Find out more about Thomas T. Eaton (1845-1907) in A Noble Company, Volume 11

The organizational structure and missionary scope of the Southern Baptist Convention was largely nonexistent in 1845—the year of T. T. Eaton’s birth—as the newly formed denomination struggled with its identity after breaking away from their Northern Baptist counterparts regarding the Triennial Convention’s refusal to appoint slaveholders as missionaries. Throughout Eaton’s life, he endeavored to motivate Southern Baptists to develop their own sense of denominational responsibility and become a global Christian force, one not dependent upon the societies long-favored by Northern Baptists. He also fought passionately to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy and strict ecclesiology consistent with his understanding of the Baptist heritage. Few Southern Baptists have ever been able to achieve a comparable level of influence within the denomination that Eaton commanded around the turn of the twentieth century. -- A. G. Winters