17
DECADE OF THE 1830'S 

C
harles Crow's second term as pastor at Ocmulgee began early in the decade of the 1830's.  During this decade, there were many changes in the church and in Charles' family.  

Crow's burdens as minister were greatly eased by the presence of a number of preachers in the congregation to assist him.  These included Noah Haggard, John Dennis, Abner G. McCraw, O.M. Peterson, George Everett, William West, Malachiah Reeves, S.L. Larkin, and D.T. Du-pree.  In addition, traveling and neighboring preachers would make a contribution from time to time.  

During the decade, the preaching duties were shared by all of the preachers.  George Everett preached more than any of the other minis-ters, including Crow who preached only one out of five sermons. 

George Everett	31.5 %	Malachiah Reeves	  1.9 %
Abner G. McCraw	25.9 %	S. L. Larkin	  1.9 %
Charles Crow	22.2 %	O. M. Peterson	  1.9 %
Noah Haggard	  5.4 %	William West	  0.9 %
John Dennis	  2.8 %		94.4 %

The remaining sermons were preached by others such as J. Veasey, John Clark (a blind man), Jeremiah Reeves, and a minister named Thomas.  In addition to carrying the bulk of preaching duties, these ministers regularly represented the church and assisted Charles with his duties at association and general meetings.  Crow was a delegate to every meeting of the Cahaba Association and state convention.   Reddick Simms, church clerk, served as a delegate in the early years of the decade.  In 1834, Abraham W. Jackson replaced him.  Jackson was a delegate and alternate to the association in the later years and to the convention in 1836, 1838 and 1839.
However, the two ministers who were the most frequently chosen dele-gate to church meetings were McCraw and Everett.  One or the other, or both, were always by Crow's side during this period.  The McCraw memorialist states:  "This was an interesting period in the history of Ocmulgee Church marked by the number of young ministers raised up among her membership.  These received the especial notice and instruc-tions of the revered, Charles Crow.  He was one of nature's great men, deeply pious, sound in theology, and versed in the truths of the Bible.  He was a venerated teacher and example to his 'boys' as he with paternal love, termed the young preachers, and greatly rejoiced in their suc-cess." 

Charles took special note of Abner McCraw.  "The experienced vision of" Crow "soon perceived in the growing talents and piety of his young brother, an evidence that God's spirit had called him to the work of the ministry."   McCraw became one of the most outstanding Baptist min-isters of his day . . . "  Charles prepared young Abner well.  When Crow died, Abner McCraw was ready to succeed him as pastor at Ocmulgee.  He would go on to serve other churches and two terms as President of the Alabama Baptist Convention.   

In September 1831, Charles presided at the ordination of McCraw and Everett, delivering a discourse at the Ocmulgee Church to open the ceremony.  William Calloway questioned the young preachers regarding their beliefs and faith.  Both men spoke of their call to the ministry un-der questioning by Malachiah Reeves.  Their responses being affirmative and satisfactory, they were allowed entry into the presbytery.  John Dennis closed the ceremony with prayer for their prosperity and success as the ministers of Christ.  

Crow was also fortunate to have two sons in law, Solomon Smith and Abraham W. Jackson,  to aid in his ministry.  Solomon served as a deacon and in other ways.  He was a Godly and upright man.  Jackson was especially helpful, serving as a deacon, song leader, church clerk , representing the congregation as conference moderator, and as a dele-gate to meetings attending to church business.  Jackson later became a minister and missionary to Louisiana and Texas.  

Charles needed plenty of help.  His position with the Cahaba Association continued, and in 1832, he was reelected president of the State Conven-tion when Ocmulgee Church hosted the annual meeting.  The convention was failing and had no president in 1831.  He struggled to keep the con-vention an effective organization when controversy was retarding coop-eration among the churches.  Fortunately, Hosea Holcombe would take over as president in 1833, and the succeeding five years.  Working to-gether, Crow and Holcombe rescued the convention from ruin.  The con-vention returned to Ocmulgee Church again in 1835 and 1839. 

At the 1835 convention, held in November, the slavery issue occupied the attention of the delegates.  Most leading Baptist laymen, and some pas-tors, such as Crow and McCraw, owned slaves and considered this mor-ally acceptable.  The 1835 convention passed a resolution denouncing certain northern "fanatics" whose purpose it was to interfere "With the relation of master and slave . . . "  The slavery subject would be revived again in 1840 and 1844.  It was the cause of much controversy. 

During the decade, the church added about 166 new members or, on av-erage, nineteen a year.  Of these, twenty per cent were Negroes.  Separa-tions from the church totaled 118 for a net gain of forty-eight members over the period.  By arranging the members added and subtracted, the pattern of coming and going is seen.  

                  New Members		       Separations	  Net 
Year	White	Negro	Total	White 	Negro	Total	Gain/Loss
1831	    5	   1	    6	     7	    2	    9	     -3
1832	  14	   5	  19	     7	    2	    9	     10
1833	  30	   6	  36	   11	    0	  11	     25
1834	    3	   0	    3	   14	    3	  17	   -14
1835	    7	   2	    9	   15	    5	  20	   -11
1836	  28	   4	  32	   20	    2	  22	    10
1837	  11	   5	  16	     8	    0	    8	      8
1838	    6	   0	    6	     9	    2	  11	    -5
1839	  28	  11	  39	     9	    2	  11	    28
Totals	132	  34	166	 100	  18	118	    48 

Problems associated with the excessive use of alcohol among church members improved.  During the decade, there was not a single discipli-nary case brought before the church.  This does not mean there were not problems.  In 1835 Noah Haggard posed a query to the church:  "Is it agreeable to gospel order for a baptist to visit a grog shop, or any place of wickedness, and there drink spirituous liquors with the drunken?"  The church agreed to take up the question the following month.  Unfor-tunately, the minutes for that month were "mislaid" and the church's an-swer is unknown.  However, by asking the question, and asking it in a condemning way, Noah Haggard obviously had some church member in mind.  

Church discipline continued to be enforced, but the number of actions declined when compared to the previous decade.  Actions against mem-bers who were slaves accounted for half of the discipline cases, including one excommunication for adultery.  Charles' slave Wooly was excluded for " . . . living in disorder," but he was restored to fellowship two years later.  The church remained intolerant of dissent.  The congregation's decisions were law and, like court judgment, once the decision was made, it was final.  William Tankersly discovered this in 1833 when he pro-tested a decision settling a dispute with Sally Perry.  The church promptly declared a "misfellowship" and excluded Tankersly from the church.  Discipline cases of the period involved settling member disputes, two cases of "living in disorder," theft, making false statements, embez-zling money, adultery, fishing on the Sabbath, using profane language and bigamy.  

With Crow as pastor, the church continued to support missions strongly through the association and convention.  In 1838, the congregation was moved by the pleas of missionaries in Burma after reading a publication about them.  They took up a special collection to support the Burmese Mission.  

On January 26, 1833, the church began a building program.  The dea-cons, including Abraham W. Jackson, were authorized to " . . . contract for the building of a new meeting house."  Fifteen months later on April 26, 1834, the deacons were " . . . authorized to make sale of the old meeting house," and Charles Crow and Abraham W. Jackson were ap-pointed " . . . to furnish the meeting house with a sufficient number of seats and steps . . . " and " . . . draft a bill of lumber and forward it to the saw mill."  

Over the coming months and years, the church would furnish and finish the meeting house.  On June 19, 1834, the church ordered "a new table" which Abraham Jackson delivered in September at a cost of $4.50.  On January 25, 1835, George Everett reported " . . . that he had got some paint and oil a remainder of that purchased for the painting of the meeting house."  On July 25, 1835, Matthias Dennis reported " . . . that he has obeyed the request of the church in procuring a large Bible for her use."

The people of Ocmulgee Church were undoubtedly proud of their new church structure.  Gone was the smelly old log meeting house with its dirt floor and spiders in the rafters.  They had a painted frame structure with a real floor and new furnishings.  The church was probably striving to finish the building before the Alabama Baptist Convention assembled there on November 7, 1835.  One can only imagine the pride the Ocmul-gee members felt when pastors and delegates from all over Alabama as-sembled there for the convention.  

As nice as the new meeting house must have been, it still did not have a ceiling or a means of heating.  A ceiling was not authorized until Febru-ary 1841.  Charles Crow, Abraham Jackson, George Hopper, and Abner McCraw were appointed " . . . to prosecute the work and . . . to superin-tend the same . . . "  In October 1841, with cold weather approaching, the church " . . .  authorized bro. A. G. McCraw to furnish the house with a stove or stoves with instructions to have them up by the next meeting."  The instructions to Abner McCraw have a sense of urgency and indicate that the brethren were tired of being cold at meetings.  

Hymn books preceded the ceiling and stove.  On March 26, 1836, Abra-ham Jackson was appointed to " . . . raise the tunes in the congregation."  Without hymnbooks, Jackson had to read the lyrics one line at a time. This was called lining out the hymn, and he was probably delighted when, on May 27, 1837, the church authorized the purchase of Wats and Rippons hymnbooks and unspecified concordances.  Charles Crow was authorized to select the concordances.  

Jackson's selection as congregational song leader must mean he had some musical talents.  He possessed hymnbooks of his own.  When the church needed additional books in June 1841, he sold them one dozen hymnals and called "upon the treasurer for an amount sufficient to pay for said books."
In addition to building a new meeting house, the church secured title to the property upon which it was built, and increased the size of the prop-erty through a gift and by purchase.  In March 1832, "Levi Martin made a donation of two and one-half acres of land adjoining the meeting house lot which the church thankfully received . . . "  The meeting house stands on the extreme northeastern corner of section 19.  Levi Martin bought eighty acres on January 26, 1832, directly north of the church in the southeastern corner of section 18.  These two pieces of property join where the intersecting lines between the two sections meet.  It is here that Martin's donated land is located.  

The meeting house was built upon land belonging to William Greer which he had purchased in early 1819.  Greer joined Ocmulgee Church in August 1823.  He resigned in November 1831 and sold the land upon which the meeting house stood to H. G. Johnson.  After building a fine new meeting house, the church realized they did not have title to the land.  At first Mr. Johnson " . . .  refused to make deed . . ." but relented and supplied a title when a church committee headed by A. G. McCraw called upon him relative to the matter.  In July 1839, the church rounded out its property when it purchased " . . . a small portion (of) land ad-joining from Abram Summer . . . "  Abraham Summer owned the prop-erty directly east of the meeting house in section 20.  Summer was a church member and an early settler in the community, arriving a few months after Charles Crow and Stephen McCraw.  

The splendid new meeting house, furnishings, hymnals, stove, and land additions are all signs of a prosperous membership, and a significant up-grade from the forty-five dollars and fifty cents log meeting house built nine years earlier.  This progress took money, and the membership had to have enough extra cash to pay for it all.  The facts are that in 1835 farmers and planters were enjoying a measure of prosperity as the result of cotton production and the demand for it.  It was a period when suc-cessful farming operations increased the number of acres in cultivation and their Negro laborers.

Charles Crow was prospering, too.  In March 1837, the church in a grand gesture to Charles, voted that the contents of the church treasury be " . . . paid over to the pastor of the church . . . "  This is the first indi-cation of any pecuniary offering to an Ocmulgee pastor.  Charles " . . . refused to take it . . . "  and the money was " . . . retained in the treas-ury."  The church never brought up the subject of remuneration or monetary gifts again as long as Crow was pastor.  There were probably two reasons he refused the money.  First, a strong conviction that the gospel was free, and he would serve without pay.  In the early days of the church, this was a fixed principle among Baptists.   Crow was taught by the Separate Baptists and receiving pay for serving God was repug-nant to him.  The second reason he refused the money may have been because his own farming operation was doing well.  He was enjoying cot-ton profits along with the rest of the community.  

That he was doing well can hardly be questioned.  On June 15, 1838, he purchased 120 acres of land from William and Sarah Davenport for a price of $1,183 or $9.86 per acre.  This land was located in the south-western corner of section 19, about three fourths of a mile from the Ocmulgee Church.  It was originally owned by Stephen McCraw and was acquired by the Davenports after Stephen's death in 1821.  The Davenport's migrated to central Arkansas from Perry County.  Charles' son, Jonathan, would also move to Arkansas and marry the then wid-owed Sarah Davenport in 1871.  

Charles was not the only one buying land, and the Davenports were not the only people moving during the 1830's.  Almost all the available land along the Oakmulgee Creek and the lower Cahaba River watershed was acquired during the decade.  A study of the area's land plats attests to the fact that established landowners, their children, and recent arrivals, bought a large portion of the land available from the United States gov-ernment.   

Charles' daughter, Jane F. Crow , and her husband, Abraham W. Jackson, came to the community early in the decade.  They purchased 126.8 acres of land from Joseph Person for $1,500 or $12.50 an acre, on June 5, 1830.  Charles and Joshua Crow witnessed the transaction.  The land was located one half mile directly west of Charles Crow's prop-erty.   Abraham and Jane bought an additional 82.4 acres adjoining this property on the west side from the federal government on August 3, 1831.  They joined the church six months later, and Abraham became the community's Justice of the Peace. 

Three years later on June 5, 1834, Abraham purchased another adjoin-ing 41.2 acres from the United States government, giving him a total of 250.4 contiguous acres.   Like most others along the Oakmulgee Creek, Abraham was a slave owner and cotton farmer.  As cotton farming be-came more profitable, he expanded his land holdings again on October 25, 1838, by purchasing 176.3 acres from Aaron and Jane Moore.  He paid $2,400 or $13.61 an acre for the land.   In 1830 Abraham had four slaves, but by 1840 had acquired fifteen.   His capital investments in land and labor indicate he was benefiting from the demand for cotton.  

Before moving into the Ocmulgee Church community, Jane Crow had given birth to five children -- Charles Green, Silas C., Sarah M. E., John B., and Mary Jane.  Over the decade of the 1830's, she gave birth to four more children -- Clara Matina,  Elsa Frances, James W. and Rebecca J.  The latter four were born in the Oakmulgee Creek area.  Jane died sometime between the ages of thirty-three and thirty-six years of age.  Like Sarah Harlan, no tombstone or evidence of her death has been found.  Some grave markers have been lost in the Ocmulgee Cemetery, and Jane's may have been one of the one's destroyed or otherwise elimi-nated.  After Jane's death, Abraham was left with nine children ranging in age from fifteen to three years in 1841.  At the age of thirty-six, Abra-ham married twenty-six year old Sarah M. Corgill of Dallas County, Alabama.  

Silas Harlan Crow did not settle near, or join, the Ocmulgee Church.  However, like others in the 1830's, he went about acquiring and selling land finally settling in western Perry County, northeast of Uniontown, along the Dallas County line in 1835.  He and his wife, Sarah A. Martin, had four children before he died in 1838.   

Elijah Palmer Crow  married Fedelia West, the daughter of William West, a Baptist minister living in the area.  Elijah and Fedelia married on December 3, 1826, and Charles Crow performed the ceremony.   On January 4, 1832, Elijah purchased 79.7 acres, a half-mile southwest of his father, where he engaged in farming.   Ten months later, at the age of twenty-five years, he joined the Ocmulgee Church on a profession of faith.  Fedelia died in 1834 or 1835, leaving Elijah with two daughters, age one and three years.  Twenty-eight year old Elijah took as his second wife, Fanny Oldham Blakey on October 19, 1835.  Fanny was eighteen when she married Elijah.   Ten months later, Elijah resigned from Ocmulgee Church and moved to Bibb County, where he raised a large family totaling eleven children.  

Charles' oldest child, Elizabeth, her husband, Solomon Smith, and fam-ily moved to Perry County from South Carolina in early 1835.  They joined the Ocmulgee Church by letter in January 1835, and set about buying land.  In April, Solomon purchased 210 acres from the United States Land Office.  The land was in two tracts and located about two and one quarter miles northwest of Ocmulgee Church.  Solomon added another forty acres to his holdings in 1836,  and engaged in cotton farming employing Negro labor.  Shortly after arriving in Alabama, he joined Gordon's Company of Alabama Militia and served during the Creek Indian Wars in Alabama during 1836 and 1837.   Elizabeth, known as Betsy, and Solomon lived out their years in Perry County and are buried in Ocmulgee Cemetery. 

Joshua B. Crow acquired 79.7 acres from his brother Elijah when he left for Bibb County in 1836, plus another 40.2 acres originally settled by John Waugh in 1819.  Joshua married at the age of twenty-two to Lavina West and made a profession of faith in Christ at Ocmulgee Church on December 20, 1832.  His father preached the day Joshua made his deci-sion for Christ.  Lavina came forward and joined the church the same day.  Joshua did not remain long in the community.  He resigned from Ocmulgee Church on February 27, 1836, three years after joining.  He sold his land on February 13, 1837 to Jacob Leonard and moved to Mar-shall County, Mississippi, which is located on the Tennessee border just southeast of Memphis.   He remained in Mississippi for ten years, liv-ing briefly in DeSoto County, Mississippi before moving again to Harrison Township in White County, Arkansas.  In Arkansas, Joshua became an extensive landowner and outstanding planter but lost his gains during the course of the Civil War.  He fathered ten children and died in Searcy, Arkansas in 1866 at the age of fifty-five years. 

Joseph W. W. Crow married Elizabeth Hopper, daughter of George Hopper and Aquilla Williams,  on February 4, 1834 at the age of eight-een years.   He joined the Ocmulgee Church on a profession of faith on August 27, 1836 in his twenty-third year.  Elizabeth joined the church two and one-half years later.  Joseph purchased eighty-two acres of land a half mile northwest of the Ocmulgee Church from George W. Ander-son on December 7, 1842, paying $300 or $3.66 an acre for it.   This land originally belonged to Matthew A. Perry and Thomas Lowe.  A. W. Jackson attested to the transaction as Justice of the Peace.  Joseph re-mained in the community until 1860.  He resigned from Ocmulgee on September 23, 1860 and moved to White County, Arkansas to reunite with his brothers, Joshua and Jonathan, and sister Rebecca who lived there.  He died in Searcy, Arkansas on November 11, 1864 at the age of fifty-one years.   He and Elizabeth were parents to ten children.  

Jonathan Jackson Crow married Nancy McAdams, the daughter of Providence and Patient McAdams,  in 1834.  The couple had at least nine children.  Jonathan joined the Ocmulgee Church on November 26, 1841 at the age of twenty-six years.  He and Nancy resigned three years later on January 27, 1844 and moved to Union County, Arkansas.   Jonathan lived there until 1850 when he again moved to Wilmington Township near West Point in White County, Arkansas where his brother Joshua lived.  He later moved to Mount Vernon in Faulkner County where he is buried in the Mount Vernon Cemetery.  Jonathan married three times.  His second marriage was to Caroline Carmichael who died in 1871 and his third spouse was Sarah Davenport.  He married Sarah on December 26, 1871 in Van Buren, Arkansas.   He died on October 19, 1896 at the age of eighty-one years. 

Rebecca A. Crow married Abraham Dinet Greer at the age of twenty years on October 8, 1837.  Abraham was born in 1813 in Georgia and was the son of William C. Greer and Delilah J. Haynes.  In 1838 Re-becca and Abraham moved to Noxubee County, Mississippi.  She had three children while living in Mississippi.  In 1845, she moved to White County, Arkansas where three more children were born.  Abraham died in 1850 at the age of thirty-seven but Rebecca lived to the age of seventy-two, dying at Judsonia, Arkansas on February 7, 1890. 

Unlike his brothers, Jesse M. Crow remained in Perry County and the Oakmulgee community all of his life.  Jesse married Malissa C. Hopper, the seventeen-year-old daughter of George and Elizabeth Hopper, on June 10, 1842.  Four children were born to the union.  Jesse joined the Ocmulgee Church on a profession of faith in November 1842 during a protracted meeting that lasted ten days and saved many souls.  Jesse did not farm as an occupation like the other Crow children but established himself as a blacksmith and carriage maker in the Oak Grove settlement a short distance west of the Ocmulgee Church.  Jesse died on February 13, 1853 at his home in Oak Grove at the young age of thirty-two.  After Jesse's death, Malissa lived with her father until her own death six years later.  Jesse and Malissa's three surviving children became the wards of her father.   Jesse and Malissa are buried in the Ocmulgee Church.

The decade of the 1830's brought Charles Crow a period of closeness with most of his family around him during at least part of the period.  It also brought the sorrow of death and separation.  Four of his children died during the 1830's -- Silas, Jane, Martha and Mary.  Elijah and Joshua moved away in 1836 and Rebecca in 1838.  By the time he died, Charles had only three of his children living near him -- Elizabeth, Jo-seph and Jesse.  Elijah was nearby in Bibb County but the others were far away in Mississippi and Arkansas.  There was no shortage of grand-children.  Charles had about thirty-three grandchildren and six great grandchildren around him to bring joy, comfort and the sounds of youth.  

By the end of the decade, the Crow family began to separated into three groups.  First, those children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who remained in Perry County and nearby counties.  Some of the Crows, Smiths, Billingsleys, Kynerds, Fikes and other families remained in the area for decades after the death of Charles and down into the modern era.  Second, the children of Jane F. Crow left in 1847 for DeSoto Parish, Louisiana where they remained for a quarter of a century before moving on to Texas, leaving descendants in both states.  Third, four of the Crow children established a family branch in White and Faulkner counties in Arkansas, lived out their lives there and left children to carry out that segment of the family.  

As the decade ended, Charles Crow, at the age of sixty-nine, had less that six years to live.