The leading man is handsome, articulate, adventurous and charming with a generous touch of worldly mischief. His name is Jacque Gideon Rousseau. The leading lady, Christine McConnell is young, proper and sheltered. Music is her passion; to be a successful American is his. By the time they meet she is on a transatlantic steamer, returning to the States after a year of studying voice in Europe. He works below deck.

Her father, the highly respected pastor Dr. Fernando C. McConnell, known as “Ferd” to his family, was determined that the South African immigrant whom his daughter had met aboard ship would not marry his favorite child. However, young love prevails. Struggles follow. The ambitious immigrant Rousseau works his way through Baylor and he too becomes a Baptist pastor. The even more famous Baptist pastor and relative of the McConnell’s, George W. Truett, keeps in touch with his cousin Ferd and Ferd’s beautiful Christine. The lovely and talented young soprano does become Mrs. Jacque Gideon Rousseau with the reluctant acquiescence of her father.

Baptist history reveals an impressive legacy of influence by these three related men. It is however a quest for thorough and accurate Baptist history that has led to the telling of the love story. It is Christine, who years later, during WWII, writes a very personal memoir of her father entitled, Turquoise Path: Cherished Memories of an Adoring Daughter.

At a Baptist History and Heritage annual meeting in Nashville in 1996, Dr. Leon McBeth delivered the major address on George W. Truett. It was enthralling. Dr. McBeth, an authority on Dr. Truett and many other facets of Baptist life was the source of information that one did not question. He knew all the answers.

Late that evening several of us were walking back to the hotel from the meeting site and found Dr. McBeth in the lobby inquiring about food. He was hungry. We all were. The hotel restaurant was already closed, but we were told that if we would go downstairs to the Basement Bar they would cook us hamburgers.

Dr. McBeth wasn’t too thrilled to be going to a bar with a group of rather loud Baptist writers and historians, most of whom thought it was fun. We filled the bar. Dr. McBeth sat alone in a small booth and after we had ordered I went over and asked if I could join him while we waited for the burgers. I was puzzled because over the last few years he was the third lecturer that I noticed who delved into Dr. Truett’s early years, including his conversion, but who did not mention his baptism.  I complimented Dr. McBeth on his excellent presentation and then I asked why he did not mention Truett’s baptism. He stated politely but frankly, “Because I do not know.” It startled me. Pushing my luck just a little bit, I then inquired gently about why he did not know. With exasperation becoming slightly evident he stated firmly, “No one knows.” After a moment I quietly and seriously said, “I do.”

He looked at me and said nothing. His burger came. I went back to my table. 

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In 1982 I was asked to write my church’s history. They had wanted and budgeted for a book for many years, but the anticipated book never materialized, and now the deacons were determined to make it happen. That was evident when they added, “So we don’t have to debate it at every deacon’s meeting.” With that vote of confidence how could I say no, even though I had never written a book, knew nothing about the formative years of the church and had no formal training in the field. I knew enough to purchase a Chicago Manual of Style, begin research where it seemed logical, and five years later The First Baptist Church of Pensacola had its book, and I had a new avocation and education.

Two old books found in the back of drawer in a desk Dr. Rousseau built for the church library, were fascinating to me. One was the aforementioned memoir by Christine McConnell Rousseau and the other was somewhat of a rebuttal to it written by her husband, Dr. Jacque Gideon Rousseau. He was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Pensacola from 1925 through 1930. His memoir is titled, Through the Strait Gate. Hers was published by Broadman in 1944, his is unpublished. He typed and bound two copies.  The original went to his only child and our church owns the carbon copy. 

There was another informal gathering of a few Baptists that also happened in a hotel after an event that I feel certain Dr. McBeth would have been interested in had I had the opportunity to share it with him. It begins with the conclusion of the famous speech on Religious Liberty made by Dr. Truett as he addressed the assembled masses of Southern Baptists and guests at the Capitol Building on the Mall in Washington D.C. in 1920.

After the history-making event ended, and the long lines of admirers had dispersed, a small group of happy but exhausted friends began their walk down the Hill from the Capitol to their hotel. They were anxious for privacy, food and conversation.

Christine wrote:

While we were in Washington, Dr. George Truett spoke to the thousands of Baptists gathered from all the Southern States. Father found a place for us on a balcony of a house near the Capital steps from which Dr. Truett spoke. It was an inspiring sight and a wonderful occasion. A throng of so large a number was intensely interesting, but a throng of such numbers come to worship gave one a feeling of awe and deep gratitude.

Dr. Truett, Dr. Tom O’Kelly, Father and Mother, knowing that I was exhausted after walking up the hill to the Capital, came to my room after the evening meal. Dr. Truett, tired from the nervous strain of the afternoon, welcomed a moment of relaxation. Father began asking Dr. Truett about his work in Texas, but soon they were talking of persons they knew back in the old days in the mountains. Father, being a good storyteller and finding a willing audience, soon had us laughing until we were afraid we might be put out of our hotel.

On and on, one joke and story of childhood leading to another, first one man, then a “that reminds me” story from another. Never have men relaxed so thoroughly. Each man had some fine joke on himself. They put aside their pulpit dignity and were only small boys again. [The three men had shared their early life in the hills of north Georgia and each had been involved in what became the Home Mission Board ministry in education in that area.] It was refreshing to them and certainly so to Mother and me.

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Years later as Dr. McConnell was nearing the end of his ministry, Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, which he had begun, was celebrating the opening of a magnificent new building and after a lifetime of intertwined ministries having Dr. Truett as speaker for the day was logical and loving.

Christine records it:

Father’s joy of his speaking in the new house of worship was as nothing to Father’s pleasure in having Dr. George W. Truett, his lifelong friend and a cousin, on both sides of the family, as the speaker for the afternoon and evening. He had baptized Dr. Truett [emphasis not in original] while he was yet a young boy in the early years of Father’s ministerial work. He had watched his career with loving interest and solicitude, rejoicing in George’s successes and ever-increasing usefulness. Dr. Truett was at that time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and had been the presiding officer of the Baptist World Alliance.

For Christine McConnell Rousseau, a member of the McConnell-Truett family, to have been either mistaken or careless about this very personal and declarative statement is doubtful. When Dr. Truett married in Texas he and his bride were houseguests of the McConnells in Virginia while on their honeymoon. Christine was the daughter of a pastor, the wife of a pastor and one of the most outstanding females in Florida Baptist work. She was for six years president of the Florida Women’s Missionary Union traveling the state for program promotion and fundraising. She was an insider in the Southern Baptist Convention.

When I first became interested in the, “Who baptized George W. Truett?” question I found that it was assumed that his pastor at the time, J. G. Mashburn was the answer. It was qualified as uncertain when written. Later I began to see it printed as fact. But then, Dr. McBeth told me no one knew.

I believe the beautiful soprano.

Story by: Toni Moore Clevenger

May 1, 2024