The first Free Will Baptists in America were known as General Baptists and can be traced to Chowan County in eastern North Carolina and to the year 1727. Paul Palmer, a local landowner, had been mentioned in the North Carolina court records as early as 1720.
Though there is some indication that he might have been involved with the Quakers earlier, he was clearly in the General Baptist camp by 1727. Palmer’s first General Baptist church consisted of 32 members and was planted near the present community of Cisco. In 1729, another followed in Pasquotank County at the home of William Burges.
Palmer was a gifted church planter who had little interest in serving a settled pastorate. This task was left to such faithful followers as Joseph Parker, a charter member of the first church, and his cousin, William Parker. As a result, these followers of Palmer probably had the most profound impact on the fledgling Free Will Baptist denomination. Churches founded by and served by the Parkers would later become known officially as Free Will Baptists.
Near the end of the 18th century, James Roach succeeded Joseph Parker in his General Baptist work at Little Creek, Grimsley, Wheat Swamp, Louson Swamp, and Gum Swamp. Roach later would sign the Abstract of the Former Articles of Faith, of 1812, which served as a revision of the General Baptist Confession of 1660. The churches would continue into the new century to become known as Free Will Baptist churches. By 1828, the new name had begun to fit comfortably and was fully approved. The Free Will Baptists were here to stay.
About the Writer: William F. Davidson was professor of Church History at Columbia International University, in Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Davidson is an alumnus of Peabody College, Welch College, Columbia Bible College, Northern Baptist Seminary, and New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The Ayden, North Carolina, native also served as pastor of Free Will Baptist churches in Kentucky and Virginia.
