Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church (Rankin County, Miss.) Records (Z/2047).
Creator/Collector: Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church (Rankin County, Miss.).
Date(s): 1778; 1831-1851; 1874.
Size: 0.30 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff Alanna Patrick, circa 1990s; Further described and prepped for digitization by Allyson Hartling, 2023.
Provenance: Gift of Jeryl Denson Hurley of Pearl, MS, on June 4, 1998; Z/U/1998.019.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research. Due to the extreme fragile nature of the items, photocopies may only be made by archival staff.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church (Rankin County, Miss.) Records (Z/2047), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church was founded in 1831, and William J. Denson became its first pastor. His brother, Jesse Denson, was a deacon and church treasurer for a number of years, and he apparently kept the minutes for the church, at least during its first decade. The church first met in the home of another brother, Nathaniel Denson, Jr. A few years later, William Denson donated six acres of land near Sand Hill, Rankin County, Mississippi, and he helped build the first church on the site in 1836, which became known as "Old Pisgah." It was the second Baptist congregation to be formed in the county. The original church was built of bricks made by yet another brother, Joseph Denson. It was a one-story building with a balcony for a congregation of enslaved persons. The Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church building was moved four miles south to its present site in 1857.

William Denson served on the board of directors of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church for many years. He represented the church at the Mississippi Baptist Convention in December of 1836. Denson also organized the Harmony Baptist Association, composed of Hinds, Madison, Rankin, and Scott counties, before the Civil War.

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church had one hundred fifty members in May of 1981, and the church was still in existence in 2001.

Denson Family

The Reverend Nathaniel Denson, Sr., of English descent, was born around 1763 in Anson County, North Carolina. He married Charity Colson around 1784, and they had eleven children: James (1791-1839), Isaac (b. 1793), Joseph (b. 1795), Jesse (b. 1797), William J. (1800-1873), Thomas C. (b. 1802), Mary (b. 1804), Katharine (1807-1878), Shadrach (b. 1809), Nathaniel, Jr. (b. 1811), and Madison (b. 1815). The Densons settled in Alabama in the early 1800s, and then moved to Rankin County, Mississippi, in 1827, founding Denson Town, which later became known as Denson's Landing. Nathaniel Denson, Sr., used the Reverend Dr. John Gill’s Sermons and Tracts as reference material for the sermons he preached. He died in Rankin County around 1838, and he is buried in Mt. Pisgah Cemetery.

The Reverend William J. Denson, known informally as "Parson Bill," was born in Alabama on August 9, 1800. He married Mary Jane Williams on December 13, 1826. After moving to Mississippi, the Densons had two children: Mary Jane (b. 1830) and David W. (b. 1832). Denson owned a farm near Sand Hill, Rankin County. His wife, Mary Jane, died on January 8, 1858, and he married his second wife, Amelia Lyle, in 1862. They had three children: William L. Denson, Shadrach Denson, and Jesse Rufus Denson. Reverend Denson was elected to the Mississippi legislature in 1860. He was also a member of the Masonic Order. Denson died in a horse-and-buggy accident on October 8, 1873.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection includes the minutes of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Rankin County, Mississippi, and a book entitled Sermons and Tracts by the Reverend Dr. John Gill, with annotations by the Reverend Nathaniel Denson, Sr.  Minutes include the constitution and the articles of faith written by the church, a list of the white male members of the church as well as a few deaths, dismissals by letter, and excommunications however, the reasons are not present. Every monthly and annual meeting held by the church, usually  on the last Saturday of each month detail what was discussed and the topics consisted of budgets, sermons, renovations, changes, and leadership roles. On occasion, if there was not much to discuss, so they met out of formality.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Minutes, 1831-1851; 1874. 1 folder. 
The minutes of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church are bound and partially hand-paginated. The name of David W. Denson is written on the inside front cover. A number of pages throughout the volume are torn or missing. The minutes were primarily recorded by Jesse Denson, Sr., and they were apparently later transferred to a larger volume now preserved by the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission in Clinton.

The minutes primarily record quarterly and annual church meetings from 1831 to 1851. For many early church meetings, Denson summarized key areas of discussion in the left-hand margins, and he occasionally wrote explanatory notes at the bottoms of pages. The first few pages contain the articles of faith of the church. Listed in the minutes are the founding church members in 1831. Also listed are about thirty church members with annotations by a few names regarding membership status or death date. Baptismal records, including those of enslaved persons who were congregants, are included. Two pages near the middle of the volume are written in what appears to be a different hand, recording purchases of such staples as bacon, beef, and tobacco in 1874.

 

Series 2: Sermons and Tracts. 1778. 1 folder. 
Dr. John Gill wrote Sermons and Tracts as the third volume of a series of treatises on the Bible. The prefatory note is dated November 10, 1778. The book contains 631 pages, but the front cover has been reattached, and the back cover is missing. There is a bookplate bearing the name of Richard Riley that is affixed to the inside front cover, and the name of Nathaniel Denson, Sr., is penciled underneath it. Denson listed the names and birthdays of his children on pages 560 and 561 of Sermons and Tracts. The last page of the book has some additional, but only partially legible, genealogical information on the Denson family.

Transcription of the genealogical information included on pages 560-561:
The ages of Nathaniel Denson’s children marriages death
1st - James Denson was born March 28 in the year of our Lord 1791 - married Feb 9th 1815.
2nd - Isaac Denson - June 11th 1793.
3 - Joseph Denson - April 8 - 1795.
4 - Jesse Denson - December 30th 1797.
5 - William Denson - August 9th 1800.
6 - Thomas Denson - March 27th 1802.
7 - Mary Denson - April 1st 1804.
8 - Katherine Denson - December 17th 1809.
9th - Shadrack Denson - December 17th 1809.
10th - Nathaniel Denson - January 17th 1811.
11th - Son born dead.
12th - Madison Denson April 10th 1815.

 
Box List:

Box 1
Folder 1: Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Minutes, 1831-1851; 1874.
Folder 2: Sermons and Tracts by Dr. John Gill, 1778.