Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

Thomas Walton Talkington

Thomas W. Talkington served as pastor of Homer Baptist Church from 1915 to 1917. He was born in Merritt, Texas on May 17, 1878 and received an A.B. degree from Baylor and a Th. B., Th. M. and Th. D. from Southwestern Theological Seminary.

His wife, the former Dora Geneva Clement of Waco, Texas, and he were the parents of four children, Perry Clement, Thomas Walton, Jr., Odessa and Taunton. Brother Talkington was a professor of Bible and Greek at Oklahoma State University and pastor of Park Street Baptist Church prior to his tenure as pastor in Homer. After serving as pastor, he became the state secretary for Sunday School and BYPU in Louisiana. He later served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Beaumont, First Baptist Church of Bogalusa, First Baptist of Ozark, Arkansas and First Baptist of Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

He served on the State Mission Board of Louisiana for three years and was a trustee of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Tent revivals were part of the revival experience during that time. Mrs. Melba Gill Nelson remembers a tent revival during Brother Talkington's tenure. The tent itself was set up where the Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store is today because there was not enough room in even the new church to hold all the people who wanted to attend. Though Rev. B. B. Crim, (a noted evangelist of the time) delivered the sermon, Brother Talkington baptized the converts.

It was, Mrs. Ola Allen believes, during Brother Talkington's tenure that five teenage girls got in trouble for dancing. She recalls the five girls admitting having danced the previous night. The five were made to stand up before the congregation that Sunday morning and must have seemed unrepentant, because the church immediately voted to expel them. This was quite unusual, since often several weeks or months would go by before anyone would be 'churched,' and then only if they repeatedly refused to correct their behavior. The girls were sent out in shame whereupon the father of three of the girls turned them around and insisted upon an apology to the church. To everyone's relief, the expulsion was revoked.

Brother Talkington's wife was a well educated woman and very active in WMU. She served as Baptist Bible Institute correspondent during 1925. Melba Nelson remembers having baby sat Brother Talkington's children when she was a young girl. Brother Talkington served as a home missionary to struggling black churches during World War II while living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and later moved to Jackson, Mississippi. He died in 1970. 33

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.