Rev. Jesse E. Casey—Primitive Baptist Minister

While it was well known that Rev. Jesse E. Casey (4x GGF to my husband), was a Baptist minister in Arkansas, it may be less well known that he was a Primitive Baptist, also known as "hardshell" Baptist.

What is Hardshell Baptist?

In general, hardshell or Primitive Baptists believe in the five tenets of Calvinism, sometimes known by the acrostic TULIP:

• Total Hereditary Depravity: Man is fallen. The effects of sin are total. Man cannot save himself, only God can save him if he chooses.
• Unconditional Election: God chooses who to save, who become the Elect. This choice is not based on any man's merit but on God's goodness and sovereignty. Some are chosen, others are lost for eternity.
  
• Limited Atonement: Christ died only for God's elect, not for all of humanity.
  
• Irresistible Grace: The elect cannot defy God's call.
  
• Perseverance of the saints: Those who are saved cannot be lost, as no one can evade the will of God.

In terms of practice, Primitive Baptists baptize adults but not infants. Foot washing is practiced as a sign of humility and equality. Communion is open only to those baptized. Ministers are self-taught, only male, and referred to as Elder. Primitives do not believe in missionary work since no one is saved except by God's call. Primitive Baptist churchgoers do not use musical instruments, but sing a capella. They have no need for Sunday schools as these were not mentioned in the Bible, and parents teach their children their faith.¹

 

Crooked Creek Church

It appears that Jesse E. Casey did not always hold Primitive Baptist beliefs. He joined the Crooked Creek Church in present-day Boone County, Arkansas in the mid-1840s. It was originally founded as a Missionary Baptist church on Saturday, 3 July 1834, with the following constitution:

The members of Sundry Baptist church having first given ourselves to the Lord and to one another in christian fellowship do agree to keep up rules of discipline and be constituted a church of Jesus Christ on the following principles, viz.

1st We believe in only one true and living God, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost.

2nd We believe that the scriptures of the old and new testament are given inspiration of and form the only infallible rule of faith and practice

3rd We believe in the fall of man and that he by nature possesses neither will nor power to deliver himself from sinful state.

4th We believe that salvation, regeneration, Sanctification and Justification are by the life, death, resurrection, assention and intercession of Jesus Christ and that the Children of God are kept by his power through faith unto salvation.

5th We believe that good works are the fruits of faith and follow after justification.

6th We believe that all true believers are elect according to the for-knowledge of God through sanctification of the Sprit and belief of the truth.

7th We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the gospel and that imertion is the only apostolick move.

8th We believe the Lords supper to be an ordinance of Jesus Christ to be continued in his church until he comes the second time without sin unto salvation.

9th We believe that none have a right to administer the ordinances of the gospel but those who have been baptised and legally set apart to the office of minister.

10th We believe in the resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust and of a general judgement.

11th We believe that the joys of the righteous will be eternal and the punishment of the wicked everlasting.²

Union Baptist Church as it appears today, originally founded as the Crooked Creek Baptist Church in 1834. This is one of three church buildings known to exist since then.³

The Union Baptist Church of Harrison, Arkansas, the present-day successor church to Crooked Creek, describes that church's early history:

"The church was organized as a Missionary Baptist church and sponsored several mission efforts and a number of revivals in its first years. The congregation met in the homes of its members until 1840 when its log church was built by William Beller's Spring."⁴

Jesse E. Casey's ordination was recorded in a Johnson County, Arkansas deed book in 1842.

 

Rev. Casey was legally ordained a minister in April 1842 at the regular United Baptist Church of Christ at Big Mulberry in Johnson County, Arkansas.⁵ He was twice the pastor of the Crooked Creek Baptist Church—from 1845-1849 and 1850-1851.⁶

He became pastor shortly after the minutes reflected a change that would rock the congregation. In December 1843, members moved to..."declare an unfellowship to the home and foreign missionary principals and all its various branches and all other unscriptural constitutions..."⁷ This was in response to the hardshell belief that since only the elect were saved, there was no need for missions or missionaries. Those who advocated for missionary principles were suddenly in conflict with their church.

Then, in January 1844, the congregants "...decided in favor of declaring unfellowship to the Missionary Society and all other unscriptural institutions.⁸

And in March 1844, the members moved to "exclude from our fellowship" twelve members of the church "holding the doctrine of Missionary and advocating the same..."⁹ The notes do not reflect who began this schism but clearly Rev. Casey supported it.

Those excluded from Crooked Creek were George W. Baines (great-grandfather of future president Lyndon Baines Johnson, and one-time president of Baylor University), Guy Ross, Angus Ross, Asher Hardin, Leonard Huff, Thomas Hutchinson, Mary Griffin, Malissa Ann Baines, Elizabeth Butler, Mary Ross, Jennette Petty, and Sarah Beck.¹⁰

It's been fascinating to learn a bit about Casey's ministry and about the Primitive Baptist faith he held.

Until next time...

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IMAGE: Vishnu gs, "Bible in candlelight," 2 February 2011, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_bible.jpg : 8 April 2023). This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

NOTES

¹ Larry Ray Hafley, Truth Magazine (http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume27/GOT027055.html : 6 March 2023), "The Baptist Church: Its Various Sects"; citing Guardian of Truth XXVII: 4, 17 February 1983, p. 101-104. Also: Jack Zavada, "Primitive Baptist Beliefs and Practices," Learn Religions (https://www.learnreligions.com/primitive-baptist-beliefs-and-practices-700089 : 8 April 2023), last updated 13 May 2019.

² Reta DeShields Parton, transcriber, "Minutes for The United Baptist Church of Christ on Crooked Creek," Rock Fence Genealogy (https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~jmwtlw/genealogy/crooked_creek_church_records2.htm : 6 March 2023), constitution.

³ Reta DeShields Parton, "Crooked Creek Church Records," Rock Fence Genealogy (https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~jmwtlw/genealogy/crooked_creek_church_records.htm : 8 April 2023).

⁴ Union Baptist Church (http://www.myunionbaptist.com/history-of-union-baptist-2 : 6 March 2023), "History of Union Baptist."

⁵ Johnson County, Arkansas, Deed Records, Book D, 1839-1945, p. 207, ordination of Jessy Casey, April 1842; digital image, FamilySearch (https://bit.ly/3c7wfqz : 6 March 2023), citing Johnson County Courthouse, Clarksville.

⁶ Union Baptist Church, "History of Union Baptist."

⁷ Reta DeShields Parton, "Minutes for The United Baptist Church of Christ on Crooked Creek," Rock Fence Genealogy (https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~jmwtlw/genealogy/crooked_creek_church_records.htm : 8 April 2023), p. 33.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Ibid. Also: Mike Polston, Encyclopedia of Arkansas (https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/george-washington-baines-17982/ : 8 April 2023), "George Washington Baines (1809–1882)," last updated 5 October 2022.