Thomas C. Nixon Papers

Thomas C. Nixon (1793-1872), an American minister, was born on October 22, 1793, in the Kershaw District of South Carolina. While he was still young, he and his family moved to Tennessee and settled on Duck River in Maury County. His parents were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his father was a local preacher.

In 1810, Nixon had a spiritual awakening and joined the Church at Mount Pisgah. The Tennessee Annual Conference licensed Nixon to preach and admitted him on trial, November 1, 1812. In 1813, the annual conference appointed him to the Cumberland District, Somerset charge. Bishop Francis Asbury ordained Nixon a deacon in the following year he was appointed to the Illinois District and served at New Madrid. Nixon traveled for three years in the Tennessee Conference before being appointed in 1815 to the Wilkinson Circuit in the Mississippi Territory. The year proved to be a busy appointment for Nixon. Another appointment to both the Holston District and the Wilkinson District while stationed at Lee added to his responsibilities. The following year, 1816, became a pivotal year for both Nixon and Mississippi Methodism.

Due to church growth, the General Conference divided the Tennessee Annual Conference to form a separate Mississippi Annual Conference. The new annual conference covered Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Nixon and eight other circuit riders became the clergy foundation of the new annual conference. Bishop Richard Roberts ordained Nixon as a full elder with all the rights, duties, and privileges granted a minister in full connection. Roberts would appoint him to the Wilkinson (1817), Louisiana District-Attakapas charge (1818), Mississippi District–Amite (1819), and Alabama (1819).

The 1821 Mississippi Annual Conference minutes records Nixon's appointment to the Alabama District, Cahawba charge but also its presiding elder. This is the last time Nixon’s name appeared on the conference appointment list until his expulsion in 1823. Nixon’s journal records the suspension from his official office in the church. The journal also tells a story of sorrow during the same year.

Despite the disconcerting pause in Nixon’s ministerial career, his personal life had positive moments. He married Elizabeth Rawles on May 9, 1824. The couple had eleven children before Elizabeth died during the birth of her twelfth child on May 3, 1846. During this period the Nixon family settled on a farm in Hinds County, Mississippi, where he lived the rest of his life. Despite the disconcerting pause in Nixon’s ministerial career, his personal life had positive moments. He married Elizabeth Rawles on May 9, 1824. The couple had eleven children before Elizabeth died during the birth of her twelfth child on May 3, 1846. During this period the Nixon family settled on a farm in Hinds County, Mississippi, where he lived the rest of his life. Nixon’s journal indicates that the plantation produced mostly corn and cotton crops through the labor of enslaved people.

By 1832, Nixon is readmitted for the first time into the Mississippi Annual Conference. For the next five years, his ministry included the following appointments: Washington District-Bayou Pierre charge (1833), Vicksburg District-Madison and Raymond charges (1834-1836). Once more he locates by the 1837 Mississippi Annual Conference. Before his second readmission to the annual conference, he marries Cynthia Dean. During the 1866 Mississippi Annual Conference, Nixon is readmitted and for the next five years serving at Brookhaven District-Crystal Springs and the Vicksburg District-Cayuga charges.

Nixon retires in 1871 to resume life outside the ministry. However, retirement is short as he dies on March 4, 1872.