Elder Warren Cash
Early Kentucky Baptist Minister
By O. C. Cash, 1947
Editor's note: this bio is from the History of the Gilead Baptist Church, Hardin County, KY. It is so detailed that it deserves to stand as a separate document. jrd
In my search for information concerning my great-great-grandfather, Elder Warren Cash, founder of Gilead Baptist Church (Hardin County, KY), I accidentally located the Clerk’s Book in possession of H. C. Miller, 7309 Surrey Place, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Miller is a great-grandson of Elder Warren Cash, descending through Warren Thompson Cash, Elder Warren's youngest son. Mr. Miller’s mother was Susan M. Cash, daughter of Warren T. Cash. The old Clerk’s Book is in a fine state of preservation and I was able to make a complete copy of it, which appears herein. For the benefit of anyone desiring to examine the original record, it will eventually be in the possession of Mr. Miller’s relative, Mrs. Charles Jeffries. Route #1, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I observe from the early entries in the Clerk’s book that the Jeffries family was prominent in the affairs of the church and I assume Mrs. Jeffries’ husband comes from this family. Mrs. Jeffries is a descendant of Elder Warren Cash.
Warren Cash enlisted in captain Matthew Jouett's Virginia Militia Company at Charlottesville, Virginia in March 1776, just before he was 16 years of age. In the fall of that year his company was placed on the Continental Line and he served four years in General Washington’s Revolutionary Army, being discharged in March 1780 at Alexandria, Virginia. He participated in a number of battles and was at Brandywine in June 1777. In this engagement Capt. Jouett was seriously wounded and later died. Warren served in the 7th, 5th and 6th and 11th Virginia Regiments, and was in the 2nd Virginia
Brigade when he was discharged. After the battle of Brandywine he went into winter quarters on October 19, 1777 with Washington’s troops at Valley Forge and remained there until June 19, 1778. Shortly thereafter he participated in the battle of Monmouth, June 27, 1778. He was at Verplanck's Point, across the Hudson from Stony Point, when Gen. Wayne took the Fort from the British, but probably was not in that engagement. He was in the retreat from West Plains, New York, and later was with Washington in the winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Warren’s Revolutionary War service is given in more detail in the War Department files and in the Declaration for Pension filed in 1832, when he was approximately 72 years old. Many of Warren's female descendants have used his Revolutionary War record as basis for membership in the D.A.R.Trace of Warren is found in the county records of Fluvanna County., Virginia, after his discharge from the Army in 1780. Although he says in two affidavits that he was born in Albemarle County, it is probable his home or birthplace was in that part of Albemarle afterwards formed into Fluvanna. Around 1772, possibly earlier, he lived in Louisa County, the records indicate.
On November 24, 1782, in Fluvanna County, Warren married Susannah Baskett, daughter of Elder William Baskett, a Baptist preacher whose plantation "Ellerslie" was located near Wilmington, Virginia. The old, two-story, brick home of Elder Baskett is still standing. Warren and Susannah may have been married at "Ellerslie", though there is a legend to the effect that Warren "stole a basket" which indicates an elopement. All biographical material concerning Warren and Susannah discloses unmistakably that Warren was an "illiterate, rough soldier of the Revolution., and a bold sinner” when he reached Kentucky in 1784; that Susannah was a well educated daughter or a prosperous Virginia planter; that she taught her husband to the point where he became an effective, popular, though not a brilliant preacher. Under what circumstances did this totally dissimilar pair meet? What of their courtship and marriage? The details would be extremely interesting to those of us who descend from them.
Elder Baskett, from all accounts, was a very prosperous and influential man in his community. He was elected or appointed a vestryman in the established church, but refused to serve since he was not in sympathy with the Episcopal doctrine and later became a dissenter preacher of the Baptist faith.
Warren's first child, Claibourne, was born August 25, 1783, and in the fall or 1784 he, Susannah and Claibourne, with a party of Virginians, went down the old Trading Path in the Shenandoah Valley to Cumberland Gap, District of Kentucky, and then took the Wilderness Road, which then was only a trail, not being wide enough to accommodate ox carts, and progressed northward to Grubb, a Fort, located in what is now Madison County, on Tate’s Creek. and spent the winter there. The site of Grubb's Fort is near “Whitehall", the old home of Casius M. Clay.
In the spring of 1785 Warren and his family ventured on north, locating on or near the site of the present town of Mortonsville, in Woodford County. While living in this neighborhood, he and Susannah joined the Clear Creek Baptist Church, then under the ministry of John Taylor, and in 1799, he was ordained to preach by Elders John Penney and William Hickman. For fifty years he was a Baptist preacher in Woodford, Shelby, Nelson, Hardin, Meade and other counties in that section of Kentucky, being a member or, organizing or serving as pastor [of] the following Baptist churches:
Date - Church - CountyUndoubtedly in fifty years as preacher in Kentucky, there are many other churches he helped organise or served that I do not know about.
1786 - Clear Creek - Woodford
1796 - Beach Creek - Shelby
1799 - Fox Run - Shelby
1802-06 - Simpson's Creek - Nelson
1802-06 - New Salem - Nelson
1806-24 - Bethel - Hardin
1824-49 - Gilead - Hardin
1806-49 - Union - Hardin
1806-49 - Otter Creek - MeadeIf anyone reading this has any information as to the early church records of any of these churches, I would appreciate hearing from them. Copy of the Clerk's record of Gilead Church contained herein, is the last church he was connected with and I would very much like to find records of earlier churches with which he was associated. Elder Warren Cash and Susannah Baskett were parents of the following children:
Name - Born - Died - Married
Claiborne - 8-25-1783 - 11-20-1873 - Elizabeth Strawghan
Mary - 12-3-1786 - - John King
William - 3-3-1787 - 2-14-1848 - Sarah Foushee
John - 2-16-1789 - 4-20-1854 - Elisabeth Kieth
Jeremiah - 11-16-1791 - 7-2-1850 - Ellen Jewell
Elisabeth - 8-24-1793 - - Jonathan Harned
Nancy - 8-24-1793 - - Jesse Kieth
Martha - 12-31-1795 - - John Whitman
Abraham - 1-8-1798 - 7-22-1864 - Deborah Glover
Thompson - 7- -1800 - (Died Young)
Susannah - 6-9-1802 - (Died Young)
Warren Thompson - 6-8-1804 - 7-31-1846 - Catherine Duvall
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In our search to determine the parentage of Warren Cash, we have rather persuasive evidence, through legend noted in various family Bibles, that Warren's mother was Nancy, Alsie or Alice Cash; that he had a sister named Nancy or Alsie. Legend further indicates that his mother, Nancy Cash, married a Mr. Fidler, the marriage being performed by a dissenter preacher either of the Presbyterian or Baptist faith, in 1767 or 1768. At that time the law of Virginia, Act XII, Hennings Statutes, forbade dissenter preachers from performing marriages, and such marriages, including the Quaker ritual, were by law invalid and void. Children born of these marriages were considered illegitimate and the early records of Virginia are replete with lawsuits questioning the right of these children to inherit.[The ACT is listed, but is not included.]
Authorities say that this Act was generally ignored by Quakers and Dissenters, especially the poorer people. It was difficult for residents in primitive, outlying districts to "publish the banns thrice" and to conform to the other requirements. It is said the King and Royal Governors secured the enactment of this Statute for the purpose of increasing revenue. Prior to 1776, when the law was repealed, searchers have had difficulty in finding proof of Dissenter marriages except from the rare personal records of Dissenter Preachers, few of which are now in existence. For further infonrmation on this interesting aspect ot early Virginia marriage law, see Dr. Lewis Peyton Little's book "Imprisoned Preachers and Religious Liberty in Virginia", beginning at page 480. This book covers the period of the persecution from 1725 to 1776, and gives a vivid picture of the times in which Warren Cash lived as a child.
It is said Warren had a violent quarrel with his father while still a youngster, over wages due Warren for work performed for a neighbor. A lawsuit resulted. As a result of this feud, he left home in anger, probably in 1773, and later (1776) joined the Revolutionary Army, taking the name of his mother to spite his father. In view of the dissenter marriage of his parents and the above quoted Statute, he had a legal right to change his name.
There ia a record of a lawsuit in Louisa County, Virginia where Warren is known to have lived at one time, in which Francis Fidler and Son (name of son not given) settled with Samuel Henson a judgment for 2 pounds and 7 shillings. Details of this prooeeding are lacking, other than the judgment and settlement. This lawsuit was terminated January 20, 1773 and it is probable the son mentioned is Warren Fidler, who at that time was nearly 13 years of age. There is also a record (1774) in Louisa County of a Warren Fidler who was to be bound out to learn the trade of bricklayer. These records, while not conclusive, give some authenticity to legends that have persisted in the family for the past 150 years or more
In Fluvanna County, Virginia is [the] record of marriage of Nancy Cash to Merrey Humphrey on August 8, 1780. One of the witnesses to the marriage was Warren Cash. This, no doubt was Warren's sister, although legend says his sister's name was Alsie. Since Merrey Humphrey was a minor, about the age of Warren, as shown by the record, this Nancy could not have been Warren's mother.
Legend is further to the effect that Warren's mother died young and that Fidler married a second time. We find a marriage in Louisa County of Francis Fidler, on November 23, 1779, to Sarah Stringer. A Stringer family lived near John Gentry, Warren's Revolutionary war buddy, in Louisa County. Warren often visited John Gentry's family and it is likely all these families lived in the same neighborhood.
The legends relative to Warren's parentage and other facts about him are reflected in memordia which have been found in old family Bibles. Known errors appear in all these statements. But probably the most accurate is the statment of Lewis Lunsford Cash, grandson of Elder Warren Cash. Lewis L. was 19 years old when Elder Cash died, lived in the same neighborhood in Kentucky, and undoubtedly talked to him about the matters he relates as follows:
"The following brief sketch was written by Lewis L. Cash in 1923, two years before his death and left in his Genealogical Book.Another statement found in the Bible of James Clarence Cash, great-grandson of Elder Warren Cash is as follows:"We have also heard Grandpa Cash (Lewis L.) relate that the said Warren Cash hired to a neighbor farmer and his father Fiddler, entered suit to collect his wages. Warren's attorney advised him to fight the case in the name of Cash which legally was his name. Warren did so and won the case.
"We are inclined to think there would be a court record of the suit. (Probably Fidler v. Henson, Louisa Couuty, Virginia, referred to above.)
"If this proclamation was issued there certainly would be a record ot it in Washington, D.C. (See Hennings Statutes previously referred too)
Francis C. Lewis""Warren Cash and wife, Susannah Baskett, posterity. Warren Cash was born April 4. 1760 1n Crawford County (Error - Albemarle), Virginia, under quite peculiar circumstances. During the reign of King George of England, about the year 1761, he issued a proclamation nullifying all of the (Dissenter) marriages of the colonists in America, giving back to the wives their maiden names. Warren Cash's mother[']s maiden name was Nancy Cash. She was Irish by birth. Warren Cash was born during this nullification and according to the civil law his civil name was Cash, which he took and gave to his posterity. His father's name was Fiddler and was of English origin.
"I never heard or any brothers or sisters that Warren Cash had except one sister, Alsie Fiddler, who married a man by the name of David Humphrey. (Probably Merrey Humphrey, who was the son of David.
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"Susannah Baskett was born in Virginia in 1762.She came to Kentucky with her husband Warren Cash.She came with her her husband, Warren Cash, came to Kentucky in 1784. They stopped for a few years near George town, later moved to Shelby County, then to Nelson County, and finally to Nolin, Hardin County, Kentucky, where they spent the rest of their lives."Susannah Baskett had five brothers, Thomas, John, Robert, William and James. Thomas, Robert, and William all went to Macon County, Missouri; John and James remained in Kentucky. I know little or nothing of their families.
Susannah Baskett had one sister whose name was Nancy Baskett. She married John Shepard in Virginia. They moved to Kentucky and settled in Shelby County. This is about all the information I am able to give in regard to my grand-parents Cash, posterity.
"John Straugban (Lewis L. maternal grandfather) was born in North Carolina about 1760. His parents were from Scotland. When he reached manhood he went to Orange County, Virginia, where he married Mary Saunders.
"I think John Straughan's mother must have married a second time. I have heard my mother, Elisabeth Straughan Cash tell of a half brother of her father whose name was Bennet Baugus; but that is all I know of him.
Another grandmother (Mary Saunders Straughan's) father, was Nathaniel Saunders, and came to this country from Wales in the early settlement of this country."
"Warren Cash came from England in (17??) and settled in Maryland. He fought through the Revolutionary War under:Washington Gates
Greene MorganBattles: Ticonderoga Gorenorg Island
Brandy Wyne Long Island
Virbanka (Verplanok) Point Cow Pens"(1) He was in the retreat to White Plains through New York where they made a stand at Virbanka Point. His gun stock was shattered and he was slightly wounded by a splinter. He and one of his comrades made a stock by the light of the campfire, out of a walnut rail. After that he called his gun "old Walnut Rail."
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"(2) After the Revolutionary War he fought in the Indian wars under General Wayne. He returned home and married a widow Humphreys (Error - He married Susannah Baskett) who had one son. Ten sons and two girls were born to them. (List of children was only partially correct.)"(3) The two oldest sons of Warren Cash I - Warren II (William) and Jeremiah. - fought in the battle of [New] Orleans, under Jackson in 1812. Thompson, the third son cried because he could not go.
"They carried Old Walnut Rail". An Irishman who lived with them, went with the boy. After the battle some of the enemy, who had fallen to the ground, got up and either surrendered or ran for their own retreating lines.
"One man, thinking he was out of range, made obscene signs at the Americans. Old Walnut Rail dropped him. Though it was not safe, the Irishman went to see how good a shot the gun had made at that distance. Turning the man over, he exclaimed, "Faith and if its not a n____r."
In the above statement there are errors. The battles of Ticonderoga and Cow Pens, for instance, were fought before and after Warren was in the service of the United States. I find no record of his participation in the Indian Wars under General Wayne and he was not born in England. It was William and Jeremiah who participated in the battle of New Orleans under General Jackson.
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[This document was difficult to transcribe as the book was poorly printed.] [From a document provided by archivist Adam Winters of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Archives, E-Text Collection; Gilead Baptist Church, Hardin, County, Kentucky. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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