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A Short History of the Graves County (KY) Baptist Association
By Wendell Rone, Sr.

BAPTIST ANTECEDENTS IN WESTERN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE 1780-1820.
From Middle Tennessee Into South­western Kentucky

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     The antecedents of Western Kentucky life begin in Virginia, North Carolina, South Ca­rolina, and later in eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, for the earliest settlers came fr­om those areas. The peoples of those areas participated in the settlement of America's first west, the trans-mountain areas of what are now known as Kentucky and Tennessee. As the early settlements prior to 1780 took pla­ce in Eastern Tennessee and in the beautiful Blue Grass section of Kentucky, it was not until on and after that date that middle Ten­nessee and southwestern Kentucky were sett­led.

     In the year 1780 General James Robertson led a party of about 4O families, emigrants from Virginia and North Carolina, from east­ern Tennessee through a wilderness of 300 mi­les across the Cumberland mountains to the Frenck Lick, and there established Nashville on the banks of the Cumberland River.

     It is probable that there were many Bap­tists in this group. Robertson had been closely associated with his cousin Charles Rob­ertson, in whose home was held the first Bap­tist revival in the Watauga settlement in ea­st Tennessee.

     Of interest also is the fact that the Bap­tist Church known as the Sulphur Fork of Red River (located near the present Springfield, Tennessee) was established by Elder John Gra­mmar in 1786. For years, at least from 1788 through 1792, this church existed in isola­tion in the area as a Separate Baptist cong­regation and a member of the south Kentucky Separate Baptist Association (1787) in Ken­tucky. Grammar moved away after the last-men­tioned date and the work dissolved.

     A most significant event which was to in­fluence Baptist life in what later became the Jackson-Shelby Purchase in 1818 took pla­ce on July 25, 1791, when the pioneer Ken­tucky Baptist preachers, John Taylor and Am­brose Dudley, went 200 miles through the wil­derness from Elkhom Association (Lexington area) to the Mouth of the Sulphur Fork of Red River and founded a Regular Baptist Church of 12 members, including the Revolution­ary War officer, William Prince, and his wi­fe Elizabeth, who later moved to the area now known as Caldwell County, and for whom Princeton, the county seat, is named. The church's name was originally known as the MOUTH OF SULPHUR FORK OF RED RIVER. It is also given in records as Tennessee and Red River (its present name). It was located at first near Port Royal, but moved to Adams, yenaessee, in 1870, where it is still loca­ted, the oldest Baptist Church in the whole of the western two-thirds of Tennessee.

      RED RIVER BAPTIST CHURCH became a strong and prolific "mother" of many other Baptist congregations. As early as April, 1798, the church established an "arm" or mission near the present site of Princeton, Kentucky. This "arm" became the Eddy Grove Baptist Chur­ch in July, 1799, the first Baptist Church to be established in Southwestern Kentucky, west of the Logan and Muhlenberg County li­nes. Elder Daniel Brown, former pastor of the Red River Church, was one of the founders of the Eddy Grove Church. William Prince and Ms wife were charter members,also.

      The Eddy Grove Church formed an "arm" on the Muddy Fork of Little River (near Cerulean in Trigg County) in 1804. It became a fully-organized church in 1806. Elder Fielding Wolf was its pioneer pastor for years.

     After the settlement of what later became Calloway County (1823) and Marshall County (1842) the first Baptist Church to be organi­zed in the Jackson-Shelby Purchase took place on May 13, 1820, when the Clark's River Bap­tist Church (became Soldier Creek in 1838) was organized by Elders Fielding Wolf and James Payne in the home of William "Bill" Owen, on twelve members, as follows:


Elder Henry Darnall  Leonard Kaler
William Baker        Selah Baker
Absolom Copeland *   Sally Copeland
Mary Smith	     Anna Boland
Parker Harrell       Deliah Harrell 
Gabriel Washburn     Martha Henson

* A licensed minister.

      Elder Darnall had come from Drake's Creek of Big Barren Baptist Church to the Red River Church in February, 1806. He moved his member­ship to the Dry Fork of Eddy Creek Church, in October, 1808, where he pastored as late as 1812. He continued his membership in the Dry Fork Church, Caldwell County, until he moved as a very early settler into the Purchase ar­ea in 1819. Absolom Copeland was ordained in the year 1821 by the Clark's River (Soldier Creek) Church, by Elders Henry Darnall and Fielding Wolf. Elder Lewis Goad, from Muhlenberg County, became a member of Clark's Riv­er in 1823.

      On October 2, l824, Elders Absolom Copeland and Lewis Q. Goad organized the Trace Creek Baptist Church in Graves County on 9 members. This was the second Baptist Church to be organized in the county, being prece­ded by the Bethel Baptist Church, near the state line in southwestern Graves County; July 17. 1824, being its organization date. Trace Creek's members came from the Clark's River and other churches.

     The Trace Creek Church became the "moth­er" of several churches in Graves County, including the First Baptist Church, Mayfield, in 1844.

     Thus Graves County Baptists are in dir­ect lineal descent from the Red River Bap­tist Church (1791) of Adams, Tennessee.

      With the organization of more Baptist Churches in Middle Tennessee in the period 1791-1796 it became necessary to organize associations for fellowship and the promo­tion of the organization of other churches in the westward movement. Accordingly, five Tennessee churches organized the Mero (Miro) District Association in November, 1796. It grew rapidly and eventually in the period 1798-1803 included all the Baptist Churches


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in Southwestern Kentucky, including the Eddy Grove (1799) Church, in Livingston (1799) Co­unty (later Caldwell County). Internal stri­fe led to the organization of the Cumberland Association #1 on May 2, 1803, at White's Creek Church, Davidson County, Tennessee. The Western Kentucky Churches became members of this new body, including Eddy Grove (1799), Livingston County. In the period 1803-1807 the association grew to such proportions in the area west in Kentucky and Tennessee to the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers that it became necessary to divide it. In consequen­ce the churches north of the Red River ridge and west into Kentucky and Tennessee organi­zed the Red River Association on April 15, 1807, at Red River Baptist Church, Robertson County, Tennessee. This body included in the period 1807-1813 most of the churches in Simpson, Logan, Christian, Todd, Trigg, Li­vingston, Crittenden, Lyon, Caldwell, Hop­kins, Webster, Union, Henderson, southern Mclean, and Western Muhlenberg Counties in Kentucky; as well as those in Robertson, Mon­tgomery, and Stewart Counties in Tennessee.

     Increasing from its original 12 churches, with 8 of them being in Kentucky, the Red Ri­ver body grew to 43 churches in 1813, with 28 of them being in Kentucky, 12 in Tenness­ee, 2 in Missouri, and 1 in Illinois. At this point it became necessary to organize anoth­er association.

     On October 2, 1813, 15 churches in Kentuc­ky, 3 in Tennessee, and 1 in Illinois formed the Little River Baptist Association at the Eddy Grove Church, Caldwell County, Kentucky. It reported in 1818, the year of the Jackson-Shelby Purchase, 23 churches in Kentucky in Christian, Hopkins, Henderson, Livingston, and Caldwell Counties; 5 in Montgomery and Stewart County, Tennessee, and 1 in Illinois. This association enjoyed such a phenomenal growth that in 1820 it had 33 churches with a membership of 1,345. Therefore, on October 6, 1820, 13 churches were dismissed to form the Highland Baptist Association, meeting at Highland Church, Union County, Kentucky. All these churches were in the Tradewater, Pond, Green and Ohio River quadrangle in Kentucky, and located in western Muhlenberg, Hopkins, Union, and Henderson Counties. At the same time 2 churches were dismissed to form the Muddy River Association, near Golconda, Illinois.

     The remaining churches, in 1821, were loc­ated in Livingston, Caldwell, Trigg, and wes­tern Christian Counties in Kentucky; in Mont­gomery, Stewart, and Henry Counties in Tenne­ssee. One church, Clark's River, was in the Kentucky part of the Purchase, still a part of Livingston-Caldwell Counties at the time. Two Churches, Walnut Fork of Obion (1820)and Bird's Creek (1820), were in Henry County, a part of the Tennessee Purchase.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS IN THE PURCHASE AREA OF KENTUCKY 1820-1835.

1. Livingston-Caldwell Jurisdiction 1819-1822.
      Prior to the formation of Hickman County, on January 15, 1822, the Kentucky part of the Purchase was under the combined jurisdiction of Livingston and Caldwell Counties, as both bordered the eastern side of the Tennessee River in 1818-1830. Part of the Caldwell area became Trigg County in 1820, which also bor­dered the same river.

      Clark's River Church, organized on May 13, 1820, and the first church to be organized in the Kentucky part of the purchase, united wi­th the Little River Association of Baptists on August 16, 1820, meeting with the Muddy Fork of Little River Church, being represent­ed by Elder Henry Darnall and Licentiate Absolom Copeland, and reporting 13 members. The church continued to represent herself in this association through the 1823 session. Her to­tal membership had climbed to 40 by that time.

      A second church, New Salem, located about two miles west of Murray, Kentucky, in Callo­way County (after 1823), was organized in the year 1822, but it did not unite with any as­sociation until 1823.

      In July, 1823, Union Baptist Church (Wadesboro in 1828) was organized in Calloway County's seat of justice; becoming the third Baptist Church to be formed in the Kentucky Purchase. It, too, did not unite with an as­sociation until 1823.

2. Hickman County 1822-1835.
      The first two churches noted above were in Hickman County from January 15, 1822, to Jan­uary, 1823, when Calloway County was formed. Hickman County consisted of the remaining ar­ea of the Kentucky Purchase west of Calloway County from January 15, 1823 until January 15, 1824, when Graves County was formed. No Baptist Churches were formed in the county in that period. With the loss of Graves County, and also of McCracken County (now both Ballard and McCracken Counties) on January 15, 1825, the county was reduced to what is now known as Fulton, Hickman, and Carlisle Counties. No Baptist Church existed in this area from January, 1822, until on December 10th, 1825, when the Mayfield Creek congregation was founded. Including the above church, the following churches were founded in the peri­od 1822- 1835:


Mayfield Creek 	December 10, 1825
Mud Creek*		     1827
Bayou Desha*	             1830
Emmaus 		     August, 1832
Clinton	        December 12, 1833
Hopewell           November, 1835

* Turned anti-missionary after 1830.

      Only the Clinton and Hopewell churches are now found in the present Hickman County.

3. Galloway County 1823-1835.
     Besides the Clark's River (1820) and the New Salem (1822) Churches the following ad­ditional churches were founded in Calloway County (including Marshall) in the period 1823-1835:
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Clark's River*      May 13,  1820
New Salem*   	             1822
Wadesboro (Union)     July,  1823
East Fk. Clark's R.*	     1824
Blood River #1    	     1825+
New Hope* 		     1830
Rough Creek*		     1831
Shiloh* 		             1831
Sinking Spring   August  15, 1831
West Fk. Clark's R. Novembr, 1833++

* Turned anti-missionary after 1830.
+ Became extinct in 1830.
++ Became extinct in 1844.

4. Graves County 1824-1835.
      Beginning with the formation of the coun­ty, on January 15, 1824, the following Bap­tist Churches were organized in Graves Coun­ty through 1835:


Bethel* 	          July 17, 1824
Trace Creek 	October 2, 1824
Graves(El Bethel)	   1831
Little Obion 	 April 16, 1831
Panther Creek*     August, 1833
Mt. Pleasant* 	           1834
West Mayfield*+   Nov. 29, 1834
Brush Creek*		   1835
Liberty* 		   1835


* Turned anti-missionary after 1830.
*+ Became Mount Zion (North) in 1843.
Not to be confused with Mt. Zion (South)

5. McCracken County 1825-1835.
     The first Baptist Church to be formed in McCraeken County (both McCracken and Ballard) was in July, 1829, when the New Bethel body was organized about four miles west by south of the present Paducah. In the period 1825-1835 the following churches were established in the county:


New Bethel   July, 1829
Ohio     Decem. 6, 1833

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