On Tuesday I posted about the Oklahoma Baptist State Association (Landmark). I want to revisit that briefly. It seems to me that this association was formed circa 1912, and that is not the same association formed in Tulsa in 1903. However, there does seem to be some continuity between the two associations that needs to be noticed.
A Baptist association was formed in Tulsa at the Baptist Church (now First Baptist, Tulsa), on November 27-28, 1903. Abe Carlin, moderator; R. V. Thompson, assistant moderator; W. H. Littlefield, treasurer; were its officers. It met in Wynnewood, Oklahoma in 1904.[i] Further information about this body is not available. The facts about these two meetings were supplied to the historical committee by five men, at least some of whom knew and labored with Carlin and Thompson.
“The above facts were given by a committee composed of C. A. Smith, G. W. Crawford, G. C. Hill, W. S. Miller, and J. A. Welch.”[ii]
In 1900, Abe Carlin and his family were living in Lawrence County, Missouri. Both before and after this, he was preaching in Oklahoma Territory.[iii] He is later connected with the Oklahoma Baptist State Association (Landmark). For example, he preached the Sunday sermon at the 1917 meeting in Mason. In the mid-1920s, he was pastor of the Immanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Sapulpa, and connected with the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma.[iv] Uriah Farthing indicates Carlin was participating with the Board Baptists while he was pastor at Vinita, Indian Territory.[v] This was in the 1890s, before the above-mentioned association was organized in 1903.[vi] Farthing also mentions R. V. Thomson of the Arkansas Valley Association as opposing the Northern and Southern Convention practices. – probably the same as R. V. Thompson above.[vii] He supported the Landmark work.[viii]
The association organized in 1903, and the association dating from an organization circa 1912 have a connection. The first association technically would not have been an Oklahoma state association – for there was no state of Oklahoma until 1907. One possibility might be that the territorial association organized in 1903 was reorganized as a state association in 1912.
[ii] Ibid., p. 8
[iii] Stroud Star, Friday, February 28, 1902, p. 7. When the Lawrence County (Missouri) Association met in 1902, Abe Carlin was supposed to preach the introductory sermon. He is described as being away in Oklahoma. Word and Way, Thursday, November 6, 1902, p. 2.
[iv] The Sapulpa Herald, Saturday, November 21, 1925, p. 2; The Baptist Worker, Wednesday, March 17, 1926, p. 5.
[v] The Oklahoma Baptist, Saturday, March 1, 1924, p. 1. “Eld. Abe Carlin, then of Vinita, Okla., now of Cove, Ark. was called to do this very thing [help pad reports of offerings for the Board, according to Farthing, rlv]. He renounced the whole thing and has ever been a very faithful missionary Baptist preacher rejected by the Boards.”
[vi] The Indian Chieftain, Thursday, September 27, 1894, p. 1; The Vinita Daily Chieftain, Thursday, September 22, 1904, p. 1.
[vii] The Oklahoma Baptist, Saturday, March 1, 1924, p. 1.
[viii] Ibid., Friday, February 1, 1924, p. 7. He evidently is the same person identified as R. H. Thompson (of Roland, as was R. V. Thompson) in the Sword and Trowel September 26, 1912, p. 9.
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