Otter Creek Baptist

Otter Creek Baptist

1837-1873 

This church was organized in 1837 previous to September 23^rd, the church being received on that date into the Bethel Association. The church was in all probability organized by Anderson Woods who was the pastor of the Paris Baptist Church and who was also the first pastor of this church.

It was received into the association as a newly constituted church and reported having 6 members, it reported no additions by letter or baptism and, perhaps, was constituted with 36 charter members.

When it was received into the association, the messengers appointed to attend the association were: W. Rucker, D. Wills, and L. Steele.

In 1842 it erected a “Meeting House” on land lying in Section 35, township 55 and range 9. The land was deeded to Presly Wilkerson, Joseph Goss, and Jonas B. Reavis as trustees for the use and benefit of the United Baptist Church on Otter Creek.

The deed was made on February 22^nd, 1842 by Thomas Poage and Mary Poage, his wife, the consideration was $1.00 and embraced an acre and a half.

This would locate the church six miles east and two miles north of Paris, or three miles south and two miles west of Stoutsville and about five miles west of Florida and a little north. The Digest of Church Letters in the minutes for 1873 states that the church was considering the property of dissolution because, “she is overshadowed by another denomination.” The Statistical table for this same year shows that she dismissed 19 by letter but still had 20 members on the roll. The church never again appears, having been dropped from the roll of church in 1874.

Some of the members became members of the Stoutsville (New Hope) church and perhaps some also became members of the Elk Creek church that worshipped in the Powers School House and in 1879 was reorganized into the Lebanon church and used the church house conjointly with the Christian church at Victor. J.M. Pollard was a member at New Hope, the Gillaspys were members at Lebanon: these had members of Otter Creek. The Otter Creek church never attained a very large membership, it had 36 members when it was constituted, twice it had 59 members in the years 1847 and 1870. The church baptized 71 persons in the 36 years of her active life: the largest number of baptisms being 18 in 1843.

The names of the persons appointed by the church to attend the associations is given that we may know who were some of the members of the church. Each is person is named only once but several of them represented the church several times. The list is as follows:

W. Rucker

D. Wills

D. Steele

Isaac Bates

J. Dickson

J.B. Reavis

J.H. Curry

Joseph Goss

Mr. W. Rencher

J. Dooley

S.M. Patterson

A.G. Haines

G. Goss

N. Dooley

John Long

M.F.Kennett

James Scobee

W. Reavis

S. Dooley

B.G. Reavis

M. Dooley

J.M. Pollard

W.M. Tipton

D.H. Gillaspy

T. McKinzie

B.P. Waltz

H. Goodrich

To this list can be added the name of Presly Wilkerson trustee, W. Beachamp, Sunday school Superintendent, T.F. Burnett, once clerk.

The pastors of this church were as follows:

Anderson Woods 1837-1841

Norman Parks 1842-1847

Bartlett Anderson 1848-1849

None in 1854 & 1856

S.A. Beauchamp in 1856

D.V. Inlow 1857-1861

None during the Civil War period, 1862-1866

A.C. Goodrich 1867-1872

None in 1873.

It is doubtful if the church ever produced a preacher, there is no indication in the minutes that it did.

The church was never a very large contributor to missions and yet in the Mission Controversy that rent some churches from the association in the years 1837-1839 this church remained with the churches in sympathy with missions and Sunday Schools. All her Mission offerings were for District Missions and for all the years amounted to only $21.80. There may have been offerings for other denominational missions but were not reported and it is but just to say that the associational minutes for the earlier years were very defective in statistics.

Only once in 1870 did the church report having a Sunday school which had 7 teachers and 40 students. Wm. Beauchamp was the Superintendent.

Eternity alone will reveal the good this church accomplished in those early days when the country was first being settled. The “Meeting House” erected in 1842 stood for years after the church disbanded, until destroyed by fire.