Florida’s first Southern Baptist international missionary, 1849

Sep 8, 2009
JERRY WINDSOR
Special to Florida Baptist Witness

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Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814-1875) was the first Florida Baptist to serve as an international missionary. Bowen was appointed to Central Africa in 1849. This fact needs to be explained in light of the lives of two other people.

Louise “Lulu” Cecilia Fleming (1862-1899) was one of the most remarkable women to live in Florida in the 1800’s. She was born in Hibernia and was the daughter of a slave. She attended a Baptist church in Jacksonville and ended up being appointed by the American Baptist Convention to serve as a medical missionary in the Congo. She was the first Florida Baptist female to serve as an international missionary.

Frank James Fowler (1870-1933) was the first native Floridian to be appointed as a Southern Baptist Convention international missionary. Fowler was a native of Melrose and was appointed to serve in Argentina. His son Franklin Fowler served as a medical missionary with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and is now retired and living in Richmond, Va.

These three people represent the roots of Baptist international mission involvement in Florida. All three gave their lives in mission service and died due to the trials, tribulations and commitments to mission work.

Thomas Jefferson Bowen was born in Jackson County, Ga., in 1814 and fought in the Creek Indian War and also served in the military in Texas. He was converted at age 26 and married Lurenna Henrietta Davis in 1853. Bowen served as a home missionary before he became an international missionary. In 1845 Bowen was appointed a missionary by the Florida Association. In 1848 pastored four churches simultaneously—Hebron, Providence, Liberty and Lake Jackson in the Florida Association.

Bowen was pastor at Providence on Feb. 22, 1849, when the Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board appointed him as a missionary to Central Africa. He served in Nigeria for ten years (1849-1859) and then went to Brazil to open a mission there (1859-1861).

When Bowen went to Africa in 1849 he visited Monrovia, Badagry and Abeokuta. After marriage in 1853, he and his wife returned to Africa and he baptized his first convert in 1854. The Bowens moved to Ogbomosho in 1855 but due to the stress of hardships suffered had to return to America in 1856. After a short stint in Brazil (1859-1861), Bowen had to return to the United States for health reasons. From 1868 to 1874 he traveled in Texas and Florida on behalf of international mission works. It is thought he died in Milledgeville Hospital in Georgia as a result of the final effects of African sunstroke and other deprivations.

Bowen left large footprints in Africa. He sought to assist Nigeria in economic development and provided innovative studies in African languages and dialects. His missionary diary was published and in 1968 was made available as Adventures and Missionary Labours.

Jerry Windsor is executive secretary of the Florida Baptist Historical Society and retired professor of preaching at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

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