A History of Original Free Will Baptists

Original Free Will Baptists are the spiritual descendants of the General Baptists who settled in North Carolina during the colonial period. These General Baptists were the earliest Baptists to settle in the colony and were among the earliest organized religious groups in the colony, preceded only by the Quakers and the Anglicans. The story of these early Baptists has often been overshadowed by the accounts of other and later religious movements which swept through the settlements of North Carolina and the rest of the region which became known as the South.

Once this denomination had adopted the name Free Will Baptist and had begun to develop its own identity, they then began to preserve some account of their annual conferences, without which it would be impossible for one to know very much about them, apart from the oral traditions passed on from generation to generation. In the late nineteenth century there appeared two accounts of their history in North Carolina. The first was a summary account of their origin in this state, written by Rufus K. Heam about 1880, and the second consisted of a revised and enlarged version of Heam’s account of their beginnings and a more detailed history of their pilgrimage through the nineteenth century, using abstracts of the minutes of the conferences during this period and written by Thad F. Harrison and J. M. Barfield. The latter was published in 1897 and served to inform a later generation of Free Will Baptists concerning their heritage.

During the twentieth century more adequate records of this denomination have been kept and more attention has been given to preserving such materials, especially during the last few decades. In addition, research has turned up more information on the early period, including the colonial and the English General Baptist background of the denomination. As a result, it is possible to give a more comprehensive and more accurate account of the denomination’s history.

For many years the author has had a deep interest in the history of Original Free Will Baptists. That interest, which began of time the idea that he should undertake to write a history of the denomination began to take root and finally came to fruition following his retirement from the college.

Spiral-bound Softcover/413 pages

About the Author

Michael R. Pelt