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(7.)
Sesquicentennial
Celebration
Liberty ~ Graham Baptist Church, Butlerville,
Jennings County, Indiana
("received into) membership since organization, 320,
dismissed by Letter 121
excluded 76, died 39, leaving our
present membership 84."3 Many feel the Holy Spirit at Graham
and many souls have been won for the Saviour. However, it is
interesting to note the high number of exclusions. Graham was
very strict in the way the brethren and sisters should act. Many
were "Churched" for various reasons. Swearing drinking,
quarreling and plain not attending were the most common offenses. However,
the Church appointed two faithful members to see the offenders, and
confront them with the accusations, and invite them to give an
account at the next Church meeting. If they repented and asked
forgiveness, the Church was quick to restore them to the full fellowship.
One of the most unusual "Churchings" concerned a prominent
church leader, James Hicklin. In 1845 he was accused of "breaking the
law and aiding to convey slaves from their Masters."l He
acknowledged this as he indeed helped a relative with an underground
station for slaves. According to an account attributed to C. F. Cole, and
quoted in "The Land of Winding Waters", Thomas Hicklin
was the only man that ever out-generaled Wright Rea, the noted
dectective, and that when "Negro slaves came into his possession,
they were never captured. Thomas Hicklin died in 1845,
bringing to an end this part of the old underground railroad."6 James
Hicklin was the brother of Thomas Hicklin and one can only specu-
late, but one can presume James helped him in his work in the
latter days. At the time of James' "Churching" several Church
members asked that their names be removed from the Church rolls, evidently
in disagreement with the Church action.
It is believed these people joined the San Jacinto M. E.
Church that was organized in the late teens or early twenties . The
San Jacinto M. E. Organization built a Church at the forks of Big
Graham and Little Graham Creeks, southeast of San Jacinto, according
to U. E. Smith's history. The land was owned at that time by James
Hicklin, and the record of deeding the land for a M.
E. Church in June 1845 is found
in the present owner's abstract. According to Smith's history,
"In 1848 and 1849, quite a number of
these early pioneers migrated to Oregon, and this coupled with
political strife that was rampart in those anti-bellum days,
finally culminated in the disruption of the church organization, part
going east to Old San Jacinto to organize a Methodist
Protestant Church and the other wing going north to Rush Branch to
organize the present Rush Branch M. E. Church."4
This "split" possibly occured in 1852, as the
M. P. Church was erected in 1853, and the Rush Branch Church was organized
in 1857. The Hicklin abstract lists the Church trustees as selling the
Church property in 1855 for $100.00. The writer goes on to say,
"Take this for what you think it's worth, as
it is largely traditional, but comes to us from persons closely
related to the founders of the two Churches."4
Graham, in April 1863, held a special church meeting called for by
President Lincoln. They also denounced the "traitors"
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