USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 12
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One day, standing near where some soldiers were disputing as to whose turn it was to cut wood, he heard one of them say he would be d-nd if he would cut it. Soon, however, the profane soldier was convinced that the task was his, and took up the ax to perform it. Immediately Mr. Gano stepped up to him and said : "Give me the ax." "Oh no," said the soldier, "the chaplain shall not cut wood." "Yes, I must," said Mr Gano, "But why," said the soldier. "Because," said Mr. Gano, "I just heard you say you would be d-nd if you cut it ; and I would rather take the labor off your hands than that you should be miserable for ever."
At the close of the war, Mr. Gano resumed his labors as pastor of the church in New York city. He continued in this position till about the year 1786. At this time William Wood, pastor of Limestone church in Mason county, Ky., visited New York, and made such flattering representations of the western
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
country, both for ministerial usefulness, and temporal advantage, as induced Mr. Gano to call a church meeting, and consult the church about his going to Kentucky. Mistaking his motive, and supposing that he only desired them to increase his salary, they treated the matter with apparent indifference, leaving him to the free exercise of his own judgment. He at once deter- mined to go. Learning this, the church offered to raise his sa- lary, and made an earnest effort to retain him. But it was now too late. He had formed his resolution, and could not be changed. He soon sold his small possessions, paid off some debts that had been embarrassing him, and started to Kentucky.' He came to Redstone in wagons, and there took a boat. There was still much danger to be apprehended from the savages along the Ohio river; and, on the way their boat was partially wrecked. However, Mr. Gano and his family landed in safety at Limestone, June 17, 1787. He proceeded to Washington, where he preached his first sermon in Kentucky from the words : "So they all got safe to land." Some time after this, his son Stephen, then pastor of the Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island, paid him a visit, on which occasion he preached from the words: I am glad of the coming of Stephanas. After remaining a short time at Washington, Mr. Gano moved to the neighborhood of Lexington, and became pastor of Town Fork church. Here he became the colaborer of Craig, Taylor, Hick- man, Dudley, and others of that noble band that were in Ken- tucky before him. Among these brethren who recognized him as a father in the gospel, he labored with faithfulness and effi- ciency, about ten years, when, in 1798, he had his shoulder broken by a fall from his horse. Before he recovered from this, he had a paralytic stroke, which deprived him of the power of speech. From this he so far recovered as to be able to preach. During the "Great Revival," it is said, he preached in an "aston- ishing manner." While Elkhorn Association was much agitat- ed by the appearance of Arianism in some of the churches . about the year 1803, Mr. Gano was carried to Lexington, and assisted into the pulpit, where he preached a masterly discourse on the Deity of Christ, which was thought to have a salutary effect in checking the spread of that baleful heresy. The next year, August 9, 1804, this venerable servant of Christ departed
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John Gano.
this life at his home near Frankfort, Kentucky, in the 78th year of his age.
This great and good man had some marked eccentricities ; but they were such as heightened his efficiency, without de- tracting from his piety, and illustrate the important truth that God adapts all the means he uses in the accomplishment of his purposes, to the ends they are designed to subserve. The fol- lowing observations from the pen of his personal friend, Rich- ard Furman, long the distinguished pastor of the Baptist church at Charleston, South Carolina, will appropriately close this sketch of Mr. Gano :
"The late Rev. John Gano will be long remembered with affection and respect in the United States of America. He was a person below the middle stature, and, when young, of a slen- der form ; but of a firm vigorous constitution. His mind was formed for social intercourse and friendship. His passions were strong, and his sensibilities could be easily excited, but so chastened and regulated were they, by the meekness of wisdom, that he preserved great composure of spirit and command of his words and actions. .
"As a minister of Christ, he shone like a star of the first magnitude in the American churches, and moved in a widely extended field of action. For this office, God had endowed him with a large portion of grace and excellent gifts. 'He believed and therefore spoke.' His doctrines were those contain- ed in the Baptist (Philadelphia) Confession of Faith, and are commonly called Calvinistic.
"Like John the harbinger of our Redeemer, he was a burning and a shining light, and many rejoiced in his light. Resembling the sun, he rose in the church with morning bright- ness, advanced regularly to his station of meridian splendor and then gently declined with mild effulgence, till he disap peared without a cloud to intercept his rays or obscure his glory."
BOONES CREEK CHURCH, located in the eastern part of Fay- ette county, was constituted of fourteen members, on the second Sunday in November, 1785, by John Taylor and John Tanner, and received into Elkhorn Association, in August of the next year. It reported to the Association, in 1788, a mem- bership of thirty-seven. David Thompson was among its mes-
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sengers, and was probably its first pastor. For a long time, its growth was slow, and it had many dissentions, in consequence of differences of doctrinal views among its members. Boggs Fork church in an adjoining neighborhood, probably originated from these dissensions, about the year 1812, but was again merged into the mother church, some years afterwards. At a much earlier day, the church now called East Hickman origin- ated from Boones Creek, and has been, and still is, quite a flourishing church.
Boones Creek church is now located at Athens, in Fayette county, is a member of an Association bearing its name, and is the oldest, except Providence, and largest, except Mt. Olive, in that fraternity.
DAVID THOMPSON was a native of Virginia, and began his labors in that State at an early period of Baptist operations there. He was a member of the General Association of Virginia, from its formation in 1771, and was, at this date, pastor of a church in Louisa county, known as Thompson's or Goldmine. He came to Kentucky at an early period, and was, for a short time, a member, and probably the pastor of Boones Creek church. From this point, he moved to Madison county, and probably succeeded John Tanner as Pastor of Tates Creek church. The time of his death is not known.
TATES CREEK CHURCH of Separate Baptists was gathered by Andrew Tribble, in 1786. Mr. Tribble was immediately chosen its pastor, and continued to serve in that capacity till near the time of his death. Tates Creek church was very prosperous, from the beginning. Among its early members were 'Squire Boone and Thomas Shelton, both preachers. In 1790, this church embraced a membership of 210, and was, at that time, one of the largest churches in Kentucky. It united with South Kentucky Association, and remained in that body till 1793, when it, with four others, drew off and formed Tates Creek Association of "United Baptists." This was the first application of the term United Baptists, in Kentucky. For a long period, Tates Creek church was very prosperous. Its membership is now small, but the church seems to be in a healthy condition.
ANDREW TRIBBLE, was a son of George Tribble, a respect- able farmer of Caroline county, Virginia. The father was of
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John Gano.
Welsh extraction, and it is not known that he ever made any profession of religion.
Andrew Tribble was born in March, 1741. He was among the first converts to the Baptist faith in his part of the State ; and was often heard to remark that he was the fifty-third Baptist on the north side of James river. He commenced preaching soon after he was converted, and about the same time that the Craigs, Waller, Childs and others began their meetings in Elijah Craig's tobacco barn. He was probably baptized by James Read, and at the time that Elijah Craig and others went to North Carolina and induced him to come to Orange and some of the neighboring counties to baptize the first converts to the Baptist faith in that part of Virginia. He was, for a time, a member of Goldmine church in Louisa county, from which he was sent as a messenger to the first Meeting of the General As- sociation of Virginia, in May, 1771. After this he accepted the pastoral care of a church in Albemarl county. It being near the residence of Thomas Jefferson, that statesman frequently came to Mr. Tribble's meetings. The Virginians, and especi. ally the able and learned R. B. C. Howell, assert that Mr. Jefferson conceived the idea of a popular government for the American States, while observing the business transactions of the little Baptist church, of which Mr. Tribble was pastor.
Mr. Tribble moved to Kentucky, and settled on Dix river, in 1783, but soon afterwards moved to what is now Clark coun- ty. Here, in January, 1786, he united with Howard Creek (now Providence) church, of which Robert Elkin was pastor. During this year Mr. Tribble gathered Tates Creek, and became its pastor. Some three years after this, a personal difficulty occurred between him and his pastor, at Howard Creek, which resulted in nearly an equal division of the church. Helps were called from the neighboring churches, and the difficulty adjusted. Mr. Tribble's party was constituted a new church, called Unity. The Elkin party, at Howard's Creek, according to the terms of adjustment, retained the old constitution and the church prop - erty, but changed its name to Providence.
Mr. Tribble was constituted a member, and chosen pastor, of Unity church. He soon became entangled in a law suit with one of the members, of the name of Haggard, which diffi- culty was settled by Mr. Tribble's making satisfactory acknow-
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ledgements. This seems to have resulted in severing his pas- toral relation to that church. He, however, continued to serve Tates Creek till the infirmities of old age made it necessary for him to retire. He died in great peace, December 22, 1822.
Mr. Tribble was a preacher of good ability, and of com- mendable zeal. His early labors were performed in Virginia, where he endured the persecutions that were the common lot of Baptist preachers, at that period. Like the Craigs, Shackle- ford and a host of others, he endured his term in a Virginia jail, for preaching the gospel contrary to law. He was a very active and successful laborer, in Kentucky, for about thirty-five years. His son, to whom the author is indebted for the prin- cipal facts of his life, supposes that he must have baptized 2,000 persons, in Kentucky.
He married a Miss Sally Burrus in early life, by whom he raised a large and respectable family, of whom, his son Peter became a Baptist preacher.
His last illness, caused by stricture of the bladder, was pro- tracted and very painful. But his death was most triumphant. A few hours before his departure he said to his son Peter and another young preacher, standing at his bedside : "Boys, you see me here now. In a few days I shall be gone. I give you this charge. Play the man for your God."
CHAPTER XI.
COWPERS RUN, LICK CREEK, BOONES CREEK, MARBLE CREEK AND HANGING FORK CHURCHES, SOUTH KENTUCKY ASSOCIA- TION.
The year 1787 commenced with only three churches more in the State-or Territory, rather-than existed at the begin- ning of the preceding year, for, while four more churches had been constituted, one had been dissolved. Gilbert's Creek, the oldest church in Elkhorn Association, and the oldest in Ken- tucky, except Cedar Creek and Severns Valley, was reported to the Association in August, 1786, "dissolved." At the be- ginning of 1787 there were, therefore, in Kentucky thirteen Regular Baptist churches and eight of Separate Baptists. There were at the same period at least seventeen preachers of the Reg- ulars and eight of the Separates. There were two Regular Asso- ciations. During this year there were one Separate and three Regular churches added to the list. Marble Creek church was constituted, but not recognized this year.
COWPERS RUN (or, as it is sometimes written, Cooper's Run) church, was located in Bourbon county, not far from the present site of Paris, and was most probably gathered by Augustine Eastin and James Garrard. It was constituted of less than twenty members, in 1787, and joined Elkhorn Associ- ation in August of the same year. Notwithstanding this was. a frontier settlement, and the Indians were so troublesome that this little church lost five of its members* within its first year by their cruelty, it enjoyed a regular course of prosperity from its beginning, till 1795, when it reached a membership of 119. After this it gradually declined, till 1803, when it was dropped from the Association, on account of its having become heret- ical in doctrine. After this it appears no more on the list of
*Chris. Rep. 1856, p. 393.
[13]]
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Augustine Eastin.
Kentucky Baptist churches, though it continued to exist as an independent body a number of years longer.
AUGUSTINE EASTIN appears to have been the first and oniy pastor of Cowpers Run church. He was a brilliant man, of good social standing and irreproachable morals, but was un- stable in his opinions. For a time he kept within such bounds of recognized orthodoxy as to be tolerated by the churches, and was useful in the ministry ; but his propensity to ape men of distinction led him to such extremes in error that he was finally cut off from the Baptist ministry.
Augustine Eastin was among the early converts to Christi- anity in Goochland county, Virginia, under the ministry of Samuel Harriss and others. He became a member of Dover church, in that county, and soon afterward entered the minis- try. His zeal in his holy calling procured him a term in Ches- terfield jail. He was, however, in good company, for William Webber, Joseph Anthony, John Weatherford, John Tanner, Jeremiah Walker and David Tinsley, a noble, godly band of Christian ministers, were incarcerated in the same prison for preaching the gospel.
Mr. Eastin emigrated to Kentucky in 1784, and remained for a time in Fayette county, but afterwards settled in Bour- bon. ' He and James Garrard, then a preacher, and afterwards Governor of Kentucky, gathered Cowpers Run church, in 1787. To this church Mr. Eastin preached with good success until he embraced Arianism, when he and the church of which he was pastor were cut off from the fellowship of the Baptist churches. Mr. Semple speaks of him after this manner : "Augustine Eastin, though a man of some talents, was never any credit to the cause of truth. He appears to have been always carried away with the opinions of others whom he wished to imitate. Sometimes he was a professed and positive Calvinist. Then shifting about, he is a warm Arminian. Then to the right about again, he is reconvinced that Calvinism is the only true way. Having moved to Kentucky, he finds some professors of high standing in civil life who lean to the Arian scheme. Mr. Eastin soon becomes their champion, and even writes a pamphlet in defense of Arianism. Mr. Eastin's moral character has not been impeached. On this head both he and his coadjutors are men of high respectability."
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James Garrard.
JAMES GARRARD was a member and preacher, in Cowpers Run church from its constitution. The purity of his character, his eminent ability, and his great usefulness, both to church and state, entitle him to a conspicuous place in the history of the early Baptists in Virginia and Kentucky. The Garrards were descended from an old Baptist family of Pennsylvania, from whence they emigrated to Virginia, at an early period. John Garrard was one of the first Regular Baptists that preached the gospel in the Old Dominion, and was a principal laborer in rais- ing up the first churches of which Ketocton Association was formed.
James Garrard was born in Stafford county, Virginia, January 14, 1749. Of his youth we have no account. He was an offi- cer in the Revolutionary War. While in the army, he was called to represent his county in the Virginia Legislature. In this body, he was very active in procuring the passage of the famous bill, securing Religious liberty to the people of his state. He was a member of Harford church of Regular Baptists, in his native county, but it is not known at what period he pro- fessed conversion. He was an early settler in the wilds of Ken- tucky, where he endured the privations, and faced the dangers common to the pioneers. He entered the ministry after he came to Kentucky, and was zealous in aiding his fellow minis- ters in building up the cause of Christ. But it may be doubted that he was "called of God" to the gospel ministry. He had not the gift of a ready speech, and was every way better quali- fied to make laws, than to preach grace. From his early ac- quaintance with the settlers, to his old age, he was said to be the most popular man in Kentucky. He was sent from Ken- tucky to the Virginia Legislature, was a member of most of the many Conventions that Kentucky held, in arranging for a sep- arate government, aided in forming the first constitution of the commonwealth, and was elected to fill the office of Governor two successive terms. This latter office was unfortunate for his Religious Character.
He appointed to the office of Secretary of State, during both his gubernatorial terms, Harry Toulmin, a polished and scholarly Englishman, who was a Unitarian preacher. Before the close of the second term, Mr Toulmin had converted the Governor to his religious sentiments. Mr. Eastin, the pastor
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
of Cowpers Run church, was soon converted to the same theory and at once began to advocate it from the pulpit, and defend it with his pen. An earnest effort was made by Elkhorn Associ- ciation to reclaim their erring brethren, but all in vain. The church was dropped from this Association, in 1803, and this closed the ministry of Mr. Garrard, among the Baptists. It should be remembered, however, that except this error in his doctrinal views, the eminent purity of his character was un- tarnished, to the last. His popularity among the citizens of the state remained till death. One of the counties of the state was named, in his honor, and the legislature ordered a monu- ment to be erected to his memory, and on it engraved his he- roic deeds, in defense of his country, the eminent services he rendered as a statesman, and the spotless purity of his life, as a citizen and a christian. He died at his residence in Bourbon county, January 19, 1822, aged 73 years and 5 days.
Mr. Semple makes the following observations concerning Mr. Garrard's career : "He continued to preach until he was made Governor. For the honors of men, he resigned the office of God. He relinquished the clerical robe, for the more splendid mantle of human power. The prophet says to Asa- 'If ye forsake God he will forsake you.' It is not strange, that Colonel Garrard, after such a course, should fall into many foolish and hurtful snares." Let it be tried a thousand times, and in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases, it will be found, that preachers who aim at worldly honors, will be completely ruined, or greatly depreciated as preachers." "It is due to Governor Garrard to say, that his conduct has been orderly, and indeed gentlemanly; and that he has honored every character which he has ever assumed, except the one which, of all others, he ought to have valued."
LICK CREEK church was a small body, located somewhere in Nelson county. It was probably gathered by James Rogers, a member of Cedar Creek church, and was constitut- ed, in 1787. Soon after its constitution, it was much agitated on the subject of slavery. It appears to have first united with the Separate Baptists, but in 1792, joined Salem Association, of which it remained a member till 1812. After this, its name disappears, proving that it either dissolved, or changed its name.
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James Rogers.
However, it acted its part among the Kentucky churches, for a period of at least twenty-five years.
JAMES ROGERS, who was early a preacher in this church, was one of the first settlers of what is now Nelson county. He and several others, among whom were two or three of his brothers, built Rogers' fort, about four miles west of the pres- ent site of Bardstown in 1780. He was quite a prominent citi- zen of Nelson county, and served it in two of the Danville con- ventions, which met to devise means for forming a government for Kentucky.
James Rogers was born, either in Ireland, or of Irish parents, in Maryland, about the year 1742. He was a Baptist preacher before he came to Kentucky, and was in the constitu- tion of Cedar Creek church, July 4, 1781. When Lick Creek church was formed, he became a member of that fraternity. Whether he was ever pastor of that, or any other church, is not known. He was not a fluent speaker, but possessed a good intellect and a fair education, and was useful to the churches of his generation, in defending their doctrine, both from the pulpit, and with his pen. In a day when small pamph- lets were much more rare than large volumes are now, he published a small work in defense of Restricted Communion. In his preface to this treatise, he says of the Baptists : "Their aim is to keep virtue, and conform to the will of the Most High as revealed in the law and testimony without adding to, or diminishing from." In his premise, he assumes the order of ยท christian exercises to be "Repentance, Faith, Baptism and par- taking of the Lord's Supper." His argument from this prom- ise is clear, forcible, and was well adapted to the masses, at the time he wrote. He published several other pamphlets on controverted subjects, one of which was on the operation of the Holy Spirit.
He lived near Rogers' Fort till his old age, when he mar- ried for his second wife a Mrs. Flourney, and moved to what is now Boyle county. Here he died peacefully, at home, in the eighty fifth year of his age.
Mr. Rogers raised five sons and two daughters. Of the former, Evan Rogers was many years moderator of South Dis- trict Association, and William Rogers served four successive terms in the Kentucky Legislature. That eminently useful
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
minister of Christ, Jacob Rogers, was a nephew of James Rogers.
BOONE'S CREEK CHURCH, of Separate Baptists, was formed in 1787, in Fayette county, doubtless by a division of the Reg- ular Baptist Church of the same name. It contained, in 1790, thirty-six members, and was a member of South Kentucky Association. The zealous and eccentric Joseph Craig was its preacher at that time. He however removed his membership to Hickman's Creek church, next year. We have no definite account of this second Boones Creek church beyond the facts already given, but some circumstances surrounding it, give pretty good assurance that it grew out of a bitter spirit, gen . dered by the unsuccessful attempt, in 1785, to unite the Reg. ulars and Separates, and the intolerance of some of the old ministers, who were exceedingly tenacious for a limited atone- ment and a full recognition of God's eternal decrees, on the part of the Regulars, and an overheated zeal for feet-washing and the laying on of hands after baptism, on the part of the Separates. The little church thus born of contention, was short lived and probably accomplished little good.
A common and very serious evil is here illustrated. At an early period, Elkhorn Association saw the impropriety of constituting little feeble churches, so close together as to pre- clude the possibility of their ever becoming strong enough to support a pastor, or command respect. This evil practice, which prevailed, even at that early period, was discussed and condemned. But no remedy was found. The evil still ex- ists. In many parts of the country, there are three or four times as many churches as ought to exist. And the conse- quence is, that, instead of having preaching every Sabbath, they were unable to sustain preaching once a month. This re- sults in the dissolution of nearly or quite half the churches that are constituted, after a feeble, sickly existence of only a few years.
MARBLE CREEK CHURCH, now called East Hickman, is lo- cated in the southern border of Fayette county. It also was in part at least, the offspring of Boones Creek church. It was gathered principally by the labors of William Hickman, and was constituted June 15, 1787, by George Stokes Smith and Ambrose Dudley. The church consisted of nineteen mem-
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