Bishop Asbury meets at Killian’s home

In October of 1801, Tobias Gibson, a Methodist itinerant preacher who had been meeting with the societies in the Asheville, NC area, invited Bishop Francis Asbury to visit a meeting at the home of Daniel Killian.   Bishop Asbury wrote:  “October 11, 1801, Sabbath Day, yesterday and today held quarterly meeting at Daniel Killian’s near Buncombe Courthouse.  I spoke from Isaiah 7:5-7 and I Corinthians 7-1.  We had some quickenings.”

The need for a meeting place became apparent as the years went by.  A one-room log building was erected & called the Methodist Church on Beaverdam.  In the early 1830s, Daniel Killian donated several acres of land to be used “for a church and burying ground forever.”  In 1879 construction began on a one-room frame building which was completed in 1881 & dedicated by Bishop Wightman.

The State of NC erected an historical marker at the intersection of US Highway 25 (Merrimon Ave) & Beaverdam Road in Asheville, commemorating Bishop Asbury’s visits to the home of Daniel Killian. Killian also built a room onto his house for Bishop Asbury & other itinerant ministers.

“Daniel Killian appears on the 1790 census of Burke Co., NC, & it is believed he was living in the area of Beaver Dam Creek at that time. He entered 200 acres of land on Beaver Dam Creek in 1792, & NC State grant #337 was issued to him on 2 Dec 1797. He bought other land in the same area before 1800. He is the only Killian listed on the 1800 census of Buncombe County, & appears with the following household: 1 male over 45, 1 male 10-16, 3 males 0-10, 1 female 26-45, 1 female 16-26, 2 females 0-10, & no slaves. Daniel Killian was born 1757/59 in Lincoln Co, NC, & died 1830/36 in Buncombe Co, NC. He was a son of Andreas Killian, who was born in Germany in 1702, & died in Lincoln Co, NC in 1788. Daniel Killian’s tombstone in the Asbury Memorial UMC churchyard, in Asheville: “Pioneer Daniel Killian, 1752-1836, and wife.”

Thanks to my Ashevillian nephew, Jake Sadler, who came across this historical marker.  I would have never known.