302 – October 29 – This Day in Baptist History Past
A Church on the Move

“Among the first Baptist preachers to permanently settle in the west was William Marshall. .. . Other preachers followed Marshall . . . including Joseph Barnett, John Whitaker, James Skaggs, Benjamin Lynn, all of whom were ordained, and John Gerrard, a licensed preacher. . . [These] were responsible for forming the first Baptist church west of the mountains, the Severns Valley which was constituted June 18, 1781.”

Some of the migration west came through what was known as “Traveling Churches.” One such example is the church that had been known as the Upper Spottsylvania Church in Virginia. It had as its pastor Lewis Craig, one of the most successful of the Virginia Baptist preachers. In 1781 Craig decided to remove to Kentucky, and so great was the attachment of his members to their minister, that a majority of them decided to migrate with him.

In the midst of winter, after great hardship and danger, they arrived at their chosen destination, quickly made a clearing and established Craig’s Station on Gilbert’s Creek. Here on the second Sunday of December, 1781, they gathered for worship around the same old Bible they had used in Spottsylvania. John Taylor’s church too became a Traveling Church and relocated to the land of need.

These saints were not willing to become isolated enclaves of spiritual truth. They intended to become witnesses throughout the expanding West.

As a result, churches were established West of the Allegheny Mountains. Four churches met on October 29, 1785, at Cox’s Creek Church and formed the Salem Association, and Kentucky soon became a hot-bed of Baptist enterprise.

Dr. Dale R. Hart From: “This Day in Baptist History III” David L. Cummins pp. 631 – 633

Note from Tom: Rev. Lewis Craig was the most influential of the preaching Craig brothers. They were pioneer Baptist ministers in early Virginia, when preaching without the license of the Church of Virginia was illegal, and Craig and his brothers were occassionally jailed. Lewis is most famous as the leader of “The Travelling Church,” when he and much of his Upper Spotsylvania Church congregation made up the largest mass-immigration into frontier Kentucky — a caravan of some 600 people. He settled at Gilbert’s Creek in Garrard County, Kentucky, then moved to South Elkhorn in Fayette County, and finally he settled in Mason County, where he died. His grave remained unmarked for many years but Kentucky Baptists finally succeeded in marking his grave, though there is some reason to believe they may have marked the wrong grave. He appears to be buried in an enclosure with that of the wife of his son, Lewis Craig Jr.http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi…

Daniel Boone died September 26, 1820

American Minute with Bill Federer

Daniel Boone served with George Washington in 1755 during the French and Indian War, under British General Edward Braddock.

In 1765, Daniel Boone explored Florida.

He once exclaimed:

“I can’t say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.”

In 1767, Daniel Boone, whose Quaker family had pioneered North Carolina’s Yadkin River Valley, began to explore Kentucky.

In 1769, Boone traveled through the Cumberland Gap in the mountains and spent two years hunting and trapping in eastern Kentucky with his friend, John Stewart. Indians captured and separated them, and, unfortunately, Boone eventually found John Stewart’s body shot dead.

In 1773, Daniel Boone and Captain William Russell were ordered by Virginia’s Governor, Lord Dunmore, to settle an area called Castle Woods.

Boone’s 17-year-old son, James, and Captain Russell’s 17-year-old son, Henry, were bringing supplies to Castle Woods when they were ambushed by Indians and brutally massacred. Lord Dunmore wrote:

“In the past year, 1773, the Indians killed…a very promising young man…in one of the back countries…Captain William Russell…was the first that discovered the dismal spectacle of the dead body of his son, mangled in horrible manner.”

Captain William Russell left Daniel Boone in charge of Moore’s Fort in lower Castle Woods from 1773-1775.

When the Revolution began, Lord Dunmore fled and Patrick Henry was elected the first American Governor of Virginia. A fort named him, Fort Patrick Henry, was where Daniel Boone set off from in 1775 to survey Kentucky for the Pennsylvania Company.

Daniel Boone erected a fort on the Kentucky River, which he named Boonesboro.

On July 14, 1776, Boone’s daughter Jemima and her teenage friends, Fanny and Betsy Callaway, decided to leave the confines of Boonesboro and were captured by Shawnee Indians.

Boone and his men caught up with them two days later, ambushed the Indians while they were stopped for a meal, and rescued the girls. James Fenimore Cooper drew from this incident in writing his classic book, The Last of the Mohicans (1826).

On April 24, 1777, Shawnee Indians were recruited by the British Governor of Canada to attack Boonesboro. Led by Chief Blackfish, the attack was repelled, though Daniel Boone was shot in the leg.

As Shawnees destroyed cattle and crops, food supplies running low and settlers needed salt to preserve meat.

In January 1778, having recovered from his wound, Boone led a party to get salt from Licking River. They were captured by Chief Blackfish’s warriors, some taken to Chilicothe, and others to near Detroit.

Boone and his men were made to run the gauntlet, as the Indian custom was to adopt prisoners into their tribe to replace fallen warriors. Boone was given the name, Sheltowee (Big Turtle).

On June 16, 1778, Boone learned that Chief Blackfish planned to attack Boonesboro. Boone escaped and raced 160 miles in five days, on horseback, then on foot, to warn the settlement.

Beginning September 7, 1778, Boone successfully repelled the ten-day siege by Chief Blackfish’s warriors.

In the autumn of 1779, Boone led another party of immigrants to Boonesboro, among whom, according to tradition, was the family of Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather.

Daniel Boone joined General George Rogers Clark’s invasion of Ohio, fighting the Battle of Piqua on August 7, 1780.

In October, 1780, Daniel Boone was hunting with his brother, Edward, when Shawnee Indians attacked. They cut off Edward’s head and took it back as a trophy.

Boone was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Fayette County militia, November 1780.

In April 1781, Boone was elected as to Virginia’s General Assembly, and as he traveled to Richmond to take his seat, British dragoons under Colonel Banastre Tarleton captured him near Charlottesville.

The British released Boone on parole, and not long after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781.

Boone returned to Kentucky, and though Cornwallis had surrendered, some British continued to fight.

One of the last battles of the Revolution took place, August 19, 1782. In the Battle of Blue Licks, fighting hand-to-hand against 50 British Loyalists and 300 Indians, Daniel Boone’s son Israel was shot in the neck and killed.

In November 1782, Daniel Boone was a part of the last major campaign of the war with Clark’s expedition into Ohio.

In 1782, Boone was elected sheriff of Fayette County. He bought land in Kentucky but lost it due to poorly prepared titles.

Boone left Kentucky in 1799 and bought land in the Spanish Territory of Missouri, west of the Mississippi River.

When Spain transferred this land to France, and France sold it to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase, 1803, Boone lost his title to this land too.

A special act of Congress gave him back his land just six years before his death.

When the War of 1812 started, Daniel Boone volunteered for duty but was turned down due to his age of 78.

Daniel Boone was known to have a habit of taking the Bible with him on hunting expeditions, often reading it to others around the campfire.

Daniel Boone and his wife Rebecca had all of their ten children baptized.

Daniel Boone died SEPTEMBER 26, 1820, and was buried in the Old Bryan Farm graveyard. His remains were moved to Kentucky’s Frankfort Cemetery, though some claim the wrong bones were moved. Hazel Atterbury Spraker wrote in The Boone Family (1982, page 578):

“Daniel was buried near the body of his wife, in a cemetery established in 1803 by David Bryan, upon the bank of a small stream called Teuque Creek about one and one-half miles southeast of the present site of the town of Marthasville in Warren County, Missouri, it being at that time the only Protestant cemetery North of the Missouri River.”

In The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. IX-The Winning of the West-An account of the exploration and settlement of our country from the Alleghanies to the Pacific (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, National Edition, 1926, p. 43), Theodore Roosevelt wrote:

“Boone…occupied quite a prominent position, and served as a Representative in the Virginia legislature, while his fame as a hunter and explorer was now spread abroad in the United States, and even Europe.

To travelers and newcomers generally, he was always pointed out as the first discoverer of Kentucky; and, being modest, self-contained, and self-reliant, he always impressed them favorably…

Boone’s creed in matters of morality and religion was as simple and straightforward as his own character.

Late in life he wrote to one of his kinsfolk (sister-in-law, Sarah Boone, October 17, 1816):

‘The religion I have is to love and fear God, believe in Jesus Christ, do all the good to my neighbor, and myself that I can, do as little harm as I can help, and trust on God’s mercy for the rest.’

The old pioneer always kept the respect of red men and white, of friend and foe, for he acted according to his belief.”

A direct descendent of Daniel Boone is the award-winning actor and singer, Pat Boone.

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

221 – August, 09 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

He immersed George Washington

John Gano departed this life at his home near Frankfort, Kentucky, on August 9, 1804. He had sustained injuries from a fall from his horse, but after suffering from a paralytic stroke, had recovered enough to be a part of the “Great Revival”, and preached a masterly discourse on the deity of Christ in defense of the truth against Arianism in 1803. Gano had a long and varied ministry. He had pastored churches in Philadelphia and N.Y. City, served as one of the Regents of N.Y. University, as a Revolutionary War chaplain and a wilderness preacher. Being an ardent patriot, he threw in his lot with the colonists and served as chaplain to General Clinton’s N.Y. Brigade. He was under fire at White Plains and displayed a cool and quiet courage which commanded the admiration of both men and officers at Chatterlou’s Hill when he found himself in the forefront of the fight. He served with distinction at Ft. Clinton and in the Western Campaign of 1779 against the Indians. Although there is no documented evidence, three of Gano’s children testified that at the close of the war their father had baptized George Washington in the Hudson River. Washington is quoted as saying, “I have been investigating the scripture, and I believe immersion  to be the baptism taught in the Word of God, and I demand it at your hands. I do not wish any parade made or the army called out, but simply a quiet demonstration of the ordinance.” Daniel Gano, one of Gano’s sons and a captain of the artillery, was present and said that he, with about forty officers and men, accompanied the chaplain down to the Hudson River where the Rev. John Gano baptized Washington.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 327-28.

He immersed George Washington

John Gano departed this life at his home near Frankfort, Kentucky, on August 9, 1804. He had sustained injuries from a fall from his horse, but after suffering from a paralytic stroke, had recovered enough to be a part of the “Great Revival”, and preached a masterly discourse on the deity of Christ in defense of the truth against Arianism in 1803. Gano had a long and varied ministry. He had pastored churches in Philadelphia and N.Y. City, served as one of the Regents of N.Y. University, as a Revolutionary War chaplain and a wilderness preacher. Being an ardent patriot, he threw in his lot with the colonists and served as chaplain to General Clinton’s N.Y. Brigade. He was under fire at White Plains and displayed a cool and quiet courage which commanded the admiration of both men and officers at Chatterlou’s Hill when he found himself in the forefront of the fight. He served with distinction at Ft. Clinton and in the Western Campaign of 1779 against the Indians. Although there is no documented evidence, three of Gano’s children testified that at the close of the war their father had baptized George Washington in the Hudson River. Washington is quoted as saying, “I have been investigating the scripture, and I believe immersion  to be the baptism taught in the Word of God, and I demand it at your hands. I do not wish any parade made or the army called out, but simply a quiet demonstration of the ordinance.” Daniel Gano, one of Gano’s sons and a captain of the artillery, was present and said that he, with about forty officers and men, accompanied the chaplain down to the Hudson River where the Rev. John Gano baptized Washington.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 327-28.

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91 – April – 01 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

First Baptists in Kentucky
1776 – On this date the Baptists arrived in Harrodsburg, Kentucky and the first recorded Baptist preaching was done by William Hickman and Thomas Tinsley.  Two years later Hickman was ordained in Virginia and spent eight years of service there.
Though not imprisoned at that time he received a great deal of rude persecution.  In the summer of 1784 the Hickman family moved permanently to Kentucky and for the next four years William ministered at every opportunity  which resulted in the establishing of the Forks of Elkhorn Church, where he pastored until his death in 1834.  That was a period of forty-five years except when he was out of fellowship with the church for two years over the issue of slavery, which he opposed.
During the great revival period of 1800-1803, Elder Hickman baptized over five hundred converts.  William was born in Virginia on Feb. 4, 1747.  His parents died while he was but a lad, and he became a ward of his grandmother.  His educational opportunities were limited, but his grandmother gave him a Bible and insisted that he read it.
When he was fourteen he was apprenticed to learn a trade, and in nine years he was secure enough to marry his master’s daughter Sarah Sanderson.  Soon after, he learned that the Baptists (then called New Lights) were in the area, and against his wife’s wishes, he went to hear the preaching.
The next day he went to a public “dipping” of converts and was deeply moved even to tears.  The next fall they moved to Cumberland County, KY, and the Lord brought his wife to faith in Christ.
William was saved under the preaching of David Tinsley on Feb. 21, 1773 and baptized two months later, after rejecting Episcopal christening.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson /, pp. 133.
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54 – February – 23 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

James Smith Coleman

Lutheran’s Bible meant immersion

1827 – James Smith Coleman was born on Feb. 23, 1827, and was saved as just a boy in his native Kentucky.  He became known as the “Old War Horse” for good reason.  He refused calls to large city churches preferring to stay in the country ministering as pastor-evangelist to the hill people.  His great-grand parents had become Baptists when they came to America from Germany.  After reading Lutheran’s translation of the scriptures, they knew that the Greek baptizo with the German “taufen,” meant immersion.  James united with the Beaver Dam Baptist Church at age eleven, but at adulthood he forgot his call to preach and became county sheriff.  At a revival meeting the Holy Spirit burdened his heart again, and he resigned as sheriff and began preaching the gospel with great power.  His efforts produced converts every time he graced the pulpit.  He was especially a great debater and often put the pedobaptists to flight with his oratory and effective humor.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 74.

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365 – Dec. 31 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

First Revival in Kentucky

 

1783 – John Taylor found his wife in a very helpless state, in that she was within one month of delivering their son Ben. He and Mrs. Taylor had arrived at Craig’s Creek in Upper Kentucky a little before Christmas. They had made the trip from Virginia with great difficulty without a friend or acquaintance to accompany their young family. Taylor said that they took an ill fixed boat of strangers down the Ohio and that not a soul was settled from Wheeling to Louisville at that time. Also according to Taylor, “Not a soul in all of Bear Grass settlement was in safety, but by being in a fort”  Though it was winter they set out to go the eighty miles to their destination on Gilberts Creek. They had three horses, two packed with all they owned and the other was ridden by his wife. The trail was narrow and difficult as they waded through mud and forded creeks and rivers up to their waists, often in bitter, cold weather. It was in Taylor’s own cabin, that a revival commenced in the winter of 1784-85. Taylor performed hard physical labor during the day and preached at night. The revival at Clear Creek settlement resulted in the founding of a Regular Baptist church. Many of those first thirty members had migrated from Virginia under the ministry and leadership of Elder Lewis Craig. That summer Taylor baptized some sixty of his neighbors. This was considered the first revival in the commonwealth of Ky. Taylor Organized a church at Bullitsburg where he baptized 113 persons. He also founded churches in Trimble County, Franklin County (Frankfort), and Buck Run in Franklin County. He was a true, hard working, pioneer church-planter.   [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 717-19. John Taylor, A History of Ten Baptist Churches (Bloomfield, Ky.: Will H. Holmes, 1827), pp. 54-55.]   Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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144 — May 24 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Elder James Smith

 

James Lemen, Sr., his wife and several of his neighbors, having been converted to the Baptist faith by an itinerant preacher from Kentucky, organized themselves into a Baptist church at a meeting held in the south room (of Lemen’s home) on May 24, 1796.

 

Lemen, who had served as an American soldier in the Revolutionary War, arrived in Illinois in 1786, having come from Virginia. Soon he and his family were introduced to the sterner side of frontier life. “The very summer of their arrival Mrs. Lemen’s sister and her husband, James Andrews, were killed by the Indians, and their two little daughters carried captive to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

 

It was into that environment that in 1787 Elder James Smith, of Kentucky, visited New Design; the first Baptist preacher and the first preacher of any denomination to enter the present state of Illinois. He held a series of house meetings which were abundantly blessed. Among those who believed the word and confessed Christ were James Lemen and Joseph Ogle and their wives, and Shadrach Bond. And a goodly number of others!

 

Three years afterwards, in 1790, Elder Smith again visited New Design, and through his preaching others were added to the converts.

 

In the midst of the work Elder Smith was captured by the Indians. In the party was a Mrs. Huff with her little child. She had been under spiritual concern for some time, and while the savages were putting her to death Elder Smith fell on his knees praying for her, and in that attitude he was taken. On this account, and because of his praying and singing while they traveled, the Indians were afraid of him. He was taken to Vincennes, from whence word came through the traders as usual that he would be returned for a suitable ransom. Thereupon $170 was collected out of the poverty of the settlers, and Elder Smith was set free.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. Thompson/ Cummins) pp. 212-213.

 

 

64 – March 05 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

Reminiscences of a Long Life

James M. Pendleton was born is Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on November 20, 1811. The Pendleton family moved to Kentucky when James was a year old. Having trusted Christ as Saviour in the loving environment of his home, J. M. Pendleton was baptized on April 11, 1829.  He began to preach immediately, and was trained at a seminary in Hopkinsville.  He was ordained on November 1, 1833, and served two churches as pastor.  On March 13, 1838, J. M. married Miss Catherine Garnettt, and they made their home in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  For the next twenty years the man of God served the Baptist church there.  J. M. stood strong against Baptists opening their pulpits to non-baptized believers who had not obeyed the Lord’s command.  He wrote his views in a booklet entitled “An Ancient Landmark Reset.”   On January 1, 1857, J. M. left Bowling Green and moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to teach preacher boys at Union University.  In 1862 in sympathy with the Northern cause, moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where he served as pastor for a short period.  His Last pastorate was the Upland Baptist Church in Pennsylvania, and while there, he assisted in founding Crozer Theological Seminary. Pendleton was an excellent writer, and his “Baptist Church Manual” was used for years by many Baptist churches as their guide.  On his seventy-ninth birthday, Pendleton began to write a volume entitled “Reminiscences of a Long Life,” and he completed the task within two months.  The life of the man of God terminated on March 5, 1891, and his funeral was conducted by T. T. Eaton of Louisville, Kentucky.  He was buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Bowling Green.

Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from: “This Day in Baptist History III”  David L. Cummins. pp. 133  – 134.

359 – Dec. 25 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

December 25, 1821 – William Ashmore was born in Putnam, Ohio. He graduated from Granville College and took his theological training in the Covington Theological Institution in Kentucky. In 1848 he was ordained by the Baptist church in Hamilton, Ohio, and became pastor of that church. After applying for missionary service in China, Ashmore was appointed the following year and sailed on August 17, 1850, for the field. He arrived at Hong Kong on Jan. 4, 1851, and at Bangkok on April 14. Applying himself to the language, he was soon able to work among the people and continued his labors there until 1858, when he transferred to Hong Kong. His wife’s health failed at that time and she sailed for America in May of that year, but died at sea off of the Cape of Good Hope, and was buried at sea. Two years later Ashmores ill health compelled him to return to the States. Upon recovering, he returned in 1864 to China with his second wife. They went to Kak-Chie and were successful in 1870 in teaching the indigenous policy that he had developed. He held that the primary need was not for “mission stations” and  “professional missionaries,” such as professors and writers, but for evangelists and church planters. Two national missionaries were sent out to be supported by the funds raised in the church that Dr. Ashmore led. That church with 142 members, paid almost all the expenses of their own two countrymen. The poor heath of Mrs. Ashmore caused them to return to America in 1875, but they went back in 1877. They were delighted to find the church in good condition with growing influence. Dr. Ashmore had translated four portions of the N.T. into the language of the common people. His son, William Ashmore, Jr. continued his ministry after his death.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 539-40.

351 – Dec. 17 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

In Feb. of 1812 Jacob found the peace of Salvation
December 17, 1811 – Jacob Bower of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, we shall all be sunk and lost, and I am not prepared. O God, have mercy upon us all.” America’s greatest earthquake had just struck. Centered in the Mississippi River, it sent shock waves into Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, S.C., Virginia, and Indiana. Mild tremors were felt as far as Boston! Bower was born into a Christian family on Sept. 26, 1786. His father led the family in morning and evening devotions and instructed the children to live moral and upright lives, but he failed to lead them into a personal relationship with Christ. Therefore young Bower matured trusting in his own righteousness for salvation. Upon leaving home for employment, he was soon influenced by a Universalist, and for five years, Bower embraced that heresy and began drinking and fell into many vices and sins. When conviction came he would assure himself of salvation, for Universalism taught that men would be saved, regardless of their lifestyle. He married in 1807 at the age of 21, and the Lord again began to stir his heart with conviction. In 1811 during a visit to his home, and a witness of a Baptist preacher, his heart was stirred again to consider death and eternity. Conviction continued to grow and then came the earthquake. A tremendous struggle ensued and then in Feb. of 1812 Jacob found the peace of Salvation. He made a public profession and was baptized into the membership of Hazel Creek Baptist Church. After serving three Kentucky churches for ten years he moved his family to Illinois and within two years he organized two churches. And then in Illinois and Missouri he organized fourteen churches and ordained twelve ministers to the gospel ministry.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 526-28.