USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 24
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LULBEGRUD, so called from a small stream near where it was located, was the first church gathered in what is now Montgomery county. A plain, humble preacher of the name of Daniel Williams was probably the principal instrument in bringing this church together. It was constituted of twenty members, on the third Saturday. in March, 1793. It united with South Kentucky Association, where it remained till the general union, when it became a member of North District. Its growth was very slow, till 1810, when Jeremiah Vardeman came among its members. He was called to the care of the church, and served it about seven years. During this period over one hundred were added to its membership. Previous to 1810, this church exhibited a singular conceit in building a house of worship with twelve corners, to represent the twelve apostles. John Smith succeeded Vardeman in the pastorate. Under his administration a revival occurred, during the con- tinuance of which, one hundred and twenty-five were added to the church.
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In 1823, Thomas Boone was called to the care of this church; and continued to serve it twenty years. In 1843, the church was divided on the subject of missions; and the pastor, with a majority of the church, formed the Anti-mission party. A. R. Macey was chosen pastor of the Missionary church. From that period till 1879, it changed pastors fre- quently. Two new churches were constituted near it, and it dissolved. The Anti-mission church still exists, but in a very feeble condition.
Sketches of Moses Bledsoe, David Barrow and Jeremiah Vardeman, who were early pastors of this church, have already been given.
JOHN SMITH, who took charge of this church, in 1823, and who was widely known as "Raccoon John Smith," was raised up, and began his ministry among the Baptists in Wayne county. His education was very limited, but he possessed a strong intellect, was a keen wit, and a vivid humorist, and be- came a strong and very popular preacher. He moved to Mont- gomery county, and soon became the most influential preacher in North District Association. He was instrumental in building up the churches of this fraternity, till about 1830, when having fully imbibed Campbellism, he set about perverting them.
His success was so great that North District Association soon lost its existence, except that its name is retained by a small fraternity of anti-missionary Baptists. Mr. Smith soon became a prominent leader among the Campbellites of Kentucky. He lived to a ripe old age, and maintained an excellent character among his people.
THOMAS BOONE was the next pastor of this church. He was called to its care in 1823. He was a grandson of Squire Boone, who was a Baptist preacher, a noted pioneer and a brother of Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky hunter and ex- plorer. His father, Squire Boone, jr., was also a Baptist preach- er, as was his brother, Isaiah Boone, who preached in the Green River country and ultimately joined the Campbellites. His son, Ira Boone, was a " Regular Baptist" preacher in Missouri. It will be seen that the Boones were a preaching family.
Thomas Boone was born in Madison county, Ky., Dec. 24, 1789. His parents moved to Fayette county, while he was a small child. Here he was brought up with a limited common
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school education. He obtained hope in Christ at the age of fourteen, and was probably baptized by his father, and united with Boggs Fork church. In his twentieth year, he was mar- ried to Sallie, daughter of George Muir, of Fayette. Soon after his marriage, he settled in Clark county, where he spent the re- mainder of his earthly days. He was ordained to the ministry at Log Lick church, in 1815, by Edward Kindred and others. To the care of Goshen church he was called in December, 1816. He was also pastor of Log Lick, Dry Fork, and New Provi- dence. Of all these churches he was pastor at the time of his death. Soon after he became pastor of Goshen he took mem- bership in that church. After a year of patient suffering, and in full assurance of faith, he died of cancer of the stomach Sep- tember 21, 1855.
Mr. Boone was a man of that warm, genial and cheerful piety that wins the admiration of the good, and disarms the evil of their malevolence. He was eminently a man of love, and few men ever enjoyed more fully the confidence of the people. He possessed only moderate preaching gifts, but his influence was very great. On the split of the churches on the subject of mis- sions, in that region, in 1843, he identified himself with the Anti- missionaries. After his death, Lulbegrud church erected a monument over his grave.
JAMES FRENCH, a prominent citizen of Montgomery coun- ty, was long clerk of Lulbegrud church. He was among the earliest settlers of Kentucky. When Boonesboro was laid off, in 1779, his name was given to one of its streets. When Camp- bellism was rending the churches of North District Association, Mr. French called a meeting at Lulbegrud to consider means of defense against the wiley arts of "Raccoon " John Smith, and his influence was so great that Mr. Smith pronounced him "the wisdom of the opposition." A subsequent historian has said : "In a word, it was James French, and not John Calvin, that withstood John Smith so obstinately in North District Associa- tion."
JUDGE RICHARD FRENCH, son of the above, was also a mem- ber of this church. He was born in Madison county, Ky., June 23, 1792. In early childhood, he was carried by his parents to Montgomery county where he was raised up. He re- ceived a moderate common school education, and chose the law
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for his profession. He was early admitted to the bar, and entered into partnership with Mr. Dillard (afterward the distinguished Ryland T. Dillard, D.D.), at Winchester, Ky. In 1820, he re- presented Clark county in the Legislature, and was returned in 1822. In 1828, he was appointed Circuit Judge. He after- wards served three terms in Congress. In the midst of his poli- tical honors, he paused to seek the salvation of his soul, and was baptized by his former law partner. In 1850, he located in Covington, where he resumed the practice of his profession. His health soon failed, and he moved out a few miles into the country, where he departed this life in a most triumphant man- ner, May 1, 1856. Two of his sons, James, Judge of the County Court and Moderator of Boone's Creek Association, and Stephen, Judge of the Circuit Court, are members of the Baptist church in Winchester, Ky.
GRASSY LICK church was located in the western part of Montgomery county. . It was probably collected by Elijah Barnes. It was constituted of members dismissed from Bryants, for that purpose, in the early part of 1793. At the fall session of Elkhorn Association, the same year, it reported to that body, 18 baptisms, and a total membership of 32.
This church was very prosperous for a long series of years. In 1801, it reported 107 baptisms during the year, and a mem- bership of 195. About 1805, it took a letter from Elkhorn and joined North District Association. About 1810, Jeremiah Var- deman became its pastor, and ministered to it about three years, during which 90 were added to its membership by baptism. It continued a prosperous church till the introduction of Campbell- ism into that region, when it was destroyed by that schism.
ELIJAH BARNES who was probably the first pastor of Grassy Lick church was received into the fellowship of Bryant's church by experience and baptism, in June, 1790. He was dismissed by letter in March, 1793, and united with Grassy Lick church, where he was probably set apart to the ministry. After a few years, he moved to Lincoln or Pulaski county, where he was active in raising up the first churches in the hilly regions of these counties. He was a man of small preaching talent, but was highly esteemed for his piety and consecration. He was widely known in the "Hill country " as "old daddy Barnes." For many years, he rode a gray horse. The faithful beast came to
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be almost as well known by the name of "old gray," as the rider, by his sobriquet. One year, when feed was very scarce, old gray suffered much for want of food, and became so lean as to be hardly able to carry his master to his appointments. Dur- ing this period, at a church meeting, the brethren discussed the subject of paying preachers. One of the members said, in sub- stance: "I don't think preachers ought to be paid anything for preaching. The Lord calls them to preach : they are in his em- ploy and he will reward them in the next world." At this point, "Daddy Barnes" put in the question : "But what will old Gray do ?" This may remind the reader of the old English preacher's remark that, "the water of Salvation is free, but the pitcher it is carried in must be paid for."
Mr. Barnes lived to be quite old. He was faithful to the end, and his memory is still cherished by those who knew him.
BRACKEN CHURCH is located in the village of Minerva in Mason county. It was gathered by the famous Lewis Craig, by whom it was constituted, in the summer of 1793, of the following persons, who had been dismissed from Washing- ton church, with perhaps some others : Philip Drake, Ann Drake, Bernard Thompson and wife, Mary Lewis, Mary Down- ing, Thomas Kelsor, Elizabeth Murphy, Hannah Kelsor and Dennis Murphy. The records of the church are lost, and little is known of its early history. It is most probable that Lewis Craig was its first pastor. As early as 1805, the church was divided into two distinct organizations, on the subject of Slavery. At this date William Holton was pastor of the Pro-slavery church, and James Thompson was pastor of the other party. They had occupied the same house. The split was finally healed, by the dissolution of the Anti-slavery Association, in the State.
The church appears to have been received into Elkhorn Association in 1795, at which time it comprised forty-five mem- bers. When it entered into the constitution of Bracken Associ- ation, in 1799, it contained 156 members. In 1829, Jesse Hol- ton, who had been pastor since 1815, went over to Campbellism, taking most of the church with him, so that out of a member- ship of 251, only thirty-seven remained with the Baptists. After the split, Gilbert Mason was called to the pastorate, and preached several years. He was so strongly tinctured with
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Campbellism that he induced the church to discard its articles of faith. A. D. Sears began to preach to this church, in 1840. Under his administration, it re-adopted its articles of faith, and again enjoyed peace and a good degree of prosperity.
In 1842, A. W. LaRue succeeded Mr. Sears in the pastor- ate. This church enjoyed prosperity under his labors. In 1850, there was a summing up of the church's labors in the past, and it was ascertained that there had been baptized into its fellow- ship 618 persons. Since that period, it has declined. From 1850 to 1875 it had eleven pastors. A church must have re- markable vitality to survive such treatment, a quarter of a cen- tury. At present it has a membership of sixty.
Of the numerous pastors of this old church, several are widely known. Of Lewis Craig a sketch has been given. Of William and Jesse Holton there is little information at hand.
JAMES THOMPSON was pastor of the Anti-slavery division of Bracken church, from the division, in 1805, till its dissolution, about 1818. He was a native of Scotland, and emigrated to America in his youth. Arriving in Philadelphia, January 8, 1767, he was sold for a term of three years, to pay his passage across the ocean. He married during his servitude. When his term of service expired, he moved to Virginia. Here, under the preaching of Henry Hagan, he professed religion, and, although he had been raised a Presbyterian, was baptized by Mr. Hagan into the fellowship of a Baptist church. The next year he was drafted into the army. At the return of peace, he moved to Bracken county, Kentucky, where he was set apart to the Gospel ministry, and gave the evening of his life to preaching the Word. He was regarded a man of sincerity, as well as a sound gospel preacher.
GILBERT MASON was born in Bedford county, Virginia, June, 1810. When he was about ten years old, his parents moved to Franklin county. Here Gilbert, at the age of eleven professed conversion under the preaching of J. B. Jeter and Daniel Wills, and was baptized by Moses Green into the fellow- ship of old Bethel church. He was immediately induced to engage in public prayer, and early in his thirteenth year, was fully licensed to preach the Gospel. Although compelled to labor continually on his father's farm, he preached of nights during the week, and on Sabbaths. After laboring a year or
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two in this manner, he was permitted to live a year with Abner Antony, at the solicitation of that kind minister. Here he gave himself wholly to the work of the Master. He then went to school in Fincastle nearly two years, living in the family of Rev. Absalom Dempsey. After this he attended an academy in Albemarl. He then became a co-laborer of John Kerr, pastor of the First Church in Richmond. From this field he was called to the church in Petersburg, and was regularly installed its pas- tor the day he was nineteen years old. He occupied this pas- torate about five years, during which he baptized a large num- ber, among whom were Elder Thomas Hume, Sr., and the dis- tinguished Dr. J. S. Baker, now of Georgia.
On the death of Elder Abner Clopton, Mr. Mason was called to succeed him as pastor of some churches in Charlotte county. He filled this position nearly three years, when he was called to the pastorate of Mays Lick church in Mason county, Kentucky. He also preached to Maysville, Washing- ton and Bracken churches. About 1845, he became involved in personal difficulties with several members of the different churches he was ministering to. Grave reports affecting his moral character became current. A council was called to in- vestigate the charges. The council met at Lewisburg and de- cided that Mr. Mason should make acknowledgements for his error, and ask forgiveness for his wrongs, or that Washington church, of which he was a member, should exclude him. He agreed at once to comply. He made the following declaration in writing :
"Not claiming to be infallible, I declare, in fulfillment of the requisition of the council, as far as I can do without a vio- lation of conscience, that I am sorry for any errors I may have committed, and any injustice I may have done Brother William V. Morris or Brother John L. Kirk, or any other member of the Mays Lick or Maysville churches, and I ask forgiveness.
"'(Signed) GILBERT MASON."
The Washington church accepted this apology, but Mays Lick and Maysville rejected it. The whole matter came before Bracken Association, in 1847, and Washington church was ex- cluded from the Association, for not complying with the deci- sion of the council. The result was the organization of a new Association within the bounds of Bracken. It may here be re-
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marked that the two Associations were reconciled, and united again, after a few years.
About 1853, or the year following, Mr. Mason was called to the church at Lexington, Virginia. Remaining here several years, he baptized a large number, among whom was the elo- quent and scholarly J. C. Hiden, now (1885) of Lexington, Ky. From Lexington, he was called to Manchester, Va., where he preached under the employ of the board of the Gen- eral Association, as he had done at Lexington, till the beginning of the Civil War, when he moved back and resumed his old charge in Kentucky. Here he remained until the fall of 1872, when, his health being impaired, he resigned his charge, and returned to Virginia. He resided at Lynchburg till January I, 1873. At that time, though very feeble in health, he went to visit his brother, Elder G. M. Mason, of Yancyville, N. C. Here he remained till his death, which occurred March 4, 1873.
Gilbert Mason was one of the most remarkable men that ever occupied a place in the American pulpit. At the age of twelve years he could repeat whole chapters of the Bible by rote, and, could readily turn to any passage in it. He was fully licensed to preach early in his thirteenth year. At the time of his death, which occurred when he was only sixty-three, he had been actively engaged in preaching the gospel, fifty years. And, according to his own statement, had baptized over four thousand people.
A. D. SEARS, labored at Bracken church, under the em- ploy of the missionary board of Bracken Association, about two years. He was not pastor of the church, but did much to re- cover it from its disorder and confusion.
Mr. Sears was of English ancestors, and was born in Fair- fax county, Va., Jan. 1, 1804. He acquired a fair education. He was raised under deistical influences, and entertained a strong prejudice against religious people, holding the Baptists in especial contempt, on account of what he regarded their vul- gar and indecent practice of immersion. He had never formed the habit of attending preaching. In 1823, he came to Ken- tucky, and settled in Bourbon county, where, in 1828, he mar- ried Miss Ann B. Bowie. By some means he was led to a close study of the Bible and was thereby led to Christ. He had never heard a Baptist preach. But getting hold of Andrew Fuller's
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Works, he found their teachings so fully in accord with his ex- perience, and understanding of the New Testament, that he resolved to join the hitherto despised sect. On the 19th of July, 1838, he and his wife were baptized by Ryland T. Dillard, and became members of Davids Fork Baptist church in Fayette county. In 1839, he was licensed to exercise his gift. In February, 1840, he was ordained to the ministry, at Davids Fork, by R. T. Dillard, Edward Darnaby and Josiah Leak.
He at once entered upon the work of his holy calling, and, during the next seven months, preached once a month at each of Georgetown and Forks of Elkhorn, (not being pastor at either place), and devoted the rest of his time to holding protracted meet- ings. In December, 1840, he moved to Flemingsburg, and was appointed missionary in the bounds of Bracken Association, in which capacity he labored with good success about two years. During the year 1840, he held meetings at Shelbyville, Burks Branch and South Benson, where large numbers were added to the churches. In July, 1842, he commenced a meeting with the First Baptist church in Louisville, which continued eight weeks, and during which he baptized 125 persons. The first of September following, he accepted the pastoral care of that church, and continued to serve it till July, 1849, when he resigned to take the general agency of the General Association. In July, 1850, he took charge of the church at Hopkinsville. Here he remained till the war came on, when he went South, where he preached at various places, and much of his time to the sol- diers, many of whom he baptized. In the latter part of 1864, he attempted to return to Kentucky, but was prohibited by the military authorities. In January, 1866, he took charge of the church at Clarksville, Tennessee, where he still remains. Under his care the church has increased from 25 to 225 members, and has erected a house of worship at a cost of $25,000.
Mr. Sears is now 80 years old, is an active and successful pastor, and, six years ago thought he could preach with less fa- tigue than he could thirty years before. May his useful life be long spared.
ALEXANDER WARREN LARUE held his first pastorate at old Bracken church. His paternal grandfather, John LaRue, was of French extraction, and settled in the county which bears his name, in 1785. He left the Presbyterians and joined the Bap-
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Alexander Warren La Rue.
tists, and was a distinguished and honored citizen. His father, Squire LaRue, was Assistant Circuit Judge of his district, rep- resented Hardin county in the Kentucky legislature, in 1822, was a member of the Baptist church, and of him, it is written, " He filled every place to which he was called, with dignity and honor." The mother of A. W. LaRue was a daughter of Alexander McDougal, who was a native of Ireland, and a faithful Baptist preacher.
A. W. LaRue was born in what is now LaRue county, Kentucky, Jan. 23, 1819. He was led to Christ under the min- istry of his cousin, S. L. Helm, and was baptized into the fellow- ship of Severns Valley church, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, by Colmore Lovelace, Sept. 17, 1837. He was licensed to preach, Nov. 3, 1838. Having taken an academic course at Elizabeth- town, he entered Georgetown College, in 1839, where he grad- uated, in 1842. Soon after he graduated, he was called to the church at Flemingsburg and two or three others in Bracken Association. At the former he was ordained, by John L. Wal- ler and A. D. Sears, Dec. 4, 1842. In this field, he labored with great zeal and usefulness, nearly seven years, not only preaching to four churches, but laboring abundantly throughout the territory of the association. In 1849, his health having be- come greatly enfeebled from excessive labor and exposure, he moved to Louisville, and entered into partnership with the dis- tinguished William C. Buck, by which he became co-editor and part owner of the paper now so widely known as The Western Recorder. He was connected with this journal about four years. Meanwhile he was pastor of Bank Street church in New Al- bany, Indiana, for a timc, and then of East church in Louis- ville.
In January, 1853, having severed his connection with the paper, he accepted a call to the church at Harrodsburg. Herc- maincd here a little more than three years, when, in the summer of 1856, he took charge of the church at Georgetown. Here also he remained about three years, and then, in August, 1859, en- tered upon the duties of a pastor at Stanford. Here, as at every other place where he labored, his success was remarkable. In 1863, he moved to Christian county, and became pastor of Sa- lem church. Before he had been here a year, his wife died suddenly of an attack of neuralgia of the brain. She was a
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daughter of Elijah Craig, jr., and grand-daughter of the famous old pioneer preacher, Lewis Craig. She was a noble, godly woman, and was the strength of her household. Mr. LaRue was frail, delicate, and extremely sensitive and refined in his feel- ings. The shock was greater than his constitution could bear. His wife died July 19, 1864, and he followed her to the place of everlasting rest, on the IIth of September, following.
Mr. LaRue was not a genius, neither did he possess a su- perior native intellect. He was but a medium man in all his gifts. But his application, his industry, and well-tempered zeal were extraordinary. Few men were ever more consecrated to the cause of Christ, or made a deeper impression upon the minds and hearts of those with whom they came in contact. His usefulness in the cause of Christ was very extensive, and a multitude of Christian hearts mourned when the beloved LaRue, great in goodness, fell, scarcely beyond the prime of man- hood.
Few families in Kentucky have produced more valuable men than that of John LaRue. Among his descendants may be named Hon. George H. Yeaman, now of New York, and late minister to Russia, Rev. John H. Yeaman, deceased, Rev. W. Pope Yeaman, D. D., of St. Louis, Rev. William L. Mor- ris, deceased, the late Rev. Robert Enslow, Rev. S. L. Helm, D. D., Judge Squire LaRue and Rev. A. W. LaRue, and the distinguished Gov. John L. Helm, of Kentucky. Except Gov. Helm, who was not a member of any church, they were all worthy Baptists.
MILL CREEK church (Nelson county) is located about five miles east of Bardstown. It was, according to tradition, gath- ered by that famous old pioneer, William Taylor, at that time pastor of Cox's Creek church. It was constituted on Saturday before the fourth Sunday in December, 1793, of the following persons : John Batsel, Joseph Suttle, William Kendrick, Henry Cotton, Thos. Ellison, Thomas Halbert, Sarah Halbert, Judith Briggs, and Hannah McCarty. It is probable that Wil- liam Taylor supplied them with occasional preaching, till 1799, when John Penny visited them. He found the church in some disorder. There was one or more of the members, who held the chimerical notion of "Redemption from hell," which was taught by the eloquent John Bailey, about that time. Mr.
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Penny refused to commune with the church on that account. It is probable that they speedily corrected the evil; for Mr. Penny took charge of the church the following January. How long he preached to them is not known.
Joshua Morris began to preach for the church, one Sunday in the month, in 1802, Wm. Taylor being pastor. In 1807, Mr. Morris became pastor. In 1816 Jeremiah Vardeman and George Waller aided the pastor (Morris) in a series of meetings. An extensive revival prevailed, and sixty-eight were baptized. Again, in 1829, an extensive revival prevailed, Joshua Morris being pastor the second time, and there was a large ingathering of souls. Next year Samuel Carpenter was called to the church. He had imbibed the sentiments of A. Campbell, and taught them so effectively that the large and hitherto flourishing church was filled with discord. In 1834, the Baptists separated from the Campbellites; the latter probably being in the majority. Since that period, the church has not been large, but it has maintained a respectable standing, and has had a number of able pastors.
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