Senior Pastor (1932-1961)
Reverend Frank Walter Jacobs served as the pastor of Messiah Baptist Church for twenty-seven
years. He was installed in June 1932.
He was born in Rich Square, North Carolina and attended Rich Square Academy. He graduated from Henderson Normal Industrial College in Henderson, North Carolina and Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia.
During Reverend Jacobs’ tenure, many new members joined the congregation, several improvements were made to the building itself and the mortgage was paid on the parsonage. He founded the Men’s Council in 1932.
Reverend Jacobs married the late Natalie Taylor Jacobs, a native of Danville, Virginia. She was a public school teacher prior to her marriage. The four Jacobs’ children are: Marie Jones, Columbus, Ohio; Taylor Jacobs, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Helen Cave, Brooklyn, New York; and Frankie Gillette, San Francisco, California.
Marie Jacobs Jones was guest speaker for the Fortieth Anniversary of our Happy Hour Club in November 1972. She again visited the Messiah Congregation to help celebrate our One Hundredth Anniversary on June 10, 11, and 12, 1988.
Reverend Jacobs was active in several church-oriented groups. For six years, he was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
He served eighteen years as President of the Connecticut Baptist Missionary Union. When he was a member of the Bridgeport Pastors Association, he led the group for one term. Twelve years were spent as the Vice-President of New England Baptist Convention.
Reverend Jacobs also participated in civic and community affairs. He was a member of the Bridgeport-Stratford Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. and the Y.W.C.A. He was a member of Governor Baldwin’s commission to study the problem of Negro unemployment in Connecticut in 1940. Service was also given as a board member to the Family Society, Visiting Nurses Association and Council for Inter-Church Cooperation. During World War 1, he served as the Y.M.C.A. secretary in Camp Lee, Virginia.
Reverend Jacobs died February 27, 1960, survived by his wife, Natalie Jacobs, and their four children. The funeral service was held at Messiah Baptist Church.
Natalie Jacobs died May 28, 1961. Her funeral service was in this church. Both were laid to rest in Lakeview Cemetery.