Cherokee Creek Meeting House
Baptist Church of Christ at Cherokee
Cherokee Baptist Church
Cherokee Baptist Church is in Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee. On April 2, 1783, the church met to install the Reverend William Murphy as pastor.
On the fourth Sunday in October, 1786, the Holston Baptist Association was organized at Cherokee Church, with Tidence Lane, moderator and William Murphy, clerk.
The church was built on land owned by Samuel Bayless. His daughter, Hannah Bayless Hoss inherited the land in 1825 when he died.
. . . a certain tract of land out of which is excepted one and one-fourth acres more or less for the (Cherokee) meeting house and burial ground.
East Tennessee is part of Appalachia. At the end of the French and Indian War, colonists began drifting into the area. In 1769, they first settled along the Watauga River. During the Revolution, the Overmountain Men defeated British loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The State of Franklin was formed in the 1780s, but never admitted to the Union.
from Sketches of Tennessee's Pioneer Baptist Preachers by J. J. Burnett
Here in the shadow of the old Cherokee church, on Cherokee Creek, Washington County, I am standing on historic ground, listening to the silence that broods over the cemetery where I meditate. The church has been in existence since 1783; has outlived two meeting houses, and for years has been worshiping in a third. The old church book (preserved from the beginning) and tombstones show some interesting records.
from Goodspeed's History of Washington County
The first Baptist Church organized in the county was the Cherokee Creek Church, constituted in 1783 by Tidence Lane. Among its first members were James Keels, John Broyles, John Layman, William Murphy, Owen Owens, William Calvert, Reuben, John and Thomas Bayless, Thomas and Francis Baxter. . .
At Cherokee Creek Metting-house, on the fourth Saturday in October, 1786 [Minutes of Holston Association. Other authorities put it as early as 1779] was organized the Holston Baptist Associations, at which time six churches were represented as follows: Cherokee Creek- James Keel, John Broyles, John Layman and William Murphy; Bent Creek- Tidence Lane, Isaac Barton and Francis Hamilton; Greasy Cave- Richard Deakins and James Acton; North Fork of Holston- John Frost; Lower French Broad- James Randolph and Charles Gentry. Tidence Lane was chosen moderator, and William Murphy, clerk.
