Author: Downs, William
Biography:
DOWNS, William (b 1782: ancestry.com)
Downs was born in Ohio county KY. His father was killed by Indians in 1788; he was brought up and educated in Nelson county. He became a schoolteacher, and both he and his brother were ordained to preach in the Baptist church. He married Rachel Ashby at Muhlenberg KY in 1806; the couple had at least three children. Downs appears to have been fiery and quarrelsome. Dismissed for drunkenness, he joined the Separate Baptists and founded a church called Little Mount, near Hodgenville, but returned to Ohio county and the United Baptists about 1830. The 1860 Census includes a man of this name living as a "boarder" in Hartford, Ohio county, in the household of his son William C. Downs, a farmer. No record has been found of his death. (John H. Spencer, A History of Kentucky Baptists 1769-1885 [1886] 164-6; ancestry.com 23 Sept. 2018) HJ