James Huckins
Huckins James (April 8, 1807 — August 6, 1863) was an American ordained Baptist minister, the first Southern Baptist missionary of Texas, an educator, and a church organizer.[1][2]
Reverend James Huckins | |
|---|---|
 Rev. James Huckins 1902 sketches portrait | |
| Born | April 8, 1807 |
| Died | August 6, 1863 (aged 56) Texas |
| Education | Brown University |
| Occupation(s) | Baptist preacher, editor, churches organizer |
| Organization(s) | Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Baylor University |
| Known for | Co-fonuding Baylor University University of Mary Hardin–Baylor organizing first Baptist churches in Galveston |
Background
James was an orphan who was born in Dorchester, New Hampshire and was adopted by a local farmer at the age of six. He was baptized at the age of fourteen.[3]
Education and career
He attended Brown University and studied theology. In 1840 he was sent by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society to report on the conditions there. He organized one of the first Baptist churches in Galveston. He also established the first Baptist church in Houston and was editor of the Texas column in Baptist banner. He retired from the Home Missionary Society in 1845 and became a member of the Domestic Mission Board of Southern Baptist Convention due to issues of slavery.[4][5] He served as president of the Texas Baptist Association for three terms.
19th century Union
As an influential frontier Baptist minister of Texas in the 19th century, he established schools and churches. He was a member of the Union Association, Baptist Home Mission Society, and the Baptist Educational Society in Texas and was one of the trustees of Baylor University when the institution was established in 1845. In 1859 he left Texas for the Baptist Church of South Carolina as a Confederate Army chaplain.[2][6][7]
Establishment of Mary Hard-Baylor University
He was the founding member of University of Mary Hardin–Baylor in Belton, Texas, in 1839, where he and Rev. Williams Tryon had been sent as a missionary by the Home Mission Board in New York.[8][9]
Notes
- "HUCKINS, JAMES". tshaonline.org. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- Huckins, James. "James Huckins Family Papers, Inclusive: 1819-1918, undated; Bulk: 1832-1864". legacy.lib.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- Bebbington, David (2012). Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-957548-0.
- Baker, Eugene W. (31 May 2012). Nothing Better Than This Missioi. ISBN 978-1602585805.
- "James Huckins: Missionary, church planter, and Baylor Founding Father". BaylorProud. 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- Carter, James E. (1986). "Nothing Better Than This: The Biography of James Huckins, First Baptist Missionary to Texas. By Eugene W. Baker. Baylor University Founders Series 1. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 1985. xii + 175 pp. $11.95". Church History. 55 (1): 145–146. doi:10.2307/3165493. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3165493. S2CID 162299017.
- Carter, James E. (March 1986). "Nothing Better Than This: The Biography of James Huckins, First Baptist Missionary to Texas. By Eugene W. Baker. Baylor University Founders Series 1. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 1985. xii + 175 pp. $11.95". Church History. 55 (1): 145–146. doi:10.2307/3165493. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3165493. S2CID 162299017.
- "Our History". University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- Early, Joseph Everett (2004). A Texas Baptist History Sourcebook: A Companion to McBeth's Texas Baptists. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-176-8.