Peter Durrett[1] was born enslaved to his white father, Captain Duerrett, on his Caroline County, Virginia, plantation.
[3] This was during the First Great Awakening, the revival of the late 18th century when Methodist and Baptist preachers in the Southern United States converted many people.
[3] In 1784, Durrett and his wife were members of their enslaver Joseph Craig's church at the head of Boone's Creek.
The 19th-century religious historian and minister, Robert Hamilton Bishop, gives Mrs. Durrett credit for having been integral to forming the congregation: "His wife was also particularly active in providing accommodations for the people, and in encouraging them to be in earnest about the things which belonged to their everlasting peace.
[3] Durrett applied to the local Baptist association for ordination, which they declined to do but "directed him to go on in the name of their common Master."
[1][2] Its early congregants were fellow enslaved people, who were joined by an increasing number of free blacks in the Lexington area.
During his more than 30 years of service, Ferrill increased the congregation to 1,820 by 1850, making it the largest of any church, black or white, in the state.
Leaders in that church decided to accept the people Durrett had baptized without re-Baptism as members of Ferrill's congregation.