TIP #233 - THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCHES Most of the queries that come to me involve the old Baptist Churches, primarily because the Baptists were among the first in the state of Kentucky. I am going to take a break on listing the current churches of all denominations to go back in time to the early Baptist Churches and its pastors. Information is taken from "A History of Kentucky Baptists, Volume 1", by J. H. Spencer, covering 1769 to 1885, originally published in 1885 and now reprinted by Church History Research & Archives, P. O. Box 38, Dayton, OH 45449. According to Spencer, there were three Baptist churches in Kentucky in 1782 - Severns Valley in Hardin County; Cedar Creek in Nelson, and Gilbert's Creek in Garrard Co. They were known as "regular Baptist churches" and its early ministers included Barnett, Gerrard, Whitaker, Marshall, Lewis Craig, and likely Richard Cave and George Stokes Smith. All of these ministers except Barnett and Gerrard had been ministers in Virgnia. Lynn and Skaggs were the only known Separate Baptist ministers at this time. SOUTH FORK CHURCH was originally known as No-Lynn in what is now Larue County. This was begun in 1782 by Benjamin Lynn and James Skaggs. It later united with the old South Kentucky Association, but in 1797, became a Regular Baptist church. This was an unusual church as it practiced the "jerks" during the great revival of 1800-3. It was quite divided on the issue of slavery, but was reunited through the ministry of William M. Brown. It was one of the largest churches in the Lynn Association. John Hogden, brother of Isaac Hogden was a minister here. FORKS OF DIX RIVER CHURCH was located in Garrard Co, appearing to have been constituted in 1786. There is a controversy concerning it's actual constitution date, one is shown by Lewis Craig, in 1782. It's first known pastor was Randolph Hall. It also entered into the South Kentucky Association in 1787 and then entered into the Tate's Creek Association. James Smith as an early preacher here. This area was also the preaching site for the Presbyterian Church, and about 1784, David Rice, the pioneer Presbyterian minister worshipped here along with the Baptist services in the same building. Joseph and William Bledsoe came here about 1783. Randolph Hall, one of the early pastors, came from Virginia, was a Revolutionary War soldier. John S. Higgins was the second pastor; followed by Burdett Kemper. GILBERT'S CREEK was constituted by the efforts of Joseph Bledsoe in now Garrard Co. SOUTH ELKHORN is reported to have been the fourth church, "not far from Lexington". It was gathered by Lewis Craig in the fall of 1783. He is believed to have been assisted by George Stokes Smith and Richard Cave. Spencer notes that no record of a baptisms taking place in Kentucky was shown until 1782. The first recorded revival took place in 1785 under the ministry of John Craig in now Woodford County. PROVIDENCE CHURCH: Constituted 1783 in Virginia and moved to Kentucky. This supposedly came about from a letter by Captain Wm. Bush of Orange Co VA who accompanied Daniel Boone on a trip here and wrote glowingly of the area. CLEAR CREEK CHURCH was constituted in April of 1785. John Taylor was elected pastor. LIMESTONE CHURCH (now Washington) organized about 1785 by William Wood. It was located near the town of Washington in Mason County. POTTENGERS CREEK CHURCH, located in the southern part of Nelson Co was also constituted in 1785 by Benjamin Lynn who was its first pastor. COX'S CREEK CHURCH, in Nelson County, 6 miles north of Bardstown in 1785, William Taylor was the first pastor. RUSH BRANCH was the first church in Lincoln County. It was constituted about 1785 with John Bailey its first pastor. HEAD OF BOONE'S CREEK CHURCH: Constituted about 1785, Fayette County, supposedly gathered by Joseph Craig. GREAT CROSSING CHURCH: It was located in what is now Scott County near Georgetown. It is believed Colonel Robert Johnson was the "chief mover" it its organization. Lewis Craig and John Taylor were the organizers. The Two Associations - Regular and Separate Baptists in early times: According to Spencer, it appears that the first families in the Boonesboro settlement were all Baptists; it is known that the Boones, Calloways and Frenches were Baptist. According to Collins History, the first marriage was performed there 7 August 1776 between Samuel Henderson and Betsy Calloway by Squire Boone, a younger brother of Daniel who was a Baptist preacher. By 1781, three Regular Baptist churches were organized and by the end of 1785, eighteen churches had been constituted - 11 Regular Baptists and 7 Separate Baptists. There were 19 licensed Regular Baptist ministers: Squire Boone, Joseph Barnett, James Garrard, John Whitaker, Augustin Eastin, Wm. Taylor, Wm. Marshall, John Tanner, George Stokes Smith, William Edmund Waller, Richard Cave, John Taylor, John Dupy, Lewis Craig, Elijah Craig, Wm. Hickman, Wm. Wood, John Price and James Rucker. There were 7 Separate Baptist preachers: Benjamin Lynn, James Skaggs, James Smith, John Bailey, Joseph Bledsoe, Joseph Craig and Robert Elkin. No organization bound any of these churches together until 1785 but it was decided that associations were needed. It was difficult in the fact that two different types of churches existed - the Regular and the Separate. The differences were called "triffling". The diffeences had come back in the early 1740's over the topic of revival in the Congregational church. Many persons had been fined and imprisoned for favoring revivals and it split the Congregational church. Those who favored revivals were called Separates because they separated from the established churches. Those remaining were called Regulars. This term later applied to the Baptist church as well. To be continued. (c) Copyright 16 March 1999, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com TIP OF THE WEEK! Remember not to open any attachment with Happy.exe as the subject! Col Sandi Gorin 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (502) 651-9114 PUBLISHING: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html SCKY: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/BarrenObits TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl