Westward Migration
Soon after their marriage, the young couple departed Kentucky for Vincennes, Indiana. Although he had no training and little formal education, McCoy became a part-time preacher. In 1808 the Silver Creek Baptist Church, the first Baptist Church in Indiana, granted McCoy a license "to preach the Gospel wherever God in His providence might cast his lot.” In 1809 McCoy became pastor of Maria Creek Church near Vincennes and in 1810 the Church ordained him as a minister.
Despite illness and poverty, McCoy traveled widely on the frontier promoting various causes. In 1817, the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions appointed him as a missionary to the settlers and Indians in Indiana and Illinois territories. His interests and concern for Indians quickly began to dominate his work.
Read more about this topic: Isaac Mc Coy
Famous quotes containing the word westward:
“They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here, and sea fog, and eerie stories. That’s not because there are more ghosts here than in other places, mind you. It’s just that people who live hereabouts are strangely aware of them.”
—Dodie Smith, and Lewis Allen. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland)