After considering Stephen Gano, who was ordained to the gospel ministry on August 2, 1786, we turn to his father John Gano, who passed away on this day in 1804.
John was born again while living in Hopewell, New Jersey, after which the Lord called him into His ministry. John, for a time, pastored in North Carolina not far from Shubal Sterns at Sandy Creek. Then he became the pastor of the Gold Street Baptist Church in New York, until the War put that city in the hands of the British. Brother Gano then became a chaplain in Washington’s army. Usually the chaplains served at the rear with the recruits and the wounded, far from the action, but at the battle of Chatterlou’s Hill, Gano found himself at the front. With lead whizzing past him, he chose to remain where he was and this greatly enhanced his respect among the men as a courageous man and servant of God. Perhaps a greater day in Gano’s military career took place when he immersed George Washington in the waters of the Hudson River. Historians will debate whether that is true until the time that all truth is revealed, but Stephen and other descendants of the family are sure that it is. After the war, Gano returned to New York, rejoicing to learn that his soul had not died in battle, and later that he had been born again. Finally, beginning to age, but still feeling the missionary spirit, John and his wife moved to the wilderness of Kentucky where he served the Lord for another ten years.
Again, I will blatantly advertize my book about several generations of the Gano family: “Grace unto the Third and Fourth Generation.”
– Source: “This Day in Baptist History,” Cummins and Thompson
– Source: “This Day in Baptist History,” Cummins and Thompson