People whose names are the same color were married. People
whose names are in bold type are buried at Old Bethel Baptist Cemetery.
Cemetery and Church Deeds
Cemetery - Richard Dodge
Descendants
Church - Jeremiah Collins Descendants
Two acres of land were sold for $25.00 on May 4, 1891, by Joseph C.
Dodge and Evaline, his wife, to Old Bethel Church trustees John Cusic,
James M. Davis, and John P. Bishop. The deed is recorded on page 355, book
42, at the Union County, Kentucky, County Clerk's office. This is the deed
for the for the Old Bethel Cemetery. Before that time, the cemetery was on the
private property of the Dodge family. The cemetery is located five miles
north of Sturgis on top of Dodge Hill near Old Bethel Union (Baptist ??) Church.
Three
acres of land were sold for $1.00 on August 7, 1909, by J. C. T. Collins to the
trustees of the Union Church which was to be built at Old Bethel near the Old
Bethel graveyard. The deed is recorded on page
548, Deed Book 66, at the Union County, Kentucky, County Clerk's office.
This is the deed for the land adjacent to the Old Bethel cemetery on which a
house of worship now stands. The deed states that the land the land was
"to be used solely for the erection of a strictly Union Church to be used
by all white denominations, and that no one denomination shall have more privilege
than another, that each shall have the privilege of holding a revival of not
more than three weeks duration at any one time".
Richard
Dodge 1756-1822
It is
not known whether or not Richard Dodge served in the military during the
American Revolution. However, Richard Dodge received a 200 acre land grant
in 1800 and a 400 acre land grant in 1807 in Henderson County, Kentucky.
Union County was formed out of Henderson County in 1811. He also received
a 100 acre land grant in Hopkins County, Kentucky, in 1807. (Jillson
Kentucky Land Grants - Part 1) During that time period, large land grants were
usually given to Revolutionary War veterans . Richard Dodge was
known locally as Captain Richard Dodge. In 1780 Richard Dodge was with
General Clark at Fort Jefferson. General Clark promised land to all who
would immigrate. This land was in the Iron Banks. (Collins History
of Kentucky). The Fort Jefferson Site is one mile south of Wickliffe,
Kentucky. The Iron Banks is possibly all counties of Western
Kentucky. Today it is specified as the Land Between the Lakes (Kentucky
Lake and Lake Barkley). This
paragraph is from the notes of Robert Henry Sigler (1917-1996).
This
epitaph is as found by Robert Henry Sigler and Rubye Louise Collins Sigler
on October 18, 1971, in the Old Bethel Baptist Cemetery. The grave site is at the
rear of the cemetery between fifteen and twenty feet from the fence and about
the center of the cemetery. There are two stones, both of which are
sandstones. This epitaph can also be found in a news item in the Courier
Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, dated July 16, 1964. When found in 1971,
the footstone was scaling badly and it was felt that it would soon become
unreadable. At the bottom of the headstone was a symbol of four hearts positioned at 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees and joined in the center of the symbol
by their pointed tips.
HEADSTONE
1822
SEPT 3
DECEASED RICHARD
DODGE AGE 66
YE
* MEN - OF - GOD - AS -YOU
PASS - BY - BEHOLD - ME - HEAR
AS
- I - DO - LY - COME - THINK
ON - DEATH - FOR - YOU - MUST
DIE
- MOLTER - IN - CLAY - AS
WELL - AS - I
FOOTSTONE
SEPT
- 3 - 1822
SEE - OH - MEN - AS
YOU - PASS - BY
- AS - YOU
ARE - SO - ONCE - WAS - I
AS - I -
AM - NOW - YOU - SOON
MUST - BE * PREPARE - FOR
DEATH
- AND - FOLLOW - ME
James
Collins
James Collins was born in
Orange County, Virginia, in 1755 and died in Shelby County, Kentucky in
1823. James was married more than once and his last wife was Nancy
Herndon. According to the will of James Collins in Shelby County,
Kentucky, (will book 6, page 67) his children were James W., George, Nancy,
William, Jeremiah W., John, Jane, Polly, Ester, Edward, and Fanny. The known
spouses of the children of James were Elanor Ann Pittman (James W. Collins),
Elizabeth Johnson (William Collins), Sarah Young (Jeremiah W. Collins), Nancy
Young (John Collins), James Hobbs (Polly Collins), and James Pagett (Fanny
Collins). Sarah Young and Nancy Young were sisters.
Jeremiah
W. Collins (ca 1788 - 1853) and James W. Collins (1805-1867) moved to Union
County, Kentucky. Both were members of the Little Bethel community, the antecedent
of the Old Bethel Community. The land of Jeremiah W. Collins had a common
boundary with
the land of Richard Dodge at the location of the Old Bethel Cemetery.
According to oral history, the cemetery came from Richard's land and the land
for the church came from Jeremiah's land. Jeremiah and his wife, Sarah,
are buried in the cemetery. James W. Collins was a physician and a Baptist
minister. He is buried in the Caseyville Cemetery, Caseyville, Union
County, Kentucky. Some of the children of James are buried in the Old
Bethel Cemetery.
The Collins line of ancestry of this family has
been traced back to Joseph Collins (1678-1757) in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia. No immigration information is known at this time. However,
a Collins is listed in the census of the Jamestown Colony of Virginia. The
date of birth of 1678 would place Joseph two or three generations from the
Jamestown Colony and would give substantiation to the old family legend that the
Collins family went back to Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. See my ahnentafel
for details.
Some members of the Collins family were also slave
owners. The ones mentioned in their wills were domestic slaves and were
mentioned by name.
According to family oral history, the
Collins family also had some Native American (Cherokee Tribe)
intermarriage. I have no written proof of this oral history but I do have photographs
of family members in the 1800's which show physical features identified with
Native Americans.
Old
Bethel Church Deed
This deed is
recorded on page 548 in deed Book 66 in the courthouse in Morganfield, Union
County, Kentucky. The copy which is below was transcribed by my
parents, Robert Henry Sigler and Rubye Louise Collins, both of which are
descendants of the original Jeremiah Collins who came to Union County, Kentucky,
during the early 1800's. See the chart at the top of this page.
This indenture
Made and entered into on this 7th day of July 1909 by and between
J.
C. T. Collins, of the first part and
the trustees of the
"Union Church" to be built at Old Bethel near the Old Bethel
graveyard, east of the J. C. Dodge place, all of Henshaw, Union County, Ky, is
to Witnesseth -
that for and in the consideration of
one dollar ($1.00), cash in hand paid, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged
the said first party has bargained and sold by these presents sell and convey
unto the said Union Church Trustees a certain tract on plot of land,
to
be used for Union Church purposes only, upon the following terms and conditions,
viz; - that this plot of land, shall be used solely for the erection of a
strictly Union Church to be used by all white denominations, and that no one
denomination shall have more privilege than another, that each shall have the privilege
of holding a revival of not more than three weeks duration at any one
time,
said plot of land is more particularly bounded and described,
viz; -
Beginning at a stake in the Quick
and Collins line,
thence N. 79 W. 13 poles to a stone corner of J. C.
Dodge,
thence N. 3 W. 16 poles to a stake,
thence
S. 79 E. 13 poles to a stake
thence S. 3 E. 16 poles to the place
of the beginning
supposed to contain three
acres except that 35 feet on the west end of said plot be reserved for a county
road, (for a more minute description of the land which this is a part) see deed
from Almont Collins to J. C. T. Collins, January 4th, 1906, book 60 page 626, in
the office of Union County Court Clerk
to have and to hold unto
the said second parties, or so long as same is used for Union Church purposes
only,
and in the event same ceases to be used as above described
then and that event the said land reverts back to the said first party or his
heirs as the case may be, and the church reverts to the Union Church Trustees,
to be disposed of and divided between all white denominations equally.
In
testimony whereof the said first party hereunto sets his hand the day and date
above written
State of Kentucky, County of Union, Sct.
J.
C. T. Collins
I, T. Bingham, a notary
Public, in and for the county and state aforesaid to certify that the foregoing
deed from J. C. T. Collins to the Trustees of the Union Church, was this Aug.
7th 1909 produced to me in my county and before me acknowledged by the
said J. C. T. Collins to be his act and deed in due form of law. Given
under my hand and Notaria seal this Aug 7th 1909.
T. C.
Bingham, Notary Public
My Commission expires Jan 26th 1910
State
of Kentucky
County of Union, Sct.
I, John Bingham,
Clesrk of Union Coulnty Court do hereby certify that the foregoing deed from J.
C. T. Collins to the Trustees of the Union Church was on this day at 8' O Clock
A.M. produced to me and ordered to be, and is, with this and the foregoing
certificate truly recorded in my office
Witness my hand this 7th
day of Nov. 1910
By John Bingham, Clerk and C. D. Richards, D. C.
Handwritten
note: Examined - Mailed to Kenneth Davis, Sturgis, KY., Dec. 1, 1910
