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The Early Years Of
The
NEW BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
592 New Bethel Road -- Piney Flats Tennessee 37686
LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW BETHEL CHURCH
The Ministry of the Reverend Dr. Joseph Rhea
In many of the congregation's earliest historical sketches, New Bethel is described as having "its foundations laid by Joseph Rhea and its organization established by Samuel Doak."
The Reverend Dr. Joseph Rhea was the pastor of the Piney Creek Presbyterian Church, serving as that church's first pastor from 1771 until April 1776.[1] He joined a military campaign in 1776 as a chaplain. Serving under Colonel Christian, Rhea traveled to Tennessee, where he fell in love with the rich farmland and clear streams. He returned to Maryland and motivated the members of his congregation at the Piney Creek Presbyterian Church to move to Tennessee with him.
Unfortunately, Rhea died before he could return to Tennessee, but his family and many of his parishioners moved to Sullivan County, Tennessee, throughout 1777 and 1778. Among the families coming from Maryland were the Allisons, Berrys, Greggs, Hodges, Hugheses, Kings and Massengills. Two hundred years later descendants of these families can be found in the membership and in the session of the New Bethel Presbyterian Church.
Charles Cummings, a visiting Presbyterian preacher from Abingdon, Virginia, encouraged the settlers to build a house of worship. The settlers agreed.
Henry Massengale later wrote, "We hailed his coming with great joy for our souls were hungering and thirsting for spiritual nourishment. He urged the settlers to build a house of worship which we decided to do. I was to furnish logs, boards and all timbers needed to build a large house, with a section of benches in the back side for the Massengale and Cobb negroes, numbering at this time, 151 souls, so these slaves can come out and be refreshed in body and soul. This house of worship was completed by July 1777, and was known as the Massengill House of Worship."
The Reverend Cummings made several trips into the area from his Virginia home, preaching frequently to the congregation. This house of worship served only two years before it was destroyed by the Tories in 1779.[2]
Cummings never stayed in Tennessee for more than a few days at a time. He was a Virginian whose main duties were with his own congregations. But his work helped pave the way for Tennessee's first resident minister and pioneer evangelist -- Samuel Doak.
ORGANIZING THE CHURCH AT THE
FORKS
The Ministry of Samuel Doak
Samuel Doak is credited with being Tennessee's first Christian minister. There were, of course, others who preceded Doak, but none of them became residents of Tennessee. Some were chaplains serving in Tennessee for a short time. Others were visiting preachers from Virginia serving the few and scattered settlers. Doak, on the other hand, made his home in Tennessee. Once here, he founded some 25 churches and several schools, including Washington Academy and Tusculum College.
Samuel Doak was ordained in 1778, after which he accepted Presbytery's charge to serve the congregation of the Fork Church, which would later become New Bethel, along with the churches of Hopewell and Concord in the North Holston Settlement in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[3]
President Teddy Roosevelt wrote of Samuel Doak: "Possessed of the vigorous energy that marks the true pioneer spirit, he determined to cast in his lot with the frontier folk. He walked through Maryland and Virginia, driving before him an old 'flea-bitten grey' horse, loaded with a sackful of books; crossed the Alleghanies, and came down along the blazed trails of the Holston settlements. The hardy people among whom he took up his abode were able to appreciate his learning and religion as much as they admired his adventurous and indomitable temper; and the stern, hard, God-fearing man became a most powerful influence for good throughout the whole formative period of the Southwest."[4]
The young Doaks found life on the frontier difficult. At one time, Samuel Doak left his home in the Forks Community to go to nearby Abingdon, Virginia, for supplies. He left his wife and child at home. A barking dog warned Esther Doak of the approach of a group of hostile Cherokees. With the baby asleep in her arms, she quietly left the cabin and hid in the woods. She watched the Indians rob the house of some furniture before setting the building on fire. Throughout the entire ordeal, the baby slept quietly. After the Indians left, the pioneer woman walked through the forest. With no path to follow, she was able to locate her husband at or near Abingdon.[5]
Samuel Doak spent two years serving the New Bethel Church. He did not spend all of that time with the New Bethel Church. He apparently used his home in the Forks as a "base of operations." Much of his time during these two years seemed to have been spent as a circuit riding preacher, ministering to the pioneer settlers throughout the wilderness.
Once, while conducting worship with settlers in the woods, a messenger interrupted the sermon with news of an Indian attack. As the messenger expressed it, "Indians! Indians! Ragdale's family are murdered!" Doak stopped his sermon and prayed briefly for God's help and protection, then set off with other men in pursuit of the enemy.[6]
Indians were not the only threat Doak had to face. He was also involved in the Revolutionary War against the British. Late in 1780 Doak was among those who joined the forces to fight in the battle of King's Mountain. Not only did he join the fight, he pronounced a historic blessing on his comrades in arms. Addressing the troops, Doak said, "My countrymen, you are about to set out on an expedition which is full of hardships and dangers, but one in which the Almighty will attend you ... Your brethren across the mountains are crying like Macedonia unto your help. God forbid that you shall refuse to hear and answer their call." His sermon ended with "May the God of Justice be with you and give you victory." Following the sermon was a prayer, which concluded, "Help us as good soldiers to wield the sword of Gideon."
The soldiers responded with the chant, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."[7]
The Battle of Kings Mountain turned the tide of the Revolutionary War in the South and helped secure an American Independence.
When Doak returned to Tennessee, he resumed his ministry. During a preaching tour, Doak entered the area around Limestone in Washington County, Tennessee. As he was riding, he met some settlers who were chopping down trees to build homes. When the settlers learned Doak was a minister, they asked him to stay long enough for them to gather area settlers for worship. When the people gathered, Doak used the shady grove as the sanctuary and his horse as the pulpit. The sermon pleased the people and they encouraged him to stay to be their permanent minister. He agreed and purchased a farm on which three buildings were erected: one to shelter his family, another for the church, and a third one for a school.[8]
The church he established near Washington Academy was the Salem Presbyterian Church, organized in 1780.
Doak had moved to the Salem Church community without Presbytery's permission, and a complaint was lodged against him in the 1780 presbytery meeting because he had "had removed from the New Bethel congregation on the Holston without advice from presbytery." Doak explained to Presbytery that the Indians had posed a great danger to him and his family, and they had to leave the Forks Community. Presbytery accepted his explanation.[9]
ORGANIZING THE NEW CHURCH
The Church at the Forks
Becomes The New Bethel Church
During Samuel Doak’s ministry at New Bethel, the church formed its Session, or governing body, in 1779, making the Session of New Bethel the oldest Presbyterian session in the state of Tennessee.[10] It is also the oldest continuing governing body in the state of Tennessee. The charter elders of the session were John Alison, James, Gregg, and Francis Hodge.
The congregation was led by the elders on the Session with occasional help of visiting preachers passing through the community. The church was able to issue its first call to a pastor in October 1782, and it was this date that became traditionally viewed by the congregation as the year the church was founded.
The Reverend Mr. Samuel Houston was called to "Mr. Doak's former congregation" in October 1782.[11] Houston was as colorful and dramatic a figure as Samuel Doak. Like Doak, Houston served in the Revolutionary War. As a soldier, he served as a private and participated in the battle of Guilford's Courthouse in North Carolina.
During his military service, he kept a diary. He described being a foot soldier. He noted that he discharged his rifle 14 times, or once for each ten minutes of the battle at Guilford's Courthouse.
Houston was the first cousin of General Samuel Houston who was later to become governor of both Tennessee and Texas, and president of the Republic of Texas.[12] He was described as "an exceptionally tall, broad-shouldered man. His manner was dignified, but he was considered somewhat eccentric because he loved to wear unorthodox clothes, often sporting a broad-rimmed beaver hat and draping a bright blanket over his shoulders."[13]
At one time Houston's friends and parishioners warned him that he was taking unnecessary chances, making himself vulnerable to attack by bands of Cherokee and Choctaw warriors. The Reverend Houston boomed with laughter and said, "Gentlemen, I place my faith in the Lord, so I know that no harm will come to me. Besides, I carry a rifle and a brace of pistols, and no one, not even Bill Cocke or Jack Sevier is a better shot than I am. The savages know it, so they'll leave me alone."[14]
Like many ministers of that era, Houston "rode the circuit," never staying in any single location for long as he traveled from one wilderness community to another. After serving at New Bethel, he returned to Virginia to serve the churches at Falling Bridge and Highbridge. He also taught school. He served as a trustee of Washington and Lee University from 1791 until 1826. He became totally blind before his death.
A monument at his grave reads: "Sacred to the memory of Rev. Samuel Houston, who in early life was a soldier of the Revolution and for 55 years a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on the 20th day of January 1839. Aged 81 years."[15]
It was during Houston's ministry that the Church at the Forks was renamed Mount Bethel Presbyterian Church.[16] For several years the church was called three different names. "Mount Bethel" was used most frequently in the minutes of the Presbytery until the 1820's.[17] The "Church at the Forks" or the "Forks Church" was used with decreasing frequency until its last use in Presbytery minutes in 1820. The name "New Bethel" became the standard name in 1821.[18]
In 1830 (the year that Samuel Doak died), New Bethel called a new pastor – Lancelot G. Bell (sharing him with a sister congregation – Hebron Church in Jonesborough). Bell had the same pioneering spirit of Doak. Just as Doak had served in the Revolutionary War, Bell served in the War of 1812. He entered the ministry in 1827 and was called to New Bethel and Hebron as his first pastorates. Bell remained at these two churches until October 5, 1832, when he left for missionary work in the new frontiers of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Like Doak who founded 25 churches, Bell also founded a number of churches (some sources say as many as 33). Father Bell, as he was called, "was a man of eminent evangelical spirit and always delighted with the triumphs of the Cross of Christ. He was characterized by courteous learning, gentleness and kindness toward all. As a preacher he was simple, earnest and solemn. None could doubt his sincerity and the depth of his convictions or fail to see that his soul yearned over lost sinners."[19] He died at age 80, still active in missionary work.[20]
During Bell's ministry in Tennessee, he started the practice of holding Sabbath Schools or Sunday Schools. He had established the first Sabbath School in the Presbytery in Jonesborough in 1829 and the second one at New Bethel in 1830.
For more about the history of the New Bethel Presbyterian Church, order a copy of A PEOPLE OF FAITH – THE HISTORY OF THE NEW BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. For your copy, send $20 per book ($15 plus $5 shipping and handling) to
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
17124 NW 10th Street
Pembroke Pines FL 33028
Questions? Comments? Email Dr. Pittendreigh at Pittendreigh@aol.com