The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-09-11
TIE the People of Ut. Aandry Parish.

IliG pIotSh NSAS 'th' NDHt SAS sSNhoA IN
A. F. Owens for the purpose OF retardlng. MS
progress. That we brought charges against him
Is positively True ANA II we were wrong III
- muZZhng this propagation or the truth az ne
calls himself, we Will leave the public to decide.
As the facts of the case is herein stated. | hope
| d" not weary the patience of the reader While
explaining the pllm1tlNe origin or rolorcu B;l1-
fist churches in this parish. and the trouble the
Bdptist congregation have had with ImpOstorS.
Our first lmpoSt0r WAS Af11Slcd Lewis icol0rcd)
this base pclJurer came. mere claiming 10 nave
been5sent by the COIOred Baptist ASsoclatIon OF
New Orleans. for the purpose of organizing Il
Baptist church. His flrSt efforts I'm witch he
succeeded was 10 raise money Tor me purpose
of buying ground and building Il church thereon.
The people, believing him, did their utmost to
furnish INN with money Tor lltlt purpose, itrt'f
he had collected IRON the people, as We hellcNc.
some eight OF nine hundred dollars, he itcllE
sole nCgOtlatOI. he purchased CT Mr. Jesse
HutchlngS a portion ~ his lot: together with an
old blacksmith shop, for which ArmStcd partly
paid him, we went 10 work and somewhat i'm
proved this building. Ii was then dedicated ny
ArnSted and called the FIRST BAPTIST Chrrch OF
st. Landry Parish, things went on pretty we'll
for some time. Finally ArnStCd was summoned
to New Orleans to answer for some of his mis-
conduct. But previous to his departure he re-
turned the property back to MI, Jesse Hutch
ings. He left Oh Il Saturday, and on the Mon
day following | was informed that Mr.. Hutch
jnSs had locked the church door and taken the
key. !, DIS first Deacon of the church, called to
see MI. HutchiUgs to ascertain what the matter
was, and was told that Armsted had returned
the property back to him, and that he claimed
LII IlIlbllIt EuIl nm ny " NtttiIbSNS
done to his building while i'll Arinsted'S posses
sion. Upon ArInstcd'S return he was arTaigncd
before Capt. Amrt.ln, who was Provost Marshal,
there to give an account of the balance OF the
money collected by him from the people. This
he could not do. He would have suffered the
just penalties of a thief, had it not have been for
one George BriSCOC, (cOlOredl who went his Sc
curity and promised TO ethe nlOney refunded.
But he has not done it as yet. By inquiry we
found that ArnSted had not been sent here, but
came of his own accord. We then wrote to the
Southern BAPTIST Association OF New Orleans.
stating to them our grievances and asking their
aid toward organizing Il Baptist church IN this
parish, about June, 1867. Rev. Joseph p. Daven-
port was sent up here from the First COlored
Baptist Church of New Orleans for that purpose.
under his able supervision money was raised
from among the Baptist congregation and the
same property was rebOught and paid for. and
on the 10Th day of June, 1867, the church was
duly organized. Sixty candidates were baptized
and added to the church, among the number
baptized was myself and Osborn Egeland,
Osburn Egeand and myself We're then IL
ccnscd to preach. 1t WIS found necessary that
one of us should take charge Of the church, il
was decided that VT should be voted for by the
members of the church, and the one receiving
the largest number 0t votes should take charge
of the church. We were voted for twice and |
was elected each time. We preached as llcGn-
tiatcs from June 1867 until July 1869. during
which time great good was done for the cause
of Christ throughout the parish. Samuel Moore
arriving here n short time previous to the or
gaIization of the first church, gave his able as
Sistance toward carrying on that good work.
re was Diptlkel anu ilfHllAtu HI lGF. "HDD OF
Mississippi. In July 1860, Osborn Egeland, Sam.
uel Moore and myself were called to attend a
ministerial convention which was held at Don
jacksonville, La. and there, after full, fair and
deliberate examination, we were duly ordained
and set apart to the work of the gospelministry.
Since then a new church has been built, known
as the First ColOrcd Baptist Church of OpelOu-
sas, parish of st. Landry. and from it has been
established MANY branches throughout the
parish, all of this was done before the arrival in
our midst of the late ..prOpagatQr of truth"
4. +. Owens, our next imnOSfnf WAS Emanuel
Price, this individual after becoming a member
of our association and being licensed to preach,
deserted OWr association. Joined another and
tried to attach three of the churches of Onr as
ISOLATION to the association to which he belonged,
but III this he was tOllcd. He is guilty OF things
more disgracetul than these. but we have, not
the time nor space to mention them, suffice it to
say that for his misconduct he was excluded
from our association. \ few words in reference
to the church at Washington, and I will explain
my connection with The "pr0pagatpr Of truth"
A. +. Owens. This church was first established
by Major Ramsey, df I am not mistaken in his
name,l Stcptoe Il Co.; but it WAS finally left
without Il pastor, ITS members then applied to
me for II pastor, and | gave them as their pastor
Rev. George Ferry. My reason for mentioning
TINS Is hecause l understood that a. +. Owens,
the - propaGator OF truth" has heen chosen as
their pastor, | ito not say that it is so; but it
was tod TO me as Il fact. In 1871 VIC found that
We n m', GMed I'VE OF thd 5hlftccn Baptist churches in
organize an association i'll our parish, which we
did. We therefore sent c%irGular8 to ali OF the
thuLEutS Ia va lvlIlSt. IioillgEHS tile ministers
ana delegates when amt where to meet. If l
mistake not, A. r. Owens, the propagation of
truth" came here as a delegate from the
church on the Atchafalaya river. We employed
MN to get up the minutes OF our association in
1872, for which we paid him fifteen dollars. We
helng at That time DESTROYS of having a school
taHght Ill our cntlrch, employed him. We paid
him prior to getting np the minutes. He then
said that he had some important business to at
tend to i'll the city of New Orleans, and asked
that We would let him take the minutes of the
association With him and that he would tbnra
prepare them for the press. we allowed him to
do SO. he took my church hook with him also,
when he left he said he would be hack in three
weeks. put ne remained away about twomonths,
| wrote to him several times asking him to send
the minutes of the association together with
my church book; but he did not do it. In the
meantime, Mr.. A. c. Mc(fattey went to the city
of New Orleans and ON his return 4. r. owens
sent the minutes by him, but not the church
book. At last he came himself but left my
church Door N New Orleans, and it was along
send for my church book. When he came among
MS he did not say whether he Was married or
a lady claiming to be his wife. He was at my
house when she arrived In town. she was told
where he was and Immediately came to see him
and snoa in c order + to o, prove pro-. that she was his wife, she
diately commenced a CONTROVERSY in nv house, |
They used language that I did not wish express |
ed in the hea1ingfo Of MY family, so | requested
them to walk ont to the gate and there decide
their difficulty, which they did. They asked to
be admitted into my church as members, but I
told them I could not do that unless they hrolght
from the church to which they belonged in good
standing and full fellowship, A. F. Owens
went of, and in a short time returned with his
letter of disnissiOn, showing himself to have |
been in good standing and full fellowship in tbe |
church of which he was q member. Iintimated
to him that I thought it quite strange that a |
fellowship in his church. This. he said. was Ills
own business, and I had nothing more TO saw to |