Baptist women on the frontier: a panel

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2003 by Rosalie Beck, Portia Sikes McKown

Baptist women had vital roles in settling and Christianizing the Texas frontier They participated in building schools and churches, and spreading the gospel. The following articles focus on the work of Mina Everett and Elli Moore Townsend, two hard-working, committed women who contributed much to Baptist work in Texas.

Mina S. Everett: A Frontier Missionary

Rosalie Beck

In 1885, thirty-one-year-old Mina S. Everett gave her life to Christ in Dublin, Texas. Standing less than five feet tall, and weighing less than eighty pounds, Mina never did anything by halves (1) She spent the rest of her adult life as a missionary in frontier situations, establishing missions organizations, churches, and schools in Texas, Brazil, Kansas, New Mexico, Mexico City, Colorado, and California. This paper will focus on her work in Texas from 1887 through 1896.

The First Single Woman SBC Missionary to the Western Hemisphere

Mina's life was filled with "firsts." She awakened to the need for missions in 1885 while attending the dedication of the Monterey Baptist Church, the first Baptist church building in Mexico. When she returned home, Mina established a frugal monthly budget for herself. She then sold almost everything she owned, including her horse Prince, and gave the money to support Texas missionaries. (2) A. T. Hawthorne, the Foreign Mission Board [FMB] representative, contacted Mina when he heard of her activities and asked her, "Why not you be the missionary and let us support you?" (3) In answering the question, Mina made a lifetime commitment to missions.

Later that year, Mina sailed for Brazil as the first single woman missionary appointed by the FMB in the western hemisphere. Ill health plagued her from the time she arrived in Brazil until she departed less than eighteen months later. She contracted yellow fever and beriberi, and more than once the doctors gave her no hope of survival. Finally, in 1887, Mina returned to the United States to recuperate. (4) She fully intended to return to Brazil, but the FMB physician, Dr. Matthews, judged her too frail to survive in a tropical climate.

Even though deeply saddened by her inability to work in Brazil, Mina's commitment to missions remained strong. She decided to work with Hawthorne to raise money for missions in Texas. As soon as physically able, Mina began a series of speaking engagements throughout the state. Texas Baptist leaders, like J. M. Carroll, realized quickly that Mina was an effective speaker, and it was not unusual for a church or association to double their normal missions offering in response to her messages. (5)

The First Paid Missionary to Hispanics in Texas

In 1888, after attending the Southern Baptist Convention [SBC] in Richmond, Virginia, and representing Texas women in the formation of the Woman's Missionary Union--another first for her--Mina received appointment as the first paid missionary in Texas to work with Hispanic people. This appointment also made her the first woman missionary hired by the Baptist General Convention of Texas [BGCT] State Mission Board. (6)

Mina lived and worked in San Antonio, establishing churches and industrial training schools among the 10,000 Hispanic residents. She joined the Spanish Baptist church and helped speed the church's entry into the San Antonio Association.

The First Speaking Engagement During Worship

Mina continued to raise funds for missions. She worked on the frontier between acceptable behavior for a Baptist woman in the late 1800s and behavior that created barriers between herself and a congregation Before Mina left Brazil, a pastor's wife said to her, "[P]lead on behalf of our country every time you have opportunity." In her memoirs, Mina wrote, "There might have been many opportunities in which to grant the request but in that day a woman must not plead in a Baptist church for a people in darkness when men were present." (7)

Mina wrestled with the issue of speaking to mixed groups. On one occasion, she was scheduled to speak at the Honey Grove Baptist Church. Usually Mina arrived the day before she spoke to ensure everything was in order, but she could not get to Honey Grove until the Sunday she was to speak. When the pastor met her at the train station, he told Mina that she was to speak at the worship time to the entire congregation. She had never spoken in a worship service to both men and women. She spent the morning in prayer, eventually deciding it would not displease God "nor do violence to Scripture" for her to "bring Brazil's need and lay it at the door of these people who are anxious to hear." (8) Mina was never comfortable speaking to mixed groups, but she continued to do so until her time in Texas ended.

Dangerous Episodes on the Frontier

Physical danger is often associated with a frontier situation, and Mina's life in Texas was fraught with peril. She traveled as much as possible by train, but many Texas communities were not on train routes. When asked to speak at the Baptist church in Carrizo Springs, she caught a ride on a freight wagon. The July sun was scorching, and the driver got lost. When they finally arrived at the church, Mina passed out and fell from the wagon. One of the members of the welcoming committee was a doctor. He treated her for sunstroke and said that thirty more minutes in the sun would have ended her life. (9)