been immersed, but I do not learn as they have any connexion with the Bnp^-
tists. And indeed they can be no great acquisition to the Baptist cause, unless
they arc much reformed both in principle and practice.
2,54 Extraordinary Exercises of
hand ; great preparations were made for them, and all
went expecting to hear much crying out, see much fall-
ing down, &c. In these meetings there assembled, in
the opinion of spectators, from four to ten or twelve
thousand, and at one of them eight hundred fell down
under religious impressions, and five hundred communi-
cated. The falling down exercise needs no description,
as it is presumed every reader will understand what is
meant by it. There was also in these meetings, what was
called the rolling exercise, which consisted in a person's
being cast down in a violent manner, turned over swiftly
like a log, &c. These rolling disciples often met with mud
in their way, and got up from their devotions in a sorrow-
ful plight. Dancing was a very common practice ; many
pleaded they could not help it, and others justified them-
selves from David's dancing before the ark, and other
passages of scripture. The most singular exercise of all
was the jerks. " Nothing in nature could better repre-
sent this strange and unaccountable operation, than for
one to goad another, alternately on every side, with a
piece of red-hot iron. The exercise commonly began in
the head, which would fly backward and forward, and
from side to side, with a quick jolt, which the person
would naturally labour to suppress, but in vain ; and the
more any one laboured to stay himself, and be sober,
the more he staggered, and the more rapidly his twitches
increased. He must necessarily go as he was stimulated,
whether with a violent dash on the ground, and bounce
from place to place like a foot-ball ; or hop round, with
head, limbs, and trunk, twitching and jolting in every
direction, as if they must inevitably fly asunder. And
how such could escape without injury, was no small
wonder to spectators. By this strange operation, the
human frame was commonly so transformed and disfig-
ured, as to lose every trace of its natural appearance.
Sometimes the head would be twitched right and left,
to a half round, with such velocity that not a feature
could be discovered, but the face appear as much behind
as before ; and in the quick progressive jerk, it would
seem as if the person was transmuted into some other
species of creature. Head dresses were of but little
account among the female jerkers. Even handkerchiefs
Rolling, Jerking, and Barking. 255
bound tight round the head, would be flirted off almost
with the first twitch, and the hair put into the utmost
confusion," &c.*
There was something altogether unaccountable in
this jerking exercise. At first it was experienced only
by those under religious concern ; but in the end it be-
came a nervous affection, which was sympathetically
communicated from one to another. A Presbyterian
minister heard that a congregation of his brethren,
which he highly esteemed, had got to jerking. He went
to persuade them out of the frantick exercise, but in con-
versing with them he got the jerks himself. On his re-
turn home, his people assembled to hear the result of his
visit. While he was describing how people appeared with
the jerks, he was suddenly taken with them, and the
whole assembly soon caught the distemper.
Wicked men were often taken with these strange
exercises, and many would curse the jerks, while they were
under their singular operation. Some were taken at the
tavern with a glass of liquor in their hands, which they
would suddenly toss over their heads, or to a distant
part of the room. Others were taken with them at the
card-table, and at other places o'f dissipation, and would,
by a violent and unaffected jerk, throw a handful of
cards all over the room.
These accounts were taken from people of unquestion-
able veracity, and no doubt can be entertained of their
correctness. These jerking exercises were rather a curse
than a blessing. None were benefited by them. They
left sinners without reformation, and Christians without
advantage. Some had periodical fits of them seven or
eight years after they were first taken j and I know not as
they have got over jerking yet.
There was among these enthusiastick people one more
exercise of a most degrading nature, called the barks,
which frequently accompanied the jerks. Many persons
of considerable distinction, in spite of all the efforts of
nature, as it was said, were " forced to personate that
animal, whose name, appropriated to a human creature,
is counted the most vulgar stigma. These people would
take the position of a canine beast, move about on all-
* Kentucky Revival, p. 61, 62.
256 Jerking prevented by a Preacher*
fours, growl, snap the teeth, and bark in so personating
a manner, as to set the eyes and ears of the spectator at
variance." Some might be forced to these degrading
exercises, but it is certain that many turned dogs in a
voluntary manner. A minister in the lower parts of Ken-
tucky informed me, that it was common to hear people
barking like a flock of spaniels on their way to meeting.
There they would start up suddenly in a fit of barking,
rush out, roam around, and in a short time come bark-
ing and foaming back. But enough has been said of
these frantick scenes. The above accounts are not fabu-
lous tales, but they are real arid melancholy facts. In
the upper counties in Kentucky, where the revival was
the greatest among the Baptists, they were not at all af-
fected with these delirious exercises. In the Green River
country and in East-Tennessee, they prevailed considera-
bly amongst them. With the Methodists they prevail-
ed generally. The Presbyterians were divided respect-
ing them ; some opposed, while others encouraged them.
Some of these exercises seemed really forced upon the
subjects of them by some invisible power, whether good
or bad the reader must judge for himself j but dancing,
barking, rolling, shouting, and so on, were undoubtedly,
for the most part, works of choice and imitation, which
were hypocritically played off by a set of deluded, mis-
taken people. Where these fantastick exercises were op-
posed, they were the least prevalent. Those ministers
who encouraged them, had enough of them to attend to.
In West-Tennessee the Baptists were not troubled with
these works of delusion, but they prevailed here among
the Presbyterians and Methodists ; and some, who came
from other parts, attempted to introduce them in the
Baptist meetings. A Baptist minister by the name of
Mr. Connico, was once preaching where one of the jerkers
began his motions. The preacher made a pause, and with
a loud and solemn tone, said, " In the name of the
Lord, I command all unclean spirits to leave this place."
The jerker immediately became still, and the report was
spread abroad, that Mr. Connico cast out devils.
On the whole, it appears there was in Kentucky in
17'jy, and for two or three succeeding years, a precious
work of grace. Towards the close of it, a set of men
No Slaves in Ohio. V5!
arose, who attempted to carry the work farther than the
Lord had done ; and among them were exhibited those
astonishing scenes of fanaticism we have described. Some
of the promoters of these scenes became convinced oi
their delusion, and returned to a sober course of piety ;
but many went off into errors of different kinds, and
not a few of them became Shaking Quakers. Richard
M'Nemar, formerly a Presbyterian minister of great
celebrity, was one of the principal promoters of these ex-
traordinary exercises ; he was also one of the first who
embraced the principles of the Shakers. After he had
joined the dancing fraternity, he reproached his breth-
ren for stopping short of perfection. These exercises,
he said, led on to Shakerism ; and most people, who
had seen them, were of his mind.
CHAP. XVI.
OHIO AND THE WESTERN TERRITORIES.
OHIO has been pronounced the most delightful of any
of the Western States. Its fame has travelled far, and
adventurers from New-England, from Georgia, the Caro-
linas, and all the other States, and indeed from many
parts of Europe, have populated its fertile plains with
an astonishing and almost incredible rapidity. In 1790,
the number of white inhabitants, French and English,
was estimated at 3,500, but by the census of 181 0, they
had increased to 230,760. The holding of slaves has
never been permitted ip Ohio, and many of the Eman-
cipators from the neighbouring States, where they
abound, have had this circumstance particularly in view,
in fixing on this State as a place of settlement. The
Legislature has guarded against the introduction of slaves,
and even the residence of black people in this retreat of
freedom, by a strong and rigorous prohibition. And
many of the leading members of the Baptist churches
here, have taken a determined stand against every arti-
cle of that policy, which subjects to degrading and per-
petual servitude so many of the unhappy sons of Africa.
This favourite maxim the Ohio brethren have often,
VOL. 2. 33
258 Miami Association.
pushed to an enthusiastic extreme,* and in many instances
have doubtless been too uncharitable towards their breth-
ren who have been surrounded by staves from their in-
fancy, who have been nurtured by the sweat of their
wretched brows, and who have inherited them from
their fathers, as a principal part of their fortune.
Though some of the first settlers in this State were
Baptists, yet they have not, as in Kentucky, been the
prevailing sect. The Methodists have been and proba-
bly are at present, the most numerous of any one de-
nomination in Ohio. The late Governor Tiffin was a
Methodist preacher, before his elevation to that dignified
office. But the Baptist cause has prevailed considerably,
and is now increasing with great rapidity throughout
the State ; churches are formed in almost every part of
it, and many individuals and little bodies are settled
where churches have not yet been established. In 18O9,
there were in this State about sixty churches, in which
were about twenty-five hundred members. Since then,
the number has probably greatly increased.
MIAMI ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association was formed in 17^7 of only four
churches, in which there were not probably more than
a hundred members. It is situated beween the Miami
Rivers, in the south-west corner of the State. The
church formerly called Columbia, now Duck Creek,,
is not only the oldest in this Association but in the State.
It was raised up in the following manner. In the au-
tumn of 1789, a number of families went down the Ohio
River, and commenced a settlement at the mouth of the
Little Miami River on Col. Symmes's Purchase, where
the town of Columbia now stands. This was about six
miles from Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. In this
company were Mr. Isaac Ferris from Connecticut, the
* The Miami Association will not correspond with any of the neighbouring
Associations in Kentucky, on account of slavery, nor with the Red-Stone As-
sociation in Pennsylvania, because a few of the churches cf this body are in
Virginia, and hold slaves. And a church not long since withdrew from the Mia-
mi Association, because she corresponded with the Philadelphia Association , and
this Association corresponded with that rt Charleston, South-Carolina, whert.
the abomination was discovered. This far-fetched argument was in their esti-
mation sufficient to justify their withclrawment
Columbia Chunk* 2J9
late Judge Goforth from New-Yoik, Gen. John Gano
from the same city, and Messrs. Benjamin and Elijah.
Stites originally from New- Jersey. Some others were
in the company, whose names I have not learnt. This
settlement was made in perilous times. The Indians
made every exertion to cut them oft and prevent their
settlement : they tried by many stratagems to decoy
them ashore on their passage down the river ; and after
they had settled, they were continually lurking to destroy
them. They were obliged, for a number of years, to
live mostly in forts and block-houses ; but notwithstand-
ing all their precautions, a number of the first settlers
fell victims to the rage of their savage neighbours. A
number of the company above mentioned were Baptist
professors, but having no preacher among them, they
set up a meeting among themselves,\vhich they conducted
by turns. In 179O, Stephen Gano, of Providence, Rhode-
Island, took a journey into the western country to visit
his father and family relations ; he also visited this set*
tlement, baptized three persons, and formed the little
company into a church, which was the first, of any de-
nomination, raised north of the Ohio River, in that ex-
tensive country, then called the North- Western Territo-
ry. This church soon received considerable accessions
from emigrants to the Miami country, and as the fears
of the Indians subsided, they extended their settlements
farther out, and the Columbia church became the moth-
er of most of the first churches, which arose in this re-
gion. Its seat is now removed from Columbia to a place
called Duck Creek. Daniel Clark and John Smith were
the first: ministers who settled in this quarter. Mr. Clark
is now the aged and respected f istor of the church at
Turtle Creek, in the neighbourhood of Lebanon. Mr.
Smith became pastor of the church at Columbia, and for
a number of years was well esteemed and apparently use-
ful. But riches and honours spoiled him for a preacher,
and he relinquished the employment. He has also aban-
doned his religious profession, and remains a melancho-
ly example either of successful hypocrisy or of woful
apostacy. He was suspected of being concerned in the
ill-fated expedition of Col. Aaron Burr, although noth-
ing was proved against him, At that time he was a
2 GO Scloto Association.
Senator in Congress, \vhere he was impeached and ac-
quitted. He had become very remiss in the duties of
his station before he arose to the senatorial rank j but
this, with the Burr affair, seems to have completed his
downfal. He had acquired a large estate, but Provi-
dence frowned upon him, and he lost it by various
means ; and he has now become a poor, apostate,
wretched man, and lives somewhere among the Span-
iards in West-Florida. The church is now supplied by
Mr. William Jones, a native of Wales, but who remov-
ed hither from the back part of the State of New- York.
Of the other churches in this connexion, 1 have not
gained sufficient information, to say much respecting
them. They were formed in a gradual way, mostly of
Baptist members, who emigrated from other parts.
Nothing very remarkable has occurred in the progress
of the Miami Association ; its circumstances have gene-
rally been prosperous, and in the time of the great re-
vival, it experienced considerable enlargement. The
church at Columbia received the addition of ninety
members in one year. This Association has correspond-
ed with the Philadelphia since J 80O. Attempts have al-
so been made to open a correspondence with some of
the Associations in Kentucky, a number of which are
sufficiently near; but the prevailing prejudices on the
part of the Ohio brethren have hitherto prevented that
profitable intercourse, which is usually maintained by
neighbouring Associations.
A division of this Association took place by agreement
in 1809, and a new Association was formed from it by
the name of White Water, the history of which will be
given in the account of the Indiana Territory.
SCIOTO ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association is in a central part of the State, and
was formed in 1805. It contained at the time of its
constitution only four churches, but it has since consid-
erably increased. It is situated on both sides of the
beautiful Scioto River, from which the Association takes
its name, and a number of the churches are in the neigh-
bourhood of Chilicothe. The church at Ames was con-
stituted in 1800 5 it is composed of people mostly from
German Church in Ohio. 261
New-England, and was the first church which was gath-
ered within the bounds of the Association. The Ger-
man or High Dutch church at Pleasant Run, in the coun-
ty of Fairfield, and near the town of New-Lancaster, is
the most distinguished on some accounts of any one in
this Association, and is remarkable for having emigrated
from Virginia, to its present situation, in a church capac-
ity. In J801, six families, among whom were fifteen
church members, removed from Virginia, and in the
wilderness of Ohio began the settlement, which is now
pleasant and flourishing. A number of others have since
followed ; some English people have also united with
them ; so that their church in 1809 contained upwards
of seventy members. The German brethren, who took
* *
the lead in forming this church, came principally from
Rockingham county, and the church, which they trans-
ported to Ohio, was constituted in Virginia about 1190.
It came out from what was called the White-House
church in the county of Shenandoah. The members of
this church, in Kentucky, would be called rigid Eman-
cipators ; they were constituted on their present princi-
ples in Virginia, and carried their opposition to slavery
so far as to resolve, that they would hold no slaves them-
selves, nor have any communion or visible fellowship
with their brethren who did. On account of these prin-
ciples, they were subjected to many inconveniences in
their native State, which led them to seek an asylum in
the wilderness, where they might enjoy unembarrassed
and unreproached the free exercise of principles which
they held most dear. They settled on a very fertile
tract of land, and are an industrious and happy commu-
nity. The church is supplied by three preachers, whose
names are Lewis Sites, Samuel Comer, and Martin Cof-
man, who preach both in German and English. When
the congregation is mostly made up of German people,
they preach in the German language, and in the English
when it is otherwise ; and besides supplying their own
church, these respectable preachers travel and labour
much in the surrounding settlements, and with the young
and destitute churches. This account of the German
church was made out when I visited it in 18( 9. What
alterations have taken place in it since, I have not heard.
262 ' Baptists in the Territorial Government.
BEAVER ASSOCIATION.
IN 180B, the churches of Providence, Hopewell, Che-
nango, New-Lisbon, Warren, and Little Beaver, most of
which were of recent origin, were dismissed from the
Red-Stone Association, and were shortly afterwards
formed into the one we now have in view, which receiv-
ed its name from a creek, which empties into the Ohio
River from the north, about thirty miles below Pittsburg.
The churches in this Association are partly in Ohio and
partly in Pennsylvania. Some of them were raised up
by David Phillips, Henry Frazer, and some other minis-
ters belonging to the Redstone Association; but the most
extensive and successful labourer in this part of the
vineyard, is Mr. Thomas G. Jones, a native of Wales,
who settled here a few years since. Mr. Jones has been
employed as a Missionary a part of the time by the
Philadelphia Missionary Board ; and by a divine blessing
on his labours, many have been turned to the Lord, and
a number of flourishing churches established.
This account of the Beaver Association I received
from Mr. David Phillips, near Pittsburg, in 1 809. I have
written a number of letters for further information, but
none has been communicated.
Besides the churches in these Associations, there are
many others in this State, which, on account of their
scattered and remote situations, do not belong to any
associate connexion.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE BAPTISTS IN THE TERRITORIAL
GOVERNMENTS.
BESIDES the three States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Ten-
nessee, there were, before the State of Orleans was form-
ed, beyond the Alleghany mountains, six territorial gov-
ernments. Three of these, viz. the Indiana, the Illinois,
and Michigan, together with the State of Ohio, are sub-
divisions of that extensive tract of country, formerly
called the North-Western Territory.
The Missisippi Territory, which was formerly inclu-
ded in the State of Georgia, lies between that State and
the river from which it received its name. The Loui-
siana and Orleans Territories, the last of which has lately
White Waicr> and Wabflsh Associations. 26 S
been admitted the eighteenth State in the Union, com-
prehend that extensive tract known by the name of the
Louisiana Country, which was lately purchased by the
United States, of France, about which politicians, many of
whom knew not whether it was on the Western or Eastern
Continent, have had so much talk and disputation.
All these territories are rapidly settling by emigrants
from almost every part of the United States ; in most
of them Baptist churches have been established, and
throughout all of them Baptist families are more or less
scattered ; but I have found it difficult to gain sufficient
information of these remote and wide-spread regions, to
be able to give much account of our brethren in them :
the following statements, however, 1 believe may be de-
pended upon as correct.
The Indiana Territory lies west of the State of Ohio,
from which it is separated by a line running north and
south, Tt is bounded south by the Ohio River, north
by the Michigan Lake and Territory.
In this Territory there are three Associations, and a
considerable number of churches which are not associ-
ated.
WHITE WATER ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association was formed by a division of the
Miami, in J 809. It commenced with nine churches, and
has now increased to eleven. It is a small body, but
is well supplied with preachers, who are well spoken of
as men of ability and usefulness. A few of the churches
jn this connexion are in the State of Ohio, but most of
them are in the Indiana Territory.
WABASH ASSOCIATION.
THIS was also formed in 18O9, of five churches, in all
which there were but a little more than eighty members ;
but in about two years many new churches were added
to it, and its number of members amounted to over
eight hundred. But many of them have probably been
scattered by the troubles of the present Indian War.
At the beginning of this Association it contained only
two ministers, whose names were Alexander Deven and
Isaac M'Coy. Its churches are on the W abash River, and
spme of them near the town of Vincennes.
264 Silver Creek> and Missisippi Associations.
SILVER CREEK ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association was formed in 1811, of nine small
churches, which formerly belonged to the Long Run
Association in Kentucky. It is situated near the falls of
the Ohio.
The Illinois Territory was formed but a few years
since, by a division of the Indiana, and lies between that
and the Missisippi River. About 1807 or 1808, an
Association, the name of which I have not learnt, was
formed of churches, which were situated on the Missisip-
pi, some in this Territory, and a few over in the Louisi-
ana country. In 1809, it had increased to ten churches,
eight or ten ministers, and about two hundred members.
On what part of the Missisippi River these churches
were situated, I have not been informed ; but they must
have been somewhere between the mouths of the Ohio
and Missouri. This Association travelled in union but
a short time. Disputes about slavery were introduced
in it, and effected its division in 18O9. Three churches
maintained the holding of slaves, and the rest opposed
it. Disputes rose so high, that they could no longer
travel in fellowship ; they, however, agreed to part in
peace, and accordingly the Association was dissolved.
What has been the progress of the Baptist cause in this
region since that period, I have not learned.
There are many Baptists scattered throughout the
Louisiana country, but I conclude there are not many
churches.
In Kentucky, I saw a Baptist family, which was about
moving a considerable distance up the Missouri, where,
they were informed, were many of their brethren, and
it is probable a church or churches have been established
there before this time. But these people must all be in
an uncomfortable situation, on account of the barbarous
depredations of the Indians.
MISSISIPPI ASSOCIATION.
THIS Association, I conclude, was formed about 18O7.
It now contains about twelve churches, many of which
-are situated at no great distance from the Natchez, and
some of the members of one of the churches reside in