Cocke County, Tennessee
Big Pigeon Baptist Church Minutes - Introduction

These documents cover the years 1787 to 1874. Due to the length of the record covering nearly a century, it is broken up into sections for easier navigation and reading. The entire Index, Minutes and Notes were very generously given to Cocke Co. TNGenWeb to post on this site by Glen R. Bayless, who spent a multitude of hours transcribing it.  Thank you, Glen!!

Notes by Glen:  The original transcription from the handwritten minutes was, I believe, done by Mrs. E. O. (Martha) Price. This belief comes from the fact that her name and address are typed on the first page.

I have endeavored to maintain the original spelling in all of the minutes to the best of my ability. The photocopies I received were at times very hard to read due to either the original typewriter being old or done with a bad ribbon or the fact they have been photo copied so many times over the years. I have on occasion omitted what I consider typing mistakes such as the same word being repeated. I have also broken the text into separate paragraphs for each meeting and added spaces between sentences in an effort to make it more readable. The text in Bold type are individuals and is done to make them easier to find.

While there seems to be many spelling inconsistencies in the document I leave it to others to decide if these are due to typing errors in the original transcription or they are actually in the original hand written minutes. I sincerely hope that the transcription of these minutes to the internet will help other genealogists and historians to have access to them. I ask only that these notes which give credit to those who did the original work of transcribing the original hand writing to typed pages and those that have made this project possible remain with them.

One last thing on the name of what I believe is LLEDGARD FINE. On page 27 of the original it is spelled LEGESD, on page 32 LEDGAR.D, while on page 41 it is LEDYARD or LEDVARD.
Glen R. Bayless

Other Notes:
All of the in-text notes were done by the original transcriber. The notes that follow are those that have some significance to the spelling of a name or the history involved. They were hand-written on the photocopies when I received them. I am unable to tell you who the author of them is, unless otherwise noted.
On page 15 by Lari Naismith: "REUBEN ALLEN is the husband of ELSE CLEVENGER. He is the son-in-law of THOMAS."
On page 22. Author unknown. Referring to MARK MITCHELL applying for a letter of Dismission during the 5th of April meeting: "about this time he sold his land MITCHEL".
On page 27. Author unknown. Beside the minutes from the 1st of October 1802 meeting, and to the right of the name MARY HALEY: "HALEY NALEY"
On page 33. Author unknown. Referring to the 30th of April meeting where LANE & HAMPTON are appointed to inform DISA & NANCY MATHES of the Church's action is: "tell MARTHA of the HAMPTON reference or is it RAMPTON?"
At the bottom of page 41. Author unknown. Referring to those that applied for letters of Dismission during the August 31st Meeting is: "Important last 3 lines 'Going to Mo.'"
At the bottom of page 42. Referring to the minutes of the August 2nd meeting: "Letter of dismission for LILLARD."
At the bottom of page 46. Referring to the September 1st meeting: "OLD GRANNY RICE".
The above notes also show that the typed pages are at times hard to read. I several times was forced to use a magnifying glass to make out which letter was actually used.

*From co-host:  In transferring this document to new pages, I have noted that page numbers referred to the index are not specific to either the original pages or their later transcription pages, but likely indicate original pages. The notes above appear to refer to the "transcribed pages". Readers are advised to use their browser's "Find" function to locate names, keeping in mind that correct spelling is inconsistent and entries remain in their original form.