Isaac McCoy was born in June of 1784 and died on this day (June 21) in 1846 at the age of 62. This Baptist missionary gave his life to Christ and to the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations which were forced to relocated to what became Oklahoma.
I am unclear about the timing and details, but it appears that prior to McCoy’s arrival at Ebenezer Station, just north of the Arkansas River and west of Fort Gibson, two men, David Lewis and John Davis, a Muscogee (Creek) Indian, had gathered a group of believers, whom McCoy organized into the first Baptist church in Oklahoma. It was called the Muscogee Baptist Church at Ebenezer Station, Indian Territory.
Here is McCoy’s account of that day – “I enjoyed a blessed season in Arkansas [now Oklahoma] with our excellent missionary brethren, Davis and Lewis. They are both men of good sense, and ardent piety; and are devoted to their labours of love, in teaching sinners the way to heaven. I had written Mr. Lewis twice, but neither of my communications had reached him. He was in a land of strangers, and penniless, without knowing when I would arrive to afford him relief. Nevertheless, he went to work with Mr. Davis. They preached among the Creeks, and visited from house to house; and before I reached them, they had fixed upon a day for the constitution of a Baptist church. In this constitution, I had the happiness of assisting, on the 9th instant. The church consisted of Rev. Mr. Lewis and wife, missionaries, John Davis, Creek Indian and missionary, and three black men, (Quash, Bob and Ned,) slaves to the Creeks, who had been baptized on the east of the Mississippi. The church took the name of the Muscogee Baptist church. Mr. Lewis preached in the forenoon, and I preached at another place in the afternoon; and bro. Davis, besides interpreting, prayed, and exhorted, in both Indian and English. This was a good day to us all. We … retired from our meeting place, not only with solemn countenances, but many faces, both black and red, were suffused with tears, and every heart seemed to be filled.”
In his 1836 report, McCoy related that the membership of the Muscogee Baptist Church consisted of eighteen Native church members; fifty-eight Black church members, and four White church members for a total of eighty members. The church continued to grow, and soon it boasted a membership of 300. That tremendous growth was attributable in large measure to the work of John Davis.
Sadly, because Davis was a never considered more than “a native preacher,” he was not given the recognition of the great work that he did among his people.