Do the world a favor and switch to Mozilla Firefox, a web standards compliant browser.James Mann Hurt, Sr.
James Mann Hurt, born on July 25, 1797, son of Philemon Hurt and Elizabeth Mann, was a man of
“fair complexion of fine physique, full six feet. In Huntingdon on one occasion Mat Bell, a man of about one hundred and fifty pounds, was intoxicated. He was arrested and ordered upstairs before the judge of the court for trial and he refused to go. Jim Hurt proceeded to pick him up in his arms and carried him up the stairway, sit him in a chair before the judge saying, ‘now you sit there till they are through with you.’ He was a man of fine business qualifications, he owned a fine farm two miles southwest of McLemoresville where he raised tobacco, corn, wheat and hogs, owned a number of slaves, he ran a tan yard and shoe shop in connection with his farm, was the first man to build an ice house in that country. He was the pioneer Baptist preacher of that country - notwithstanding the two brothers Jim and Robert were Methodist when they came from old Virginia.”
“On one occasion, James Hurt and Reuben Borough, a leader of the Cumberland Presbyterian church had a debate on the mode of baptism which caused quite a stir and enmity between the two churches and the two preachers had but little fellowship, till the Civil War when they took sides together for the south and on one occasion met at the house of Robert Greer where they, at family prayer, mingled their tears and prayers together and loved each other again as brethren.”
“He was a strong-minded man and had a will to go through with what he undertook. He lost his eyesight in his old age. He wrote several religious books, preached a while afterwards - died at an old age several years before his wife.” (Pedigree of the Hurt Family dictated by Robert Greer to Mrs. R.B. Mitchum, October 20, 1908.)
He was baptized by his brother Robert and started preaching about 1832. The following passage is from Biographical Sketches of Tennessee Baptist Ministers, written in 1880 by Rev. Joseph H. Borum.
"For some time Elder Hurt oscillated considerably; formed a free-will, or open communion Baptist church, and wrote a tract advocating open communion at the Lord’s table. The writer remembers to have read an article from his pen written in those days to the editor of The Baptist, who was Dr. Howell at the time. Elder Hurt wrote, hailing from McLemoresville, Tenn. and among other things written (I write from memory) he said: ‘If the Baptist church would adopt open communion they would take the world, but if they did not, they would become extinct.’ "Dr. Howell, in reply stated: ‘I reckon before there was a James M. Hurt there was a Baptist church; I reckon before there was a McLemoresville, there was a Baptist church; and I predict that long after James M. Hurt and McLemoresville are both forgotten, there will be Baptist churches.’
"Not long after this Elder Hurt changed his ground, and became a strong advocate, as it is termed, of close communion, and made a staunch Baptist, contending ‘earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.’ His first regular pastorate was with the McLemoresville church. He also served Bluff Spring, Eldad, Trenton, Paris, New Hope, and Spring Creek churches. He moved from Virginia about 1825 and settled in Carroll county, Tenn., near McLemoresville.
"He became a Baptist champion, and had several debates. He had a discussion with Reverend Reuben Barrow, Cumberland Presbyterian, about 1848; one with Elder J. R. McCall, Campbellite, about 1850; both came off at McLemoresville. Elder Hurt proved himself equal to the task, in both instances.
"His personal appearance would attract attention at once. Tall, muscular and of erect carriage.
"In 1868 he moved to Milan, Tenn. In 1871 he wrote a pamphlet entitled, The Theory of Infant Baptism Torn up, Root and Branch; in which he displayed considerable powers as a polemic. He was several times president of the West Tennessee Baptist Convention, and often the moderator of the Central Association, which positions he held with dignity and precision. He was an ordinary man, but a man of power, and his influence was felt wherever he moved. He was of high moral tone; a friend of education, missions, Sabbath-schools, and all the benevolent operations of the denomination.
"He was very hospitable. The writer has frequently had the pleasure of enjoying it. Sister Hurt, his noble wife, was like himself in that particular. She was one of the noble women of the land. She departed this life in 1876. He died April 3, 1873, at Milan, leaving his aged companion and eight children to mourn their loss. His children are all interesting and doing well. He was much resigned to the will of God. He was in a suffering and declining state for several years previous to his death, afflicted with blindness and an irritable stomach. He was a kind husband and father, and deported himself ever as a christian gentleman. In his afflictions he spoke often of death, and said he was subject to the call of the Master. His remains were interred at McLemoresville in the family burying ground (being in his 76th year) to await the signal of the resurrection morn--the resurrection being one of the subjects upon which he dwelt with peculiar interest. He will doubtless rise in the image of Him ‘Who is the resurrection and the life.’
"Elder Hurt was always a warm friend of the writer, and consequently felt near and dear to him.
"For a number of years he was a regular correspondent of the Tennessee Baptist, and wrote upon various doctrinal subjects, showing great familiarity with Bible teachings.” (from Biographical Sketches of Tennessee Baptist Ministers by Rev. Joseph H. Borum, 1880, Rogers & Co., Publishers, 315 Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee. Reprinted by Church History and Research & Archives, Inc., 1976.)
"Elder J.M. Hurt--I cannot close this little family sketch without saying a few words about Elder J. M. Hurt. He and my father’s family were acquainted in Virginia. I knew him from the time we came to Tennessee until his death. After my father’s death he manifested a good deal of interest in our family. He always treated me with marked kindness and respect. I and my brother Silas appreciated him through life with little less than filial regard. He felt great interest in Silas as a young preacher, and was to him as a father in the ministry. I had many evidences of the warm interest he felt in my welfare. He was of great benefit to me, not only in my earlier years, but indeed through life. Left pretty much alone, with no special friend to counsel or guide me, I appreciated more sensibly the interest he manifested in my and my father’s family. Whenever I could, I sought his company and loved to be with him.
"I joined the Baptist Church at McLemoresville while Elder Hurt was pastor, and he baptized me. He was a well-informed man; and while there were many men of more learning and higher culture, I have always thought he was one of the most intellectual men I ever knew. He was by nature a great man, of masculine common sense, and an original thinker; and was inclined to exhaust any subject in which he became interested. He was not what would be called a polished man; there was something of the rough-hewn about his character. When a young man he read Blackstone’s Commentaries, as I learned from him after I became a lawyer, and at one time thought of adopting the Law as a profession. Had he done so, he would have taken the first rank in his profession. He was a man of clear conceptions, strong convictions, and unswerving integrity. He must have been somewhat advanced in life before he became a preacher of the Gospel. My father had been in Tennessee several years before I heard of Elder Hurt’s preaching. He had, as I understood, been ordained to the ministry several years before I heard him. When called out by an important occasion, he generally preached a grand sermon. Our old-fashioned camp-meetings suited him. Upon such occasions he came nearer John Kerr than any man I ever heard. I once heard him at the old camp-meeting ground near Shady Grove, preach with powerful effect from the text, “There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” I may judge partially of many of our old men in the ministry. Men of the present day, turned out from our schools, may have more learning, greater knowledge of books, and higher culture; but I am slow to believe that we have that grand class of men that belonged to the past generation. It seems to me that men of the present day are less spiritually minded, and rely more on the knowledge of books, than men of the past. I by no means depreciate learning; but may not the too eager pursuit of the mere learning to be acquired from books, chill the spiritual man, cause the student to rely too much upon his learning, and leave undeveloped the natural powers; powers which must always be developed to make a truly great man. (Hurt Cemetery, From the Yellowed Pages, the McKenzie Banner, Wednesday, July 25, 1979.)
James Mann Hurt married Martha “Patsey” Marshall (1799-1876) in Lebanon, Wilson County, TN, on March 14, 1817 and had twelve children: Robert, Rebecca, Joseph David Hurt, Elizabeth (called Betsy), Phil, Martha, James Mann, Jr., Jane, John, Sarah, Eliza, and Anthony Bennezette Hurt. In the 1860 census, he lists real estate valued at $11,520 and personal property at $20,304, a fortune at that time. He was probably one of the wealthiest men in McLemoresville. He died in 1873.
Bibliography
Will of James Mann Hurt, Sr.
Hurt Family Home Page
Thanks to Elizabeth Bourner for a copy of "Pedigree of the Hurt Family." This information is for personal use only. Please do not copy, distribute, or publish elsewhere. Thank you. Copyright 1997 Karen A. Smith. All rights reserved.