For all you Civil War enthusiasts: General Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn was born at Webster, PA and later moved with his family to Lewis County in 1840. As a young man he was a friend and neighbor of Thomas Jackson, who became Gen. ‘‘Stonewall’’ Jackson for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Enlisting in the army as a private in 1846, Lightburn served five years for the Union, leaving t
he army in 1851 with the rank of sergeant. Between that time and the outbreak of the Civil War, he operated the family’s mill and farm in Lewis County. Sometime before the war, Lightburn invited Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson to attend church at the Broad Run Baptist Church, where Lightburn attended. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson lived only a few miles away at his home at Jackson's Mill and would ride horseback to this church. Lightburn became a Baptist preacher in 1867. Broad Run Baptist Church is one of the most important churches ever established in Lewis County WV from the standpoint of its influence over the future development of the religious life of the people of northwestern Virginia (now WV). It began its existence in 1805. Elder John Carney, an itinerant Baptist preacher from the Buckhannon valley, came to Duck creek, now in Harrison county, about four miles north of Broad Run, in 1804, and began a series of meetings among the New Jersey settlers who had lately emigrated there. As his monthly visits continued considerable interest was awakened in religion. Settlers who had been good Baptists in New Jersey again felt the impulses of faith. A meeting was called for the purpose of considering the wisdom of forming a Baptist church. On February 5, 1805, the people of the community met in a private home in the presence of an advisory council. The meeting is said to have been "one of great solemnity and glorified by the conscious presence of the Holy Spirit." An opportunity was offered for those who wished to become members of the Baptist church.
