Lincoln County, TN Area Churches


Purpose of this page: I would like to compile a list of all the Reverends and Preachers (circuit riders also) who passed through Lincoln County, TN from about 1800 thru 1875. If you have any of this information, please email to me the following:

+Date event occurred or timeframe he was a preacher for church
+Name of preacher or reverand
+Name of Church
+Religion
+parents names; birth and death info - if you know it

I am also interested in identifying court clerks/JPs - anyone who might have signed a marriage certificate. One use for this information would be to sort out similar named individuals. By noting who married them, you might then be able to look at this list and find out which church they may have attended. Then you could look at church minutes for the individual listed and find items about the family such as baptisms, dismissals etc. Maybe by noting things such as baptisms of children you could take this information and compare against the censuses and wills and sort out mix-ups. For example, a John Doe who went to a Baptist Church versus John Smith who went to a Methodist Church.

To this end, I am also interested in church terminolgy such as the definition of dismissals etc.



Church of Hebron

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 17, No. 1 page 7-10 and From LCT Pioneers Vol 22, No. 2 page 71-74, the Church of Hebron [part of TN Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church c. 1829. On the west bank of Norris Creek. Land sold for $1 by Henry Moores in July 1835.
Name B. - D. Period Served Comment
Cumberland Wilson d. 1833 Spring 1829-1833  




Concord Primitive Baptist Church

History: From an article written by Ruth Cunningham Morgan. It is from "Homecoming 86" Belleville Saga this is just a few paragraphs from the article.

"By 1810 a group of Baptists in the village petitioned the Boiling Fork Primitive Baptist in Franklin Co., TN., to send eldership to assist in organizing a church (ref. Boiling Fork minute book). The first church, The Concord Primitive Baptist Church at Norris Creek was organized soon after 1810 (Goodspeeds History of 1886 says, "prior to 1820") Since the first minute book of this church has not been found the exact date of it's origin cannot be ascertained.

Elder George Foster of Kentucky came to Middle Tennessee in 1806. He was responsible for having organized many of the early Primitive Baptist Churches in this area.

Concord first belonged to the Richland Creek Association but was transferred to the Elk River Association in 1831 for convenience of the messengers, the first being Rev. James D. Cole, Reuben H. Boone and George Small. By the 1860's a new building was needed. The land on which Concord was built belonged to John Cunningham. Alexander Ashby was the leader in soliciting money to build the Church. For many years Concord had a large membership and attracted members from miles around. It became the mother church to Buckeye, which was officially organized in 1872, and to Mt. Hermon, which was organized about the same time.

Religion: Walter Stone, a cousin, told me that he could remember seeing Mr. John Daves and Mr. John Buntley with their logging mules move the church building from up the hill down to it's present location when he was a little boy.

I have no idea who the first minister was, but I will name a few who did serve throughout the life of the church: Elders Pybus, John Weaver, James D. Cole, Joshua Yates, ---Marcum, John Frost, J. W. Holman, J.J. Short, J.G. Woods, A.J. Willis, R.S Kirkland, ---Woodin, W.A. Cashion, J.M. Towry,---Stewart, and lastly, Elder W.A. Pinkstaff.

Among the church clerks can be found the names of John Landess, Elias Willson Ashby, W.T. Furgason, William J. Landess and Charlie L. Stone.

As new and different denominations established their churches, Concord began to lose membership to those churches. Finally in 1935, after about 120 to 125 years, it's doors were closed to worship service for need of members. The ruins of this old Concord Church stand today as a reminder of other days and as a monument to a brave and Godfearing people. Truly it is one of Belleville's historic landmarks."

Name B. - D. Period Served Comment
James D. Cole 9 Feb 1781 - 3 May 1853   blind


Thanks to Joy Durrett of Medford, Oregon for contributing this information.



First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol I, No. 1 page 6, the First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville was organized in the Fall of 1812 by the Rev. John Gillespie.

Name B. - D. Period Served Comment
John Gillespie   Fall 1812  
John R. Bain   1820-1822  
James McLin   1822  




Hephzibah Reform Presbyterian Church

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 7, No. 3 page 67-72, the Hephzibah Reform Presbyterian Church was known to exist on the Elk River near Fayetteville as early as 1809. "In 1832 Mr. Cooper [the minister] and the great majority of the congregation emigrated to Fayett [sic] County, Indiana, on account of the evils of slavery."

Name B. - D. Period Served Comment
Mr. Cooper   sometime around 1832  


Old Carmel Baptist Church

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 22, No. 2 page 56, the Old Carmel Baptist Church was organized in 1812. It was a Primitive Baptist but did not associate with the other churches in the Elk River Association.



Old Missionary Baptist Church at Charity

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 7, No. 2 page 33, the Old Missionary Baptist Church at Charity was organized in ??.



Prosperity Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 1, No. 1 page 5. "The first settlement of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church in LCT was in 1826. These came from Abbeville, Chester and Fairfield Co., SC.

Name B. - D. Period Served Comment
John Pressley   sometime around 1860  


Providence Methodist Episcopal Church

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 6, No. 3 page 69-71, the Providence Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1839.



Reformed Presbyterian Church of Swan Creek

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 18, No. 2 page 66-75, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Swan Creek [1819-1831].



Shiloh Methodist Church

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 19, No. 1 page 19-27, the Shiloh Methodist Church (now known as Taft Methodist Church) founded ???



Union Church at Harms

History: From LCT Pioneers Vol 3, No. 4 page 88-90, the Union Church at Harms was organized in 1839.



Lincoln Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church S.

Name Period Served
S. S. Moody? sometime around 1841
T. L. Young? sometime around 1841




What church did these men serve?

The men on the list below are listed as performing marriage ceremonies. If you can identify the cxhurch they were associated with, please please send an email to the List Manager.

Name Period Served
Rev. Crook sometime around 1828
Brother Steward sometime around 1813
Isaac Conger sometime around 1813




If you have any corrections to any information presented on this page, please send an email to the List Manager.  Please place '1850 LCT Church Correction' in subject for faster response. It is IMPORTANT to include LCT somewhere in your email as I have other area genealogies on the web and am sometimes confused when I receive an email as to which locality the person is talking about. If possible, send a scan of a primary source document such as a marriage certificate supporting the changes you wish to have made.

Thank you, Diane Casey

 | HOME | EMAIL | 
Last changed  February 22, 2005