reported to have been taught at a very early date by a Mr. Rodman, near where the New South Church now stands, and later Benjamin Shrews taught there. Another school is reported from the neighborhood where the Gose school was afterwards built, with Joe Wilson as teacher. These schools furnished facilities for the children of Colonel Pickett, J. D. White, J. W. Hale and others of that community. ,The only school in the western part of the county was located near Colonel Hunt's ranch house, and Mrs. Salmon is said to have been the first person to teach there.