Obediah & Priscilla Howard's Records

Parents of Obediah & Priscilla

The Mulkey Meeting House - Mill Creek Baptist Church

Old Mulkey Cemetery Listing

Children of Obediah & Priscilla Howard 

Howard Genealogy back to 20th Generations

The Family of:

Obediah Howard
(Revolutionary War Veteran)
Pvt Brandon's Regt Col Thomas Brandon
and Capt John McCool's Company SC Militia 
(Son of Stephen E. & Sarah [Sanders] Howard [not conclusive])
Born: 3 Oct 1737 (1741?) Onslow County NC
Died: 4 Oct 1804 (will probated Nov 1804) Barren Co KY
Buried: Old Mulkey Cemetery 
Mill Creek Baptist Tompkensville Monroe Co Ky

Married: abt 1757 Orange Co NC

Priscilla Avery Breed
(Dau of Rev Joseph Sr & Priscilla [Avery] Breed)
(Priscilla, Served in the Rev War)  
Born: 14 Oct 1742 Stonington Groton New London Connecticut
Died: 1808 Barren Co KY
Buried: Old Mulkey Cemetery 
Mill Creek Baptist Tompkensville Monroe Co Ky

Children of Obediah & Priscilla

Note: 1776 - Jonathan Mulkey, pioneer Baptist preacher, enroute to Eaton's Fort,
escaped Indians by leaping into the North Fork Hofston River. This pastor of several
Tennessee churches, was Holston Conference Moderator for 7 years.

Family Note:
About 1819, Steve Howard, Priscilla Howard Scott, Matilda Howard Gist, daughter of William and Jane Hart Howard and wife of John Gist, and other related families moved from Barren and Monroe Counties, kentucky, to Cooper County, Missouri. 

Migration Path: 
Onslow NC, Orange Co NC (Deep River), Camden Co SC 
(Fairfield Co, Little River),  Craven Co SC (Union Co Fairforest Crk), 
Barren Co KY (Tompkinsville Monroe Co)

 
Back Up ^

Note: There is controversy over who the parents of 
          Obadiah Howard were, but evidence, suggest the
          most likely candidate was Stephen & Sarah Saunders Howard.   

About the Family of Obediah Howard:

Obediah Howard - came from Virginia. He was born about 1741 and died in Harden County Kentucky in 1804. He lived in Union County, South Carolina until about 1800 when he and a number of his kinsmen and neighbors moved to Kentucky. 

He married Priscilla Breed, a daughter of Joseph and Priscilla Avery Breed in North Carolina in 1759. Obediah Howard was paid for military services by the State of South Carolina May 11, 1786, and July 11, 1786, he was paid for "provisions and forage" supplied the militia in 1782. After the close of the war, Obediah Howard remained for several years in Union county, and he is listed as a delegate to the Bethel Association. 

He was involved with a number of transactions in the county until after 1800. 
The Howard children:

1. Joseph, who was very active in the Tinker Creek Baptist Church. He died about 1821. Several
    members of his family moved to LAUDERDALE County Alabama; 
2. Nancy, married Jonathan Mulkey, son of Philip Mulkey, and they moved with his parents to
   Washington County, North Carolina (now Tennessee); 
3. Mary, was the wife of James Chism, and they moved to Kentucky; 
4. Stephen, married Elizabeth Hart and also moved to Kentucky; 
5. Avery, married Mary---, and and after his death she and her children are on the rolls of the
    Fairforest (Lower) Baptist Church; 
6. Jesse, married Hannah Harlan, lived only a few years; his widow married John Curtis and 
    they moved to Kentucky; 
7. William, married Jane Hart; 
8. Christopher, married Rebecca Hayes; 
9. Sarah or Sally, married Zachariah Gibbs and lived in Union County, South Carolina. 
    Her family was active in the affairs of the church. Her son Reverend John Gibbs was 
    a well known Baptist in Union County, South Carolina and preached many times at the
    Fairforest (Lower) Baptist Church.

Back Up ^
A Story of OBEDIAH HOWARD :

Onslow County did not keep birth records as far back as 1741, according to the county clerk. A hurricane destroyed the Onslow County courthouse in 1752 and most court records were lost. A tornado destroyed the courthouse in 1786 and many records were lost. Some sources say Obediah was born March 3, 1736/37. His tombstone does not have date of birth.

He served in the South Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War, according to his tomb stone, and according to South Carolina Revolutionary War records, and according to the Daughters of the American Revolution. He is buried in the Mill Creek Meeting House (organized in 1798) church yard, located 2 1/2 miles south of Tompkinsville, KY. Howard names and related names as members of Mill Creek Meeting House, 1798-1799, in the order of listing:
Obediah Howard, Priscilla Howard, Stephen Howard, William Howard.

Obediah and his brother, Stephen Howard, Jr. along with the Rev. Philip Mulkey and Benjamin Gist moved to Broad River, Union District, South Carolina in 1759, from Deep River in Chatham County, North Carolina. Two years later, they moved to Fairforest Creek, near the Tyger River, and formed the Padgett's Creek Baptist Church in 1762. (note: Fairforest Creek flows through present day Spartanburg, SC) The "History of Union County, South Carolina" lists a number of Howard families and related to Howards ( Breed, Mulkey) as being the founding families of the Fairforest Creek / Dining Creek / Padgett's Creek area; known as the up-country area.

According to "Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, Vol VII, 1771-1774", by Brent Holcomb SC R929.3757 hol; page 203; Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1773, Obediah granted 450 acres in South Carolina. Note: other Howard names in land petitions of same source: page 289; Friday, July 8, 1774, Joseph Howard, 100 acres in Cravens Co SC; page 99, Tuesday, Apr. 7, 1772, Joseph Howard , 100 acres in SC; page 43, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1771, John Howard. 100 acres in SC.

Obediah Howard had a survey on 450 acres on branches of Fairforest Creek and Sugar Creek on February 17, 1773 (South Carolina Baptists 1671-1805, by Leah Townsend, Ph D., pub 1974 by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc; Baltimore, MD; pages 125-127). The same reference shows that Obediah was a messenger to the association for the Fairforest Church in 1794 and in 1799.

According to Union County SC minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799; summary of activity of Obediah Howard:

p 51:    1786, he served on grand jury
p 54:    1786 he gives 100 acres to his son Joseph Howard
p 61:    he was appointed overseer of the Road in place of Jacob Paulk, and is to keep 
           the road in good repair.
p 81:   1786, he serves on jury
p 101: 1787, he leases 150 acres of land from Zacharia Bell
p 106, 107, 108: 1787, he serves on three juries.
p 289:  he is ordered by the Court to appraise the estate of Jacob Haild.

The Mill Creek Meeting House (Baptist) was organized in 1798. Listed as a member in the members list of 1798-1799 were Obediah Howard and Priscilla Howard, his wife. William Crawford, in his book "Ancestors & Friends" states that Obediah & Priscilla, with their sons Stephen, William and Christopher moved to Barren County, KY shortly after the 1800 South Carolina census. (Obediah was definitely in the 1800 South Carolina census). The church records of 1802 state in an entry on January 9, 1802 "Brother Obediah Howard cald (sic) to the work of a Deacon in this Church, being previously a Deacon". Obediah died before the Mill Creek Baptist Church under Rev. John Mulkey voted on November 18, 1809 to become Disciples of Christ church. After the church split, it became the Old Mulkey Meeting House. The old log church has been preserved. The old church and the Old Mulkey cemetery are a State Historical Site in Kentucky.

Barren County Ky Tax Lists, 1799-1809, compiled by Sandra Gorin of Glasgow Ky, show that Obediah was a tax payer in 1802-1804.

Obediah Howard served in the Revolutionary War as a private in the local militia in the Brandon's Regiment of Col. Thomas Brandon, Capt. John McCool's company. Photocopies of the original army accounts in the settlement of Revolutionary claims (receipt no. 2906,6F) show his signature which appears to be identical to that signed on his will in 1804. Account no. 2906X,no. 12; May 31, 1786, Obediah Howard for military duty before the fall of Charlestown in Brandon's regiment and Anderson's Return: paid one pound, three shillings, eight pence and half penny. Obediah is listed in the DAR Patriot Index, centennial edition, part 2, page 1504. "Revolutionary War Claims in South Carolina, 8/20/1783-8/31/1786", SC R929.3McC, page 167: Obediah Howard, number of returns 45.75.112; Stephen Howard, number of returns 112.

Will Records of Barren County KY (929.37697 E47W) book 1, p. 53: will of Obadiah Howard written 3/1/1804, probated Nov. 1804. Wife: Priscilla. Daughter: Anna Howard. Sons: Stephen, Harmon, William (executor), Christopher (executor) was witness along with others.

In 1999, tombstone was still legible, but badly weathered.
LDS Ancestral File Number: BWP5-HM
In file #10676 shows date of death as April 10, 1804 in Barren County, KY-also shows Nancy Ann Howard b 10-16-1761 and Nathan Howard that H Case does not show.

dob maybe 3-3- 1736/1737
(H Case) dob 1741 d 10-4-1804 in Barren County, KY
served between 1776-1778 American Revolution from South Carolina
was a farmer and a minister

Back Up ^
Printed in the "History of Padgett's Creek Baptist Church",
 by Claude Ezell Sparks:

     ..."In the History of the Baptist Denominations in America, Vol 2, page 155, David Benedict says" 'In the year 1759, Philip Mulky and wife, Stephen Howard and wife, Obediah Howard and wife, Joseph Breed and wife, Benjamin Gist and wife, Charles Thompson, Thomas Thompson, and Rachel Collins, all members of Deep River Church in North Carolina, arrived in this state and settled first at Broad River, where they embodied into a church, and chose Mr. Mulky for their pastor. After tarrying here about two years, and increasing to 104, the above named thirteen persons, (leaving the others behind) removed to Fairforest , where they were again formed into a church in 1762, which, in about ten years, increased to 167 members. Some of their habitations were a hundred miles from each other; and besides the main establishment, there were four branches, which, in process of time, were organized into distinct churches," (This was the beginning of Baptist work in Upper South Carolina, and Fairforesst Church was the oldest of the separate Baptists in the state.)..."

Back Up ^
BARREN COUNTY HERITAGE 
'A Pictorial History of Barren Co KY', by Cecil E Goode.
EARLY SETTLERS: Page 70

"...The earliest settlers in the area included Edward Bullock, Hugh Norvell, John Ritter, Francis Scott, William Wilkinson, Solomon Lough (who married Elizabeth Howard), granddaughter of Obediah Howard, Moses Peden, Joseph Tunstall, William Wells, Anderson Underwood and D B Ritter. Settlers moving into the Temple Hill area later included Peter Starr, Jocob Sherfey, Nicholas Wren Jones, John Harris, Joseph Goode and George Oliver."

Back Up ^
Colonial Granville County and Its People. (Page 202). 
Loose Leaves from; "The Lost Tribes of North Carolina," 
Worth S. Ray (small yellow paper-back
book, difficult to read):

     "The first body of Separatists to go from North Carolina was a large
portion of the Deep River Church (in Cheatam [Chatham?] County) which as a 
traveling church went first to the Broad River section (S.C.) and there in August,
1759, established organized worship with Phillip Mulkey as minister. Those
who formed this church was Phillip Mulkey and wife, Stephen Howard and wife,
Joseph Breed and wife, Obediah Howard and wife, Benjamin Gist and wife, a
Charles Thompson and Thomas Thompson and Rachel Collins. Here they remained
for two years in which time their church had increased to 104 members, then
the thirteen who had come from the Deep River Church left this young church
and went to Fair Forest farther South. Obediah Howard and Phillip Mulkey of
the above notes were the founders and ancestors of a numerous intermixed
family of both names, in Tennessee and Kentucky.

     "Rev. Phillip Mulkey was, I am quite sure, a grandson of the Phillip
Mulkey who died leaving a will in Edgecombe Co., NC, in 1736. (See page 112
of this volume) and probably the son of Jonathan Mulkey, who witnessed the
will. The Rev. Phillip Mulkey had a son, Jonathan, who also became a noted
minister in East Tennessee, who, in turn married in 1772 Nancy Howard, a
daughter of Obediah Howard and his wife Priscilla Breed."

Back Up ^
History of the Howard Family
as told by Dr. Roland J. Howard, Sr.
(In a very compact way...)

     Beginning with Stephen Jr....Obadiah Howard....Stephen Howard (son of Joseph of Orange and Onslow co`s)....John Howard esq. and Frances Denson of Onslow.....James Howard and Sarah Titus (Bertie Co.)....James Obadiah Howard (Wife ?)( James O. and oldest son James came to America from England) ...Francis James and Mary Warren( Francis came to America first)....John Howard and Elizabeth Lock....Robert Howard and Phillip a Buxton....Thomas (9th child of the 2nd Duke Thomas Howard and his 2nd wife Agnes Tilney).......Thomas (2nd Duke) and Agnes Tilney (1st wife had a Thomas too, and he became the 3rd Duke of Norfolk...1st wife a cousin Elizabeth Tilney...... John Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk and 1st wife Katherine Moyleyns.....Robert Thomas Howard and Margaret Mowbray....Sir John Howard and 2nd wife Alice Tendering.....Sir Robert Howard and Margaret Scales......John Howard and Joan deCorwall(sister to Richard of England ....William deHayward (The Norminization of names begins at this time(1272-1307).........John Hereward and Lucy Germond......Robert Hereward and Unknown wife......Hereward and Wilburga (They were in England during the rein of Henry II of England)....Hereward and Unknown wife.....Alfgar Hereward and unknown wife( Alfgar was the 2nd Earl of Mercia.....Lord Leofrick Hereward and Lady Godiva of Coventry (Lady of Legion, on "Peeping Tom Knows For Sure About The Ride".......Hereward the Sachesen "Saxon" was in England during the rein of King Edgar of England (957-973). The "Saxon`s, Jutes, and Angles came from about Schleswig in north Germany/Denmark sometime during the 5th and 6th Centuries.....WE DO NOT KNOW WHEN THE HEREWARDS (GERMAN FOR HOWARD) GOT TO ENGLAND, just that the Hereward the Saxon was there during the rein of King Edgar...etc....earliest known about the Herewards.....The Angles gave the name "Angleland" England later.....The Normans later came, and from Normandy area...etc. al....

NOTE:
Dr. Howard is a descendant of this line 
and the above is his research and translations.  

Back Up ^
Dr. Roland J. Howard, Sr.
Speaks on our connection 
from Joseph Howard down;

     Joseph Howard family that left from Orange Co. N.C. and went with the Baptist Church: In the fall of 1759 Stephen Howard, son of Joseph, Onslow (who was the son of John Howard, Esq. of Onslow (Blue Creek) and his family left Orange Co. N.C. with a traveling Baptist missionary group under leadership of Shubal Stearnsand, Phillip Mulkey, members of the Deep River and Sandy Creek congregations and went to Little River SC, where they formed the first church.. In 1762 several families under the leadership of Philip Mulkey, their minister, moved again and settled in Craven Co, SC on branches of Fairforest Creek and Tyger River, in present "Union Co. "where they established a church, and entered claims for land. According to church histories, these heads of families were:

      Stephen Howard and Wife; Obadiah Howard and wife (son or nephew of above Stephen and wife Priscilla Breed); Philip Mulkey and wife (Anna Ellis, dau. of Jeremiah Ellis of Lunenburg Co.Va.; Joseph Breed and wife (Priscilla Avery, dau. of Christopher Avery of Groten, Conn. Jos, Breed of Stonington, Conn. and Groten, Conn; Benjamin Gist and Wife (Mary Jarrett, dau. of Thomas Jarrett of Lunenberg Co. Va.);Charles Thomson; Thomas Thomson;Rachel Collins. Some of this family eventually ended up in North Georgia (Adairsville).

     All these persons had lived before 1759 in Orange Co. N.C. for a few years, and their names appear on the tax lists of this county, with the exception of Obadiah Howard, who may have been too young to have entered claim for land at that time, and date. The tax lists of Orange Co. N.C. in 1761 show the names of Edmund Howard, Nehemiah Howard, Nathaniel, and John Howard (grandson of John Esq). Of those , Nehemiah Howard later moved to the Fairforest settlement in South Carolina and took up land near Stephen and Obadiah Howard and their neighbors.
Stephen (2) Howard wrote the first will filed in present Union County, S.C. dated Dec. 24, 1777. Date of probate is not shown. As Union Co. SC was not organized until 1785, it can be assumed that he died in that year, as otherwise it would have been filed in Charleston, SC with other county records of the period before formation of Union County.

Back Up ^
Posting for its relevancy: 

South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research
SCMAR, Volume XIV
Number 1, Winter, 1986

Letter from J. W. Cooper to His Son
SCMAR, Vol. XIV, Winter 1986, No. 1, p.30
My Grandfather on my Mother's side came from Ireland when quite young, he sprung from the family of Whitesides in the northern county. His parents landed in Wilmington, N. C. and settled in or about Fayetsville. When Thomas Greer (my grandfather) grew to manhood he formed an acquaintance with Sarah Smith my grandmother and settled for a time on a deep river in N. C. When the county was settling there was a No. joined together and moved to the new country, Greer, Smith, Howard and others (see Benedicts history of the Baptist) and settled in Union Dist. S. C. near Darbys old store.

Back Up ^
 Revolutionary War Service of Obediah Howard:

Performed services in Rev War.
Private, Capt. John McCool's company, Brandon's Regiment SC Militia. SC ARhcives Revolutionary AccountREVOLUTIONARY WAR RECORDS
SC Dept of Archives and History:
Cust Id 167 5/14/02
=====================================
Discription               Reference:                                        Roll   Prints  
Obediah Howard      Sub Entries to Indents-                    Xerox     2      
                               Book X No. 3293
                               Title Page & indent page

Obediah Howard     Stub entries to Indents                      Xerox     2 
                               (Rev War Claim)
                               Book X No. 2906
                               Copy title page & indent page

Obediah Howard     Audited Accounts for Rev.             RW 2758  10 
                               Rev. War Service
                               AA 3797
                               Fr: 537 to 546

Back Up ^

Priscilla [Avery] Breed  (Wife
of Joseph Breed Sr, mother of
Priscilla [Breed] Howard.
Participation in the Rev War:

 "In 1782 Mrs. Priscilla Avery Breed furnished beef for the militia 
for which she was paid one pound, eight shillings and six pense. 
24 Jan 1786" From SC Revolutionary War Claims, Box X, Part I, p.142.

============================================

Feb 27 2018 - Provided by: George Stewart

DAR Entry
http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A013972

Back Up ^
Will of Obediah Howard 
(Summary)

Barren Co KY Wills 1800-1824
Page 53
Will of Obadiah Howard
Written: 1 March 1804
My wife Pricilla
My Daughter Anna Howard
My Sons Stephen Howard, Howard Howard,
and William Howard, Exe.
Witness: Christopher Howard, Robert Kirby and John Lanham
Probated Nov 1804

Will of Obadiah Howard

Obediah Howard d. 1804, Barren Co., KY.  His Will dated 1 March 1804 
was proved November Court 1804:

"In the name of God Amen - Obediah Howard of the State of Kentucky and
county of Barren. Being in perfect mind and memory. But as it is appointed 
for all men to Die I do make and ordain this my last Will and testament that is 
to say I resign my soul to Almighty God and my Body to be laid away and as
____ touching my worldly goods I Desire all my just debts be paid and like-
wise give and bequeath unto loving wife Priscilla all my goods Except thirty
Dollars which I give my Daughter Ann when she comes of age and at my wife
Decease all my worldly goods of Every denomination is my request and will
to be Equally Divided amongst all my children that is alive at her decease also
I make constitute and ordain my Dearly Beloved Sons Stephen Howard and
William Howard the sole Executors of this my last will and testament and I do 
hereby disanul every other will this and no other to be my last will and test-
ament in witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and Seal this first of
March in the year of our lord one thousand Eight hundred and fore. Signed,
sealed and delivered to be the sd. Obediah Howard last will and testament in
the presents of us, Obediah Howard. Wit: Christopher Howard, Robert Kirby,
John Lanham."

Back Up ^
Deed in Union SC mentions Obediah Howard 
as former owner:

Union County SC Deed Abstracts 1811-1820 by Brent Holcomb

N, 298-299: South Caroline, Union District. Robert Browning of district aforesaid for $170.50 to Frederick Jackson of same, tract formerly the property of Obediah Howard and conveyed by said Obediah Howard to Jesse Howard his son and falling to John Curtis by heir ship of dower p'r wife, conveyed by aid Curtis to George Little and from said Little to the above named Robt Brown, 83 acres, being the land and that Robert Browning now lives on, adj. land of Alexander McBeth, Hiram Gibbs, Zachariah Gibbs' widow, Thomson Browning, and land belonging to one of the orphans of Jesse Howard, 18 Jan 1817. Robert Browning (Seal), Wit: Bird Murphy, George Brewton, Proved by the oath of George Brewton 21 Jan 1817 before Bird Murphy, J.Q. Recorded 21 Jan 1817

Note from Mike:
Very interesting deed, almost all of
folks above are connected to our family. 

Back Up ^
Land Grants - South Carolina

"Obadiah Howard had a survey of 450 acres on branches of Fairforest 
and Sugar Creeks on 17 February 1773. "

This source was found in: 
'South Carolina Baptist, 1670-1805, (Baltimore, 1978), P. 126,
by Leah Townsend, Ph.D.'

Joseph Breed, Phillip Mulkey, Benjamin Gist, Charles and Thomas Thompson
also obtained land in the Fairforest area.

=================================

Below may be the same Grant from the above Survey:

"Grant Dated: 23 June 1774
A Grant of 450 acres on Shoaly Creek a branch of the Fairforest 
Creek in Union County SC".

Back Up ^
Union County Court Minute Abstracts:

UNION COUNTY SC Minutes of the County Court 1785-1799

March 31, 1786 Obahiah Howard was summoned to serve on the Grand Jury in Union Co SC.

(Court date: 2 Jun 1786)
An Indenture and Deed of Gift between Obediah Howard of the one part and his son Joseph Howard of the other part for one hundred acres of land was acknowledged by the said Obediah Howard to the said Joseph Howard ordered to be recorded. 

(Court date: 2 Jun 1786)
Appointed Overseer of the road in place of Jacob Paulk. 

(Court date: 25 December 1786)
Union County Court indiscriminately drew the petit jury out of the Taxable inhabitants of the county and Obadiah Howard was one of those chosen.

UNION COUNTY SC Minutes of the County Court 1785-1799
26 Mar 1787
An Indenture of Lease and Release Between Obediah Howard of the One part and Zachariah Bell of the other part, for one hundred and fifty acres of Land proved by the Oaths of John Ewart and John McCooll Witnesses thereunto and ordered to be Recorded. 

(Court date: June 1787 - 1796)
A deed was recorded from Obadiah to Jacob Paulk.
Obadiah's name was drawn for the grand jury on 28 June 1790.
March and June 1791, January 1793, January and June 1796 and
for the Petit jury in December 1790. 

(Court date: April term of Court 1791)
Obadiah Howard was the security of Hannah Haild, wife of Jacob Haild, deceased. 
The court also ordered him, James Gibbs and William Kennedy to view the road 
from McCool's old field to the Court House and report to the Court if they thought
it necessary for a road to go round Ewarts field on the Lower side.  Also, Obadiah
was ordered to appraise the estate of Jacob Haild.  

(Court date:  13 October 1798)
Obadiah Howard was ordered to appraise the estate of George
Harland, deceased.

(Court date: November 1799)
Obadiah Howard and Joseph Howard were securities for Rachel and George Harlan
when they applied for Letters of Administration on the estate of Jacob Harlan.

NOTE:  
From the court minutes it appears 1799 was the last time Obadiah served on the court.
This implies, he may have moved to Barren Co KY, 1800.

Back Up ^
ABSTRACTS OF OLD NINETY-SIX AND ABBEVILLE DIST 
WILLS AND BONDS 

GREEN, THOMAS -- BOX 39, PACK 861:

Est. admnr. Oct 1, 1784 by Elisha Green, Joseph West, Wm. Plumer bount to Jno. Thomas Jr. Ord. 96 Dist. sum 2,000 lbs. Inv. made Oct. 13, 1784 by Jno. Birdsong. Alexr. McDogle, OBEDIAH HOWARD. Sale, Nov. 1, 1784, Byrs: Tabitha, Elisha Green, Jno. Pool, Jonathan Burson. 

===============================================

ABSTRACTS OF OLD NINETY-SIX AND ABBEVILLE DIST 
WILLS AND BONDS 

RYAN, THOMAS -- BOX 109, PACK 3130:

Will dated July 19, 1781 in 96 Dist. Prov. Oct. 7, 1783. No Exrs. Wit: Thos. Greer, John Bogan, OBEDIAH HOWARD, Wife: Sarah Ryan. 

Back Up ^

Church Memberships

Obadiah and Sarah were members of the following known churches:

1. Bef. 1759 - Deep River Baptist Church in Orange County NC 

2. 1759 - Little River of the Broad River, Fairfield County (formerly Camden Dist)
    SC - 1759. Incorporated into a Church & selected Phillip Mulkey minister.

3. 1762 - Moved to Fairforest Creek Union County SC. were members
    of the Fairforest Creek Church, now called Upper Fairforest Creek Baptist Church.

4. 1800/1802 - Moved to Barren Co Kentucky and attended the Mill Creek Baptist
    organized in 1798, prior was known at the Old Mulkey meeting house. Obadiah 
    was called to the office of deacon on 9 Jan 1802 having previously been a deacon.     

***In Union Co SC, Howard Descendants were in attendance at the Lower Fairforest
Baptist Church and Padgett's Creek Baptist, to view some of the Abstracted 
Minutes Click a Link below, then click on List by Surname, then Howard:

PADGETT'S CREEK BAPTIST MINUTES 

LOWER FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH MINUTES

"The Great Awakening"
A Religious movement our ancestors were part

Back Up ^
South Carolina Notes:

In the Camden District (Present Fairfield County), S.C., they settled on the Little
River of the Broad River where they were incorporated into a church August, 1759,
choosing Mr. Mulkey as their minister. In December, 1762, they moved again, this
time on Fairforest Creek in Union County, S.C., a distance of 40-50 miles. 
History seems to indicate that when this group of thirteen "traveling missionaries"
moved to Fairforest with their children they moved as a church. At their new home,
as was the custom of the Separates, all of the memebers witnessed to their neighbors
in the entire district, and their membership grew to 300 including 167 who joined
by Baptism.

In 1789 the Bethel Association was organized consisting of 16 churches including 
Fairforest, Padgett's Creek and Cedar Springs.  In 1794, 1796, 1799 Obadiah Howard
represented Fairforest Church as its messenger to the Association meetings. In 1789
Fairforest Church appointed Obadiah Howard to attend a church discipline session 
at Pacolet Church, a procedure for disciplining members which was common practice
for Baptist Churches in the 18th & 19th centuries. 

Fairforest was the oldest Baptist church in the back country of SC and was a Separate
Baptist Church. It was the mother church of the Separate Baptist work in the back 
country of SC. Its influence was wide and its several churches flourished prior to the
Revolution.  Many of these churches were torn apart because of Loyalist sympathizers.
Phillip Mulkey was a Loyalist, and the Loyalists outnumbered the patriots in the Fair-
forest region of upper South Carolina, the only place in the state that this was true.

Stephen Edmund Howard Sr.
Born: abt 1696 NC
Died: abt Jul 1745 Onslow Co NC
Buried: Unkn.
Married: 
Sarah (Saunders) Sanders
Born: abt 1700 Somerset MD
Died: 16 Feb 1752 Worcester MD
Buried: Unkn.

Joseph Breed
Born: 4 Oct 1708 Stonington 
New London CT
Died: bef 25 Jan 1786 Union Co SC
Buried: Unkn.
Married: 2 Jun 1737 Groton CT
Priscilla Avery 
Born: 29 Apr 1715 Groton 
New London CT
Died: abt 1786
Buried: Unkn. 

Stephen Howard Notes

Note from Mike White:
Below are 'Just Notes', of interest, but may be useful 
to our reserach, on our Howard connection. 

Name:  Stephen Edmund HOWARD 
Sex:     M 
Birth:   BEF. 1694 in North Carolina 
Death:  1745 in Onslow County, North Carolina 
Will:    JUL 1745 Onslow Co. NC court minutes, 1741-1768 

Note: 
Stephen's father is possibly Obadiah Howard, who died in 1687 in Anne Arundell Co., MD. Other sources show his father as Thomas Howard.

Will of John Sanders (father of Sarah Sanders, wife of Stephen Howard) lists Stephen Howard and Edward(Edmund) Howard as sons of Stephen Howard. 

Will of James Howard, which was probated in Bertie Precinct, NC (N.C. Wills, 1663-1789, Vol. 15, p. 3) names his brothers as Edward, John, Joseph and Stephen Howard.

Will of Stephen Howard was filed by Edmund Howard stating that Stephen Howard was the father of Edmund, in July 1745, according to Onslow Court Minutes, 1741-1768.
In 1717, Stephen Howard obtained a patent on 600 acres of land lying in Bertie precinct, then a part of Chowan County, North Carolina (N.C. Colonial Records, Vol. II, p. 494).
Rebecca Echols Terry, in her book "Nehemiah Howard and His Family" references that the Howard's land and the Sanders' land adjoined in Nansemond County, VA and again in Onslow County, NC, where John Sanders' will mentions "my land lying or joyning to Stephen Howard's plantation".

Council at Newbern, N.C.; March 7, 1737, land patent issued to Stephen Howard, 640 acres, Onslow (N.C. Council Records, Vol. IV, p. 273).

Stephen Howard obtains land in Onslow on Sanders Creek through patent in 1735. Other patents in 1745 and 1748. From Deed Book A, Onslow, NC, Stephen, a juror in 1735; directed to lay out the roads on the east side of the New River. Joseph and Stephen Howard are asked to build a courthouse 18' x 30'. a prison, stocks and a whipping post (1735).

Extract of Deed Book A, Onslow County, NC 1734: Rachel Otway swears Edward Howard to be the father of her last child. Heidelburg and Lovett securities for Howard's support of the child. In 1735, Mable Ribley, servant of Edward Howard complained against her master. Howard swore in court and was fined and chastised for treatment of servant.

The relationship of the Howards and Otways continues for some time. T.W. Howard and Hester Otaway marry in Onslow on Feb. 4, 1867 and Otaway B. Sanders is a JP that marries several Howards in the 1850 period.

Joseph Howard lived in Onslow County in 1735. Courthouse to be built on his property line. Per Deed Book A, Onslow County, NC, court held in his home Jan. 6, 1735; Apr. 6, 1735; July 6, 1735.

Joseph Breed Notes:

HISTORICAL SOUTHERN FAMILIES 
VOL X PAGE 134
List birth/death/marriage records.

Joseph Breed, the eighth child of John and Mercy Palmer Breed, buried in Washington Co GA., m. 6/2/1737, at Groton Conn., Pricilla Avery. (See Avery Family Lineage). The marriage was performed by Justice Luke Perkins, and was witnessed by John and Gershom Breed, brothers of Joseph. Joseph acquired land at Groton, and he and his wife lived near her parents until after 8/11/1746. Then they joined a group of Separatist Baptists, under the leadership of Shubal Stearns of Boston, traveling as a missionary group into the southern Colonies, gaining converts and establishing churches, as described in the various histories of early Baptists in Virginia and North and South Carolina.

Joseph Breed was living in Fredererick Co., VA on 6/15/1755, when he was granted a patent to 149 acres of land lying in Frederick Co., by the Hon. Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Proprietor of the Northern Neck of VA. (Federick Co., VA., D.B. 11, p. 500, 1765-1769)

Some time after this he and his family left Frederick Co., with the Baptist Missionary group, led by shubal Stearns, and went to the pat of Orange Co., NC., which now lies in Randolph Cp., N. C. There they established the Sandy Creed Church in 1755/58. Known members of the organizing group were Shubal STearns, Shubal Stearns, Je., Peter Stearns, Edenezer Stearns, Daniel Marshall, (brother-in-law of Stearns), Jonathan Polk, and Joseph Breed, with their wives and children (Ref: Randolph County Sketchbook, Fred Burgess, 1924; See also, "History of the Baptists", Benedict Pascal)

In 1759, Phillip Mulkey, minister, Stephen Howard and Rachael Collins, memebrs of Deep River Church in NC, moved to SC, and established several churches. (See Morgan Edwards' History of the Baptists in SC, 1772". Mss. copy, Furnman University Library, Greenville, SC).

Joseph Breed was living in the Fairforest settlement in July, 1768, when he was granted power-of-attorney to his friend, John Hayes of Frederick Co VA to seel land he still, owned there; "said land, 149 acres, lying on the east side of Black Creek, the same which was prietor of the Northern Neck of VA, by patent bearing date 15 Jun in the 28th year of the Reign of the late Soverign Lord Goerge the second of most Glorious Memory, in the year 1755." Set my hand and Seal 4 Jul, 1768.
Signed: Joseph Breed (Seal)
In presence of:
John Abieil
Azaiah Pugh
Peter Ruble
Eilis Pugh
Thomas Reagan
Power-of-attorney Approved in Frederick County Court, Nov 1, 1768, by John Abiell, a witness, and ordered to be recorded. (Frederick Co VA, Deeds, 1765-1769, VolII, p. 500)

The above described land was sold by John Hayes by virtue of Power-of_Attorney to Charles Bromfield of Frederick Co VA, by Deed dated Feb. 3, 1769, recorded at a Court held for Frederick Co., VA., on Feb. 8, 1769. (REf: Frederrick Co., VA., Deeds, 1765-1769, Vol 12 p. 608).

The above two deeds established the residence of Joseph Breed in Craven Co SC in the settlement know as Fairforest, lying in the present Union Co SC. In the years 1768-1769. He probably lived here until the early years of the Revolutionary war, and perhaps for several years after. (Ref: For the foregoing, in additon to those already cited: Josephy Breed Family records, by H. E. Breed, Humbolt, Iowa, 1944; First Congregational Church Records, Stonington Conn., (1674-1874) by Richard A Wheeler; Diary of Thomas Minor; Tombstone and Family Bible records; Genealogical records).

Joseph Breed Notes: (Cont)

The Fairforest Story
History of the Fairforest 
(Lower Baptist Church and Community), 
by Vera Smith Spears

"The Breed family originally came from Holland to England. Allen Breed and two of his sons came to America in 1630. Joseph Breed was the eighth child of John and Nancy Palmer Breed. On June 2m 1737 Joseph Breed and Priscilla Avery were married in Groton Co Connecticut. The marriage ceremony was performed by Justice Luke Perkins and witnessed by John and Gerham Breed, brothers of Joseph Breed SR.

Joseph Breed acquired land in Groton, Connecticut, and he and his wife lived near her parents until about 1746. At this time they joined in with a group led by Daniel Marshall and went as missionaries to the Mohawk Indians of East Central New York. But after eighteen months of labor, the Mission had to be terminated.

The missionary group left New York and moved south into Virginia where they were baptized by Samuel Heaton at the Mill Creek Church of Opekon, Virginia. The party led by Daniel Marshall, a brother-in-law of Shubal Stearns, met the Stearns' party in northern Virginia. After surveying, the two groups joined company and found a satisfactory site for a settlement on Capapon Creek, Hampshire County, Virginia.

Joseph Breed was granted a patent for 149 acres of land in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1755. Some time later in the year, he and his family left Virginia and traveled with Shubal Stearns and his part to Orange County, North Carolina. Here he belonged and helped to establish the Sandy Creek Separate Baptist Church and was very active in church work in North Carolina. About 1760 he and his family joined the MULKEY group at Little River, at Broad River in South Caroline, and in 1762 came with the Traveling Missionaries to the Fairforest Section of what is now Union county. Joseph Breed was issued Land Patents in this vicinity ranging from 1763 to 1774. 

While he was living in the Fairforest area in 1763, he granted the power of attorney to his friend, John Hayes, Frederick County, Virginia, to sell land that was still on the east side of Back Creek.

...Joseph Breed Sr probably died in Union County before January 25, 1786, for Priscilla Breed, about that time, was paid for "beef supplied the military during 1782."
End
 

Plate copy provided by : George Stewart

Joseph Breed Receivd a Plate for 100 acres on a Branch of the Fairforest - 1765.
There are no neighbors, at this time was all open land surrounding Joseph, this
area was Cranven Co SC later old 96th District, and finally, Union District SC.


http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?recordId=99036

The Breed's leaders in the:

"The Great Awakening"
A Religious movement our ancestors were part

Membership List 1798 to 1820

A Little Historical Sketch

Rev. John Mulkey

Now "all you who believe as I do, follow me out the west door." The words reverberated through the rough-hewn beams of the Mill Creek Baptist Church. It was Saturday morning, November 18, 1809. The congregation of some two hundred had gathered for the last time and the words of John Mulkey were like a broad axe splitting the timbers of the Baptist traditions from top to bottom. All across Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and South Carolina, there were rumblings of discontent. Congregations were declaring themselves "separate" or simply "Christian Churches." The restoration plea was being heard throughout the Western Reserve. And fervent revivals brought thousands to a great awakening of religion on the American frontier.

John walked slowly to the right of the long pulpit that stood on the north side of the building.

Approaching the low door at the west end of the church, he bent slightly to clear the lintel and stepped out into the crisp air of the autumn morning. A snow had fallen leaving the ground a deep rust sprinkled over with a fine covering of white that resembled sugar. Gusts of wind were now blowing the frozen granules across the wooded cemetery where several Revolutionary War veterans lay resting from their struggle to win their country's independence. John looked out across the rough-hewn stones. He was trying to win some independence too. He wondered if the price would be as dear. 

Presently, a few of the congregation closest to the west door began to rise from their puncheon pews. Hannah Pennington, sister of the famous Kentucky explorer Daniel Boone, along with Joseph Gist, Nathan Breed, Wm. Howard, and William M. Logan crossed the threshold and stood with Brother Mulkey in the small clearing. Others followed until one hundred-fifty of the two hundred present stood with their preacher in the gray light of a cold November morning in the county of Barren, the new state of Kentucky, some two miles and a half south of a small community called Tompkinsville.

The other fifty slowly filed out the east door of the church and stood talking quietly as if their plans were already made. Within half an hour they moved out toward their horses and buggies, and were last seen in a procession moving toward Tompkinsville. Within another six months a new Baptist church would be built, and a new congregation organized.

In the meantime, John Mulkey, the man with the majority, was in the canter of a religious controversy that would lead to the founding of the largest group of Christians ever organized on American soil.

Disciples of Christ historians have given little credit to John Mulkey, usually dismissing his work in a sentence or two. Yet, this outstanding pioneer preacher was one of the first voices heard on behalf of the Restoration Movement. The story of John Mulkey (spelled "Mulka" by several of his early ancestors) began in Connecticut during the time of the revival preached by George Whitefield (1739-1743)

Whitefield had baptized a young man by the name of Shubeal Stearns, who was later ordained in Tolland, Conn. in 1751. Steams left Connecticut for the southern part of the colonies and finally made his home at Sandy Creek, N.C. on November 14, 1755. It was Shubeal Stearns who baptized John Mulkey's grandfather Phillip. Phillip became an ordained minister of the Baptist Church, serving the Deep River congregation from 1759-1760. Later Phillip Mulkey moved to South Carolina where he organized the Broad River Baptist Church. Phillip's son Jonathan, also a Baptist minister, was one of the first resident pastors of Tennessee. Jonathan, who had married Nancy Howard. was preaching in South Carolina when John was born, January 14, 1773. His father and grandfather had served in the Revolution and from them John was to inherit a fierce love for independence.  He, along with his brothers, Isaac, Phillip, and Jonathan, was reared on a diet of freedom and individualism that later marked him by his critics as "unstable and carried about by every wind of doctrine."

But if John was to be an “unstable” Baptist preacher he showed no signs of it when he and his brother Phillip came to the Tompkinsville community in 1798. Thirty years had passed since Daniel Boone and his party pushed through the Cumberland Gap. John and Phillip, using some of the same trails, migrated from the Holston Valley in East Tennessee to the country then known as Barren in Southern Kentucky.

John was assigned to the Mero District Baptist Association. During the same year his good friend Barton W. Stone received a call to the church of Cane Ridge and Concord in the northern part of the state. And in the following year Mulkey became Barren County's first minister to be granted license to perform marriages for the United Baptist Church. In the meantime, he had been successful in organizing the Mill Creek Congregation, no small feat considering the great distances separating families and the difficulty of holding regular services in a frontier country. During this same period he preached "On Pittman” Green County and in the Russells settlement in Adair County.

But it was the Mill Creek congregation that occupied most of his attention. 'Me Honorable Winfield S. Emmert writing to Reverend W. E. Thomas of Glasgow, Ky., perhaps in the late 1920's (the letter is not dated) stated: "From such records as I have been able to obtain, they (the Mill Creek Church) met for a while from house to house for worship. From what old people have told me they built a rough, round log house about one hundred yards west of the present house."

The earliest minutes of the church indicate that on the 15th of April, 1804 a committee of seven was appointed to erect a new meeting house. John Wood, Nathan Breed, James Harlin, Ephriam Ellis, Francis Baxter, Joseph Gist, and Thomas Sullivan were named to the committee. The next month the report was made that the building was to be fifty feet long, thirty feet wide, shingled with jointed shingles, with five windows and three doors. A man was to be hired to build it and, paid in trade by subscriptions.

Five years after the new log church was built, Mulkey was preaching in the home of William Sims on the Cumberland River. He had taken his text from the 10th Chapter of John, and was making a strong plea for predestination, when suddenly he became convinced by his own arguments that the doctrine was false. Of course this caused great confusion in the Mill Creek Church and led to several heresy trials in the Mero Association. Failing to gain a majority vote against him, the Church decided to "choose sides" which led to the division on that chilly Saturday morning, November 18, 1809.

But the separation was more than just a division among Baptists The new church would be organized on the basis of "the Bible alone," and J. H. Spencer in volume one of his History of the Kentucky Baptists writes, "For a number of years this church (Mill Creek) was very large and prosperous, but John Mulkey led off a large faction of the body to the Arians or Stonites, after a while another faction went off with the Campbellites and finally the remaining body split on the subject of mission in 1885."

Mulkey was a friend of both "Raccoon" John Smith and Barton W. Stone. Having lived in the same neighborhood with John Smith in Tennessee, Mulkey invited Smith on several occasions to preach at what was now becoming known as the "Mulkey Meeting House." On October 10, 1817, Stone wrote to Mulkey asking him to come to Cane Ridge for a communion service. Considering the distance and the fact that the trip would be made on horseback, this was more than a casual invitation from one preacher to another. Stone concludes by writing, “ . . . my love to you remains unabated.”

By the early 1830’s, John Newton Mulkey, a son of John Mulkey, had preached his first sermon, a short discourse on the subject, “The Weekly Meeting Of The Church To Break Bread." Twenty years later this same John Newton Mulkey became the first evangelist employed by the Kentucky Christian Missionary Society for work south of Green River. He also served for a number of years as pastor of the First Christian Church in Glasgow, Kentucky.

In his book, Men of Faith, W.C. Rogers records that during the 53 years John Mulkey preached in southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, he delivered ten thousand sermons and baptized as many converts. At one meeting in Celina, Tennessee, be immersed 105 in five days..

Yet, beyond the long years of his ministry and the success of his evangelism, John Mulkey was not only a man with a majority in the 1809 controversy, but was a man with a majority of influence among his own family. His descendants have formed one of the significant families among the Disciples of Christ. Four of his six sons became ministers. His brother Phillip founded Mulkeytown, a Disciple community in southern Illinois. His grandson Aaron Hayes Mulkey helped to establish a Disciple colony in Kansas, and organized over 50 congregations in the Western states. The last member of this illustrious pioneer family to enter the ministry of the Disciples is Robert Mulkey who now serves our Grand Avenue Christian Church in Bozeman, Montana.

Web Master’s Note: The Article above appeared in The Kentucky Explorer in February, 1993 under the title, "Old Mulkey Church Was One Of State’s Earliest Pioneer Churches." The introduction of the article explains that Clayton E. Gooden, minister of West Creighton Christian Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The story appeared in the January, 1965 issue of Discipliana, the official magazine of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Many references to the name “Disciples,” can be interchanged with “Church of Christ” or “Christian Church” before the 1880’s. After these years, divisions took place, until when the three different designations applied to three different groups.

Location:

From Nashville: North of Nashville on I-65 cross over into Kentucky and take the second exit which should be the Franklin exit. At the exit turn right on Hwy 100. The road has some pretty rough turns but after 60 miles you will come into Tompkinsville. Then follow the signs a couple miles south of town.

From Knoxville: Take I-40 East to Cookeville Exit #288. This will be highway 111 & 42. Head north toward Livingston, Tennessee. Go about 20 miles, and as you enter Livingston, Hwy 42 will turn left and by-pass downtown. Go a couple miles on the by-pass and turn left on Hwy 52 heading toward Celina. Travel 18 miles and follow the Hwy 52 signs all the way through Celina (goes through the downtown area). From Celina travel 8.5 miles crossing the Cumberland River toward Moss. As you pass through Moss the road will fork. Hwy 52 goes back to the left and Hwy 53 goes straight ahead. Go straight on Hwy 53 heading north 1.9 mile to the Kentucky State Line. Continue another 10 miles into Kentucky on what has now become Hwy 163. (Hwy 53 in Tennessee = Hwy 163 in Kentucky). In Tompkinsville turn left on Hwy 100 and go a few blocks. Look for a sign to turn left to go to the meetinghouse. About 2 miles south of town.

Location and Contact Information

OLD MULKEY MEETINGHOUSE STATE HISTORIC SITE
38 Old Mulkey Park Road
Tompkinsville, KY 42167

(270) 487-8481

The site is about 25 miles south of the Edmonton Exit on the Cumberland Parkway. Take KY 163 from Edmonton to Tompkinsville. Take the Old Mulkey Road or KY 1446 about two miles past Tompkinsville to the site. From I-65, take the Cumberland Parkway to Glasgow, follow KY 90 from Glasgow, and turn south onto KY 163 to Tompkinsville. 

The stone building was the old jail house,
        It is now "The Simpson County Archives."over in Franklin Co KY, or about sixty miles from the Mulkey Church.  My son Mike has taken videos of the inside, every thing is like it was. The jail door's are still on and there is shelving in the cell's with hundreds and hundreds of large envlopes files.

Jesse Howard 
Born: 1795 - Died 1852
Lucy Mayfield Howard wife of Jesse Howard
Born: 1798 - Died 1861

Picture of the Old Mulkey Cemetery
Priscilla Avery Howard to left

James Chism 
Born: 1754 - Died 1795
Mary Howard wife of James chism
Born: 1760 - Deid: 1795
See Below

James Chism
UP^

Grave Markers and Plaques in honor
of Obediah Howard's Children
William & Mary & Spouses
Along with Hannah Boone
Sister of Daniel Boone

IN MEMORY
OF
JANE HOWARD
WHO WS BORN IN 1778
AND DIED jAN 24, 1855

 Plaques & Grave 
Markers Provided by:
Doug Howard