The LONGs & THE ALLENs
First Baptist Church in Winnfield has the distinction of having helped influence and equip three Louisiana governors (Huey P. Long, Earl K. Long, and O.K. Allen), a U.S. Representative (Shannon “Doc” Long) and U.S. Senators (Huey Long and A. Leonard Allen}.
The Long brothers were one of nine children born to Huey Pierce Long Sr. and Caledonia Palestine Tison in the small community of Winnfield.
The elder Longs were devout members of the First Baptist Winnfield, and they made sure to expose their children to constant religious training.
Huey Sr. was a student of the Testaments and Caledonia worked on various money-raising projects for the church.
Huey Jr. did attend seminary classes at Oklahoma Baptist University at the urging of his mother, but decided he was not suited to preaching.
He turned to politics and was elected Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and was elected a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935. He was assassinated by Dr. Carl Weiss in the Capitol building in Baton Rouge on Sept. 8, 1935.
Huey’s brother Earl acquired the nickname “preacher” because of his regular Sunday school attendance. His favorite hymn was “In the Garden.”
Though always ready to declare publicly he was a Baptist, he was not actually baptized until 1955, when J. Norris Palmer baptized him and he became a member of the Baton Rouge First Baptist Church.
Earl served three terms – 1939-1940, 1948-1952 and 1956-1960 – as governor of Louisiana. He passed away on Sept. 5, 1960 at the age of 65.
Other members of the Winnfield First Church who achieved distinction included two brothers, Oscar K. Allen, also known as O.K. Allen, and A. Leonard Allen.
O.K. Allen served as governor from 1932 to 1936. He was a key lieutenant in the Huey P. Long political machine that dominated the state during the first half of the 1930s.
His brother A. Leonard served in U.S House of Representatives for eight terms (1937-1953). He was also known as an educator and attorney.
Faithful to his church, A. Leonard served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher for some 35 years, vice president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and president of the Louisiana Baptist Brotherhood.
He was 78 when he died in 1969.
JAMES HOUSTON DAVIS
Born in Quitman in Jackson Parish, James Houston Davis, better known as Jimmy Davis, was reared in the Beech Springs community by sharecropper parents.
A graduate of Louisiana College, he served two nonconsecutive terms as governor of Louisiana (1944-1948 and 1960-1964).
A lover of gospel music and a recording artist, he is associated with several popular songs, most notably “You Are My Sunshine,” which was designated an official state song of Louisiana in 1977.
Davis was a strong Southern Baptist and was long dedicated to Baptist causes. In 1965, a memorial edifice, the Jimmy Davis Tabernacle, was erected in the Beech Springs community and dedicated in his honor. He died in November of 2000 at the age of 101.
WILLIAM J. DODD
From Allen Parish and later from Baton Rouge, where he transferred his membership to the Southside Baptist Church, William J. Dodd was the principal speaker for the summer Commencement exercises at Louisiana College in 1966.
An educator and an attorney, he served in the Louisiana Legislature, as lieutenant governor, as president of the state Board of Education and for more than a decade as Louisiana’s Superintendent of Education.
– Information compiled from
Glenn E. Greene’s House Upon A Rock