Richard Curtis, Jr., migrated from South Carolina to Cole's Creek in the Natchez District in 1780, where he faced Indian attacks, disease, inclement weather, and continuing harassment from Spanish authorities. In 1791, he helped establish Salem Church on Cole's Creek as the first Baptist church in Mississippi. Because the Spanish government, which controlled the territory, had outlawed Protestantism, he was forced to leave the Natchez area in 1795. He returned in 1798 after the United States assumed control of the region and organized Bayou Pierre Baptist Church near Port Gibson, the second Baptist church in Mississippi. In 1800, he helped organize Bethel Church in Wilkinson County, now called Woodville Baptist Church, and New Hope Baptist Church in Adams County. When Curtis died on October 28, 1811, he was seeking medical relief from cancer at a friend's home on Beaver Creek in Amite County, where he was buried a short distance from Ebenezer Baptist Church near Liberty.