My Genealogy Hound

Rev. James M. Lillard, a pioneer minister, was born September 27, 1806, in Mercer County, Ky., the son of Rev. David and Mary (Spencer) Lillard. Before the Revolution, three brothers came to Virginia, and John, the grandfather, was a son of one of them, and about 1785 settled in Mercer County, Ky. The father was born in 1784, in Orange County, Va., and from infancy to 1815 lived in Mercer County, Ky.; from then until his death in 1861, in Boone County. He was a first lieutenant in the war of 1812, and in 1816 was ordained a Baptist minister, whose duties he performed until within a few months of his death. The mother was born in Virginia, and died in 1824, the daughter of J. D. Spencer, a soldier of the Revolution, who died at the age of one hundred and seven years. Our subject, the third of ten children, was nine years old when they went to Boone County. September 7, 1827, he married Martha, a daughter of Samuel and Nancy Cox, of Grant County, Ky., and born November 15, 1804. Their children were Mary S. (deceased); Nancy C., the wife of Dr. Hubbard; Narcissa, the wife of T. Wallace; David S.; James M. (deceased); Artemissa, wife of Dr. Smith, a dentist at Pine Bluff, Ark.; Martha A.; and Virginia, the wife of J. Garnett. He left Gallatin County, Ky., in 1833, and bought his present estate of 360 acres. He is a pioneer minister of Northeast Missouri, and the first resident Baptist preacher of this county. He became a Christian at nineteen, and in 1826 he became a Missionary Baptist minister. His first preaching was in the groves, private houses and log schoolhouses; he traveled in the northeast counties of Missouri, organizing churches, and such work as leaves his impress upon the whole region. He has organized twenty-seven different churches, and baptized twenty-six different persons, who have become eminent ministers. He was a member for ten years of the Bethel Association, which embraces a membership of nine ministers. In one year he baptized 410 persons, and for many years averaged 100 annually. His chief work was as a missionary, but for a time he had charge of four churches. After the war he resigned his appointment, and for many years was a general missionary, wherever he could do the most good. He restored many organizations that had died out during the war. His age and ill health have compelled him to retire partially. Such a career as his is a bright spot in the annals of mankind. He and his wife have lived together for sixty years, in happy wedded life, and are now nearing their end. David S., their eldest son, was born in this county in 1834. In January, 1864, he married Ellen, a daughter of Hiram Yates, and born in 1836, in Kentucky. Their children are James M., Mary G. and Minerva. In 1857 he bought eighty acres, and now owns an estate of 600 acres, with a $2,700 residence built in 1882. He is a Democrat, and he and his wife, are Baptists.