Peter Durrett

Peter Durrett (c. 1733 – 1823) (also appeared in records as Peter Duerrett) was a Baptist preacher and slave, who with his wife founded the First African Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky by 1790. By his death, the congregation totaled nearly 300 persons. It is the first black congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains, the first black Baptist congregation in Kentucky, and the third oldest black congregation in the United States. Its historic church was built in 1856, under the third pastor, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Peter Durrett was born into slavery on the plantation of his white father, Captain Duerrett of Caroline County, Virginia. He would have learned a variety of skills from his mother and fellow slaves. While in Caroline County, at about age 25, he was converted to the gospel and began to be active as a Baptist exhorter. This was during the First Great Awakening, the revival of the late 18th century when Methodist and Baptist preachers in the South made many new converts.

Peter married an enslaved woman who was held on another farm. When he learned in 1781 that her master was planning to migrate to Kentucky, he asked Captain Duerrett for help. Duerrett made an exchange so the couple could stay together, and Peter prepared to migrate.

The Baptist preacher Joseph Craig held Peter and his wife as master. Craig, his family and slaves migrated in 1781 with the congregation and other members of The Travelling Church, led by Craig's older brother Rev. Lewis Craig from Spotsylvania, Virginia. Because Peter helped the military leader, Captain William Ellis, guide the several hundred migrants on the arduous 600-mile journey through the Appalachian Mountains, he became known as Old Captain among the travelers. He was believed to have learned the route at an earlier time, perhaps on an earlier journey with Ellis.

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