C. R. Powell: the Landmark Leader who Left

Charles Robert Powell was a son and the oldest child of George Dietz Powell and Tennessee “Tennie” French of Henry County, Tennessee – born in August of 1877 in Kentucky. It seems the Powell family came to Texas by 1893, settling in Red River County. Tidie Powell, a daughter of George and Tennie, died in 1893 and is buried in the Bluff Cemetery at Bagwell in Red River County, Texas. In 1900 George and Tennie’s family, as well as the newly minted Charles Powell family, were all living in Justice Precinct 2 in that county.

Charles “Charlie” Powell married Joe Etta (Josephine) Vann on January 5, 1898 in Red River County, Texas. They had at least five children, but probably six.

• Oma Powell (1898-1904)
• Jack Earl Powell (1901-1988)
• Clarence Powell (1905-aft. Jan1920)
• Child Powell (aft. May 1900-bef. May 1910)
• Mabel Powell (1907-1923)
• Ruth Juanita Powell (1910-1970)

In his valedictory in the Sword and Trowel, Charlie Powell says that he was “born into the Kingdom and called into the ministry in Texas sixteen years ago last August.”[i] His Christian and preaching life thus begins about 1896 in Texas. He further notes that at the end of the fourth year of ministry (circa 1900), he entered Baylor University. This was possibly in the fall of 1900.[ii] Later, being ostracized as a “church party” Baptist at Baylor, he left before completing his studies and took up the Landmark banner.[iii] Powell went to the First Baptist Church of Jefferson, Texas as pastor in 1904 upon the recommendation of S. A. Hayden, who had been a former pastor there.[iv] Powell left the church in Jefferson in 1905, going into evangelistic work. The Jimplecute discloses in January of that year, “Rev. C. R. Powell and family moved to Jacksonville this week.”[v]  While in Jefferson, the Powells lost their little daughter Oma to typhoid fever August 11, 1904. She lies at rest in an unmarked grave in “Old Section L” at the Oakwood Cemetery at Jefferson, Marion County, Texas.[vi]

Powell’s foray into newspaper work began during his time at Jefferson. While at Jefferson, he bought half interest in the Baptist Echo, then owned by E. A. Puthuff and J. M. Newburn.[vii] He participated in organizing the General Association of Baptists in the United States of America in 1905. In this capacity, he later became editor of the Arkansas Baptist. The Arkansas Baptist had 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 to Arkansas from Texas).[viii]  “Powell was a good editor” but “In three years Powell became dissatisfied and the company [Baptist Publishing Company, rlv] accepted his resignation.”[ix] 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.[x]

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.[xi] That year he debated Socialist Colonel Dick Maple (a nom de plume of Robert Seth McCallen).[xii] 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.”[xiii]

The Nashville News, July 20, 1910, page 4

In late 1912, C. R. Powell became editor of the Sword and Trowel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Western Publishing Company (of which Powell served as secretary and manager) owned and published the Sword and Trowel. It was conceived as a denominational and promotional organ of the Baptist Missionary Association of Oklahoma.[xiv] The BMA of Oklahoma churches associated with the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas and the General Association of Baptists in the United States of America (Landmark). The Sword and Trowel paper was a neat production of 16 pages (except what was possibly the last issue, having eight pages), 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.”[xv]

Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, page 4

He scores Landmark leaders Ben M. Bogard and J. A. Scarboro as assassins of character, liars who must rule or ruin, and says that the only thing the General Association leaders permit “is a fight on Conventions.”[xvi] While generally excoriating the behavior of leaders of the General Association, there was a specific and current problem. At the Association’s meeting at Bay Springs, Mississippi in December 1912, Powell defended missionary I. N. Yohannan against what he perceived as abuse at the hands of Corresponding Secretary J. A. Scarboro.[xvii] Pitted against Bogard and Scarboro, Powell failed to accomplish his goal. He thereafter despaired of the “Landmark” work. Landmark leaders possessed strong convictions, and were passionate about them. In establishing these new associations, it was inevitable that these leaders would, like rams vying for dominance, butt heads. Powell does not indicate what he would do in the future, though he suggests he might look for a home among the Convention Baptists.[xviii] G. W. Crawford of Oklahoma describes the Sword and Trowel paper and its 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.[xix]

After his return to Arkansas from Oklahoma, Charlie Powell served on the board of trustees of the Anti-Saloon League in 1915.[xx] His name appears in the Little Rock, Arkansas city directories. He lived at 3206 Wright Ave through 1915. The 1916 city directory records “Powell, Rev Chas R moved to Halstead Ark.”[xxi] His life and stay in Halstead was brief. Dr. L. L. Marshall of Little Rock certified that he attended Powell from July 25 to August 4, 1916. On August 4, at 8:40 a.m. Friday morning, Charles Robert Powell lost a battle with “pernicious malaria” and succumbed in the sleep of death.[xxii] His remains were laid to rest in the Halstead Cemetery, Sunday, August 6, 1916. At the time of his death, Powell was a Mason, a member of the Magnolia Lodge F. & A. M.[xxiii]

Arkansas Democrat, August 5, 1916, page 3

It is not known where Charlie Powell was living when the 1880 census was taken, though probably still in Tennessee. He appears in the 1900 census at Justice Precinct 2 in Red River County, Texas, and the 1910 census at Brodie Township, Pulaski County, Arkansas. Each of these censuses lists him as a farmer, indicating that he labored as a bi-vocational minister. His death certificate gives his occupation as “Farming & Stock Dealer.” Probate records indicate at the time of his death Powell owned 5 hogs, 1 horse, 3 cows, 1 Jersey milk cow, and 10 goats.[xxiv]

Probably raised on a farm, Charlie Powell likely spent a lifetime with some relationship to farming. As a minister of the gospel, he gave approximately twenty years – 1896 to 1916. He spent most of it in the “Landmark movement.” These Baptist churches hoped to reform the denominational structure of the Southern Baptist Convention and its related state conventions. Those hopes dashed, they created their own organizations. The Baptist Missionary Association of Texas (1900). The State Association of Missionary Baptist Churches in Arkansas (1902). The General Association of Baptists in the United States of America (1905). The Baptist Missionary Association of Oklahoma (1912). Powell worked in all four of these Landmark bodies that were organized in his lifetime. He participated in organizing the General Association of Baptists at Texarkana in 1905. He remembers himself as the first person to point out the inconsistency of “supporting the Southern Baptist Convention while we fought the [Baptist] General Convention of Texas…I suggested a general association patterned after the B. M. A. of Texas.”[xxv] Powell became a prominent leader in the Landmark movement in the first decade of the 20th century. He labored in evangelism, editorial work, and denominational activities. He served as a financial agent for the Buckner College in Huntington, Arkansas.

At this time, it is not clear whether Powell pastored any other churches after leaving the church at Jefferson in 1904. After his fateful and vocal departure through the Sword and Trowel, he may have become something of “a man without a country.” Whatever transpired, his life was not spared long. The final years of his ministry are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. In the second decade of the 20th century, Charles Robert Powell ceased to be an influence among the Baptists – because of his conflict with Elders Bogard and Scarboro, and certainly because of his death. Almost any Landmark Baptist will know the name Ben M. Bogard. Few will recall C. R. Powell. Nevertheless, as with every servant “to his own master he standeth or falleth.”

And now at the least we know where C. R. Powell came from and where he went!

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[i] “Powell Quits and Explains,” Sword and Trowel, Thursday, December 19, 1912, p. 1. On page 4, he refers to “15 years in the ministry.”
[ii] In June of 1900, the family lived in Justice Precinct 2, Red River County, Texas. 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Red River County, June 1, 1900, Dwelling 14, Family 14, Sheet 1.
[iii] In a letter to The Standard, November 7, 1903 (Vol. 51, No. 10, p. 13), Walter E. Tynes of Houston, Texas explains that the (white) regular missionary Baptists of Texas “are divided, not about their articles of faith or local church government, but about the proper administration of their associational or general denominational affairs, such as missions, education, care of old ministers, orphans, etc.” Tynes classified those divisions under three headings, the board party, the church party, and the Gospel Mission churches. His explanation of the difference between the board party and the church party is that the first held to board supremacy in denominational matters, while the church party held “the doctrine of church sovereignty over the convention.” (By the time of this writing by Tynes, the churches had already divided and operated in different denominational organizations.)
[iv] S. A. Hayden pastored First Baptist Jefferson approximately, 1878-1883.
[v] Jefferson Jimplecute (Jefferson, Texas) Saturday, January 6, 1905, p. 5.
[vi] Jefferson Jimplecute, August 13, 1904, p. 5. 140 Years Interment Data, Marion County, Texas, Annette Lemmon, et. al., 1987.
[vii] He apparently bought Newburn’s interest, since Puthuff remained as an owner and editor.
[viii] 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.
[ix] Life and Works of Bogard, p. 202.
[x] Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, June 24, 1909, p. 9.
[xi] 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.
[xii] Baptist and Reflector, March 4, 1909, p. 12; The Daily Arkansas Democrat, June 10, 1909, p. 9.
[xiii] “From J. B. Sellman,” Sword and Trowel, Thursday, September 26, 1912, p. 10.
[xiv] See, for example, Sword and Trowel, Thursday, September 26, 1912, p. 9.
[xv] “Powell Quits and Explains,” Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, p. 1.
[xvi] “All Landmarkers are not mean as the leaders whose names I have mentioned.” Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, p. 4.
[xvii] 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.
[xviii] 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.
[xix] My Fifty Years of Gospel Ministry: an Autobiography, G. W. Crawford. Riverbank, CA: Missionary Baptist Press, 1949, pp. 18-19.
[xx] The Arkansas Gazette, Wednesday, January 20, 1915, p. 10.
[xxi] Little Rock and Argenta City Directory, Vol. XIV, 1916, Polk’s Southern Directory Co., Pubs. (available on Ancestry.com)
[xxii] https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pernicious+malaria
[xxiii] “The Rev. Charles R. Powell,” Arkansas Democrat, Saturday, August 5, 1916, p. 3.
[xxiv] Arkansas probate records at Ancestry.com. [Jersey milk cow is my interpretation of what appears to be “Jearsey Mail, rlv.]
[xxv] “Powell Quits and Explains,” Sword and Trowel, December 19, 1912, p. 1.

C. R. Powell: Where He Comes From and Where He Goes, Nobody Knows

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.

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[i] See, for example, Sword and Trowel, Thursday, September 26, 1912, p. 9.
[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.

Should a Baptist Church Recognize Alien Baptism?

From “Should a Baptist Church Recognize Alien Baptism?” by Laurence Justice

“According to an article in the Baptist Messenger a few years ago the Park Road Southern Baptist Church of Charlotte, NC has voted that rebaptism by immersion will no longer be required for membership in their church. At about the same time three other churches withdrew from the same association over this matter. I know of a Baptist church in metropolitan Oklahoma City that recently received members of a Disciples of Christ church without baptizing them. Baptists have a term for such a practice. We call it recognizing alien immersion or alien baptism. To recognize alien baptism is to accept as a member of a Baptist church any person on the basis of the baptism which he received in a church of another denomination.”

“Landmarkism” Before Landmarkism

In his article Landmarkism: Doctrinaire Ecclesiology among Baptists,[i] Hugh Wamble concludes that the essence of Landmarkism is belief in the “sole validity of Baptist churches.” Others state it this way – “Baptist churches are the only true churches.”[ii] It has been (and still is) popular to date the rise of this ecclesiological belief among Baptists with J. R. Graves, J. M. Pendleton, and A. C. Dayton. Yet the following excerpts from The Autobiography of Elder Wilson Thompson will show the concept well established before Graves was born and while Dayton & Pendleton were “still in diapers.”

This incident following, according to Wilson Thompson, took place at “‘Caldwell’s Settlement’, on the river St. Francis, not far from a village called St. Michael, about sixty miles from the Bethel Church” (of which he was a member). The time frame was “during the war of 1812,” and “There never had been a Baptist preacher in all that part of the country.” He was invited to preach there by a couple living there who were members of the Bethel Church. “A considerable congregation had gathered, and I delivered as plain and pointed a discourse, and as definite as I could. I then explained the circumstances which had led to that appointment, and that I was authorized by the Bethel Church, of which I was a member, and which was located in the district of Cape Girardeau, to give an invitation to any persons wishing to be baptized and become members of the Bethel Regular Baptist Church. I added that if they could give full and satisfactory evidence of the hope that was in them, I was ready and willing to baptize. But I would wish all to understand, that the Baptists alone were by us considered a gospel church, and therefore they received none into their fellowship or communion, except on public profession of their faith in Christ, according to the doctrine of His grace. No probationers of six months, no infants who were sprinkled on the profession of their parents, nor any others but believers in Jesus Christ were received. Therefore, all who joined this church must renounce alliance with all other denominations. They should treat all men friendly as men, but have no communion or fellowship with any but the Baptist Church of Christ; for they should look upon all others as the daughters of mystic Babylon. ‘I have been thus particular, as I wish to deceive no one,’ said I. ‘We wish to be understood to say, as did the Lord in reference to this ‘Mystery, Babylon’ (if any of God's people be ensnared by her), Come out of her my people, and be ye separated from her.’”[iii]

The next account relates Thompson’s comments to a young Lutheran. The young man related his experience and desired to join the church, but had been told by his mother “‘Cursed is he that is baptized over again.’…‘Sprinkling is not baptism,’ said I, ‘and even the immersion of an unconscious infant is no gospel baptism; nor can any man administer gospel baptism without the legal authority of Christ. This authority He has vested in the true church, as the executive authority of His kingdom, to see to the proper execution of all His laws and ordinances. The proper authority, therefore, is indispensable to gospel baptism, and this no Lutheran has. So you need have no more trouble on that account.’”[iv]

The date of this second incident is not as clear, but probably occurred circa 1816. It happened before Thompson first met missionary to the Indians, Isaac McCoy (cf. p. 196). Both incidents referenced above took place 35 years and more before many historians date the inauguration of the Landmark movement (ca. 1851). Both incidents demonstrate that at least some of the Regular Baptists in the Midwest believed only the Baptists were valid churches.[v]

1788, Philadelphia Baptist Association, Pennsylvania, et al.[vi]

Prior to Thompson’s record of “Landmarkism,” a query to the Philadelphia Association in 1788 reveals a similar concern and position.

“15. In answer to the query from the first church in New York, of last year, held over to this time, respecting the validity of baptism, administered by a person who had never been baptized himself, nor yet ordained, that we deem such baptism was null and void:

“Fourth. Because such administrator has no commission to baptize, for the words of the commission were addressed to the apostles, and their successors in the ministry, to the end of the world, and these are such, whom the church of Christ appoint to the whole work of the ministry.”

The fourth part of their answer is consistent with the Landmark position of the validity of only Baptist or scriptural churches. The answer also referenced previous queries to “our Association in times past; who put a negative on such baptisms in 1729, 1732, 1744, 1749 and 1768.”[vii]

1802, Elkhorn Baptist Association, Kentucky[viii]

A query to the Elkhorn Association in 1802 reflects the matter was a continuing concern.

“In 1802, the question as to what constitutes valid Baptism, which had been evaded in 1793, was brought before the Association in a different form, and answered as follows:

“‘Query from South Elkhorn.–What constitutes Baptism? Answer.–The administrator ought to have [been] baptized himself by immersion, legally called to preach gospel, [and] ordained as the Scriptures dictate; and the candidate for baptism should make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and be baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, by dipping the whole body in water.’”[ix]

1811, Georgia Baptist Association, Georgia

The 16th article (item of business) in the minutes of the 1810 session of the Georgia Baptist Association stated, “Resolved, that the subject of the next circular letter, be our reasons for rejecting Methodist, or Pædobaptist baptism by immersion, as invalid; and that brother Mercer write the same.” In the year 1811 Jesse Mercer wrote this circular letter, which was adopted by the Georgia Association. In summary, the circular says:

“Our reasons, therefore for rejecting baptism by immersion when administered by Pedobaptist ministers, are,

     “I. That they are connected with churches clearly out of the apostolic succession, and therefore clearly out of the apostolic commission.

     “II. That they have derived their authority, by ordination, from the bishops of Rome, or from individuals, who have taken it on themselves to give it.

     “III. That they hold a higher rank in the churches than the apostles did, are not accountable to, and of consequence not triable by the church; but are amenable only to, or among themselves.

     “IV. That they all, as we think, administer contrary to the pattern of the Gospel, and some, when occasion requires, will act contrary to their own professed faith. Now as we know of none implicated in this case, but are in some or all of the above defects, either of which we deem sufficient to disqualify for meet gospel administrations invalid.”[x]

1824, Portsmouth Baptist Association, Virginia

In his autobiography, Jeremiah Jeter mentions an incident that took place at the 1824 session of the Portsmouth Association in Virginia. Jeremiah Jeter (at least at the time)[xi] was a proponent of receiving Pædobaptist immersion, but his testimony stands as evidence of landmark principles displayed prominently in the Portsmouth Virginia Association. 1824 was well before the rise of any movement now dubbed Landmarkism.

“In May, 1824, the Portsmouth Baptist Association held its anniversary in the town of Portsmouth, where it was organized in 1791…Of the proceedings of the [1824] Association I recollect nothing, except a discussion on the validity of Pedobaptist immersions. In this conflict I fleshed my youthful sword, and was ingloriously defeated. I had associated with Semple, A. Broaddus, and others among the fathers who maintained the validity of such baptisms, and had adopted their views. As this side of the subject seemed to be feebly supported, I ventured, with probably more courage than discretion, for the first time in my life, to engage in religious controversy. My rashness evoked the chastening rod of Richard Poindexter. He was about fifty years old, of medium size, of swarthy complexion, possessed of a mind remarkable for astuteness and great self-possession and readiness for extempore debate. Dr. [A. M.] Poindexter, with greater culture and breadth of mind, bore a strong intellectual resemblance to his sire. It may be reasonably supposed that I was overmatched in the debate. I remember but a single illustration in the speech of Elder Poindexter. ‘Roundness,’ he said, ‘is essential to a bullet; beat it flat, and it will cease to be a bullet. So certain things—an authorized administrator being among them—are essential to baptism, and without these things it cannot be baptism.’ I made, so far as I can recollect, no attempt to reply. The association decided by an overwhelming vote that Pedobaptist immersions are not valid baptisms. I was defeated, but not convinced.”[xii]

1839, Sandy Creek Baptist Association, North Carolina[xiii]

“Query from the church at Pleasant Grove: ‘Is it consistent with the spirit of the gospel and according to the Scriptures for any regular Baptist church to receive into her fellowship any member or members of another denomination, who have been baptized by immersion, without baptizing them again?’

“Answer: ‘We think it is not.’

“The vote on this query, was unanimous. The Baptist is the only denomination that is not guilty of schism, of making a division when it came into existence. They existed prior to any Pedobaptist denomination now in existence...We cannot admit the validity of their baptism without admitting that they are tare and scriptural, gospel churches…”[xiv]

1839, Mississippi Baptist Association, Mississippi

The Mississippi Baptist Association is the oldest Baptist association in the state of Mississippi, which began in 1806 at Salem Baptist Church in Natchez. In 1839, the Mississippi association gave its opinion on valid baptism (especially in relation to the Campbellites): “That a regularly authorized administrator, a believer in Christ, and an immersion in the name of the Trinity, are the three things necessary. Therefore, immersion administered by Campbellite preachers, or ‘reforming teachers,’ as they styled themselves, was not valid baptism.”[xv]

Concluding thought

In his doctoral thesis James H. Maples writes:

“Landmarkism…arose in the mid-eighteenth century and was a dominant force in the first half-century of the life of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. J. R. Graves was its chief architect, promoter, and apologist.”[xvi]

Maples’s statement, written in 2014, represents the ongoing failure of Baptist academia to recognize the validity of so-called “Landmark” ecclesiology before the rise of J. R. Graves. History is clear that Graves (as well as Dayton and Pendleton) offered substantial contributions to the promotion and growth of the Baptist ecclesiological idea that “Baptist churches are the only true churches.” This cannot and should not be denied or discredited. Nevertheless, a candid and careful examination of the historical facts must recognize that “Landmarkism” among Baptists existed long before the Landmarkism of Graves, Dayton, and Pendleton![xvii]

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[i] “Landmarkism: Doctrinaire Ecclesiology among Baptists,” by Hugh Wamble, Church History, Vol. 33, No. 4, 1964, pp. 429–447. JSTOR: www.jstor.org/stable/3162835.

[ii] For example, Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States: A-L (Second Edition), Bill J. Leonard, Jill Y. Crainshaw, editors, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013, p. 438; The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness, H. Leon McBeth, Nashville, TN: B & H Academic, 1987; The 1851in Cotton Grove, Tennessee, Resolutions clearly assert only Baptist churches are true churches.

[iii] The Autobiography of Elder Wilson Thompson, His Life, Travels, and Ministerial Labors, Wilson Thompson, Greenfield, IN: D. H. Goble, 1867 [reprint, Old School Hymnal Co. Conley GA 1978], pp. 152-154 (pp. 213-215 in Archive.org edition)

[iv] Ibid, p. 194 (pp. 213-215 in Archive.org edition)

[v] Perhaps the fact that Thompson identified with the Primitive Baptists after the missions controversy (circa 1830) has caused missionary Baptist historians to miss this source.

[vi] The Philadelphia Association was organized in 1707, and is the oldest Baptist association in America.

[vii] Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, from A.D. 1707 to A.D. 1807, A. D. Gillette, Philadelphia, PA: American Baptist Publication Society, 1851, p. 238; in fairness, the 1765 answer to the query of Smith’s Creek appears to contradict this and the other answers cited.

[viii] The Elkhorn Association was organized October 1, 1785, at Clear Creek in Woodford County, Kentucky.

[ix] A History of Kentucky Baptists: From 1769 to 1885, Volume II, John Henderson Spencer, Mrs. Burilla B. Spencer, Cincinnati, OH: J. R. Baumes, 1886, p. 16

[x] A History of the Georgia Baptist Association, Jesse Mercer, Washington, GA: 1838, pp. 49, 199-200

[xi] I have read that Jeter changed his views on alien immersion. This certainly was not the case when he answered a question on the subject tin 1849 (Life of J.B. Jeter, D. D., William Eldridge Hatcher, Baltimore, MD: H. M. Wharton & Co., 1887, pp. 337-338).

[xii] The Recollections of a Long Life, Jeremiah Bell Jeter, Richmond, VA: The Religious Herald Company, 1891, pp. 123-124

[xiii] Sandy Creek Association was constituted in 1758, and is one of the older in associations in the United States.

[xiv] The latter paragraph included above appears to be Purefoy’s comments on the answer of the association, which was direct and succinct. A History of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association: From Its Organization in A.D. 1758, to A.D. 1858, George W. Purefoy, New York, NY: Sheldon & Co., 1859, p. 179

[xv] Abstract History of the Mississippi Baptist Association, T. C Schilling, New Orleans, LA: J. G. Hauser, 1908, p. 56

[xvi] The Origin, Theology, Transmission, and Recurrent Impact of Landmarkism in the Southern Baptist Convention (1850-2012), James Hoyle Maples, Doctor of Theology in Church History thesis, University of South Africa, 2014, p. ii

[xvii] J. M. Pendleton was born in 1811, A. C. Dayton in 1813, and J. R. Graves in 1820. The Philadelphia Association suggested “sole validity of Baptist churches” (Landmarkism) in 1788, if not earlier.