Missionary pioneer William Buck Bagby (1855–1939) started the first Baptist church in Brazil. He labored 59 years, one of the longest tenures in Southern Baptist history.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of his death Aug. 5, 1939.
Bagby was born Nov. 5, 1855, to John and Mary Bagby in Coryell County, Texas.
His family moved to Waco when he was 8. Four years later he was converted under the preaching of Rufus Burleson, the founder and first president of Waco University (now Baylor University).
Theology student
Bagby attended Waco University, where he was the first pupil of Benajah H. Carroll in the department of theology (which became Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas). “Yes, Dr. Carroll and I founded the seminary,” Bagby told his daughter Helen. “He was the faculty and I was the student body.” Helen Bagby Harrison wrote the standard biography of the family — “The Bagbys of Brazil.”
After his graduation in 1875, Bagby farmed for a year and taught school. He was ordained in Plantersville, Texas, on March 16, 1879. “He had preached unlicensed since the age of 3,” wrote Helen, “when from a chicken-roost pulpit he held an audience spellbound.”
In 1880 he married Anne Luther, daughter of John Luther, president of Baylor University. Her parents, strong supporters of missions, named Anne after pioneer missionary Ann Judson. A year after becoming a Christian at the age of 11, Anne dedicated her life to international missions.
The Bagbys were appointed missionaries to Brazil in December 1880. They arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1880 and founded an American community in nearby Santa Barbara. They moved two years later with three other missionaries to Bahia. There they established the first Baptist church in Brazil on Oct. 15, 1882. Two years later William started a church in Rio de Janeiro. He continued traveling extensively planting churches in major cities.
In 1901 the Bagbys moved to São Paulo. Anne organized and operated a school. William continued to establish churches and associations as well as promote missions in other South American countries. His work prompted Southern Baptists to send missionaries to other places on the continent.
The Bagbys’ fourth and final home in Brazil was Porto Alegre. They spent the last decade of their lives there.
The couple had nine children, four of whom died early.
While toddlers, Luther died of scarlet fever and John of meningitis; Willson drowned at 24 while saving the life of a friend; and Oliver walked away from Galveston Medical College at the age of 26 never to be seen again.
The remaining five children — Ermine, Taylor, Alice, Helen and Albert — also became missionaries in Brazil, building churches, teaching and evangelizing.
William died Aug. 5, 1939, of bronchial pneumonia. He was buried in Porto Alegre.
Long tenure
Anne died in 1942 after 56 years of official missionary work, eclipsing her husband’s tenure and making her service also one of the longest tenures of any Southern Baptist missionary. She worked another six years after her official missionary role concluded in unofficial ministry roles in Brazil. She never returned to the United States.
The archives of William and Anne and their missionary children can be found in the Texas Collection at Baylor University.
The Baptist Studies Center for Research at Baylor University, initiated in 2011, also contains material on the famous missionary family.
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