J. R. Graves' Trip to Hickman, KY to Preach
By Ben Stratton

      On July 19, 1857, J.R. Graves, the famous Baptist leader from Nashville, TN preached the dedication sermon for the First Baptist Church of Hickman, KY. The route he took to arrive there was amazing.

      Graves waited until Thursday night for a boat going up the Cumberland River. When none came, he boarded a train for Stevenson, AL. Then he changed trains and headed to Memphis, TN. It took him 27 hours to arrive at Memphis. From there he boarded the riverboat "The Falls City" and went upriver to Hickman.

      Graves wrote of the town and people: "A heavy business is already done there and the citizens are enterprising and liberal. A few Baptists, with the assistance of their friends in Hickman, without one dollar of foreign assistance have built them a large and commodious meeting house and furnished it with a Meneely Bell and fine chandeliers.

      This house reflects great credit upon the brethren and stands the monument of their liberality. They are few and weak and tradesmen, who needed every dollar they could command for their business and yet they contributed from three to six to eight hundred dollars toward this house. They felt they must have a house in which to worship God.

      Bro. White has been serving them twice each month acceptably. But they feel the importance of having a pastor settled among them. It is a fine opening and we commend it to the energetic minister who may be desirous of a promising location in the West."

      The recently completed sanctuary was a brick building 38 feet by 52 feet and cost $3,600. It was considered the finest church building in Hickman.

      At that time Willis White was preaching twice a month in Hickman. With Graves' recommendation, the Hickman congregation called A.B. Miller as their full-time pastor. Miller himself would go on to pastor the First Baptist Churches of Memphis, TN and Little Rock, AR.

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[From Ben Stratton, Farmington Baptist Church, KY. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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