Boykin, James, a deacon of the Baptist church at Columbus, Ga., was born in 1792, near Camden, in South Carolina.

Baptist Church History

6h  · Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Post by Jim Curran

Boykin, James, a deacon of the Baptist church at Columbus, Ga., was born in 1792, near Camden, in South Carolina. With his father, Francis Boy- kin, he moved to Georgia, and settled on a large plantation in Washington County, ten miles south of Milledgeville; in 1829 he sold his home and plant- ing interests to his brother, Dr. Samuel Boykin, and moved to Columbus, and settled on another plantation in Stewart County, twenty miles from Columbus. He united with the Columbus church, and was ordained a deacon, which office he filled worthily until his death, in 1846. He was at that time quite wealthy, and gaye liberally of his means to sustain the gospel and to establish Mercer Uni- versity. He was an exceedingly kind man. To his children he was the most tender and affectionate of parents; to his wife the most devoted of hus- bands; he was a Christian without reproach. A security debt swept away nearly $100,000 of his property, yet he never murmured, or spoke an un- kind word of the man who caused his financial ruin, but preserved his cheerfulness and gentle serenity until called ‘‘up higher” at the age of fifty-four. He did much in founding and sustaining the church at Columbus, and was a most useful, zealous. and liberal Christian, whose memory is even yet fragrant among those who knew him. From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart