Andrew Tribble, Pioneer

Excerpts from “Rev. Andrew Tribble, Pioneer,” Bess L. Hawthorne, in Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 24, No. 71 (May, 1926), pp. 187-190.

The earliest known member of this family was George Tribble, of Welsh extraction, and a farmer in Caroline County, Virginia. Nothing further is known of him, though there are references to a George Tribble of King and Queen County, who may have been the same person. Of his family we know nothing with the exception of one son, Andrew Tribble…

Andrew Tribble was born 22 March 1741, and very early became a member of the Baptist Church. Often he was heard to say that he was the 53d Baptist north of the James River. Soon after his conversion he began to preach, and went to Orange and surrounding counties to baptize new converts. Then for a while he was a member of Goldmine Church in Louisa County. From this church he was sent as a messenger to the first meeting of the General Association of Virginia in May, 1771.

In 1777, he became pastor of a little Baptist Church in Albemarle County, variously known as Albemarle, Buck Mountain, and Chestnut Grove. This church was organized in January 1773, being the first Baptist church in Albemarle. It was near “Monticello,” the home of Thomas Jefferson. It is said the two men became personal friends and Jefferson often attended the meetings here. Many claim that Jefferson gained his idea of a popular government for this country through watching the business management of this little Baptist church by Rev. Andrew Tribble…

In 1768, most probably while he was preaching in Orange County, he was married to Miss Sarah Ann Burris (Burrus)…

Andrew Tribble and his family moved to Kentucky in 1783, and first settled on the Dix River, but soon moved into what is now known as Clark County…

Tate’s Creek Church…was…founded by him in 1786 under the name of “Tate’s Creek Church of Separate Baptists.”…they formed “Tate’s Creek Association of United Baptists” [in 1793].[i]

His last sickness was long and painful. It was caused by stricture of the bladder and resulted in his death on 22 December 1822 (or 30 December 1822)[ii] …His wife, Sarah Ann Burris-Tribble, survived him several years, her death occurring on 15 December 1830, when she was past 77.

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[i] The Tate’s Creek Association was formed by four churches from the South Kentucky Association, after the South Kentucky Association refused the terms of union offered by the Elkhorn Association. See A History of Kentucky Baptists, by J. H. Spencer, p. 88.

[ii] Tribble’s tombstone is inscribed with December 30.