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Sept. 5, 1651:  Obadiah Holmes was brutally whipped for his religious beliefs, but gave a brief sermon as he was being stripped before his whipping.  Convicted with three others, Holmes refused to pay the fine levied by the courts, believing it would be an admission of guilt.  Such incidents prompted a discussion of civil and religious rights that would eventually be included in the Bill of Rights.  ABHS has many editorials, correspondence, and books on the topic of religious freedom.

Sept 2, 1845.  Sarah Boardman Judson, second wife of Adoniram Judson, passed away after twenty years of missionary service in Burma.  Sarah and her first husband, George, worked among the Karen tribes of Burma.  ABHS has correspondence of both George Boardman and Adoniram Judson.  There is also a large collection of Burmese in native dress, as illustrated by the attached image.

Sept 1, 1803.  The first issue of Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the precursor to American Baptist Magazine was published.  It is the oldest extant religious magazine.  ABHS has every issue of this magazine, which has changed names several times.

August 31, 1688.  John Bunyan died in England.  He may most widely known as the author of  Pilgrim’s Progress but he was also a great preacher.  He authored about 60 other books and sermons.   Following the English Civil War, Bunyan was arrested as a non-conformist, and spent the next twelve years in jail as he refused to give up preaching.  Bunyan’s later years, in spite of another shorter term of imprisonment, were spent in relative comfort as a popular author and preacher, and pastor of the Bedford Meeting. He died aged 59 after falling ill on a journey to London and is buried in Bunhill Fields. ABHS has many books and articles by and about John Bunyan including several editions of Pilgrim’s Progress.  The image here is from Pilgrim’s Progress.

August 29, 1840.  Ellen Cushing was born in Kingston, MA.  Cushing was first an educator who assisted freed slaves in entering post-way society.  Later she went as a missionary to Burma with her husband, Josiah, where they collaborated on an English-Shan dictionary.  In the late 1890s, she started the Baptist Training Institute in Philadelphia to train single women missionaries.  The BTI moved to Bryn Mawr and became known as Ellen Cushing Junior College.

August 27, 1944.  The Greenlake Conference Center, the American Baptist Assembly was dedicated at Greenlake, WI. This area around Green Lake, the deepest lake in Wisconsin, has been considered holy land since the Winnebago Indians camped there, believing the Water Spirit lived in Green Lake.  In the mid-1840s Chris Briswold and his family constructed a Log Cabin there. It still stands in the back of the property. When you see the size of this one room cabin, you wonder how Chris, his wife, and five children could ever exist in such a small area!  The conference center became a key meeting place for great Baptist leaders. Many missionary conferences were also held there.  Recently, the missionary artifacts from Greenlake were transferred to the ABHS archives. Pictured here is a pulpit chair from Thailand.

August 27  First Regular Baptist Church of Huntingdon, PA celebrates their 175^th anniversary under the leadership of Pastor John C. Staje, Jr. .

August 25, 1849.  William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, MO.  This was the first four-year college west of the Mississippi River.   It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. Another founder was Robert S. James, a Baptist minister and father of the infamous Frank James and Jesse James. ABHS has a collection of correspondence and historical catalogs from William Jewell College.  ABHS also has biographical information and an image for William Jewell.

August 24, 1832.   Northumberland Baptist Association in Pennsylvania resolved to found a university in Lewisburg, PA because it was “desirable that a Literary Institution should be established in Central Pennsylvania, embracing a High School for male pupils, another for females, a College and also a Theological Institution.” In 1846, the “school preparatory to the University” opened in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Lewisburg. Known originally as the Lewisburg High School, it became, in 1848, the Academic and Primary Department of the University at Lewisburg. In 1886, the name was changed to Bucknell in honor of William Bucknell, a member of the Board of Trustees, whose large donation kept the institution from collapse.  ABHS has a collection of correspondence and historical catalogs from Bucknell.  We also have biographical information and an image for William Bucknell.

August 21, 1773.  A warrant for the arrest of Nathaniel Sanders was issued by Culpepper County, VA.  Sanders and William McClannahan had been granted a license (by the county) to preach in limited areas, but they found that this limitation was contrary to their call to preach anywhere against the inconsistencies of the established church’s clergy.  Sanders was convicted and served an unknown period of time in the Culpepper jail.  One of ABHS’s oldest reference books (Asplund’s Baptist Register, 1790) Sanders at the Mont Poney church in Culpepper County with a membership of over 270.

August 20  St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church of St. Alband, WV celebrates their 150^th anniversary under the leadership of Dr. Ken Crawford.

August 19, 1770.   Reverend Hezekiah Smith of Haverhill, MA, founded the Baptist Church in Stratham, NH.  Smith was a chaplain in Washington’s army during the Revolutionary War, and he traveled extensively in New England on evangelistic tours.  ABHS has some of the Stratham’s original church records, and several books that contain biographical information about Smith.  One reference books notes that he baptized 35 people in one month in the area around Stratham.

August 13, 1808.  Isaac McCoy was licensed to preach from Silver Creek Baptist Church in Indiana.  McCoy became a pioneer missionary to American Indians and Director of the American Indian Mission Association.  ABHS has his papers, including correspondence, an autobiography and the manuscript of History of Baptist Indian Missions. In addition, there are books and articles about McCoy in the archives.

August 11, 1822.  Helen Maria Griggs was baptized and joined a Baptist church in Brookline, MA.  She offered herself to go to Burma, unmarried and alone, but the board had never sent a single lady to the mission field alone.  After examination, the board appointed her in 1829.  Before she sailed, however, she met and married Francis Mason, a student at Newton Theological Institution.  Their journey to Calcutta took 122 days; they then went on to Burma. Helen became proficient in the Burmese and Sgau Karen languages and was able to teach and write in both.  On a furlough to the States, she left her children in the care of family while she went back to Burma.  Although many children and even adults did not survive the conditions in the mission field, Helen was criticized for leaving her children.  Her decision was defended by the editors of Christian periodicals and attitudes quickly changed although the pain of leaving children did not.  Helen wrote:  “We have heard of the tortures of the Inquisition; but I do not know that they could exceed this self-sacrifice.”  ABHS has the record of many missionaries which show the illnesses, deaths, and sacrifices they endured.

 

August 8, 1789.  Virginia Baptists met with President George Washington to lobby for guarantees of religious liberty.  The Congress of the fledgling United States voted on the first version of the Bill of Rights on August 24, where the religious liberty provision was the third article.  ABHS has many statements, letters and books about the Baptist’s fight for religious liberty.