Both attended Smith Graded School, which was located across from the church. My great-grandfather and great-grand uncle, Charles and Horace Smith, played instrumental roles in creating the school as well as the church. Both were born into slavery in Virginia where they were purchased by a man named Benjamin Smith. Smith, a farmer and confederate soldier, brought the brothers to Teals Prairie in 1862.

My father , the grandson of Charles Smith, was a career Army officer and his postings took our family to France, Germany (twice), Virginia and Texas. But no matter where we lived, the only place we called “home” was Teals Prairie. Some of my fondest childhood memories is of going “down home” for church and family reunions; picking dewberries for cobblers from thorny bushes that seemed to grow everywhere, and being baptized at 9 in a small, man-made watering hold for cattle that my relatives called a “tank” behind Goodwill Baptist, my mother’s family church. Like New Hope, Goodwill continues to hold services and reunions.

Four generations of Smiths can be found in Teals Prairie Cemetery, which is supported by annual donations from the descendants of the families buried there. Our extended Smith family, like many others, still own the land that our ancestors bequeathed to us. It is our legacy and source of our enduring strength, love and pride as a family.