USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 16
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James Dupuy moved to Woodford county, Kentucky, about the year 1788, and united with Clear Creek church. In
*Many of the facts in this sketch were obtained from Mr. Dupuy's daughter.
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October of that year he went into the constitution of Buck Run church After this body dissolved he moved to Shelby county, not far from the year 1800. Here he united with Tick Creek church, afterwards called Bethel. Of this church he remained a member till at least as late as 1815. Whether he was its pastor or not during this period does not appear. He was Moderator of Long Run Association at the time of it constitu- tion, in 1803.
ยท STARK DUPUY was a son of Elder James Dupuy. He ap- pears to have been raised up in the ministry, in Bethel church. He was a young preacher of ardent zeal and excellent promise. But his health failed soon after he began to preach. He travel- ed in the Southern States for his health, and finally settled in Memphis, Tennessee. After his health became so feeble that he was compelled to desist from preaching, he compiled a hymn- book that attained great popularity in the Southern States, and especially in Kentucky and Tennessee.
SHAWNEE RUN church is located near a small stream from which it derived its name, in the northern part of Mercer county. It was gathered by John Rice, and constituted "the Separate Baptist church of Jesus Christ, on Shawnee Run," Nov. 21, 1788. It united with South Kentucky Association, and re- ported to that body in 1790 a membership of sixty. After the general union of the Regular and Separate Baptists it became a member of South District Association, where its membership still remains. In 1807 it contained a membership of 155, and at that time, and for many years afterwards, was the largest church in the Association of which it is a member. It numbered at one period over 500 members, but it excluded, in 1830, about seventy for embracing Campbellism. Harrodsburg, Unity and Mt. Moriah churches have been constituted of its members, so that in 1876, it embraced a membership of only ninety-seven. More recently it has been much enlarged.
JOHN RICE, the founder and first pastor of Shawnee Run church, is believed to have been a native of North Carolina, and was born in 1760. He was among the earliest settlers of Lin- coln county, Kentucky. He was a member of Gilberts Creek church of Separate Baptists, where he was ordained to the gos-
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John Rice.
pel ministry in 1785, and was probably the first preacher or- dained in Kentucky. Soon after his ordination he settled on Shawnee Run, in Mercer county. Here he preached to the few settlers that occupied the beautiful valley of Shawnee Run, till he gathered Baptists enough to constitute the first church which had any permanence in Mercer county. He was im- mediately installed its pastor, and continued to minister to it more than fifty-four years. Besides Shawnee Run, Mr. Rice preached statedly to Stony Point, Salt River (after the death of John Penny), and several other churches, at different periods. Besides his pastoral labors he traveled and preached much among the destitute, and was abundantly blessed in leading souis to Christ. He was often heard to say, in his old age: "I have baptized hundreds, yea thousands of fine men and women, and, I doubt not, many a sleek Simon Magus has passed through my hands."
Mr. Rice was six feet and two inches high, very erect and symmetrical in form, and had small hands and feet. His hair was black and glossy, his eyes were dark and shaded by thick black eyebrows. His nose was large, with high check bones. His countenance was remarkably cheerful and winning. His voice was clear, strong and very musical, and he was an excel- lent singer. His social gifts were extraordinary. He intro- duced himself to strangers in a manner that made them friends at once, and it has been said that "he never lost a friend, except by death." "I remember the first time I ever saw John Rice," said an aged minister to the author, some years ago: "It was at a meeting of Green River Association, at old Mt. Tabor church, in Barren county, about the year 1812. There was a great crowd of people around the stand in the woods. It was on Sunday. Two sermons had been preached, and the people were becoming restless. Mr. Rice rose up in the stand and darted a rapid glance over the congregation. Then pointing his finger steadily, as if at a single individual on the outskirts of the assembly, he said, with a voice and manner almost inim- itably persuasive : 'Methinks that gentleman is saying to his neighbor, 'who is that ?'
"If he and the rest of the congregation will draw a little nearer, I will tell them who I am, where I came from, and where I am going." The congregation began to draw up around the
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stand. The speaker continued : "My name is John, a Baptist. I came from the city of Destruction, and am bound for Mt. Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, an in- numerable company of angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the general assembly and church of the first born." Before he closed a great crown gathered around him, and extending their hands to him, expressed their desire to go with him.
Mr. Rice was not only beloved by the people among whom he preached the word, but he was esteemed and honored by his brethren in the ministry. On one occasion, after set- tling a difficulty among some brethren at David's Fork church, in Fayette county, a number of the ablest preachers in the State being present, the question was sprung as to who should preach. Jacob Creath, sen., immediately nominated Mr. Rice, saying : "Brother Rice has more skill in casting out devils than any of us."
John Rice was the pioneer preacher of Mercer county; for, although Tinsley, Hickman and perhaps several others had preached in the county before he was ordained to the ministry, none of them are known to have been residents. Mr. Rice was a resident of this county previous to 1786, and, two years after that date, a resident pastor on Shawnee Run. Few men
were more worthy of, or better fitted for, the responsible posi- tion of a pioneer preacher. He enjoyed the smiles of God, and the unqualified approbation of his brethren. After preaching the Gospel of Christ nearly sixty years, he left the thorny walks of mortal men, and went to join the General Assembly and church of the first born, on the 19th of March, 1843. The church he so long served erected a monument over his re- mains in old Shawnee Run church-yard, at a cost of $300. Mr. Rice was married but once. He raised six daugh- ters and four sons, all of whom he baptized with his own hands.
JAMES T. HEDGER is a grandson of Elder John Rice. He has for many years been a valuable minister of Christ. He is a sound, substantial preacher, well versed in the doctrines of the gospel, and is a writer of no mean ability. He is probably about sixty years of age, and is still actively engaged in the ministry. His home is in Anderson county, in which, and all
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James T. Hedger.
the surrounding counties, he has preached much and with good success. He has contributed many articles to our periodical literature, and, above all, has kept his garments unspotted from the world.
CHAPTER XIII.
TRANSACTIONS OF 1789-EMANCIPATIONISTS.
THE year 1789, was a revival season in Kentucky, as it was in most of the Southern States. The Virginia churches were greatly blessed at this period, and most of the infant churches in the western settlements were much enlarged. The first baptisms reported to the Salem Association, were reported at its meeting in October of this year. The aggregate member- ship of all the churches in that Association, in 1788, was 188. The following year, the letters from the churches reported thirty-four baptisms, and an aggregate membership of 250. This was, however, only the beginning of the first revival in the bounds of that fraternity. The next year, 1790, the baptisms aggregated 112, of which nineteen were at Bear Grass, twenty- one at Coxs Creek, and sixty-eight at Brashears Creek. The revival continued in the bounds of this association about three years, during which the aggregate membership of the churches composing it was largely more than doubled. This was indeed a glorious work of grace, and came like a copious shower on the thirsty land. The solitary place was made glad, at last, and the wilderness rejoiced, and blossomed as the rose.
In the bounds of Elkhorn Association, this revival was equally glorious. In 1789, the thirteen churches, composing that body, reported 288 baptisms, of which ninety-seven were at Bryants, thirty-seven at Boones Creek, forty-eight at Great Crossing, 128 at South Elkhorn, and 148 at Clear Creek. The revival continued here about five years, during which the aggre- gate membership of the churches in Elkhorn Association in- creased from 559, to 1,773.
The increase in South Kentucky was also large, especially at Rush Branch, Tates Creek, and Gilberts Creek. It was during this revival, according to the statement of Elder Theod-
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Theodrick Boulware.
rick Boulware, in his autobiography, that William Bledsoe practiced a most disgraceful deception, at Gilberts Creek meet- ing house. Mr. Boulware was present during the meeting. He relates the circumstances in language of the following purport :
"My father moved to Kentucky, and settled at Craigs Station in what is now Garrard county, in 1784. We suffered much in the wilderness, from the fear of Indians, and the want of bread. For a time the settlers lived almost entirely on wild meat, without bread. In the year 1789, the inhabitants had become sufficiently numerous to defend themselves against the Indians. There was an Arminian Baptist church here, called Gilberts Creek, under the ministry of Joseph Bledsoe and his son William. Great excitement was produced by the follow- ing sentence, written on each of two hen's eggs: 'THE DAY OF GOD'S AWFUL JUDGMENT IS NEAR.' William Bledsoe read the sentence aloud, from the eggs, in the audience of the people. He professed to be alarmed, and the alarm was great among the people. The excitement continued many months, and about four hundred were added to the church."*
Theodrick Boulware was a Regular Baptist preacher of high standing, and was well known, both in Kentucky and Missouri, where he labored in the Gospel ministry, about sixty years. And although he was only nine years old when he witnessed the above proceedings, he was seventy-seven years old when he wrote the account of them, in 1857. William Bledsoe was, at that time, a young man, and possessed a bril- liant genius ; but was of that singularly erratic cast of mind that characterized the Bledsoe family of Kentucky at that period. He may have been deceived by some joke-loving wag who wrote the sentence on the eggs before they were taken from the nest.
The Baptists in Kentucky, in 1789, having heard that the Regular and Separate Baptists of Virginia had consummated a happy union among themselves, and were now all walking in fellowship, under the name of United Baptists, attempted to effect a similar union here. The effort did not succeed, and the breach was only widened, as it had been, from a similar cause,
"Boulware's Auto-Biography p. 3.
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in 1785. The difficulties in the way of uniting the Regulars and Separates in Kentucky, were constantly increasing. The Regulars had adopted the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, with some specified modification, as an expression of their doctrine. The Separates refused to adopt "any creed but the Bible." The consequence was, that they had adopted most of the popular errors in doctrine, that were afloat in the land. Some of their leading preachers adopted Universalism. Others were Hell- Redemptionists, and most of them practiced "Open Commu- nion." It might have been said of them, as it has been said of a more modern sect, without much prevarication, "They have all kinds of preachers, preaching all sorts of doctrines." A nomi- nal union between the two sects was afterwards effected. But it will be seen in due time that it was only nominal, at least so far as a large number of the Separates were concerned.
HARDINS CREEK church was constituted in Nelson county, in 1789. It was gathered by that famous itinerant, Baldwin Clifton, who became its first pastor. It reported to Salem As- sociation, in 1790, a membership of thirty-two. This church was located in a Catholic settlement, and, for a long time was very weak. In 1815 it reported to the Association only ten members, and was advised by that body, at its next session, not to dissolve. It did not report to the Association again till 1826, when it had twenty-one members. From this time it had a slow . growth till, in 1845, it reached a membership of 101. Since that time it has had rather an even course.
BALDWIN CLIFTON was very active among the pioneer preachers of Kentucky. We find traces of his labors in nearly all the older settlements of the State. But his movements were so rapid, that he formed but a passing acquaintance with the ministers of his generation. He appears to have gathered Hardins Creek church, in 1789. He probably gathered Pitmans Creek church, in 1791 ; for he represented it in Green River Association, at its second anniversary. He remained a mem- ber of Pitmans Creek church, till 1807. This year he was Moderator of Russells Creek Association. Two years after this, he was a member, and probably the pastor, of Mays Lick church, in Mason county. He preached the introductory ser- mon before Bracken Association, in 1809.
SMITH THOMAS was raised up to the ministry in Hardins
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Smith Thomas.
Creek church. Hc may be truly styled one of the great men of his generation. He began his ministry in early life, and prose- cuted it with great energy and extraordinary success till he was enfeebled with a lingering disease, which terminated his earth- ly career before he reached the age of sixty years.
Mr. Thomas was born in Washington county, Sep. 4, 1810. In the seventeenth year of his age, he sought and obtained hope in the Redeemer, and, was baptized into the fellowship of Hardins Creek church, by that eminent servant of Jesus Christ, David Thurman. Soon after his baptism, he began to exhort sinners to repent and turn to God. He was licensed to preach in his twenty-seventh year, and, after a few months, was ordained. He was
invited to preach once a month at Cox's Creek church, in Nelson county, Isaac Taylor being the pastor. Not long after this, he was invited to preach once a month at Little Union church, in Spencer county, of which the venerable' George Waller was pastor. This arrangement was not a happy one. Mr. Waller was a firm defender of the doctrine taught by the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, while Mr. Thomas was, at that period, inclined to Arminianism. This caused. some unpleasant controversy in the church, and necessitated' the withdrawal of both the preachers. It may be remarked herc, that the policy of having two ministers to preach statedly to the same church, is a very bad one. In almost every case, it de velops party spirit in the church, and, in many cases, genders bad feelings in the preachers, toward each other. When a church desires more preaching than it has been accustomed to have, let it demand more of the time and labor of its pastor. But if a church is so desirous of hearing a new preacher as to invite him to occupy her pulpit statedly, it would, in most cases, be wise in the pastor to resign.
On the death of Mr. Taylor, in 1842, Mr. Thomas became pastor of Cox's Creek church. During the same period, he served the churches at Mill Creek and New Salem, in Nelson county, and Mt. Washington in Bullitt. Under his ministry at New Salem, P. B. Samuels was converted, and brought into the ministry. In December, 1843, Mr. Thomas moved to Shelby county, and took charge of Simsonville church, to which he ministered several years. He also preached to Long Run,
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Dover, Clear Creek and some others, at different periods. He was a number of years moderator of Long Run Association. In 1854, his wife died. After this, he seemed restless and unsettled, and occupied but little time in the pastoral office. Previous to this sad event, he was a good student of the Bible. His sermons were well arranged, and no preacher in the State could interest an intelligent audience more than he. But the death of his wife was so severe a shock to his warm and sensi- tive nature, that he never recovered from it. He ceased to study, and was restless and unsatisfied, in any position. His social balance was deranged. He sought relief from the achings of a bereaved heart, in an untoward exuberance of social intercourse, which presented the appearance of the abandonment of himself to social pleasures, innocent in themselves, but having an appearance of lightness and frivolity, that detracted from the dignity of his holy calling, and injured his influence as a minister ; especially in the last few years of his ministerial carcer. But he was not less, but more active in the ministry, after the death of his wife than before. He labored now, principally, as an Evangelist, and with extraordinary success. He estimated that he had baptized about thirteen hundred, while in the pistoral office, and had been instrumental in bringing into the churches, about two thousand who were baptized by other ministers. He wrote down this estimate, at the request of his daughter, ten years before his death. He probably added at least another thousand to this number, before he was called away from the field of labor. A peculiarity in Mr. Thomas' preaching was, that he always reached the best classes of society. A multitude of the best citizens of the country, were brought into the churches under his ministry. In a conversation with the author some years before his death, he called over the names of thirty- four ministers of the Gospel, who had been brought into the Church under his ministry, and proposed to the President of Georgetown College to compare them with a like number of preachers who had been educated in that institution.
Mr. Thomas spent a part of several years in holding pro- tracted meetings in Missouri, where his labors were attended with great success .. Having, by some means, aroused the opposition of a Methodist minister, while engaged in one of these meetings, the clerical gentleman publicly challenged him
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to debate. Mr. Thomas promptly replied : "No, I will not debate with you ; for if I were to defeat you, Methodism would suffer ; and if you were to defeat me, the cause of truth would suffer."
During one of these meetings, Mr. Thomas was attacked with hemorrhage of the lungs, which prostrated him for several months, and from which he never entirely recovered. He so far recovered, however, as to be able to preach several years afterwards. But his health gradually declined till, after several months of confinement, to his room, and much suffering from disease of the lungs and stricture of the bladder, he fell asleep in Jesus, at the residence of his daughter, in the city of Louis- ville, March 27, 1869. Thus passed away one of the most useful ministers Kentucky ever produced ..
In person, Mr. Thomas was full six feet and two inches in height, and well proportioned. His complexion was very fair, his hair light, his eyes light blue, and his nose and mouth large. His features were regarded homely, but he presented a stately and commanding appearance in the pulpit.
As a preacher, he possessed extraordinary natural gifts. He had a strong, clear intellect, excellent practical judgment, well understood human nature, and possessed a voice full and round; every tone of which was musical and persuasive. He was not a classical scholar, but was thoroughly self educated in his holy calling. He was an orator of a high order. He was singularly original in his mode of thought and expression. His manner combined clear, easily understood, logic, with much tenderness of feeling, and almost irresistible persuasion. In the social circle, he charmed alike the cultivated gentleman, the practical business man, and the school girl of fifteen sum- mers. His face was always wet with tears, in the pulpit, and bright with smiles, in the social circle. But even his tears were illuminated with smiles, while he described the beauties and joys of Heaven.
HENSON THOMAS, an older brother of Smith Thomas, was raised up, a preacher in Hardins Creek church. His gifts were very moderate. After preaching a few years in Kentucky, he moved to Missouri. At the breaking out of the late civil war, he came back to his native State, and remained a few years.
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At the restoration of peace, he returned to Missouri, where he is still living.
ELSEY THRELKELD HICKERSON was born in Virginia, January 27, 1807. His parents, who were both pious Baptists, and who lived to a good old age, moved to Kentucky, in 1808, and settled on Hardins creek, in Washington county. The father, William Hickerson, was long clerk of Hardins Creek church. He died in 1866.
Elsey T. Hickerson was baptized into the fellowship of Hardins Creek church, while in his teens, by David Thurman. He began to exhort in early life. He succeeded his father as church clerk, and soon after his marriage to Miss Elenor Simms, Dec. 12, 1832, was ordained to the deaconship. He continued to exercise in prayer and exhortation, till June II, 1842, when he was licensed to the work of the ministry. He was ordained by Joel Gordon, John Miller, John Duncan, and David Miller, February 28, 1843. In the Fall of the next year he moved to Mead county, and settled four miles from Brandenburg, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was pastor, at different periods, of Brandenburg, Stephensport, Sandy Hill, Constan- tine, Lost Run, Dorretts Creek, Concordia, Macedonia, and Spring Creek churches. Besides his regular pastoral labors, he preached at private houses, school houses, and, indeed, any where else, wherever he could get a few people together. He was emphatically a laborer in the Lord's Vineyard. He followed the Apostolic example of "warning every man publicly and from house to house, with tears."
His last work was at Brashears school house, in Breckin- ridge county, in the Fall of 1866. At the close of a series of meetings, he conducted at that place, he baptized thirty-three happy converts. Shortly after he reached home, he was attack- ed with some disease of the lungs, which terminated his life in a few days. On the 21st of November, 1866, this good man of God left the field of labor, and went to enjoy the rest that re- mains for the people of God.
Mr. Hickerson was what is popularly denominated a dry preacher. He seemed to have no idea of the utility of oratory. His preaching consisted in a plain solemn statement of the doc- trine contained in his text, without embellishment or illustration. But this was done well. He was a close Bible student, and had
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Jessamine Creek Church.
a good understanding of the plan of salvation. Above all, he was a good man. Upon this subject, saints and sinners held but one opinion.
JESSAMINE CREEK churchappears to have been gathered by Martin Haggard, Joseph Anderson and Elijah Summars, all of whom were among its members. It was constituted in 1789, and united with South Kentucky Association, to which it reported, in 1790, a membership of sixty-eight. In 1807, its membership had decreased to forty-eight, and Elders Jas. Rucker and Robert R. Hunt were among its members. It is supposed to have been located in Jessamine county. It was probably swept away by the Campbellite schism. '
The laying on of hands after baptism, became a subject of discussion and contention, during the year 1789. It was an ordinance, practised among the early Baptists of Virginia, and brought by the early settlers, to Kentucky. The author- ity for the practice was deduced from Heb. 6: 2. It seemed to be doubtful whether or not the passage taught this ordi- nance, as it had been practised heretofore, and some of the preachers omitted it. This caused disturbance in the churches, among those who supposed the Bible required it to be used, as the omission of baptism, by some of our ministers and churches, would cause disturbance among us now. The sub- ject was introduced in Salem Association, in the form of two queries:
I. "Whether any of the churches of this Association practicing or not practicing the laying on of hands on church members will be a bar to fellowship?"
2. "Whether any church belonging to this Association ordaining a minister that cannot, in faith, practice the laying on of hands be a breach of communion ?"
Both of these questions were decided in the negative. The practice soon fell into disuse, among the Regular Bap- tists, and there appears to have been no attempt to revive it. The following extract from John Taylor's History of South River church, in Fauquier county, Virginia, will give the reader a correct idea of how the ceremony was performed. In the year 1770, a precious work of grace was wrought among the people on South river. This work was under the ministry of William Marshall, John Pickett and Reuben Pickett.
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