Although initially settled in the 1830's and 1840's by white, Protestant immigrants from Kentucky and Virginia, as time went on, the population of Union Township became more diverse. In the last decade of the 19th century, the area's first African-American's settled in Union Township: Sidney and Annie Phillips. They owned a 40 acre farm south of the Rainstown community.In an article on the Rainstown community and church in the Sept. 5, 1968 Republican, Edythe McCraw wrote about the church "...There was one Negro family in the community, Sid and Annie Phillips, and their niece, Neta Phillips. They attended the services regularly and whether it was segregation or integration, I so well recall where they sat, at the end of the pew, two rows back from the heater and next to the window on the south side of the building. Each Sunday found them in their chosen place. When Annie died, her funeral was held in the church."