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Daniel Parker: Pioneer Preacher And DANIEL PARKER: PIONEER PREACHER AND POLITICAL LEADER by DAN B. WIMBERLY, B.A., M.A. A DISSERTATION IN HISTORY Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Chairperson cff the Committee Accepted Dean of the Graduate School May, 1995 73 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS h)n (a? .; Several persons have been vital to the preparation of ^. 2 this work. As director of the dissertation. Dr. Alwyn Barr, professor of history at Texas Tech University, gave patient and wise counsel. Other Texas Tech faculty members also made valuable contributions. Professors Benjamin Newcomb, Paul Carlson, Briggs Twyman, John Howe, and Clarke -Cochran offered significant comments and suggestions. Elder Robert Louis Webb, curator of the Primitive Baptist Library at Carthage, Illinois, and Elder Dwight Dyer, pastor of Testament Baptist Church near Lafayette, Tennessee, provided access to rare church records. The staff of the Texas Tech Library accommodated numerous requests for materials. Several members of the Parker family in Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, and Oklahoma contributed genealogical information. Finally, I offer a special word of appreciation to my wife, LaMarsha Kay Wimberly, whose encouragement and clerical aid have been invaluable. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. GEORGIA AND TENNESSEE: THE FORMATIVE YEARS 22 III. THE ILLINOIS YEARS: POLITICAL LIFE 75 IV. THE ILLINOIS YEARS: RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY 138 V. THE TEXAS YEARS: PIONEER AND POLITICAL LEADER 209 VI. THE TEXAS MINISTRY 279 VII. CONCLUSION: "A MAN OF WAR" 318 BIBLIOGRAPHY 348 111 LIST OF FIGURES 1 Modern Illinois Showing Population Density in 1820 80 2 Texas in 1834 217 3 Locations in which Daniel Parker Settled 242 4 Churches Organized by Parker 303 IV CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Approximately three miles south of Elkhart in Anderson County Farm Road 319 winds through the peaceful East Texas countryside. Located by a gentle curve, a small red-bricked church guards a large cemetery. The building appears sound but closer inspection reveals the ravages of time. Cracks in the mortar indicate structural weakness. Yet the edifice has not been totally abandoned. Neatly kept grounds imply that the building has been deemed worthy of preservation. The interior of the church is visibly austere. Aged pews rest on a plank floor. This is the third structure in which services have been held on these grounds since 1849. On the third Sunday morning of each month less than ten participants worship according to the traditions of Primitive Baptists. According to their perception of New Testament worship, the service differs from other Protestant and even Baptist denominations. There is no Sunday School. Congregational singing is without instrumental accompaniment. The pastor, without notes, delivers a sermon heavily punctuated with the doctrines of divine grace and election. Among the graves behind the church are those of Elder Daniel Parker, his wife, immediate family members, and their descendants. "Rev. Daniel Parker," the inscription engraved on a modest granite stone of modern manufacture, is an irony. A resurrected Parker would no doubt cringe at the title of Reverend. Early nineteenth-century frontier Baptist ministers generally rejected the epithet. Backwoods preachers associated the title with the perceived vanity and pomp which accompanied professional salaried ministers. They preferred instead to be addressed as Elder. Furthermore, there is nothing near the grave which would indicate that Parker obtained renown. If a lavish monument ever existed, it has long since crumbled and vanished. But at least the site of his burial has been preserved. For Parker deserves remembrance. A product of the Second Great Awakening and Jeffersonian republicanism, Parker exuded the pioneer spirit of individualism and self-reliance. He first gained recognition in Tennessee as a backwoods Baptist preacher. His ministry spanned the first four decades of the nineteenth century. In those years he lived and preached in Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, and Texas. Parker seemingly thrived on controversy. Political and religious strife often swirled about him. As a minister, he drew criticism by opposing centralized missionary and benevolence societies. Furthermore, in 1826 he ignited a firestorm among western Baptists with the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit doctrine. This self-conceived hyper-Calvinistic dualism attempted to harmonize the righteousness of God with the seemingly arbitrary nature of election. Parker entered politics in 1822. His desire for public office earned him a seat in the Illinois Senate. There, he resisted the legalization of slavery. In 1833 Parker entered Texas history. In that year he and members of his newly organized congregation migrated en masse from Illinois to Texas. This body, the Pilgrim Predestinarian Baptist Church, became the first Baptist church to exist on Texas soil. Finally, the service of Parker in the Texas provisional government provided leadership during the frenzied days of the Texas Revolution. The religious and political activities of Parker categorize him as more than the average frontiersman. He became an intriguing orator and leader. With virtually no education, he vaulted to religious and political prominence Possessing a strong will, he attracted followers but also made enemies. In life, as in death, ironies and contradictions surrounded him. The preaching of Parker exalted the grace of God while vehemently condemning the dissemination of the gospel through missionary and benevolence societies. Parker claimed allegiance to republican ideals but zealously resisted the spiritual individualism of Arminianism. A champion of religious freedom, he jealousy guarded the autonomy of local Baptist churches. Yet at times he exhibited a despotic streak. He staunchly opposed slavery in the Illinois Assembly but voiced no recorded opposition to slavery in Texas. The publications of Parker reveal an antieastern bias. Although contemptuous of the perceived rank and privilege of easterners and the southern planter elite, many of his conflicts pitted him against persons with social and economic backgrounds similar to his own. These local opponents usually did not come from the ranks of the wealthy. Rather, they most often emerged from those who challenged Parker's economic opportunities or positions of leadership. These rivalries impeded his hopes for social, economic, and political ascendancy. Parker extolled free speech but flinched at criticism. He broadsided critics with withering accusations. His publications labeled his opponents as the progeny of Satan. The quick mind and charismatic oratory of Parker propelled him to responsible positions of public trust. Yet on one occasion Parker promoted a visionary treasure-hunting scheme as a means to achieve governmental solvency. Unfortunately, historians have treated Parker with little more than footnotes or superficial sketches. In most studies his primary importance has been linked to the struggle against centralized missionary societies on the frontier. Basically narratives, these works have offered little critical or analytical content. In 1902 Benajah Harvey Carroll laid the foundation for studies about Parker. His work, The Genesis of American Anti-Missionism, briefly touched on Two Seedism and the role of Parker in the missions controversy. Other books have focused on Parker and Baptists in Indiana and Texas. Most noted among these are James Milton Carroll's A History of Texas Baptists (1923) and The Origin and Development of the Missionary Baptist Church in Indiana (1942) by John F. Cady. James Milton Carroll, a younger brother of Benajah Harvey, related the contributions of Parker to Texas Baptists. In a similar vein, Cady underscored the role of Parker in the development of the Baptist denomination in Indiana. The work of Cady remains important because it chronicled Parker's antimissions activities in the Wabash Valley. Parker also has been the focus of unpublished works. In 1924 Lorine Maud Scott authored "Daniel Parker and the First Baptist Church in Texas" at the University of Chicago. Although Parker is the principal subject of two chapters, this dissertation primarily surveys social and religious life on the Texas frontier. Guy W. Small completed "The Life of Daniel Parker" at East Texas Baptist College in 1954. This sometimes inaccurate and unclear thesis simply narrates the life of Parker. While not focusing directly on Parker, other works have stressed his role in the development of antimissions activity on the frontier. "The Baptist Anti-Missionary Movement in America," a dissertation written by Charles True Goodsell in 1924 at the University of Chicago, underscores sectional differences. Goodsell attributes the missions issue to East-West class and cultural disparities which surfaced on the frontier. In 1956 "Sources and Early History of the Anti-mission Controversy in the United States," a thesis by Carlos Ebilton Bezerra, echoed Goodsell's analysis. Completed at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, this work explores sociological, psychological, methodological, and theological factors. Bezerra agreed with Goodsell that the frontier proclivity for independence and antieastern bias became significant players in the controversy. Yet the interpretation of Bezerra differs somewhat from that of Goodsell. While illuminating the conflict between Arminianism and Calvinism, Bezerra did not emphasize
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