welcome to the layman family information page
After an apparent struggle with his call to the ministry in 1807, Daniel Layman was ordained to the ministry in 1812 at Bethel Baptist Church Sevier Co., Tn. The exact date of his ordination is uncertain, but it was probably between August and November of 1812. According to the minutes of the 4th Saturday in August, 1813, Daniel, his wife and three daughters, were granted letters of dismission from the Bethel Church. Daniel and his family were received back into the Bethel Church at the meeting of October 1815, "by letter" indicating that they were members of another Baptist church. The three daughters were Lydia, Margaret, and Hetty. Daniel may have served as pastor of the church where they had gone, although this is uncertain.
The Bethel church sent a petition to the Sevierville church that it be constituted as a separate congregation in the fall of 1819. Signers of that petition included Daniel Layman, his wife, Sarah, and three daughters Hetty, Margaret, and Susy. This was granted, and Bethel was constituted as a church with 53 members on the 4th Saturday of October 1819.
At the congregational meeting on the 4th Saturday of August of 1820, the Bethel Church extended a call to Daniel Layman to become its pastor, a role he occupied for the next 26 years, until the 3rd Saturday of July 1846. Daniel also served as representative to many association meetings and as an evangelist for Baptist churches in Sevier and surrounding counties. In July 1849 he and his family and several other persons requested letters of dismission for the purpose of starting a new church at Jones School House, later Jones Chapel.
In addition to the daughters, Lydia, Hetty (Hester), Peggy (Margaret), Susannah, listed in the early church records, there were also two sons, Daniel Jr., and Asa. Asa was married to Jane Ferguson on April 30, 1843, and they became the parents of eight children. In 1815 he made a profession of faith uniting with the Sevierville church. He later moved his membership to the Bethel church where he served as church clerk. When the Jones Chapel church was organized he became a member of that church where he also served as church clerk. He was ordained to the ministry at Jones Chapel in October 1856. He preached his first sermon at Jones Chapel on the subject, "Prepare to meet thy God", from Amos 4:12. He was pastor of Providence, Henderson's Chapel, Red Bank, Bethany and White Oak Flats churches. However, most of his time was given to revival and evangelistic work. He died in 1867 and is buried in Fair Garden Cemetery, Sevier Co., Tn.
John Marion Layman (my great grandfather) was
a son of Asa Layman and Jane Ferguson. He was born January 23, 1844
in Fair Garden, Sevier Co., Tn. He
fought for the Union in the civil war and obtained medical degrees from
Jefferson Medical School in Pa. and Vanderbilt University. He married
Nannie Lenora Keener
on December 20, 1866. He began
the practice of medicine in Madison Co., Al. in 1882. After
practicing in Maysville, Al. for five years, he took his examination on
March 7, 1887 under the Madison Co., Board of Examiners. After
he passed the examination an Alabama medical certificate was granted him.
As a horse and buggy doctor, he was called to deliver a baby when the Flint
River was swollen out of its banks. In order to reach the mother,
he swam his horse across the Flint River in January. As a result
he caught pneumonia and never recovered. He died March 23, 1900,
and along with Nannie Lenora who died November 16, 1916, is buried in Maple
Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Al.