This body was organized in 1798. Most of the churches, of which it was at first composed, were dismissed from the Elkhorn Association. The church at Washington was constituted in 1785. It is not only the largest and the oldest in this Association, but is also one of the oldest in Kentucky. It was for some time under the care of Mr. William Wood, who lost his fortune and character by land speculation. It was principally by the solicitation of Mr. Wood, and by his encouraging proposals of worldly advantage, that Mr. John Gano was influenced to leave the city of New York, and remove to the wilds of Kentucky. He landed June, 1787, at Lymestone on the Ohio River; and at Washington, which is only four miles from it, he tarried two years before he removed to the place of his final settlement. The Washington church united with the Elkhorn Association soon after that body was formed, in which connection it continued till dismissed to form the Bracken. This Association was small at its beginning, and has never had any great increase; and in 1805, its harmony suffered a temporary interruption, by the dispute which then prevailed in many parts of Kentucky respecting the emancipation of slaves. This controversy issued in the final separation of a number of ministers and churches from the Association, who united with the emancipating party. The churches are in the counties of Mason, Bracken, and Fleming, in the north-east part of the State.================== [From David Benedict, A General History of the Baptist Denomination, 1813. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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