Our History

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Sunday - 10AM Sunday School, 11AM Worship Service | thursday - 6:30PM prayer & bible study

first african baptist church history


The First African Baptist Church began in 1863 as a “Prayer House.” It was formally organized on December 6, 1864, with 134 members. November 7, 1862, the beginning of the Civil War, Beaufort was occupied by Federal troops. At that time, the Beaufort Baptist Church congregation included 166 white members and 3,557 black members, consisting of six original Baptist Societies: 

  • Laurel Bay, 
  • Hannibal, 
  • Parris Island, 
  • Huspa, 
  • St. Helena, 
  • and Beaufort. 

A white deacon or “watchman” would hold services on Sundays, and during the week, services were held for the Black Baptists in a “Prayer House,” of which there were several throughout the county. After the white inhabitants abandoned the occupied city, the Black members in Beaufort and the surrounding islands formed themselves into distinct organizations and began services on their own. 

In 1863, Federal troops inventoried and produced a tax map of all the properties in the city of Beaufort: the corner of New and King streets was labeled “Baptist Church Colored”. Tabernacle Baptist Church, a meetinghouse of the Beaufort Baptist Church on Craven Street, became the worship house of the town’s African American Baptists. December 6, 1864, a split in the congregation resulted in 134 communicants withdrawing to the “Prayer House” at the corner of New and King streets, the present location of the First African Baptist Church. 

In 1868, the Gethsemane Association listed 895 members for the First African Baptist Church. The first deacons were Joseph Jenkins, Thomas Ford, Toby Watson, Sanco Bryan, James Drayton, Israel Cohen, and Cyrus Green. A marble plaque on the southwest corner of the church's front steps states that the first pastor, Arthur Waddell of Georgia, began his ministry on January 1, 1865, the date the First African Baptist Church celebrates its founding. 

The officiating ministers were the Reverend John Cox, pastor of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, and the Reverend Benjamin Burke, Moderator of the Baptist Association: the time of the nation’s Emancipation Proclamation was read. 

The Beaufort Baptist Church was used as a colored hospital during the War Between the States. Thus, at the end of the war in 1865, the church desperately needed repair. The deacons, who had returned to Beaufort after the war, sold Tabernacle Baptist Church and the “Prayer House” on New Street to raise funds to repair their building. 

In April 1867, First African Baptist Church voted to buy the property back for $350.00, funded by the collection at the Thursday night services. On January 22, 1868, for $300.00, the purchase of the land where the “Praise House” church sat was finalized by the “Beaufort Baptist Church” deacons: Philip Givens, Joseph Hazell, Dr. Henry M. Miller, and James Fripp to First African Baptist church’s deacons: Joseph Jenkins, Toby Watson, Israel S. Cohen, Cyrus Green, Samuel Graham, Wally Green, and Richard Grayson. 

During the first year, membership grew: 186 were baptized, and 412 became members by Christian Experience. Rev. Waddell oversaw repairs to the original “Praise House.” Eventually, outgrowing the “Praise House,” construction of the current sanctuary began in 1868. Upon completion, the local newspaper noted that it was the first church in Beaufort, built without nails and paid for by an entire black congregation. 

Brother Richard Grayson built the pulpit for $120.00. In 1874, R. G. Holmes built the pews. In 1871, the church purchased a bell from Hilton Baptist Church. The current bronze bell is labeled “African Baptist Church/Arthur Waddell/Pastor/1885.” This heavy bell cast by “Clinton H. Meneely/Troy/NY/USA” sits in the original carriage. May 1873, the Old Fort Baptist Church, Port Royal, SC, and the Horse Pond Baptist Church, Burton, SC, were organized as branch churches; deacons were ordained; bylaws and the Church Covenant were inspected and approved. 

The 1893 Hurricane flooded the church’s property with water up to the pews. Therefore, many repairs and restorations were made to the church. This Hurricane tore the steeple away from the building. Reverend Waddell served faithfully for thirty years. Because of his age and failing health, he resigned in 1894. Having fought a good fight and finished his course, he passed to the Great Beyond on December 1, 1895, and is interned in the churchyard. 

In the history of the First African Baptist Church (FAB), 16 pastors have served as senior pastors for as many as 160 years. 

The Pastors, in chronological order, are:

  1. Arthur Waddell – 1863 - 1894
  2. Paul P. Watson – 1896 – 1908

At this point, Major General Robert Smalls was baptized in FAB on July 5, 1905.

  1. C. H. Young – 1909 - 1910
  2. C. W. Walker – 1911 - 1915
  3. H. A. Patterson – 1916 - 1917
  4. G. G. Daniels – 1918 - 1920
  5. St. Paul Thompson – 1921 - 1923
  6. J. Alfred Wilson – 1924 – 1931
  7. Rev. Williams – Less than a year in 1932
  1. W. W. Worthen – 1934 - 1940
  2. T. C. Mills – 1941 - 1942
  3. J. W. Davis – 1943 - 1945
  4. B. B. Felder -  1947 - 1949
  5. Herbert J. Brooks – 1950 - 1997
  6. Michael Paul Dickerson – 1998 - 2001
  7. Alexander McBride – 2002 to Present