The following information was provided by Deb Lowe, on October 30, 2016. She may be reached at [email protected]

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Son of George Chilton and Ann Bayne Owsley Chilton

A History of Kentucky Baptists From 1769 to 1885, Including More Than 800 Biographical Sketches, J. H. Spencer, Manuscript Revised and Corrected by Mrs. Burilla B. Spencer, In Two Volumes. Printed For the Author. 1886. Republished By Church History Research & Archives 1976 Lafayette, Tennessee. Vol. 2, pp 87-88 [Garrard County]

THOMAS JOHN CHILTON was a prominent leader among the Separate Baptists, in Kentucky, about forty years. He is believed to have been a native of Virginia, and was born about the year 1769. He was brought to what is now Garrard county, Ky., at the age of ten years. He received a better education than most boys, in the new Country, at that time. He professed religion and united with Gilbert's Creek church of Separate Baptists, during a great revival which prevailed in that region, under the ministry of Joseph and William Bledsoe, in 1789. He began to exercise in public, soon after he joined the church, and was ordained to

the minstry by Joseph Bledsoe, Moses Bledsoe and John Rice, in 1791. He was one of the committee that signed the articles, commonly known as the "Terms of General Union," upon which the Regular and Separate Baptists united, in 1801, and claims to be the author of that document. When South District Association split, in 1803, Mr. Chilton was one of the leaders of the party which formed the present South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists. He continued to preach in Garrard and the surrounding counties, till about the year 1822, when, having lost his

property, in an abortive attempt to establish salt works, he moved to what is now LaRue county, and settled on Middle creek. Here he took charge of a church, which he and William Summers had constituted, under the style of the Separate Baptist church on Middle creek, in 1816. The name of this church was afterwards changed to Republican, and is now called Big Spring. To this church he ministered till 1836, when he resigned on account of declining age. In 1835, he published a small volume which he titled 'A History of the Baptists." It bears the marks

of having been written carelessly, and in haste, and is of little value. Mr. Chilton was a strong preacher; but appears to have been a plausible, rather than a logical controversialist. He died from the effects of a fall from his buggy, into a stream of water which he was crossing, about 1839. His son, Thomas Chilton, was a lawyer, preacher and politician of considerable prominence."

In discussing his son-in-law:

Volney Minor "Uncle Minor" Metcalfe (1832-1896) - Find a Grave Memorial id Volney Minor "Uncle Minor" Metcalfe (1832-1896) - Find a Grave Memorial43738335

County of Christian, Kentucky. Historical and Biographical. Edited by William Henry Perrin. F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1884, pp. 386-387.

V. M. METCALFE was born November 5, 1832, in McMinn County, East Tenn. In 1855 he married Miss Ellen Kilebrew, of Montgomery Cunty, Tenn., and lived for many years near the Christian County line, devoting his time to agricultural pursuits. In 1863 he became largely interested with his

brother in a cotton manufactory in the South. At the close of the war he moved to Nashville, Tenn., to look after his common interests, where he lived until removing in 1869, to Hopkinsville, Ky., where his home has

since been, and where he has been engaged in mercantile business. Mr. Metcalfe's grandfather, John Metcalfe, was the eldest of thirteen children. His father was killed in the Revolutionary war, leaving him the care of

this large family, all of whom lived in Virginia. Wishing to better the condition of the family, he, in company with Daniel Boone, Mike Stoner and others, set out for the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, fighting their way, and often undergoing great hardships. They at last effected a treaty

of peace with the Indians, and John Metcalfe settled near Paris, Ky., in

1783. Here Charles, the father of V. M. Metcalfe was born in 1793. In

1814 Charles married Jane Baylor Chilton, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Chilton, a Baptist minister of great prominence in his day. About 1832 Thomas Chilton, jr., eldest son of Rev. Thomas Chilton, removed to the town of Hopkinsville, where for many years he practiced law, occasionally preaching for the Baptist people. He was finally induced to devoted his entire time to the ministry. While in Kentucky he twice represented his District in Congress, and in his day was regarded as a successful preacher, lawyer and politician. He was a very companionable man and hence very popular wherever he went. One of his brothers, Dr. Minor Chilton, died in 1836, at Trenton. Another brother, Dr. Lucius Chilton, who died in Pembroke, in 1860, was a man of more than ordinary ability, having served one term in the Kentucky Legislature, and to him is largely due the

location of the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum, at Hopkinsville. His first

wife was a Miss Tribble, aunt of Mr. Samuel Fox of Hopkinsville, and his second wife was Sarah Killebrew, a sister of Mrs. V. M. Metcalfe. While Dr. Chilton was living near Garrettsburg, his aged parents from Hardin County made him a visit. One morning the old gentleman and wife, both of whom were quite feeble, started in a buggy to see a neighbor, and in crossing a branch which they thought not deep, their horse sank in quicksand; the old gentleman was thrown from the buggy, and was drowned. A little slab on the hill nearby now marks the grave of Rev. Thomas Chilton, one of the purest and ablest men of his time.