Where He Comes From and Where He Goes, Nobody Knows
In studying the history of the Baptist Missionary Association of Oklahoma, I came across an enigmatic figure in the person of Charles R. Powell. Powell seems to have been a prominent minister among the Landmark
Baptists and in the General Association of Baptists in the United States of America – yet I have only found information on him covering roughly two decades, 1896-1916. I cannot find him in any census, thus do not know when or where he was born,
where he comes from. I cannot locate him after he exits the stage from Little Rock, Arkansas in 1916, thus not knowing where he goes. Posting here today, I
hope I might find that “nobody knows” is inaccurate, that somebody knows who he
was, where he came from and where he went.
Powell’s connection to my study was that I found him in late 1912 as editor of the Sword and Trowel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Sword and Trowel was published by Western Publishing Company (of which Powell served as secretary and manager), and in connection with the reorganized Baptist Missionary Association of Oklahoma.[i] The paper was a neat production of 16 pages (except what was possibly the last issue), but died an early death – spanning from its first issue in September until Powell resigned in December. In the December 19 issue, Powell uses nearly 4-1/2 pages (of eight pages) explaining that he has changed his alignments and has “fought my last battle for we have been calling Landmarkism.” “My readers must allow me to be tedious and lengthy in my last article in a Landmark Baptist paper.”[ii] He scores Ben M. Bogard and J. A. Scarboro as liars who must rule or ruin, and says that the only thing the General Association leaders permit “is a fight on Conventions.”[iii] While generally excoriating the leaders of the General Association, the specific problem lies in his defense of missionary I. N. Yohannon against J. A. Scarboro at the meeting at Bay Springs, Mississippi beginning December 3, 1912 .[iv] (Which defense was unsuccessful.) Powell does not indicate what he might do, though he suggests he might look for a home among the Convention Baptists.[v] G. W. Crawford describes the paper and editor this way:
A paper was launched. C. R. Powel was the editor of this paper and its name was “The Sword and Trowel.”
This paper was owned by a bunch of stockholders. I give a few names here of the stockholders of this paper: R. V. Thompson, Bob Thompson, C. R. Powell, Uriah Farthing and myself. There were others, but I do not have their names at hand. This was the breeziest paper I ever saw. It lived for awhile and then died. I will not mention the cause of its death, and its nature.
Poor Charley and the paper went down but we went right on with our work.
Powell (in my knowledge) first crops up in Jefferson, Texas in 1904, where he was pastor of the First Baptist Church. In his swan song in the Sword and Trowel, Powell says he was “born into the Kingdom and called into the ministry in Texas sixteen years ago last August.” His preaching thus begins about 1896 in Texas. This suggests he might be from Texas, but does not say so. He further notes that at the end of the fourth year of ministry (circa 1900), he entered Baylor University. Later, being ostracized as a “church party” Baptist at Baylor, he left before finishing. Powell went to Jefferson upon the recommendation of S. A. Hayden, who had been a pastor there.[vi] He left in 1905, going into evangelistic work. The Jimplecute says, “Rev. C. R. Powell and family moved to Jacksonville this week.[vii]”
Powell’s foray into newspaper work began during his time at Jefferson. While at Jefferson bought half interest in the Baptist Echo, then owned by E. A. Puthuff and J. M. Newburn.[viii] He participated in organizing the General Association of Baptists in the United States of America in 1905. In this capacity, he became editor of the Arkansas Baptist. The Arkansas Baptist temporarily merged with the Baptist Flag after the death of J. N. Hall, then reestablished itself in April 1906, with W. R. Cross, president, and C. R. Powell, editor and business manager (recently come from Texas).[ix] “Powell was a good editor…” but “In three years Powell became dissatisfied and the company [Baptist Publishing Company, rlv] accepted his resignation.”[x] According to Powell, he was dissatisfied with the “bossiness” of W. R. Cross. About this time, Powell served as treasurer of the General Association and became editor of the Baptist Mission Bulletin.[xi]
In Arkansas, C. R. Powell actively participated in the Anti-Saloon league. He was elected Field Secretary of the Arkansas Anti-Saloon League in 1909.[xii] After his return to Arkansas from Oklahoma, he served on the board of trustees of the Anti-Saloon League in 1915.[xiii] After 1916, he disappears from my sight. Though I have not yet found him in any census, he does appear in some of the Little Rock, Arkansas city directories. He lived at 3206 Wright Ave through 1915, and then the 1916 city directory has “Powell, Rev Chas R moved to Halstead Ark.”[xiv] After than point, I do not know where he goes.
This little piece well exhausts what I know about C. R. Powell – except that he debated Socialist Dick Maple in 1909, and that he lost his six-year old daughter to typhoid in 1904.[xv] He seems to have been a popular and respected minister and editor in the Landmark movement, as least up until 1912. When Powell started the Sword and Trowel, J. B. Sellman wrote, “The paper is the best I have seen in some time, and C. R. Powell is by far the best paper-man I know. It seems as though God had made him specially for newspaper work. He is wise in thought, bold in expression, and honest in purpose.”[xvi]
It is my hope that someone who knows where C. R. Powell came from and where he went will see this, and inform us more about this man of whom I currently know so little.
[ii] “Powell Quits and Explains,” Sword and Trowel, Thursday, December 19, 1912, p. 1.
[iii] “All Landmarkers are not mean as the leaders whose names I have mentioned.” Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, p. 4.
[iv] Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, pp. 3-4. Powell had previously written, “If Bro. Scarboro is guilty of trying to boss Yohannon there are those in the Baptist General Association who will take care of the matter and avenge the missionary…” Sword and Trowel, October 31, 1912, p. 1.
[v] Incidentally, his signature at the end of the article gives his location as “Little Rock, Ark.” not Oklahoma City as in the masthead. One of the stockholders wrote, “Bro. Powell has taken no advantage of us in any way, and the above statement goes in with my permission and regrets.” “A Statement,” Uriah Farthing, Sword and Trowel, p. 5.
[vi] S. A. Hayden pastored First Baptist Jefferson approximately, 1878-1883.
[vii] Jefferson Jimplecute (Jefferson, Texas) Saturday, January 6, 1905, p. 5.
[viii] He apparently bought Newburn’s interest, since Puthuff remained.
[ix] The Life and Works of Benjamin Marcus Bogard, Foreman and Payne, Little Rock, AR: Seminary Press, 1966, p. 202; Western Christian Advocate, Wednesday, April 18, 1906, p. 3.
[x] Life and Works of Bogard, p. 202.
[xi] Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, June 24, 1909, p. 9.
[xii] The Arkansas Democrat, Saturday, April 17, 1909, p. 3. This article describes him as former editor of the Baptist Advance, which is incorrect. It was the Arkansas Baptist, as we note above.
[xiii] The Arkansas Gazette, Wednesday, January 20, 1915, p. 10.
[xiv] Little Rock and Argenta City Directory, Vol. XIV, 1916, Polk’s Southern Directory Co., Pubs. (at Ancestry.com)
[xv] Baptist and Reflector, March 4, 1909, p. 12; The Daily Arkansas Democrat, June 10, 1909, p. 9; Jefferson Jimplecute, August 13, 1904, p. 5.
[xvi] “From J. B. Sellman,” Sword and Trowel, Thursday, September 26, 1912, p. 10.
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