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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02303 2094
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Gc 976.9 G56
2264401
B69
Golden Jubilee
of the
General Association of Colored Baptists In Kentucky
The Story of 50 Years' Work From 1865-1915
Including many Photos and Sketches, compiled from unpublished manuscripts and other sources, by C. H. Parrish, Mod- erator, and the Committee on Program and Jubilee Volume by order of the General Association
Edited by REV. C. H. PARRISH, Moderator for the Association
1915 MAYES PRINTING COMPANY Louisville, Kentucky
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Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
2264401
3.4
C. H. PARRISH, Moderator.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/goldenjubileeofg00parr
Copyright for the Association By Rev. C. H. Parrish 1915
FLEMING LIBRARY IL ..... Inin Rantist Seminary
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE FIRST GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED BAPTISTS OF KENTUCKY, 1869
Moderator-Rev. H. Adams, Louisville, Ky.
Recording Secretary-Rev. R. T. W. James, Padu- cah, Ky.
Corresponding Secretary-Q. B. Jones, Louisville, Kentucky.
Treasurer-Peter Smith, Frankfort, Ky.
Names of Churches and Messengers.
Fifth Street Baptist Church, Louisville-Rev. H. Adams, R. T. W. James, A. Heath and Q. B. Jones. York Street Baptist Church, Louisville-J. Hen- derson, H. Morton.
Caldwell Street Baptist Church, Louisville-Rev. J. M. Harris, M. Allen.
First Baptist Church, Lexington-Rev. J. Mon- roe, H. Scroggins, H. Slaughter, J. Gilliss.
Pleasant Green Baptist Church, Lexington-Rev. M. M. Bell, S. S. Williams, C. Jenkins, E. Brown.
Baptist Church, Frankfort-Rev. R. Martin : Li- centiates, H. Samuel, P. Smith, T. Smith.
Baptist Church, Georgetown-Rev. R. Lee, J. Jackson, N. Williams, A. Kinney.
Baptist Church, Danville-Rev. I. Slaughter, J. D. Tadlock.
Baptist Church, Maysville-Rev. E. W. Green. Baptist Church, Paris-J. Murphy, G. Lamb.
Baptist Church, Nicholasville-Licentiates, C. Smothers, E. Martin.
Baptist Church, Harrodsburg-Rev. C. Clark.
Baptist Church, Elizabethtown-Rev. D. A. Gaddy.
Baptist Church, Versailles-J. Jefferson, L. Fur man.
Baptist Church, Shelbyville-Rev. W. J. Brown S. Mack.
Baptist Church, New Castle-Rev. A. Taylor Baptist Church, Keene-Rev. N.Walker, J. Tay lor.
Baptist Church, Bridgeport.
Baptist Church, Stamping Ground.
Baptist Church, Cynthiana.
Baptist Church, Winchester-E. Rodgers.
Baptist Church, Lebanon-Rev. A. Barry.
Baptist Church, Bloomfield-Rev. S. Grigsby.
Baptist Church, Lancaster-Rev. O. Tinsley.
Baptist Church, Stanford-Rev. J. Reed.
Baptist Church, Bardstown-Rev. C. Smith.
New Churches.
Baptist Church, Simpsonville-Rev. P. Alexan der, E. P. Marrs.
Evergreen Baptist Church, Lexington-J. Mor gan, L. Smith.
Baptist Church, Washington-Represented by letter.
Baptist Church, Mayslick-Rev. L. C. Natas, S L. Breckinridge.
Baptist Church, Paint Lick-Rev. J. Reed.
Baptist Church, Mortonsville-S. Breckenridge Baptist Church, Somerset-Rev. H. Curd.
Little Rock Baptist Church, Louisville-C. Old ham.
Independent Baptist Church, Lexington-Rex F. Braxton, J. Graham, H. Howard, T. Johnson.
Baptist Church, Athens-Rev. A. Thomas, M Simpson.
.*
Present Officers-1914-1915.
Moderator-Dr. C. H. Parrish, F. R. G. S., Louis- ville, Ky.
Asst. Moderator-Rev. W. P. Richardson, D.D., Winchester, Ky.
Asst. Moderator-Rev. V. S. Smith, D.D., Paducah, Ky.
Secretary-Deacon W. H. Steward, A.M., Louis- ville, Ky.
Corresponding Secretary and Supt. of Missions- Rev. P. H. Kennedy, D.D., Henderson, Ky.
Treasurer-Rev. John H. Frank, D.D., M. D., Louis- ville, Ky.
Auditor-Rev. J. E. Wood, D.D., Danville, Ky.
1
Contents
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Compendium 302 Denominational Meetings and Month They Convene. .. 294 Faculty of State University 162
Foreword
10
History of Missionary Work, Rev. P. H. Kennedy, D.D. 133
Historical Report of Education, Rev. R. B. Butler, D.D. 126 Historical Report of General Asso., W. H. Steward. 89 .. Historical Report of State University, Pres. W. T. Amiger 159
Introductory Plans of Moderator 38
List of Degrees Conferred 173
List of Graduates 172
Moderator's Address 12
Officers
5-
Report of B. W. E. Convention, Mrs. M. E. Steward. 138
. Report of B. W. M. Convention, Mrs. M. V. Parrish .... 147 River Jordan 276 Sketches of Heroes of the Past 182
Sketches of Churches, Pastors, Laymen, etc. 207 Statistics, Outlines, etc. 296 Work in Home and Foreign Fields 301
Illustrations
Churches and Residences
59, 61, 79, 81, 99, 101, 119, 121, 152, 153, 202, 278
Deceased Heroes of the Past
189, 190, 191, 192, 201
Group of Young Baptists
141
Officers, Ex-Presidents, et al.
19, 20, 21, 22, 220, 279
Officers Baptist Women's Convention
139, 151
C. H. Parrish, under the Oldest Olive Tree in Garden of Gethsemane 141
Pastors, Laymen, et al. 39, 40, 41, 42, 60, 62, 80, 82, 100, 102, 120, 122, 140, 142, 154, 163, 219, 220, 279, 280 President State University 163
River Jordan
277
Secretaries
21
University Building
164
10
THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
FOREWORD BY MODERATOR PARRISH.
This book is published with the hope that it may conserve the praiseowrthy deeds of Baptists for the past fifty years and with the hope that it may be useful for our children fifty years hence, when they shall celebrate the Centennial of Baptists in Ken- tucky. The committee on Program and Jubilee Vol- ume, requested that Rev. R. B. Butler, D.D., give the resume of Baptist Progress from an Educational viewpoint; Dr. P. H. Kennedy, D.D., from the Mis- sionary, and Deacon W. H. Steward, A. M., from the Associational, while the Moderator was charged with securing sketches, photos, general denomina- tional matter, the compiling, the editing and pub- fishing of this book. So for nine months, we have been trying to secure sketches, photos, etc. ; but our brethren have delayed until within three weeks of the meeting of the General Association. We have, up to this time, given place in the book to all who have sent the information required. We are sorry, however, to announce that more than two-thirds of our preachers have not responded, although we have written them several times. We hope, however, that they will be ready for our Jubilee Volume No. 2. This book presents to the Baptists more than 300 photos and sketches of Baptists who wrought well and are now active in our denominational work. It recounts the plan of organization for the celebration of our Jubilee. It gives valuable statistics of racial achievements in general and of Baptists in particu- lar. It includes a Register of Baptist meetings. It is our prayer and hope that it may serve Kentucky Baptists as an indispensable library help, and that no Baptist will feel his library is complete without
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
it. It is our hope, also, to have the Association au- thorize the editing of Volume No. 2, which would include the accurate proceedings of the Jubilee Ses- sion and a number of sketches and photos not in- cluded in Vol. I, on account of tardiness in trans- mission. At the last Association on the recom- mendation of Moderator Mitchell, the following committee on program and Jubilee Volume were ap- pointed :
Rev. Robt. Mitchell, D.D., Rev. J. E. Wood, D.D., Rev. R. Reynolds, D.D., Rev. John Perdue, D.D., Rev. W. T. Silvey, D.D., Rev. O. Durrett, D.D., Deacon W. H. Steward, A.M., Rev. J. H. Frank, D.D., M. D., Rev. P. H. Kennedy, D.D .. Rev. R. B. Butler, D.D., and Rev. C. H. Parrish, Modera- tor.
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
Moderator's Address
Text
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, "Let my peo- ple go."-Ex. 5:1. "Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove cov- ered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." -Ps. 68:13. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."-John 8:32.
Introductory
Things which are in themselves distinct and re- markable awaken the spirit of commemoration. This spirit seeks to express itself in some way that through it the occurrence may be told to succeeding generations. So the Jews "hallowed the fiftieth year and called it the year of Jubilee and proclaimed lib- erty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Lev. 25:10.
Jacob set up a pillar marking the place where he dreamed of the ladder reaching to heaven and the angels ascending and descending. He called the place Bethel.
Samuel set up his Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." While in England, we saw in Trafalgar Square a shaft in honor of Nelson.
America celebrates her Independence Day. Fol- lowing this time-honored custom, we come now to raise our Ebenezer and as Baptists, representing 150,000 people in this State, we gather to celebrate our fifty years of freedom. "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. He hath done great things for us where-
FLEMING LIBRARY Canthinandnon (). ..... 0 __:
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
of we are glad." All honor to Henry Adams and that group of godly men who founded our General Association in 1865.
The text tells us that God has a people in whom he is so deeply interested that he rings out the mes- sage of release to all the powers which enslave them.
Pharoah was the Prototype of all Tyrants.
Moses and Aaron, at God's command, met Pha- roah and demanded that the people be released in order to render service to God in a religious feast. Under the petition for a furlough lurked the com- mand "to set free." Under the recognition of the power of Pharoah over the people lurked the "dec- laration that Israel is Jehovah's free people." "Under the duty of celebrating a feast of Jehovah in the wil- derness lurked the thought of entire separation from Egypt and the celebration of the Exodus." Pharoah was enraged and drove the petitioners from his pres- ence. "Get ye to your burdens," said the haughty Monarch. Nevertheless, Moses and Aaron were God's ambassadors, bearing God's message, for the release of God's people, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go."
Brethren, we are called of God and moved upon by the same spirit that moved Moses. We are am- bassadors for Christ, persons appointed to act in his stead and when we stand before the Pharoahs of our day, we may have the same confidence that sus- tained Moses. As loyal Batists, we go forth with a "thus saith the Lord." As we stand before the sa- loon power which enslaves its millions, we can preach with the spirit of a Moses, "Thus saith Je- hovah God of Israel, let my people go." God has his rights in human lives and no life is in bondage
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
by God's choice. It is said at the building of the tower of Babel, a brick fell from the top and broke, and a loud lamentation arose, but when a man fell and was killed nothing was said-bricks were dear but human lives were cheap. But this was acci- dental death in the building of the tower of Babel. Lives of the Jews were cheaper in the time of Moses. By a decree of the Monarch, the Jewish infant boys were drowned in the river as soon as they were dis- covered. But cheaper still have been the lives of my people in this country for the past fifty years. Note the trials through which we have come.
It is God who wills our preservation and our de- liverance: "Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, let my people go." This message has rung down through all the ages of slavery and oppression and will ring until all the oppression and slavery cease. In the elegant words of Coyle, "The fight is forever on for God is forever saying to special interests and to property accumulating enterprises and to grind- ing monopolies and tyrannies of all sorts, 'Let my people go.'" Looked at from Jehovah's point of view,
The Only Prize Worth Contending For,
in this world is men, and all things else-all trade, all commerce, all industry, all government, all pleas- ures that do not contribute to the making of men- must rest under his displeasure. He insists upon it that captains of industry shall see that man is more than all engines and railways and reapers and mills and factories. He insists that the money side of every transaction is the smaller side, and that the scales must always be made to tip in favor of the man. He will not have the spirit of a man crushed out of him in making buttons or pins or shoes. He
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
will not have the soul of a woman drawn into the threads and colors of the cloth she weaves. He will not have the laughter of little children choked out by the atmosphere of sweat shops or smothered by the whir of wheels, and because Jehovah insists upon human emancipation, because his "Let my people go," forever rings down from the skies, the struggle for liberty never ends. Still God is saying "Let my people go." The area of liberty must broadest. He demands that the people shall not be in bondage to trust tyrants or corporation tryants, and that the golden chains of property and plutocracy shall not be about their hearts and limbs."
Human Rights will be obtained even though the way lie through oppression.
Through the severest oppression known to the Babylonians, Daniel was delivered from the Lion's den and the Hebrew children from the fiery furnace. The work of deliverance from oppression and wrong rarely ends with a single stroke. Like the stone that resists blow after blow and then finally yields to hammer so it may take repeated strokes but by and by, wrong must yield and right gain sway. The Pharaoh of your oppression may resist ten scourges or plagues but no more. We must not lose heart nor complain against God but face wrong with our Gospel of deliverance. Preach it, live it, until tyran- ny yields ; preach it, live it, until Race prejudice, os- tracism, Jimcrowism and Negrophobia are buried in the Red Sea of God's wrath and fiery indignation.
If our children should ask why we are not all dead under such inhuman treatment, our answer is: "Our God is a Spirit and in him we live and move and have our being." If our children should ask us, "What of the future?" Our answer is simple:
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
"Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come.
"Twas grace that brought us safe thus far And grace will lead us home."
It is the promise of the Lord, "Though we have lain among the pots, yet we shall be as fine as gold and silver."
Truly God has been with us in all the years of our freedom as he was with our fathers in all the years of their slavery. Fifty years ago, God found us among the pots. The lowest in position and do- ing the hardest work, poor and friendless with no one to help us. We never could have succeeded if God had not helped us.
Some Said That We Would Soon Die Out-
we were then 4,441,830, we are now according to the 1910 census, 9,828,294, an increase of over 120 per cent. Others said that we would not work without our taskmasters and the lash. We had nothing then, not even "borrowed jewels of silver, Jewels of gold and raiment." We owned no property, but now our
Industrial Progress
has astonished the world. There are today a millon of the farms of the country under the control of col- ored farmers, an aggregate of 25,000,000 acres of land, a larger aggregate area than comprises the countries of England, Belgium, Denmark and Swit- zerland combined. About 225,000 of these farms were reported by the census as being owned by col- ored people, as against practically no farms owned fifty years ago. As against the force of the lash, we have 1,300,000 free farm workers.
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
Progress and Education.
Fifty years ago not more than ten in a hundred could read and write, but now seventy in every hun- dred colored persons in this country can read and write. Fifty years ago practically, there were no colored persons in attendance in the Public Schools ; and the colored teacher was almost unknown. There are today nearly two millions colored chil- dren in the public schools of the country taught by 25,000 colored teachers. Aside from the public schools, the colored man has developed and owns about two hundred private institutions of learning. They have contributed during the fifty years to these schools more than $50,000,000 aside from the amount which they have contributed in taxes which is not less than $55,000,000. Fifty years ago there were hardly a dozen Negro graduates, now we have 5,000 young men and women who have graduated from colleges and have won honors in Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin and other well known American Universities.
The Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford has been won by a Negro. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy has been conferred by leading Universities. Ex- slaves of America have been made members of the Royal Societies of London. Societies so exclusive as to make it impossible to enter except from merit or marked ability of the highest order.
Business Progress.
Not only upon the farms have Negroes made suc- cess, but they have developed many lines of labor undreamed of fifty years ago. According to census- of 1900, there were 1186 manufacturers, 82 mer- chants, 187 commercial travelers, 475 bookkeepers and accountants, 150 officials in banks.
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
Professions.
There has been developed during these fifty years the Negro professional service, a line of endeavor practically unknown fifty years ago. There are to day something like 75,000 Negroes in professions representing physicians, lawyers, teachers, profes sors in colleges, journalists, engineers, literary peo- ple, artists and others.
Home Owning
There has also been developed in these fifty years the home-owning Negro. In the country at large there are 500,000 Negroes who own homes and farms valued at over one billion dollars.
Literature and Inventions.
Then there are other lines, for instance in liter ary pursuits. This is a new line. In our Congress ional Library there are registered upward of 6,000 names of colored people who are authors and have copyrighted books. In the Patent office there are patents of 1,000 colored people .. Some most valua ble patents have been granted to colored men, con nected with the telephone system, the railway sys tem and many other things which are of value in the development of our country. The inventions of co ored men have never been brought out.
The Truth of History.
The false teaching that the colored people of this country had no ancestry to which they could poin with pride led scholarly Negroes to make origina investigation with the most gratifying results. W. have a knowledge of the truth and this has made us
Dr. C. M. P. Bigbee, President B. Y. P. U.
Rev. John H. Frank, D.D., M.D. Ex-Moderator, Louisville, Ky.
wy. W. J. M. Price, D.D. Sunday School State Convention.
Dr. Booker T. Washington, Prominent Baptist Educator.
20
Rev. Wm. M. Johnson, D.D. Chairman Executive Board General Association.
Rev. G. W. Ward, D.D. Ex-Moderator.
Rev. Robert Mitchell, D.D. Ex-Moderator. Lexington, Ky.
Rev. P. H. Kennedy, D.L. Henderson, Ky.
19
Rev. L. G. Jordan, D.D. ponding Secre'ary Foreign Board Jonal Baptist Convention.
Recording Secretary General Association, Mr. W. H. Steward, A.M. Louisville, Ky.
Dr. J. H. Garnett, Western College, Macon, Mo.
Rev. V. S. Smith, D.D., Vice-Moderator, Paducah, Ky.
21
Rev. J. R. L. Diggs. Ex-President State University.
Mrs. S. W. Layten President Woman's Conference to the National Baptist Conver
Rev. E. C. Morris, D. D. Helena, Ark. President National Baptist Convention.
Mrs. Mary V Parrish Louisville, Ky
22
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
free. It is our own scholarly Rufus L. Perry who wrote "that the modern Egyptologist delights to robe all ancient Egypt in white. The old Monarchs are made to conform in figure to the Grecian and Roman mould, and in color to the Shemitic race of Asia, and to the Anglo-Saxon. The black mummy is aroused from his ancient sleep and transformed by the art of transmigration into a white mummy with a look of disdain upon its former self. The Ne- gro is not in it.
If, during the period of slavery in America, any Anglo-Sexon raised his voice or moved his pen in the interest of the stolen and oppressed African, that man was marked, reviled, and ostracised by the of- fensively arrogant pro-slavery oligarchy, as if he were infected with the leprosy. No historian could write a true record of the sons of Ham in the hope of finding a market for his book. The press, the pulpit, the writer and publishers were all against the Negro and suppressed the fact of his ancient great- ness. In those days the white man wrote for white men; and now the black man must write for the black men, and give them proper or merited rank among the historic peoples of the earth. But let his pen be guided by truth and graced with charity."
History
hows beyond reasonable doubt that the ancient Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Libyans so frequently ind favorably mentioned by both sacred and pro- ane historians of the days of Moses and the proph- ts, were the ancestors of the present race of Ham. have seen the present generation of Egyptians in
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
Cairo, Egypt, if they were imported as a body into this country they would be classed with the colored people because of their color.
It is now clear to us all as the great historian Rawlinson, says: "For the last three thousand years the world has been mainly indebted for its advance ment to the Semitic and Indo-European races ; but it was otherwise in the first ages. Egypt and Baby lon, Mizraim and Nimrod both the descendants of Ham, led the way, and acted as pioneers of mankind in the various untrodden fields of art, literature and science. Alphabetic writing, astronomy, history chronology, architecture, plastic art, sculpture, nav igation, agriculture, textile industry, seem all to have had their origin in one or other of these two coun tries," Five Great Monarchies, Vol. I, p. 75.
"The Ethiopian Race, from whom the modern Negro of African stock are undoubtedly descended can claim as early a history as any other living peo ple on the face of the earth. History as well as the monumental discoveries, gives them a place in an cient history as far back as Egypt herself, if not farther." For 1500 years after the flood our ances tors governed and ruled the world. There was ligh in Egypt when there was light nowhere else. Tel it to our children that we are the bona-fide descend ants of Egyptians and what we have been unde God, we may be again.
The Psalmist in our text tells how the Jews es caped out of slavery and became as free as the bird of the air. He points out what they used to be an what they were destined to become.
Much in the life of Moses corresponds with the life of Lincoln. Both were men of humble birth both were skilled in the laws of the land and th .
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
condition of the people, both were convinced of the horrors of slavery by personal investigation; both determined to liberate the people; both were the Emancipators of a race; both saw the first born of the land slain before deliverance came; both died just as the people were nearing the goal of their am- bition and both lived long enough to feel the ingrat- itude of the very people to whom they had given their best service. Israel soon forgot herself and murmured against Moses and against the God of Heaven.
When David wrote this text the Jews were pros- perous, getting rich and lifting up their heads among the nations of the earth. David reminded them that they owed it all to God. He wanted them to remember that God found them among the pots, cruelly treated and making brick without straw. They were the lowest of the low in position and do- ing the hardest and dirtiest work and in their poor and friendless condition they seemed hopelessly doomed but God had brought them out and made them like the dove with wings of silver and feath- ers of yellow gold.
In the days of our prosperity, we should never forget that we have been among the pots. God has given us this great success and we must evermore walk humbly before Him, and recognize with grat- itude the agencies which he has used for our redemp- tion. Among these agencies which have wrought mightily among us for the past fifty years are the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Ameri- can Baptist Publication Society, American Mission- ary Association, Presbyterian Board of Missionary Freedmen, Protestant Episcopal Church Board, Presbyterian Board Publishing Sunday School
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THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
Work, Freeman's Aid and Publication Society. It is in point also to mention the undenominational agencies : Young Men's Christian Association American Bible Society, American Sunday Schoo Union, International Sunday School Association General Educational Board and Slater Fund. In re cent years, the Southern Baptist Convention and other Southern agencies are being used by the God of Israel for the betterment of our condition. We must ever appreciate our Northern and Southern friends for their most disinterested help extended to us through all these years. Instead of murmuring we should call to mind gratefully that God might have left us lying among the pots, but on the other hand, he brought us out and gathered the Baptists together under the matchless leadership of William J. Simmons, D.D., in organization under the match less leadership of William J. Simmons, D.D., and. under the praiseworthy direction of Dr. E. C. Mor ris, we stand out today as the largest National body of colored people in the world.
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