In 1786 Ambrose Dudley moved his family to Kentucky, and bought fourteen hundred and fifty acres of land, at twenty shillings per acre, in the neighborhood of Bryant Station, and was the first pastor of the church called Bryan's, and continued so until his death in 1825. He was an officer in the Revolutionary army. While stationed at Williamsburg, he heard Lewis Craig and John Shackleford preach from within the prison walls, and was convicted of sin and led to the foot of the cross, where he found peace in believing in the ability and willingness of Christ to save. It is an interesting fact, communicated to me by his son, Elder Thomas P. Dudley, that the church in Spottsylvania, where he lived, had a special meeting for prayer that God would send them a preacher. This prayer was answered. He returned to them as a candidate for baptism and membership and with the impression of duty to preach the gospel. He resigned as officer of the army, entered the Christian ministry and was faithful to this high and holy calling until removed from earth. John Shackleford and Lewis Craig ordained him in Virginia. When his son, Thomas P. Dudley, who was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, afterward, for years, a bank officer, was converted and called to the ministry, these same men who ordained the father in Virginia ordained the son in Kentucky. On the death of the father, the son was elected his successor, and continued such for sixty years. So the joint pastorship of father and son covered nearly a century. These two men, in profound knowledge of Bible truth, dignity, and purity of character, and in the might of their influence have not been excelled in the annals of the pulpit of Kentucky.
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[From Memorial Volume Containing the Papers and Addresses that were Delivered at the Jubilee of the Association of the General Association of Baptists, Louisville, 1888, pp. 36-. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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