AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES BOOK BUNDLE
The American biographies included in this bundle are:
The Life, Ministry and Journals of Hezekiah Smith. Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Haverhill, Massachusetts 1765 to 1805 and Chaplain in the American Revolution 1775 to 1780.
By John David Broome
It is unfortunate that a man who helped to found a notable American university, who possessed two earned and three honorary degrees from reputable institutions, who served his country well in the American Revolution as a chaplain, who traveled and preached in each of the original states, and who labored to establish his denomination as a religious force in New England is scarcely mentioned in the standard histories of the Revolutionary era. This intrepid Baptist minister was a potent factor on the American religious scene for over forty years. While most men would have been content with the successful pastorate which he held in Haverhill, Massachusetts, from 1764 to 1805, Smith’s wide itinerations carried his influence far beyond the little town by the Merrimack River. Chronicled in a series of journals which he kept, his life and work strike an unusual portrait of a man whose story deserves the attention of the American historian. —from the author’s introduction to the Journals.
Now published for the first time, and as the first volume issued in our Warren Association Series, this work will prove to be an invaluable sourcebook for any research into colonial Baptist history, and especially the growth of Baptist principles in New England.
717 pages, with an extensive 70 page Index of Persons (with over 2,200 entries!), Churches (including many Congregationalist & Presbyterian), and Subjects, all making the information contained in this new work easily accessible to interested readers. Includes Illustrations, facsimile of sermons, and one map.
The Life of John Gano, 1727-1804. Pastor-Evangelist of the Philadelphia Association.
by Terry Wolever
In this expanded volume, incorporating a completely revised and corrected edition of the author's 1998 book, The Life and Ministry of John Gano, 1727-1804, the story of this leading evangelical figure of the eighteenth century is related in greater depth, utilizing a number of previously untapped sources. This large volume presents in detail Gano's ancestry, early life, conversion experience and subsequent ministry at Morristown, New Jersey, the Jersey Settlement in North Carolina, Philadelphia, New York, his chaplaincy with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and his final years of ministry in Kentucky. Twelve appendixes cover information on John Gano's children, sermons, land deeds, diary and expense account for 1773-1774 and will, as well as a 30-page discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the Gano family evidence on the baptism of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War, as presented by descendants and L. C. Barnes in a controversial 1926 paper.
704 pages, including over 35 illustrations, four maps and extensive indexes of persons, subjects and churches.
The Life, Journal and Works of David Jones, 1736-1820
By G. Truett Rogers
In addition to pastoring churches in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, David Jones also undertook one of the earliest Baptist missionary endeavors among the American Indians in 1772-1773. During the Revolutionary War and again in the Indian Wars of 1794-1796 and the War of 1812, Jones served as a chaplain in the American Army, most notably under General Anthony Wayne.
This first-time compilation of material on this Philadelphia Association minister includes a full-length biography of his life by Dr. G. Truett Rogers, the Journal of his two missionary visits to the Indians of the old Northwest Territory and his various other published works, which have never been reprinted or made generally available until now.
In this unique volume the controversy over whether Laying on of Hands should be a New Testament church ordinance is examined in detail. This debate was of considerable importance among Baptists of the seventeenth thru early nineteenth centuries and should interest any student of Baptist history.
Cloth-bound in navy grade B vellum with gold stamping. Over 600 pages. Illustrated.
Giant in the Land: The Life of William B. Johnson (1782-1862). First President of the Southern Baptist Convention
by Hortense C. Woodson
This biography by Miss Woodson is the only full-length treatment on William B. Johnson, being first published in 1950. A spiritual heir of the early Particular Baptists in South Carolina, William B. Johnson’s contribution to American Baptist life was not as a theologian, but rather as a man remarkably gifted in organizational and administrative skills – traits that would lead him into prominent leadership positions of great influence. After serving as president of the General Missionary (or Triennial) Baptist Convention from 1841-1844, Johnson went on to become the first president of the newly-formed Southern Baptist Convention, serving in this capacity from 1845-1851. Described as “the major architect of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Johnson’s role in the formation of, what has become, the largest Protestant body in the United States is thus of great significance. But like so many “giants” of the past, today W. B. Johnson is largely unknown – even among his own constituency. Drawing mainly from the “Reminiscences” written by Johnson before he died, this book provides us with insight not only into the life of this important figure, but also into the issues which brought the Southern Baptist Convention into being. There is also a stirring chapter written on the Revival of 1831 in Edgefield, South Carolina, in which Johnson was a participant.
This new reprinting of Miss Woodson’s life of William B. Johnson has been greatly enhanced by additional illustrations, a comprehensive index, and valuable appendices, including a facsimile reproduction of the minutes of the first Southern Baptist Convention of May 1845. 255 pages.
Daniel and Abraham Marshall. Pioneer Baptist Evangelists to the South
by Dr. Thomas Ray
Thomas Ray has done a commendable work in bringing the lives of these two great evangelists back before the Christian public. Together with Shubal Stearns, Daniel Marshall founded the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in North Carolina, which had a direct bearing on the subsequent rapid growth of the Baptists in the Carolinas and Virginia. To Daniel Marshall also belongs the honor of establishing the first continuing Baptist church in Georgia at Kiokee in 1772. Abraham Marshall, his son, was even more conspicuous as an itinerant pastor-evangelist. “In New England his sermons drew together vast crowds, some comparing him to Whitefield in eloquence.” The truth of this assessment will be borne out to the reader of this book. This new work also contains the complete “Memoirs of the Late Rev. Abraham Marshall,” which are here reprinted for the first time since their original publication in 1824.
Bound in Grade B cloth vellum with gold stamping. 330 pages, with illustrations and maps. Fully indexed.
Memoirs of Elder Edmund Botsford
Compiled and edited by Charles D. Mallary
“Among the early Baptist ministers in South Carolina, one of the more influential and colorful was Edmund Botsford (1745-1819). He was nurtured in the faith by Oliver Hart, was a contemporary and fellow-laborer with Richard Furman in the Charleston Baptist Association, and a spiritual father to William B. Johnson, John M. Roberts and others. He was a capable minister, an involved worker in the Charleston Association, a writer and a mentor to young ministers. Yet he is practically forgotten in South Carolina Baptist history...This reprinting of the Memoirs of Elder Edmund Botsford by Particular Baptist Press will help introduce him to a new generation of Baptists.” – J. Glenwood Clayton, from the Introduction
Edmund Botsford was an English-born immigrant to colonial South Carolina who rose from obscurity to become a key figure among Baptists in the South. He was eulogized for having been a “faithful minister of Christ, and highly respected for his correct, exemplary conduct” (American Baptist Magazine, March, 1820, p. 310). This biography has not been reprinted since the original edition of 1832, and is a valuable sourcebook for American Baptist history. “Edmund Botsford lived at a critical time in the development of South Carolina Baptist life. He was involved in making decisions that shaped the life of Baptists in the South for generations.” (from the Introduction). Perhaps the most rewarding part of this volume however, is the spiritual counsel given by pastor Botsford in a series of letters to his various friends.
251 pages. This volume in our Charleston Association Series has been completely retypeset and fully indexed, with 8 illustrations and a map.