United Baptist Associations

I was also talking to a member of Paint Union a while back and they explained that the OLD Paint Union that dissolved was from 1978. I have their last minute book that shows the churches picked what associations they wanted to letter up with. This other association is from 2002, I believe.

The splinters are rather difficult to keep up with but I appreciate your help in all this. Hopefully, I will have the website updated soon.

David

 

Burning Springs UBC -- 200th Anniversary

I had the honor of attending the 200th Anniversary of the Burning Springs United Baptist Church, Salyersville, Kentucky, in the current day Paint Union Association.

As United Baptists know, the Burning Springs Church was organized in 1810 in Morgan County (now current Magoffin County) Kentucky. The church built and worshiped in different Meeting Houses during the first 45 years. The current Meeting House was erected in 1855 in the bottom near the mouth of the Burning Fork according to the following plan:

"A good foundation of rock, a framed building, timber out of white oak to be forty feet long and thirty feet wide with two floors sealed inside and weather boarded outside with a good stand, good seats and as many windows as is necessary with good doors and a shingle roof. The seals of the house are to be one foot off the ground and underpinned with rock and ten feet high between the two floors. The above named house is to be called and known to be the United Baptist Meeting House with exclusive rights on their days of worship but free for all other Religious Denominations knows to be in this country." (Celebrating 200 Years: Burning Springs United Baptist Church -- Spanning two Centuries 1810-2010, printed program, 2010, p. 3-4).​

The 200th Anniversary service took place on Sunday, September 26, 2010 in the Meeting House described above. The following statistical report for Burning Spring United Baptist Church for year 2008 was listed in the Minutes of the One Hundred and Seventy-Second Annual Session of the Paint Union Association of United Baptists: 2009.

Burning Springs Church
Paint Union Association
Second District
Messengers: Charles Poe, Jack Smith, Grayson Smith
Moderator: Ed (Buster) Blanton
Clerk's name and address: Grayson Smith, P.O. Box 427, Salyersville, KY 41465
Communion time: April
Gain --
Sat. of Meeting: 04
Baptism: 00
Letter: 00
Recommended: 00
Restored: 00
Loss --
Dismissed by Letter: 00
Excluded: 00
Deceased: 00
Total: 41​

The statistical report for the Paint Union Association for year 2008 was listed as follows.

Paint Union Association
2009 Officers --
Moderator: Elder Arvil C. Murray, Jr., Waverly, OH
Clerk: Brother Rodney D. Conley, Thelma, KY
Assistant Clerk: Elder David Trimble, Rush, KY
Treasurer: Elder C. J. Tackett, West Liberty, KY
Assistant Treasurer: Elder Darrell Back, Mt. Sterling, KY
Recording Secretary: Elder Cecil C. Murray, Jr., Lexington, KY

Churches --
First District
Union, Staffordsville, KY
Concord, Thelma, KY
Toms Creek, Tutor Key, KY
Paintsville, Paintsville, KY
Hurricane, Boones Camp, KY
Little Paint, Oil Springs, KY
Cold Springs, Fuget, KY
Big Blaine, Martha, KY
East Fork, Catlettsburg, KY
Fannin Chapel, Isonville, KY

Second District
Burning Springs, Salyersville, KY
State Road Fork, Falcon, KY
Litteral Fork, Wheelersburg, KY
Rockhouse, Salyersville, KY
Rocky Branch, Jeffersonville, KY
Easter, Jeffersonville, KY
Fayette Chapel, Paris, KY
Muldraugh, Muldraugh, KY

Third District
Alder Chapel, West Jefferson, OH
Candy Run, Lucasville, OH
Pine Grove, Portsmouth, OH
Mary Chapel, Waverly, OH
Morgan Fork, Waverly, OH
Lakeview, Springfield, OH
Alger, Alger, OH
Shiloh, Fairborn, OH
Pleasant Valley, Silver Lake, IN
Poe's Run, Chillicothe, OH
Beaver Valley, Beaver, OH

Association Totals
Gain --
Baptism: 19
Letter: 04
Recommended: 06
Restored: 00
Loss --
Dismissed by Letter: 04
Excluded: 11
Deceased: 27
Total: 1187​

Finally, The following letter was read during the service describing the service and contributions of Elder Ezekiel Stone (b. 1776-d. 1864).

Sept. 26, 2010

To the United Baptists at Burning Springs Church,

It is a joyous occasion to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Burning Springs Church and to honor all those who long ago preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This historic occasion is a testimony to our forefathers’ abiding faith in God and the eternal truth of His word. Today, we pay tribute to all those who so gallantly carried this tradition forward to the present times.

Ezekiel Stone, born in 1776, was an early laborer in the field for the Burning Springs Church and the Burning Springs Association, and was very much involved with the people of the community. Ezekiel arrives in present Magoffin County by 1811 with his wife Edy and their young children. He purchases 135 acres on the Burning Fork of the Licking River which he later sells to Archibald Prater in 1813.

We first see Ezekiel in the minutes of the Burning Springs Association 1814 as a messenger from the Burning Springs Church to the Burning Springs Association. That year Burnings Springs Church sent five messengers to the association. They were Samuel Hanna, Ebenezer Hanna, Ezekiel Stone, Caleb May, and Lewis Powers.

J. H. Spencer, in his book A History of Kentucky Baptists, written in 1886, mentions the early Baptist ministers:

“Of the ministers who first carried the gospel into this mountainous region, very little is known. The famous pioneer, Daniel Williams, was the first to preach the word, on the upper waters of the Licking River. He gathered Burning spring church, where Samuel Hannah and Ezekiel Stone were presently raised up to the ministry, and preached among the settlers. Caleb May was also raised up to the ministry here, and preached for a short time, with much acceptance. . . .”

Spencer also describes the Burning Springs Church.

“Burning Springs church is the oldest and largest in this Association. It is located on Licking river, in Magoffin County, and was constituted of twelve members, about the year 1810, by the famous pioneer, Daniel Williams, who ministered to it until his death. Since his death, it has been served by Samuel Hannah, Ezekiel Stone, Caleb May, Wm. Coffee, Ambrose Jones, Wm. Ferguson, Benjamin Caudill and C.W. Baley. Its principal growth has been attained under the ministry of Mr. Baley, who has been its pastor many years.”

Ezekiel Stone moves to the Buffalo Shoal Church in present Johnson County, Kentucky by 1816.

Buffalo Shoal is a sister church believed to be the forerunner of the present Union Church in Staffordsville, Kentucky. Ezekiel remains very much involved during the early years of Burning Springs Church--preaching, baptizing local residents, performing marriages in the area, and serving as a character witness on the pension applications of numerous Revolutionary War soldiers, including the pension application of Captain Henry Connelly.

On one such occasion, Elder Stone baptizes Wallis Bailey at Burning Springs Church as Spencer explains.

“In the 22nd year of his age, Mr. Baley was married to Polly Patrick, and at
the age of twenty-nine, was convicted of sin, under the preaching of William
Adams, a Baptist, and William Cundiff, a Methodist. He had been raised under
Presbyterian influence, but did not long hesitate, after his conversion, to join the Baptist church at Burning Spring in what is now Magoffin County, where he was baptized by Ezekiel Stone, in November, 1831. Deeply impressed with the worth of souls, he soon began to exhort sinners to repent; and, in April, 1833, was ordained to the ministry. Soon after his ordination, he accepted a call to Burning Spring church, to which he still ministers…”

Ezekiel Stone moves to present Wayne County, West Virginia, around 1836 and continues his ministry. In 1851, he sells his 500-acre farm to Rutherford B. Hayes, who would later become a two-term Governor of Ohio and the 19th President of the United States of America. The 40-year veteran of the cross is still going strong at age 77 when he marries a couple in Lawrence County, Ky., in 1853. That same year, Ezekiel and Edy move to Lewis County, Ky., and live another 10 years or so with their eldest son Thomas Stone, a former resident of present Magoffin County, and his family.

On behalf of the descendants of Ezekiel Stone, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to honor our ancestor, his contemporaries, and the church and people he served.

To God be the Glory,
Descendants of Ezekiel Stone, United Baptist Elder​

 

Bob,

Thank you for that information. Burning Springs has been around for quite a while. Paint Union has some great history and has been the mother and grandmother of many United Baptist associations in the area.

 

Here's a question for some of you that know the associations in your area. Can you give me a time when associations like Tri-State Zion and Union Bethlehem formed? I know their minute books try to go back to when the original associations they broke from formed, but I would like to know the actual date of when they formed. Thanks.

 

Hello. Enjoyed reading the many posts over the past few years in this thread. The UBs have definitely kept a reputation of splitting over the years. I'm with Old Bethlehem Assn. We have seen our share in the past as well. God bless.

 

Thank you. I would definitely appreciate it. Let me know if you need my address.

 

Bro. Willis,

When it comes to minute books, I'll take anything that comes my way. I collect and trade them like baseball cards. I'm looking at some other associations in my area that I don't have minute books of yet.

 

I have not been on here for several years but brother David asked a question about when tsz broke away from oz. I am in oz and the split occurred sometime between 1939 and 1941. I am thinking it was actually in 1940 but I am not exactly sure.