Louisiana AHGP
Part of the American History and
Genealogy Project
John West Melton
J. W. Melton served as pastor of Homer Baptist Church twice, from 1877 to 1878 and from 1880 to 1881. Brother J. W. Melton was born in Perry County, Alabama on June 28, 1832. He was baptized into the fellowship of Pisgah Baptist church of that county and ordained to preach about 1853. At about that same time, he married Jane C. Mahan and taught school and preached in Alabama.
In 1870, he and his family moved to Claiborne parish and he continued to teach in the local schools and preach in the area about ten miles east of Homer. He served a total of twenty-six years as pastor of Coal Springs Church (west of Homer) in two separate pastorates and sixteen years in Hebron Church near Summerfield. Brother Melton served as pastor for Homer Church as well as Rocky Springs before moving to Union parish where he accepted pastorates at Pisgah, Mr. Olive and Pine Grove Churches.
He was something of a "radical," gently turning his
congregations away from the expulsion of members for such sins
as bowling, arguing and drinking. Brother Melton often
instructed the deacons of the churches to form committees to try
to reach the miscreants and bring them back to the fold. He
encouraged persons expelled from other Baptist churches to
reform their ways and had them "taken under the watch-care" of
the church. This sometimes would allow the expelled person to
reform and permit the "watch-care" church to write of the reform
to the expelling church, hoping to clear the slate so that the
reformed person could join as a member in good standing.
Brother Melton was one of the first to propose a solution to the
problem of letter dismission. For a person to join a Baptist
Church by letter at that time, he or she had to have the letter
in hand to present to the new church. This letter would state
the person's conversion experience and of membership in good
standing. Often, church clerks would not have this letter ready
before the person moved and the wildly irregular mail system
further complicated the problem. Brother Melton simply suggested
new members be accepted by statement with a letter to follow.
Problem solved.
He was known as a powerful, well-educated preacher and as an excellent singer. In 1878, Homer Baptist Church ordered its first hymnals, The Baptist Hymn Book. When this was proposed, a special offering for the hymn books was taken up and a grand total of $12.60 was collected, exactly the amount needed for the purchase. With Brother Melton's leadership, a building program was started to improve the church building and the church membership finally started to grow. Brother Melton truly had the heart of a pastor and was well-loved by his congregations.
He and his wife had a family of eight, six who to lived to maturity. The four sons, William, Jesse A., John M. and James West all became deacons in the Baptist Church. His daughters were Hattie Moore and Maggie Cooksey. When Brother Melton's health began to fail in 1897, he turned his pastorates over to his son-in-law, William Cooksey (a member of our church from 1893 to 1894) the founder of the Baptist Children's Home.
J. W. Melton died in 1898 and was buried in the cemetery Rocky Springs Baptist Church. His wife died in 1916 and was buried alongside. 17
Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish | AHGP
Source: Author's Notice: I hereby give permission for the free dissemination of any and all material included within the book and permit any non profit use of that material. Should any agency wish to use the material in a profit context, permission must be secured from the church body of First Baptist Church, Homer, LA 71040. By Barbara Smith, Homer, Louisiana.
