Anyone interested in the history of the church would enjoy reading

 

the book written by Miss Mary Wilson and her sister, Miss Florence 


Wilson in 1950. It traces the history of the church from its earliest 


beginnings to the pastorate of Dr. Robert von Thurn.


Bob Hendrickson has enhanced and updated the printed copy.


Click on the picture to the left to view/read/print the book.

Members from long ago.


John M Cochran Jr. & Virginia Piper Cochran Baker were the

 children of J M (Roy) and Gertrude Baugh Cochran.

Downtown Christmas Donations from Yesteryear

Little Stroll Down Memory Lane





The First Presbyterian Church

 in Maysville formed 

on June 14, 1817.  

Then is was erected 1850.


                                        PASTORS:

                                         R.C. Grundy

                                   John A. McClung

                                   J.E. Spillman

                                   Geo. W. Coons

                                   G. M. McCampbell

                                   S.B. Alderson

                                   John S. Hayes

                                   John Barbour


Dr. Mitchell Denham
  One of our faithful members from the past!
His grandson is now the music director at the church.

The church had just purchased a new organ.  John McNeill was very instrumental in choosing and acquiring the high quality organ.  It is still played in the church services today.  John was a very talented musician and all enjoyed his playing. 





Jane Wise who loved our area and was a Presbyterian.  She was very active in at the Washington Presbyterian Church when it was open and later attended at First Presbyterian of Maysville. 

She was well known for her excellent transparent tarts. She was the mother of Ginny Butler and Tom Wise. 




Christmas 1963 

 Mr. & Mrs. S.A. Parker, with their daughter, Zoe Parker Chamness, and son, S. Alex Parker, Jr. 

at the Parker residence on East Second Street.

PAST MEMBER OF  FIRST MAYSVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH




George F. McClanahan was a very active member of the First


Presbyterian Church.  He served as an Elder and a Deacon.


George  passed away in 1992.   He was 71.

This picture was taken in front of the 1st Presbyterian Church in Maysville. 

The occasion was Vacation Bible School ca. 1946.

Reminiscing with picture from the past. 

The Clift Sisters L--R: Dot Noell, Midge Baber, Judy Caproni

Midge Cliff Baber was a member of our church.  She was active in the Presbyterian Women's group and Circle.  She sang in the choir and was an Elder.
She was the mother of Rev. Mary Reed & son-in-law Bill Reed and Phoebe Baber and wife of  Cecil O. Baber also a church member and Elder.

Frances was organist at First Presbyterian in the 1970s and 1980s.  Frances, Midge Baber , and Lib Shillito volunteered at the Maysville Extended Care every Wednesday. Mrs. Moore played the piano, and the other ladies sang old, fun songs with the residents.
Frances Moore was the Mother of Anne Morton Pollitt and Sharon Legge of Hendersonville, TN.
Frances Sarver is one of her granddaughters .

Do you remember our very own Santa??

Elder Jim McMillian always played Santa at our Christmas gathering!!

He will always be remembered at a kind and helpful member of our congregation.

Some of our ladies from the past!

Historical Tidbit 








Presbyterian Ladies gathered in Nell Jo Marshall home.

Nell Jo Marshall, Betsy Parker, Naomi Collins, Harriett Denham

Pictured is Ann McDowell a past member of the First Presbyterian Church in Maysville.  Ann was the mother of  our church member Sparky McDowell.

Gertrude Baugh Cochran  

Mrs. Gertrude, as we all called her, was a longtime member of First Presbyterian .

She was a grand lady who lived on E. 2nd St. for 60 years.  Died in 1988 at age 98.


A past member of the First Presbyterian Church Maysville,

Mary Louise “Hula” Duke is shown getting ready for Christmas in Old

Washington.  

Mrs. Duke was the widow of Andrew C. Duke and died May 25, 2009.

A Little Bit of Maysville History

Historical Tidbit                                             

 

Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes,  Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise;  My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,  Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.  

 

Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro' the glen,  Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,  Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear,  I charge you, disturb not my slumbering Fair.  

 

How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,  Far mark'd with the courses of clear, winding rills;  There daily I wander as noon rises high,  My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.  

 

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,  Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow;  There oft, as mild Ev'ning weeps over the lea,  The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.  

 

Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,  And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;  How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,  As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave.  

 

Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes,  Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;  My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,  Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. 


Rev. J. E. Spilman served First Presbyterian Church of Maysville from 1863 to 1867. When he was 25 he composed the music for the poem “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton, by Robert Burns.     Flow Gently, Sweet Afton 

Robert Burns (1759–1796) 

                                                                         Historical Tidbit                                             

 

Rev. Robert Caldwell Grundy 1807-1865 

 

From: History of Kentucky by William Elsey Connelley and Ellis Merton Coulter, 1922. 

 

One of five sons of Samuel R. Grundy, a prominent businessman and influential citizen of Washington County, Kentucky, where he owned a large tract of land. 

 

Rev. Grundy was a man of high intellectual attainments and became one of the representative Presbyterian clergymen of his native state.  His first pastoral charge after ordination was First Presbyterian Church in Maysville in 1836. 

 

Rev. Grundy’s second wife was Sarah Ann (January) Grundy, daughter of Andrew McConnell January.  On October 18, 1842 their only child Andrew January Grundy was born at Maysville, judicial center of Mason County, Kentucky.  Sarah Ann died in 1848. 

 

(It was during his tenure the current sanctuary was built, in 1850. The church manse was located at 504 W. Second. This house was sold in January 2017.) 

 

In 1857 Rev. Grundy became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Memphis, Tennessee, and in the climacteric period leading up to the civil War he courageously and loyally opposed the secession of the southern states. 

 

He was the only Union clergyman in the City of Memphis at this time, and after the war was precipitated and the city was occupied by Confederate troops they compelled him to close his church, besides which he suffered other indignities by reason of his adherence to his convictions. 

 

When the Union forces under General Grant occupied Memphis Mr. Grundy was requested to reopen his church, and this he did--to enable both soldiers and citizens. His position became untenable at Memphis as the war progressed, and in 1862 he accepted a call to the pastorate of a church in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued his zealous and faithful ministrations until his death in 1865, about the time of the close of the Civil War. 

 

Son Andrew Grundy became a successful businessman. He and his wife Willie Josephine were zealous members of First Presbyterian Church of Maysville. 

 


 

 

                                             Historical Tidbit 


Taken from “A History of the First Presbyterian Church, Maysville, Kentucky compiled by Miss Mary Wilson and Miss Florence Wilson 


“In October 1830, Reverend W. L. Breckinridge came here as pastor, remaining until January 1832.  It was his first charge upon leaving the Seminary.  Dr. Breckinridge was afterwards a pastor in Louisville for 23 years.  And later President of Centre College.  One of the buildings on the Centre campus is called Breckinridge Hall in his honor. 


He was a brilliant man, states Dr. Barbour, but in his old age was a tiresome preacher.  However, he was a dignified and courtly figure.  One who always said and did things in good taste.  He made a fine pastor.  He became a Moderator of the General Assembly. 


After Dr. Breckinridge’s departure, L. D. Howell served as supply from December 1832 to July 1833.” 


                 

                               FROM the ARCHIVES of Maysville, KY


         Hula Duke, wife of Andrew Duke and mother of Tom Duke  was a faithful 


and loyal member of First Presbyterian of Maysville.  She will be remembered 


by many as a true Presbyterian lady. 

                                         Historical Tidbit
Taken from “A History of the First Presbyterian Church compiled by Miss Mary L. Wilson and Miss Florence Wilson.” The Reunion of 1870 On October 15, 1870, West Lexington Presbytery and Ebeneezer were united and given the name Ebeneezer. Its territory to embrace the whole of Kentucky lying north and east of the Kentucky River. During the ten years that followed, 1870 to 1880, steady, healthful progress was made in all departments. In these years we find the names of John Barbour and S. B. Alderson among the ministers in Kentucky Synod. In the early portion of 1883 Rev. S. B. Alderson and W. C. Condit made a tour through the Sandy Valley. This is now the seat of Pikeville College. Sunday School interests were greatly developed in every way. Almost every congregation had a Woman’s Missionary Society, Mission Bands and other juvenile organizations. The Presbytery now includes the following churches: Pikeville, McVey, Prestonsburg, Greenup, Ashland, Maysville, Covington, Newport, Dayton, Ludlow, Mt. Sterling, Flemingsburg, and Lexington.

                                             Undaunted

The year just past was wracked with violence, racism and political rancor. We long to fix these problems, but how? We may feel as frustrated as the church board member who spouted, “We’ve already tried prayer. It didn’t work!” Those words might resonate today, yet things aren’t always what they seem. We can’t see God behind the scenes crafting a new reality, but Scripture promises it. And though our prayers won’t undo earthly death, they surround the grieving with strength and love. We can’t “solve” sin, but our prayers can bring communities together and spur us to look out for one another. The Jewish Talmud states, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” In this new year, may we be undaunted in doing what we can. It might not seem like much, but things aren’t always what they seem.

Historical Tidbit


Ebenezer Connection to Rush Co., Indiana


(Gary E Cole sent this to Pastor Jim on November 10, 2016)


Around the year of 1831, John Maple (1786-1871) and his wife Elizabeth Hillis Maple (1801- 1872), came to Rush 


County, Indiana from Cabin Creek, Kentucky. They were members of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church 


before coming to Indiana. When they arrived in Rush County, they became members of the Rushville 


Presbyterian Church organized in 1825. Since they lived about 17 miles from this church, they wanted to 


organize a church in their own community. Therefore, it was in the home of John and Elizabeth Maple 


that a small group of people met to organize a Presbyterian church. They named the new church 


Ebenezer Presbyterian after their church in Cabin Creek, Kentucky.


                                                                                   Historical Tidbit   

                

  Taken from a Maysville newspaper dated January 20, 1900 provided by Dr. Jim Shires.
 
 
                                                              THE NEW ORGAN


 
                           The First Presbyterian Church has an Elegant Instrument. 
 
 “There was a large crowd out last night at the First Presbyterian Church to see and hear the new pipe organ just put in by that congregation, and those that were there were well repaid for their visit, as they not only saw the handsomest organ in this city, but had the pleasure of listening to its sweet tones as brought out by Mr. Charles McFerrin of Greencastle, Indiana.
 
The organ was built by the Burkoff Organ Company of Latrobe, Pa., and is of polished oak, has 27 pipes on the front, is operated by a water motor, completely fills the Northwest corner of the Church, and is by far the largest and handsomest piece of musical furniture in any Church in this section.
 
The recital last night was only to have the congregation hear the organ and pass judgment on it, and it is safe to say that it will be accepted and formally dedicated to the service of God. Dr. Barbour and his congregation are to be congratulated upon acquisition of such and elegant piece of Church furniture.
 
Mr. McFerrin will play at the morning and evening services tomorrow.”


                                                                    Historical Tidbit


 From “A History of the First Presbyterian Church” Compiled by Miss Mary L. Wilson and Miss Florence Wilson


Ebenezer Proper:  “By order of the Synod made October 1820, West Lexington was divided and Ebenezer was formed to embrace the counties of Bourbon, Harrison, Boone, Pendleton, Mason, Lewis, Campbell, Fleming, Nicholas, Bath, Floyd, and Greenup.  At a meeting held in Maysville April 1822 the whole territory in the bounds of the Presbytery was divided into four preaching districts.  At this meeting, according to a previous rule, Presbytery proceeded to examine the pastor, officers, and people of the Maysville Church with respect to their mutual duties toward each other.  It appeared that they all had been faithful with the exception that some had failed in the instruction of their children and servants.  And some officers and heads of families had neglected their duty in not attending to family worship.  Wherefore, on motion, resolved that the moderator deliver an admonition.  Which duty he performed.  The question also came up about a man marrying a deceased wife’s sister.  And it was ordered that they be suspended until they gave evidence of repentance by ceasing to live together as man and wife.”