Greenbrier County WV Archives Church Records.....The Baptist Church of Greenbrier Copyright Date 1889
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Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 July 21, 2009, 11:47 am

The Baptist Church Of Greenbrier.

The first Baptist preacher west of the Alleghenies was the Rev. John Alderson,
in honor of whom Alderson, in the county of Monroe, was named. He was pastor of
the Lynnville Baptist Church, in Rockingham county, then far out on the
frontier. But no sooner did the settlements in the west assume the appearance of
permanency than he carried the glad tidings to them. Between the years 1775 and
1777, Mr. Alderson made no less than three visits to Greenbrier, then a wild,
uncultivated and almost uninhabited country, and while on these visits baptized
three persons, two of whom were John Griffith and Mrs. Keeney. These were the
first persons ever immersed in the western waters of Virginia.

Mr. Alderson now determined to remove to the west, and accordingly, early in the
year 1777, set out with his family. On reaching Jackson's river he learned that
a few days before, the Indians had attacked the house of Colonel James Graham,
in Greenbrier, and had killed one member of his family and carried another into
captivity; in consequence of this information he halted for some months, but
reached his destination in October. His first location was in Jarrett's Fort, on
Wolf creek, now in Monroe, but after a short time he settled on the bank of the
Greenbrier river, where Alderson now stands, and cleared a farm on which he
afterwards followed the plow with his gun swung to his shoulder. In going from
fort to fort to fulfill his engagements, he was often guarded by a body of armed
men. In two years he succeeded in collecting twelve members, himself and wife
included. They considered themselves a branch of the Lynnville church, but
transacted business as a separate body. On the 24th of October they were
regularly constituted into a working body known as the "Greenbrier Baptist
Church," and the following year it was admitted into the Ketocton Association.

At this time the members were very much scattered over the country, some living
twenty miles from the location of the church, and because of this, the regular
church meetings were held in different localities. Occasionally such meetings
were held at Second Creek Gap, in the big Levels near Lewisburg, and on New river.

Notwithstanding the members were dispersed over such a wide area, measures were
taken to build a house of worship as early as 1783, and in May following the
ground on which the Greenbrier church has since stood was fixed, upon as a
suitable location. In July of the following year, the building was so nearly
completed that it was used for public worship. This was the first church
building erected in Southwestern Virginia.

Accessions continued to be made, and in 1785, some of the members resided at
Second Creek Gap, some on New river, some on Indian creek, others on the Big
Levels, and one named Burr on Spring creek, a distance of thirty miles from the
church building, and yet the records say /these members were in the habit of
attending the regular church meetings./ Mr. Alderson continued his labors here
seven years before he met with a single Baptist minister. In 1785, Rev. James
Johnson came over the mountains and was induced to settle on the Kanawha. Here
he continued his ministry until 1803, when he removed to Kentucky.




Additional Comments:
From Greenbrier County in History of West Virginia by Virgil A Lewis.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/greenbrier/churches/thebapti4gbb.txt

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