William Hickman, Sen'r. was born in Virginia, King & Queen county, February the 4th, 1747; raised to the church of England; baptized by elder Reuben Ford, 1773; ordained by elders George Smith and John Dupey; moved to Kentucky in 1784, settled in Franklin county, and took the oversight of a church called the Forks of Elk-horn and continued in the same nineteen years. He withdrew from the said church in September, 1807, on account of hereditary slavery being tolerated among them; upon which the church made the following record;

"Brother William Hickman came forward and informed the church he was distressed on account of the practice of slavery as being tolerated by the members of the Baptist society, and therefore declared himself not in union with us, or the Elkhorn association; therefore

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[p. 17]

this church consider him no more a member in fellowship."

With those who are acquainted with Mr. Hickman he needs no recommendation; as a christian, he is serious and steady; as a minister, grave, constant and pathetic; in a word, he is another Nathaniel, of whom it may he said, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.
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[Carter Tarrant, History of the Baptised Ministers and Churches in Kentucky &c., Friends to Humanity, Frankfort, KY, 1808, pp. 16-17. Charles Tarrants, Delhi, NY, provided this document. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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