In November, 2013, Tates Creek Baptists will celebrate their 220th anniversary as an Associational body.

      J. H. Spencer's History of Kentucky Baptists records:

"This was the fourth Association organized in Kentucky, and the first that was constituted under the style of "United Baptists." It was formed of four churches, which broke off from South Kentucky Association in consequence of that fraternity's refusing to accept terms of union, proffered by Elkhorn Association, in 1793. The names of the churches are not given in the minutes of the organization, but subsequent records indicate that they were Head of Boones Creek, Forks of Dix River, Jessamine and Hickmans Creek. With these four churches, five ministers also seceded from South Kentucky Association. Their names were James Smith, Thomas Ammen, Andrew Tribble, Robert Clark and Thomas Shelton. Unity church, of which Andrew Tribble was a member and the pastor, withdrew from South Kentucky Association, and joined the new fraternity the following year.

The four churches spoken of above, met, by their messengers, at Jessamine Meetinghouse, Nov. 23, 1793.

"On motion, agreed to form an association of the four churches, which lately entered into union with the Regular brethren; and to make the terms of union their constitution."

      While we have had this and supplemental information for some time, while researching for another article, we recently came across additional material concerning that first meeting which fills a void in our Associational Historical Table.

      At the initial meeting of the association, John Asplund in his Universal Register of the Baptist Denomination in North America reveals that a sermon was preached but does not reveal the name of the preacher. He does, however, reveal that Elder James Smith was chosen as Moderator and Lipscom Norvelle as Clerk.

      LIPSCOM NORVELLE¹ THE FIRST CLERK OF THE ASSOCIATION was born in Hanover County, Virginia, September 1756 and died in Nashville, Tennessee March 2, 1843. He entered the Continental Army on August 7, 1777 as a cadet in Captain William Mosby's company of the 5th Virginia Regiment of Foot commanded by Colonel Josiah Parker. On January 15, 1778 he became regimental paymaster. In May 1778, his name appeared on the rolls at Valley Forge, at Brunswick, New Jersey in July, White Plains, New York in August, and West Point, New York in October, and Princeton, New Jersey in December. On February 3, 1779 he was at Middlebrook, New York, in April at Smith's Cove, and on September 8th at Rampaugh, New Jersey. He fought in the Battles of Brandywine, Trenton, and Monmouth and the Seige of Charleston, where he was taken prison and remained in British custody until the end of the war.

      From his service, he joined the Society of the Cincinnati². The society, founded on May 10, 1783, was composed of officers of the Continental Army.

      Lipscomb received 2666 acres of land from the State of Virginia in April 1783 as bounty for his three years of service. He also received pay certificates for his service totaling $1696.07. 145 He returned to Hanover County, Virginia after the war and remained there, according to the property tax rolls, until 1783. He is listed on the Mercer County, Kentucky tax list in 1789. He had considerable land in Lincoln County, Kentucky from 1791-1796. He was in Warren County, Kentucky from 1797-1803. On February 12, 1804 he received an additional land bounty of 148 acres. He obtained additional land on Beaver Creek in 1810 south of the Cumberland River. On June 5, 1797 he became a Justice of the Peace in the newly organized Garrard County. He had moved to Garrard County after living in Mercer County for about 10 years.

      In 1783, Lipscomb married Mary (Mollie) Hendrick (born 1763-died before 1828), the daughter of John D. Hendrick. About 1787, they moved to Kentucky where they were early settlers on the Virginia-Kentucky border. When the permanent boundary line was fixed that year, they found themselves in Kentucky. Consequently their youngest son Caleb Cushing Norvell was born in Kentucky while his brothers and sisters were born in Virginia. It is not known when Mary died, but it is probably about 1813. A series of letters exist from his children addressed only to him after 1820, and by 1828 he was living in Nashville.

      JAMES SMITH was the first Moderator of the Tates Creek Association and probably served at the second session as well. He had arrived in Garrard County as a Separate Baptist about 1783 along with Joseph and William Bledsoe. He later served under the auspices of the American Baptist Missionary Society and ranged into the Illinois and Louisiana areas as a missionary.

      He is believed to have been the first preacher in the "Forks of Dix River Church," in that county, though not its pastor. It is not known that he ever took pastoral charge of any church, but was pre-eminently a "pioneer" in the work of the ministry.

      In 1784 he, with Rev. John Whitaker, "constituted" "Bear Grass Baptist Church," the first religious organization of any kind within the limits of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

      In 1784 he visited Monroe county, Illinois, where there was a settlement of people who had emigrated from Virginia and Kentucky, was their first preacher, and made the first public prayer that had been made in that settlement.

      On a subsequent visit to Illinois, he was taken prisoner by the Kickapoo Indians and was redeemed partly by contributions from the Baptist Church, and by beads and blankets from his son William.

      Rev. James Smith and his wife, and his wife, Magdalen "Woods, are both buried at Bryantsville, Garrard County, Kentucky.

      Magdalen was connected to the Woods families who had settled in Garrard and Madison Counties. One record indicates that her family had lived in Bottetourt county, Virginia, and that her father and an older brother were there killed by Indians, who burned the house and carried her mother, sister and Magdalen into captivity. Her mother and sister, named "Sally," were redeemed by the exertions of some French traders after a captivity of two years. Magdalen had made a very favorable impression upon her Indian captors by bravely looking one in the face, who drew his knife across her head, pretending to be about to take her scalp. During her captivity she was sent with a squaw to a house in the white settlements for some corn, and was there recaptured, dressed in boy's clothes as a disguise, and called "Little Jack."

      The family remained in Bottetourt county until Sally (afterwards the wife of Capt. James Newel, of Rockbridge county, Virginia,) was married. Magdalen moved with this sister to Wythe county, Virginia, where she married Rev. James Smith, a Baptist minister from the eastern part of the State; moved to Kentucky about 1780, and settled at a place called "Smith's Station," (now Bryantsville,) in that part of Lincoln county now known as Garrard.

      They had ten children, of whom Henry Smith³ was the youngest. He became the first American born Governor of Texas in 1835.
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¹ One of his sons was U.S. Senator John Norvell of Michigan and his grandson, William Walker, the son of Mary Norvell Walker, was the filibuster in Nicaragua.

² The Society of the Cincinnati is an historical, hereditary lineage organization with branches in the United States and France, founded in 1783 to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the American Revolutionary War officers. The city of Cincinnati, Ohio, then a small village, was named after the Society. Now in its third century, the Society promotes public interest in the American Revolution through its library and museum collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and other activities.

³ The Children of James and Magdalen included: l. Nancy m. William JEFFRIES; 2. Patsy m. Daniel JEFFRIES; 3. James m. Lidy JEFFRIES; 4. Edmond (b. 1 Feb. 1779, d. 15 Dec. 1848) m. June Ann FINLEY (b. 9 Nov. 1785 in Lincoln Co., KY, d. 12 May 1871 in Garrard Co., KY.) 5. Elizabeth m. Jay EVANS; 6. Sarah m. William WATTS; 7. William; 8. John; 9. Christopher 10. Lucinda m. Samuel BLACK; 11. Polly; 12. Henry (b. 20 May 1788 in Garrard Co., KY, d. 4 March 1851 in Los Angeles Co., CA) m. Harriett GILLETTE, Elizabeth GILLETTE, and Sarah GILLETTE. Harriett, Elizabeth and Sarah were sisters with the latter two being twins. Some Account of the Life of Spencer Houghton Cone, A Baptist Preacher in America.

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[Document from D. L. Brewer, Richmond, KY. Formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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