Amos Cooper Dayton (April 1, 1811 – June 11, 1865) was an American medical doctor, Baptist minister, author, editor and educator, perhaps best remembered for his religious novels of the late 1850s and his role in the Landmarkism movement.

Early life and education

Dayton was born at Plainfield, New Jersey, April 1, 1811, the son of Robert Dayton and his wife. He attended local common schools, then went to college. Dayton graduated from medical college in 1834.

Marriage and family

Dayton married Lucinda H. Harrison and they had children together.

Career

By 1839 Dayton and his wife had moved to Mississippi, where they lived in Columbus and Vicksburg, while he had a practiced as a dentist. He stayed there until 1852. Dayton was reared Presbyterian, but was influenced by meeting J.R. Graves. He united with the Baptists in 1852.

James Robinson Graves, Dayton, and James Madison Pendleton were known as "The Great Triumvirate" of the Landmark movement. From 1854 through 1858, Dayton was the corresponding secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention Bible Board. He moved with his family to Nashville, Tennessee to take the position. Both Graves and Dayton were members of the First Baptist Church of Nashville.

Dayton made significant contributions to the Landmark movement of the mid-nineteenth century in the area of religious fiction, which "popularized Landmark tenets."

He published the Baptist Banner in Atlanta, Georgia (1863–1864). At the time, he was pastor of Houston Lake Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, and the president of Houston Female Institute, all in Perry, Georgia.

Death

Dayton died of tuberculosis at Perry, Georgia on June 11, 1865. He was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.

Works

" Essay On The Teeth ". Circa 1850. Source unknown.

  • Theodosia Ernest, or, The Heroine of Faith , 1857, text online, Providence Baptist Ministries
  • Pedobaptist and Campbellite Immersions: Being a Review of the Arguments of Doctors Waller, Fuller, Johnson, Wayland, Broadus, and Others, Nashville, TN: South-Western Publishing House, Graves, Marks & Co., 1858

Notes

References

Further reading

  • James E. Tull and Morris Ashcraft, High-church Baptists in the South: The Origin, Nature, and Influence of Landmarkism, Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000 - revised, condensed and updated version of Tull's 1960 classic study of the movement
  • "A. C. Dayton", Tennessee Baptists, Knox County, TN Website