News Articles by Kay Madaris

Family ties Mary Wheat, granddaughter of J. Edgar Davis, founder of the Baptist Spanish Publishing House, looks at pictures in the ministry’s new Joe T. Poe Historic Center, opened as part of the publishing house’s centennial celebration in El Paso, Texas. Photo by IMB

EL PASO, Texas (BP)--On Nov. 17, 1905, J. Edgar Davis published his first book in Spanish on a foot-powered press in his kitchen in Toluca, Mexico. From that humble beginning, the Baptist Spanish Publishing House has become a modern, fully equipped enterprise now printing and shipping Bibles, books and other literature throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
      Around 1910, Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa took note of the ministry at a time when he was in desperate need of paper and learned the only supply in Toluca was in Davis’ possession. Arriving at Davis’ home, Villa demanded use of the paper, even offering to pay for it.