Records of the Line Creek Baptist Church

1860-1892 Record Book

The surviving Line Creek Baptist Church records, consisting of three minute books, the last checkbook, and deed to the property, are stored at the Rockcastle Baptist Association’s office near Mount Vernon. There are partial copies also available at both the Pulaski and Rockcastle Historical Societies and in some private collections. The original records are in fairly good condition and are very legible (the legibility is related more to the handwriting skill of the clerk than to the condition of the records).

The oldest minute book begins in September 1860 and ends in July 1892. The other two books cover the mid-1900s up to July 1979. There are at least two missing books that fit between the three we have and at least one missing that covered the pre-1860 period. Most of the comments here concern the 1860-1892 records.
The first record reads:

We the United Baptist Church of Christ at Line Creek met at James Coopers the 4th Saturday in Sept 1860. After prayer proceeded to business:
1st--appointed Elder James Woodall moderator
2nd--the church then made choice of Nelson Jones for their clerk
3rd--appointed Jeremiah Brinkley, Nelson Jones, and James Cooper as a committe to superintend the building of a meeting house
4th--the church agrees and selects as a cite for the house near the uper end of James Coopers land
5th--the door of the church was opened for the reception of members and rec'd Sarah Ann Jones by letter. Sunday received Sidney Whiteaker by experience and sister Lucretia Shiplet was baptized. The church was then adjourned till next meeting in course.

From this record we can immediately learn a couple of things. First, something happened to the previous building and records; and second, they intended to build a new building. Please see the church location section for a more thorough discussion of the building issues.

This first meeting took place at James Cooper’s house. The October meeting was at Jeremiah Brinkley’s, November at Nelson Jones’. The December 1860 through March 1861 meetings were back at Brinkley’s. There is no record for April. The congregation met in May 1861 at Mahala Duncan’s, which was probably the same home as James Cooper (Cooper was her son, she had remarried to Tilman Duncan). No June record, July at Brinkley’s.

Their building project was completed by August 1861, as that month’s meeting was at the “Line Creek Meeting House.”

There are gaps in the record book, some of longer duration than others. There are no records from July 1862 until July 1864. No reason is given, but many churches had services temporarily interrupted for Civil War-related reasons. Perhaps this was the case at Line Creek, too.

The church didn’t meet from October through December of 1864, but did in January 1865. There is then another gap in the records until April 1866 which appears to have resulted from no meetings taking place (the January record ends at the top of a page, but the rest of the page is blank with the next record on the following page).

From April 1866 on, the meetings were held with better regularity. Most missing records after then were during the winter.

There are a few interesting items from the 1860 to 1868 period which are worth noting:

• In May 1861 Nelson Jones and Drewry Harper were selected as deacons of the reconstituted church. Freedom, Rock Lick, Bethany, Sinking Valley, and Liberty (Laurel County) Baptist Churches sent deacons for the ordination service.

• In July 1861 Martha Warren asked for her letter (the family moved from Line Creek to Pitman Creek, near Clay Hill).

• Peter and Rachel Snider joined the church by letter in July 1864, but their letter wasn’t received until August 1867.

• In May 1868 Nelson, Elizabeth, David, and Sarah Jones were granted letters. They also moved from the area. That same month Nelson Jones sold his property, the old Mathew Warren land, to James Cooper.

Something signficant happened in the summer of 1868. I'm not sure what precipitated it nor even exactly what happened, but it marked another change in the church's location and its future.

The meeting for the 3rd Saturday in June, 1868, went much like all others—the church met, elected a pastor for the next year, and were “dismissed in order,” stating that there were no other matters that needed their attention. But then, there’s another June record immediately following. It reads (spelling and punctuation corrected):

Next day, Sunday.

1st--Several members called for letters of dismission. After consulation, the church agreed to take the vote of the church which association they would represent themselves in, the question being put by Brother Drewry Harper. The church voted unanimously to never represent themselves again with the missionary association and from now forward to represent themselves with the [either "said" or "old"] Cumberland association of United Baptists.

2nd--The church agrees that their regular church meeting shall be held at Brother Peter Snider's on the second Saturday and Sunday [unreadble word] and at that meeting agree to appoint delegates to represent them in the association and appoint one their body to prepare a letter for the inspection of the church at their next meeting to send up to the assocation.

3rd--Brother Boling agrees to attend the church as their Pastor for 12 months.

George Boling, moderator; Drewry Harper, clerk.

What’s the old saying? “If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...” Well, that sounds like a church split to me.

There was a division among some Baptist churches over missions, although 1868 is a bit late for that debate. Usually the split happened in a Primitive Baptist church when some of its members wanted to become more mission-minded. Line Creek was not a Primitive Baptist church; it belonged, at that time, in the category of United Baptists, which are more or less comparable to today’s American/Independent Baptists (although it’s hard to compare churches of such different eras). Later, Line Creek became a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Evidently their was split over missions or the Missionary Association. The mentioned “letters of dismission” are not brought up again, which may indicate the ones who wanted their letters were of the missionary faction. Presumably the letters were granted, maybe to a church which was formed at that instant in the then-existing Line Creek building. What is obvious is that the older core membership left the meeting house in favor of Peter Snider’s home.

As they had voted, the July 1868 meeting was held the 2nd Saturday at Peter Snider’s, who was also chosen as a deacon. Perry Bullock was elected as clerk.

The August meeting was at Perry Bullock’s house, but the church met at Snider’s consistently for the next year. There is no express mention of a new building, but in November of 1869 the wording changed to: the church “met at Line Creek.” There are no other mentions of meetings in members’ homes.

Highlights from the 1869-1880 period include:

• A revival in December 1869 lasted five days. During that meeting William Shiplet joined the church and was baptized.

• Perry Bullock left the church in September 1870, but rejoined in August 1871.

• In 1871 the church became one of the founding members of the Rockcastle Baptist Association, which would eventually become a Southern Baptist group.

• In April 1872 J.V. (James Virgil) Carroll joined. He would be elected as deacon in May 1874 and was a influential future pastor.

• June 1872 saw the first of a changing-of-the-guard movement when Jeremiah and Rebecca Brinkley moved their membership and George M. McKinney and Bolin Bullock were elected as deacons. The church began to take on its modern demographics, which was heavy on Bullock, McKinney, and related families.

• By 1874 the move north to Snider’s may have been taking its toll on the membership. Several members, including Ingram Renner, Harvey Taylor, and William Shiplet, left within a year of each other to join Pleasant Valley Baptist Church at Buffalo. It appears this church was an indirect off-shoot of Line Creek, probably born so the Rockcastle County residents would have a church closer to them.

• An interesting item from August 1879 reads: “The church received a petition from Sinking Valley church requesting us to send four brethren as delegates to sit in council September 5, 1879, concerning certain unhappy difficulties existing among them.”

• It’s not clear whether this was a common practice or not, but in October 1879 the moderator was elected by “private ballot.”

For twelve years the church met in either Peter Snider’s home or in a semi-permanent building probably on his property. That all changed in April of 1880. Perry Bullock donated some land and the church voted to “move her place of worship to the new meeting house on the hill.” (For more information, see the deed and location sections.)