The northern fork of the Rappahannock River was called the Hedgeman or Hedgman River, over the stretch from the junction with the Rapidan to the junction with the Hazel River. The junction of the Hedgeman and the Hazel starts the Little Fork, now in Culpeper County. To the east of the Hedgeman River (which generally flowed north and south in this region) lay the county of Fauquier.
In the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century, a new strain of religious thought entered Virginia life. Adherents were called Baptists and were much persecuted for violating the established (by law) Church of Virginia. The fact that the Baptists stood for independence in church government was enough to excite the authorities. The Baptist ministers were insulted, abused, interrupted during service, beaten, threatened, and lodged in jail on diets of bread and water for extended periods of time.
Two men who were imprisoned this way were Elijah Craig (in Culpeper) and John Pickett (in Warrenton). At one time, James Madison said there were no less than six Baptist ministers imprisoned in the Culpeper jail. A typical warrant for their arrest might read, "Teaching and preaching contrary to the laws and usages of the Kingdom of Great Britain, raising sedition and stirring up strife among His Majestie's liege people."
Persecution seemed to increase, rather than retard, the spread of the Baptist faith. It may not have hurt that the imprisoned Baptist ministers, sometimes for months, continued to preach while in jail. At first, meetings were held in private houses, in the open, or in any building large enough for the crowd of listeners.
John Pickett was a dancing master and a lover of gaming and sports. He went to North Carolina to engage in business and there he heard the preaching of Joseph Murphy which convinced John of the "error of his ways". He returned to Fauquier in 1767 and exhorted his friends privately, then instituted family worship, and began to preach more publicly. The next year, having made many converts, he organized Carter's Run Church. Four years later, when he was ordained, he became the preacher in Carter's Run Church.
His work came to the attention of the authorities. They excited a mob which broke into the church while Pickett was preaching, split up the pulpit and table, and took Pickett to jail in Warrenton for three months. Pickett regarded this as an opportunity for further preaching to any who cared to come to the jail. When released from jail, Pickett extended his labors further. The membership of Carter's Run grew rapidly and it became the mother of several other churches such as Mill Creek, Battle Run, Fiery Run, and Upper Goose Creek. (Early Baptist churches were often named after the water courses which were the principal landmarks of the time.)
(05 Apr 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.