Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

George Washington Bains

George Washington Bains (1809-1882) came to Louisiana from Arkansas in 1884. During his tenure in Arkansas, he served as a missionary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society and as a pastor of several churches. While in Arkansas, he served one term as a legislator.

Brother Bains came to Louisiana in 1844 to serve as pastor of Rehoboth (now Mt. Lebanon) Church. He was not the founder, but was the first pastor of the First Baptist Church in Minden in 1844 and in the same year helped organize the church at Saline now known as "Old Saline" church. It is now believed he organized Ebenezer church (now First Baptist Homer) in that same year or early in 1845.

Soon after his arrival in Louisiana, he, Bartholomew Egan and John Q. Burnett (a later pastor of our church) agreed that a higher institution of learning, primarily for the purpose of educating the Baptist clergy should be developed. This project was too large for only three persons, however, so they determined a convention of dedicated workers would be necessary before a university could be maintained.

This notion led to an informal meeting in 1847 at Mt. Lebanon to discuss the formation of such an organization. The group found themselves in agreement and set December 2, 1848 as the date for an organizational meeting. Most of the committee were not ministers but were laymen living near the Mt. Lebanon area. This convention, which was originally designed to served only North Louisiana and named the Baptist State Convention of North Louisiana, had as its founding members Mathias Ardis (brother to pastor H. Z. Ardis), George W. Bains, Jeremiah Burnett, John Q. Burnett, James Canfield, William W. Crawford, Obadiah Dodson, W. D. B. Edins, Bartholomew Egan, Eldred Hardy, T. D. Pitts, William B. Prothro and James Scarborough. In 1853, it was decided the Convention could and should serve the entire state and the name was changed to the Baptist State Convention of Louisiana (later to the Louisiana Baptist Convention).

George W. Bains served as the second president of the new convention and in 1849 was named as state delegate to the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville. During the early years of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, many churches considered it an upstart notion and disagreed with its policies on ministerial education and cooperative mission programs. It is worthy of note, however, from the earliest minutes of First Baptist Homer still in existence, our church supported this Convention with delegates, prayers and substantial financial offerings.

George W. Bains was also one of the organizers of the Red River Association in 1848 when the Concord Association grew too large for convenience. He moved to Texas in 1850 and became the editor of the first Baptist paper in the state, the Texas Baptist, and was for two years the president of Baylor University. 5 

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish | AHGP

Source: History of Washington County Vermont, Collated and Published by Abby Maria Hemenway, 1882.