Last updated January 25, 2012

The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois

A Primitive Baptist Doctrinal and Historical Research Library
A Conservative Old-Line Primitive Baptist Website

Defending Our Doctrinal Beliefs

The Cause of Truth Defended, and the Lambs and Sheep Fed
A Record of Our Participation in Public Debates
An Expository Series on the Articles of Faith of the Primitive Baptist Church
Carthage Primitive Baptist Church, Hancock County, Illinois, History and Articles of Faith with scriptural references
Crooked Creek Primitive Baptist Church, near Iola, Clay County, Illinois, Articles of Faith, Photos, and History
Ancient History of the Primitive Baptist Church from Apostolic Times to its Establishment in America

Our Historical Research, and Tools to Assist Researchers

Index to Primitive Baptist Church and Family History Research in Fifty States, Washington D.C., Canada, and Europe
Index of Surnames for which there are Obituaries in our Church Papers
Historical Facts Presented and Missionary Baptist Claims Refuted
A Study of New Harmony Church, Colonel Levi Williams, the Militia, and the Expulsion of the Mormons from Hancock County, Illinois
Abraham Lincoln and the Primitive Baptist Church at Lincoln's New Salem

Hymnals for Sale, and Library Quarterly (free)

The Primitive Baptist Hymn Book, by D. H. Goble; Primitive Baptist Hymn & Tune Book, by Elder John R. Daily; and a paperback supplement
Recent Issues of the Library Quarterly, Free Upon Request

CD's & DVD's of Church and Association Records, Periodicals, Books, etc.

Digital images have been made, and copied to CD's or DVD's, of the records of the following: ILLINOIS: Bond County: Bethlehem; Shady Grove; Brown County: New Salem (partial); Clay County: Crooked Creek (partial); Coles County: Little Bethel (partial); Cook County: Chicago; Crawford County: Grand Prairie; Oblong (partial); Edwards County: Birk's Prairie (partial); Fayette County: Four Mile Prairie; Liberty; Sharon; Gallatin: Cottonwood; Hamilton County: New Hope, Rector (partial); Little Spring (partial); Hancock County: Friendship; Rock Creek; Jasper County: North Fork (partial); Hickory Creek (partial); Galilee; Lake County: Mt. Zion (in progress); Lawrence County: Little Village; Macoupin County, Concord (partial); Montgomery County: Hurricane; Bethel; Perry County: Nine Mile (partial); Pope County: Grand Pier; Sangamon County: Liberty (partial); Fancy Point; Shelby County: Union; Warren County: New Hope; Wayne County: Hopewell (partial); Burnt Prairie (partial); Williamson County: Bethlehem (partial); Mt. Zion; Pleasant Hill (partial); White County: Mt. Pleasant; Carmi; Lick Creek (partial); Sangamon Association of Illinois. MISSISSIPPI: New Hope Association. OHIO: Muskingum, Scioto, Owl Creek Harmony, and Sandusky Associations (printed minutes); Pleasant Run (1841-1964), Walnut Creek (1837-1892), Lancaster (1818-1922), Rocky Fork (1827-2009), Van Buren (1835-2003) and Tapscott (1814-1895) Churches, and Miami (1797), Sandusky (1833), Muskingum (1808), and Scioto (1805) Associations (manuscript records). INDIANA: White Water Association (1809-2003); White River Association (1821-1871); Mt. Tabor (1835-1945). VIRGINIA: Ketocton Association (1792-1834 printed minutes); New River Association. WEST VIRGINIA: Naomi Church; New Liberty Association. KENTUCKY: Goshen, Winchester (1825-2004). PENNSYLVANIA: Southampton, Bucks Co. (1746). MISSOURI: Bear Creek, Hann ibal (1821-1904). PERIODICALS: "Primitive Monitor" (1886-1892, 1894, 1897-1900, 1902, 1904, 1907, 1908 and miscellaneous incomplete volumes have now been digitized); "Western Predestinarian Baptist" (1842-1845), edited by Elder R. M. Newport, Vol. 1-3; "Church Advocate" (1877-1878, 1892-1893, 1894-1897), edited by Elder Lemuel Potter; "Messenger of Peace," 1904-1905; "The Church's Advocate," edited by Elder Daniel Parker, Vol. 1, 1829-1830. RARE BOOKS: Ecclesiastical Researches, by Robert Robinson, 1792; Jean Leger's "Histoire Generale Des Eglises Evangeliques de Piemont ou Vaudoise," originally published in 1669. DEBATES: Nichols-Holder Debate, 1950. JOURNALS: Journals of Elder J. Bryan Adair, 1928-1974.

The Library's Holdings, Gifts Received, and Rare Material We Hope to Find

Information About our Permanent Collection, and Items We are Seeking

Sharing Our Joy and Appreciation: A Listing of Gifts Received

We lack the following issues of "The Comforter": December 2004 to the present.

Wanted to find: "Walking About Zion," by Elder Isaac N. Vanmeter, Macomb, Ill., published in installments in Zion's Landmarks in 1868-1869, then in pamphlet form in 1870.
Wanted to find: A pamphlet against a salaried ministry, by Elder Peter L. Branstetter, in which he arraigns from Bible authority the modern salary system and methods of raising money. It also contains a portrait of Elder Branstetter. It was being sold for 10 cents postpaid in 1915.

Remembrance, Restoration, Recognition, and Preservation of Our Heritage

Remembrance of our heritage
A Journey of Remembrance by Flatboat, December 2-16, 2006, Marking Elder Wilson Thompson's Journey in Late 1810; and the 200th Anniversary of Bethel Church, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, organized July 19, 1806

Restoration, reconstruction, recognition, and preservation of historic churches and cemeteries
CHURCHES:
The Old Stone Church, called Bear Creek, near Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri
The Old Stone Church, called New Providence, near Ursa, Adams County, Illinois
The Old Stone Church, called West Liberty, near Sperry, Des Moines County, Iowa
The Old Stone Church, called Providence, near Lena, Stephenson County, Illinois
Nine Mile Church, near DuQuoin, Perry County, Illinois
Mt. Pleasant Church, near Burnt Prairie, White County, Illinois

CEMETERIES:
Old Brick Middle Creek Church and Cemetery, near Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois, restoration work from 2004 to the present
Providence (aka Brumback) Cemetery, near Plymouth, St. Marys Township, Hancock County, Illinois (restoration in 1970)
Walker Cemetery, former site of New Harmony Church, near Sutter, Hancock County, Illinois
Union (Old Baptist) Cemetery, near Fandon, McDonough County, Illinois
Conlee (aka Rohrer) Cemetery, near Waverly, Morgan County, Illinois
Canteen Creek Church (aka Wood) Cemetery, near Troy, Madison County, Illinois
Little Shepherd Cemetery, Panther Creek Conservation Area, Cass County, Illinois
Jacob Hunter Trust, cemetery near original site of Pleasant Hill Church, Williamson County, Illinois, website: http://www.jacobhuntertrust.org/
Bethlehem Cemetery, Marion, Williamson County, Illinois
Philemon Stout Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois
Branch-Farthing (aka Pleasant Grove) Cemetery, Marion County, Illinois

Library Hours

Researchers should contact us by email, U. S. mail, or by telephone, with inquiries or research requests. We will handle them as our schedule of volunteer time allows. Personal visits must be short, as our work schedule prevents us from having outside researchers come, unless by previous arrangement for matters which we consider to be of sufficient importance to make an exception.

The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, was organized in June 1988, by Elder Robert Webb, and three other trustees (members of Primitive Baptist Churches in Hancock County, Illinois), with a constitution and by-laws. The Primitive Baptist Library is a research and reference library, rather than a loaning library, but the Library has republished several books which are available for purchase, and we assist researchers almost daily.

Our computer database now includes:

1 - Over 67,000 names of past and present members of Primitive Baptist Churches, taken primarily from our collection of over 250 church records. The majority of these are for churches in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, and Iowa. Our database also includes some names for churches in about thirty other states. (The number, of course, represents a very small fraction of the members which would be included if we had all the records for all of these states.)

2 - Over 13,000 association minutes from various parts of the United States;

3 - Over 35,000 obituaries, in all-year computer indexes, from the annual indexes published in many of our church papers; and

4 - Over 900 marriages, a recent start; taken from ministers' journals, and from announcements in our church papers. There are thousands of such entries, not yet indexed.

COPYING POLICIES

The Trustees of The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, have adopted the following policies regarding church records:

1. We will pay for the xeroxing and/or digitizing of the records of any Primitive Baptist Church (active or inactive) in the State of Illinois (and other states as funds permit). 2. Microfilms and CD's or DVD's of church records in our collection may not be copied in whole or part without express, written permission from the specific church; or if the church has ceased to exist, from the Library trustees. 3. Microfilms may be viewed on our film reader in the Library except where restrictions apply. Such restrictions are presumed, and will be honored by this Library in connection with filming done for any church of which we maintain a copy. 4. The policies stated above for microfilm will also apply to our original church record books (or bound photocopies, CD's, or DVD's) held in safekeeping in the Library.

We reserve the right to study and use in our on-going historical research any material which is loaned or given to us to keep or to reproduce.

In Memory of Elder Lemuel Potter

"I do not worship a God that tries to do things and cannot. I do not worship a God that does not know what he is about. I do not serve a God that has any purposes or plans the results of which he does not know. I do not serve a God that, when he does know the results of his plans for which he made them will never be brought about, will trust in them. I do not serve a God who will invent a plan for the salvation of his people that he knows will fail and never save them." - Discussion on Foreign Missions, page 538.

Tribute to Early Primitive Baptist Ministers in Hancock County, Illinois

Tribute to Early Primitive Baptist Ministers in Schuyler and McDonough Counties, Illinois

Tribute to Early Primitive Baptist Ministers in Southern Illinois