Born: Tompkinsville, Kentucky, 1806.
Died: Glasgow, Kentucky, 1882.
John Mulkey, the father of John Newton, moved from Tennessee to Kentucky about 1801, and settled on Mill Creek, some two miles from Tompkinsville. In 1809, while preaching a sermon at the home of William Simms, from the tenth chapter of John, and making a strong effort to maintain the doctrine of Calvinism, his own arguments convinced himself that this teaching was false. The Stockton Valley Association, to which the Mill Creek Church belonged, called him to account. The upshot of the matter was that John Mulkey left the Baptists and took many of the Mill Creek Church with him.
These met together on the third Saturday in November, 1809, and, after prayer, organized a church on the Bible alone, rejecting human creeds, confessions of faith and books of discipline. This congregation came to be known as the "Bible Alone Church." Hence, it is plain that his son, John Newton Mulkey, was as near religiously free-born as any one of his time. He began to preach in East Tennessee in 1831. In the summer of 1832, two miles west of Wolf River, Clay Co., Tennessee, in the Liberty meeting-house, he preached a sermon on "The Weekly Meeting of the Church to Break Bread."
He came to Illinois in 1857, settling in Perry County. He was reckoned the most powerful preacher of this name, and the equal of the best of his time. He preached the Word clearly and with unusual sympathy for all those whom he addressed. While supporting his family from his farm for twenty years, he did efficient ministerial work in southern Illinois. The closing years of his life were passed in Kentucky. It is estimated that he preached ten thousand sermons and immersed nearly that number of believers.
General Note on The Mulkeys:
The Mulkey family came to America from Sweden about 1650 and settled on a part of the territory watered by the Delaware River and Bay. Their history is an interesting one. They were men of earnest Christian convictions and high moral purpose and courage. As far as known, there was only one exception--he was a shocking pervert.
Besides those whose sketches are given here, other Christian preachers of this family went West--some to Missouri, some to Arkansas and others to Oregon.