The Stony Creek Baptist Church

So far as is currently known, the word Melungeon first appeared in print in 1813 in the minutes of the Stony Creek Baptist Church located in Scott County, Virginia. The following background information is excerpted from a 1989 article on the history of the Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Association by Omer C. Addington published in Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, a publication of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia:

"We do not know when people of the Baptist faith first came to present day Scott County. We do know the first Baptist preacher in what is now Scott County was Squire Boone, a brother of Daniel Boone. These two brothers spent the winter of 1773-74 in the vicinity of Castlewood in present day Russell County, VA. The brothers traveled the Clinch River Valley as far west as Rye Cove. Daniel was in command of all the forts in the Clinch River Valley, while the militiamen were engaged in the Point Pleasant campaign of Dunmore's War.

"The oldest Primitive Baptist Church was organized in the late 1700's on Stoney Creek north of Blackmore. We have minutes of this church, going back thirteen years before Scott County was formed in 1814.

"The second oldest Primitive Baptist Church was located just east of Nickelsville, VA, on Copper Creek. We have minutes of this church going back to 1808. Robert Kilgore was pastor of this church for 40 years. At one time, he was also pastor of the Stoney Creek Church.

"The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church may have been built on the land grant that Captain John Blackmore got in 1773. David Cox bought the Blackmore property in 1817 when it was sold for delinquent taxes. In 1835, David Cox deeded one-half acre of land and building to William Addington and Thomas Strong, trustees of the Stoney Creek Church (Deed book No. 5 - Page 176)."

To read the 1813 minutes referencing Melungeons: Click Here.