JULY 4, 2014

Today is the first Saturday in July.  200 years ago, the first Saturday in July was July 2, 1814.  On that date in Washington County, Indiana Territory, the Sharon Baptist Church met for its regular monthly meeting as it had since October 1810.  The congregation began its meetings at the house of John and Jemima Shipman Dunlap who had registered a land claim just north of Pigeon Roost.  This tract is located today at the southeast corner of the intersection of Boatman and Collins Roads in Scott County, Indiana.  During these years Amos Thornburgh was the moderator and Jesse Spurgeon was the clerk.  Given the location of the Dunlaps house below the Knobs, Jesse Spurgeon often recorded that no one attended some of the monthly meetings.  Spurgeon also recorded that it had been determined not to meet during the months of October through December of 1812 “by reason of the hostilities of the Indians”.  The Pigeon Roost massacre had occurred on September 3, 1812 in the neighborhood immediately east of the Dunlap home.  The Indians that had committed this atrocity had undoubtedly travelled the same trail through the Old Trace Gap to reach the Pigeon Roost settlement that the church members would take to get to the Dunlaps.

In spite of these early difficulties, the congregation grew quickly.  Many of the settlers located on the upper reaches of the Harristown Branch of Royse’s Fork of Blue River and the Middle Fork of Blue River were members of the Sharon Baptist Church.  While the Quakers were predominant in the area around Brock Creek and the Canton Branch of Royse’s Fork of Blue River and the Free Will Baptists led by Amos and John Wright were predominant in the area around the lower parts of Royse’s Fork and the Middle Fork of Blue River, the Sharon Baptist Church was predominant in the area between.

This increase of membership led the congregation to change its place of meeting in September of 1813 from the Dunlap house to the house of Isaiah and Susannah Spurgeon.   The Spurgeons had  bought out Dr. Simeon Lamb’s land claim just east of Royse’s Lick and had taken title to the land in February 1813.  Isaiah Spurgeon’s brother, Jesse, who was the clerk of this congregation was reputedly the first person of European descent to settle his family in the central part of what became Washington County.  On October 1, 1814, the congregation decided to build a church house 25’ by 30’ in the northwest corner of the Spurgeon land.  A subscription was sought from the membership to pay the builder and could be paid in “corn, work, wheat, pork, marketing or cash”. It took 1 year for sufficient funds to be raised.  In October 1815, Archibald Johnson and David Denney were appointed Trustees to supervise the construction.  David Denney and Jesse Spurgeon who was a Justice of the Peace were appointed to stake out the site and write the deed for Isaiah and Susannah Spurgeon to sign.  The deed was presented to the congregation on December 2, 1815.  The church was completed and the first service held on June 1, 1816.

The first meeting in the new building was eventful.  Jesse Spurgeon acknowledged himself guilty of drinking intoxicating liquors and offered concession. Brother Spurgeon was then reproved and admonished by Rev. James McCoy of the Silver Creek Baptist Church and then “peace abounded”.  The membership during these early years included the following:

ANTHONY HINKLE

LUCRETIA HINKLE

MARY PARR

ELIZABETH RODMAN

JESSE SPURGEON

LYDIA SPURGEON

AMOS THORNBURGH

RACHEL THORNBURGH

JOHN DUNLAP

JEMIMA DUNLAP

MARY SHIPMAN

ELISHA DENNEY

POLLY DENNEY

ARCHIBALD JOHNSON

MARY JOHNSON

ISAIAH SPURGEON

ROBERT SELLERS

SARAH SELLERS

JOHN DEPAUW

ELIZABETH DEPAUW

JOSIAH SPURGEON

ELIZABETH SPURGEON

DAVID DENNEY

JOHN W COFFEY

JAMES GREGORY

LEAH ALDERSON

ROBERT DENNEY

PATSY BLANKENBAKER

ELDER JOHN WILSON

GODLOVE KAMP

DOLLY HURST

WILLIAM WRIGHT

BENJAMIN SIMMONS

MARY HARBUT ?

WILLIAM PRESTON

ISAAC JONES

RACHEL WATSON

BARBARA SCOTT

ELIZABETH WOOD

JAMES MCCOY

JOHN SKELTON

ELIZABETH SKELTON

SAMUEL BLANKENBAKER

ELINOR SHRUM

RICHARDSON HENSLEY

AMOS LITTLE

ENOCH PARR

THOMAS HODGES

REBECKA HARTLEY

MOSES SELLERS

GEORGE CAMPBELL

ISAAC WARRELL

JAMES DAVIS

PRISCILLY DAVIS

HANNAH RODGERS

JANE WARRELL

MARGARET RODMAN

DAVID FOUTS

APOLLAS HESS

MATTHIAS WELLER

WILLIAM GRAY

ISAAC VAUGHN

WILLIAM DENNEY

HENRY GARRIOTT

MORGAN PARR

POLLY MAHONEY

PATSY FOUTS

ELINOR GARRIOTT

SUSANNAH WRIGHT

ANN WALKER

PHEBE SPURGEON

SALLY WRIGHT

MARY HOLE

ELIZABETH HODGES

JOHN JACKSON

THOMAS BROADSTREET

LEURANA BROADSTRET

WILLIAM SHARP

ANN PIERSON

LORETTA THOMAS

SIMON CARESS

ELIZABETH CARESS

MOSES DUNLAP

As seen above, John and Elizabeth Baptiste DePauw were among the early members of the Sharon Baptist Church. The minutes show that upon a few occasions, a deputation of the congregation was sent to the DePauws to encourage and confirm their attendance and support.   In spite of their sporadic attendance, John DePauw was selected to attend regional meetings of the Baptist Association on the Indiana frontier.  It is also worthy of note that DePauw turned to one of his fellow congregants, Amos Thornburgh, to be one the sureties on his $5,000 fidelity bond as agent for the sale of lots for Salem.

                                          GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF SALEM, ROYSE'S LICK, ISAIAH                 SPURGEON TRACT AND JOHN DUNLAP TRACT

                                         PIGEON ROOST KNOB FROM JOHN DUNLAP TRACT

                                         PIGEON ROOST CREEK VALLEY HEADING WEST TO OLD TRACE GAP THROUGH KNOBS