The History of Texas Baptists, reprise

I wrote the following several years ago, when I was thinking about the need for a true Texas Baptist Historical Society, one that was not geared toward a particular flavor of Baptists. Now that I am doing a microcosm of that with my Rusk County Baptist history, I thought it would be could to republish this (slightly edited) before writing about my work in the county.

The history of Texas Baptists is one of the great loves of my life. I do not remember exactly when it happened, but it is an ongoing affair of about fifty years. In 2019, I focused on the history of the Sabine Baptist Association, the earliest Baptist association in our area (organized 1843). I found a treasure trove of information at Baylor University’s archives (oh, sure, I wish for more).[i] As I began to understand what is there, a sad wonderment struck my mind. How long has this information lain dormant there? How many historians who mention the Sabine Baptist Association ever bothered to check these primary documents? I would love to see a new history of Texas Baptists refocused on primary documents that have previously been undiscovered or ignored. Perhaps we have long had the big picture, but the devil is in the details.

Previous histories are too partisan in outlook. What is labeled “a history of Texas Baptists” is most often “a history of my Texas Baptists.” Don’t get me wrong. There is a place and need for denominational histories. The Free Will Baptists write theirs, Missionary Baptists write theirs, the National Baptists write theirs, Primitive Baptists write theirs, Southern Baptists write theirs, and so on.[ii] The plus side includes access to records not easily obtained, and that they offer their own unique perspective and understanding of themselves, things frequently missed by “outsiders.” The minus side is that they often fail to assimilate their story into the whole of the history of Texas Baptists (and miss the insight of “outsiders”). Even the large tomes of Carroll and McBeth, in my opinion, only make meager mention of the existence of other Baptists after they move on from the earliest years.

Previous histories are too narrow in research. Hand in hand with the partisanship in history writing is its narrowness.  For example, to many historians, Daniel Parker is a wart on the nose of Texas Baptists. Mention him we must, but let’s move on. Quickly![iii] However, those who bother to check might find that Asa Wright labored in the west in the late 1830s with “missionary” Z. N. Morrell and in the east in the early 1840s with “anti-missionary” Daniel Parker – then later hooked up with “missionary” Lemuel Herrin and “anti-missionary” Isaac Reed to form the Sabine Baptist Association. Or, that Thomas Hanks was a member of the “Separate” Union Baptist Church near Nacogdoches before he was a member (and later pastor) of the “Regular” Pilgrim Baptist Church of near Elkhart.[iv] Through this narrowness, historians fail to branch out and learn all they might about the vagaries of even their own partisans.

Previous histories are too predictable in narration. Too often the same sources are used repetitively without seeking for other available and overlooked primary sources. I know one person will never find them all. Nevertheless, I can’t express how mind-numbing it has been to see the same story about the Sabine Baptist Association repeated over and over, when the writers kept checking the same old source, apparently never bothering to check the Sabine’s own sources – their minutes. This must be true (unless they were afraid or dishonest). Had they checked the available Sabine Association minutes, reporting accurately and honestly, they would not have repeated the same old sad story of the association .[v] Leon McBeth writes, “Any history of Texas Baptists must begin with Z. N. ‘Wildcat’ Morrell…”[vi] I have no particular quarrel with that. Morrell’s book is a wonderful record of one who lived the early history of Texas Baptists, from when he arrived in December 1835. On the other hand, Morrell is the source of the some of the errors on the Sabine Baptist Association. I find no evidence that he ever attended its sessions.[vii] His information is second-hand. Should not those who attended and recorded their sessions receive some priority of testimony?

What to do? Southern Baptists have written the majority of the history of the Baptists of Texas. I don’t fault them. They are the majority of Baptists in Texas. They may have the “training and necessary leisure.” However, they have frequently been sectarian while at the same time blaming sectarianism on their foes. Smaller Baptist sub-denominations then rebut with their own clannishness, and ultimately we fail to read the whole story. Future writers could learn a lesson from Albert W. Wardin in his Tennessee Baptists: A Comprehensive History, 1779-1999. The bulk of the book is about the majority party, but Wardin clearly takes an interest in all the Baptists of Tennessee. Further exacerbating the Texas problem, in my opinion, is that the main (if not only) Baptist historical society (if it even still exists) is connected to and funded by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Even though they don’t/didn’t restrict their membership to BGCT folks, others often feel restricted by the integral connection. Creating an historical society not connected to or dependent upon a particular association, conference, or convention might reflect the greater diversity of Baptists in the state, create greater buy-in of Baptists across the state, and promote the kind of research that sees the connectivity of early Texas Baptists of various “stripes.” Such a society would allow historical corroboration without compromising denominational connections. I have no problems wrestling with you over faith and practice while uniting with you to better understand our history. What about you?

Maybe one day we will have an integrated account of all Texas Baptists.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

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[i] The Texas Collection “is Baylor University’s oldest special collections library.”

[ii] Some Texas Baptist denominational histories include A History of Texas Baptists: Comprising a Detailed Account of Their Activities, Their Progress and Their Achievements, James Milton Carroll, Dallas, TX: Baptist Standard Publishing Co., 1923; A History of the Primitive Baptists of Texas, Oklahoma and Indian Territories, Joseph Sylvester Newman, Tioga, TX: Baptist Trumpet, 1906; From the Red to the Rio Grande: a History of the Free Will Baptist in Texas, 1876 to 2014, Thurmon Murphy, Columbus, OH: FWB Publications, 2017; History of the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, William Henry Parks, Cleburne, TX: [n.d., before 1916], Missionary Baptists in Texas, 1820-1998, Oran Heaton Griffith, Henderson, TX: History & Archives Committee of the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas, 1999; Texas Baptists: a Sesquicentennial History, Harry Leon McBeth, Dallas, TX: Baptistway Press, 1998.

[iii] As does Baker in The Blossoming Desert, p. 26.

[iv] And [1] Deacon William Sparks was a member of the “Regular” Hopewell Baptist Church in Cooks Settlement (Nacogdoches County) before he was a member of the “Separate” Union Baptist Church. [2] William Brittain had been an ordained Elder nearly 30 years (ordained 1810) before he came to Texas. William and Rosanna moved from North Carolina to Arkansas, then they moved to Texas in 1837. They were first connected with the Pilgrim Church of Parker, with which church they united in 1838. They organized a church in Shelby County in 1841, then reorganized it in 1846 after splitting with the Parker churches. At this time they began to fellowship with Isaac Reed and the Sabine Baptist Association. While likely not called Missionary Baptist in the lifetime of Elder Brittain, they would come to be recognized as such.

[v] This is not to say that they got it all wrong, but that the minutes would have corrected what they did have wrong.

[vi] Texas Baptists: a Sesquicentennial History, p. 495

[vii] Z. N. Morrell does not say he did, neither is he mentioned in any of the existing minutes. On the other hand, Morrell does say he was informed on the subject by David Lewis (pp. 263-264). Though Morrell probably did not know, we have enough information today to know that Lewis was both a scoundrel and a primary cause of dissension in the association.

Elder Robert G. Green

I am hoping/trying to identify Robert G. Green, who was involved in the organization of Union Baptist Church in 1838 near Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas and Plum Grove (Hopewell) Baptist Church in 1839 near La Grange in Fayette County, Texas. Morrell mentions him three times in his book Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness.

Flowers and Fruits, page 187

At the time of the organization of Union, Reed lived probably 30 miles north of Nacogdoches

Flowers and Fruits, page 141

In this Morrell is quoting from the letter of the church to the Union Baptist Association

Flowers and Fruits, pp. 200-201

This last mention of Green by Morrell is concerning Baptist ministers who were in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas around the time he was trying or organize a church there. It is certainly not complimentary, but perhaps instructive of both from whence he came (Tennessee) and the last-certainly-known place he was living in Texas. He was evidently around Nacogdoches early in 1838, and was living in or near Bastrop when he helped organize the church at Plum Grove. He may have only been passing through Nacogdoches. The Union Church was organized in May 1838, and at least as early as September 1838, Green was advertising as an attorney-at-law in Bastrop. Though Morrell describes Green in Huntsville, he evidently had still been a member of Providence in Bastrop County up to the time he was excluded for drunkenness. The Robert G. Green in the 1830 Tipton County, Tennessee census may well be him. (For example, an R. G. Green filed a Tipton County circuit court legal notice in 1832.) If so, his age range puts his birth between 1781 and 1790.

J. M. Carroll in A History of Texas Baptists (pp. 124-125), quotes from History of the Primitive Baptists of Texas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, by J. S. Newman (pp. 37-38, 1906). According to Carroll, Newman had access to the minutes of the Providence Baptist Church, which met on or near the Colorado River in Bastrop County, about 12-15 miles south of the town of Bastrop. The church was organized in 1834, in the district of Mena (Mina) of the State of Coahuila y Tejas – while this still belonged to Mexico. Both Asahel Dancer and R. G. Green were members of this church when they organized the Plum Grove Church. Newman writes:

“Elder R. G. Green joined by letter in December, 1838, and was excluded for drunkenness in February, 1840” (p. 125).

Green is not mentioned as a member of the Union (Old North) Church near Nacogdoches. He served on the organizational presbytery, prayed the organizational prayer, and served as moderator of the conference when the organized church adopted the name Union.

It seems easy to believe – though proof is not positive – that this could be the R. G. Green who briefly edited a paper in Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi; who served on the Board of Trustees of the Judson Institute, while living in Choctaw County, Mississippi; and who married Mrs. Elizabeth Boren (or Bowen) in Warren County, Mississippi December 25, 1837.

Perhaps because R. G. Green disgraced himself with drunkenness, was excluded from his church, and is left frenzied in the streets of Huntsville in Morrell’s history – no one has bothered to discover what happened to him. Additionally, he may have been estranged from wife and children (the former of which would seem to be suggested by Morrell, assuming domestic troubles means family troubles). However, if he is found to be the R. G. Green, Esq. of Crockett, Texas, he may have recovered at least a modicum of respect.

A proposed outline suggesting a line for further research on Robert G. Green.

• 1781-1790. Birth; guess based on 1830 census.
• 1815. Possible marriage; guess based on 1830 census.
• 1830. Tipton County, Tennessee. (Census)
• 1831. Tipton County, Tennessee (A Commissioner).
• 1834. Ordained by or before 1835, when Z. N. Morrell left Tennessee.
• 1835. Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi.
• 1836. Choctaw County, Mississippi.
• 1837. Warren County, Mississippi.
• 1838. Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas.
• 1840. Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas.
• 1842. Huntsville, Walker County, Texas (at least before September 1844).
• 1845. Crockett, Houston County, Texas.

With nothing obvious turning up for R. G. Green after 1845, perhaps his death occurred 1845-1850. The use of “Esquire” after the name R. G. Green in 1835 in Lexington, Tennessee and in 1845 in Crockett, Texas might suggest a man who was an attorney-at-law (which our R. G. Green was) – though not necessarily. This Crockett R. G. Green seems to make a court filing in 1844. It would be good to discover that R. G. Green came to repentance and recovered respectability before the end of his life.

Baptist history on Ancestry

If you have an Ancestry subscription, are interested in Texas Baptist history, and especially if you are interested in the Anderson Baptist Church (formerly Antioch) of Grimes County, Texas, there are 29 pages of membership records here:

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62267/records/3289

There are some records of five other churches that follow alphabetically (some, unfortunately, not that well labeled).

Or for broader searches, see HERE.

A traveling church

Another church on the move

Excerpt from “Baptists of Denton County to Hold Golden Jubilee Celebration,”

Denton Record-Chronicle, Wednesday, May 27, 1936, page 2

Dossey preachers in early Texas

I am saving the clip below for historical reference. In his 1846 travels, Z. N. Morrell mentions two brothers named Dorsey who had a church near Springfield in Anderson County. Morrell is probably spelling their surname as it sounded to him, and through my research I have concluded that these men were “Dossey” rather than “Dorsey” – Thomas Franklin Dossey and William Pinkney Dossey, possibly sons of William Greenberry (or Greenberry William) and Mary Dossey (but possibly relatives, misunderstood by Morrell to be brothers). Except for the slight difference in surname spelling, the Dosseys fit the statement provided by Morrell. Though the Dosseys were in Limestone County, Springfield in Anderson County was well within an area a Baptist preacher would travel to preach in that day. Thomas Franklin Dossey (Sr) was born about 1810 in Franklin County, Tennessee, and died in Texas in August of 1871. He is buried in the Faulkenberry Cemetery near Groesbeck in Limestone County, Texas. William Pinkney Dossey was born about 1815 in Tennessee (probably Franklin County) and died probably in Texas (unless he died in Civil War service away from home), at least before 1870. He married Ellen H. Acock in Morgan County, Alabama in 1832. Thomas married Lavinia Curry in 1835 in Morgan County, Alabama.

Flower and Fruits from the Wilderness, Z. N. Morrell, 1872, pp. 227-228

A Landmark Southern Baptist Association in Texas

It is curiously intriguing that some modern-day Southern Baptists – particularly Southern Baptists with “anti-Landmark” sentiments – exert energy and effort to rescue their heroes from the charge of being “Landmark Baptist.” (For two quick examples of “rescuing” B. H. Carroll, see the notes below.[i] ) Into this fray steps the Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Shelby County.

I encountered this intriguing example of “rescue” – or plain old historical ignorance – when trying to ferret out the history of the Shelby-Doches Baptist Association (a local association of Southern Baptist churches in our area). The history of the Nacogdoches Association was clear enough to me. I was already familiar with it. However, I kept running into road blocks, into confusing and contradictory assertions regarding the “Shelby County” Association.[ii] Shelby-Doches Association organized in 1925 as a merger of the Nacogdoches and Sabine River Associations.[iii] So far, however, I have not seen a Texas Baptist historian identify the origin of the Sabine River Association, which obviously existed before it merged with the Nacogdoches Association. I discovered that the Sabine River Association was organized circa 1902-03 as the Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Shelby County, by a minority of Shelby County Missionary Baptist Association churches that wanted to maintain affiliation and cooperation with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.[iv] The 1909 meeting at Clever Creek was called the 7th Annual Session. After 1911 and by 1914, the name was changed to Sabine River Baptist Association of Shelby County.[v]

I suppose that historians have not deliberately suppressed the fact that the Southern Baptist split from the Shelby County Missionary Association was called “Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Shelby County.” I suspect it is more likely that it has not crossed many minds that this was a group of churches supporting the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention.[vi]

It is provocative that the Southern Baptist minority – denominational supporters of the Baptist General Convention of Texas – on the same side as B. H. Carroll – took the name “Landmark,” a name which detractors say only identifies those who split from the Convention! They were denominational Landmarkers—whether or not it makes sense. In my opinion, this circumstance should give the naysayers pause when they try to separate “Landmark” from “supporting the Convention.”[vii]

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[i] “…the only movement that Carroll did support which had Landmark influences was the Whitsitt Controversy; and although that controversy dealt with successionism, it was only a secondary issue for Carroll. Carroll did share some theological and historical views with the Landmarkists, but there were too many areas of disagreement to consider him a true Landmarker.” (Fighting the Good Fight: the Life and Work of Benajah Harvey Carroll, Alan J. Lefever, Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1994, p. 75)
“If he was a Landmarker, he was a denominational Landmarker—and that doesn’t make sense.” (“B. H. Carroll defies narrow theological labels, historians assert,” The Baptist Standard, November 13, 2014) Alan Lefever is director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection
“While Carroll agitated for Whitsitt’s removal, he never fully embraced the Landmark understanding of Baptist origins as championed by his younger brother J. M. Carroll.” (The Worst Decision B. H. Carroll Never Made: Southern Seminary, the Whitsitt Controversy & the Quest for Institutional Accountability, Jason K. Allen; President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Kansas City, Missouri)
[ii] Perhaps exacerbated in part by several associations including the word “Sabine” in their names (Sabine, Sabine River, Sabine-Neches, Sabine Valley – and also some people confusing the words “Saline” and “Sabine.”
[iii] “Texas Associations,” J. D. Brandon, Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Volume II, Norman W. Cox, editor. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1958, p. 1397. “According to previous agreement messengers of the churches of what had formerly composed the Nacogdoches Baptist Association of Nacogdoches County, Texas and the Sabine River Association of Shelby County, Texas met here at the Baptist Church of this village [Martinsville, Nacogdoches County, Texas] to organize the Shelby-Doches Baptist Association, to cover the territory of the two counties.” (Minutes of the First Annual Session of the Shelby-Doches Missionary Baptist Association, October 8-9, 1925, p. 3)
[iv] “Circa” because I have not found the organizational minutes. 1902-03 is based on the dating of the annual sessions.
[v] See minutes held in the collection at the A. Webb Roberts Library of Southwestern Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
[vi] Thereby never bothering to make the connection.
[vii] It is my understanding that the entire ministry of Landmarker “J. R. Graves” was spent in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Shelby County

 

Cover, Minutes of the Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of Shelby County

Constitution of the Shelby County Landmark Association (beginning)

Constitution of the Shelby County Landmark Association (completed)

Thomas Washington Cox

Thomas Washington Cox was born in Tennessee, and labored as a Baptist minister in Alabama and Texas (and perhaps Tennessee), before defecting to the Campbellites.

He was the son of Greenberry Cox and Temperance Cross, and born circa 1803.[i] He married Melinda D. Bradford August 22, 1823 in Rutherford County, Tennessee. They had at least 9 children (her obituary suggests 9 children survive her). After the death of Melinda, he married Mrs. Mary Linzey in Fayette County in September 1848. However, she does not appear with him on the 1850 census.

In 1833, Thomas W. Cox served on a committee of 5 appointed by the Alabama Baptist State Convention to establish a seminary (“Baptist Literary Institution”) on the “Manual Labor Plan.” He served on the Board of Directors at least until 1835. Cox preached at Ebenezer/ Tuscaloosa City (Holcombe, p. 149), Hebron in Jefferson County (p. 232), Good Hope in Talladega (p. 254), and perhaps Elyton in Jefferson County (p. 234; if the “W” was incorrectly inverted to an “M”). In 1835 he was on the “Committee of Vigilance” of Tuscaloosa, a group opposing vices such as gambling.

The Democrat, Thursday, September 12, 1833, p. 4

“Elder Thomas W. Cox lived here some time; and went from here to the province of Texas. Mr. Cox was an intelligent man, and might have been useful in the cause of the Master; but he engaged in the mercantile business, as too many preachers have done, and failed—then studied law, and it is probable, is practicing in Texas. He was, like many other ministers, rather arminian in his doctrinal views; but was highly respected as a minister of the gospel, until those misfortunes came his way; or rather, until he put himself in the way of them. Mr. Cox, has preached a great deal in Alabama.” Holcombe, p. 254

An Early History of Fayette County Texas by Leonie Rummel Weyand & Houston Wade (LaGrange, TX: LaGrange Journal Plant, 1936, pp. 49-52, 140, 172, 220, 224, 285, 297) has an interesting account of Cox, but gets some things wrong about him. (Such as saying he was born in Alabama in 1785, and that he came to Texas in 1822 with Austin’s 3rd Colony. He was not born in Alabama, was not that old, and if he came to Texas in 1822, he did not stay.)

Cox owned (apparently due to his military service) 640 acres in Fayette County, 13 miles east of La Grange.

It is not certain, but perhaps Cox was no longer active in the ministry after his exclusion from the church at LaGrange in 1841. He practiced law in Texas. He died February 6, 1852, of congestion of the brain, and is buried in an unknown grave – mostly likely the Rutersville Cemetery, but possibly in La Grange.[ii]

T. W. Cox served on the “Texas Monumental Committee,” the group that published the newspaper The Texas Monument (published at LaGrange, Texas), as well as collected funds to build a monument to the Mier Expedition prisoners.

In the La Grange Journal newspaper, 1937, 1938:

• The Fighting Parson 
• War with Mexico (also footnote, p. 6)
• Mier Expedition, Thomas Washington Cox 
• Mier Expedition, Thomas Washington Cox (continued)

T. W. Cox is mentioned in Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness by Z. N. Morrell, a history of early Texas Baptists. Morrell and Cox were Baptist ministers, and contemporaries in the Union Baptist Association. Morrell advised the church of which Cox was a member and pastor about his Campbellite doctrine and recommended that they take action against him.

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[i] There are some discrepancies on his birth year, but 1803 seems to come closest to all the best-attested facts. The Thomas Cox in 1830 in the Davidson County, Tennessee census is probably him.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8058/records/687568

[ii] His wife Melinda was buried at Rutersville, and this is probably in general where or close to the area where they owned the 640 acres.

The First Baptist Association in Texas

It is a circumstance marked, curious, and sad that the Baptist supporters of mission boards were unable to form an association by cooperating with Baptists who opposed mission boards – but were able to cooperate with a Campbellite sympathizer (since he was “missionary”) in order to form the first Baptist association in the state of Texas!

The Union Baptist Association at its organization had three ordained ministers: R. E. B. Baylor, T. W. Cox, and J. L. Davis. The “Campbellite sympathizer” was Thomas Washington Cox. Cox was involved in the presbyteries organizing all three churches that started the association, was pastor of all three at the time the association organized, and was elected moderator of the association.[i] While his tendencies may not have been obvious in 1840, Cox felt free to unveil them in 1841.[ii] “During the second session he preached on the subject of faith, and, departing from the doctrine plainly set forth in the New Testament, clearly taught the errors embraced in the system commonly known as Campbellism” (Morrell, p. 145). With some effort on their part and with resistance against them, several Baptist leaders brought charges against Cox before his church and the church excluded him.

The Texas Monument, Wednesday, February 11, 1852, p. 3

Most of this information can be found in Flowers and Fruits, Z. N. Morrell, pages 132-147, but I also reviewed the Union Association minutes of 1840-1841.

Table from the 1840 Union Association minutes

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[i] In the 1840 Union Association minutes, T. W. Cox is listed as pastor of the church Independence, “co-pastor” at Travis Church with Davis, and “co-pastor” at La Grange Church with Baylor and Davis. Presumably he was a member of the church at La Grange, and was one of the representatives of that church in forming the association. “Co-pastor” is not a word found in the Union Association minutes. I simply chose it to recognize the fact that Cox was listed as one of the “Pastors” (plural) at these two churches.
[ii] Hosea Holcombe wrote of Cox, that while in Alabama he was “rather arminian in his doctrinal views...” (Holcombe, p. 254). Cox was active among the Baptists in Alabama before moving to Texas (and apparently leaving under a cloud). See The Alabama Baptist State Convention, 1823-1842, and A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of the Baptists of Alabama.

Bit-O-Baptist History

Here are some interesting bits of Baptist history from the “Rules of Decorum” of the Ebenezer Church of United Baptists in Smith County, Texas. In October 1849, the church had only recently been organized with nine members by Elders Boley Conner Walters (1802-1856) and Zachariah Rose (1809-1886). They composed a letter to present as a petitionary letter to the Sabine Baptist Association meeting at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Cherokee County, October 6-8, 1849. The letter included a statement of their abstract of principles and rules of decorum. I believe that this Ebenezer Church probably met just south of Arp, Texas, near the location of the Ebenezer Cemetery.

“9th. The members of the church will not commune with any other church who are not our faith & order. Any new or strange preacher coming amongst us will be required to Exhibit his credentials before he is invited to the stand – or satisfactory vouchers of his standing.”

This rule demonstrates strict communion and rejection of non-Baptist preachers for preaching in the church (as well as not rushing to receive Baptist preachers who were not yet known to be sound in the faith). I particularly liked the old phraseology we probably wouldn’t use today, about a “strange preacher coming amongst us. Additionally, the 7th article demonstrates the practice of feet washing was not at all uncommon in our early Texas Baptist history.

“7th. Church meetings shall be held once a month at least for the transaction of Business & shall attend to the Lords Supper & the Example of feet washing as often as she may appoint from time to time.”

This letter was adopted by the Ebenezer Church “August 3rd Saturday 1849.”

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Note 1: Both of these ministers mentioned above soon left the churches of East Texas. Zachariah Rose returned to the state of Tennessee. B. C. Walters apparently died in 1856.

Note 2: The name “United Baptist” developed out of the union of Regular and Separate Baptist Associations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Many churches and associations adopted the term “United” to express this unity. Therefore, many Baptists who are now Missionary Baptists, Southern Baptists, and even Primitive Baptists may have once called themselves United Baptists. It is my inclination (based on “educated guessing”) to think that most of the earlier churches in Texas that emphasized they were “United Baptists” tended toward being pro-missionary but anti-missionary society. Or perhaps they just held on to the name longer than others. However, that is only a generalization that cannot be universally recognized.

Index for the Journal of Texas Baptist History

An index that might be useful for researchers, especially if they are looking into Texas Baptist history:

“Index for the Journal of Texas Baptist History, Volumes I-XX,” Courtney Lyons, pages 175-200.

General Sam Houston

Z. N. Morrell (1803-1883), a Tennessee and Texas Baptist preacher, was an acquaintance and admirer of General Sam Houston (1793-1863), and mentions Houston quite a bit in his autobiography Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness. He wrote this regarding Houston’s baptism (p. 342).

“During this year, the ‘Hero of San Jacinto’ appeared upon the field again; not to drive the Mexicans and Indians from the soil of his adopted State, but to enroll his name among the believers in Christ and lend his influence in extending the conquests of religion. In November, 1854, he presented himself as a candidate for baptism to the church at Independence, and after a few simple statements as to the change God had wrought in his heart, he was approved by the church as a proper subject for baptism. On the nineteenth day of the same month, he was buried in baptism by Elder R. C. Burleson, the pastor of the church. It was his delight afterwards to attend our general meetings, whenever his official duties would permit, and give the benefit of his counsel to his brethren in the mission and educational enterprises of the denomination. His speech on one occasion before the Baptist State Convention on the Indian mission was one of the masterly efforts of his life, and did ample justice to his reputation as an orator.

“He remained a consistent member of the church until his death, in the town of Huntsville, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1863. It was my privilege to visit him a few days previous to his death. Calmly and deliberately he spoke of the passage he was about to take across the river, and expressed the strongest confidence in Christ.  Thus General Sam. Houston passed away, whose memory so many of us love to cherish.”

Many years ago I had the privilege of visiting the place in the pasture where Houston was supposed to have been baptized (although at the time I went, there was not a pool of water there in the creek large enough to baptize someone).

Two Old Bethels

Marker at Bethel in Clayton, Panola County, Texas

On September 23, 1843, Isaac Reed founded the Bethel Baptist Church in the Reed Settlement near Clayton in Panola County (still Harrison County at the time). It was possibly the third Baptist Church he organized in East Texas. Below are pictures of the old meeting locations of two descendant churches, Bethel Baptist at Clayton and Old Bethel Baptist at Reed’s Settlement. Neither are 1843 old, and neither building exists today.

Around 1870 the white church members of Bethel began to move from Reed’s Settlement to what is now the town of Clayton. The black members of Bethel continued to meet at Reed’s Settlement, perhaps at the original meeting location. In recent years (after I took these pictures in 2006) Bethel at Clayton built a new building at the same location, and Old Bethel at Reed’s Settlement has also moved to Clayton.

Bethel at Clayton, 2006

Old Bethel at Reed’s Settlement, 2006

Roe Thomas Holleman

Today I post brief bios of two first cousins, Richard Valentine Holleman (1874-1969, son of Clinton Marion Holleman) and Roe Thomas Holleman (1884-1912, son of Robert Houston Holleman). R. V. was a Primitive Baptist preacher. R. T. was a Missionary Baptist preacher. Both were first cousins of my maternal grandmother, a daughter of Moody Valentine Holleman. One candle burned brightly and quickly. Cousin Roe Holleman died of spinal meningitis in the 27th year of his age. He was licensed to preach in March 1901, and ordained December 21, 1902 – making his time in the ministry about ten years. The other candle burned slowly and steadily. Cousin Richard Holleman died in the 95th year of his age, after nearly 63 years in the ministry. He was ordained December 15, 1905. Surely now any religious differences they had are all resolved!

At least two other Holleman-side first cousins were also preachers – Nehemiah Morris “Nead” Holleman, son of John Lawrence Holleman, and Moody Cunningham Hays, son of Parmelia C. Holleman Hays.[i] I have little biographical information on either of these, but may be able to post something later. I once heard the following story about Nead Holleman. He received a call to a church to the south – perhaps around Livingston where he is buried. He moved, did not harvest his crop, but left it for his neighbors to harvest and to have.

The youngest man ever to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Nacogdoches was Roe Thomas Holleman, in 1907 and 1908. He was born on September 27, 1884, in the Oak Flat community between Mt. Enterprise and Laneville, Rusk County, Texas. His parents were Robert H. Holleman and Nancy Jane Vaughn.

Roe Holleman attended rural schools in Rusk County, and graduated from high school at Cushing, Nacogdoches County.[ii] He felt the divine call to preach at the age of seventeen. He was licensed by Smyrna Baptist in March 1901. In the March conference Smyrna church elected a committee “to investigate the matter in regard to Brethren Roe Holleman and Edwin Stanford’s application to preach.” The committee retired forthwith, evidently in consultation with the prospective ministers, came back and made their report in the same meeting, and the two were given “the privilege to preach.” Roe Holleman began preaching in rural churches in Rusk County.

Roe Holleman conducted divine services in the Smyrna Church conference of July 1901, and again in August. He enrolled in Jacksonville Baptist College, and seems to have attended there 1902-1904. On October 18, 1902, Smyrna Church considered the request of W. B. Perry, representing Mt. Enon Church, for ordination of Bro. R. T. Holleman to the full work of the ministry. Ordination of Brethren J. W. Bryan and J. A. Jones to the deaconship was already pending, the first date for the deaconship service not having been kept “on account of Providential hinderance (sic) in the form of rain.” Consequently, the two deacons and the minister were all ordained on December 21, 1902. Bro. J. A. Lee preached the ordination sermon; other members of the presbytery were Elders E. C. Rice, M. L. Vaughn, Wm. M. Pruitt, V. T. Vaughn, Jas. A. Long, and J. J. Burks.

In 1906-1907, he served as pastor of both the Sacul Baptist Church in Sacul and the Central Baptist Church in Cushing, both in Nacogdoches County. His reputation as a preacher soon spread to the town of Nacogdoches, where the First Baptist Church secured his services as pastor. After resigning his Nacogdoches pastorate, he returned to Cushing where he again served as pastor for a time.

In his earliest ministry, Roe Holleman apparently maintained his membership for the most part of the time in the Smyrna Church, though he was pastoring elsewhere. His ministry began in turbulent times for associational Baptists in Texas. Disgruntled members (and possibly some non-members) of the Baptist General Convention of Texas – often designated as the “church-party” – formed the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas in 1900. Smyrna Church supported the “church-party” and the BMA of Texas. Supporters of the BGC of Texas were termed the “board-party.” Roe Holleman struggled with his affiliation. In February 1905, the church voted to “receive the credentials of Bro. R. T. Holleman for the present by his request to wait for further developments.” Subsequently the church voted to restore the credentials of Brother Holleman on July 15 of the same year. This circumstance likely was related to the division and his attempt to find his place in it. Eventually Roe Holleman cast his lot with board-party (Convention) Baptists.[iii]

Roe Holleman married Ola Menefee of Huntsville, Texas on December 30, 1908, who was at that time teaching in the Cushing High school. To this union were born two sons, Irvin Thomas Holleman and Samuel Brooks Holleman. At some point, he enrolled in and attended Baylor University, with 1911-12 being his senior year. Roe Holleman died during that senior year on January 18, 1912, of cerebral meningitis. While attending Baylor, he had an appointment once a month at Cushing. He had traveled from Waco, filled his appointment at Cushing on Sunday morning January 14, and then went to his parents’ home in the Oak Flat Community. He became sick Sunday afternoon, and suffered greatly from what was diagnosed as spinal meningitis. He died on Thursday in the home of his parents.[iv]

Roe Thomas Holleman was considered a very brilliant young preacher, who, had he lived a longer life, might have become one of the foremost preachers in Texas.[v] From the two sources we know that Roe Holleman pastored at least these churches: Central Baptist, Cushing, Nacogdoches County; First Baptist, Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County; Mt. Enon Baptist, Rusk County; Sacul Baptist, Sacul, Nacogdoches County.

This biography combines information from Seventy-five Years in Nacogdoches by William Tellis Parmer, Centennial + 5 by James Wyatt Griffith, East Texas Family Records, and family information passed down.

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[i] Roe also had three first cousins on the Vaughn side who were Baptist preachers, Robert Raymond Scruggs, Benjamin Lewis Vaughn, and William Wyatt Vaughn.

[ii] Likely because the rural schools did not have as many grades as the schools in towns. Even in the 1930s when by parents were in high school, Oak Flat had 10 grades, and both went to other schools to attend the 11th grade.

[iii] Planning a simple memorial service for Roe Holleman was not so simple. The following incident reminds us of the super-strained feelings from the Baptist division of 1900. “Unended bitterness resulted from this schism of Baptists. Especially was there strong feeling in the beginning. The most apparent case in the Smyrna Church was that involving Bro. Roe Holleman. After the untimely death of Bro. Holleman January 18, 1912 some desired to hold a memorial service in the Smyrna Church building, with Bro. Leland Malone, a Convention pastor, giving the message. This was not allowed until, on March 12, ‘on motion the church granted Elder Leland Malone the use of the church house to hold Bro. Roe Holleman’s funeral service the third Sunday in April, 1912.’” Centennial + 5: History of Smyrna Baptist Church of Rusk County, Texas, 1873-1978, J. W. Griffith, Henderson, TX: , 1978, p. 18.

[iv] There are some conflicts on his death date. Seventy-five Years in Nacogdoches gives January 17. An obituary reproduced in East Texas Family Records (Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1983, p. 29) says he died “Friday morning at 7 o’clock” – which would have been the 19th of January. Engraved on his tombstone is January 18, 1912, which I have accepted as correct and consistent with our family records.

[v] Seventy-five Years in Nacogdoches: a History of the First Baptist Church, 1884-1959, William Tellis Parmer, Dallas, TX: Dorsey Company, 1959, pp. 207-208. His widow, Mrs. Ola Parker, gave some of the biographical information given by William T. Parmer.

Richard Valentine Holleman

Today I post brief bios of two first cousins, Richard Valentine Holleman (1874-1969, son of Clinton Marion Holleman) and Roe Thomas Holleman (1884-1912, son of Robert Houston Holleman). R. V. was a Primitive Baptist preacher. R. T. was a Missionary Baptist preacher. Both were first cousins of my maternal grandmother, a daughter of Moody Valentine Holleman. One candle burned brightly and quickly. Cousin Roe Holleman died of spinal meningitis in the 27th year of his age. He was licensed to preach in March 1901, and ordained December 21, 1902 – making his time in the ministry about ten years. The other candle burned slowly and steadily. Cousin Richard Holleman died in the 95th year of his age, after nearly 63 years in the ministry. He was ordained December 15, 1905. Surely now any religious differences they had are all resolved!

At least two other Holleman-side first cousins were also preachers – Nehemiah Morris “Nead” Holleman, son of John Lawrence Holleman, and Moody Cunningham Hays, son of Parmelia C. Holleman Hays. I have little biographical information on either of these, but may be able to post something later. I once heard the following story about Nead Holleman. He received a call to a church to the south – perhaps around Livingston where he is buried. He moved, did not harvest his crop, but left it for his neighbors to harvest and to have.

FROM ELDER AFTON RICHARDS IN THE “BANNER OF LOVE” OCTOBER 1961: Our Profile this issue is of Elder R. V. Holleman, a pioneer minister of Southeast Texas.

I have not been very closely associated with this good man, but have corresponded with him for some 20 or more years, and heard him preach a few times.

He is counted as one of the truly great old fathers in Israel. While he retired a few years ago, he is still a great influence for good among Primitive Baptists.

My father, who was more closely associated with him, especially in the mid 40’s, said the courts missed one of their best gifts when Brother Holleman did not study law. He said that he had a brilliant technical mind. And my observation of him has proven to me that this is true.

I remember some two years ago some time after he retired, at a session of the Primitive Association, Brother Rowell, the moderator, whom custom said should preach Sunday morning, in his kind way bowed out and gave the time to Brother Holleman. His mind was so clear, and he took a subject and discussed it from a technical standpoint, like an attorney briefing his case. This too, presented in the spirit of the Lord. It could not be put into words the great worth to the cause of Christ of such able old soldiers as Brother Holleman.

WRITTEN BY ELDER HOLLEMAN: I was born in Rusk County, Texas, August 28, 1874 and moved to Leon County October 1884. I have lived in the Wealthy Community since. I united in marriage to Miss Eva Mae Gilbert (who was born Dec. 25, 1884) Dec. 15, 1907. She has been loyal.

I united to Union Church in Leon County on Saturday before the second Sunday in October 1894 and was ordained Dec. 15, 1905. I was in the constitution of Mt. Zion Church at Wealthy in April 1904, and I am the only living charter member.

During my ministry, I have served the three churches in Leon and Madison Counties, one of them (Shiloh) for 47 years. I have served as moderator of our association for 19 years. I have united in marriage 210 couples. I have estimated that I have been in 750 funerals. I have baptized 169 persons.[i]

WRITTEN BY DAVID MONTGOMERY: Elder Holleman had a wide influence in southeast Texas, and the memory of his ministry still lingers in the hearts of the Primitive Baptists in that area. He served the Fellowship Church in Madisonville, Texas for 45 years. He was a civic leader, being instrumental in the extension of rural electrical service into his area. He was postmaster of Wealthy, Texas from 1905 to 1914. He ran a general store at Wealthy for several years and almost went bankrupt when he accepted cotton for more than its value in lieu of money just to help his neighbors out. He served as a school trustee and was a member of the Leon Country Volunteer Parole Board. He was well respected in the church and in his community. He was laid to rest September 12, 1969 at the age of 95 years and 14 days.

The above is taken from Biographical Sketches of Primitive or Old School Baptist Ministers, Volume 2 –  Published 2001 by David Montgomery and Mark Green, and used by permission.

Additional information from his niece, Opal Holleman Miller, who described him as “a gentle smart man”:

• R. V. Holleman was baptized by Elder J. C. Denton on Sunday October, 14, 1894, the morning after he united with the Union Primitive Baptist Church by experience.
• R. V. Holleman taught music and was a song leader, in addition to his preaching ministry.
• R. V. Holleman resigned the pastoral care of his churches in 1952, but continued to serve Mt. Zion and Union in other ways, including church clerk.
• Beginning in 1948, couples he had married started a tradition of visiting Elder Holleman and his wife every 3rd Sunday in May, and continued the tradition until his death.[ii]

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[i] Sometime after writing this, Richard Holleman remembered one other baptism he had forgotten, bringing the total to 170. A complete list of “Baptisms Held by Elder Richard Valentine Holleman, Primitive Baptist Minister” can be found in Leon Hunters Dispatch, Vol. 14, No. 3, Spring 1993, pp. 80-85.

[ii] When Gilford Vaughn pastored Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church at Normangee, Texas, he told me that R. V. Holleman had married most all of the older couples in his church.