Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/263

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 203 ai'deaii. Perry, Madison, St. Francois, Wayne missionary for the American Baptist Home iMission Society. In 1834 he organized a Bap- tist church at Cape Girardeau. There were nine members at that time and Elder Greene became the first pastor. After two years he removed to St. Louis, where he was pastor of the Second Baptist church. Elder Greene had been educated as a printer, and had at one time conducted a little weekly paper him- self. This was a combination paper, being part a religious weekly and in part a news- paper. It was this training and experience which led to Greene's selection as an associate of John ilason Peek in the attempt to publish a paper at Rock Spring, Illinois. He was to look after the actual details of printing and publication. Thomas P. Greene was a man of great abil- ity. He is said to have resembled Senator Benton, and to have possessed something of Benton's oratorical capability. He had only limited opportunities for education, but con- tinued his studies all through his life and became quite a scholar. Hon. Samuel M Greene, of Cape Girardeau, is his son. Some of the other ministers who were con- nected with Bethel church, or with the asso- ciation during this period, were John Farrar, William Street, James P. Edwards and Win- gate Jackson. William Street was one of the early settlers in Wayne county, and was held in high esteem both as a citizen and a minis- ter. He died in 1843. John Farrar was a resident of Madison county until 1825, when he was removed to Washington county. He died there in 1829. In 1811 James P. Ed- wards moved to Cape Girardeau from Ken- tucky. He was a lawyer, but was ordained as a minister in 1812, and afterward removed to Illinois. Wingate Jackson was a Virginian. He was born in 1776 and resided for a num- ber of years in Kentucky. About 1804 he located at New Tennessee, Ste. Genevieve county, where he died in 1835. It was under his ministry that Hepzibah church was estab- lished in 1820. The constituent members were Wingate Jackson, Obadiah Scott, Noah Hunt, and Joel and Enos Hamers. In 1814 a committee of Bethel church was appointed to draw up a plan for the organi- zation of an association of the Missouri churches. Invitations were sent to the va- rious churches to meet the committee from Bethel church and for the consideration of this matter the representatives of the various churches met in Bethel in June, 1816. Bethel chvirch was represented by Thomas Bull, John Sheppard, Benjamin Thompson and Robert English. Tywappity church was represented by Henry Cockerham, John Baldwin, and William Ross. Providence church was rep- resented by William Savage; Saline church, by Elder Thomas Donohoe and John Duvall ; St. Francois church, by Elder William Street and Jonathan Hubble ; Turkey Creek church, by William Johnson, Daniel Johnson, E. Re- velle and S. Baker. The organization thus effected was in the nature of a preliminary organization and it was decided to hold another meeting in Sep- tember, 1816, at Bethel church. At this meet- ing, which was participated in by Bethel, Tywappity, Providence, Barren, Bellevue, St. Francois and Dry Creek churches, an associa- tion was constituted which was named Bethel association. These seven churches had an aggregate membership of 230, and there were five ministers included in the association. One of the famous and most active Baptist ministers of this time was John Mason Peck.
 * nid Stoddard counties. He later became a