Notes for Reuben Pickett and Elizabeth Day

A biosketch of Reuben Pickett reports [1]:

Elder Reuben Picket

Mr. Picket was born in 1752, in the county of Faquier, in Virginia. In his 17th year his attention was awakened to eternal things, and after much disquietude of mind, he joyfully submitted to the righteousness of God. A short time after his conversion, he was baptized by Elder Samuel Harris, in the county of Orange, Virginia. His earliest efforts as a public teacher were made when he was not more than eighteen years of age. It might be justly regretted that the stores of knowledge were not then within his reach, and that his mind was not placed under suitable training. Such advantages would doubtless have been gladly improved by him; but at that early period, the facilities for obtaining education were exceedingly limited. With such opportunities as he did possess, he sought to qualify himself for usefulness. Such were his desires to do good, that through many difficulties, he urged his way to testify to his fellow-men the gospel of the grace of God. He found opportunities of exercising his gift in exhortation, and shortly after he began to preach. He was eminently successful in winning souls to Christ.

At this early period in his ministry, he felt a great desire to travel with Mr. Harris, but being poor and knowing that unless he followed some secular calling for support, his embarrassment would be great; this made him very unhappy for some time. Spreading his case before the Lord, this text came forcibly to his mind: "Go ye and preach the gospel, and lo I am with you alway." He immediately forsook all earthly employment, and traveled with Elder Harris, expecting to visit an Association in South Carolina. He was, however, detained by severe illness, and left by his brethren in a strange part of the world. His sufferings, both of body and mind, were extremely severe, but they were only the refiner's fire, purging off the dross, and leaving Mr. Picket, like tried gold, to shine with seven-fold more splendor. And after his recovery, he felt the smiles of God in a more abundant manner than he had ever before. He then commenced his ministerial travels in North Carolina and Virginia, disseminating evangelical truth in various directions. He was still only about twenty years of age. Young as he was, his talents were extensively useful. Many acknowledged him as the messenger of peace to their souls; and several churches were constituted through his instrumentality.

He had been the means of originating a church called Reedy Bottom, which was afterwards merged into Mayo, in Halifax county, Va., (now Bethel church, Person county, N.C.,) to whose oversight he was called at his ordination, which took place in 1772. He continued their pastor as long as he lived; and in this relation he was characterized by his activity and faithfulness. He was not, however, confined in his efforts to this congregation. He served Grassy Creek church as their spiritual guide, from 1805 to 1808, efficiently and profitably. Other churches were frequently visited, especially in seasons of difficulty and trial. He possessed a peculiar talent for binding together the hearts of his brethren, and preserving peace in the church. Among the people of God he was universally beloved. No man in Roanoke Association possessed such vast influence, and no one deserved it more. For many years in succession, he occupied the chair at their annual meetings, and always presided with dignity and to the satisfaction of all. His talents were not of the highest order, but they were of the useful kind. He addressed the hearts and sought to reach the conscience of his hearers. While he was not accustomed to astonish by the brilliancy of his thoughts, he rarely failed to produce a very deep and solemn effect. His appearance and manners were highly impressive. Elder Picket, in his person, was tall, rather slenderly built, of thin visage, of a pleasant countenance and very kind in his manners. Plainness of speech was the marked characteristic of his preaching. He was, in his latter years, subject to great depression of mind, arising from derangement of the nervous system, produced by serious injuries which he received by being over-turned in a gig. From this accident he suffered much, and being confined at home for a long time, was greatly depressed. Some endeavored to jest him out of this state, but he grew worse. Being visited by a minister (thought to be Elder John Kerr) he told him all his sorrows. He, entering into Picket's feelings, reproved those who had ridiculed him, told him that he was really afflicted, and then addressing himself to Picket, expressed great commiseration for his condition, told him that God alone could help him, and proposed that they should unite in prayer. During this exercise his soul was lifted up, his gloomy feelings left him, and he was filled with joy, which continued until his death, which took place Oct. 19th, 1823.

The memory of this man of God is embalmed in the hearts of hundreds of the lovers of truth.

1745-52 Reuben Picket, son of William Pickett and Elizabeth Cooke, was born about this time. [See Research Notes, below.]

1766 Reuben Pickett apparently left home at a young age, after his father's death, possibly before achieving the age he could collect his inheritance. He became involved with the Baptist Movement.

1769 "Rev. Ruben Picket embraced ... true religion [Methodist] in 1769, and was baptized by Samuel Harriss, in Orange County, not far from his place of residence, a few months after his conversion. Although only about eighteen years of age, his mind led him to appear in public in order to persuade sinners to repentance. Hearing of a great work of God in Shenandoah county, he could not be kept back, but went into the midst of it. There he commenced, first as exhorter and then preacher, and soon became very successful in inducing his fellow men to turn to God. He and Elder Koontz traveled together; Koontz preached in Dutch, and he in English; many of each language, through their labors, were initiated into divine favor. About this time, Mr S Harriss coming on a preaching visit through those parts, Mr Picket felt great desire to travel with him; but knowing that he was not rich, and that his embarrassment would be great, unless he followed some calling for a livelihood, he was very unhappy for some length of time. Spreading his case, however, before his invisible instructor, this text came forcibly to his mind: "Go ye, and preach my gospel"; which was succeeded by the promise: "Lo, I am with you always." He immediately forsook all earthly employment, and traveled on with Elder Harriss towards the south, expecting to go to an Association in South Carolina. He was, however, stopped by a severe spell of sickness, and left by his brethren in a strange part of the world. His sufferings both of mind and body were now extremely severe. But it was only the refiner's fire purging off the dross and leaving Mr Picket, like tried gold, to shine with seven fold splendor. After he was fully recovered from his afflictions, he felt the smiles of God in a more abundant manner than he had ever done. He then commenced his ministerial travels in North Carolina and Virginia ..." [2]

1771 Reuben Pickett was named as a delegate for the Shenandoah Church in Frederick at Craig's meeting house in Orange County on May 11. [3] [4]

1772 Reuben Pickett was ordained in 1772 at the age of 20, and took care of the Reedy Bottom Church, and from there to Mayo. [5] [6] [7]

1773 It is said that during one of his preaching tours Reuben Pickett met and married Elizabeth Day in Bedford County, Virginia. Their marriage bonds were issued on January 4. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Elizabeth Day is reportedly the daughter of one John Day. She was born in 1755 and died in childbirth in 1778.

1779 Reuben Pickett, born 1745 in Virginia, married Elizabeth Matthew. [13]

c 1780 Reuben Pickett went to the Carolinas in the 1780's.

1780 A notice by the Daughters of the American Revolution reports [14]:

The battle of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, fought the evening of September 7, 1780, "turned the tide of battle in favor of the American Colonies." The Rev. Reuben Pickett, a staunch patriot at all times, was holding a prayer meeting in the valley. In the midst of a prayer, he heard the roar of battle and rose from his knees, saying, "Brethren, this is no time to pray; fight. Get your guns; we must fight." And led his congegration to battle.

Reuben apparently returned to Virginia.

1785 Reuben Pickett was listed in the 1785 census for Halifax County, Virginia with 6 white souls and 2 dwelling buildings.

1788 Reuben Pickett was appointed to a committee of four, to draft a resolution about slavery for the Baptist church. [15]:

As early as 1788, someone on the committee posed the question, "whether a petition should be offered to the General Assembly, praying that the yoke of slavery may be made more tolerable." No one took up the debate that year, or the next. In 1790, however, the committee finally "agreed to take into consideration the reference concerning the equity, of Hereditary slavery."

Debate among the twenty-odd clerics present, including nineteen official delegates from eight associations, proved inconclusive. The moderator, Samuel Harris of the Roanoke Association (whose election marked the last year that a non-Dover representative held the moderator's spot), ended the contentious debate and appointed a committee of four to draft a resolution. He selected William Fristoe of Ketocton, Reuben Pickett of Roanoke, David Barrow of Kehuckey, and John Waller of Orange, leaving Dover conspicuously absent. Even this small group failed to agree on a resolution, but the Rev. John Leland, an outspoken abolitionist from Massachusetts, provided one of his own. Perhaps out of desperation from almost three days of deadlocked discussion, the General Committee agreed to Leland's resolution, which called slavery a "violent deprivation of the rights of nature" and urged Baptists to use "every legal measure, to extirpate the horrid evil from the land."

Many Baptists rebelled against this strong statement opposing slavery, and the Dover men devised a new position over the next few years that maintained the integrity of their faith while minimizing conflict among the churches, …

1793 Reuben Pickett was the guardian for Rachel Boyd, orphan of Patrick Boyd, deceased, in Halifax County, Virginia. [16]

1805-1808 Reuben Pickett was pastor at the Grassy Creek Baptist Church. "In December, 1805 Elder Reuben Pickett became their pastor and continued till October, 1808, when Elder Thomas Vass was recalled to the pastorate, which office he continued to hold until 1814." [17]

1808 Reubin Pickett was a registered voter in Halifax County, Virginia. [18]

1823 "Elder Pickett was a native of Fauquier County and probably a near Kinsman [brother] to Rev. John Picket. To his growing infirmities there was added an injury from being overturned in his gig, from which he suffered much, and gradually sunk to his death, 19 October 1823. He was buried near his old home, two miles from Black Walnut Church in Halifax County, and a slab in the church yard is erected to his memory." [19] [20]

1823 Elder Reuben Pickett, born about 1752 and ordained about 1772, died and was buried at Black Walnut Cemetery, South Boston, Halifax County, Virginia. "He was for many years Moderator of the Roanoke association." [21]

Research Notes:

These notes are intended to be for Reuben Pickett, son of William Pickett. There may have been several men named Reuben Pickett alive at the same time, whose notes might be shown, incorrectly, among the notes above.

1745-52 "Rev Reuben Picket, their pastor [Mayo, Virginia Baptist] was born in the year 1752 ..." [22] Reuben Pickett was reported born in 1752. [23] However, an annotated book by Stella Pickett Hardy reports a birth date of 1745. [24] We seek further information about the birth of Reuben Pickett, son of William Pickett and Elizabeth Cooke.

Stella Pickett Hardy reports [25]:

4-4 Reuben, Rev., b. 1745; he was a zealous and influential minister of the early Baptist Church; went over into Bedford Co., and later to one of the Carolinas; m. 1st 1773, Elizabeth Day, of Bedford Co., Va.; m. 2nd 1779, Elizabeth Matthew.

c 1770 It has been suggested that Reuben Pickett was exiled from Halifax County and possibly Culpepper County in the late 1770's. (source not recorded) We seek further information about this report.

Reuben Pickett may have married to the widow Elizabeth Wilson (nee Matthews). Some suggest that she was either born in Bedford County or Halifax County, at the time or not. We do know that they were married by the time he showed up in Anderson County, South Carolina, in 1785. (source not recorded) We seek further information about this marriage.

See also: [26]

A different Reuben Pickett was older than this Reuben Pickett:

1810 Reubin Pickett (age 45+) lived in Richmond, Virginia. [27]

1820 Reubin Pickett (age 26-44) lived in Botetourt, Virginia. [28]

1830 Reubin Pickett (age 40-50) lived in Botetourt, Virginia. [29]

1832 Ann Eliza Pickett, daughter of Reuben Pickett, married George M. Linkinhoker on December 26 in Botetourt, Virginia. [30]

1840 Lucretia R. Pickett, daughter of Reuben Pickett, married John Hambrick on February 10 in Botetourt, Virginia. [31]

Footnotes:

[1] Robert I. Devin, Biographies of Pastors of Grassy Creek Baptist Church, courtesy of John Leland Baptist College, [URL].

[2] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 322, of 322-24, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[3] Jean Pickett Hall, "Legislative Petitions: The Then Thousand Name Petition," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy (Genealogical Society Quarterly) 32 (1999), 141-157, at 150, [Ancestry_VGSQ].

[4] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 70, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[5] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 303, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[6] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 324, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[7] James Barnett Taylor, Lives of Virginia Baptists Ministers (1838), 173, [GoogleBooks].

[8] Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850, [AncestryRecord].

[9] Elizabeth Petty Bentley, Virginia marriage records: from the Virginia magazine of history and biography (1984), 87, see general Index to Marriages, Bonds, Licenses, etc. 1745 - 1870, Bedford County, Virginia.; FHL Film 030592, [GoogleBooks].

[10] Patricia Finn Hunter, Pickett Cousins, a 350 year history 1640-1990 (self-published, 1991), 12, [GoogleBooks].

[11] Rosemary B. Hill and Dixie J. Clark, A Gathering of Picketts, Vol. 1 Virginia & Kentucky (self-published, 1998), 255, [GoogleBooks].

[12] Stella Pickett Hardy, Colonial Families of the Southern States of America (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1911), 416, [GoogleBooks].

[13] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, [AncestryRecord].

[14] DAR Proceedings of the Continental Congress, Vol 24 (1915), 757, [URL].

[15] JSTOR, Charles F. Irons, "The Spiritual Fruits of Revolution: Disestablishment and the Rise of the Virginia Baptists", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 109, No. 2 (2001), pp. 159-186, [URL].

[16] "Halifax County Guardian Bonds 1790-1799," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy (Genealogical Society Quarterly) 29 (1991), 99-111, at 103, [Ancestry_VGSQ].

[17] Robert I. Devin, The History of the Grassy Creek Baptist Church, courtesy of John Leland Baptist College, [URL].

[18] Joanne Lovelace Nance, "List of Qualified Voters Halifax County, Virginia, 1804, 1808, 1812," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy (Genealogical Society Quarterly) 27 (1989), 253-63, at 260, [Ancestry_VGSQ].

[19] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 324, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[20] James Barnett Taylor, Lives of Virginia Baptists Ministers (1838), 173, [GoogleBooks].

[21] Find A Grave Memorial 75597965, [FindAGrave].

[22] Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (1894), 322, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[23] James Barnett Taylor, Lives of Virginia Baptists Ministers (1838), 171, [GoogleBooks].

[24] Stella Pickett Hardy, Colonial Families of the Southern States of America (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1911), 416, [GoogleBooks].

[25] Stella Pickett Hardy, Colonial Families of the Southern States of America (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1911), 416, [GoogleBooks].

[26] Kuzriel Meir, Pickett Research No longer online. (2001), 4.

[27] United States Federal Census, 1810, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchRecord].

[28] United States Federal Census, 1820, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchRecord].

[29] United States Federal Census, 1830, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchRecord].

[30] Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940, [FamilySearchRecord].

[31] Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940, [FamilySearchRecord].