18
The Final Years 1840-1845  


W
ith the arrival of the year 1840, Charles Crow reached his twentieth year in Perry County.  He turned seventy that year and had led a vigorous life on two frontiers in South Carolina, and in Alabama.  It was a rugged existence with hardships and few frills.  At seventy, he had already lived twice as long as was expected in his day.  The years, however, were winding down for him.  From here to the end, his strength diminished until he finally yielded to the superior power of death.  Yet the record shows that he remained active at the Ocmulgee Church and on his plantation until the end.  

However, the record also shows clearly that the torch was passing to the younger preachers and men in the congregation.  After 1840, Charles preached only six sermons at Ocmulgee in six years.  Once, he preached at the resolute demand of the congregation who "unanimously resolved that we request brother C. Crow to deliver the said sermon" at the next meeting.  As in the previous decade, the plenteous preachers in the con-gregation carried the burden of Sabbath services.  The principal preach-ers remained George Everett and Abner McCraw who delivered most of the sermons, but other preachers contributed, some new to the Ocmulgee pulpit.  Abraham W. Jackson began to emerge as a preacher after a decade of serving the church in other ways.  No longer satisfied to serve as a layman, Jackson entered the pulpit in 1843, preaching four of the sermons given that year at monthly meetings.  In July 1843, the church licensed him to preach.  Fourteen months later, he was ordained in serv-ices conducted by Charles Crow and a presbytery composed of Abner G. McCraw, George Everett and Elias George. 

The young men were also representing the church as delegates at the various organization meetings.  Charles continued to serve as moderator for the Cahaba Association until death ended that service.  However, af-ter 1841 he did not attend any district meetings or conventions.  With the disorganized state of travel of that day, a man as elderly as Crow could probably not endure the journey.  The Crow family was always repre-sented at these meetings in the forms of Abraham Jackson, Solomon Smith or Joseph W. W. Crow.  

Slavery, the great divisive issue of the day, came to the surface again in 1840 as it had earlier in 1835.  In that year, a convention of 110 Baptist delegates from thirteen northern states met in New York City in what was called the Baptist Abolition Convention.  These delegates prepared a circular letter addressed to Southern slaveholding Baptists condemning slavery as a sin.  They further resolved that no slaveowner, or person connected with slavery, should be allowed to serve as a missionary.   

This circular letter reached Ocmulgee Church in August 1840 and was laid before the congregation.  Not everyone at the church owned slaves, but the leaders were mostly slaveholders including Charles Crow, his sons in law and his children.  The church appointed a committee to draft a response to the letter for consideration by the church at the September meeting.  The committee was composed of Charles Crow, Abner G. McCraw, George Everett, George Hopper, John E. Prestridge, Provi-dence McAdams, Matthias Dennis, Robert Melton, Solomon Smith and Abraham W. Jackson.  These men were the usual leaders of the church, mostly deacons, and were all slaveholders except Matthias Dennis. 

The resolution resulting from this committee's deliberations took the po-sition one would expect it to take.  It characterized the circular letter of the Baptist abolitionist as attempting to " . . . effect a revolution in soci-ety and discord among Christians . . . "  The committee resolved that " . . . the institution of slavery has existed since the days of Abraham . . . and is recognized by the Constitution of the United States . . . We believe that neither Northern fanatics or any other combinations have any right ei-ther moral or civil to interfere with that institution."  The committee went on to suggest that southern Baptists develop another system to fund missionaries outside the Mission Board located in Boston and controlled by northerners.  This controversy cooled down only to rise again four years later leading to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845.   

Charles Crow was a man of his time and his region.  He lived with the traditions and institutions established by his ancestors and found them natural during his lifetime.  As time passed, institutions changed and new ones were formed.  But in 1840, slavery was firmly entrenched in the Oakmulgee Creek community.  Charles Crow believed it to be moral and an acceptable social and economic practice.  He also believed the Gospel should be preached to the Negro slaves, and that they should be taught the word of God.  He undoubtedly believed those Christian prin-ciples of justice and owners in their dealing should practice righteous-ness with slaves. 

The Ocmulgee Church with Charles Crow as pastor was a reflection of Crow himself.  The sixteenth member of the church was "Bobb a man of colour" who joined in July 1820, by presenting his letter.  Bobb and other slaves were received into the church without distinction.  Crow, and the church, was concerned about moral laxity in family relations and personal behavior of whites and blacks alike.  

Not all Negroes at Ocmulgee Church were slaves.  Mary King, a free black woman, came to the Oakmulgee Creek community in July 1843.  She was born in 1790 in Tennessee and lived in Louisiana from 1825 un-til about 1840, when she arrived in Alabama.  Four of her nine free chil-dren, Simon, Peter, Hester and Tom were members of the Ocmulgee Church.  Mary was a next door neighbor of Jesse M. Crow and owned the property on which she lived.  She could not read or write but oper-ated a farm with the help of her children.   Like most the whites in the community, Mary King was a slaveowner.  

Life at Ocmulgee Church in the early 1840's was filled with practical and ordinary events less exciting that the slavery controversy.  The church met annually to clean up the graveyard.  The meeting house roof needed repairs, a ceiling was installed, stoves were installed for warmth in winter, and the graveyard was enclosed in a fence.  Money was raised for missions.  In 1840, the church "agreed to establish an arm of this church at Selma."  In May 1842, the Selma Church became a reality, and six Ocmulgee members resigned to join the constitution of the Selma Church.  

Church discipline during the 1830's had been rather ordinary and sub-dued when compared with the early 1840's.  The church, with Charles Crow as moderator, did the work of the Perry County courts by disci-plining members for all manner of misbehavior and crimes.  Oran Mar-tin and Henry Burton were charged with bribery and taking a bribe.  William Hesse acknowledged buying stolen goods.  Green B. Jackson, the father of Abraham W. Jackson, brought his case against Washington Melton to the church rather than the courts.  Washington had defrauded Green, then "run away."  The abuse of alcohol became a problem once again, as it had been in the 1820's.  George W. Anderson was excluded for drunkenness.  Scott Vanderslice, John Marsh and Thomas Lowery were all accused of drinking to excess.  Other cases involved profane swearing, attending a horse race, not attending church, improper con-duct, lying, fighting, adultery, dancing and singing uncouth songs.  

One of the central characteristics of the Ocmulgee Church in the 1840's, was the "protracted meeting."  This name was used to describe what in later times were called camp meetings or revivals.  They were deeply spiritual meetings that promoted evangelism.  The idea behind these meetings was to set a date to commence the meeting and continue with no established date to cease.  They would continue as long as there was a re-sponse to the preached word of God.  

The first protracted meetings at Ocmulgee began in the late 1830's and were a failure based on the response.  The first meeting began on June 24, 1837.  It lasted three days and ended when only one slave came for-ward.  The second was in July 1838.  It lasted four days with the same result.  Only one person responded.  The results were so discouraging no meeting was attempted in 1839.  In 1840, the meetings were revived.  The results were apparently so dismal the church minutes did not even mention the results.  Perhaps no one responded.  

Charles Crow was not a supporter of protracted meetings and gave his consent for them only because the young preachers and congregation urged it upon him.  These meetings were something new, and he resisted the change.  The results of the first three meetings seem to support his position that God would not do his work through protracted meetings.  "He had little faith in the extraordinary means of grace, and for a long time refused his consent to a protracted meeting at his church."   The year 1841 was the year he changed his mind about this means of evan-gelism.  

"He at length yielded to the solicitations of his brethren, and a meeting was appointed" to begin on November 26, 1841.  "A large congregation assembled at the . . . meeting house . . . During the sermon by Elder (A. G. McCraw, a deep feeling was manifested in the audience, and the old patriarch's heart melted; at the close of the sermon he rose, and with tearful emotion, exhorted his beloved people and bade his young breth-ren Godspeed.  From this moment he entered with full soul into the work and fifty-seven converts were added to the church." 

Crow had only four years to live and during those years the protracted meeting would meet with success at Ocmulgee Church.  The 1841 meet-ing lasted for ten days.  " . . . eager listeners flocked to hear the story of the Cross.  Often, when warmed by the fervid power of divine truth, the speaker closed his exhortations, the people rushed forward in scores, un-called, to entreat the prayers of the pious.  Again and again, strong men were so overwhelmed, that they sank down on the ground, unmanned and helpless.  Repeatedly scores rose from their seats simultaneously, . . .  rushing to the foot of the stand, cried out to the ministers to come down and pray for them." 

Among those who rushed the speaker in 1841 were members of Charles Crow's family.  His son, Jonathan and his grandchildren, Charles Green Jackson, Sarah Jackson, Rebecca Jane Smith and Mary Smith were among the converted during these services.  Charlotte, a slave of Solo-mon Smith, was also converted.  These scenes were to be repeated in 1842.  The meeting that year lasted from Friday, November 25 through December 4, 1842.  During these ten days, six different ministers preached the story of repentance.  Fifty-five people were converted in-cluding Charles' son Jesse, granddaughter, Catherine Smith, and her husband, Jerman Fike, and Celia, Harriet, and Ann, three of the Crow family slaves.  This meeting was notable in that sixty-eight per cent of those making professions were slaves.  

The church attempted two protracted meetings in 1843.  The first met in July and lasted seven days.  There were fifty-one converts and another grandson of Charles Crow, one of his namesakes, Charles Crow Smith, made a profession of faith.  The revival fervor burned out in July, and the meeting in November ended after four days with nine converts.  

One of the great revival meeting occurred in October 1844.  Charles was feeble and invalid at seventy-four years and could not travel.  Out of re-spect for the old minister, who had been their moderator and leader for two decades, the Cahaba Association voted to meet at Ocmulgee Church so he could attend.  The end was near for Charles and everyone realized it including Charles, who often spoke of it. 

The meeting was not intended to be a revival, but seemingly as a last tribute to the career of Crow, God visited the assembly.  A revival erupted when the Cahaba Association finished its business, " . . . preaching was continued until Sunday . . . during which time the Lord was pleased to visit us with his Spirit during the meeting . . ."  The preaching lasted nine days and nights and sixty people " . . . were added to the church."  Again, Crow's grandchildren were among the saved -- Clara Matina Jackson,  Silas C. Jackson and Henry H. Meredith, along with five family slaves.  "This must have brought Charles great satisfac-tion as minister of the church and it was a fitting end to a career of service to the church." 

When the great meeting of 1844 ended, Charles Crow had seven months to live.  He spent much of his time at rest in his two-story plantation house on a hill a short carriage ride of about a mile from the church he pastored.  He and Sarah McCraw lived there alone with twenty-three slaves out in the quarters.  His son, Joseph, and grandson, Henry H. Meredith, were overseeing the farm, tasking the slaves and handling matters.  For this, Joseph was paid $20.50 a month, and Henry $15.00.   Joseph, Jesse and Henry lived close by as did Abraham Jackson.  Eliza-beth was further away, but only a few miles.  There were over thirty grandchildren living in the area.  Charles had plenty of family to care for his needs. 

Charles survived the winter of 1844, and spring brought warm weather.  He was still pastor at Ocmulgee but could do little.  Still, in March, he attended services.  George Everett preached, and Charles moderated the conference afterwards.  On May 7, he attended services and preached his last sermon using Matthew 7:7 as his text. 

		"Ask, and you will be given what you ask for
		 Seek and you will find, Knock, and the door 
		 will be opened." 

He returned to the church eleven days later on May 18, and "said a few things by way of encouragement and prayed with and for us."   Two days later he became critically ill to the point where he required constant medical care.  He was given over to the care of young Dr. John E. Prestridge, a twenty-six year old Alabama born physician who lived in the community and was a member at Ocmulgee Church.  Dr. Prestridge lived near Abner McCraw, Henry Meredith, Permelia Meredith Mays and Jesse Crow.   One expects the news of Charles' condition spread rapidly to family and friends, and they journeyed up the hill to the Crow plantation to inquire about his condition.  

Dr. Prestridge was to begin a vigil that lasted for the next twelve days.  On Tuesday, May 20, he stayed by Charles' side in the downstairs bed-room for twelve hours administering medicines and applying his healing arts.  Charles' condition worsened on Wednesday and the doctor re-mained all day and night introducing a cathartic to cause an evacuation of his intestines.  Thursday through Sunday, he cared for Charles for fif-teen hours each day, twice more applying purgatives and medicines.  Monday, May 26, Dr. Prestridge did not go home at all, but was on duty in the Crow home all night.  For the next three days, the doctor cared for Charles fifteen hours each day, twice more introducing cathartics.  On the tenth day, he gave Charles four ounces of paregoric, a camphorated tincture of opium used especially for pain.  The following two days, Dr. Prestridge reduced his hour of care to twelve each day and gave Charles medicine only once. 

By Sunday, June 1, Charles appeared to recover.  Dr. Prestridge packed his bags and went home.  Guests came to visit the ailing, but recovering preacher.  For three days, his recovery was promising and people con-cerned with his welfare were hopeful the old man would be restored to them.  However, on Wednesday, the physician was summoned again, and Dr. Prestridge began what was to be a deathwatch.  He stayed with Charles around the clock on Thursday, June 5, again introducing a ca-thartic and administering camphor, a compound from the wood and bark of the camphor tree used as a pain killer.  On Friday, the doctor stayed eighteen hours;  on Saturday, fifteen hours; Sunday and Monday, twelve hours; and Tuesday, eighteen hours.  By Wednesday, June 11, the hope of recovery had faded.  Charles was in his last hours, and Dr. Prestridge shifted his treatment to reducing Charles' suffering, giving him alcohol in the form of wine.   

On Thursday, June 12, Charles " . . . fell in a stupor and was speechless for several hours, but by the use of stimulants, he revived.  He was asked what he thought of his own condition?  he replied that he felt to be on the brink of eternity.  Another inquiry followed, 'What about that hope you so long professed to trust in?'  he replied with a firm voice, That hope! That hope! and continued 'bears me up even when the silver cord was rent asunder!' " 

Charles had fought death for twenty-three days, but succumbed on Thursday.  Observers reported that he was "calm and peaceful" at the moment of death.   He died at home in his own bed surrounded and cared for by his family and attended by his friends who mourned his passing.  After a suitable church service, he was buried in the cemetery at Ocmulgee Church.  In time, a large while headstone was erected at the head of his grave with an inscription reading:

		In memory of Rev. Charles Crow late pastor
		of the Oakmulgee Baptist Church who was 
		ordained August 30th 1807 whose sole 
		made meet for Glory was taken to 
		Emmanuels bosom on the 12th day of 
		June 1845 and now lies in this grave
		in hope of joyful resurrection to 
		eternal life and Glory.  He was a man 
		eminent in piety of humane benevolent
		and charitable disposition.  He departed
		this life in the 75th year of his age and 
		like his master was by some dispised 
		like him by many others loved and 
		prized.  

The word of Charles' death spread rapidly.  Two days after his death the Alabama Baptist published a memorial. 

	We have received the painful intelligence this morning that
	the Rev. Charles Crow expired at his residence, Perry County, 
	on yesterday the 12th instant.  He was the first pastor of the 
	Siloam Church, and served for six years.  In the death of Father 	Crow, the churches in this region have sustained an irreparable
loss.  He was moderator of the last session of the Cahaba Associa-tion, and his affecting remarks at that time, contemplating this event, have proved too true.  He will indeed meet with us no more.  He rests from his labor and his works do follow him.  

Later, a second obituary notice was written by his friends and published in the Alabama Baptist reading in part: 

	The subject of this article embraced the religion of the Bible 
	about a half century ago, and united himself with the Baptist
	Church of which he was a consistent member to the time of 
	his death.  About forty years have elapsed since he was wet 
	apart to the work of the Gospel Ministry.  He received this 
	authority from the Bush River Church in Newberry District,
	South Carolina, over which he exercised the Pastoral functions
	for a number of years.  In 1819, he emigrated to Alabama and 
	settled in Perry County, where he commenced his active labors 
	in rearing the standard of the cross in this newly inhabited 
	Territory;  Many of our largest and most flourishing churches
	are indebted to his instrumentality, for their first existence.  He 
	became a member of the Cahaba Association, shortly after its 
	formation, and was called to preside as Moderator, over her 
	deliberations for about twenty of her annual sessions, he was
	the undeviating friend and advocate of missions.  Upon the 
	reception of the intelligence's which informed him of the
	great Southern Convention, held in Augusta, having formed 
	separate organizations for the purpose of conducting the 
	Southern and Western efforts which are being put forth for 
	the evangelizing the world consistent with his own particular 
	institutions, the old Veteran of the Cross rejoiced in spirit
	that he had lived to Witness such ominous events for the 
	prosperity of that cause he loved so dearly.  Brother Crow set 
	out in the great world of preaching the Gospel, without the 
	advantages of a liberal education, but, by diligent application
	his mind became stored with useful knowledge, which 
	acquired for him a reputation far above mediocrity . . . His 
	sermons were fraught with interesting truths;  his illustrations 
	clear and forcible, his doctrine were rather of the high toned 
	Calvin order, . . . 

	In short, he was a good man, of which the best evidence by 
	walking with God about fifty years, and by his calm and 
peaceful death.  He appeared conscious that his earthly race was near at end for some months previous to his death.  He often spoke of it with much composure and Christian resignation his temporal matters were all well adjusted, and he seemed to wait as one who was ready to depart at any moment.  

Following his burial, the estate of Charles Crow was dismantled and sold.  Sarah McCraw received a dower of one third of the estate as pro-vided by law to be used by her as Charles' widow during her lifetime.  The balance of the estate was sold as prescribed by law, and the result-ing sum divided among the twenty-five living heirs.  Most of the slaves and other property were bought by family members and the rest by neighbors.  The section six land northwest of Ocmulgee Church was sold for $318.90 to Henry H. Meredith.  Fifty-three acres of the section thirty lands went to Jeptha Hays McCraw.  The rest of the land went to Sarah as her dower right.  

Charles left an estate valued at $17,476 from which was subtracted the cost of estate administration, debts, and the dower lands of Sarah McCraw.  Sarah died in 1849 and her widow's share returned to Char-les' estate to be divided among his children and eligible grandchildren.  The total of $13,727.33 was divided eleven ways and each received $1.247.93.  Four years after he died, most of the things Charles had ac-cumulated during his life had passed out of the family.  Such is the fate of temporal things.  

The legacy of Charles Crow was not the money he left to those he loved in his family.  His legacy was his children, and his children's children, and the succeeding generations down to the present day.  He left behind people who gained eternal life and an understanding of the Gospel be-cause Charles cared about their souls and paid the sacrifice to bring them the Gospel in a harsh and unforgiving land.  His legacy included the churches he founded and served and which continue to serve Chris-tians and the lost down to the present generation.  He served longest at Ocmulgee Church.  That institution lives on today in the same spot where it was founded spreading the Gospel and ministering to the people of today as does Siloam and other churches Charles served.   As one looks over the life of Charles Crow, it is easy to see the connections with the modern world in his descendants, churches, and organizations which he started and which continue to serve mankind today in the glorious work of God.