Richard Curtis, Jr.
May 28, 1755 - October 28, 1811
Mississippi's First Baptist Preacher
Curtis migrated to Cole's Creek in Natchez District from South Carolina in 1780 and encountered Indian attacks, disease and inclement weather. Despite constant obstacles and harassment from the Spanish authorities, in 1791, he helped establish the Salem Church as the first Baptist church in Mississippi on Cole's Creek.
He was forced to leave the Natchez area in 1795 because the Spanish government, which controlled the territory, had outlawed Protestantism. Curtis returned in 1798 after the United States assumed control of the region, and organized Bayou Pierre Baptist Church near Port Gibson. It was the second Mississippi Baptist Church. In 1800, he helped organize Bethel Church in Wilkinson County (no called Woodville Baptist Church) and New Hope Baptist Church in Adams County.
When Curtis died on October 28, 1811, he was seeking medical relief from cancer at a friend's home on Beaver Creek in Amite County. He was buried there. The grave in located a brief distance from Ebenezer Baptist Church near Liberty. Curtis was indeed a committed crusader for religious liberty and Baptist convictions and deserves the accolades of all Mississippi Baptists and other freedom loving Christians.