Jesse Witt, southern missionary

With John B. Renfro and J. O. Walker, Jesse Witt organized a Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas, now known as First Baptist Church. Earlier, Lemuel Herrin had organized a church in Henderson in or around 1845, which apparently had ceased meeting and disbanded. Witt was elected a missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1846, and organized and served several churches in East Texas before his early death in 1858.

Writing a biography of his brother Daniel Witt, J. B. Jeter had this to say about Jesse:

“Daniel had a brother, older than himself, named Jesse. They were baptized at the same time, but the younger entered the ministry several years before the older. Jesse Witt, after laboring for some time successfully in his native county, was, for seven years, the acceptable pastor of the Baptist churches in Powhatan county [Virginia]; afterwards, he was employed, for a considerable while, very usefully, as agent of the Baptist General Association of the State; and subsequently removed to Texas, where he suddenly died, in the year 1858. Public opinion was divided as to the comparative pulpit abilities of the two Witts. Their gifts differed, and it is not easy, and altogether unnecessary, to decide which excelled in preaching. Jesse was undoubtedly an able, laborious, and successful minister of Christ. He left his native State in the maturity of his mind, the fulness of his influence, and the height of his popularity, and soon earned an honorable name in his adopted State. It has been affirmed, on unquestionable authority, that a governor of Texas pronounced him the most eloquent man in the State: a judgment, the correctness of which will be readily admitted by all who heard him preach, in his seasons of highest inspiration.”

Jeremiah Bell Jeter, The Life of Rev. Daniel Witt, D.D., of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Richmond, VA: J. T. Ellyson, 1875, pp. 97-98

“Baptist Southern Convention,” Richmond Daily Whig, Tuesday, June 16, 1846, p. 2

George Albert Grammer – Not now a well-known Baptist Preacher.

Probably few will recognize this name when they see it, but George Albert Grammer was a well-known name in the old Southwest in his day. He pastored at least two churches in Rusk County. He is listed in The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America, by George William Lasher (1831-1920), editor (Oxford, OH: Ministerial Directory Company, 1899). The Lord knoweth them that are his, regardless of who knew Grammer then, and who remembers him now.

When George Lasher gathered his data, George Albert Grammer was living at 143 W. Orleans Street in Jackson, Tennessee. He was born, in Canton, Mississippi in 1844 (possibly the son of Elijah and Margaret Grammer). He attended Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi and Judson University in Judsonia, Arkansas, obtaining an M. A. degree in 1884. He was licensed to preach in 1859 (perhaps at Vicksburg) and was ordained April 14, 1867 at the Baptist Church in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He pastored churches in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. In Rusk County he pastored the First Baptist Church of Henderson, Texas, 1871-72, and taught English and Mathematics while there. He was a missionary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention in 1880-82. He preached at Troup and Overton in this area of East Texas in the mid-to-late 1890s.

Grammer lost his right arm between the time of his liberation to preach and his ordination, while serving during the Civil War. He lost his first wife Ella Smith Grammer and some children while living in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His (probably oldest) son Gordan E. Grammer was born in 1872, while he was in Texas. In 1885 he married Mary E. Frazer, and they had two children. George, Mary, and daughter Mina Leone are buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis Tennessee. At least one child and his first wife are buried at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg, and Gordan is possibly buried there as well. It is unknown what happened to any other children he had.

George Albert Grammer died June 27, 1902 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 57 years old. At the time of his death he was pastor of the Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi.

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Mississippi College, 1859-60.

The Vicksburg Herald, April 14, 1867, page 3.

The Commercial Appeal, June 28, 1902, page 3.

Baptist and Reflector, July 3, 1902, page 4.