78 CHURCH, The oldest church and association in America, C. H. Cayce The first Baptist Church constituted in America was at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1638, by Dr. John Clark (a physician) and eleven other persons. The pastors and members of this church were Predestinarian Baptists—like the Primitive Baptists are now— until about the year 1820.
The Welch Tract Church, near Newark, Newcastle county, Delaware, is the oldest Primitive (or Old School) Baptist Church in the United States. It was constituted in the spring of 1701, by sixteen Baptists, in South Wales. They moved, as a church, to the United States, and first settled near Philadelphia, where they remained about a year and a half. Then they purchased a tract of land where the church is now located. They moved there in 1703.
The Philadelphia Association was formed in 1707; the Charleston in 1751; the Sandy Creek in 1758; the Kehukee in 1765. The Kehukee Association stands today upon the ancient order of the gospel, just as they did when constituted.