Claims of Missionary Baptist Historians
Refuted
Big Creek Church, Hardin County, Illinois,
Organized July 19, 1806
Quotations showing the
claims of Missionary Baptist historians regarding Big Creek
Church
Quotations showing the
claims of Missionary Baptist historians regarding Elder Adam McCool
and a three-way split in Big Creek Church
Big Creek Church was constituted on July 19, 1806, in what is now
Hardin County, Illinois (in 1806 it was part of Randolph County,
Indiana territory). Elders William Jones and Stephen Stilley formed
the presbytery. The charter members names were Benjamin Rogers,
James Lee, Priscilla Lee, Jacob Self, Isham Clay, Aaron Neal, Nancy
Neal, Joseph Eubanks, and others. Their Abstract of Principles were
identical to those adopted by the Muddy River Association when it
was formed in 1820.
The Church prospered, and lettered out members to form several other very early churches in southern Illinois, including Bankston's Fork, Big Bay, and Grand Pier, all before 1830. Being reduced in number to nine members, the Big Creek Church dissolved in August 1837, and at least six of the nine remaining members (including the pastor, Elder Charles H. Clay) soon joined Grand Pier Church. The records of Big Creek Church were given to Grand Pier Church to care for, in 1837, and they remained in the possession of that church and their descendants for over 160 years. In the years 2000 and 2002, the records of Big Creek Church and Grand Pier Church were given to The Primitive Baptist Library. The records of Big Creek Church, in two volumes, cover the period from January 1823 through the dissolution of the church in August 1837.
The First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, Illinois, has been claiming for many years that they are a continuation of Big Creek Church, and hence they claim to be the oldest active Baptist Church in Illinois. "The Historical Society of the Illinois Baptist State Association" sent its representatives to Elizabethtown in 1961 to place an official plaque on their church building, making that claim. Nevertheless, we have found nothing to support their claim in the church records.
W. P. Throgmorton (in his history of the Franklin Association, published in 1880) did not make the claim which is now being made, but rather stated that the Missionary Baptist Church called Big Creek, "now known as The First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown" was "organized, if we have been correctly informed, about the year 1839." However, in recent years, some Missionary Baptist historians have published books in which they claim this Missionary Baptist Church to be a continuation of the original Big Creek Church which was organized in 1806. They are welcome to hold a celebration of their organization, but we think they are 33 years too early to celebrate 200 years.
The records which exist, of Big Creek Church, have been transcribed, and anyone wishing to discuss questions regarding the church is welcome to write to us.
Copyright c. 2006-2008. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
