Historical Vignette: Mays: ‘Father of the Florida Baptist Convention’

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)-Richard Johnson Mays (January 22, 1808-July 18, 1864) could be considered the "Father of the Florida Baptist Convention." W. N. Chaudoin would later (1880) be seen as the organizational genius of the convention but it was the spirit, leadership, and impetus of Mays that was so important in the foundation days of the new state convention. It was in the home of Richard Johnson Mays that the Florida Baptist Convention was organized on Monday, November 20, 1854, at 8 p.m., in the parlor of his plantation mansion. He was elected the first convention president.

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Richard Johnson Mays was the son of Samuel Mays (July 23, 1762-January 25, 1816) and Nancy Grigsby Mays. Richard and Nancy married in 1793 in South Carolina. Samuel was in three battles of the Revolutionary War before he was 16 years of age. He was a brigadier general during the War of 1812. He and his wife, Nancy, had ten children. They were very wealthy and owned thousands of acres of land in South Carolina. Samuel was an acquaintance of President Washington, and one of the founders of the University of South Carolina. Samuel Mays named his children after his dear friends and associates. His son, Richard Johnson Mays, was named after the prominent patriot soldier Richard Johnson of Revolutionary War fame.

Richard Johnson Mays married when he was 21 and his wife was 14. They moved to Florida and settled near Lake Sampala in the southern part of Madison County. In 1833 they moved to the northern part of the county and built the beautiful ten bedroom "Clifton Mansion" on their plantation which was 12 miles west of Madison, Florida, and 12 miles south of Quitman, Georgia.

Mays established Mays Academy on his plantation and served as clerk of the Hickstown Church. He assisted in the organizing of the Concord and Monticello churches later serving as pastor of each of them.

In 1838 Mays, as a delegate attended the constitutional convention, that met at St. Joseph to frame the constitution of the State of Florida. The 56 members were natives of 26 different states. Four were foreign born and only three were born in Florida. Mays was a part of the planter class representation and helped to write the first constitution of our state.

Mays was licensed and ordained to preach by the Concord Church. He and his wife had eleven children. Four of the children died young. The eighth child was a son named John Baptist Mays.

Captain Colin P. Kelly, a great-grandson of Richard Johnson Mays, was one of the first recognized heroes of World War II. He gave his life in an attack on the Japanese battleship Haruna. Descendants of the Mays family still reside in Florida.

Author Jerry Windsor is secretary— treasurer, Florida Baptist Historical Society and a professor at Baptist College of Florida. This is the second in a series of 25 vignettes highlighting FBSC beginnings.