When Rev. JP Parsons came to Minnesota in May 1849, he earned the distinction of being the first resident minister in St. Paul. Harriet Bishop hadn’t been in the territory long when she recognized the need of bringing Baptist workers to Minnesota, and she seems to have initiated the search for help. Weekly prayer meetings begun November 9, 1848, sought God’s desire in the matter.
Harriet then put feet to her prayers and appealed for help through correspondence with Rev. BM Hill, Corresponding Secretary of the Baptist Home Missionary Society. While she was seeking their help, the mission society was seeking information about beginning a Baptist work in Minnesota Territory. The society appointed Parsons as its first worker in Minnesota.
Parsons jumped right into the work, and on December 31, 1849, he organized First Baptist Church of St. Paul with 12 members. Methodists and Presbyterians also began works about this time. The three church groups participated in a union Sunday school at the schoolhouse, but the Baptists were granted possession of the school building when the groups went their own ways.
First Baptist needed funds to complete the building members were erecting in 1851, so Parson traveled back East to raise money. After successfully raising enough to pay off the church debt, Parson began his trip back to Minnesota. He met with tragedy, however, on a Mississippi River steamboat just 6 days before his scheduled return to St. Paul. A fellow passenger must have learned of the money he was carrying because Parsons was robbed and murdered.
The new building was completed, but sadly, the first service was JP Parson’s funeral. Nine fellow ministers participated in the service. God didn’t allow Parsons a lengthy ministry in our state, but he laid the foundation on which others would build. The situation must have looked bleak for the group of believers, but God had Parson’s successor, Timothy Cressey, ready to pick the work Parsons had started.
