Louisiana AHGP
Part of the American History and
Genealogy Project
L. A. Traylor
L. A. Traylor served as pastor of Homer Baptist Church from 1886
to 1889. In May of 1886, Brother S. C. Lee had died, leaving the
church in somewhat of a quandary. Generally at this time,
pastors were asked to serve and so elected from one year to the
next and few, if any, would be available during mid year for
replacement. The church decided to vote between T. C. Moreland
(not the previous pastor) and L. A. Traylor. With only thirteen
persons present at this business meeting, L. A. Traylor was
selected by a majority. During his term as pastor, Sunday School
work was promoted, though it was hard to interest the adults in
the worth of such a 'new-fangled' notion. Brother Traylor
strongly supported Sunday School and preached on the subject
several times. It is interesting to note that no member of the
church was expelled for any reason during his term as pastor.
During his tenure, members of the church decided the pastor of
the church should live in Homer.
Few pastors at that time were able to live among the church
members because most pastors had several churches
simultaneously. When this was proposed to Brother Traylor, an
increase in salary of fifty percent was proposed (of course,
this meant he was offered three hundred dollars per year instead
of two hundred per year, the first increase in pastor's salary
offered by the church in nearly fifty years.) In a vote of the
church, the following persons were proposed by the fellowship
for a tenure as pastor, L. A. Traylor, G. W. Hartsfield and J.
A. Moore. J. A. Moore received a majority vote and the church
sent a delegation to request he answer the call to the church
Brother Moore stated he, too, would need financial help to
relocate and a frantic search in the Athens and Summerfield area
ensued, trying to find a church which would join us in a call.
The members of the church even tried (and succeeded) securing a
discount fare on the local railway to sweeten the pot. During
this time, Brother Traylor continued to serve as pastor, even
though the call had gone to another.
Brother Traylor was easily the most colorful and controversial
pastor First Baptist Church has ever had. Though somewhat
hampered by the fact he was a dwarf, he was possessed of amazing
stamina and energy. He taught school, sold life insurance and
hawked patent medicine, but was best known for his political
stands. He began his political life as a radical Republican and
went house to house enlisting members for that party as one of
the major party organizers in Louisiana. He grew disenchanted
with the Republican party and embraced the Greenback party for a
time. Soon, however, he was converted to the Populist party and
there he made his mark. Once again, he went house to house
persuading voters to change their political affiliation. Many
citizens, especially blacks, were originally registered to vote
by his actions.
After serving as pastor of our church, Traylor went on to become
president of the Farmer's Union College in his home parish of
Grant. He was the state chairman of the Populist party in
Louisiana and began the Populist newspaper, the Ocala Demand
while living in Colfax. He later supported the Louisiana Lottery
and campaigned for Samuel McEnery as governor against Murphy
Foster.
In 1889, he was brought up on unspecified charges by the Baptist
Church of Lake Charles. Our church sent a delegation as
character witnesses to his trial with the following resolution
from our church: "Resolved, that we take great pleasure in
recommending him to the great brotherhood of Christians as an
able minister of the Gospel and Christian gentleman who will be
an valuable addition to the people with whom he casts his lot.
Resolved, that we believe Rev. L. A. Traylor incapable of
immoral conduct and in every way worthy of the respect and
confidence of the Christian world, Done & signed by order of the
Church in conference assembled this Aug. 28th, 1889" Brother
Traylor also pastored the Old North Church in Nacogdoches, Texas
and the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Texas (a church also
pastored by George W. Bains) 21
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.
