In the article Baptist is described as a faith. It is a denomination. Christianity is a faith, which they are.
J. Paul Hawthorne
I am proud that my 3rd. great-grandfather, Rev. Kedar Hawthorne, was part of Alabama’s early Baptist beginnings. He Baptised around 5,000 people (the most according to some history books), started many churches in Alabama, and married a lot of people. He named all his sons after Baptist notables; Alexander Travis Hawthorne, Adoniram Judson Hawthorne (my line), James Boardman Hawthorne, and Hartwell Kedar Hawthorne (who died in the Civil War).
Robert Jones
Which Christian denomination or church was the very FIRST to be organized within the borders of what became Alabama? I have always thought it was Catholic since earliest European explorers sponsored by Spain or France which were Catholic religious nations in the 15th and 16th centuries. Of course, the first religions per se must have come much earlier with Native Americans who migrated into the central region and brought with them a reverence of “nature” and a “creation story” of their own. Did these earliest Native Americans first settle in the central Alabama region near “the Fork” of the Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers, or was it farther down the river towards Mobile? Or did the earliest Native Americans settle in North Alabama near Russell Cave in Jackson County? I believe there is evidence of its use by humans 10,000 years ago.
C. Wayne Austin
If one studies the inhibiters of Russell Cave they were native Americans and I presume the historians say little European mix was involved. Maybe their blood line was mostly from Asia and a few from Europe over time.
Much Later the strongest religious group were the Protestants who began to push west into the Southern states from Virginia, North & South Carolina in the late 1700s. Some floated down the Tennessee and other rivers that drained westward. Others crossed the low passes over the mountains and still others went into Georgia around the mountains altogether and mixed with the Catholics in Florida, Georgia & other southern states. I think Catholicism was already in the south in some numbers as you say from parts of Europe, but more came from the northern states in time.
I never knew about the division between Primitive Baptists & Missionary Baptists until I started doing genealogy research. Many in my families stayed Primitive Baptist.
william berry
I come from a long line of Primitive Baptists myself. My great grandfather, grandfather, an uncle, and older brother were all PB preachers, or elders, as they prefer to be called. The Mud Creek Association in Jackson County was a very strong association of at least a half dozen churches in and around Jackson County in the early 20th century through the 1970s. My grandfather often preached at Flint River PB Church, too. The main reason for the division of the Baptists was over mission work. The old PBs, or “hardshell” Baptists believed if God wanted you in His church, He’d call upon you to come to Him. It was not man’s ‘mission’ to go out and recruit people. I have to agree.
[…] first church in the present confines of Alabama was constituted in North Alabama and known as the Flint River Baptist Church on October 2, 1808. About this same time there appeared a licensed preacher, William Cochrane, from Georgia, in […]
Ginger Smith
Thanks for the history of Alabama Baptists. I’m from GA but half my folks are from Conecuh County. And I just worked on a book that our church, FBC Columbus Ga published about early Baptists, and the main character is Dr. JH DeVotie, a founder of Howard, later Samford, and a preacher in Marion in the early 1800’s. He came to Columbus and later Griffin, GA. The book can be ordered from the church. Other Alabama Baptists are in it, too.
My question: I don’t know early Alabama history. How did all these settlers come in while the Creek and Choctaw Nations lived there? How did they get permission, or did they?
Donna R Causey
There were many treaties formed with the Native Americans and sometimes land was sold to individuals. It was very complicated and hard to explain here. But I provided more information in my Alabama Footprints series, particularly in the last two books, ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Removal: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 7) ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Banished: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 8)
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Ed Henry
In the article Baptist is described as a faith. It is a denomination. Christianity is a faith, which they are.
I am proud that my 3rd. great-grandfather, Rev. Kedar Hawthorne, was part of Alabama’s early Baptist beginnings. He Baptised around 5,000 people (the most according to some history books), started many churches in Alabama, and married a lot of people. He named all his sons after Baptist notables; Alexander Travis Hawthorne, Adoniram Judson Hawthorne (my line), James Boardman Hawthorne, and Hartwell Kedar Hawthorne (who died in the Civil War).
Which Christian denomination or church was the very FIRST to be organized within the borders of what became Alabama? I have always thought it was Catholic since earliest European explorers sponsored by Spain or France which were Catholic religious nations in the 15th and 16th centuries. Of course, the first religions per se must have come much earlier with Native Americans who migrated into the central region and brought with them a reverence of “nature” and a “creation story” of their own. Did these earliest Native Americans first settle in the central Alabama region near “the Fork” of the Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers, or was it farther down the river towards Mobile? Or did the earliest Native Americans settle in North Alabama near Russell Cave in Jackson County? I believe there is evidence of its use by humans 10,000 years ago.
If one studies the inhibiters of Russell Cave they were native Americans and I presume the historians say little European mix was involved. Maybe their blood line was mostly from Asia and a few from Europe over time.
Much Later the strongest religious group were the Protestants who began to push west into the Southern states from Virginia, North & South Carolina in the late 1700s. Some floated down the Tennessee and other rivers that drained westward. Others crossed the low passes over the mountains and still others went into Georgia around the mountains altogether and mixed with the Catholics in Florida, Georgia & other southern states. I think Catholicism was already in the south in some numbers as you say from parts of Europe, but more came from the northern states in time.
I never knew about the division between Primitive Baptists & Missionary Baptists until I started doing genealogy research. Many in my families stayed Primitive Baptist.
I come from a long line of Primitive Baptists myself. My great grandfather, grandfather, an uncle, and older brother were all PB preachers, or elders, as they prefer to be called. The Mud Creek Association in Jackson County was a very strong association of at least a half dozen churches in and around Jackson County in the early 20th century through the 1970s. My grandfather often preached at Flint River PB Church, too. The main reason for the division of the Baptists was over mission work. The old PBs, or “hardshell” Baptists believed if God wanted you in His church, He’d call upon you to come to Him. It was not man’s ‘mission’ to go out and recruit people. I have to agree.
Ed Henry and Wendy Futral Anderson
Fred Grissom
Barbara Potter
[…] first church in the present confines of Alabama was constituted in North Alabama and known as the Flint River Baptist Church on October 2, 1808. About this same time there appeared a licensed preacher, William Cochrane, from Georgia, in […]
Thanks for the history of Alabama Baptists. I’m from GA but half my folks are from Conecuh County. And I just worked on a book that our church, FBC Columbus Ga published about early Baptists, and the main character is Dr. JH DeVotie, a founder of Howard, later Samford, and a preacher in Marion in the early 1800’s. He came to Columbus and later Griffin, GA. The book can be ordered from the church. Other Alabama Baptists are in it, too.
My question: I don’t know early Alabama history. How did all these settlers come in while the Creek and Choctaw Nations lived there? How did they get permission, or did they?
There were many treaties formed with the Native Americans and sometimes land was sold to individuals. It was very complicated and hard to explain here. But I provided more information in my Alabama Footprints series, particularly in the last two books, ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Removal: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 7) ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Banished: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 8)