History of the Old Licking Baptist Church
Cold Spring
by Jean Young Houston of Florence Kentucky
The earliest station or fort in Northern Kentucky was the one on the Licking River called Leitch's. The early Baptist in Northern Kentucky belonged to the Columbia Baptist Church in the Northwest Territory. This church was organized in 1790 and was located at Fort Columbia in Ohio near the mouth of the Little Miami River. In October 1794 the Baptists living on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, with the blessings of the Columbia Church withdrew and organized its own church.
The "Mouth of the Licking Church" was constituted in October 1794, at the home of William DeCourcey, in what is now Kenton County. The original church building was erected on property owned by Major David Letich and Association, about six miles from where the Licking River empties into the Ohio River. Its first members were William DeCourcey, Bethel Riggs, Closs Thompson, and Joseph Kelley and their wives.
It first united with the Elkhorn Association in 1803 and aided in forming that of Campbell County in 1827.
The first minister, John Smith from Columbia Ohio, was succeeded by Bethuel Riggs, a preacher active in the Campbell County area for many years. John Beal was a member of the church in 1807 and was probably its pastor. Closs Thompson was also a licensed preacher in the church which at that date, numbered 38 members.
Christopher Wilson, a brilliant preacher of North Bend Association, who died insane in Hancock County, preached much to this church, from 1817 to 1827, and was probably pastor a part of that time. Since that period it has ad the pastoral labors of John Stephens, Robert Ware, William Montague, James Vickers, William Stillwell, Furgus German, N C Pettit and others.
By 1840 the total membership was 72. In 1876 it numbered 87 members. The church was called "Old Licking" from 1820 until it became the First Baptist Church of Cold Spring in 1924. It is located at 3810 Alexandria Pike in Cold Spring.
The two old record books kept at the church are in very good condition. There are no church business records recorded until April 1841. Minutes began in 1877 in the second record book, and an incomplete membership list was included. In the small cemetery behind the church the earliest gravestone inscription is in the year 1816.