Name |
Richard Curtis |
Title |
Rev |
Suffix |
Jr. |
Birth |
20 May 1756 |
Dinwiddie Co, Virginia |
Gender |
Male |
Religion |
1778 |
South Carolina |
licensed as Baptist minister |
Residence |
1780 |
Natchez District, Mississippi |
- Richard Curtis, Sr. came to the Natchez Country in 1780, where Richard Curtis, Sr. died near Cole's Creek on November 10, 1784.
Accompanying Richard Curtis, Sr. to the Natchez Country were 3 sons, a stepson (John Jones) and 2 sons-in-law, three of whom later became pioneer citizens of Amite County: (1) son Richard, Jr. and his wife Pattie; (2) Son William Curtis and his wife; (3) and daughter Hannah Curtis, wife of John Courtney.
-----------------
Mississippi Missionary
As mentioned before, Joseph was a member of Head of Enoree in 1797. Late that year or the next, he made his first trip to Mississippi with Richard Curtis, Jr. This trip was made without his family, as was the custom of the
time to venture farther west, find a safe place and then return for the family. Baptist historian, W. E. Paxton records the results of this first trip:
"They sought not in vain, for soon after their return they were visited by William Thompson, who preached unto them the Gospel of our God: and on the first Saturday in October, 1798, came William Thompson, Richard Curtis and Joseph Willis, who constituted them into a church, subject to the government of the Cole's Creek church, calling the newly constituted arm of Cole's Creek, ?The Baptist Church on Buffaloe."
This church was located near Woodville, Mississippi and the Mississippi River east of Alexandria, Louisiana. Joseph returned for his family by 1799, but it would seem he might have made a trip across the river into Louisiana
before this date, since this is where he returned with his family.
Curtis had already made one trip to this part of the country in 1780. In that year Richard Curtis, Jr. along with his parents, half-brother and three brothers, and all their wives, together with John Courtney and John Stampley
and their wives, set out for Mississippi. Mississippi Baptist historian T. C. Schilling wrote that "two brothers by the name of Daniel and William Ogden and a man by the name of Perkins, with their families, most of whom were Baptists" were also along on this first trip.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/evangeline/bios/willis.txt
|
Other-Begin |
Abt 1795 |
Natchez District, Mississippi |
- abt 1795 Curtis was arrested for public teachings of his Protestant religion. Upon his release, he was threatened with deportation to the mines of Mexico as a prisoner.
(from chronology of Joseph Willis Sr.)
|
Other-Begin |
Abt 1795 |
Natchez District, Mississippi |
- abt 1795 Curtis writes an open letter to protest Governor Carondelet's reenactment of the "Black Code" against Protestant worship. Did not allow more than 9 persons to assemble. Curtis also detailed reasons for his not departing.
(chronology of Joseph Willis Sr.)
|
Residence |
1795 |
Salem Community, near Cole's Creek, Natchez, Mississippi |
Religion |
1796 |
South Carolina |
ordained |
Other-Begin |
1798 |
Natchez District, Mississippi |
- 1798 Joseph Willis Sr. associated with Curtis (upon his return to the now U.S. Territory of Mississippi) and William Thompson to constitute a church near Natchez, Mississippi.
(chronology of Joseph Willis Sr.)
|
Religion |
1798 |
Cole's Creek, Natchez, Jefferson Co, Mississippi |
organized 1st Baptist Church |
- He returned to the Mississippi Territory in 1798, and as Moderator helped to organize in due and ancient form Salem Baptist Church on Cole's Creek in Jefferson County as a regular Baptist Church, the first in Mississippi.
|
Religion |
09 May 1806 |
Beaver Creek, Amite Co, Mississippi |
Ebenezer Baptist Church |
- On May 9, 1806, Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr., assisted by Rev. Thomas Mercer, Rev. James Courtney from South Carolina, Rev. Isaac Jackson from New Providence Baptist Church and Rev. Jonathan Curtis from Salem Baptist Church, constituted the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Beaver Creek in Amite County and was the first Pastor.
|
Possessions |
1808 |
Amite Co, Mississippi |
granted 320 acres |
Death |
28 Oct 1811 |
Beaver Creek, Amite Co, Mississippi |
Notes |
- Richard Curtis, Jr.
First Baptist Minister in Mississippi
Richard Curtis, Jr. was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, on May 20, 1756; son of Richard Curtis, Sr. and Phoebe, widow of William Jones.
Richard Curtis, Sr., and family (there was a stepson, John Jones, who married Anna, daughter of William Brown on 28 Jun 1768, and five sons and three daughters) resided in 1775 on the Great Pee Dee River, near the mouth of Black River, South Carolina, but came to the Natchez Country in 1780, where Richard Curtis, Sr. died near Cole's Creek on November 10, 1784.
Accompanying Richard Curtis, Sr. to the Natchez Country were 3 sons, a stepson (John Jones) and 2 sons-in-law, three of whom later became pioneer citizens of Amite County: (1) son Richard, Jr. and his wife Pattie; (2) Son William Curtis and his wife; (3) and daughter Hannah Curtis, wife of John Courtney.
Richard Curtis, Jr., who had been licensed as a Baptist Minister in South Carolina in 1778, began to preach throughout the Natchez Country but especially in the Salem Community near Cole's Creek. In 1795 he ran afoul of the Spanish authorities for preaching and officiating at the marriage of his niece, Phoebe Jones to David Greenleaf, and he was forced to return to South Carolina, where he was ordained in 1796. He returned to the Mississippi Territory in 1798, and as Moderator helped to organize in due and ancient form Salem Baptist Church on Cole's Creek in Jefferson County as a regular Baptist Church, the first in Mississippi.
On May 9, 1806, Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr., assisted by Rev. Thomas Mercer, Rev. James Courtney from South Carolina, Rev. Isaac Jackson from New Providence Baptist Church and Rev. Jonathan Curtis from Salem Baptist Church, constituted the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Beaver Creek in Amite County and was the first Pastor.
Among the charter members were Mary Curtis, and his brother-in-law, John Courtney, both with letters from Salem Baptist Church on Cole's Creek.
Mary Curtis (wife or daughter?) dismissed by letter on October 1, 1808.
Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr., was Pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Adams County, Mississippi (organized in 1800 and was the second Baptist Church in Mississippi), and a messenger to the Mississippi Baptist Association in 1808-1811.
Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr., was disallowed a claim of settlement on Beaver Creek in Amite County in 1802, because the land was not improved, but was granted 320 acres there in 1808. He is listed as a citizen of Amite County in the Census of 1805 and 1810. (A relative also named Richard Curtis is listed in the Census of 1810 and 1816.)
Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr. died of cancer on Beaver Creek in Amite County, Mississippi on October 28, 1811, and is buried in the yard of what was years later the residence of Dr. W. b. Kinnabrew, about 1/2 mile from Ebenezer Baptist Church, and there is a marble obelisk in the churchyard.
John Courtney, brother-in-law of Richard Curtis, Sr., was appointed delegate from Ebenezer Baptist Church of Amite County, Mississippi on January 31, 1807, to attend the organization meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Association at Cole's Creek Church.
He settled with his wife, Hannah Curtis, and 7 children on 666 acres on Beaver Creek, Section 30, Township 1 north, range 3 east in November, 1802.
Brother Benjamin Curtis, brother-in-law John Stampley, a Baptist Minister, and half brother John Jones and their families settled in the Cole's Creek area of the Mississippi Territory.
(The author of the above, who remains anonymous, inserted following note. jtd)
The second Baptist Church organized in Mississippi was located at the confluence of Big Bayou Pierre and Little Bayou Pierre in Claiborne County, Mississippi. This area is not in the city limits of Port Gibson, Mississippi.
The second Baptist Church in Mississippi was organized in 1798, in Claiborne County, Mississippi and was know as Bayou Pierre Baptist Church. It ceased to exist in 1825
.....Author is anonymous.
Submitted by Jeanne Truly Davis, January 2002.
http://jeffersoncountyms.org/bios.htm#curtis
|
Person ID |
I28630 |
Roots |
Last Modified |
3 Jun 2017 |