History of Baptists in Kentucky

Last updated

The history of the Baptist movement in the United States state of Kentucky (and the area before it reached statehood) begins around 1775, when a few Baptist preachers visited from Virginia. Virginians John Taylor, Joseph Reading, and Lewis Lunsford all visited in 1779, but returned to Virginia. Baptists began to settle around 1781, the first Baptist congregation of 18 people being left by John Garrard. Rev. Lewis Craig led several hundred people of "The Travelling Church", including several preachers, to Gilbert's Creek [1] from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, arriving the first week of December 1781. Cedar Fork Church was founded in 1782. [2] [3]

Contents

By 1785 there were 12 Baptist churches in Kentucky, formed into three Associations. [2] [3] [4] The early preachers brought slaves with them, who were members of many congregations. The Elkhorn Association comprised the three churches to the north of the Kentucky River at Tate's Creek, Clear Creek, and South Elkhorn. The South Kentucky Association comprised the four churches south of the river at Rush Branch, Head of Boone's Creek, Gilbert's Creek, and Pottinger's Creek. The Salem Association comprised the four churches in Nelson County at Cox's Creek, Severn Valley, Cedar Creek, and Beargrass. The 12 pastors of the churches in 1785 are recorded in Asplund's Register as Lewis Craig, Joseph Bledsoe, George S. Smith, Richard Cave, James Smith, James Rucker, Robert Elkin, John Taylor, William Taylor, James Tanner, John Bailey, Joseph Craig, and Ambrose Dudley. [2] [4]

About 1790 the slaves Peter Durrett and his wife united their followers into the First African Church (later the First African Baptist Church) in Lexington, Kentucky. [5] [6] It is the oldest black Baptist church in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States. [7] Long active in the church, Durrett unsuccessfully sought ordination by the local association; they encouraged him to keep on with his work. By his death in 1823, Durrett led about 290 parishioners and they had bought their first properties as a church. [6]

Rev. London Ferrill, the second pastor and a freed slave from Virginia, led the church to acceptance in the Elkhorn Association in 1824. In 31 years of leadership, he increased the congregation to 1,820 members, making it the largest church, black or white, in Kentucky. [5] By 1861, the church had a congregation of 2,223 members. [8]

The Elkhorn and South Kentucky Associations were, respectively, "Regular" and "Separate" Baptists, a doctrinal division that members and preachers had brought from Virginia. They attempted to follow the examples of the unification of the Regulars and Separates in Virginia (in 1787) and the Carolinas, first in 1789 and then again in 1793. In 1801, members agreed to terms, and the Elkhorn and South Kentucky Associations were unified. But, they separated again a year later, in 1802, into the North District and South District Associations, as the number of churches in the association had grown. [4]

More Associations were formed in the same and subsequent years: the Bracken Association in 1798, the North Bend Association in 1802, the Long Run Association in 1803, and the Green River Association in 1800. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Elijah Craig 18th and 19th-century American Baptist preacher

Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously, been credited with the invention of bourbon whiskey.

The Old Regular Baptist denomination is one of the oldest in Appalachia with roots in both the Regular and Separate Baptists of the American Colonies and the Particular Baptist of Great Britain. This group has seen a marked decline in its membership during the last two decades. The Old Regular Baptist Faith and order with her many branches and factions still remains the dominant Faith in some rural Central Appalachian Counties along or near the Kentucky Virginia border.

John Taylor (1752–1833) was a pioneer Baptist preacher, religious writer, frontier historian and planter in north and central Kentucky. His two histories of early Baptist churches in Kentucky provide insight into the frontier society of the early decades of the 19th century. His 1820 pamphlet entitled "Thoughts on Missions" put him at the center of the controversy within frontier Baptist congregations about supporting mission societies. In buying and selling land on the frontier, Taylor acquired 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) and 20 African-American slaves by the end of the first decade of the 19th century, thus entering the planter class.

James Garrard American politician (1749–1822)

James Garrard was an American farmer, Baptist minister and politician who served as the second governor of Kentucky from 1796 to 1804. Because of term limits imposed by the state constitution adopted in 1799, he was the last Kentucky governor elected to two consecutive terms until the restriction was eased by a 1992 amendment, allowing Paul E. Patton's re-election in 1999.

Black church Christian congregations in the U.S. that minister predominantly to African Americans

The black church is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as their collective traditions and members. The term "black church" can also refer to individual congregations.

John Gregg Fee American abolitionist (1816–1901)

John Gregg Fee was an abolitionist, minister and educator, the founder of the town of Berea, Kentucky, The Church of Christ, Union in Berea (1853), Berea College (1855), the first in the U.S. South with interracial and coeducational admissions, and late in his life another congregation that would become First Christian Church 2 blocks from his first. (1890). During the American Civil War, Fee worked at Camp Nelson to have facilities constructed to support freedmen and their families, and to provide them with education and preaching where the formerly enslaved men who had joined the Union Army were taken to be mustered out in the last years of the Civil War.

Primitive Baptist Universalist

The Primitive Baptist Universalists are Christian Universalist congregations located primarily in the central Appalachian region of the United States. They are popularly known as "No-Hellers" due to their belief that there is no Hell per se, but that Hell is actually experienced in this life.

Baptists in the United States People of the many Baptist Christian denominations in the United States

Baptists in the United States make up a large number of all Baptists worldwide. Approximately 15.3% of Americans identify as Baptist, making Baptists the second largest religious group in the United States. Baptists adhere to a congregationalist structure, so local church congregations are generally self-regulating and autonomous, meaning that their broadly Christian religious beliefs can and do vary. Baptists make up a significant portion of evangelicals in the United States and approximately one third of all Protestants in the United States. Divisions among Baptists have resulted in numerous Baptist bodies, some with long histories and others more recently organized. There are also many Baptists operating independently or practicing their faith in entirely independent congregations.

Episcopal Burying Ground and Chapel (Lexington, Kentucky) United States historic place

The Episcopal Burying Ground and Chapel is located at 251 East Third Street, in Lexington, Kentucky. The land was purchased in 1832 by Christ Church as a burial ground for its parishioners. The cemetery became extremely important during the 1833 cholera epidemic, during which one third of the congregation died.

Robert Hamilton Bishop was a Scottish-American educator and Presbyterian minister who became the first president of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. A professor of history and political science, he wrote about the history of the early churches in the United States, as well as theology.

Henry Adams (pastor)

Henry Adams was a Baptist pastor and leader in the black community in 19th-century Kentucky. He was born to free parents in Franklin County, Georgia, and became ordained at age 23. He preached throughout the Deep South before moving to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1829, where he became minister to black members of First Baptist Church.

Toliver Craig Sr.

Toliver Craig Sr. was an 18th-century American frontiersman and militia officer. An early settler and landowner near present-day Lexington, Kentucky, he was one of the defenders of the early fort of Bryan Station during the American Revolutionary War. It was attacked by the British and Shawnee on August 15, 1782.

First African Baptist Church (Lexington, Kentucky) United States historic place

First African Baptist Church is a historic church at 264-272 E. Short Street in Lexington, Kentucky. The congregation was founded c. 1790 by Peter Durrett and his wife, slaves who came to Kentucky with their master, Rev. Joseph Craig, in 1781 with "The Travelling Church" of Baptists from Spotsylvania, Virginia.

Peter Durrett was a Baptist preacher and slave, who with his wife founded the First African Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky by 1790. By his death, the congregation totaled nearly 300 persons. It is the first black congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains, the first black Baptist congregation in Kentucky, and the third oldest black congregation in the United States. Its historic church was built in 1856, under the third pastor, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bracken Baptist Church United States historic place

Bracken Baptist Church is a historic church on CR 1235 in Minerva, Kentucky. The Bracken Baptist Church (structure), built circa 1840–1842, is an example of prostyle Greek Revival church architecture.

London Ferrill, also spelled Ferrell, was a former slave and carpenter from Virginia who became the second preacher of the First African Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, serving from 1823 to 1854. During his 31 years of service, Ferrill attracted and baptized many new members in the growing region; by 1850 the church had 1,820 members and was the largest of any congregation in the state, black or white.

Wises Landing, Kentucky Hamlet in Trimble County, Kentucky

Wises Landing is a hamlet located in Trimble County, Kentucky, United States. It is at the mouth of Barebone Creek, two miles from Corn Creek creek, at the headwaters of which is Corn Creek Church. In the 19th century it was a thriving port town for traffic inland into Trimble via the creeks. The community was served by the Corn Creek post office and was damaged in the 1937 Ohio River flood. In 1974, the Louisville Gas & Electric Company selected the area for the construction of a new power plant, which was completed in 1990. The Yeager General Store, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, is located in Wise's Landing.

The Travelling Church American 18th-century church group

The Travelling Church was a large group of pioneering settlers in the late 1700s that emigrated from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, to the Kentucky District of Virginia. It was the largest group that migrated to the area in a single movement. The group was led by the Reverend Lewis Craig, one of three pastor sons of Toliver Craig Sr., and its core was his Baptist congregation. The group of about 600 people arrived at Gilbert's Creek, Kentucky, in December 1781. Other preachers in the Travelling Church were Lewis Craig's younger brother Rev. Joseph Craig and his beloved slave Peter Durrett, who later became a pioneering black minister in Lexington, Kentucky. Lewis Craig's other brother who was a minister, Rev. Elijah Craig, did not come with the rest of the Church, as he remained for a while in Virginia to help James Madison establish constitutional religious liberty assurances before joining the group later. The group's pioneering members were to found many churches, settlements, and other institutions that continue to this day.

Matthew Campbell (minister)

Matthew or Madison Campbell was a Baptist preacher in Richmond, Kentucky. He was a local religious and political leader and helped organize a number of churches.

Salem Baptist Church (Kentucky) Church in KY , United States

Salem Baptist Church is a Baptist church located in Logansport, Butler County, Kentucky, and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Since 2011, Salem's pastor has been Rev. Derek A. Cain.

References

  1. See the article, "Gilbert's Creek Baptist celebrating its 225th" at http://articles.centralkynews.com/2006-10-30/history/24888715_1_modern-church-congregation-formal-church-services Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine ; accessed 4 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 David Benedict (1850). "Kentucky". A general history of the Baptist denomination in America, and other parts of the world. New York: Lewis Colby. pp. 811 et seq.
  3. 1 2 Lowell Hayes Harrison (1992). Kentucky's Road to Statehood. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 112–113. ISBN   978-0-8131-1782-9.
  4. 1 2 3 4 David Rice (1824). "Sketch of the Baptist Churches of Kentucky". In Robert Hamilton Bishop (ed.). An Outline of the history of the church in the state of Kentucky, during a period of forty years. T.T. Skillman. pp.  287–297.
  5. 1 2 H. E. Nutter, A Brief History of the First Baptist Church (Black) Lexington, Kentucky, 1940, accessed 22 August 2010
  6. 1 2 Robert Hamilton Bishop's An Outline of the history of the church in the state of Kentucky, during a period of forty years (containing the memoir of Rev. David Rice), T.T. Skillman, 1824, pp. 230–233
  7. "First African Baptist Church", Lexington: The Athens of the West, National Park Service, accessed 21 August 2010
  8. John H. Spencer, A History of Kentucky Baptists: From 1769–1885, Vol. II, Cincinnati, OH: J.R. Baumes private printing, 1886, p. 657, accessed 23 August 2010

Further reading