Biographies S
James Utley Spurlin
The Oldest Baptist Preacher But One in State of Kentucky
The Rev. James U. Spurlin, whose services in the ministry cover a period of 63 years.
Almost every week can be seen upon the streets of Hopkinsville a tall and erect old man, a very patriarch in appearance. Although he carries the weight of more than 83 years, he is still strong and well preserved and in the full possession of all his faculties. With the exception of Rev. Green, who lives in one of the Purchase counties, who is 87 years old, he is the oldest Baptist preacher in Kentucky, Rev. James Utley Spurlin, of this county.
Mr. Spurlin was born in the Bluff Spring district of this county, May 3, 1824. He was the third son of John and Rebecca (Utley) Spurlin, who sprang from two pioneer families of Kentucky. He was reared in the neighborhood where he was born, receiving but little education, as the schools of that day were very poor. His mother, however, was a woman of gentle birth and a fair education and she taught him more than he learned in the district school. When he was 19 years of age he was converted in a protracted meeting at Pleasant Hill church, under the preaching of a young man only 24 years of age, who had entered the ministry from the same church. This young man was Rev. A.W. Meacham and at the conclusion of the revival Mr. Spurlin was one of the converts baptized by him in a stream near the church, August 11, 1843. This little Baptist church among the hills of Pond River, at the period of which we are writing, ordained four of its young men to the ministry whose combined service in the pulpit amounted to more than 200 years and they baptized in that time more than 12000 persons.
These young men, Rev. Nicholas Lacy, who died two years ago in Madisonville, Ky., Rev. A.W. Meacham, who died five years ago at Gracey, Ky., Rev. Calvin Meacham, who died about the same time, and the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Spurlin, as soon as he united with the church, began preparing himself for the ministry and was licensed to preach in March, 1845, two months before he was 21 years old. Almost immediately thereafter he preached his first sermon at Cave Spring county [sic], which resulted in his being called to the pastorate of the church. From that day to this, covering a period of nearly 63 years, Mr. Spurlin has been almost constantly in the pulpit and has made himself a power for good all over this and surrounding counties. He has preached to many churches, among them Cave Spring and three other churches in Muhlenberg county; Pleasant Hill, Macedonia, New Barren Springs, Little River and Sinking Fork in Christian; Mt. Moriah and Armageddon in Todd; Hurricane Creek, Donaldson Creek, and Cerulean Springs in Trigg; Liberty in Hopkins; Pleasant Grove, Harmony and Lebanon in Caldwell; Cherry Hill in Henderson and Big Rock in Stewart county, Tenn. To Sinking Fork church he preached without interruption for 40 years. He made his home near this church, where he still lives with one of his sons. Mr. Spurlin does not know the exact number of people he has baptized but he estimates them at 5,000. He has established a number of new churches and has preached an average of 160 sermons a year, a total of probably 7000. He has joined about 1000 couples in marriage. The work he began 63 years ago is being carried on by one of his sons and one of his grandsons. These are Rev. John H. Spurlin, of Sturgis, his son, who has been preaching for nearly 30 years and has himself baptized probably 1000 or 2000 persons already, and Rev. Lindson Spurlin, of this city, a son of Alfred Spurlin, who is now pastor of Little River church, a church that his grandfather once preached to and of which Rev. A.W. Meacham was pastor for 26 years. Mr. Spurlin has been twice married and is now a widower. His first wife was Miss Linnie Meacham, a daughter of Edmund Meacham, and their children still living are three sons and a daughter, Mrs. Higgins, of Mayfield. His second wife was Miss Minerva Robinson and from this union one son resulted, William Lucian Spurlin, now in the government service in the Philippines. This venerable man of God is in many respects a remarkable man. His towering form and physical strength, even in his old age, attract attention. His long gray beard and keen eyes remind us of the patriarch Moses, who when he died at 120 years of age, still had an eye “undimmed by age.”
When he speaks, his clear, strong voice and wonderful command of words impress themselves upon all who hear him. Though his education is meager, his language, from careful study and long contact with the ablest men of his denomination, is suprisingly free from grammatical errors. His store of information and his knowledge of the Bible make him always ready. He never writes his sermons, but takes a text and preaches until he thinks the proper time has come for him to stop. His manner of delivery is earnest and sonorous and as he warms to his subject is fervid, powerful and often eloquent. In the rural districts where his life work has been done, he is regarded as one of the powerful preachers of his denomination. Certainly he has been successful to a degree seldom attained by any man in a field limited to 50 miles from where he was born.
Brother Spurlin, as everybody calls him, is not now a pastor, but he preaches somewhere every month and he is never happier than when in the midst of a pastoral meeting. All three of the friends of his boyhood who began preaching in the same decade he did have passed away. In 1897 the four old veterans in the Lord's service held a reunion at the old church that ordained them all, and it was a great time for them. It came none too soon, for all four of them never met again. The next year they attempted to meet again but one of them was dead, one was sick and only two of them were there. The next year only Bro. Spurlin was able to visit the old church. He still makes occasional visits and is dearly beloved by the people, the descendants of his old-time friends. Ripe in years, loved and respected by all who knew him, the old preacher, whose whole life has been devoted to the service of his Master, is calmly, fearlessly and confidently awaiting the summons from above.
Source: “The oldest Baptist preacher but one in state of Kentucky.” Hopkinsville Kentucian [Hopkinsville, KY], 14 Nov 1907. Page 5
Related: Kentucky Digital Library
Updated July 9, 2018