Rev. Isham Fuqua

He was a Baptist minister in Bedford County, Virginia. On 27 June 1796 he was given permission to perform marriage ceremonies and many of his relatives were married by him, including his oldest son, the Rev. Peter Fuqua. Isham Fuqua had a family of nine children, two daughters and seven sons. Six of the seven sons also became Baptist ministers, as well as several of his grandsons.

On September 25, 1804, John Otey sold to the "trustees of the Baptist Church lately convened in liberty in the county of Bedford under the care of Isham Fuqua, their pastor, to wit: James Bramblet, John Hancock, Joseph Fuqua, and John Otey, for $15.00, one and one-half acres a djoining the town of Liberty, for the purpose of building a Baptist Meeting House on" (Bedford Co. Deed Bk. K11:1071-72). The house was built of brick and was used a church, called "Little Otter" until 1850 when it was sold and converted into a residence. In 1850, the trustees of Little Otter Church; Armiste ad Otey, Benjamin H. Mansfield, Abner Fuqua, Abraham Fuqua, and Adam J. Boyer, purchased from the estate of James Meyse, for $290, the lot on Main Street where the present Church stands . At that time, the name was changed to Liberty Baptist Church. In 1901, the name of the town was changed to Bedford, and the name of the church then became Bedford Baptist Church.

In 1805, Isham Fuqua organized Suck Spring and Timber Ridge Baptist Churches in Bedford County, Virginia and apparently migrated shortly after that time, or at least by 1810 to Davidson County, Tennessee near Nashville and was accompanied by most of his children. Isham Fuqua apparently died before the 1820 census, since the census lists only his wife and two children at that time. In an old letter written about 1900, Rev. William T. Fuqua, living then at Farmington in Graves County, Kentucky, stated that "my grandfather was Isham Fuqua of Virginia . My branch of the family is a branch of preachers. Isham was a preacher, his six sons were preachers and were: Peter, Thomas, Nathan, Jesse, Joel, and William. My father was Jesse. He had three sons, one a preacher, and I have a nephew who is a preacher. I and my brothers were all born near Nashville. (R.J.F. Poyner.)

• Updated from MyHeritage Match via wife Mary Fuqua (born Hammons) by SmartCopy: Sep 17 2014, 16:08:22 UTC