Church and Family History Assistance for Primitive Baptist Churches in McDonough County, Illinois
UNION (MIDDLETOWN)(1831)
Union Church was the first church of any faith organized in McDonough County. Elder John Logan, a Baptist minister, preached the first gospel sermon ever heard in McDonough County, in June 1828. A Primitive Baptist, Riggs Pennington, helped establish the first white settlement in the county. Pennington had been a member of a Primitive Baptist church in Franklin Co., Ill, before coming to McDonough County.
In November 1831, Elders John Logan and Stephen Strickland constituted Union Church, in Bethel township, with ten members, viz., John Gibson, Nancy Gibson, William Stephens, Sarah Stephens, James Edmonston, Polly Edmonston, Richard Morris, Abigail Ferguson, Cassanda Morris and Sarah C. Palmer. Elders Logan and Strickland do not appear to have met with this little church often after they organized her, but in July 1832, Thomas H. Owen, a licentiate, visited and preached to them. Owen located in Hancock County, and was afterward ordained a minister, and became a man of ability. He represented his county in the General Assembly of Illinois, and later emigrated to California. John Gibson, one of the founders, was one of the early settlers of the county, and located at an early date on the road from Macomb to Quincy, where he resided till his death, April 22, 1869. "Uncle" John Gibson was as well known among the Baptists as any private member. His doors were always open to receive them, and on two occasions of the annual associations being held near him, he fed over two hundred persons, and lodged them in his house and barn, often telling the brethren, in his jovial way, that the "soft side of a board was good enough for a Hardshell Baptist."
In 1832 Union Church called Elder William Bradley to the pastoral care of the same. Early in the fall of 1832 the church sent messengers to the Spoon River Association, and was received. In 1833, Elder Micajah B. Rowland joined the Union Church by letter, and soon became pastor of the church, and was released from it in 1835. He afterward removed to Iowa, and continued to preach until he was worn out with old age. In 1835, Samuel L. Dark, a licentiate, was received by letter, and was ordained in 1840. In 1838 Elder Robert Mays joined them by letter, and was for a while pastor of the church. In 1838 Elder John Driskell joined them by letter and became their pastor, and remained with them till his death, which occurred in 1857 or 1858. Elder George Tracy, of Hancock County, was pastor of the church for a few months, and on May 27, 1858, he dropped dead at the sawmill at Tucker Town. In September 1858, Elder Isaac N. Vanmeter became pastor of the church, and served in that capacity for about thirty-five years. Later pastors included Elders Asher Cottrell, Lewis E. Frazee, Willie I. Dobbs, and Ancil J. Conlee.
The church steadily increased in numbers, holding their meetings in private houses, until finally they were able to build a house a few miles southeast of Middletown (Fandon). The deed shows that this property contained about two and 1/4 acres of land on which a log meeting house was already standing when the deed received by the trustees of the church, on October 4, 1847. It was given by Benjamin and Mary Matthews, members of Union Church. There was, and is, a small cemetery at the site. The church later met, for many years, in Fandon (probably in the same house of worship built by Antioch Church). In October 1873 Union Church received title to property in Fandon, and a new building was erected there about that time. In 1908 the Spoon River Association was entertained by Union Church at Benjamin F. Myers' grove.
SURNAMES: Union Church - Gibson, Stephens, Edmonston, Bloomfield, Buck, Crisp, Craig, Cottrell, Dark, Driskell, Friend, Holbert, Hoyt, Matthews, Morris, Palmer, Mays, Phillips, Tracy, Vanmeter, Hills, Kennedy, Myers, Singer, Waymack, and others.
Proposed Restoration of the Union Cemetery
ANTIOCH (MIDDLETOWN/FANDON)(1841)
Antioch Church was organized in February 1841, in Middletown (later called Fandon), at which time Union Church held meetings a few miles southeast of there. Elders Thomas H. Owen and Moses Frazee officiated in the constitution of this church. There were but four charter members, who were ready to form the nucleus around which others were expected soon to gather. They were John McCormick, Parthena McCormick, William D. Stevens, and Holly Edmonston. Immediately after they were organized, six others were added to their number, and they afterward made reasonable growth. In April of the same year Elder Owen became pastor, and the same year she connected herself with the Salem Association of Regular (Primitive) Baptists. In 1843 she built a house of worship in Middletown, where she held regular meetings, attended by Elders Owen and Frazee. Finally, however, being deprived of a pastor, by the removal of Elder Frazee to Ohio in 1846, and of Elder Owen to California in 1849, and becoming satisfied that they could not secure one, they agreed to mutually dissolve the organization by giving letters of dismission to join other churches. This was done in October 1849, after which the members, most of them, united with Union Church.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Edmonston, Friend, McCormick, Stevens, Wright (very incomplete due to loss of records).
CONCORD (1841)
Concord Church was organized on Saturday before the first Sunday in August 1841, at the home of Brother Abel Friend in McDonough County. Several of the members who constituted the church were dismissed for that purpose by Providence Church in Hancock County, viz., Elijah Pool, Rebecca Pool, Benjamin Jackson, Nancy Jackson, Jason Fisher, Elizabeth Fisher, Philip Feas, Mary Feas, James H. Spiva, and Rhuah Spiva. Providence Church sent Elders Castlebury, Harper and Frazee, and Brethren William Kendoll, Sr., John R. Rowland, William Griffitts, Thomas Smart, Jacob Lionberger, and William Kendoll, Jr., as helps to constitute the church. This church was a member of the Salem Association.
SURNAMES:
Carlock, Feas, Fields, Fisher, Harper, Jackson, Pool, Spiva, Whittington, Woodard (very incomplete list due to loss of records).
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE MATERIAL:
Minutes of the Spoon River and Salem Associations; Obituaries in Signs of the Times, Messenger of Peace, and other church papers.
Copyright c. 2001-2023. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
