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From: "J.M.Paden" <>
Subject: [BAPTIST-ROOTS-L] Separatist Baptists /GORDON/GORDEN/JEFFRIES/LINCOLN/OWENS
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 20:45:24 -0500
In-Reply-To: <200103161000.f2GA06c21762@lists5.rootsweb.com>
The following may be of interest
I have been trying to follow the Baptist connection of the Hugh
GORDEN/GORDON (b. abt 1739) family of King George Co. and Fauquier Co.,
VA. The first clear connection was the marriage of the daughter of Hugh
GORDEN/GORDON and Sarah OWENS, Mary GORDEN/GORDON, to Anderson JEFFRIES,
who later became a Baptist minister in Washington Co., KY. Joel
GORDEN/GORDON, another son of Hugh and Sarah, was a prominent Baptist
minister in KY and I found the following information concerning another
child of Hugh and Sarah, Manoah GORDEN and his friend and neighbour,Thomas
LINCOLN, the father of Abraham LINCOLN (neighbours in KY, IN, and IL)
which suggests that the church connection is worth pursuing:
"Separate Baptists.
The father of Abraham Lincoln and his wife Nancy Hanks Lincoln were members
of the Separate Baptist Church
"He and his wife joined the Separate Baptist Church, whose members
accepted traditional Baptist beliefs, like predestination and opposition to
infant baptism, but refused to endorse any formal creed. Adhering to a
very strict code of morality, which condemned profanity, intoxication,
gossip, horse racing, and dancing, most of the Separate Baptists were
opposed to slavery. Abraham shared his parents' views. He was "naturally
anti-slavery," he remarked in 1864, adding, "I cannot remember when I did
not so think, and feel."
source: "Lincoln", by David Herbert Donald, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster,
N.Y., 1996 ISBN 0-684-80846-3 , pg. 24
Nancy Hanks was baptised in a church in Fauquier Co., VA that was "Regular"
Baptist.
There was no indication that Sarah Owens and her family were linked with
the Baptists, however I recently reviewed a new publication from the Iing
George Co., VA Historical Society which provided information on all the
church cemeteries in K.G. Co. There are 41 members of the OWENS family
buried in the many church graveyards. Most of these churches date from the
mid-1800s to the present. All 41 are buried in Baptist cemeteries.
The K.G. Historical Society has an ongoing project to collect information
for a similar publication on all the private/family cemeteries in the
county. This may turn up some more useful information on the OWENS.
Regards,
J.M. Paden
"I think it would be a good idea."
-- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) when asked
what he thought of Western civilization.
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