Chapter Two:
Let the Work Begin (1820-1852)

James Murray sat on the front row of the Dry Creek Baptist Church (Rankin County), perspiration freely flowing down his cheeks to be collected by his broad side-burns. What a wonderful Lord’s Day this had been in October of 1854! He had just finished preaching the first missionary sermon to be delivered to the now one year old Strong River Association. Elder Murray was hopeful for the future of these seventeen churches spread out over four counties. At the same time he knew the task before them was immense. There were not nearly enough preachers around to even be shared by the churches. Most of the people were simple semi-literate farmers and wood-cattle ranchers whose hopes and dreams far outweighed their material means. Their possessions and education were meager but their faith was not.

Strong River was a perfect name for this new group of Baptist churches. When the Choctaws first saw the Strong River which flowed across the length of Simpson County, they called it “Bok Tullitoba Talo-oh chitto” or “Big Creek of the Singing Gray Rock”, referring to the rapids at a place that would later be called D’Lo. It could hardly be called a great river. Compared to the Father of all Waters that brought many of these settlers to Mississippi the Strong River was more a big creek than a river. However small it was did not diminish its importance. A fast running river meant power; power to drive grist mills and lumber mills. And would they ever need lumber mills! Virgin pines stretched for nearly 100 miles in every direction.

While the association was new, the people who formed it were mature in their faith in God. Like the majestic long-leaf pines stretching far into the sky, Strong River Association already had many stalwarts of Baptist life.  James Powell and H.H. Guynes had been laboring fruitfully for years in their leadership with the Pearl River Association which gave birth to this new group. Sitting near Elder Murray were men who had firmly established themselves as valiant laborers in Christ’s vineyard. To his right he saw the chiseled profile of Cader Price from over at Steen’s Creek[1] in Rankin County. Price had already served as moderator of both the Pearl River and Mt. Pisgah Associations and would soon serve in that same capacity in the Strong River Association.

For a brief moment James Murray’s brow furrowed and a moment of deep melancholy crept into his mind like a silent intruder. Margaret, his wife, sensed her husband’s thoughts and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. She knew how much James loved her but she also knew what must be invading his mind. Like so many of the settlers, the Murrays knew death and sorrow well. When James’ first wife, Vickey, died in 1820 it was hard. When his second wife, Charity died in 1837 it was even harder. But when their father and James’ father-in-law, Francis Walker was called to heaven in 1846, it was a blow almost too great to bear, except for the grace of God.

How James Murray wished his father-in-law could have lived to see the fruition of the dream for Baptist work they shared in the counties of Strong River Association. Francis Isaac Walker had pastored both Strong River and Mt. Zion churches, leading the later for sixteen years. His influence of faith in God still hung over this place like the dew of a spring morning. In many ways, Francis Walker was Baptist work in Simpson County from 1820-1846, so there is no better place to tell the story of how Baptist work began in the Strong River area than with Walker himself …

…Strangely enough, the story of Baptists in Simpson County, Mississippi began with the last dying gasps of the Scottish Jacobite rebellion against England in 1746. What irony that a revolt of Catholics against Protestants could give birth to Baptists in Mississippi! Having aligned himself as a Scottish Highlander against Protestant England, Isaac Walker (father of Francis Isaac Walker) found himself on the losing side of a hopeless rebellion. So with his family, Walker fled to France.[2] Through God’s providence a Scott Catholic soon left France to become a colonial Baptist.

By 1758 the Walkers were living in Prince George County, Maryland and a new fight was on the horizon. A Revolution was brewing and freedom was one thing a Scottish Highlander could relate to. Further north a Baptist pastor by the name of Isaac Backus was taking the lead in encouraging his people to support the American Revolution. No one had an influence on Baptists like Backus did during the period of this nation’s birth. Backus even offered a Bill of Rights which James Madison and others read and considered. The first article was circulated widely and made its way to Toaping Castle Maryland. It read as follows:

"As God is the only worthy object of all religious worship, and nothing can be true religion but a voluntary obedience unto His revealed will … every person has an unalienable right to act in all religious affairs according to the full persuasion of his own mind, where others are not injured thereby …"

Isaac Walker was moved by these words. Oddly enough, the religious persecution he had suffered in Scotland was against Catholics. Now the persecution was against Baptists and other non-sanctioned protestant groups. Again war found Walker and he enlisted in the Continental Army to fight for the freedom of a new land, called The United States of America. Meanwhile, his family including his son, Francis, kept the home fires burning, at least for a while …

… Francis couldn’t believe what his brother Joel had just talked him into doing. “What are we going to do in a place like South Carolina?” implored Francis. “We don’t know anyone there and father will have our hide for this!” “Look,” replied Joel, “the time has come to make it on our own. South Carolina is a placed filled with opportunity. “ “Yea, but how can we go now while father and Nathaniel are off gettin’ shot at?” protested Francis. “We can help the cause more by being productive and besides if they need us we’ll just fight there. There’s plenty to go around from what I hear.” And with that final explanation from Joel, the two brother headed off for Edgefield District, South Carolina …

… The move proved a great success for Francis. By the time he was 32 he had acquired a fair amount of land and a fair young wife by the name of Charity Bush. Greater changes were occurring for Francis than that of location and marital status. By now Francis had firmly moved into the Baptist camp. In 1805, he was ordained a Baptist minister and became the pastor of the Flat Rock Baptist Church in 1810. These were indeed good times for the Walker clan.

Whatever it was that drove the pioneer spirit of Isaac Walker soon was at work in his son Francis. A new territory, the great Southwest was calling. So in 1818, the Walkers and their friends, the Bushes, and McCartys headed off for the Great Southwest, Mississippi that is.  Traveling with them was another family, the Murrays. One of them James Murray had fallen in love with Francis Walker’s oldest daughter so he too would make the great journey. The group was issued passports in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia on November 23, 1818, giving them permission to transport slaves through Georgia.  Reverend Walker had seven slaves, James Murray had one slave and Amos McCarty had one slave. The old Indian trail that they followed was the Lower Creek Trading Path from Edgefield County, through Augusta, Georgia, which is just across the Georgia border, then on to Macon, Georgia. There they picked up The Macon & Montgomery Trail to Montgomery, Alabama, and then they turned more south-west on The Alabama and Mobile Trail first settling in Wayne County in Southeastern Mississippi.

The Rev. Francis Walker and Charity Elizabeth (Bush) Walker, along with ten of their children, James Murray and his wife Visa Walker Murray, arrived in Wayne County about 1818.  Visa died very young in about 1820 in Wayne County, and James married her younger sister Charity.  James' zeal for preaching must have come from his father-in-law.  In 1821 he was a delegate for the Zion Church, Wayne County, in 1823 a delegate for the Salem Church in the same county. Like his son-in-law, Francis lost his first wife to the rigors of pioneer travel and around 1825 he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Isham  and Sarah Weathersby. Isham had led a wagon train from Balden, North Carolina to Lawrence County, Mississippi in 1810 along with the Magees, Slaters, Grays, and Prentiss’s. Like Francis Walker, Isham Weathersby settled on Silver Creek and came to own a great deal of land …

…. “Can you believe this!” shouted James Murray to his father-in-law, Francis. “They’re as far as the eye can see.” James, Francis and several other men dismounted from their horses to examine the great yellow pine which stood in front of them. It took seven of them joining hands before they could form a circle around its great trunk  “That thing’s got to be at least 200 feet tall,” exclaimed Isham Weathersby. He was already calculating board feet in his mind as he gazed upwards. “Now brother Isham,” intoned Francis, “the Lord would probably only allow for 150 feet.” “Well, whatever it is, that’s the tallest and biggest pine tree I have ever seen in my life!” …

James just could not get over the sight. Not that it was really that unusual. The pine forests stretched for over a hundred miles in every direction. The great pines stood, usually about 10 to 30 feet apart. For several hundred years the Choctaws and other Native Americans had practiced spring burning. This cleared out the smaller trees and brush leaving the great trees to grow even stronger and taller. Range grass, as much as three feet high grew between the trees forming a most unusual setting. How could these admiring settlers know that one hundred years later, land speculators and timber barons would strip Mississippi clean of its great Piney Woods in one generation?

The Walkers and Murrays quickly learned to adapt to this new land. Fences just weren’t needed. Pastures were out of the question. Because the range grass was so abundant early settlers raised what came to be called range cattle. The cows were branded (the brand registered at the county courthouse) and then allowed to range freely. Every year the settlers would work together to herd the cows, separate them by brand and then drive them to markets in Mobile, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Francis Walker and his clan were well off by their standards but their life was far from easy. The nearest markets were at least a hundred away in Natchez and Mobile. Therefore staples were rare (tea, coffee, flour, etc…). Cooking was done in dirt ovens in the yard and wild game and sweet potatoes were the principal foods. An early Mississippi historian, J.F.H. Claiborne, told of one his trips from Natchez to Alabama through the Pine Hills region:

“The main crop is the sweet potato ,,, almost every dish was composed of potatoes dressed in many various ways. There were baked potatoes and fried potatoes - bacon and potatoes boiled together - a fine loin of beef was flanked round with potatoes nicely browned and swimming in gravy … potato biscuits … the coffee, which was strong and well flavored, was made of potatoes, and one of the girls drew from the corner cupboard a rich potato pie… The bed itself, though soft and pleasant, was made of potato vines. Either from over fatigue, or late and hearty supper, of from our imagination being somewhat excited, we rested badly; the night-mare brooded over us; we dreamed that we had turned into a big potato, and that someone was digging us up.”[3]

… Francis Walker sat in his log home contemplating the talk of the night. Baptist work was  ready to take root in this new land and he knew God had called him to be as much a part of it as he could. The house was pleasant but simple. Peeled logs from the Piney Woods made the walls with rough boards and mortar filling the gaps. Walker’s chair rocked on a swept dirt floor and faced a fireplace which stretched the entire width of the house. As the fire popped, James Murray spoke up. “Father Francis (as most had come to call him) have you decided where the Lord is leading?” “Yes,” Walker answered almost as though he was alone with God, “we are going to start a work over in Covington County at a place called Bouye.” …

In the 1824 the Pearl River Baptist Association voted along with other Baptist groups in the state of Mississippi to form the Mississippi Baptist Convention. That same year at the edge of Simpson and Covington Counties, Francis Walker helped to birth the Bouye Baptist Church. Over the next four years the name of that small fellowship changed four times. From Bouye, to Bowie, to Booyeh to Mt Zion, the names changed. It didn’t really matter though, for while the names changed the spirit did not. Mt. Zion soon moved across the county line into Simpson and became a fortress of faith in a wilderness land. One year after its formation Francis Walker led the fellowship to join the Pearl River Association and the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

Like most of the Baptist churches formed by these settlers from South Carolina and Georgia, they adopted a version of the Philadelphia Confession of Faith that emphasized the sovereignty of the triune God, the falleness of man, the necessity of regeneration through the Holy Spirit and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mt. Zion was blessed with many great pastors in later years but none could probably compare with their first three. Francis Walker led Mt. Zion from 1824-1845. He was followed by his son-in-law, James Murray from 1846-1855. After those two stalwarts had gone to be with the Father, came Cader Price. But his story comes a little later. By 1843, Mt. Zion was the second largest church in the Pearl River Association leading that body in baptisms with 64 precious souls baptized in that year. God was doing much at Mt. Zion but things were happening across the county as well at the only town in the region, Westville.

… William Gibson looked out the door of his tavern welcoming the sight of more travelers coming his way. Gibson’s Tavern stood at the cross roads of the ancient Choctaw capitol of Six Towns. Gibson had seen just about the last of the Indians that had made his livelihood in trading. Now he traded with a different traveler. There were 75,000 settlers in Mississippi when Gibson opened up shop and 10 years later there 135,000. A number of those were using the old Indian trails as roads which of course brought some of them to Gibson’s establishment.

“Can you believe, this is going to be the County Seat?” The question came from Jesse Dear. Dear was a member of the Fork Baptist Church[4] further down the Strong River and a frequent visitor to Gibson’s Tavern. Harmon Powell caught wind of the question and chipped in, “Well why not? There ain’t no other place more likely than here. We got the Strong River just over the way. The trails all lead right through here. On top of that the State Legislature has done gone and given us a name, Westville….”

Just as Westville was the geographical center of Simpson County it became the social and commercial center of the county for its first fifty years. Everybody that was anybody came there and anything that was worth having could be found there. Its future seemed so bright that when pressure came to move the state capitol from Jackson, Westville was on the short list of potential new capitols. Providence didn’t allow for that event but Westville did become the focus of activity in early Simpson County.

Not far from Westville another group of believers was gathering to further Baptist work in the region. No one could remember exactly when they began to meet but in 1827 Isham Russell came over from Steen’s Creek to help these believers constitute a new church to be called Strong River Baptist. As with Mt. Zion, Francis Walker answered the call for a pastor and came to lead this new congregation which met about five miles from Westville. The church joined the Pearl River Association the same year it was constituted.

… Francis Walker and James Powell walked by the quiet waters of Vaughn’s Creek. Ever since Powell had settled at Vaughn’s Creek along with the Briggs and Vaughn’s he’d wondered what God had in store for him here in the new land. They both seemed to be lost in the hypnotic turning of the mill wheel built by James Vaughn just a year earlier. “Brother James, Strong River needs you,” intoned Walker. “It is just too far for me to do a proper job of leading Mt. Zion and those good folks as well. I hope you will listen to the Lord’s leading and go to them as their pastor!” “Well, “replied Powell,” He has already led. Only He knows how long I can make that trip, but I know that is where God wants me.” That trip over fifteen miles of woodlands, hills and hollows would be made for 16 years between 1830 and 1846…

James Powell was a mighty influence for righteousness during the early years of  Baptist work in the region. He served as pastor of both Strong River and Bethlehem Churches which were about ten miles apart, depending on the weather and what they called roads in those days. Like all the pastors of his time, Powell was basically a self-educated man. To call him bi-vocational would have sounded awfully strange to preachers of his day. All the pastors were farmers, craftsmen or otherwise employed. Considering that there is no mention of salary for the pastor at Strong River Church until 1833 and that at thirty dollars per year, it is no wonder they were employed elsewhere as well. At thirty dollars per year a man would have to pastor for three years to make enough for the price of a mule and a lifetime to make as much as the price of a slave.

Bethlehem Baptist, like Mt. Zion, experienced a number of name and location changes in its early years. Sometime around 1810 a group of believers began to meet just across what became the County line in Copiah County at the fork of the Strong and Pearl Rivers. Some called it Bushy Fork; others called it Fork; but eventually the fellowship moved nearer to Westville to what was called the Union community. There the names was changed in the 1840’s to Bethlehem. Bethlehem Church had several stalwarts of the faith as pastors during its early years including James Powell, W.B. Chandler, and James Murray.

Powell and his wife Patience served faithfully at their churches and in the community. In 1832 the 450 registered voters of Simpson County sent James Powell off to Jackson for three months a year to be their representative in the state legislature. That only lasted two terms as Powell had more than one man could do in minding his family, farm, and churches. …

…Strong River Baptist Church was as hot as an oven on August 27, 1831. It was a typical Mississippi August. Men steamed in starched collars, women sweltered under multiple layered skirts. The heat wasn’t just from the sun bearing down on its split wood roof either. The annual church session had just begun and as often happened someone had been brought before the church fellowship for discipline or “churching” as some called it. William Cradac stood defiantly in front of his peers. “Yes I acknowledge being overcome with passion,” he whispered, “but I will not hear the church on this matter.” Such couched phrases were the norm for 1830’s Mississippi. Who was the person he had become overcome with passion with? No one dare ask. James Powell stood and spoke. His stature as a counselor was as great as that of a preacher. All were confident he would lead this matter through in a way that would honor God’s Word. “Brother William, we the members of Strong River Church have done everything in our power to restore you to the faith once delivered. But you will have none of it. Such conduct cannot be tolerated in the Body. Because of your refusal to hear the church on this matter and repent you are excommunicated from this fellowship and will receive no recommendation to any sister church which may request such.” With that William Cradac was removed from the rolls and never returned.

The story was happier for Sister Hargrove however. Fayn Hargrove was one of the first three people baptized at Strong River Church. She had “come by experience”[5] in 1830 and faithfully served since that time. Now she stood before the church with a different kind of confession. What a buzz arose, when only a short time after William Cradac confessed to his elicit affair that Sister Hargrove came forward to confess a similar sin. Unlike Cradac, she was repentant and asked the church’s forgiveness for this grievous sin. Powell led the fellowship to receive her back with the same resolve they had asked Cradac to leave. …

Through all of these trials, James Powell proved an able and faithful shepherd to the people of God at Strong River and Bethlehem. He was born two years before the signing of The Declaration of Independence and left this earth in 1849. Some years later, this bit of his obituary was printed in the local paper: “James Powell (1774-1849) pastored Fork Church and wielded a powerful influence for good and was really a Samaritan of the times … There being no physicians in the country then, fearless of contagion, he visited the very hovels of death, and rendered … physical, as well as spiritual aid to the suffering…"[6]

Until 1853, all the Baptist churches of Simpson County were members of the Pearl River Association, the second oldest association in the state of Mississippi. To meet together even once a year was a major undertaking. Travel was an adventure every time one set out. The first railroad came to Mississippi in 1831, running from Woodville to St. Francisville further south but it would be another hundred years before Simpson County saw one. As God would have it, Simpson County’s lack also protected it in many ways during the coming great War Between the States. There just wasn’t much here of interest to outsiders.

With no railroad, horseback, buggy, and the occasional stagecoach were the main forms of transportation. None of these was any easy proposition in 1830’s Mississippi. The stagecoach trip from Jackson to Vicksburg, just thirty miles away, took fifteen hours one way. Creeks were often swollen and uncrossable. No one had ever even conceived of a hotel or inn. There wasn’t a McDonalds in sight. Cader Price once had to house and feed thirty people and their horses at his own expense when he was moderator of the Association. Thus, getting together to fellowship as an association was the highlight of the year for the Baptists of Pearl River Association. So, when the association met at Bouye Church (Mt. Zion) in 1829, all Baptists in Simpson and the surrounding counties made it a point to be there for the annual three day event.

Sitting there that day were all the principals of the area. James Powell, Francis Walker, James Murray were there with Father Walker welcoming the delegates to his church. Present also were W.B. Chandler from Fork, H.H. Guynes from over in Copiah County, and many others. Great exhortations were given to continue the work and much work was yet to be done. While much was being done to further the Kingdom of God there were still also many problems which lay ahead …

… Francis Walker sat with his son-in-law and listened intently to the words of the speaker. As was the custom in their day, the two pastors had come as representatives of the Pearl River Association to the annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Association. The two men represented most Baptists in Simpson County pastoring between them Mt. Zion, Bethlehem, and Palestine Baptist churches. They, like their fellow pastors in their area were firm supporters of Associational and State missionary work. They also, like others had experienced the first salvos of Alexander Campbell’s Restoration warfare against the Baptist church.[7]

Campbell’s followers would later name their churches, Churches of Christ. For now they were simply revolutionaries in the midst of the infant work of Baptists throughout the land. Jacob Creath brought Campbell’s teachings of baptismal regeneration and anti-missionary bent into Mississippi around 1827 and John A. Ronaldson had picked up the mantle.[8] Now Baptist churches in Mississippi were being torn asunder by this doctrinal error.

Just a month earlier Walker and Murray along with other pastors in the Pearl River Association had agreed to the dissolvement of the Mississippi Baptist Convention until these doctrinal controversies could be resolved. Now they listened to a resolution being presented to the mother association of Mississippi Baptists that read: “Resolved, that it be recommended to all the churches compromising this association, to discountenance the writings of said Alexander Campbell … Resolved, that it be recommended to all the churches comprising the Association, not to invite into their pulpits any minister who holds the sentiments or creeds expressed.”

“Do you think that will end the matter?” asked James Murray. “For now, James,” replied Walker, “but you can count that the Devil will use this to cause more mischief before everything is over.” Francis was right. It would take six more years of debate and finally excommunication of men like Creath and Ronaldson before Baptists could get on with a State Convention and cooperative missionary work …

…By 1830 there were eight churches in the area that would one day make up the Strong River Baptist Association. In Simpson County there was Mt. Zion, Strong River, Palestine, and Bethlehem. In Copiah County there was Hopewell and Galilee. Hebron Church was in Lawrence County and Steen’s Creek was in Rankin County. While the population of Mississippi had doubled from 1820 to 1830, the Piney Woods was still sparsely populated. As late as 1840, there were four times as many cattle as there were people in the region. The region was basically a poor white area with less than 20 percent of its population being slave. Unlike Vicksburg, Natchez and even Hinds County, this area was made up of small farms where slaves were as likely to sleep in the same one-room cabins as their masters. Even those homes were more of a rarity as 90 percent of whites did not own slaves in Simpson County.

Times got even harder as the 1830’s progressed. A financial panic in 1837 caused trouble everywhere. Money, what little there was, was hoarded. In 1836, Strong River Baptist Church showed its total balance being 62 and one-half cents. Other church records showed the same pitiful state of financial affairs. What few banks there were closed, businesses shut down and “GTT” or “Gone to Texas” was seen painted on many a log cabin. The promise of better times and opportunity was once again calling some of these hearty souls and they headed out to a new West to find their fortune. Even James Murray’s son, Alexander, headed out for Texas a few years later after pastoring Pleasant Hill Church for a short time. Sure there were some bright spots. Jayne’s Lumber Mill in D’Lo produced most of the timber for the new capitol building in Jackson. Still, these were hard times for many dear souls in Simpson County.

Jesus Christ promised Peter that the gates of hell would never prevail against His church and that promise was kept in the Strong River region. Some churches came and went. Other were constituted to stand the test of time. In 1833, the New Zion Church was added in the north-central section of Simpson County. Since most of the churches of Simpson County were concentrated in the Southwest part of the County it was good to have this new fellowship in and area before unreached for Christ. Other churches added in Simpson County during that time were Macedonia in 1841 and Pleasant Hill in 1846. The times there were a changing and things were happening in Simpson County …

… “There’s going to be a fight!,” an unseen observer shouted. Actually, that wasn’t much of an announcement in 1847 Westville. In the 1840’s Westville, the County Seat of Simpson County, had a bit of a reputation as a wild place to live. Sure enough an unnamed Irishman had insulted Tilman Bishop. Tilman’s father, David, was one of the first settlers in the area and a respected member of Strong River Baptist Church. Tilman owned a mercantile store in Westville and was known to have a hot tempter at times. Before long a crowd had gathered and things were really beginning to heat up. “Hold it right there,” a voice boomed from the back of the crowd. Taking charge was James Briggs, the County Sheriff. James Murray ran against Briggs twice for the Sheriff’s position, narrowly losing both times. “There will be no fighting without a fair referee,” added Briggs.

After some discussion it was decided no one would make a better referee than Pappy Tom Sullivan from over in Sullivan’s Holler. Nobody there could have know that the Sullivans would become legendary in Mississippi folklore but they knew Pappy Tom could fight better than anybody and he would make the best referee. All agreed it was the best bare knuckle fight they had ever seen and long to be remembered …[9]

….While that fight was actually remembered by only a few, something had happened the year before in 1846 that would leave an indelible mark on Baptist work in Simpson County. Francis Isaac Walker had gone home to be with the Lord. It was with great sadness and yet fond remembrance that the Pearl River Baptist Association included in their minutes that year a farewell to Father Walker as most had come to know him. Walker was born in 1759 and died in 1846. In those 87 years he had witnessed The American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Indian Wars led by General Andrew Jackson. This man of God had founded seven churches in three counties and two states. Just north of Baltimore, Maryland there is a monument to Francis’ father, Isaac, at Toaping Castle. In Simpson County, Mississippi there are four monuments to Francis Walker. They are called Mt. Zion, Strong River, Palestine, and Pleasant Hill Baptist Churches, all introduced to Associational missions and the work of our Savior by Francis Isaac Walker.  Over half the Baptist churches which exist in Simpson County in the year 2000 were either organized by Walker or by men who were influenced by Walker in some direct way.

Christ’s Kingdom has never depended on one person other than Christ Himself. Yet the question still arose, “who would replace Father Walker?” James Murray, and James Powell certainly would do much to fill those shoes. Their contributions would be great. Yet God had an Elisha to take up Elijah’s mantle. He was pastoring at a place called Steen’s Creek over in Rankin County and his name was Cader Price.

1 Steen’s Creek, also called Crossroads was later renamed, Florence and the church became First Baptist Church of Florence, Mississippi. Back to Text