Old Cane Spring Baptist Church Records

The Baptist Church of Christ Cane Springs Meeting House was founded 24 Aug 1803 in the northeastern part of Madison County on the waters of Muddy Creek. Reverend James Quisenberry and James Haggard were the first preachers and there were 39 members at the first meeting. The church affiliated itself with various Baptist sects throughout its history. Until the 1850s the church is referred to as the United Baptist Church of Christ of Cane Spring or Cane Spring Church of Christ. Beginning in 1854 the name changed to Predestinarian Baptist Church of Christ at Cane Spring. This name was used until 1868 when "Predestinarian" was dropped from the name. About this same time "Old" was added to the name. It wasn't until 1931 that the church was referred to as the Primitive Baptist Church at Old Cane Spring. The brick two door meeting house was build in 1812-13 and is the oldest standing church building in the county. The church was quite active in its early years and in 1812 added 101 new members. Typical of early churches the deacons were very strict and members were excluded for reasons such as "the sin of drunkenness," "taking the United States money and refusing to bear arms," "playing the thimble," and "swearing an oath without being legally called on." The church membership dwindled after 1900, and by 1955 Jonathan Truman Dorris, in his book Glimpses of Historic Madison County, stated that the church was not on the active list. In 1996 the church had only 4 active members and officially closed its doors. The pastors of the church were David Chenault, 1806 - 1840; W.S. Hickey, 1840 - 1847; G.W. Thomson, 1851 - 1586; William Rupard, 1856 - 1904; William H. Crouse, 1905 - 1907; J. Marshall Thomas, 1907 - 1911; James J. Gilbert, 1911 - 1923; W.L. Cash, 1923 - 1933; J.H. Keaton, 1933 - 1961; Claude Osborne, 1961 - 1969; T.W. Osborne, 1969 - 1976; Sam Spicer, 1976 - 1992.

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