12) William Daniel Martin, born October 30, 1848, attended church in North Carolina. Since there was no Lebanon Primitive Baptist Church in the Bracey area, the Martin family decided to build one in 1923. In 1923 the family, brothers of William Martin and William Martin’s sons, Frank Lassiter, James Thomas, George Gatlin, and Warren Montgomery, started work on their church. Church services were held once a month by traveling preachers. Other Sundays the Martin family traveled to near-by Primitive Baptist churches in North Carolina. The ministers were called elders and preached in a sing-song chant. They preached about dreams, visions, and predestination. They believed they had to be inspired by the spirit to preach and they would go to the pulpit and stand, pray, and, now and then, would say “I am not filled with the spirit.” The elder would go back to his seat and the congregation would sing hymns for an hour. No musical instruments were used. All voices were raised. The men sat in the front pews and the women behind with the children.
Bracey History Project 