Church and Family History Research Assistance
for Rappahannock County, Virginia
CHURCHES:
BATTLE RUN (BENVENUE)(1773)
Battle Run Church was organized in 1773, and joined the Ketocton Association by 1792 or earlier. It later joined the Culpeper Association (of which the name was changed in 1812 to the Shiloh Association). When this association went with the modern mission system, Battle Run Church withdrew and joined the Rappahannock Association. Later, the church united with the Ebenezer Association.
Battle Run Church is situated on Meeting House Mountain, on Route 729. The original minutes were burned, but it is known that in 1853 the building was moved from its original location in a pasture at the bottom of the mountain, some 1,000-1,500 feet up the side of the mountain. On September 2, 1853, William Fletcher and his wife deeded this site to the trustees of the church.
In 1838, the church was a member of the Rappahannock Association, and reported 89 members. Elder Thomas Buck was then the pastor. Others who have served as pastor over the years include Elders A. L. Harrison, F. E. Thompson, T. E. Majors, John K. Booton, Sam N. Hurst, A. J. Garland, and Elmer S. Skeen.
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
THORNTON'S GAP (SPERRYVILLE) (1787)
Thornton's Gap Church, situated on the creek about one mile north of the town of Sperryville, Virginia, was organized on November 1, 1787, in what was then Culpeper County. Its name was taken from a pass in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The first minutes read as follows: "This church was composed of a considerable number of persons baptized by immersion on profession of their faith, the greater part of whom had never been members of any other Baptist church, and a few had been dismissed from other churches." Elders William Mason, Henry Goodlow, John Pickett, and John Koontz being present declared them an orderly Baptist Church of Christ, and Elder John Koontz was chosen for their first pastor.
The first log house, which stood in the flat near the spring where the present house now stands, was built in the year 1788. Up to that time they held services in the open woods, near the spring. Several of the Bryans were members, including the grandfather of the Honorable William Jennings Bryan. The present building was erected in 1916.
From the "Primitive Monitor and Church Advocate," Vol. 26, January 1911, edited by R. W. Thompson, Greenfield, Indiana, I quote the following: "...they have been served by each of the following pastors: Elder John Koontz, November 1787--January 1802. He was called to serve them the day the church was constituted. Elder Charles Yates; January 1802--January 1808. Elder William Fristoe; January 1808--January 1809. Elder Samuel Young; January 1809--January 1811. Elder Lewis Conner; January 1811--January 1830. Elder Cumberland George was its last pastor preceding the division in May 1838. Elder Ambrose Booton who served until sometime in the 1860s, when Elder Paul Yates was called. Elder Yates served until in the 1870s. Elder C. L. Yates was then called and served till December 1890 when he and others left the church. In December 1890 we called Elder John Menefee who served two years. Since then the church has had the following pastors: Elders J. A. Norton, Eaton, Hurst, Ollie Daily and R. T. Strickler, who is its present pastor (1911)."
The original building was torn down and a new house built below the hill at the original location near the spring, and the following pastors have served since the above was written up to 1944: Elders J. B. Jenkins (1916); J. Harvey Daily (1917); J. B. Jenkins (1917); A. F. Suddeth (1938); C. R. Frazier (1939); J. Harvey Daily (1944).
The Hon. William Jennings Bryan's grandfather was an esteemed member of this church, and donated pulpit chairs in his honor.
GOURDVINE (1791)
Gourdvine Church was organized in 1791, and united with the Ketocton Association the same year. Part of the records of this church are in the possession of the Primitive Baptist Library, Carthage, Illinois.
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