Freed-Hardeman Connections
Researching the Restoration Movement in Mississippi and West Tennessee
W. C. Wallis -
1896-1983
Wille Coy Wallis, a Prmitive Baptist preacher, debated E. L. Whitaker, Sr. who was the preacher for the Ripley, Miss. church of Christ.
BIOGRAPHICAL - ELDER W. C. WALLIS
The Primitive Baptist – July 19, 1934
I According to the family record I was born Aug. 9. 1896, in Tippah County, Miss. I was the oldest child of C. S. Wallis. My mother's maiden name was Lenora McElroy. Of my mother's ancestors I know very little, as most of them were and still are in 1 the west. If any of her people were 1 ever identified with the Primitive Baptists it is more than I know. M y mother belonged to the Missionary Baptists. Father never joined any church and never took any active part in church affairs. My grandfather and grandmother on my father's side were members of the Primitive Baptists. My mother always encouraged us children to go to Sunday school or any religious activities, so you see I was bought up under the influence of modern Christian societies, understanding only as a natural man may grasp. A home of obscure poverty was mine to share, and being the oldest of eleven children caused the hardships and responsibilities to come early in life, which I feel to be a blessing in disguise.
Early in my teens I joined the Missionary Baptist Church, being persuaded when I cared nothing for Christianity. No church had any charms for me. I was only a carnal minded lad, thinking and acting under the influence of such powers. Yet from my earliest memories I had a fear of God and looked upon death as the most horrible enemy of mankind.
But I would go wild, and when I would come to myself I would beg God to forgive me, still I would continue to repeat the same ungodly acts over and over again, and again I would refrain from these things as far as my own will power would allow, but that power would not hold out long I can only add that my early life was spent in folly and deceitfulness. When I joined the Missionary Baptists I deceived all but God and made a mock of what I then thought to be the church. This one act has often worried me, for most of the time I was sowing my wildest oats, which I was forced later to reap in bitter tears.
In 1916, at the age of 20, I was married to Ophelia Morgan who has been a companion in every respect, willing at all times to share my sorrows as well as my joys. In my younger days I was denied the privilege of an education, though I went to school some, finishing the seventh grade before I was married. Not withstanding these handicaps I have always had great ideals and ambitions to climb to higher stations in life. After our first child was old enough to go to school, I bid off a school route, and started to school, finishing part of the l0th grade the same winter. The next summer I attended the state normal and made a first grade license. I began teaching the following winter (1924-25) and have taught every year since. During this time I have finished high school and have to my credit quite a bit of college work. I am at present superintendent of Falkner High School, Falkner, Miss.
During the spring of 1930, while alone plowing in the field, thinking of almost everything but God and godly things, I was shown my lost and ruined condition. For the first time in my life my heart was lifted to God in a sincere way that I had never known before. The same day, while pondering these strange happenings, something passed over me that made me rejoice in a Savior’s love. I can only say it was not of myself. My desires were different. Before me lay a new field, in which I had a vision altogether different from any I had ever viewed before. My mind had new thoughts to explore, of things eternal. These things I thought I would keep to myself, yet they seemed too good to hide in this vessel which 1 could then realize was so totally ruined without God's mercy. I could not understand it all, and I do not I yet understand it. With these things came a burden that caused some of thee joys to fade into oblivion and brought me to a place of mourning. I was so little, ignorant and unlearned, could it possible that I should try to tell of such a wonderful Saviour? This caused my prayer to be as earnest as could come from a troubled heart.
This burden grew heavier, until I thought some one must share my trouble with me. In my embarrassment and trouble, I ventured to make these things known to my wife, who in the most kind and gentle way seemed willing to share her part of the Christian warfare and encouraged me to do my duty. As time went by my leisure time was spent in reading the Bible and praying God for direction. I belonged to the Missionary Baptists. I knew nothing else. I realized that I had never been baptized, and I really desired to be buried with Christ in the liquid grave. Must I face this embarrassment or must I never bury this longing desire in my heart and suffer in disobedience to the command of Jesus? The latter I made up my mind I would not do. I went and made my desires known to an old Missionary preacher, who I felt could give me the much needed advice. Timid and embarrassed, I felt like my heart would break, while the tears made their eager way down my cheeks.
I shall never forget the fatherly advice he gave me, to make my troubles known to the church. So on the next meeting day I went and made all the secrets of my heart known to them, insisting that they baptize me, for I felt that 1 could never be satisfied without it. This they refused, but kindly granted me liberty to exercise in a public way, with much encouragement. Very soon I was ordained and called to the service of a very large church. During this time I was encouraged to go to school for the express purpose of learning how to preach. To this I could never consent. My home church was very wealthy and offered all the encouragement a young man could ask, but this was one of the many things upon which I could not agree with my Missionary brethren.
While trying to preach for these people I was thrown in company with one of my uncles by marriage, who belonged to the Primitive Baptists. We had a number of warm conversations, and I now realize how one sided they really were. All this time I was carrying burdens which no one knew except God and myself. In the spring of 1922, I felt that I must have some relief. The burden of being baptized had grown to be a load which I felt must be removed. There was a Primitive Baptist Church about eight or ten miles from my home which I decided I would visit and see if they were really as bad as I had been told by their enemies. I ventured to tell my wife that I was going to a "Hard-shell" meeting, which aroused no disturbance between us. She only said it was no more than she expected. Why she felt this way is more than I know even to this good day.
When I arrived at the little weatherworn church house, a stranger to everybody, even with my limited knowledge of the Scriptures I feel that I realized the contrast in what I had been taught by some to be the true gospel and that which fell from the heart and lips of Elder J.A. Miller, using for a text Deut. xxxii. 9, "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." When I returned home I found the pastor of my church waiting to instruct me in the way of the Lord more perfectly. We had a friendly conversation, but so disagreed that we parted never to meet again in a church capacity. I was leaving many friends--mother, sisters, wife were all there. This caused me quite a bit of pain, but these thoughts came to me: Must I sacrifice my pleasures for earthly friends or must I obey the dictates of a better judgment? Must Jesus bear the cross alone, after Divine providence had led me to a people that could tell me all things that I had ever experienced? I visited two or three Primitive Baptist churches within the next month and heard the gospel preached in its purity, which fed my hungry soul.
The second Sunday in May, 1922, I made up my mind I would offer myself to the church, which I did, just one month from the time I heard the first discourse. What I told them only God and the brethren know. As far as my knowledge is concerned, I felt much relieved, but I agreed to wait another month before being baptized.
For about a week I was on the mountain top, but alas! a shadow of gloom came over me. Why, God only knows. I felt I had deceived those good people who had so kindly received me into their happy home. The impression of being baptized vanished. The nights were long, the days gloomy. I felt that I had been too hasty. Thousands of other things led me to believe that I was wrong. Something happened during these weeks of gloom that I shall not attempt to tell. The day I had longed for came too soon. My expectations were blighted. The long anticipated joys were all hidden behind a cloud which could not he penetrated by my short vision into the future. At the appointed time I went to church, bowed, so low! The service was nothing to me that day, and my prayers descended instead of ascending. I wished that I had never made be effort the month before. In the afternoon we met at the water's edge for the sacred ordinance of baptism.
All I ever did came before me. I was condemned, deceived and undone, yet these miserable feelings I was bearing all alone. The good brethren sang a hymn and, after a short introductory, Elder J. A. Miller asked me to come forward. As he led me into the water I still felt condemned, but when I was raised from the sacred grave all of God's creation was praising God, together with this poor, depraved sinner, and for the first time I could praise Him aloud. My burden was left there, never to return. In this hope I can see that when I was young I girded my own self and went where I would, but when I was older another girded me and led me where I would not.
The following Sunday the brethren invited me into the stand, somewhat to my surprise, yet feeling this burden which had lingered long, I agreed. I had been trying to preach a year or more on the other side of the house, so with a year's experience I felt safe, thinking I could do equally as well as had done, but to my surprise I had reached the end of my strength. I fell to my seat as blind as a stone, realizing that this sacred place was too much for me, and I promised myself and the church that I would never embarrass them in that manner again.
But a few months passed and the burden grew so heavy that I was willing to make the feeble effort again, but I did so realizing that man must have the presence of God if he were enabled to stand. I have never forgotten this one important lesson. The church liberated me in 1922. They called for my ordination and set me apart to the full work of the ministry 3 May 29, 1926, by a presbytery misting of Elders G. N. Gober, J W. Hardwick and J. A. Miller, together with a number of deacons.
Since that time I have been trying to serve from two to five churches, but I realize that I shall never be equal to the task. The past year (1932) was one of the most enjoyable of my ministerial life and was also one of the hardest fought battles I have ever been engaged in. I tried to preach 240 discourses, visiting several destitute places, baptized 19 into the churches I try to serve, preached fifteen funerals, married nine couples, traveled around 5000 miles, went to school eleven weeks, taught school four months, and with the help of my family, made and gathered a crop amounting to four bales of cotton and eight loads of corn, and held one public discussion with a Campbellite, which lasted four nights and one day.
Under this rush, the mercy and kind, protecting hand of Providence held me up, and I am inclined to believe that if a preacher is energetic, he can answer all the calls and still have some time left to work. Yet I feel sometimes that all my feeble efforts are unprofitable and unappreciated. Some things have happened which I have omitted for lack of space. I beg an interest in the prayers of all who may read this, when you can so condescend.
W. C. WALLIS
Falkner, Miss.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
It is a great cry among the Armenians that our children should be sent to Sunday school. Sunday school enthusiasts give what they think are very plausible reasons why it is the duty of all parents to see that their children have the advantages (?) of the Sunday school. But loving my children as I do and desiring to do my full duty by them, I have been led to study the Bible in all the light that God has given me and to search history to learn of the beginning or origin of the Sunday School. As a result of this I have become thorough …
Burial Location
W. C. Wallis is buried at the Pine Hill Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery north of Ripley. His son, Hassell Wallis who was also a Primitive Baptist preacher is buried near his parents. Directions: Go about five miles north of Ripley, Miss. on Highway 15. Turn right on the Pine Hill Road and go about three miles. The church building is on the left at the top of the hill and the cemetery is on the right.
Wille Coy Wallis, a Prmitive Baptist preacher, debated E. L. Whitaker, Sr. who was the preacher for the Ripley, Miss. church of Christ.
BIOGRAPHICAL - ELDER W. C. WALLIS
The Primitive Baptist – July 19, 1934
I According to the family record I was born Aug. 9. 1896, in Tippah County, Miss. I was the oldest child of C. S. Wallis. My mother's maiden name was Lenora McElroy. Of my mother's ancestors I know very little, as most of them were and still are in 1 the west. If any of her people were 1 ever identified with the Primitive Baptists it is more than I know. M y mother belonged to the Missionary Baptists. Father never joined any church and never took any active part in church affairs. My grandfather and grandmother on my father's side were members of the Primitive Baptists. My mother always encouraged us children to go to Sunday school or any religious activities, so you see I was bought up under the influence of modern Christian societies, understanding only as a natural man may grasp. A home of obscure poverty was mine to share, and being the oldest of eleven children caused the hardships and responsibilities to come early in life, which I feel to be a blessing in disguise.
Early in my teens I joined the Missionary Baptist Church, being persuaded when I cared nothing for Christianity. No church had any charms for me. I was only a carnal minded lad, thinking and acting under the influence of such powers. Yet from my earliest memories I had a fear of God and looked upon death as the most horrible enemy of mankind.
But I would go wild, and when I would come to myself I would beg God to forgive me, still I would continue to repeat the same ungodly acts over and over again, and again I would refrain from these things as far as my own will power would allow, but that power would not hold out long I can only add that my early life was spent in folly and deceitfulness. When I joined the Missionary Baptists I deceived all but God and made a mock of what I then thought to be the church. This one act has often worried me, for most of the time I was sowing my wildest oats, which I was forced later to reap in bitter tears.
In 1916, at the age of 20, I was married to Ophelia Morgan who has been a companion in every respect, willing at all times to share my sorrows as well as my joys. In my younger days I was denied the privilege of an education, though I went to school some, finishing the seventh grade before I was married. Not withstanding these handicaps I have always had great ideals and ambitions to climb to higher stations in life. After our first child was old enough to go to school, I bid off a school route, and started to school, finishing part of the l0th grade the same winter. The next summer I attended the state normal and made a first grade license. I began teaching the following winter (1924-25) and have taught every year since. During this time I have finished high school and have to my credit quite a bit of college work. I am at present superintendent of Falkner High School, Falkner, Miss.
During the spring of 1930, while alone plowing in the field, thinking of almost everything but God and godly things, I was shown my lost and ruined condition. For the first time in my life my heart was lifted to God in a sincere way that I had never known before. The same day, while pondering these strange happenings, something passed over me that made me rejoice in a Savior’s love. I can only say it was not of myself. My desires were different. Before me lay a new field, in which I had a vision altogether different from any I had ever viewed before. My mind had new thoughts to explore, of things eternal. These things I thought I would keep to myself, yet they seemed too good to hide in this vessel which 1 could then realize was so totally ruined without God's mercy. I could not understand it all, and I do not I yet understand it. With these things came a burden that caused some of thee joys to fade into oblivion and brought me to a place of mourning. I was so little, ignorant and unlearned, could it possible that I should try to tell of such a wonderful Saviour? This caused my prayer to be as earnest as could come from a troubled heart.
This burden grew heavier, until I thought some one must share my trouble with me. In my embarrassment and trouble, I ventured to make these things known to my wife, who in the most kind and gentle way seemed willing to share her part of the Christian warfare and encouraged me to do my duty. As time went by my leisure time was spent in reading the Bible and praying God for direction. I belonged to the Missionary Baptists. I knew nothing else. I realized that I had never been baptized, and I really desired to be buried with Christ in the liquid grave. Must I face this embarrassment or must I never bury this longing desire in my heart and suffer in disobedience to the command of Jesus? The latter I made up my mind I would not do. I went and made my desires known to an old Missionary preacher, who I felt could give me the much needed advice. Timid and embarrassed, I felt like my heart would break, while the tears made their eager way down my cheeks.
I shall never forget the fatherly advice he gave me, to make my troubles known to the church. So on the next meeting day I went and made all the secrets of my heart known to them, insisting that they baptize me, for I felt that 1 could never be satisfied without it. This they refused, but kindly granted me liberty to exercise in a public way, with much encouragement. Very soon I was ordained and called to the service of a very large church. During this time I was encouraged to go to school for the express purpose of learning how to preach. To this I could never consent. My home church was very wealthy and offered all the encouragement a young man could ask, but this was one of the many things upon which I could not agree with my Missionary brethren.
While trying to preach for these people I was thrown in company with one of my uncles by marriage, who belonged to the Primitive Baptists. We had a number of warm conversations, and I now realize how one sided they really were. All this time I was carrying burdens which no one knew except God and myself. In the spring of 1922, I felt that I must have some relief. The burden of being baptized had grown to be a load which I felt must be removed. There was a Primitive Baptist Church about eight or ten miles from my home which I decided I would visit and see if they were really as bad as I had been told by their enemies. I ventured to tell my wife that I was going to a "Hard-shell" meeting, which aroused no disturbance between us. She only said it was no more than she expected. Why she felt this way is more than I know even to this good day.
When I arrived at the little weatherworn church house, a stranger to everybody, even with my limited knowledge of the Scriptures I feel that I realized the contrast in what I had been taught by some to be the true gospel and that which fell from the heart and lips of Elder J.A. Miller, using for a text Deut. xxxii. 9, "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." When I returned home I found the pastor of my church waiting to instruct me in the way of the Lord more perfectly. We had a friendly conversation, but so disagreed that we parted never to meet again in a church capacity. I was leaving many friends--mother, sisters, wife were all there. This caused me quite a bit of pain, but these thoughts came to me: Must I sacrifice my pleasures for earthly friends or must I obey the dictates of a better judgment? Must Jesus bear the cross alone, after Divine providence had led me to a people that could tell me all things that I had ever experienced? I visited two or three Primitive Baptist churches within the next month and heard the gospel preached in its purity, which fed my hungry soul.
The second Sunday in May, 1922, I made up my mind I would offer myself to the church, which I did, just one month from the time I heard the first discourse. What I told them only God and the brethren know. As far as my knowledge is concerned, I felt much relieved, but I agreed to wait another month before being baptized.
For about a week I was on the mountain top, but alas! a shadow of gloom came over me. Why, God only knows. I felt I had deceived those good people who had so kindly received me into their happy home. The impression of being baptized vanished. The nights were long, the days gloomy. I felt that I had been too hasty. Thousands of other things led me to believe that I was wrong. Something happened during these weeks of gloom that I shall not attempt to tell. The day I had longed for came too soon. My expectations were blighted. The long anticipated joys were all hidden behind a cloud which could not he penetrated by my short vision into the future. At the appointed time I went to church, bowed, so low! The service was nothing to me that day, and my prayers descended instead of ascending. I wished that I had never made be effort the month before. In the afternoon we met at the water's edge for the sacred ordinance of baptism.
All I ever did came before me. I was condemned, deceived and undone, yet these miserable feelings I was bearing all alone. The good brethren sang a hymn and, after a short introductory, Elder J. A. Miller asked me to come forward. As he led me into the water I still felt condemned, but when I was raised from the sacred grave all of God's creation was praising God, together with this poor, depraved sinner, and for the first time I could praise Him aloud. My burden was left there, never to return. In this hope I can see that when I was young I girded my own self and went where I would, but when I was older another girded me and led me where I would not.
The following Sunday the brethren invited me into the stand, somewhat to my surprise, yet feeling this burden which had lingered long, I agreed. I had been trying to preach a year or more on the other side of the house, so with a year's experience I felt safe, thinking I could do equally as well as had done, but to my surprise I had reached the end of my strength. I fell to my seat as blind as a stone, realizing that this sacred place was too much for me, and I promised myself and the church that I would never embarrass them in that manner again.
But a few months passed and the burden grew so heavy that I was willing to make the feeble effort again, but I did so realizing that man must have the presence of God if he were enabled to stand. I have never forgotten this one important lesson. The church liberated me in 1922. They called for my ordination and set me apart to the full work of the ministry 3 May 29, 1926, by a presbytery misting of Elders G. N. Gober, J W. Hardwick and J. A. Miller, together with a number of deacons.
Since that time I have been trying to serve from two to five churches, but I realize that I shall never be equal to the task. The past year (1932) was one of the most enjoyable of my ministerial life and was also one of the hardest fought battles I have ever been engaged in. I tried to preach 240 discourses, visiting several destitute places, baptized 19 into the churches I try to serve, preached fifteen funerals, married nine couples, traveled around 5000 miles, went to school eleven weeks, taught school four months, and with the help of my family, made and gathered a crop amounting to four bales of cotton and eight loads of corn, and held one public discussion with a Campbellite, which lasted four nights and one day.
Under this rush, the mercy and kind, protecting hand of Providence held me up, and I am inclined to believe that if a preacher is energetic, he can answer all the calls and still have some time left to work. Yet I feel sometimes that all my feeble efforts are unprofitable and unappreciated. Some things have happened which I have omitted for lack of space. I beg an interest in the prayers of all who may read this, when you can so condescend.
W. C. WALLIS
Falkner, Miss.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
It is a great cry among the Armenians that our children should be sent to Sunday school. Sunday school enthusiasts give what they think are very plausible reasons why it is the duty of all parents to see that their children have the advantages (?) of the Sunday school. But loving my children as I do and desiring to do my full duty by them, I have been led to study the Bible in all the light that God has given me and to search history to learn of the beginning or origin of the Sunday School. As a result of this I have become thorough …
Burial Location
W. C. Wallis is buried at the Pine Hill Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery north of Ripley. His son, Hassell Wallis who was also a Primitive Baptist preacher is buried near his parents. Directions: Go about five miles north of Ripley, Miss. on Highway 15. Turn right on the Pine Hill Road and go about three miles. The church building is on the left at the top of the hill and the cemetery is on the right.