Churches of Wilson County

The first sermon preached in Wilson County was by Rev. William McGee, a Presbyterian minister, in the fall of 1798, at the house of William McClain, in the Drake Lick settlement, near the mouth of Spencer Lick Creek, and the first church organized was Spring Creek Church, which stood on the creek by that name, which was established by Rev. Dr. Hall, a North Carolina Presbyterian minister and missionary in 1800. The church was a small log house, puncheon floor, and Rev. Samuel Donnell was the first pastor. These pioneer Christians were very devout, but had been brought up, as a rule, upon the farm and had not enjoyed the best of educational advantages, and when the split came in their church in 1810 they went with the Cumberland wing, and this first church was also the pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

In the latter part of 1800, or first of 1801, the Methodists organized and erected a church in the Hickory Ridge settlement, which church was christened Bethel Church. Afterward the church was removed to a point on the Lebanon & Nashville Pike, about four miles west from Lebanon, where a new building was erected and which is in use at the present time. Sometime in 1808 or 1804 a Presbyterian Church was erected on Suggs Creek, and another of the same denomination at Shop Springs, both of which bore the names of the waters upon which .they were located. The Methodists also erected Ebenezer Church at about that time on what afterward became the Cold's Ferry Pike, five miles from Lebanon.

Koonce's Meeting-house was probably the first church erected by the Baptists in this county. The old church stood near the present village of Leeville, and was built sometime in 1806. Cedar Grove, four miles north of Lebanon, was the next church erected by the Baptists, and then followed Spring and Cedar Creek Churches. The above were the pioneer churches of Wilson County, and among their pastors were Revs. Samuel Donnell. S. M. Aston, William Smith, Samuel King, S. J. Thomas, Robert Donnell and George Donnell, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches; Revs. McKindry, Asbury, Jarrett, Morris, Page and Brown, of the Methodist Churches; Revs. James, Willis, Borum, Wiseman, Maddox and Tompkins, of the Baptist Churches, Other early churches were Good Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which was erected in the Eighth District some time about 1810 or 1812; Wesley Chapel, Methodist, Episcopal, in the Twenty-third District, and Big Spring and Moriah Cumberland Presbyterian Churches.

The first church erected in Lebanon was in 1827 by the Methodists. The church is a brick building; and is in use at the present by the colored Methodists. In 1830 the Cumberland Presbyterians erected a church in Lebanon. This building was a two-story brick, and was built by the church and Masonic Lodge, the Masons occupying the second floor. The old building remains standing at the present time, but has fallen into disuse and dilapidation, as it was abandoned in 1850, at which time the present Cumberland Presbyterian Church was erected. In about 1840 the Baptists erected a church in Lebanon at a cost of about $7,000. Previous to the erection of these churches the different denominations held their meetings in the court house. In 1856 the present Baptist Church in Lebanon was erected, when the old building was sold to the South African Methodists. The present Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1855, and the old building sold to the colored Methodists. The Christian (Campbellite) Church in Lebanon was erected in 1874. All of the Lebanon churches are handsome brick buildings, and were erected at about the following costs: Cumberland Presbyterian, $10,000; Methodist Episcopal, $8,000; Baptist, $7,000; Christian, $6,000. The colored churches of Lebanon, of which mention has already been made, are two brick and two frame, the latter costing between $2,000 and $2,500 each.

The churches of Wilson County of the present are as follows:

Stoner's Creek, Cumberland Presbyterian; Locust Grove, Cumberland Presbyterian; Prosperity, Methodist Episcopal; Scaby's Chapel, Christian; Hickory Ridge, African Methodist Episcopal; Williamson's Chapel, African Methodist Episcopal, and Cedar Grove, Baptist, (colored) in the First District.

Mount Olivet, Baptist, and Cook's Methodist Episcopal in the Second District. Bethlehem, Methodist Episcopal; Salem, Methodist Episcopal; Spencer's Creek. Baptist; Seay's Chapel, African Methodist Episcopal, and Powell's Grove, African Methodist Episcopal in the Third District.

New Hope, Cumberland Presbyterian; Melrose, Cumberland Presbyterian and Sander's Chapel, Methodist Episcopal, in the Fourth District.

Horn, Methodist Episcopal; Mount Pleasant, Cumberland Presbyterian; Bareah and Philadelphia, Christian, and African Methodist Episcopal and Baptist (colored) in the Fifth District.

Athens, Missionary Baptist; Cedar Creek, Primitive Baptist; Bethel, Methodist Episcopal; Christian and Dickerson's Chapel, Colored Baptists, in the Sixth District.

One Cumberland Presbyterian Church and one (colored) Missionary Baptist Church in the Seventh District. Good Hope, Methodist Episcopal; Bethlehem, Christian; Tucker's Cross Roads, Methodist Episcopal, and Bellwood, Christian, in the Eighth District.

Zion, Methodist Episcopal; Poplar Hill. Baptist, and Black Zion, African Methodist Episcopal, in the Eleventh District. One Baptist Church in the Twelfth District.

Round Top, Methodist Episcopal and one Baptist Church in the Thirteenth District. Prosperity, Baptist, and Prosperity (colored) Baptist, in the Fourteenth District.

Smith Fork, Missionary Baptist; Mount Vernal, Old School Presbyterian; Methodist North and Colored Baptist, in the Fifteenth District.

Round Lick, Baptist; Cherry Valley, Methodist Episcopal and one Christian Church in the Sixteenth District. Salem, Missionary Baptist, and Salem (colored) Missionary Baptist and Bradley's Creek (colored) Missionary Baptist, in the Seventeenth District.

Falling Creek, Missionary Baptist; Mount Pisgah, Methodist Episcopal; Union, Cumberland Presbyterian, and Ramah, Missionary Baptist, in the Eighteenth District.

Shapp's Spring, Missionary Baptist; Center Hill, Cumberland Presbyterian; Bethesda, Cumberland Presbyterian, and Bethel, Christian, in the Nineteenth District.

Union, Missionary Baptist; Friendship, Primitive Baptist; New Liberty, Missionary Baptist; Cason's Chapel, Methodist Episcopal, and Hebron, Christian, in the Twentieth District.

Rocky Valley, Missionary Baptist; Jacob's Hill, Methodist Episcopal, and Beard's Grove, Colored Baptist, and Jacob's Hill, African Methodist Episcopal, in the Twenty-first District.

Mount Zion, Cumberland Presbyterian; Hebron, Methodist Episcopal; Liberty Hill, Methodist Protestant; and Ephesis, Christian, in the Twenty-second District.

Oak Grove, Methodist Episcopal, and one Christian Church, and Brown's Corners, African Methodist Episcopal, in the Twenty-third District.

Rutlins, Missionary Baptist; Suggs Creek, Cumberland Presbyterian; Gain's Church, Baptist: Hall's Church, Methodist Episcopal; and Corinth, Christian, in the Twenty-fourth District.

Pleasant Grove, Methodist Episcopal, in the Twenty-fifth District.

 Wilson County | AHGP Tennessee

Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886