Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Churches
Cherry Hill Missionary Baptist Church
History
The Cherry Hill Church was founded in September, 1887 by Rev. William Henry Woodson and Rev. Leander Jackson Stirsman with sixteen members from the Bethel Baptist Church and the Mt. Pisgah Church. The families were: Woodson, Humphrey, Millard, Stirsman and Brown families. Rev. William Henry Woodson (1833-1931) was the first Pastor of Cherry Hill Church. The 1889 church services were held in the old log Humphrey School.
Although the First Record Book was lost, the founding members were noted as follows:
- Samuel Brown and his wife, Anzonetta; Lonnie Brown, son; and Fannie Brown, daughter
- Sarah Jane Humphrey Calvert
- Timothy Downing Humphrey and his wife, Amanda Jane Spears Humphrey; Timothy Ellison Humphrey, son; Matilda Anna Humphrey, daughter; and John Edmond Reno Humphrey.
- Mary Jane Noffsinger Humphrey, the wife of J.E.R. Humphrey
- Jeremiah B. Millard and his wife, Julia Ann Noffsinger Millard
- Velotia Woodson
- Thomas G. Woodson and his wife Fanny Brown Woodson
Within a few years, other persons to become church members were:
- Rollie Ellison Humphrey, his wife Mary Etta Spears Humphrey
- Lura Humphrey
- Sarah Ellen Holland Humphrey
- Mary Searcy
- Robert F. Humphrey
- Maranda Pittman
- Thomas Miller, John Miller, Martha Miller
- A.B. Sturart
- Richard Adcock
- James Sturart
Cherry Hill Church Pastors: 1887-1939
- 1887: William Henry Woodson (12 Dec 1833 - 5 June 1915)
Descendant of Dr. John Woodson & Sarah Winston Woodson; Wife, Isabella Ramsey - 1892: William Harvey Bell (c. 1867 - 1919)
Born in Daviess Co., Kentucky; Moved to Nash, Texas - 1894: William Weaver Woodson (Feb 1860 - Apr 1931)
Son of William Henry & Isabella Ramsey Woodson; Wife, Fannie Brown - 1898: Robert H. Langley (17 Oct 1852 - ?)
Son of Jeremiah Langley and Emily Beasley Langley; Wife, Nellie Paxton - 1900: William P. Henry (5 Aug 1855 - 1 Mar 1923)
Wife, Susan M. Bibb - 1911: James Nelson Jarnagin (3 Oct 1862 - 21 Mar 1927)
Son of John M. and Sarah Caroline Miller Jarnagin; Wife, Lillian Flener - 1913: J.W. Gill (15 May 1853 - 21 Dec 1941)
Son of William and Lucy Gill; Wife, (1) Georgia E. Shank; (2) Mollie B. Mercer - 1918: Jesse William Brown (18 June 1881 - 28 Aug 1950)
Reared by Keagen family; Wife, Jennie Stinnette - 1920: Hoseah Dallas Divine (1886 - 1942)
Wife, Bertha Ellen Vincent - 1921: Burrell Spears Stuart (d. 1926)
- 1924: J. Paul Shanks
Wife, Mary Bruce - 1925: F.W. Cooper (1876 - 1961)
- 1926: Charles R. Evitts (10 Feb 1882 - 12 Sept 1926)
Son of William C. and Betty Underwood Evitts; Wife, Alice E. Stewart - 1927: Samuel Andrew (S.A.) Kittinger (5 Apr 1898 - 8 May 1973)
Married 596 couples; Pastor of Cherry Hill for thirteen years.
Son of O.T. Kittinger and Betty Vincent Kittinger; Wife, Estelle Wiggins
Source: Rone, Wendell Holmes. “The Centennial Story of the Cherry Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 1887-1987.” Central City, KY: Cherry Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 1987.
Contributed by Sue Heflin Woolsey
Updated September 17, 2024.