The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-30
EARLY DAYS OF THE BAPTISTS Dr. Owens Delivered His torical Address. MISSIONS AMONG CREEKS Talked of First Two Pastors in
 Montgomery.
 @--s---- address at First Baptist Church Was Part of Historicai work which
 Marks Bsptist Cen
 tenniai.

ture of the services at the First Bap- tist Church yesterday morning was an address on the early days of the Bap- tist Church in Alabama by pr. Thomas N Owen. Director of the State Depart ment of Archives and History. Dr. Owen was present on invitation of Dr. Charles A. Stal<ely. who was apprecia- tive of the Directors valuable assist ance in securing portraits of the six teen distinguished ministers who have occupied the pulpit of the First Baptist Church.
 One of the two missing portraits were largely secured through the ef- cred valuable assistance 10 those who are compiling historical information on the advent and establishment of the Baptist Church in Alabama.
 The present. is the centennial year of the Baptist denomination in Ala banna. Observance of this anniversary will take various forms in the State At q later date the First Baptist Church will have a general celebration st which Dr. Owen has been invited to deliver an address. As part of the historical work Dr. Stakely at considerable trouble and pains has coll lected portraits of all the ministers who have served the church in this city as pastor of the First Church.
 W4QE9aH y&Lt8F08Y morning came directly after the of- xertcry. He was presented to the con- gregation by pr. Stal<ely. who remind ed his hearers that the present year marked a century of the Baptist de- nomination in Alabama The observ- ancs of the day would take various forms throughout Alabama, on differ ent pensions As part of the historical work he had secured for the church the portraits of the sixteen ministers who had served the church since It's foun- dation in Montgomery in 1923. 1
 He presented pr. Owen. who was present. he said at his invitation. to speak upon the early history of the church in Alabama.
 Dr, Owen said:
 pr. Stakeiy and Friends of the First
 Baptist Church in Montgomery:
 am with you at this hour to join in your praise and rejoicing and wor- ship on the final accomplishment of the very pfaiseworthy task set by your pastor some years ago. The sentiment ambodied in this effort is one that app peals to me. as you may well imagine. the Children of men to honor their fathers and mothers in the flesh ap- plies equally to fatherhood and mother hood of whatever kind. We ought al of men. that thing, or that combina- fion of things. to which great move nients and events can be traced for their beginning We ought always to- honor our spiritual fathers, our insti-1 tutional founders, for from the ore we date our entrance Into the new and larger life. and from the other we date the planting of those agencies which arc designed for the betterment of man
 Therefore. this effort of Dr Charles A. Stakely. your distinguished and worthy pastor. Is due all praise Tn the bringing toges her of the likeness of the men. who have served you from in 1929 to the present. he has shown. not only sentiment of respecl and reverence, but also keen appreciation of the value of example. and In wise recognition of the value of the prtn- ciple of historic continuity. All honor to him for the conceptton! No church, of which know. can boast such col the lessons of history. rejoice with him and you on the realization of the task. 1t was htting that 1t should have siEnultansonsiS iSa with your amSitionS ideals for larger opportunity, embodied in this beautiful and imposing struct-
 I might stop here. for I have said quite enough. but inasmuch as it was my good fortune and pleasure to materially aid in locating and secur ing the likenesses of your two first pastors. 1t would seem not amiss for me to briefiy sketch their lives and careers. To do this cannot be other than instructive, and may serve as Q stimulus to. you and to those who are ton and achievement. While your church has had a group of pastors, many of whom were exceptionally dis- ford happy opportunity for detailed treatment what I shall say will be confined to the two saintIy men who first served you, or to influences which grew out of their lives and work
 MT. Lee C0mpere, First Pastor.
 Rev. Lee Compere. your first pastor. Teicestershire, ss England. November 3. 1790. His mother was a Miss Fox, daughter of Job Fox and Grace yoysy Fox. The, compere family were e,,n of in England, they united with the An glican Church. The Voysy family had been Baptlsts for two hundred years, and there had been several marriages between the Voysy family and the Wesley family; and the family tra- dition Is that Rev. Lee Compere was a reIaSive Sd STeP MeSe fatSeT dying in ,7s and his mother in -1796. Young Com l pore was reared by an older sister and an aunt. He clerked in store
 He made a profession of religion, joined the Baptist church and studied l scE the ministry under s,.ca the care are. of married susannah yoysey. some time in 1916, he was sent by Elder shen- | ston's church in Loudow as a mission 1 ary to Jamacia.
 He remained there one year, but on | account of his health, he was forced | to leave that island, and went thence 10 South Carolina In 1877. His irft | born child. an eighteen months old | daughter, sickened and died on the | voyage from Jamacia. and was buried | at sea. He settled in Sumter District, l South Carolina. where two of his l daughters were born, one of these | daughters, Frances. became the wife | of the Rev. s. S. Lattimore a noted | Baptist minister of Massachusetts. He | Afterwards lived In Clinton. Ga.. where | one child was born. His ministerial | iabors were abundant in both Car | Olina and Georgia
 In 1922 he was sent by the Baptist | Mission Board as a missionary to the | Creek nation, where he labored at | -Tuckahatchie until 1928. That his | labors were not in vain. and that the l good seed hs-sowed among the Creeks l into life, grew and bore fruit in after | years, we have the positive statement | of Dr. H. F. Buckner, who twenty | years later was a distinguished mis- | sionary in the Creek nation west. | While living among the Greeks two | children, a son and a daughter were | born to Mir. Compere, and as showing | his attachment to and his deep interest | in the Creek people he gave to each | of these children, in part. an Indian name Savannah Muscogee and Thomas | Hechitee CompeFe later afterwards | becoming a Baptist minister.
 When the Greek mission was aban- doned in 1928 Mir Compero came to | Nkant1Aaaaa&M. ana In 1929 ha es2aA Alioned q