TOBIAS
GIBSON - AREAS OF MINISTRY AND CHURCH MEMBERS
In 1800 the territory covered by the
itinerant preacher Tobias Gibson, in the Mississippi Conference was Adams,
Warren, part of Claiborne and Jefferson counties. There were several
considerable settlements on the waters of Coles Creek, Jefferson County,
MS, where Societies existed from a very early period. Mr. Gibson formed
a Society in Claiborne County, six or eight miles southeast of Port Gibson,
consisting of the families of Gibson, Newman, Coburn and Tabor. Gibson
preached to the families settled about Grindstone Ford, on Big Bayou Pierre,and
about Rocky Spring. He also organized a church at St. Albans on the south
side of Big Black River, a mile or two below the Port Gibson and Vicksburg
road which crossed at Hankerson's Ferry. The Ferry was used by barges,
keel and flat boats coming from the Mississippi River, so it was an important
sending and receiving point for early settlers. Not many years later, the
public wagon roads were cut out to the River above and below the Big Black
so that St. Albans was superseded as a shipping point. It was abandoned
quickly by the first settlers,
the locality thought to be sickly. St. Albans was the home of John
Griffing's brother Gabriel Griffing, who was married to Hannah Coleman,
Penelope's sister and granddaughter of Rev. Sam Swayze. Hannah's children
were Jeremiah, Gabriel, Hannah and John Griffing.
The Griffings of St. Albans moved to
Prairie Jefferson in NE Louisiana. They are, at the time of the book, being
planned for another book about the early history of Louisiana Methodism.
Mr. Gibson crossed Big Black and visited
the settlements around Warrenton, on the waters of Bogue de Sha and Big
Bayou. Here he found another branch of the Gibson family, where Mr. Gibson
would retire in later years. The first members of the church in Warrenton
[Warren Co., MS] were Stephen Gibson, William Lewis, and Jonas Griffing,
who built" a plain but commodious house for public worship, about one and
a half miles east of Warrenton, which was long known as "Hopewell" in Warren
County. Hopewell was kept as a place of worship until 1822.
The settlement being barred on the west by the Mississippi River,
had extended eastward until it became necessary to build a more central
church. They selected a narrow oak ridge of thin land, called Red
Bone in order to distinguish it from the cane fields. They built a plain
log church about 1814 on land owned by Moses Evans, and called it Bethel
(the dates look weird, but are, according to the book, correct).
At Bethel: John Sellers lived nearby
and served as class leader. He was the brother of Rev. Samuel Sellers.
Members who joined were Thomas Galloway, Charles Henderson, Russell Smith,
Jonathon Guice, George Selser, and the Helms. About 1832 the log church
was succeeded by a commodious frame building, and much later a substantial
brick edifice. Even though the Federal soldiers vandalized and defaced
and destroyed much of its furniture, Bethel continued to grow.
About 1823 a little class was organized
higher up on Big Bayou, known as Gibson's Schoolhouse, built by Hon. James
Gibson, Tobias' nephew. It was succeeded six or eight years later by another
school and church by Lum's Campground, and by Asbury Church. In 1824, another
was built near Bogue de Sha at the ample dwelling place of a venerable
Christian lady named Hyland.
About Tobias Gibson, who came from SC
to the Natchez Mission about 1801, with Mr. Stith Mead as presiding elder.
Mr. Stith never visited the territory, as such a thing was not expected,
so Tobias reported his travels to him. The territory boundaries at
that time were Walnut Hills on the north and "the line of demarkation on
the south." The area around Natchez was intolerant of Protestants
and exclusively Catholic. The first Baptist preacher there had to
flee the country and stay away from his family for 3 years to avoid being
sent
to the silver mines in Mexico for life
as a penalty for preaching "Jesus Christ and him crucified". John
Hannah, another Baptist preacher said something "rude against Catholicism"
and was assaulted and beaten in the streets of Natchez by a mob and thrown
into prison until his release which was demanded by the American
population. Rev. Adam Cloud, the first minister of the Protestant
Episcopal Church who came to Natchez was imprisoned, then banished from
the country, his property confiscated. Mr. Gibson sent his report
to the MS Conference at Camden [Madison County] on Jan 1, 1802, and listed
100 members that had been converted, an increase of 20.
Some dates and places from the minutes
of the SC conferences:
From 1784 established pastoral charges
west of the Allegheny Mountains in E. Tennessee
May 13, 1788 Holston, KY
Oct. 20, 1796 Baltimore
The Natchez Country was added after
1799 when Mr. Gibson was appointed missionary, possibly as late as 1802.
Miami and Scioto, OH were added in 1804 Jan., 1802 Camden SC, presided
over by William McKendree
The territory became almost too much
for Mr. Tobias to travel the 600 mile area and minister to alone. His health
began to decline, and his nature became "overtaxed." He sought a
helper to minister to "these lambs in the wilderness." He decided
to go in search of help. He took a light wardrobe, umbrella and blanket,
some traveler's bread, and dried "venison or beef", materials for making
coffee and a small sack of corn for his horse, and
started on his journey about the 10th
of September, 1802 from the settlement of Rocky Spring, [Claiborne Co,
MS]. He was soon in the almost unbroken forest of the Choctaw Nation.
He headed north on the Natchez and Nashville Trace, then northeast for
Colbert's Ferry, on the Tennessee River, a few miles below the Muscle Shoals,
and from thence, by way of Nashville to Strother's meeting house in Sumner
county, northwest of the town of Gallatin, where the Western Conference
was to meet on the 2nd of October, 1802. He did not make the Eastern Conference
on Cot 1, as he had earlier sent in his report.
On his trip he stayed at wayside inns
"kept by the Indians and half-bloods" when he could find one, and when
he could not, he stopped about dark near water, provided for his horse
by feeding him from his saddle blanket the corn he carried. He made
a fire with steel, flint and a punk, and ate his frugal meal. After
his devotions, he used his saddle bag for a pillow and slept, aware of
the danger. Once he reached Strother's, he met Francis Asbury, the
bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Asbury was afflicted
with rheumatism and had to be carried to and from meetings. Mr. Gibson
listened to preaching by William McKendree, Learner Blackman, Lewis Garrett,
John Page and others at the Conference. He reported 85 white and
two colored members of the Natchez Circuit, a decrease of 13 for the year.
He made his plea for help in traveling his territory, and was assigned
Moses Floyd, of Georgia. The Natchez territory was reassigned, placing
it in the Cumberland District with John Page aspresiding elder. The Cumberland
District included:
Nashville- Thomas Wilkerson and Levin
Edney
Red River- Jesse Walker
Barren- James Gwinn and Jacob Young
Natchez- Moses Floyd and Tobias Gibson
Next / Return
to Menu
.
.
REV.
MOSES FLOYD AND EARLY FAMILIES - 1803
Because of his poor health, Tobias agreed
to become the secondary itinerant. He would not agree to be "superannuated"
and left the conference without an appointment in bitterness toward the
church. After his work and sacrifice to be turned out by the church
without pastoral home or pastoral relationship with the church, was a great
hardship. His predominant desire after this decision was to "cease
work and live," according to the author. However, Mr. Gibson
continued to labor for the Church, as he had always done, feeble as he
had become.
The trip home was uneventful for Mr.
Gibson and Mr. Floyd. They were entertained by members in Tennessee,
and after crossing at Colbert's Ferry, they plunged into the wilderness
of the Chickasaw and Choctaw, taking the mail route
to the white settlements south of the Choctaw. They made their way
to the settlement above Rocky Spring across Big Black to where Tobias'
brother Stephen Gibson lived, near Warrenton. After a short stay
to rest and have their wardrobes refitted, they visited every settlement
to the southern extremity of the territory on the north boundary of West
Florida.
The settlements soon learned to esteem
Mr. Floyd, a man of medium size, rather spare, fair complexion, high forehead,
mild and benevolent countenance, soft and agreeable manners, rather feeble
preaching voice, with good style and delivery, clear and logical.
The burden of the territory fell on him and his already pale face, and
failing strength soon told that the burden was more than he could bear.
The author says the time is now 1803.
Mr. Floyd had kept a journal of his travels but it could not be found at
the time of the writing of the book. Nor could he locate a sentence
from the pen of Mr. Gibson about the past year, so he turned to the memories
of a few still living members for history of that time. He notes
the emigration of a considerable number of Protestant families, mostly
from the Southern Atlantic States, into the territory. Settlements
were made on the Mobile and Lower Tombigbee Rivers, higher up on the Tombigbee,
northeast of the Choctaw Nation, in
what became Marion County, in Alabama and Lowndes and Monroe Counties in
MS, and Lowndes and Madison County in N. Alabama. The author says
some historians put this emigration as later than 1803, but he knows there
were people enough on the Lower Tombigbee in the spring of 1803 to keep
a transient preacher busy several days in visiting the different neighborhoods.
The original name of the Tombigbee was
Tombeckbee, named by the Indians. Ignorance of the Indian language
caused the settlers to mispronounce and spell it incorrectly. The
author says Tombigbee means nothing but an uncouth name imposed on a noble
river.
New Families:
Emigrant families also began to locate
south of the Choctaw Nation and in West Florida. In the fall and
winter of 1803, several worthy Methodist families came to what is now the
southern part of Jefferson County, MS and settled a neighborhood they called
Spring Hill, the name of all succeeding churches and campgrounds in that
locality for at least the next 70 years. Of these families, some
were that of Thomas Owens and his wife Francis, from South
Carolina, near Charleston. Their
son, known as Little Tommie Owens was a member of the church for 55 years,
and because of his pleasantry and native wit, was considered "the light
and life of the Conference sessions, a favorite both with preachers and
people." The Sr. Thomas united with the Baptist church in Salem,
near his new residence since he found no Methodist church, until new families
moved in, at which time he joined their group.
The next family in order of time, was
the Baldridge family, from Orange County, NC. There were 5 brothers
and 5 sisters, the dates of their birth ranging form 1777 to 1801.
Two of the family, Mary and Samuel, died in childhood.
Another family came from Sumter District,
SC, the John J. Robertson family. Also the Abner Marble and
"his most excellent wife" Rachel Hamberlin Marble, who moved to Spring
Hill with other family members.
Then there were the brothers, George
and Ismy Forman, from the Western Florida area which at the the time of
the writing of the book, was in the eastern parishes of Louisiana. They
became the leaders of the newly formed congregation, the Society headed
by Thomas Owens Sr., in the early years of Spring Hill, "an eligible lot
near a good spring," where the meeting house was built. Thomas Owens,
Edward Forman, John J. Robertson and " his ever-faithful and goldly colored
servant Caesar," Theophilus Marble, George and Ismy Forman built the church
using axes to cut the timbers, hew the logs, built pulpits and other appendages.
This church became the headquarters of the Natchez territory.
.
Next / Return
to Menu
.
LORENXO
DOW'S FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF TRAVELS
The author speaks of the "sudden and
comet-like appearance of the Rev. Lorenzo Dow," who was born in Coventy,
Tolland County, Connecticut on Oct. 16, 1777. He followed Rev. Hope
Hull of New England into the ministry, "after a fearful struggle with ignorance,
sin and unbelief," and licensed to preach in 1798. After two
appointments from the Conference he was discontinued, but "traveled on
foot and horseback and preached oftener by day and night than almost any
other man in the Connection", despite losing his license. He traveled
the continent and the British Isles making converts for the Methodist church.
On a trip from Georgia to the Natchez
country in 1803, after many trials getting through the Creek Nation, Mr.
Dow found a "thick settlement, and then a scattered one, 70 miles in length"
up and down the Tombigbee River, not far above its conjunction with the
Alabama. He then traveled westward through the southern part of the Choctaw
Nation to the Natchez settlements, where he met Moses Floyd, and delivered
to him several letters from relatives in Georgia. He also gave him
letters of recommendation from high members of Church and
State, which induced Mr. Floyd to ask
him to preach at all important points of his extensive pastoral charge,
no doubt grateful for the help. Dow became the third " Methodist
circuit-rider", as they were often called. He went south from Natchez,
preaching at Kingston, Loftus Heights (later called Fort Adams), Pinckneyville,
and down to the line of West. Florida. He returned to Natchez, then
on to Kingston where he sold his watch to buy land to build a church on.
He then sold his coat for funds to travel and preach, going up country
to Pine Ridge, at Washington, to Selsertown, and at Callendar's meeting
house near the residence of the late Col. P. B.. Harrison. Upon leaving
there, he went to Bayou Pierre on Big Black where he preached the funeral
sermon of a niece of Tobias Gibson.
Lorenzo Dow left his horse with "Brother
Gibson and took a Spanish race-horse, which he was to be responsible for,
and remit him the money by post, when it should be due, on my arrival in
Georgia in November."
"June 20 - Having gotten equipped for
my journey through the woods through to Cumberland, which was several hundred
miles, and having been informed that a party of men were that morning to
start into the wilderness, I intended to go with them, but on my arrival,
found they had started the day before; so I must either wait for
more, or go and overtake them. To wait I durst not, as my appointments
had gone to Virginia. A Kentuckian had some time before, as I was
informed, struck and Indian who shortly after died, and the other Indians
supposed that his death was in consequence to the blow; and they complained
to the Governor, and the Kentuckian was tried and acquitted; wherefore
the Indians, according to their custom, were determined to kill somebody;
as they must have life for life; and they had become saucy, and had shot
and wounded several on that road, but had not killed any one yet; and it
was supposed that some one must shortly fall a victim. However, I
set off alone, and rode the best part of twenty miles, when I saw
a party of Indians withing about a hundred feet of me, I was in hopes they
would pass me, but in vain, for the first Indian seized my horse by the
bridle and the others surrounded me. At first I thought it was a
gone case with me; then I concluded to get off my horse and give
up all in order to save my life; but it turned in my mind that I do, I
must return to the settlements in order to get equipped for anotherstart,
and then it will be too late for my appointments. Again it turned
in my mind how, when I was in Ireland, somebody would frequently be robbed
or murdered one day, and I would travel the same way the day before or
the day after, and yet was preserved and brought back in peace;
and the same God is able to preserve me here and deliver me now as then.
Immediately I felt the power of faith, to put my confidence in God, at
the same time I noticed that the Indians had ramrods in the muzzle of their
guns as well as in their stocks' so it would take some time to pull out
the ramrods and get their guns cocked and prepared up to thir faces ready
to shoot. At this moment my horse started and jumped sideways, which
would have laid the Indian to the ground who held the bridele had it not
slipped out of his hands. At the same time the Indian on the other
side jumped, seemingly like a streak, to keep fromunder the horse's feet
so there was a vacancy in the circle. At the same time I gave my
horse the switch and and leaned down on the saddle, so that if they shot,
I would give them as narrow a chance as I could to hit me, as I supposed
they would wish to spare and get my horse. I did not look behind me until
I had got out of sight and hearing of the Indians, I was not long going
a dozen or fifteen miles, so I overtook the company that day, and told
them what I had passed through. They said they had met the same
Indians, and a Chickasaw trader who was with them told them that two Chickasaw
Indians with him said that the Choctaws which I met informed them that
if the Chickasaw trader was not with the Kentuckians they should have taken
their provisions from them. When I heard this I reflected if such a small
preventive was the only means of saving a party from being plundered, what
danger I was exposed to! And I felt more solemn afterward than when
in the midst of these dangers. About forty eight hours after,
a party of twenty-five men were attacked by some ruffians, driven from
their camp and plundered of some thousands of dollars, and some of them
came near starving before they got in."
"I traveled on several days with the
company, but they proceeded so slow that I resolved to quit them; and
thinking I was within about forty miles of the Chickasaw Nation, set off
alone one morning in hopes of getting in the same night; so I traveled
on all day as fast as I could conveniently, stopping only once to bait,
until I came within about twenty miles of the settlements, and about ten
at night came to a great swamp, where I missed the trail, and
was necessitated to camp out without
any company-except my horse-fire or weapons of defense; and as I dismounted
to fix my bridle and chain together for my horse to graze while fastened
to a tree, I heard a noise like the shreiks of women, and listened to know
what it might be; and it occurred to my mind that I had heard hunters say
that the catamount or panther would imitate the cries of women. At
first I felt some queries or fears in my mind, but I soon said 'God can
command the wild beasts of the forest, as well as he can command the Indian';
and I kneeled down and committed myself to the protection of kind Providence,
and then lay down and had a comfortable night's rest. The next morning
I went on and joined the settlement about ten o'clock, and got some mild
and coarse Indian bread for myself, and corn for my horse, and then went
on about twenty miles farther, and through the providence of A God,
I did not miss my road, though there were many that went in different courses.
At length I saw a man dressed like a gentleman. He came up and shook hands
with me, and after some conversation invited me to his house, about a mile
and a half off; I tarried with him a few days, and had two meetings with
some reds, blacks, whites, and half-breeds, and good, I think was done
in the name of the Lord. The post came along, and I left Mr. Bullen, the
missionary, whom I spent my time with, and set off with him, and in three
days and a half
we traveled upward of two hundred miles
and came to settlements of Cumberland."
The author says this extract will give
the reader some idea of the difficulties and dangers our ministers had
to encounter traveling between Mississippi and Tennessee, and also between
Mississippi and Georgia, through the Creek Nation. He says the Chickasaw
and Choctaw were friendly to the whites, but local ill-natured excitements
against the whites from real or
imaginary wrongs would now and then
occur, by with the innocent traveler was likely to suffer that the imprudent
and guilty. He states that the Creek Indians inhabiting that part
of the territory embraced in South Alabama were more hostile to the white
race encroaching on the lands they claimed, and especially in time of war
it was far more dangerous to travel between Natchez and Tennessee.
Another consideration added greatly to the danger of traveling
alone or in small companies along the
horse paths through the Indian Nations was that they were ofen infested
with lawless white men, who frequently robbed and sometimes murdered travelers
for a small sum of money, and tried to make it look like Indians had done
their crimes. "This was common until the close of our last war with England
in 1815; so that supplies from abroad, which were mostly from Tennessee
and South Carolina", had to encounter the dangers.
The author states that about that time
there were 100 white and two colored members in the Natchez territory,
and that nothing unusual occurred that year. He states that Rev.
Moses Floyd was "weak and feeble in his health, so that he was noted for
his pale-facedness." He says Mr. Floyd's disease "was of a flattering
character." His health started to improve as spring advanced and
summer came on, and he started to think of marriage to Miss Griffing and
a home of their on in Mississippi. He had watched Miss Griffing for
four years until he became satisfied that she was "worthy and well-qualified
for the very responsible station of a minister's wife." He "quietly
and prudently introduced the subject to her, and as he met with no repulse,
requested her to give it a thoughtful and prayerful consideration."
They agreed to marry when his health improved, but as autumn approached,
his health declined rapidly,
and they agreed to dissolve their engagement
with a renewed pledge to meet in the afterlife. Miss Griffing survived
him but a few months, dying while on a brief visit to Miss Hannah Griffing,
where her unknown grave was located somewhere near St.Albans, "not many
miles from the grave of the sainted Gibson."
Next / Return
to Menu
.
TRAVELS
TO CONFERENCE AT HARRISON COUNTY, KY
Tobias Gibson had "but one important
task to complete, and that was to provide as best he could for a regular
supply of ministerial labor and oversight in Mississippi after his
work should be done." Given the fact that the charge he had worked
was 500 miles from any other pastoral charge, and the fact that only he,
Floyd and Dow had ever seen the territory, added to the fact that other
ministers had no family or local attachments in the area, he decided to
go to the Conference at Mount Gerizim Church, about three miles from Cynthiana,
in Harrison County, KY on Oct. 3, 1803, to see if he could find recruits,
who would come out only because of sense of duty. In his fast declining
state of health, he decided to make the trip, as it mattered not when or
where he fell. He started early, as his waning health and strength
would permit. The author says, "He sits on a horse of good bottom;
has under him
a pair of well-filled saddlebags, covered
with his traveling blanket; to the cantle of his sattled is buckled his
overcoat and umbrella, and from the well fitting halter on his horse's
head comes the long line, gracefully wrapped around his necd, with which
he tethers him out to grass as occasion requires. His apparel is
plain, but neat and substantial, indicating the approach of cold weather.
He seems resolved to do, or die in the attempt." He would ride along
in prayer and occasionally sing the favorite hymn of his declining years,
beginning:
Vain, delusive world, adieu
With all of creature-good!
Only Jesus I pursue
Who bought me with his blood!
He was cared for by members along the way,
all who expressed sympathy for this almost helpless invalid. Hardly
able to sustain his travel-worn and emaciated body, he stood before the
Conference, and "in melting language, made known the wants and prospects
of his beloved charge, away down South, and west of the great Wilderness,
and in glowing accents begged that the ministerial force might at least
be duplicated."
Two new ministers were appointed "to
the Natchez work" by Bishop Asbury. They were Hezekiah Harriman and
Abraham Moses. Mr. Harriman had been licensed on trial in 1795, and
fully licensed in 1797. He traveled and preached on circuits in the
Baltimore and Virginia areas until 1799. Mr. Amos was admitted on
trial at the start of his work in the Natchez territory, which was at the
conference of 1803. The three returned to the white settlements six
or eight miles south of the Choctaw Nation on Jan. 1st, 1804, after traveling
the "distance of at least six or eight hundred miles" where Mr.
Gibson preached his last sermon, before retiring to the home of his brother
Nathaniel's widow on Big Bayou, where his monument stands.
There had been an increase of 60 "colored
members" that year, but a decrease of 26 "whites." This decrease
would have been larger were it not for an immigration of families into
the area. A large percentage of the population at this time were
Roman Catholics, hostile to Protestants, and a "considerable portion of
dishonest bankrupts - robbers, murderers, and scape-graces of all grades,
who had fled from justice in the United States and settled here when this
country was under a foreign government." The author says this was
particularly true of Western Mississippi
and Louisiana. Few of these people became reliable members of the
Church," and to this day their descendants are the most godless people
in the land". [This was at the writing in 1887.]
Next
/ Return to Menu
.
