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West Providence Baptist Church.
Established in 1853.
A jrd stat on 1/11/07. Revised on 5/28/11.
Updated HTML Code on 4/28/20.
An Idea By Hilma.

Aerial view of West Providence 
Baptist Church provided by Sue Render.
West Providence Baptist Church.
3/9/2009

The following text and the aerial photo of the West Providence Baptist church was furnished by Sue Render. Thanks Sue.

West Providence Baptist Church of Ohio County, Kentucky was organized on July 2, 1853. The church is located on the Rockport/Centertown Road, Highway 85 one mile off of Kentucky US 62.

The first council was composed of Alfred Taylor, James F. Austin, M. H. Utley, Thomas Tichenor and all of the Gasper River Association. This council met at a house that was on the present site of the church, later called West Providence.

The first membership consisted of 34 constituent members; 25 from Walton's Creek Church, 7 from Beaver Dam church, and 2 from Nelson Creek church.

The first meeting of the church was on July 9, 1853. James F. Austin was the first pastor. He also conducted the first revival that resulted in 64 additions by experience and baptism. At the end of the churchs first year there were 124 members.

A committee of 15 men was appointed to take into consideration the building of a new church. This committee met December 16, 1893, and appointed a committee of five to solicit money for a new building. December 29th the committee reported $831.85 had been collected toward a new building. March 14, 1894 was set apart to lay the foundation of the new church building. September 1894 the new church building was completed. The church was dedicated on Sunday October 7th, 1894.

See you........
jrd




Photo by jrd.  
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Pastor------------------------Barry Black.

Sunday School---------------10:00 AM

Sunday Morning Worship----11:00 AM

Sunday Evening Worship------5:30 PM



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Photo of Church by jrd.

West Providence Baptist Church.

by James Maddox
10/14/2010


The following information was provided by James D. Maddox, a Frankfort, KY resident. James is a Rockport, KY native. He attends all of the Rockport Reunions and strives to see that the rich history of the little river town of Rockport is never forgotten. Thanks James.

Maddox organizes Western Kentucky Church.

Son of Kentucky immigrant John Maddox III, John Jackson Maddox (5th generation) was a man of great religious fervor and with the courage of his convictions. A licentiate and great revivalist in the Baptist Church, he was widely known. The West Providence Baptist Church, of Ohio County, was organized in his home, he being a charter member and donor of the ground on which the church later was built. He also organized a temperance league.

John Jackson Maddox owned a large tract of land near Rockport, Kentucky, and was a prosperous farmer. His slaves received religious training and six were freed as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation. He was a great hunter, and his old deer rifle was owned by a descendant in 1950. This story is told of him and his horse: He was hunting by a creek when Old Roebuck, his hunting horse, was bitten by a venomous snake. John dismounted, chewed up some "snake weed" and with a piece of shirt tail bound it to Roebuck's leg. The horse became weak and was unable to go on. The rider walked home, thinking surely the horse would die, but, to his great surprise, Roebuck was standing at the barnyard gate next morning waiting to be turned in.

One interesting provision of his will reads: 'It is my will.....that (my body) be decently interred beside the grave where rest the remains of my dear wife Amelia Maddox whose spirit has gone to its home in heaven and it is my will and desire that evergreens be planted by our graves instead of tombstones.' The graves and the old gnarled cedar trees are there today. They were buried in the family cemetery near the church at the south end of the old farm property. From: Renders and Their Relatives, by Pearl O. Smith, Weeks Pubs, Arlington, VA, 1985.

John Jackson Maddox was born in Woodford, Kentucky in 1797 and died in 1876. He married Amelia Basford Render in 1819 and the couple had ten children.




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See you........
jrd


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