*Von Carter, son of Susie, had lived in a
trailer up on 301 in Jarratt with his wife and kids. With the
country’s new federal housing programs, new houses built by
professional contractors were springing up all over Jarratt. His
brother Clint with his wife Jane and their kids had been living in
their house for sometime on the Cary Mason Road.
**Tad Mason was a member of the large Mason
clan. They were prominent member of Jerusalem Baptist Church. John
"Bustuh" Mason, a carpenter and father of John
"Pudding" Mason (a former schoolmate), believed that
Mama’s grandmother Fannie Mason, wife of Sam Williams (both
former slaves), was related to this family. They often in a
playful tease referred to each other as "cuz."
It was through visits that Bustuh Mason had with
Mama that I gained further affirmations about the history of
Jerusalem Baptist Church. He too knew of the old Jerusalem, which
had been built before the present edifice. He too knew of it only
through word of mouth. So the size of the building or the persons
involved in its construction were not known with certainty. Bustuh
believed and so does Mama that the most prominent person involved
in Jerusalem’s history was the the Reverend William Bassett, who
at one point owned most of the land in the area. Bassett, probably
a mulatto, was Jerusalem’s first minister.
Bassett seemed to have come into conflict with
the deacons of Jerusalem. For, it seems, he led a portion of the
members out of Jerusalem and established Hasiadiah Baptist up near
Route 301, closer to the township of Jarratt. His burial site at
Hasiadiah makes clear he was a noteworthy personality. For no
Negro in the area was ever buried with the grave enclosed by an
iron wrought fence, nor with a four-foot headstone. For some
reason or another the church has allowed his grave site to go to
weeds and disrepair. But this negligence is the natural outcome
for those who have little or no appreciation for their history. or
maybe it is emblematic on a long-standing and unstated and
unremembered conflict between the former minister and the members
of Hasiadiah that has yet to be resolved, even over a century
after his death
