Excerpt from Joseph Brown’s “Biographical Sketch” (Fall 1814)

In this short excerpt from his autobiography, Joseph Brown recalled witnessing the jerks at a camp meeting in middle Tennessee among members of the breakaway Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

In the fall of 1814 I attend a camp meating at Newtons camp ground uppon Duck River Bedford County Called the bibel comunion and the foling [following] orders was observed. The old Presbytarians Sit at the first tabel the second table the Methodist the 3 Cumberland the 4 the Baptist and each tabel was attended by their own ministers and there own officers sow that all mit avale themselves of the comunion. The result of this mating was not exactter recolecten but from memory betwixt 70 and 130 converson and among the rest was brother McGee children and Danel Patten that afterward became a minester of the Cumberland Presbytarian Church.

During this fall I spent all of my time attending the camp meatings but the particulars of any other meating not recolected but think the result of the camp meatings was from 40 to 50 Converts. During all of the above meatings the peopel had the Jirks Shouting and dncing [dancing] and while the [they] wer dncing Jirking and shouting those that atempted to desribe there fealing while ingaged in the above exersize sayed the [they] had the most hevenly fealing that [they] ever felt in the there life.

Source

Joseph Brown, Biographical Sketch No. 1, ca. 1860, 21, Joseph Brown Papers, 1772–1965, Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville.