Baptist

Nicholas Jones, the father of Thomas Jones, was the first to bring our Y-chromosome into Kentucky. He moved from Spotsylvania Co., VA, where he had been living since the close of the Revolutionary War. In 1811, he arrived with a fairly large number of family members (six boys), and settled initially in Fayette Co., KY. He joined with the South Elkhorn Baptist Church located close to the Fayette Co., Jessimine Co., line at the point that Harrodsburg Road now crosses South Elkhorn. This Church was the first congregation, of any kind, organized on the north side of the Kentucky River early in the fall of 1783. It had been gathered by Lewis Craig and constituted principally of members who had belonged to the Upper Spotsylvania Church. Some of our family must have immigrated to KY as part of this congregation since they originated from the same area that Nicholas Jones had lived. South Elkhorn became the "mother" Church of all Baptist Churches north of the Kentucky River. Lewis Craig was assisted by John Shackleford who started his ministry in Caroline Co., VA where our Nicholas was born in 1762. The Shackleford family obtained land on 4 Mile Creek in Clark Co., KY where Nicholas ends up moving to in 1817.

The records of South Elkhorn Baptist Church record that on the 4th Saturday, April 1817, that the following members were "dismissed": Nicholas Jones, Dorothy Jones, Richard Jones, Griffin Jones, William H. Jones, John Jones, Younger Jones, Griffin Jones, Elizabeth Jones, Permelian Jones, and Peggy Jones. Nicholas Jones with wife Dorotha, is recorded in the Clark Co., land patent book [book 15, p. 16], buying 50 acres of land on the waters of 4 Mile Creek. Who would have believed that our family started out Baptist.