St. William’s Catholic Church at Red Hill
The story of the building of St. Williams Church probably took root as early as 1909, when a Catholic family from Red Hill by the name of McCall came to Sacred Heart in Texarkana to have their child baptized. (possibly Mary Frances Lambert McCall, the eldest daughter of the Colonel and his second wife.)
The priest they met was Father Hayes, who came there from Chicago by way of Dallas. To Father Hayes’ astonishment there was no record of there being any Catholics in this area. As Father Hayes investigated, he reported finding at least twelve families professing to be Catholic - all Lambert and Henderson descendants.
Father Hayes was determined there would be a Catholic Church in Red Hill and within a period of just over two years he had one constructed.
A description of the day St. Williams was “solemnly dedicated”, on Tuesday,
May 21st , 1912, was documented in a page from the memoirs of Bishop Lynch of the Dallas Diocese. A copy of this page was given to me by Joe Lambert, a grandson of Colonel William Blue Lambert, in 1985.
Bishop Lynch writes that he was the first Catholic bishop to visit Cass County. He states that the “Red Hill District” had been served by priests from Longview up until this time. According to Bishop Lynch, it was Father Hayes of the Sacred Church in Texarkana who was the driving force to build the church at Red Hill. This helps to explain why St. Williams became a mission parish of Sacred Heart in the beginning, but within the year of its founding in 1912, St. William’s was served by the Jesuits of Shreveport.
From sources both oral and written, an accurate picture of the day of the dedication can be drawn.
As word spread that a Catholic bishop was about to visit Cass County, for the first time, interest grew both in the Catholic as well as the non-Catholic community as well. A group of men, both Catholic and non-Catholic were assigned as an honor guard, to meet Bishop Lynch in located about six miles away and escort him to Red Hill. This must have taken place in the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 21st, 1912 because Bishop Lynch writes, “The dedication of the Church was a great event. On this occasion I preached for over two hours. The people came prepared, seemingly to stay all day, as they brought their lunch with them. The crowd filled the church, the windows and surrounded the building. After the Father accompanying me and myself had taken our dinner, a committee made-up of some Catholic and non-Catholic waited upon and wanted to know when I would begin the preaching again as they were delaying their departure to their homes. I accommodated them by having Father Hayes preach to them and I left for Jefferson, going by buggy to Linden “ The Bishop also writes that he confirmed a class of 25 candidates that day.
St. William’s was served by the Jesuit Fathers from Shreveport from 1912 until 1934. Immaculate Conception of Jefferson was also served by the Jesuits during this period of time. From 1935 to 1944 both Red Hill and Jefferson were mission parishes of St. Joseph of Marshall. During the last four years of being a mission of Marshall, records indicate a priest from Wichita Falls also served in these two parishes.
From 1945 until its last mass in 1956, St. William’s was a mission of St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus of Gladewater. The decline in membership of St. William’s was due mainly to the decline in family farms. As more and more people left the farm for employment in urban areas St. Williams membership also declined.
In the early 1960’s, two Glenn Mary priests were sent to this area. (Glenn Mary is a Catholic religious order dedicated to missionary service in areas within the
United States that has very few Catholics.) Father Gary and Father Doell were assigned to Jefferson with the goal of establishing a Catholic church in Atlanta, Texas. Because St. Williams would be within the new parish boundaries of St. Catherine’s in Atlanta, its remaining parish members would go to church there.
In a letter dated April 15, 1963, Thomas Gorman, Bishop of Dallas-Ft. Worth writes to Very Rev. Clement F. Borchers, Superior General of the Glenmary Home Missioners asking that Glenmary missioners be assigned to the counties of Cass and Morris. Bishop Gorman writes, “I might add that there is an unused church at Red Hill in Cass County. It is repairable and is located about half way between Douglasville and Linden on Highway 8, but Catholics do not stay there because there is no church or school:’ The church was later found beyond repair and was torn down.
According to Victor McGilvray, ( a member of St. Williams before it closed as well as a descendant of the first Catholic, Colonel William Blue Lambert, in Cass County) Glenmary Father’s Gary and Doell properly disposed the statues and other sacred items remaining in the church according to church law.