Person:James Skaggs (6)

South Fork Church

• South Fork Baptist

South Fork Church was organized in 1782 by Rev. James Skaggs and Rev. Benjamin Lynn. The church was constituted under a large tree and seven people were approved for baptism. The baptising is thought to be the first in Kentucky. In 1804 the first log church building was completed and the church consisted of 36 members. Rev. Jonathan Paddock was pastor when the first building was put up. Not long after this the church was split over the issue of slavery. During the years 1804 to 1811 there is no record of a pastor and no church minutes. It is about this time that some of the members left to form the Little Mount Church. Not until the great revivals in about 1811 did the church begin to come back. In 1811 Shadrack Duncan was elected church clerk. He served until 1823. In 1828 a revival led by Rev. David Thurman swept this part of Kentucky and the membership of South Fork increased to 193. Some of the names of the members in the earliest 1800's were Thomas Whitman, John Brunk, Charles Harper, James Skaggs, Stephen Skaggs, Joseph Kirkpatrick and Shadrack Duncan.

Rev. Moses H. Huber 'The Elder'

• Rev. Moses H. Huber was born in Mercer County, Kentucky on 24 Jan. 1795. The Huber family came to Green County in the early 1800's. Moses married Lydia Skaggs, the daughter of Rev. James Skaggs Jr., Hardin County, on 23 Feb. 1819. Rev. Skaggs helped to constitute the Rolling Fork Baptist Church in 1801. Moses Huber lived for a short time in Henry County, Tennessee near Sparta. However, Moses moved back to Green County with his family in the mid 1820's.
• Moses and his wife both joined the Liberty Baptist Church on Brush Creek in northern Green County. Moses joined by "recommendation" in May of 1829 and had close ties to this particular church till about 1850. There were many men from the Liberty Baptist Church that were bound to have influenced Moses. Men such as -

Rev. James Skaggs

Rev. David Elkin,

Rev. Joseph Pepper,

Rev. Moses Etherton,

Rev. William Downs,

Rev. John D. Oaks,

Rev. Johnson Graham,

Rev. Hiram Johnson, and

Rev. Elijah Etherton.

• Rev. Moses Huber was of the Baptist faith most of his life. He began to perform marriage's in about 1840 in both Green and LaRue County. thus, he was likely ordained as a mininster at Liberty Baptist in the early 1840's.
• He was connected with the Mt. Zion Separate Baptist Church near Zero in Hart County during the 1850's. He was pastor of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church from May of 1859 to Feb. 1864.
• On January 22, 1863, Moses Huber, 66, married Malinda Atherton, Etherton, 52. Both were born in Kentucky and both had been married once before.
• On April 29, 1868, Moses married America Kestler. This marriage record states that Moses was born in Mercer County, Kentucky and that he was 70 years of age.
• In April of 1868 he returned to Mt. Moriah as a member of that body. His first wife, Lydia had died in November of 1862. His second wife Malinda Atherton, Etherton is not with him. Moses married a third wife America Kessler in April of 1868. She was the widow of D. W. Kessler. In June of 1872, Moses and America joined the Mt. Zion Separate Baptist Church where they were members till Moses died 'cause Measles'.
• Moses Huber deeded much of his property to his three living children, James H. Hoover, Mary Hoover, and Mrs. Louisia Jane Johnson before he died. Moses spent some of his last days in the watch care of Sydney L. Johnson, his son-in-law, who was the first merchant and postmaster of Mt. Sherman. Moses H. Huber or Hoover as it was sometimes spelled died on 17 Nov. 1874 and is buried at Mt. Sherman by his wife Lydia.

1.   Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort, Kentucky). The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society)
   Volume III, page 707.

   Among these preachers were William Marshall and James Skaggs, Marshall having been a recognized leader of the Separate Baptists in Virginia. Squire Boone, a brother of Daniel Boone, was a Regular Baptist preacher, the Regulars differing in certain details of belief from the Separates.