Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

William Peterson Carter, Sr.

Brother Carter served as pastor of Homer Baptist Church from 1881 to 1882. It is interesting to note his predecessor(Brother Melton) and he started this young preacher's tenure in our church in a spectacular fashion. Brother Melton and Brother Carter alternated sermons for a shortened revival of only two days. During this time, fourteen persons joined by experience and were baptized and one more joined by letter. This would be a wonderful outcome for a regular length revival, and the Melton-Carter revival lasted only two days!

W. P. Carter was born near Pontotoc, Mississippi October 12, 1852 and joined Pleasant Grove Church nearby when sixteen. A few years later he was ordained by that church to preach. He graduated from Mississippi College in 1876 with an M. A. degree and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1879. The next year, he and W. C. Friley organized the Opelousas Baptist Church.

On Christmas Day, 1881, he accepted the pastorate of Mt. Lebanon and soon after Gilgal, Athens and Homer. Brother Carter was a tireless worker in the restoration of Mt. Lebanon after the Civil War and reopened the school in 1882 as Mt. Lebanon High School. Enrollment so far exceeded expectations that the trustees soon revised the charter and changed the name to Mt. Lebanon College after electing Brother Carter president.

He died June 18, 1885 at the age of thirty-three while pastor of Mt. Lebanon church. His widow, Alice, and his two small sons continued to live at Mt. Lebanon for several years as she continued to teach art. One of his sons, William Peterson, Jr. became a Baptist preacher and a teacher. The other son, M.C., became a prominent business man in New Orleans. 19

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.