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FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Settlers first came to this area of Massachusetts late in the seventeenth century. Jacob Bartlett, a Quaker, and Nicholas Cook, a Baptist, were the earliest inhabitants and are generally known as the town pioneers. On November 27, 1719, at the request of thirty–three petitioners, the town of Bellingham was incorporated. Though a number of the town residents Read more...
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John Gano (1727–1804) stands as one of the most influential Baptist leaders in early American history. A preacher, patriot, and church organizer, Gano’s life intersected with some of the most formative moments of the eighteenth century, including the spiritual awakenings that reshaped colonial religion and the political upheaval of the American Revolution. His legacy endures not only in Baptist life Read more...
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“Born in King and Queen County, Virginia February 4, 1747. William was the son of Thomas and Sarah Sanderson Hickman. Orphaned early in life, he was raised by his grandmother. About the year 1770 he heard the preaching of those oft persecuted Baptists – John Waller, James Chiles and David Tinsley. This led to his conversion February 21, 1773 of Read more...
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Watch Dr. David Saxon retell the story of Obadiah Holmes on Our Christian Heritage on VCY.tv Born 1606 in Reddish, Lancashire County, England. Obadiah was the son of Robert and Catherine Johnson Homes. In 1638, Holmes came to New England. Settling first in Salem, and later in Rehobeth, Massachusetts. While in Rehobeth, Holmes attained the status of Freeman. Which gave Read more...
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Wightman Cemetery in Southington is a small but historically significant burial ground that reflects the early religious life and settlement patterns of colonial New England. Though modest in size and often overlooked compared to larger cemeteries, it preserves the memory of one of the town’s earliest Baptist families and offers a tangible connection to the spiritual and community life of Read more...
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“Jeremiah Vardeman was a distinguished minister somewhat rare in the annals of the church. He possessed the peculiar talent of bringing the leading truths of the gospel home to the consciences of his hearers. His illustrations were singularly vivid, his language strong, simple and well suited to convey clear thoughts to every class, even the most illiterate; while the deep Read more...
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Robert Lowry March 12, 1826 – November 25, 1899 Born in Philadelphia, Robert Lowry was converted at seventeen and received into the membership of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Active in Christian service from his youth, he soon recognized the Lord’s call to the ministry. He entered school at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania—now Bucknell University—where he distinguished himself academically, graduating in Read more...
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Hymn History: Have I Done My Best for Jesus? Author: E. Edwin Young “I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus, Who died upon the cruel tree?” (E. Edwin Young) The Origin of the Hymn “Have I Done My Best for Jesus?” The hymn “Have I Done My Best for Jesus?” is attributed to E. Edwin Young, Read more...
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William Ashley Sunday is buried in the same cemetery as Paul Harvey (other side of the Des Plaines River). Enter the cemetery near the bus stop, take the second left and proceed to the Haymarket Martyr’s Monument. Following trial, four anarchists were executed by hanging in 1887. Because German Waldheim was not a religious cemetery, it was chosen for the Read more...
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Internationally known for their live productions of ‘Unshackled’ – the longest running radio drama in American history, Pacific Garden Mission is also the oldest continuing operating rescue mission, approaching 150 years of continuous service. Started in 1877 by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah Dunn Clarke on Clark Street, the mission has been in a few different locations since Read more...
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Wikipedia: George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church.[1] As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of “The Old Rugged Cross” in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912[a] as Read more...
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Ken Ham was born in Australia, the son of a Christian educator. At the age of 10, John Whitcomb and Henry Morris published The Genesis Flood, that ignited the modern Young Earth Creation movement. After college, Ken Ham taught high school science, until he began a Creation ministry in Australia, and then later moved to the United States to work Read more...
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Billy Sunday home from 1862-1872. Road renamed Billy Sunday Lane Burial of Albert Sunday, older brother of Billy, and Mary Jane Corey, Billy’s mother Image Credit: Sep 20, 1916, Page 11 – Boston Post at Newspapers.com. www.newspapers.com/image/74642292/?match=1&terms=%22boyhood%20days%20again%3A%20billy%20sunday%22. 1851 – Squire Martin Cory (maternal grandfather of Billy Sunday) settlement started with a Land Patent on 160 acres 1862 – Read more...
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Halfway between O’Hare Airport and Rockford Illinois is a historical marker about a famous evangelist. Billy Sunday had given up professional baseball for the Chicago White Stockings in 1890 and began holding evangelistic meetings across the nation. During the summers he would take a break from the road – he wanted a place that felt like his hometown of Ames, Read more...
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Born in Virginia, and raised in Kentucky, Peter Cartwright (1785-1872) was a carnal frontier adolescent. At 16, he attended a revival meeting was “soundly converted.” To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the Saturday evening of said meeting, I went, with weeping multitudes, and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst of Read more...
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The story of Peter Cartwright United Methodist Church is deeply rooted in the early days of American frontier life and the spread of Methodism across the Midwest. More than just a local congregation, the church stands as a lasting testament to the work and influence of Peter Cartwright, one of the most energetic and influential preachers of the nineteenth century. Read more...
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Born November 27, 1862, Bloomfield, Iowa (birth name: Sarah Addison Pollard). Author of over 100 hymns and Gospel songs, Pollard was educated in Denmark, Iowa, Valparaiso, Indiana, at the Boston School of Oratory, and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She taught in Chicago, and at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Training School in New York. She worked for Read more...
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This stop isn’t exactly a Christian historic site, but an interesting look at history from the Christian era. George Herman “Babe” Ruth (1895-1948) was called the “Sultan of Swat” An inaugural member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and holder of records that still stand today, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Donald Trump. In Read more...
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The life of John Jasper stands as one of the most compelling stories of faith, perseverance, and influence in nineteenth-century America. Born into slavery on July 4, 1812, in Fluvanna County, Virginia, Jasper rose from humble and difficult beginnings to become one of the most well-known preachers in the South. His journey reflects both the hardships of his time and Read more...
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Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was born in a log house in Lake Spring (marked by the present Lake Spring Road) near Franklin, Kentucky, in 1866 – just after the Civil War. His boyhood was spent on a farm – and then at 16 he started teaching in the country schoolhouse he had attended. and in teaching district schools until he was Read more...