Documenting the American South Logo

Lucius B. Compton (Lucius Bunyan), 1875-1948
Cincinnati, Ohio: Office of God's Revivalist, c1903.


Lucius B. Compton was born in Haywood County, North Carolina in 1875. He married Sarah Etta and later became a Baptist minister like his father. Compton preached and participated in revivals across the country before returning to the mountain region of North Carolina, where he held evangelical meetings in schoolhouses, churches, and other buildings. Because of his controversial beliefs about sanctification, however, he never settled into one church exclusively.

The Life of Lucius B. Compton, The Mountain Evangelist, or: From the Depths of Sin to the Heights of Grace (1903) is an autobiography devoted primarily to Compton's spiritual life. Compton opens with a brief description of his childhood and family life and continues with a more detailed account of his conversion to Christianity. The next chapters discuss a "period of backsliding," which began while he worked on the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and ended with his return to the church. Compton tells of the fierce opposition he faced as an evangelist, because he believed that Christians were capable of being sanctified and would no longer sin. Compton defends his efforts to preach sanctification and closes with a sermon on the subject.

Harris Henderson

Document menu