Rev. John Bourland
John Bourland was born December 12, 1762, probably in Virginia, and died May 11, 1844 in Hopkins County. He is buried in the Old Richland Cemetery with his wife Mary Loving,
whose extended family was referred to often as Lovan in Madisonville.
In the book "latchstrings" Twyla Gill Wright writes as follows: "she (Mary Gill, widow of George Gill) had heard of a circuit-riding baptist preacher who was a comfort to several families to the north, and that a small congregation was forming to hear him preach on Grove Creek. All the countryside seemed to love and respect that minister, Rev. John Bourland, and perhaps George Gill (Jr) found a father figure in him. He may have begun to attend preaching services which Rev. Bourland held in brush arbors around the country. Drawn by something magnetic in the parson, George began to agree with his way of interpreting the scripture. Here was a vigorous farmer-preacher who was a compasssionate circuit rider, preaching God's word, performing marriages (112 from 1800 to 1848), writing wills for those who saw the end of their days approaching, and comforting those who grieved". She goes on to speculate the possibility that John Bourland married Mary's son George and Jane Carter. She continues "...(at the feast when Hopkins county was formed)...the baptist minister, John Bourland attended, shaking hands and visiting warmly with all. people responded with much respect and affection for him".
In 1793, Wilkes County NC Deed Book I, page 293 shows John Bourland sold to Barnabas Sisk 150 acres for 65 pounds on Swan Creek. This Barnabas Sisk is next seen in 1800 in Pendleton County SC and then in 1804 in Hopkins County KY when he bought land along Clear Creek in Richland, near Madisonville. Thus the Sisks were almost certainly close friends of the Bourlands.
By 1803 he and most of his brothers had settled in the western part of Kentucky. In 1806 Daniel Ashby decided to draft an act to create Hopkins County out of Henderson County, KY. The act was approved and passed by the General Assembly on December 27, 1806. The first County Court was held on May 25, 1807. "The Heritage of Hopkins County" says "all the forefathers of many a worthy son of Hopkins county met now to start the government with the blessing of god, and prayer offered by John Bourland, minister of the gospel of the baptist faith".
The Madisonville Messenger of December 9, 1963 reports as follows: A stately 157 year-old home just east of Eastview Acres on KY-85, said to have been built in 1807 by John Bourland, who was Hopkins County's first county court clerk and a Baptist minister and a well-known public figure of his day, was being razed. The house was at one time the home of Governor Ruby Laffoon and before that belonged to Pete Laffoon, the acreage including what is now the Eastview Estates. The house was at one time a stage stop and was built origionally of log with rooms 4 up and 4 down. The floors were of random width boards from 5"- 8", and the dining room had traditional wainscoting on the lower walls and there were fireplaces in several rooms. Governor Laffoon was visited by many in this home and Mrs. Laffoon is said to have anticipated the visitors by having constantly on hand two large cakes and a baked country ham "just in case". Alben W. Barkley was a frequent visitor.
In March 17, 1812 he helped establish the Highland Baptist Church in Union County, KY.
The Richland Baptist Church was formed on February 3, 1837. The first building was built in 1838, the second in 1881 and the third in 1947.
During the 1830s the Highland Association of Baptists had become violently opposed to missionary effort and benevolent work, forbidding its member churches to perform any such work and persecuted those which did. In 1837 four members of the Richland community broke away to form a new church. They were Reddick and Elizabeth O'Bryan and Isham and Sophia Slaton; who with the help of two ministers - John Bourland and Timothy Sisk - wrote the new church constitution. The first pastor was John Bourland. The first Deacons were Reddick O'Bryan and John Slaton. The first baptisms were Emeline O'Bryan and Juliet Sanders. In 1838 a tract of land was conveyed to the church on the Richland-Carbondale Road for a building. A second building was constructed in 1862; the third in 1947 on Highway 70.
The Liberty Baptist Church on Highway 85 was formed on the fourth Sunday in September 1840 with eight members, one ordained minister, Elder John Bourland and licentiate Gabriel Sisk. According to the history of the Richland Baptist Church six people lettered out of that church in 1840 to form Liberty. They were: William Brown and wife Polly Bourland Brown, William McLean and wife Harriet Bourland McLean, John Woolridge and wife Nancy Bourland Woolridge.
The Salem Missionary Baptist Church was organized on September 18, 1841 by John Bourland, moderator; Rev. Kitchen G. Hay; and William McCain, who was chosen as clerk of the council. The charter group included: Edwin Robertson, Rubin P. Loving, William Loving, Talitha Loving, Sarah Davis and Martha Loving. Ministers included: Gabriel Sisk, 1841; Prior S. Loving, 1845; John O'Bryan, 1859. Redic O'Bryan was a Deacon.
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