Chatham County GaArchives History .....The 1st African Baptist Church, Chapter VII 1925
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CHAPTER VII

   There has always been a peculiar demonstration of divine Providence in the
succession to the pastorate of the First African Baptist Church. The church,
appreciating this fact, never attempts a call without earnest, protracted
prayer. The pastor and people always come together in a way that challenges
faith in divine supervision. Whatever obstacle apparent to handicap an incoming
shepherd of this flock is always providentially removed, and each minister has
remained long enough to make a substantial personal contribution to this work,
the magnitude of which is always dependent upon his faithfulness to his calling
and the cause. In this case as all the rest, the selection of Rev. William J.
Campbell was of God.

   Already high in the esteem of the church and officiating at the funeral of
their lamented pastor, who had selected him to assist him in the arduous duties
of this work, it was natural for the church to look to Rev. Campbell for
leadership. Realizing the pressing condition of the work and seeking divine
guidance, the church soon called him to take up where Rev. Marshall had laid
down. He was ordained by the Executive Board of the Sunbury Association at the
request of the church and soon took charge.

   Rev. Campbell was born January 1, 1812, of slave parents. Being the body
servant of his master, he was blessed with the advantage of extensive travel. He
was intelligent, a prodigious reader, and possessed a very retentative memory.
He was a close student of men and had great executive ability. Assuming his new
work, he tore down the old structure and with startling rapidity, erected the
beautiful building that was the entrancing dream of Father Marshall. Sensing the
responsibility upon them, the people rallied to him with apparently greater zeal
and loyalty than to his predecessor. At a cost of $26,000, great sacrifice and
much labor, completed this great undertaking in 1859, six years before the
Emancipation. This was the main body of the beautiful structure in which we now
worship, and is a perpetual monument to these fathers and mothers of old,
challenging the admiration of the world today.

   It was during Rev. Campbell's administration that 14 societies, also called
prayer-houses, were established for convenience of the very large congregation
in sections where there were no churches to attend; for the membership under him
ran up to 4,000 souls.

   He had a peculiar sonorous voice and spoke to the hearts of men. If one once
heard him, he never forgot him; for he was powerful in the pulpit. Sinners
feared and quaked before him. His people would rather hear him word a hymn than
hear anyone else preach. He was jet black, neat, handsome, polite and extremely
dignified. If he said a thing was right, the world could not make his people
believe otherwise. Bishop L. H. Holsey said: "The greatest lectures I ever heard
were his prayer meeting lectures." He was widely known and equally respected.
Northern visitors preferred his church to any other in the city. His church gave
him a hundred dollars per month and everything he needed. They annually gave him
a vacation of three months and sent a servant with him. He was one of the
organizers of the Mt. Olive Association, of the Zion Baptist Association, and of
the State Convention.

   He also had troubles. While erecting the brick building, he was accused of
stealing. This was soon proven to be false, and rather enhanced his popularity.
Also during the latter part of his life, he was stricken with paralysis. Once
while he was absent in Griffin on important business, one of his officers, who
was also his spiritual child, was accused of stealing some of the church's
money. Upon the pastor's return, he found his church in turmoil. In his attempt
to adjust the difficulty, Rev. Campbell was accused of siding with the offender.
In the confusion that ensued, the pastor, high-strung and very self-respecting,
lost his patience, and, rather than battle on in his weakened condition, on
November 19, 1877, he arose and led out a host of his members and set up another
church in the Beach Institute Building. Several efforts were made to affect a
reunion of the contending forces: but Rev. Campbell had been so humiliated in
his afflictions by so many thoughtless wranglers in the midst of a multitude
that was wont to hear him with so much reverence and obedience that he was never
able to persuade himself to assume that pastorate again. Though many of his old
followers who remained in the church reverenced him to the last.

   Finally he ended his otherwisely brilliant career in a somewhat beclouded
glory, October 11, 1880. It was his expressed desire to be buried from the First
African Baptist Church of which he was still a member, but some slight
irregularities irritated the already tense feelings among conflicting groups,
and although it appears that no serious objections were interposed by anyone,
those in authority abandoned the idea and took the body to First Bryan Baptist
Church, Rev. U. L. Houston then pastor. Father Frank Quarels, pastor of the
Friendship Baptist Church, Atlanta, was telegraphed and arrived in time to
deliver the funeral eulogy. Thousands of heartbroken weepers followed his bier
in sorrow to its last resting place in Laurel Grove.

   The breach began to close, the dove of peace hovered nearer, and finally on
February 17, 1884, the minority returned to the fold.
   


Additional Comments:
From:

THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA

BY REV. EDGAR GARFIELD THOMAS, A. B., B. D.
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Copyright, 1925
By E. G. Thomas, Author.


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