Mary HARGIS

   Another name for Mary was Mary Elizabeth HARGIS.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Alt. Birth, Abt 1742, Russell County, VA.

• Biography. THE BAPTIST EXODUS FROM VIRGINIA, THRU NORTH CAROLINA TO KENTUCKY By Stratton Owen Hammon, 3750 Wilmington Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 42007

In 1760, James Harnmon and his wife, Mary Hargis, were contented members of the Dover Church, Church of England, in St. James Northam Parish in Goochland Co., V A. He was a tobacco planter on the James River, ten miles below Carter's Ferry, now known as Cartersville. It was a happy event when the pastor of that church, the Rev. William Douglass, made an entry in his now famous "Douglass Register;" "James Hammond and Mary Har~iss a Son named John born Jan. 29,1760, Baptized 1760 June 8."

Over the next fourteen years, this content with the Church of England vanished, and this couple, along with many of their relatives, neighbors and friends so strongly desired to worship as Baptists that they moved out of Virginia rather than face the altemative. What brought this about? Was it fundamentally a buildup of the same antagonisms with Great Britain that brought on the Revolutionary War? The parish church was, of course, the arm of England that most personally affected all Virginians day by day.

In 1774, a year before the Battle of Bunker Hill, which really got the Revolutionary War going, a group of Baptists petitioned the court of Fauquier Co., VAin this manner:

"The new Worshipful Court ofFauqr County -The Petition of us the Subscribers Sheweth, that we being Desenters bearing the Denomination of Baptists &c. Desiring to Worship God accordinng to the Best light we have in Holy Scriptures, and the Dictates of our Own Consciences, Humbly Prayeth that your Worships would be Pleased to grant us the liberty to meet together for the worship of God in our way ."

An interesting aspect of this petition was its scope both socially and geographically in Virginia. One of the subscribers was John Wright who was related to General George Washington (Major Francis Wright had married Anne Wasington.) Another signer was William Hammon, brother of James mentioned above, who was the lay minister and elder of the Baptist movement in GoocWand County.

Who were these people who were breaking away from the Church of England? Were they scalawags (modem hippies), drifters, troublemakers? Not at all. For hundreds of years they had been the backbone of the establishment. Take this Hammon family, a typical and prime example. They could be expected to be the last, at least for ethnological reasons, to confront the workings of the British Empire. They had no Scotch, Welsh, or Irish strains that might be expected to produce hostility toward the English. In this year of 1774, this particular family had been English for almost a thousand years and American colonists for just under one hundred years.

Nor could it be said that they were poor and this created economic tensions toward the rich and powerful. We know that one of the family held as many as fifty slaves, and the Rev .William Hammon himself was in possession of twenty. All this was also true of the Holbrook and Hargis families, the latter having come early from Bristol to Maryland and on to Virginia.

Indeed, it would have been difficult at the time to find a family that was more thoroughly English and less likely to change their religion and battle an English king. The family was established in England in the year 868 when the pagan Viking Chieftan Hammond left Denmark with his band and raided into the eastern part of Norfolk, near present Norwich.
He settled on the land he had conquered and shortly his people were converted to Christianity .At present, 1123 years later, the family is still in the same location. Its head is now Captain Anthony Hamond whose resemblance to the author was so startling that it provoked a color photograph in the Filson Club History Quarterly. Ambrose Hammon, an immigrant from this family, landed at Old Rappahannock Co., V A in 1666, and became the great-grandfather of the child, John Hammon, born in Goochland Co., V A 1760. This boy was destined to be a spearhead of the movement of this group of Baptists into Kentucky.
a matter of months the Goochland Co. contingent abandoned their life style in V A and began moving toward North Carolina, led by the Rev. William Hammon. His family had consisted of father, "John, Sr." and sons William, Ambrose, James, Joseph and John, Jr. James had died in 1763, and his widow, Mary Hargis, had remarried to John Holbrook, son of Randolph. The Holbrook, Hargis and other families joined in the journey which put them in Wilkes Co., NC late in 1774. They settled on the Roaring River, a branch of the Yadkin, several miles from the farm of Daniel Boone.

In the majority of instances, this two stage movement of Baptists from V A to KY was the rule. The Baptist groups first moved from V A to the frontiers, where a new church was formed. The older members in general stayed with the frontier churches while the younger members advanced on into KY after a few years had passed. Many of the first stage exodus churches are still in existence on what was then the frontier along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

It was extremely rare for a V A church to make the journey into KY in one movement. An exception was the nonstop journey of the Upper Spotsylvania Baptist Church from Spotsylvania Co., VAin 1781 to the vicinity of Gilbert's Creek, near Boonesboro in KY.

In Wilkes Co., NC the Rev. William Hammon immediately organized the South Fork of Roaring River Baptist Church, which is still in existence. The church permitted the author to bring the Church minutes to Louisville in order to copy them. The original minutes were in a leather bound Revolutionary War recruiting book. Unfortunately, a number of pages, representing the first eleven years, were missing. The minutes pick up in 1785 in this manner:

"Satterday ye 13th day of August 1785. The church meeting in order Br. John Adams and Sister Ann Adams joined the Church by experience and baptism. Also David Clerk was excummicated. Also Sister Turner joind by experience.

"Satterday the 9th of Sep. The church seting in order Brother James Bradberry joind the church by experience and baptism. Also Br. Charles Cates infor'd of his management concerning his sone and his wife parting. Also the church ordered the clark to write to Bro. Gibson Maner to come & satistie the church of his behavour concerning his Daughter and her huband parting and other alegations. The church deligated Br. Wm. Hamon, Bro. Andrue Canaway and Bro. Thomas Lawrence to go to the Association the second Satterday in Oct, at Prices meeting House on black water.

"October ye 8th 1785. The church seting in order Bro. Andrew Baker inquired whether he was a blessing to the church or whether he hindred a blessing, answered he did not hinder a blessing. Also the church deligated Br .
Will. Clark, Bro. Andrew Canaday, Bro. Amb. (Ambrose) Ramon and Bro. Thomas Johnson to go to the conference at Bro. Martains church the 21st of this instant. Also the Clark was orderd to write a letter for the church.

"Saterday the 11th of February 1786. The church seting in order thought it prudent to deny John Tolaver the fellowship for evil zepors such as drunkeness & etc."

Up to the end of the first minute book 82 members were mentioned, but the customary list of members was lost with the missing pages. The second book of minutes began with an entry 2 Ian 1829, and it did contain a list of 90 members, plus 12 slaves. Several printed booklets in the possession of the clerk of this church contained the followin~ information demonstratin~ that by the year 1790 V A had its own Baptist Association:

"Minutes of the first session of the Yadkin Baptist Association, held at Baton's Meeting House, Rowan County, NC, August 28th 29th 30th 1790 Statistical Table No.7, Wilkes Co., South Fork of Roaring River, William Hammon, Spencer Adams, William Morgan It was agreed to petition the Virginia Association in order that we may become a district association and the clark prepare a letter for that purpose and Brothers McNeel, Baker and Hammond be appointed for that purpose.

"Minutes of the Second Session of the Association held at Brier Creek, Wilkes Co., NC, 1791 Churches and Delegates. Roaring River church; William Hammon and William Morgan. "

Members of the South Fork of Roaring River Baptist Church from the beginning spread allover KY. The Thomas Jnhn~nn m~ntinnf'n in the mim1t~~ nf R Oct 17R~ w~~ the m~n whn "well nIM~" D~niel Ronne when thev hacked
remained. however, for John Hammon, the little boy born in Goochland Co., V A in 1760 to become the first pioneer from this church to locate permanently in KY and around whom enough members of this church were to gather to enable them to form a new church.

(Continued --see John Hammon, Mary's son)

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• See also. http://www.grandpappy.info/jhjohma2.htm


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Mary married James HAMMOND. (James HAMMOND was born in 1730 and died about 1763 in Goochland County, VA.)

Mary next married John Henry HOLBROOK Sr., son of Randolph (Randall) HOLBROOK and Ann STANWAY, in 1763 in Goochland County, VA. (John Henry HOLBROOK Sr. was born about 1727 in Goochland County, VA and died in 1793 in Wilkes County, NC.)