Solomon and Sarah Saylor: The Emergence of Lay Religion in Eastern Kentucky

Abstract

Solomon and Sarah Saylor: The Emergence of Lay Religion in Eastern Kentucky David Kimbrough At the onset of the nineteenth century a few families trickled into the Eastern Kentucky highlands, settling on cheap lands that other sections of the state did not provide. In 1805 Solomon1 and Sarah Saylor2 located in the present day Harlan County, in an area referred to as Forrester's Creek. The Saylors were of Scotch-Irish stock and moved onto their new land with family and friends practicing a self-sufficient, subsistence, kinship-based lifestyle. Arguing that there was no religion in Eastern Kentucky at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Harry M. Caudill claims the area was "practically without churches for fifty or seventy-five years after the first white setders. There simply were no preachers or ministers, few Bibles and litde religious knowledge."3 Bill Surface supports Caudill's position in his study, The Hollow, emphasizing that the initial people in Eastern Kentucky were suspicious of preachers and the first churches were not constructed for "eighty years" after settlement.4 Caudill's and Surface's positions are wrong. The mountaineers had religious cognizance but were restrained in worship practices because of isolation and geographic seclusion. Henry Scalf points out that Baptist churches were organized in Eastern Kentucky by Elder Daniel Williams before 1802.5 Baptist churches were established at sites like Burning Springs, located in Magoffin County, in 1814, and Mud Creek, in Floyd County, in 1825.6 David Kimbrough, an East Tennessee native, has a Ph.D. in American history from Indiana University. His dissertation, "Park Saylor and the Eastern Kentucky Snake-Handlers: A Religious History," is currently being revised for publication . 49 Methodist circuit-riding preachers were also in Eastern Kentucky. The seclusion of the Appalachian highlands made it difficult to gather crowds for religious meetings in locales such as Forrester's Creek. Strong Calvinistic convictions were evident in what religious creeds the pioneers brought with them. Solomon and Sarah Saylor were Presbyterians who believed in predestination, as did many of the initial settiers to Eastern Kentucky. Most of the pioneers who located in the vicinity of Forrester's Creek were Presbyterian because of their ScotchIrish heritage. It was the Presbyterian faith that gave the Saylors a sense of order and comfort in a sequestered world. They were haunted by death and bad times daily. Wandering Native Americans were still a menace in 1800. People froze to death, were ambushed by falling timber, mauled by farm animals, or attacked by wild animals, or they suffered from natural causes such as disease or childbirth which took lives frequentiy. If misfortune struck or Sarah's "doctorin'" skills failed it was common to attribute the calamity to "the Lord's will." When the traveling Methodist evangelists penetrated the mountains, and stopped at Forrester's Creek "to take the night" and have a meal it was the only time the Saylors heard any "real preachin'" during the first years of settlement. The Methodist itinerant usually announced the time of his next visit, "perhaps a month or six weeks later, and he was usually there just as he had promised."7 Wandering preachers in conjunction with the early camp meetings were the primary means for religious expansion in Eastern Kentucky. At the onset of the nineteenth century, the religious fervor that was being experienced in the rest of the country had penetrated the Appalachian highlands. The Great Revivals that were being conducted in the Bluegrass section of Kentucky, in places like Cane Ridge, set the pattern, or were the prototypes for smaller meetings, that were held in places like Forrester's Creek. By 1820, the Baptist, led by farmer preachers, and Methodist denominations in Kentucky had swelled to 21,000 members each, while the Presbyterians could only claim 2,700.8 The Methodists' success in Eastern Kentucky can be attributed to the achievements of the few circuit riders who entered the mountains. The Methodists were better organized than other denominations in gaining converts and rejected the formalism and traditional habits associated with the Presbyterians. It was also the Methodist position of Arminianism or Free Will that contributed to their success on the frontier.9 The early...