In the fall of 1840, Augustine and Emily Hewlett reserved one acre of land for the church then known as McKendree Chapel, where a log building stood until a new church was constructed to the east in 1887; the property is now McKendree Cemetery, whose oldest marked grave dates to 1842, and the Methodist church was named for Bishop William McKendree. The Massey Community is older than its name, having been settled in the early 1800's, with its first site three miles south of the present location under the name Gibson before it was later named for the W. D. Massey family, who settled there in 1886; after Mr. Massey successfully petitioned for a post office, the community took the name Massey, and around 1894 its center moved to this location near McKendree United Methodist Church. Charles Christopher Sheats, born in Winston County in 1839, represented the county at Alabama's Secession Convention in January 1861, opposed secession, joined others at Looney's Tavern in declaring Winston County neutral in the War Between the States, and became associated with the county's later reputation as "The Free State of Winston." Elected to the State Legislature in 1861, he refused to attend because representatives had to swear support for the Confederacy, openly supported the Union, and was jailed for treason by the Confederates. During Reconstruction he was chosen for Alabama's 1865 Constitutional Convention, appointed U.S. Consul to Denmark in 1869, and elected to Congress in 1872. He studied law, was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1867, practiced in Decatur, served there as mayor in 1868, married Mary Dickson Anderson on January 27, 1886, lived in Decatur, died there on May 27, 1904, and was buried in McKendree Cemetery with other family members.