Thomas Roy Musick

My husband's grandmother had this newsletter tucked away inside a scrapbook. The first page mentions a State Evangelism conference at the Fee Fee Baptist church in St. Louis and the second has an interesting Christmas tree illustration.

The Fee Fee Baptist church is one of the oldest Baptist churches in Missouri and was organized by the following minister:

Thomas Roy Musick (1757-1843) = Baptist minister. Thomas was the son of Ephraim and Isabella (Roy) Musick, members of the Church of England. Thomas became a Baptist at the age of 17. He came to Missouri in 1801 before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and began the Fee Fee Baptist Church in 1807, named for the nearby creek, at the present town of Bridgeton in St. Louis County and served as its pastor for 30 years.

Two of his charter members were John (1730-1808) and Virginia "Jane" (b. 1735) (Childress) Sullins. Two of their children married Musicks, first cousins to Thomas. Edward married Susannah and Elizabeth married Uriah (1782-1851). My husband's line of descent comes through Peter Sullins, a brother to Edward and Elizabeth.

When Mr. Musick first came to the area of the Spanish-held territory where a Catholic official, M. Trudeau, governed, he was consistently refused permission to preach there and was told not to put a steeple on his house, nor ring a bell, or baptize infants unless a priest was present or he would be sent to the calaboza (jail). He was also told that if some friends, like Mr. Clark, came to his house to visit, sing songs and pray, that was all right, because they were all good Catholics.

More to Read:

1. As A Tree Planted: History of Fee Fee Baptist Church 1807-1970. By Ruth E. Abraham. 1957. Revised 1970. (online index)

2. Peter Sullens and Mary Carson and Two Hundred Years of Descendants. By Maude Sullens Hoffman, Oklahoma. Printed by J.W. Brown. 1971.
3. Historical timeline signage at Fee-Fee Baptist Church (org. 1807), see below.

4. Primitive Baptist Library website, Carthage, Illinois

5. See the "Leaf" labeled biographies for more information.
6. "A Tardy Pardon and Other Buried Treasures" By Kyle Schrader.
7."A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri, with numerous sketches, anecdotes, adventures, etc., relating to Early Days in Missouri" by William S. Bryan and Robert Rose, Published by Bryan, Brand & Co., St. Louis Missouri, 1876. 8. "Rev. Thomas Musick" Missouri Baptist Biography: A Series of Life-Sketches Indicating the Growth and Prosperity of the Baptist Churches as Represented in the Lives and Labors of Eminent Men and Women in Missouri. By J. C. Maple & R. P. Rider. Western Baptist Pub, Co., Kansas City, MO, 1914. Vol. 1, pp. 20-24. Free e-book retrieved from Google Books website. 9. "Fee-Fee Baptist Church." History of St. Louis County, Missouri. By William Lyman Thomas. S. J. Clarke Pub Co, St. Louis, Mo; 1911.p. 72-73. Free e-book retrieved from Google Books website, https://books.google.com/ 10. Diary of William Joseph Clark, Being an Account of His Trip from Clark County, Kentucky, to St. Louis, MO, To take the Deposition of Col Daniel M. Boone for the Widow Swinney in 1804. RKHS,(May 1927) 25:193-206. p. 6, 8, Henry Enoch.

11. Missouri Baptist Ministers. Click here.

12. Findagrave #12452929

Places to Visit:

1. Fee Fee Baptist Church, 11330 St. Charles Road (corner of Fee Fee and St. Charles Rock St), Bridgeton, MO.

2. Musick Memorial Drive, St. Louis
3.  American Revolutionary War Veteran Marker, Fee Fee Cemetery, 11210 Old Saint Charles Road Bridgeton, Mo.



This is obviously not the original log church
but is the oldest sanctuary building on the
property.

First Hundred Years:

1807 = First church est. in the home of Mrs. Jane Sullens. 

1815 = First log building erected on Fee Fee creek on three acres donated by Major James Richardson to be used for a church & cemetery.

1828 = First brick bldg. erected on Old St. Charles & Fee Fee roads incorporating the logs from the previous building. This building still stands on cemetery property.

1842 = Fee Fee Baptist Church began sharing the church bldg. with the Presbyterians & the Methodists. Baptists used the church on the 2nd & 4th Sundays, Presbyterians on the 1st & 3rd Sundays, & the Methodists on the 5th Sunday.

1870 = Fee Fee Baptist Church was erected at the current location & dedicated in July. It was built on 5 acres of land donated by Erastus Post on the newly rocked St. Charles road. It was at this time that the "Creek" was dropped from the name of the church.

1877-1882 = These were dark years for Fee Fee. Many members died or left for cheaper land out west. The debt was heavy and the church was discouraged.

1882 = On the 75th anniversary (Jubilee Yr.), the debt was paid off with help from other Missouri Baptist churches.

1904 = Parsonage was erected on the east side of the church bldg. A great deal of the funds was raised by the Ladies Aid Society.

1907 = Centennial celebration of the Fee Fee Baptist Church.

Biography written by: Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 10/27/2020.