ABLACIÓN CONVENCIONAL FRENTE A PERFIL ASFÉRICO OPTIMIZADO

Lucy Farrow’s integral part in the Azusa Street Revival is evidenced first through her earlier relationship with William Seymour in Houston and then with the support she supplied when arriving in Los Angeles. The first issue of The Apostolic Faith newspaper offers a little glimpse into her life:

From Houston, Texas, to Los Angeles, bringing the Full Gospel.

God has greatly used her as she laid hands on many that have received the Pentecost and the gift of tongues. She has now returned to Houston, en route to Norfolk, VA. This is her old home that she left as a girl, being sold into slavery in the south.

The Lord she feels is now calling her back. Sister Farrow, Brother WJ Seymour and Brother JA Warren were the three that the Lord sent from Houston as messengers of the Full Gospel.

Farrow was born sometime before 1864 when the slaves were freed because she is said to have “been sold as a child” which means that she was probably between the ages of three/four and ten years old. Estrelda Alexander, in her book, The Women of Azusa Street, writes that Farrow was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1851.²This would mean she was 45, plus up to 10 years older, by the time of the Houston revival. Rilda Cole refers to her as “Auntie,” a title often used for respected black ladies.³She is also referred to as Mrs. Farrow, so she was probably married sometime in the earlier years. There is no indication about how many children she might have had, if any.

While attending the Bryan Hall meetings, Lucy Farrow became friends with the Parham family and was offered the position of governess.

As mentioned in previous chapters, although she was pastor of a small Holiness church, Farrow decided to return to Kansas when the Parhams left Texas. At that time, she had recently become friends with Seymour and asked him to pastor her church until she returned a couple of months later.⁴ While in Baxter Springs, in the summer of 1905, she received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, becoming the first black person to come into Pentecost.

We know very little about Farrow, only that she was said to be pas-tor of the Holiness church in Houston to which Neely Terry came from California to visit and where she met Seymour. Farrow was said to be a musician, and before she left for Los Angeles, she “was engaged as a cook at the school.”⁵

Her rise to prominence followed her receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is usually assumed that through her influence, Seymour came in contact with Parham’s teaching, eventually leading him to attend Parham’s Bible school.

Seymour went to Los Angeles, arriving February 22, still without experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit. During the following weeks, Seymour made a strong pitch to the group to invite Lucy Farrow to come join the work, and money was collected to bring her.

Seymour then arranged for Lucy Farrow and A.J. Warren to come to California. When Farrow arrived, Seymour called for ten days of prayer and fasting.

Farrow was staying as a guest in the home of “Irish” Owen Lee, the

“Fighting Irishman,” a white man who worked as a bank janitor. On April 9, at Lee’s request, after much heart searching, she laid her hands on him, and he broke out in tongues. He left immediately for the Bonnie Brae Street prayer meeting at the Asberrys’ home, and when he walked through the door with his hands raised, speaking in tongues, the fire fell on those present.

There is some debate whether it was Seymour who laid hands on Lee or if it was Lucy Farrow. It is possible that there were two separate

events. According to Emma Cotton, one of the key women during those days at Azusa, it was Sister Farrow who laid hands on him. “Sister Farr[ow] rose from her seat, walked over to Brother Lee and said, ‘The Lord tells me to lay hands on you for the Holy Ghost.’ And when she laid hands on him, he fell out of his chair, as though dead, and began to speak in other tongues.”⁶

The remaining information about Lucy Farrow is spread through-out the various issues of The Apostolic Faith newspapers.

When Lucy traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, it was said, “This is her old home which she left as a girl, being sold into slavery in the south.” A very brief stop in New Orleans resulted in praying for two people for healing.⁷

In a few weeks, some 159 received the Baptism in Portsmouth. Her attitude was “When the Lord says go, I must go” and she believed He was calling her to Africa. She joined with others in Chicago, and they left for Africa, by way of England, the last of December.⁸

According to a report in issue 12 of The Apostolic Faith newspaper, she had arrived in Liberia and sent this report:

Our dear Sister Farrow, who was one of the first to bring Pentecost to Los Angeles, went to Africa and spent seven months at Johnsonville, 25 miles from Monrovia, Liberia, in that most deadly climate. She has now returned and has a wonderful story to tell. Twenty souls received their Pentecost, numbers were saved sanctified and healed. The Lord had given her the gift of the Kru language and she was permitted to preach two sermons to the people in their own tongue. The heathen some of them after receiving the Pentecost, spoke in English and some in other tongues. Praise God. The Lord showed her when she went, the time she was to return and sent her the fare in time, brought her home safely, and used her in Virginia and in the South along the way.

In November 1907, she was back in America conducting services in an Apostolic Faith Mission in Littleton, North Carolina. In May 1908, she was in Los Angeles and we read this report in the final issue of The Apostolic Faith newspaper:

The Lord had baptized a number in the little faith cottage back of the Mission. He has used our dear Sister Farrow from Texas since the beginning of the outpouring of the Spirit in Los Angeles. In her room in the cottage, quite a number have received a greater filling of the Spirit and some have been healed and baptized with the Spirit since she returned from Africa.

According to Estrelda Alexander, she returned to Houston, and within five years she contracted intestinal tuberculosis and died in February 1911.