Primitive Baptist Church and Family History
Research Assistance for JoDaviess County, Illinois
CHURCHES:
BETHEL (GALENA) (1841)
Bethel Church, with Elder John P. Parsons as its pastor, was one of the churches which constituted the First Northwestern Association, in July 1841. The church was organized with eight members, within the year previous to this. The church withdrew from the Association in about 1843-44, when Elder Parsons accepted an appointment with the Missionary Board.
Location: Probably in or near Galena.
LOWER APPLE RIVER (HANOVER/ELIZABETH)
Lower Apple River church was organized in the home of James Pilcher, a pioneer who came to the area of Hanover in 1839, from Fayette County, Illinois, where he had been a member of Four Mile Prairie Church. The Lower Apple River Church was probably located at Elizabeth, on Apple River, on the road from Buffalo Grove to Galena. Elders Richard S. Allison, Joseph P. Allison, James Craig, and Moses Morehouse, and brethren William Hunt, George West, James Pilcher, and J. K. Beer, were among the members of this church who are known.
The minutes of the First Northwestern Association for 1848 and 1849 show that 21 members were excluded, 19 in 1848, and 2 in 1849, which undoubtedly was the result of trouble over the modern mission system. The church was reduced to 17 members by this trouble, in 1849. John P. Parsons is specifically named in the minutes for 1848, as being an advocate of the modern mission system, and Lewis A. Pilcher also appears to have become a missionary preacher.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Allison, Beer, Craig, Gibson, Hunt, Morehouse, Pilcher, West (very incomplete due to loss of records).
EAST FORK OF FEVER RIVER/LITTLE FLOCK (SCALES MOUND) (1841 or earlier)
This church is named as the host of the 1844 session of the First Northwestern Association, in their Circular Letter, which was republished in the Western Predestinarian Baptist. East Fork (on Fever River) was a very early settlement and site of lead mining. Elders Alexander Conlee and Moses Jones were early ministers who were members of this church; the minutes of Buffalo Grove church show that these two brethren were from East Fork of Fever River Church, and that they composed the presbytery which constituted Buffalo Grove church, in May 1843. Elder Moses Jones was a son of Elder William Jones, founder of the Wood River Church in Madison county. Elder Moses Jones moved to Texas a few years later. This church was one of the original members of the First Northwestern Association in July 1841. The name of the church was evidently changed to Little Flock after a few years, perhaps because of a change in the place of holding meetings. Elders Josiah Conlee, James Gholson (who came here in 1845), William Long, Andrew Gregg, and Henry Smith (colored), and brethren Fleming C. Maupin, Levi Day, and W. Conlee, were among the members of this church whose names we could find. Elder Josiah Conlee came to this area in 1836, but moved to Ft. Dodge, Iowa in 1860.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Conlee, Day, Gholson, Gregg, Jeffers, Jones, Long, Maupin, Norton, Smith (very incomplete due to loss of records).
COLORED UNION (GALENA)
The Colored Union Church was organized in April 1842, and held services at the Galena Academy. Elder Henry Smith was pastor of this church as early as 1843, and probably from the beginning. Elder Walter Baker also preached here.
Location: In Galena. Lot #20, in Block #9, on west side of Galena River on High Street.
KENTUCK'S GROVE
Kentuck's Grove Church was already a member of the First Northwestern Association, in 1848 (the oldest minutes which have been found), but the location of the church was not stated. It may have been located in another county in Illinois, or in Wisconsin.
Location: Unknown.
ZION (1855)(HIGH STREET IN GALENA)
Zion Church joined the First Northwestern Association, in 1855, Elder Walter Baker being the messenger who represented the newly organized church, which reported 12 members that year. The Zion (Colored) Church, was shown in the Galena City Directory in 1855, as being located on High Street, with Walter Baker as pastor. It may have been a reconstitution of th Colored Union Church, shown above. An 1869 deed shows a transaction between the Colored Baptist Church and the African M. E. Church, for the property on Block 9, Lot 20. Elder Walter Baker had become a member of Providence Church at Howardsville by 1874. A few years later, he was one of the brethren who organized New Hope Church at Rush or Equal Rights. He was the last known moderator of the First Northwestern Association, serving for the first time in 1891.
Location: On High Street, in Galena.
MILLVILLE (RUSH TOWNSHIP)
A church called Millville is mentioned in the records of the Buffalo Grove church (of Ogle county), in January 1862. (Millville, now extinct, was the site of an early grist mill on the Apple River.) Brother Vroman is mentioned as a minister from Millville Church in January 1862 and again in December 1863.
MT. TABOR
A church called Mt. Tabor is mentioned in 1864, in the minutes of Buffalo Grove Church (near Polo, Ogle County, Ill.), and Elder William Long was named as the pastor at that time. Mt. Tabor could be the official name of the church which was at Millville.
NEW HOPE (EQUAL RIGHTS/RUSH)
New Hope Church was listed as a member of the First Northwestern Association in 1880, and was evidently organized at least a year or two earlier, probably by members from Providence Church. When the Mt. Pleasant Church in Wisconsin dissolved, in 1885, some of its members (white brethren) joined New Hope Church. The church was located about four miles south of Warren, Illinois, and it is believed the meetings were held in the Equal Rights school house in the town of Rush. Among the members of this church were Elders Benjamin Sallee, Lafayette A. Chaddock, Walter Baker, and Henry Smith's sons Robert and Joseph Smith. A majority of the members of this church were probably negroes, at first, but a majority may have been white after Elder Robert Smith and others moved to Clinton, Iowa and organized a church there. Elder Lafayette A. Chaddock (white) and Elder Joseph E. Smith (black) were ordained here on the same day, at the church meeting of June 1894, by a presbytery of white brethren, viz., Elders W. A. Thompson, Thomas Davey, and Benjamin Sallee. Elder Chaddock died in the year 1900. The church was probably active until at least 1900.
Elder Benjamin Sallee served this church as pastor, and Elder Walter Baker was his assistant part of the time. Others of the above named Elders may have served this church as pastor.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Arnold, Baker, Chaddock, Gholson, Howe, Parrem, Richardson, Sallee, Smith (very incomplete due to loss of records).
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE MATERIAL IN THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST LIBRARY:
Minutes of the First Northwestern Association; Obituaries in the Signs of the Times and other periodicals.
Go Back to the Family History Assistance Page
Go Back to the Primitive Baptist Library Page
Copyright c. 2001-2024. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
