Publisher's Synopsis
The history of the West Virginia Free Will Baptists began 145 years ago in the Eastern part of the state near Harpers Ferry, when a Free Will Baptist Church was begun in 1868. By 1873 there was also a Taylor Quarterly Meeting in the northern part of the state which was affiliated with the Ohio River Yearly Meeting. Likewise in July, 1883 the Kanawha County organized a quarterly meeting with the influence of some of the brethren in southern Ohio. The Kanawha church was organized in 1879. Since those days their were many quarterly meetings that were started and the West Virginia Yearly Meeting was formed in 1886 with 25 churches and 885 members. Then the merger with the Northern Baptist came in 1911-12, but these did not seem to affect the churches in the southern part of West Virginia. Later these Free Will Baptists merged with the Tri-State Association of Free Will Baptist which consisted of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky which was formed in 1919.The present West Virginia State Association was formed in 1945-46. Today there are 21 conferences and 172 churches in the State Association and many independent Free Will Baptist churches within the state.
