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The centennial meeting of the Tates Creek Association met at Tates Creek Baptist Church in August 1893. For years Brother Anderson Tiffin Chenault had been the moderator, but that year he gracefully gave way to Elder Andrew Jefferson Tribble, grandson of the first moderator, Andrew Tribble who organized the Tates Creek Church. The letters from the churches showed, for the year, 142 baptisms, increased by letter 58, by relation 8, with 2523 members in all. A change in regard to district missions was made; instead of 11 district boards, provisions were made for three in Madison, Lincoln and Garrard counties, respectively, who were to meet on court days.
Bro. Joel Edward Cosby had for years this work on his heart. Bro. Speed Smith saw that the orphans home was not neglected. Bro. J. G. Pond looked after the ministers aid society. After dinner on the second day the centennial program was carried out. French Tipton made a pleasant address giving many facts in the early history of the Baptist in connection with the first settlement of Kentucky. He gave a rather amusing account
yof the church disciplines of those times. Members were excluded for looking on at a dance, for playing thimble and for playing on a fiddle. Mr. Tipton said, "Absurd as this seems to us, it shows a hgher state of piety than does the present laxity of our church."The hospitality of the people was most cordial and the provisions for messengers and visitors was most bountiful and it was a grand and glorious occasion.
Messengers from Tates Creek Church were Wingfield Cosby, age 89, Bro. Jones, Andrew Jefferson Tribble, David Munday, William O. Chenault, Anderson Tiffin Chenault, Eson Burgin, William Cosby, Joel Edward Cosby, W. A. Burgin, Albert Reed and Squire Huguley.
Gypsie Lee Cosby Jones
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Tates Creek Association
August 1936I was a little, nine-year-old, country girl, when I attended the Tates Creek Association Meeting at Tates Creek Baptist Church in 1936. I attended with my mother, Deloris Bernice Witt Cosby, and other ladies from the Buffalo Mission on Jacks Creek Road.
I wore the pink smocked crepe-de-chine dress with the hem let out and faced. It was at the height of the "Great Depression" and this was the only Sunday-Go-To-Meeting dress I had. As usual, my long golden curls were tied with a pink satin ribbon at the neck. The Annual Association Meeting was always taken seriously by my family, since my great-grandparents, Wingfield and Amanda Hudson Cosby,joined the Tates Creek Baptist Church by letter in 1837.
We motored across Clay Lane from Jacks Creek in a 1927, black, four door Chevrolet, with a red stripe around it. When we reached the church, cars were parked in the yard and up and down Boonesborough Road. Super highways were unheard of at that time. The church was filled with people from all over Madison County. The day was hot, ladies fanned themselves with cardboard fans, and a crystal pitcher, full of ice water, was placed on the pulpit for the moderator. Fresh garden flowers-zinnias, marigolds and roses-graced the church. Ladies wore white hats trimmed with flowers and white gloves. Some of the ladies had bobbed hair and had gotten a marcel from the beauty parlor. They also wore silk dresses with butterfly sleeves and silk stockings with a seam in back. Gentlemen wore "blue serge" suits and white starched shirts that were ironed as slick as a ribbon.
Rankin Helfin, the pastor, greeted everyone with a winning smile. A bountiful dinner was served under shade trees, where a great time of fellowship was enjoyed.
I slept all the way through the afternoon business session. As we started the drive home, we stopped by "Whitehall" - the home of Cassius Clay - and enjoyed the remains of a once beautiful place.
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Upon arrival at Cosmaple Farm (my home), the sugar maple trees beckoned to me. I quickly changed into a cotton dress that was made from a feedsack and trimmed with rickrack. I ran, carefree, through the bluegrass, barefooted, climbed into my tree house and then jumped into an old tire swing that hung from a black walnut tree and swung high into the sky.
I slept upstairs and, on this night, rain on the tin roof gave me the feeling that my world was secure and nothing could possibly disturb it.
I slept upstairs and, on this night, rain on the tin roof gave me the feeling that my world was secure and nothing could possibly disturb it.
Over 50 years have passed since I attended the Tates Creek Association. I am in the autumn of my life, and yet the memories of that hot August day in 1936 will always remain in my many fond memories of the past.
Gypsie Lee Cosby Jones========================== [From The Kentucky Baptist Heritage Journal, Editor: Doris B. Yeiser, Volume XVIII, November 1993, pp. 14-16; via Boyce Digital Repository, Adam Winters, Archivist. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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