The most celebrated Indian convert to Christianity was, of course, Pocahontas – the daughter of the chief of the Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia. It’s very likely that she saw white men when they first arrived at the Jamestown colony in 1607. There were many tensions between the Indians and the English. The English used the term “savage” to describe the Indians. Pocahontas was kidnapped in 1613 and brought to theJamestown colony.

She was taught Christianity in Jamestown and fell in love with an Englishman, John Rolfe. She was baptized and received the name Rebecca in 1614. This resulted in a period of peace between the English and the Indians. Pocahontas (Rebecca) traveled with her husband to England where she was treated like royalty.

When Rolfe began to return to the New World with his wife, Rebecca, and their son Thomas, Rebecca (Pocahontas) became very ill and died. When the young 22-year-old Indian woman died, peace ceased to exist in the colonies between the Indians and the English.

By 1622, tensions had grown between the English and Indians. The English kept encroaching on Indian land. They continually expanded their territory and intruding on Indian property. In 1622, a surprise attack came on the Jamestown colony. The Indians began with the outlying communities and made their way towards Jamestown. The town was spared because an Indian boy who was a Christian convert, Chanco, told his employer of the plan. Richard Pace rowed his family to safety across the river to Jamestown and warned the people. Chanco, the Christian Indian, probably saved the colony.

More than 300 people were killed among the approximately 1200 English living in and around the Jamestown settlement. Nathaniel Basse was the owner of one of those plantations. Most of the people living on the plantation were killed that day. Basse had been given 300 acres of pristine land across the James River from Jamestown.

Nathaniel Basse was appointed to the House of Burgess in 1623 and again in 1632. Records of the House of Burgess indicate that Basse called for the burning of Indian property and referred to the Indians as “savages” in 1632.

However, Basse had a son – John, who was born in 1616. John fell in love with the daughter of the chief of the Nansemond tribe and married her on August 14, 1638. He didn’t see the Indians as “savages.” He saw them as people created in the image of God. The chief, Robin – the Elder, became a Christian and changed his name to “Peter, the Great.”

By the mid 1600s, half the Nansemond tribe had become Christians. The other half fought the English because their territory was continuously taken and land destroyed by the English. The part of the tribe that fought the English eventually became extinct, while today’s Nansemond Indian tribe traces its history back to John Basse.

While visiting Jamestown last year, I came across some documents that referred to John Basse as the “Apostle of the James River.” It appeared that John Basse was fervent in his faith and wanted to proclaim that faith to his Indian family. His Indian wife changed her name to Elizabeth after becoming a Christian. John lived until 1699. The faith of John and Elizabeth was passed to succeeding generations.

Five generations later, another John Bass (the “e” was dropped from most Basse descendents) moved from North Carolina to Louisiana territory. The United States entered into the best land deal ever in its history when it purchased Louisiana. John Bass went there and settled his family in Bayou Chicot. He was listed in the 1810 and 1820 census as a “free person of color,” often a designation for those of mixed race.

At the same time that John Bass came to Louisiana, another man of mixed race, Joseph Willis, came to Louisiana and preached the gospel. He started the first Baptist church west of the Mississippi River. Rev. Willis, born the son of an Indian slave, began with a small group of people in the Bayou Chicot region of Louisiana. John Bass’ mother in law donated the first piece of land to the Calvary Baptist Church in Bayou Chicot.

Joseph Willis, John Bass and others of this mixed race started churches in the wilderness of Louisiana, an area at the time called “No Man’s Land” because of a border dispute with the Spanish. Although the Bayou Chicot church was officially formed in 1812, they had been meeting informally since around 1804. Because Willis was not “white,” the Mississippi Baptists had hesitations in ordaining him.

However, Willis and John Bass were listed in the minutes of the formation of another one of Louisiana’s early Baptist churches, the Amiable Baptist Church near Glenmora. It was formed in 1828. Joseph Willis, the son of an Indian slave became the leader in planting Baptist churches throughout central Louisiana. The Louisiana Baptist Convention owes much of their foundation to this Indian slave and the other Indian/English who worked with him to start Baptist churches in Louisiana.

Joseph Willis’ colleague, John Bass, taught his children to follow Jesus. Five generations after him, his grandson wrote an article about the faith of American Indians. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading it.