Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/96

 84 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. Samuel Davis went to Southern Kentucky and settled in Christian County, where his eminent son was born on the 3d of June, 1808. Here he was connected with Bethel church, a prosperous community. In later years Bethel Association was formed around it, which be- came distinguished in the annals of Kentucky Baptists. It estab- lished Bethel College at Russellville, and Bethel Female Col- lege at Hopkinsville, both of which have been respectable for learning and usefulness.

Shortly before the opening of the war of 1812, Samuel Davis sought another home, and settled in Wilkinson county, Missis- sippi. Here also he seems to have been an active religious leader. He was probably a member of another Bethel church situated near Woodville, the county seat of Wilkinson. This church belonged to Mississippi Association, from which the Baptist religion was spread abroad in the States of Mississippi and Louisiana. He died on the 4th of July, 1824, at the age of sixty-eight years.

During the progress of this investigation I have advanced several hypotheses, and it is likely that some of them may be set aside through additional research. The main conclusion that I have reached, however, namely, that the Davis family were remarkable for religious energy and efficiency, will be likely to endure. Samuel Davies of Princeton was the incomparable ornament of their colonial period, and his namesake, Samuel Davis (provided my hypothesis will hold), was an efifective re- ligious figure of the middle period, who won a good degree in the States of Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. He was al- ways found upon the high places of the field ; always at centers of large and profitable procedure.

In an address that he made at the dedication of the Baptist church in Kentucky, that had been erected upon the spot where his father's house once stood, Jefferson Davis is reported to have affirmed that his father was a better man than himself. Possibly he was referring to the punctual exercise of the cares and offices of religious life. His father mav have excelled him