Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church (CPC): www.cumberland.org  arose out of the Second Great Awakening on the American Frontier. It began in 1800, and was formally organized 1810 in Dickson County, Tennessee. These were revivalists who disagreed with the mother Presbyterian Church. The CPC saw that revivals were extraordinary circumstances, and allowed for exceptions to both educational requirements for ordaining minsters, and the required subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith. Originally a frontier southern Scots-Irish movement, it quickly spread beyond those roots.

Today the CPC is international. However, it is primarily concentrated in the American South mainly in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, southern Illinois, Arkansas and Texas. Some of their innovations have been along social lines. They were the first Presbyterians to ordain women to the ministry (1889). They also were among the first denominations to admit women to their higher educational institutions. They also began to ordain African Americans to the ministry around 1830.

For the family historian, the records of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church can hold a wealth of information. The Historical Library and Archives of the General Assemblies: www.cumberland.org/hfcpcholds records for both the CPC and the African American denomination, Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America:

www.cpcachurch.org  On the archives website is a database of ministers: www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister Portions of the archive has been microfilmed with copies at the Family History Library. Other records may be with the Presbyterian Historical Society: http://history.pcusa.org as they collect for all branches of American Presbyterianism.

If you are researching families on the American Frontier, especially in the South, do not neglect the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It was an important part of the frontier religious experience.