I' I I
BLUE RIDGE BAPTIST.
Wm. M. Lee, Editor.
VOL. 3 NO. 39
DEVOTED TO EELIGIOK, EDDCATIOX AND TEMPERANCE.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N. C.. JULY 9, 1903.
D, W. Lee, Associate Editor ond Monoger.
WEEKLY, 50c. A YEAR.
BAPTIST CHURCH:
Preaching every second and fourth,
.Sunday, morning and evening.
Sunday School 10 A. M.
Prayer meeting every Thursday eve.
Rev. W. R. Bradshaw, Pastor.
METHODIST CHURCH:
Preaching every first and third Sun-]
'day morning and evening
Sunday School 9:30 A. M.
Prayer meeting every Tuesday evening.'
Rev. J. B. Tabor, Pastor.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH:
Preaching every third and fourth Sun
’day, morning and evening.
Sunday School 9:30 A. M.
Prayer meeting every Wednesday eve.'
Rev. C. W. Robinson, Pastor.
All are cordially invited to attend]
’these services.
PREMIUMS FOR—
—BAPTIST WORKERS.
Doubtless no other Religious paper in
AVestern Carolina, has grown so rapidly as
the Blue Ridge Baptist. Everybody who
sees and reads its contents has a good word
to say about it. An easy matter to secure
subseribers. Any body can easily obtain a
valuable present.
We make the following offers:
for Two Subscribers-^
We will mail you, postage paid,-
Uroing to. College,-Clows with the en
thusiasm of a high ideal. We wish it could
be in the Library of every High school,
Seminary and Academy in the land. Price
50c. Or Likes and Opposites,- a han
dy book for the speaker and writer Price
50c. Both of the above named books for
only 3 subscribers.
for Three Subscribers-*-
We will mail you, postage paid,- lOOO
Mytholog. Characters Briefly Des
cribed, or lOOO Classical Charact
ers Briefly Described, price of each
75c., or How to Study Literature.
{Special for Literary Societies.) Price 75c.
All three of the above named books for only
5 subscribers.
for Tour &ubscribers-e-
Wh will mail you, postage paid, a copy
■of,How to Attract and Hold an Au
dience.- Every man who speaks in public
should have one, especially Clergymen.
Well bound in cloth and retails for $1.00, or
we will mail yon either of the following if
preferred at the same rate. Character
Building,- inspiring suggestions. Price
^1.00. What Shall I Do? 50 profi
table occupations. Price $1.00. The Vir
tues and Their Reasons. Eveiy day
■ethics for school and home Price $1
All four of the above named books sent
free for only 10 subscribers.
for Ten Subscribers-^-
We will uiail you free.- Interlinear
New Testament (cloth)Price $4.00 or
-old Testament if preferred, price the same
■as New. Both the above Testaments foi only
15 subscribers. Every pastor should own
these Testaments and your churches will
gladly help you get them if you ask it.
If you want all Ihe above nametl books,
send us only 30 subscribers.
Now IS your chance to get you a nice, val
uable book or even a Lib, ary with very little
•effort oil your part and at the same time be
helping a good cause. Old subscribers taken
the same as new provided all arrears are
settled. All subscribers thu taken must be
for one year at 50c, paid in advance.
Every body’s shoulder to the wheel while
ithis offer holds good. Address:
BLUE RIDGE BAPTIST, No. Wilkesboro-
THE LEWIS’ rORK BAPTIST
ASSOCIATION.
It is no mean distinction that was enjoyed
by these Baptists and Patriots in the Yadkin
county from 1770 to 1787. It required man
hood, the strength of personal conviction
and a large stock of inward grace to sur
mount the trials and carry on revivals,build
up churches and organize Associations,
The reader of the Histories of those times
will find it often repeated that these Associa
tions had no Moderators and no clerks. These
were probably jests when first spoken and
when heaid poisoned the ear of the hearer.
The regular Baptists never held an Associa
tion without a Moderator and it will be seen
that the Yadkin Baptists were of the old reg
ular description. The churches on the Hol-
ston river in Tennessee affiliated with the
Sandy creek, but the Yadkin river and
Mountain churches affiliated with the old
Ketocton Association in Virginia and the
Charleston Association in South Carolina.
The old Jersey Settlement church was organ
ized by Elder Benjamiu Miller in 1755 and
took precedence of the Sandy creek organ
ized in December the same year. From the
beginning it affiliated with the Charleston
Association, and is recorded one of its
churches in 1759 during the pastorate of Dr.
John Gano. It has astonished the writer
somewhat that the writers of our Baptist
History have overlooked these facts. Not
only the Jersey church but five churches of
the old Kehukee Association prior to its or
ganization in 1765 were members of the
Charleston Association, to wit: Fishing
creek, Granville Co.; Bladen county; Kehu
kee, in Edgecombe county; Three creeks, in
Johnson county; cashaway, or Mount Pleas
ant church. The Ansm county Baptists in
an early day also affiliated with the churches
of South Carolina for which the reader will
please consult Wood Furman’s History of
Charleston Association at page 53. This
proves much concerning the genesis of the
Yadkin churches. But I am not done, and
yet in this sketch I will be obliged to express
my judgment. The History of the Ketock-
ton Association by Elder William Pristoe.
would give me the light I desire, but it is not
at hand, neither do I know where a single
copy of it can be found. I will proceed with
off-hand reasons as follows:
Elder Andrew Baker, one of the several
pioneers in the Yadkin valley, was doubtless
the oldest preacher in the Association when
it was organized. 1 do not believe that he
lived South of the Blue Ridge. Semple’s
History does not eonfaiu a mention of his
name. Elder Baker was the pioneer preacher
at the head waters of the Holston in Wash
ington, Smyth and Grayson counties, Vir
ginia; and Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes, North
Carolina, before the Revolutionary war. This
generation does not know him nor did the
generation jnst passed away. In 1803 he re
moved to Grayson county. He Was a godly
man and fnil of self-denial and good works.
None could do more in the gospel than was
attempted by him and his ministry was
greatly blessed. It has already been stated
that he organized the churches at Senterand
Old Fields as early as 1772. He probably
died before the year 1810, for he is not
named by the historians Semple nor Bene
dict. His name would have appealed had he
been living. It new appears probable that
Elder Baker went to the head waters of the
Yadkin with the Clevelands and Coffees, or
with others and about the same time. It is
possible that he went with Micajah Lewis.
The Lewises of Lewis’s Fork were pioneeis
there and went from Boutetonrt county, Va.
The extreme point of the old Strawberry
Association was the church at the Peaks of
Otter in that county. He evidently knew
Elder John Cleveland and preached with
him. They were no doubt acquaintances
prior to his itinerant missions into North
Carolina. He had doubtless known this fam
ily of Lewises. I might also relate here that
he may have known Genera! Andrew Lewis
the hero of the Battle of Point Pleasant in
West Virginia May 10th 1754, in which the
Indians were defeated and driven beyond the
Ohio river. This General Lewis was the
older brother of Major Micajah Lewis for
whom the two sparkling streams of the Yad
kin bears a name to-day. But Elder Baker
preached the gospel there and assisted in
laying foundations to which it W'ould be a
pleasure to give a better and more extended
sketch.
The settlement of the Cleveland family
in Wilkes county was a contribution from
the Ketockton Association—the very Bull
Run settlement so fsmous in our civil war,
and the scene of the ministry of that man of
God, Elder Richard Major, under whom a
great revival prevailed in those parts prior to
the removal of the Clevelands to Wilkes
county, N. O. Large numbers were brought
to a saving knowledge of the Truth; preach
ers were licensed and some were ordained, and
many of th^se converts, soon after, went
to the new and growing communities on the
Yadkin, the Holston and Kentucky rivers.
The name of Elder John Cleveland has
heretofore appeared in these articles, and
Elder Cleveland came from the Bull Run
country. I do not have a genealogy of this
family before me and so must record facts on
such credible evidence as I possess. Elder
John Cleveland was bora as early as the
year 1769, was brought up in Eastern Vir
ginia and came to North Carolina in the year
1770 to 1772. Benjamin, Robert, and Larkin
were younger brothers. His mother’s maiden
name was probably Miss Martha Coffee. His
grand-parents lived to about the year 1770
and died at the age of about 100 years. The}'
were of old English stock, and for genera
tions had l>een known as dissenters probably
Baptists or Presbyterians. They claimed
some kinship or descent from the Protector
Oliver Cromwell, and were ot rich and high
toned bearing—no doubt but that in youth
the Clevelands enj^edas high culture as was
afforded. So that in speaking of Elder John
Cleveland as the Moderator of the Yadkin
Association, we speak of an Ancient Master
of assemblies. He did not remain in Wilkes
county long after the Yadkin Association
was organized but removed from there to the
Tngalo country in the North Western corner
of South Carolina where col. Benjamin Cleve
land also migtated and settled. In 1799 he
was a pastor of one of the churches of the
Hephzibah Ga, Association, and in 1819 be
is mentioned by Benedict, the Historian, as a
visitor to the session of the Sarepta Georgia
Association, then beyond the ripe old age of
90 years The wicked speeches of Benjamin
and Robert have long been reported but the
piety and prowess of Elder John Cleveland
remains to he told. Tell it ye who hear.
The evidences required will further appear
but not in argumentative form. Enough has
been shown to prove the point made that the
Yadkin churches in the main follow the
regular Baptist model, although the Sepa
rates of Sandy creek or many of them settled
this country.
John Wright was mentioned as clerk of
this Association and Elder John Meglamre
appears in it as pastor of the Providence
church. Elder John Meglamre was a reg
ular Baptist—once pastor of the old Kehu
kee church in Eastc-u Carolina, its Moder
ator for yeais, and the uncle of brother
George McGlamry, named as a messenger
from the New Hope church to the Lewis
Fork Association. It is probable that a more
extended sketch of Elder Meglamre will ap
pear later on. John Wright, the clerk, was
possibly a Baptist preacher, converted under
the preaching Elder Baker and was use
ful in keeping the minutes in a very legible
hand and transmitting them to this gene^a-
tioD so they can be read. It is said by Prof,
J. T. Alderman, who has examined these
miuntes, taat the writing would do credit to
any graduate of a commercial college of the
present time. L'otwif.hstanding which some
intelligent Pedobaptists at this day send
missionaries to our mountain homes and
take public collections for that purpose.
This is enough to hoist the visables of men
who know. But let it pass. We are educat
ing and doing it ourselves.
This article has spun itself out to a con
siderable thread already, but the clerk of the
Association for 1787 has almost been forgot
ten. He continued in this position to the
year 1792, and left a fine record for this
generation, col. Richard Allen, heretofore
named, was a native of Baltimore, Maryland,
came to Wilkes county in 1770, then being
about 31 years old. He served as a soldier in
the cross creek Expedition in 1776; was a
sergeant in the continental army, and in
1780 he commanded a company that went
from his country to the relief of charleston,
S. c. He also was in the expedition that pun
ished the Tories under col. Bryan, and after
that led his men in the King’s Mountain
campaign. He also served a term of duty
under General Greene in 1781. He was the
first sheriff of Wilkes county and a member
of the House of Commons in 1793. He at
tained the rank of colonel in the militia,
and died in Wilkes county October 10,1832
in his 91st year.
These were men of towering strength.
These were giants in those days.
W. H. E.
Greenshoio, N. C.
Dear Bro. Lee,^—I see upon opening my
paper this morning that the first sentence in
article No. 6 contains a grievous error. It
should read:
As might be anticipated the
Sandy Creek Association organized in 1768,
hut did not contain all the Yadkin churches.
I am now of opinion that it affiliated with
none of them, or rather none of them affilia
ted with it. I, with many others, formed my
opinion without having read Wood Furman’s
History of the Charleston Association. By
the kindness of Dr. C. C. Brown, of Sumter,
S. C., I have this little History op my table
at this writing, and it is the best evidence.
Sincerely,
W. H. E.
Children’s Day at Mt. Zion.
The morning exercises were opened by
singing by the choir—accompanied by the
Organ and prayer by oiir Pastor, Rev. Asa
Brown, after which, Rev. E. L, W’ilson
preached an excellent sermon and a liberal
collection for missions was taken up. Then
the large and well ordered audienceadjourn-
ed for dinner, to vbich all W'ere invited to
partake. 1 he long table in the grove was
beautif111ly spread with many cf the gnod
things the kind and hospitable ladies ot this
locality know so well how to prepare. After
all had eaten and the fragments had neen
gathered up, the people again assembled in
the meeting house, and Rer. E. L. Wilson
preached a splendid sermon to the chil
dren—his text was Isaiah the 11th chapter
and latter clause of the 6th verse—“And a
little child shall'ead them.” His discourse
was delivered in a plain and forcible manner,
and from the close attention manifested by
the children we trust it will result in much
and lasting good to the entire audience.
After the sermon, the children went
through with their exercises, which consisted
of songs and declamations. The introductoty
address was delivered by Miss Flora N-or-
(Oontinued on 2nd page.)
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