Rosalie Hall Hunt. Greenville, SC: Courier Publishing, 2016. 293 pp. (Paperback).
I had heard of Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend before, but I really didn’t know much about her life or her accomplishments. As it turns out, she was an amazing, independent woman of God who laid the groundwork for our modern women’s missionary organizations, including the Woman’s Missionary Union. What an inspiring story!
Townsend was born in 1780 in Charleston, South Carolina, which was under siege by the British. Her father had been arrested and thrown into jail by the British and her mother died within days of her birth. Hephzibah only survived because of a devoted slave couple who smuggled the newborn out of the city to safety.
This unexpected beginning would set the tone for Hephzibah’s entire unexpected life. Hephzibah married a much older man who controlled her considerable wealth, as men did in those days. Daniel Townsend loved Hephzibah and was good to her, but he could not understand her desire to support missions work and refused to loosen the purse strings for her to make any contributions. Hephzibah was not deterred, joining with friends to start up a baking and catering business to generate the funds. This marked the beginning of Baptist women’s involvement in supporting foreign missions — and only scratches the surface of the amazing Hephzibah.
Hephzibah’s story is beautifully told by veteran writer and speaker Rosalie Hall Hunt, who lives in Guntersville.
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Meet the reviewer
Martine Bates Fairbanks, Ed.D., reviews books and movies for The Alabama Baptist. She is a university professor and retired principal. She is a member of Central Baptist Church, Decatur.
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