USA > Alabama > Memorial sketches of the lives and labors of the deceased ministers of the North Alabama conference, Methodist Episcopal church, South (1870-1912.) > Part 13
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an earnest, encouraging exhortation to seek after holiness. His last talk, his last testimony, his last thoughts in the house of God were about the Wes- leyan doctrine of Christian perfection. His final sickness was of one week's duration, and for the most of that time his mind was wandering and his talk incoherent ; but Jesus, the Bible, preaching, and praying were the engrossing topics with him. His last hours were both beautiful and triumphant. A sunset after a day of storm is beautiful as the golden waves of light come out, flooding vale and hill- top, arching the retiring cloud with the variegated bow of promise. About the departure of Brother Reagan there seemed to. blend the mingling light of a godly life and the glorious promise of the life to come. He seemed almost to touch the immortal lyre and leave lingering behind him, like a sweet incense, the music of the song of victory. How sweet, how precious his dying words, "All is right !"
REV. JOEL W. WHITTEN.
R EV. JOEL W. WHITTEN was born in Newberry District, S. C., December 27, 1823 ; and died of yellow fever in Decatur, Ala., October 20, 1878. His father emigrated from South Carolina to Lau-
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derdale County, Ala., when the subject of this mem- oir was one year old, and four years afterwards to Wayne County, Tenn., where he was reared. Broth- er Whitten became the subject of converting grace in April, 1839, when but little more than fifteen years
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old, after having been a diligent seeker of religion for two or three years. He had joined the Church a few hours before his conversion, and the prompt- ness which characterized his obedience to the sugges- tions of the Holy Spirit and the call of an indispen- sable duty ever afterwards was one of the salient features of his character as a man, a Christian, and a preacher of the gospel. Yielding to the impres- sions of the same holy Monitor, he received a license to preach at the age of sixteen years and eight months from the Quarterly Conference of the Cy- press Circuit at the Cypress Camp Ground on Au- gust 27, 1840. This was the beginning of a life of labor in the ministry, which, with the exception of some years of feeble health, continued for thirty- eight years. In October, after being licensed, he was received on trial into the Tennessee Conference and appointed to the Wayne Circuit. The next year he was appointed to the Buffalo Circuit, and the next to Red River Circuit. At the end of his third year in the traveling connection, on account of fail- ure in his health, he was given the place of super- numerary on the Cypress Circuit ; but in a short time regaining health, he took charge of the circuit and did effective work until the next Conference. The next two years he was successively in charge of the Cumberland Circuit and the White Plains Mission. His health again failing in 1846, he occupied a su- pernumerary relation for the next nine years, except for six months in 1852, when he filled the Andrew
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charge in the city of Nashville. In 1855 he was sent to the Goose Creek Circuit, and remained there two years. In 1857 and 1858 he traveled the Prospect Circuit. In 1859 he was stationed at Rogersville and Driskill's Chapel. From 1860 to 1865 he was presiding elder of the Florence District, remaining one year beyond the usual quadrennium because of the war, which prevented two sessions of the Ten- nessee Conference. In 1865 he was appointed to the McMinnville District ; 1866-68, Tuscumbia District ; 1869-72, Florence District. In 1873 he was sta- tioned at Florence; 1874, Jacksonville, Ala .; 1875- 76, Athens; 1877, Decatur, where his earthly pil- grimage ended and whence he entered upon his eternal rest.
The thirty-eight years of Brother Whitten's serv- ice as a preacher were spent in the following order : He was nine years on circuits, six in stations, thir- teen on districts, and, with the exception of eighteen months' pastoral labor, ten years supernumerary. Confiding in the integrity of his character and the soundness of his judgment, and knowing his devo- tion to the principles of our beloved Church, his brethren of the North Alabama Conference chose him by a highly complimentary vote to represent them in the General Conference held at Louisville in 1874. This duty, as all others, he conscientiously discharged. Brother Whitten was a prompt man, ready and willing to go where duty called. This promptness was not only a natural trait in his char-
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acter, but was sanctified and utilized by the Spirit of God in the entire consecration of all his energies to the one purpose of doing all the work of a minis- ter. He believed most thoroughly in obedience to the appointing power, and went without a murmur to the appointed field of labor, whether it were cir -. cuit, mission, district, or station. He was a punctual man. He was present at the appointed time to do in the appointed way the appointed duty. These du- ties we need not specify. Who of us that have been preachers in his district do not remember his in- variable presence at the proper time and place, un- less hindered by circumstances over which he had 110 control? Often he was the first man on the ground, whether it were at official meetings or the public services of the sanctuary. Brother Whitten was a faithful man-faithful to his obligations to God and man. Not to speak of his faithful dis- charge of his ministerial duties, prominent in his character was his fidelity to his fellows. He never betrayed what was committed to him by a brother as a secret. The morality of the classic age always put a brand of infamy upon that man who would not keep a secret; but the morality of the Bible, with a fuller force and a higher authority, bids a Christian keep the legitimate secrets of a friend. This grand trait of Christian morality characterized Joel Whitten. When we take into consideration his fidelity as a man and a Christian, we cannot resist
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the firm belief that the Master has already said to him : "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Brother Whitten was a just man. Justice is such a large element of righteousness that no man can be a righteous man who is not a just man. Righteous- ness includes also honesty and virtue, and both of these qualities shone conspicuously in the character of Brother Whitten. It comprehend's also the af- fections of the heart and conformity between the life and the divine law. In these respects the life and conduct of our brother were remarkable. He kept the apostle's rule to "owe no man anything, but to love one another." He was a man of clear, calm, cool judgment, and therefore a safe counselor both for his friends and when the interests of the Church were involved. Recognizing these elements of character, not only has many a friend gone to him for advice, but the Church has time and again placed her interests in his keeping; and as pastor, presiding elder, and member of the Bishop's Cabi- net, his conclusions always had great weight. Pru- dence and caution usually controlled his decisions. A prompt, punctual, faithful, just man must needs be a conscientious man. This characteristic was so prom- inent in the life and conduct of our brother that we are constrained to mention two aspects of it, which every one familiar with him will readily recognize. In representing the preachers of his district he was constrained by a conscientious view of duty to men- tion the unfavorable as well as the favorable in their
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conduct. From the true state of the case he did not waver ; from the unpleasant he did not shrink. An- other remarkable evidence of his conscientiousness was the fact that he never spent Church money for anything, but was careful to keep it separate and apart from his own, and through the course of a ministry of thirty-eight years there was no defalca- tion in his accounts with the Church.
Brother Whitten was a good preacher. His ser- mons were clear, plain, and scriptural. Few men ever resorted oftener to Scripture to prove the truth of any proposition enunciated. His memory was re- markable in many respects. He seldom forgot names, places, dates, numbers, and as a statistician he was very trustworthy. This accuracy of memory fortified him with proof texts of which he made very frequent use in his sermons. His preaching was often attended by those results which are the true end and aim of all preaching-the conviction and conversion of souls. He will realize in the day of final accounts many seals to his ministry. He was a diligent pastor. He visited from house to house systematically and punctually. He knew the condi- tion and wants of his parishioners. He "served his generation by the will of God, then fell on sleep." He is not, for God took him. On the morning of October 20 the doctor, observing that he was sink- ing, asked him if he was conscious of his condition. He replied that he was. He was then asked about his prospects for the future, and replied : "All is
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well." No note of victory could be sweeter, no tri- umph grander than that of a dying Christian as he looks through the gloom of the grave and sees by the eye of faith the land of light and peace and everlast- ing joy. The heathen poet said long ago: "A man pure in life, sound in integrity, and tenacious of pur- pose needs not the protection of armor, nor the de- fense of weapons, wherever he might go." But it is reserved for the Christian alone to say when on the confines of the tomb : "All is well." "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." May we all imitate Brother Whitten's virtues, cherish his memory, and, like him, be able to say at the last, "All is well !"
REV. THEOPHILUS MOODY.
R EV. THEOPHILUS MOODY was born in Marion District, S. C., April 16, 1808; and died in Gadsden, Ala., March 13, 1879. While he was yet a small boy his father removed to Mississippi and settled on Pearl River. In 1830 he joined the Meth- odist Church; in the autumn of that year he was li- censed to preach. The next year Rev. James Apple- white took Brother Moody along with him as an as- sistant on the circuit. Such was his success in his first efforts as a minister that the next year he en- tered regularly on the work of an itinerant minister. Accordingly, in 1832, he and his lifelong friend, Brother A. C. Ramsey, were recommended by the Quarterly Conference of the Leaf River Circuit, Mississippi, to the new Conference just set off from the Mississippi Conference, to meet in the city of Tuscaloosa, Ala., which was presided over and or- ganized by Bishop Andrew. So Brother Moody be- came one of the original members of the old Ala- bama Conference, organized in the Odd Fellows' Hall at Tuscaloosa in 1832. Among the number were Dr. R. L. Kennon, Revs. E. Hearn, G. Chris- topher, J. H. Mellard, E. V. Levert, and others whose praise is in the Churches.
Brother Moody was engaged in the regular work of an itinerant Methodist preacher for nearly fifty
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years, filling circuits, stations, and districts. He was eminently gifted in public prayer. It was cheer- ing, hope-inspiring to see him, struggling with dis-
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ease and the accumulating infirmities of old age, stand firm and unjostled like the mountain against whose crest the dissolving mists fall harmless.
REV. PHILIP L. HENDERSON.
R EV. PHILIP L. HENDERSON, the youngest son of pious parents, was born in Henderson County, Tenn., June 17, 1829. At the age of fifteen he was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, feeling at the same time that he was in- wardly moved by the Holy Ghost to preach the gos- pel. At an early period thereafter he was licensed to preach by Dr. A. L. P. Green. He joined the Ten- nessee Conference at Franklin, Tenn., October, 1853, and was appointed to the Montgomery Cir- cuit as junior preacher under Rev. William H. Browning. He was ordained deacon in 1855 and elder in 1857. On November 3, 1858, he was mar- ried to Miss Lizzie R. Moore, who lived in Todd County, Ky. At the Conference immediately pre- ceding his marriage he was returned to the Trinity Station, at which place he had greatly endeared himself to the people by labors which were crowned with abundant success. His last appointment in the Tennessee Conference was the Gallatin Station, in which he was highly appreciated as preacher, pas- tor, and friend. From this point he was transferred to the Louisiana Conference and appointed to the Homer Circuit. That was the most successful year of his ministry. Scores were converted to God and many were added to the Church. At the ensuing
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Annual Conference he was appointed to the Caddo Circuit. There he was joined by Rev. E. M. Mar- vin, subsequently Bishop Marvin, who was an exile from Missouri during the war. They labored to- gether in- protracted meetings, and hundreds were added to the Church. Shortly after the close of the war and an absence of five years, he returned to the home of his wife in Kentucky. Vacancies hav- ing occurred in the Kentucky Conference, he was ap- pointed by Bishop Kavanaugh to supply the Perry- ville Station, which position he occupied for two years. He was then appointed to the Versailles and Georgetown Station. At the close of this year's labor, at his own request, he was transferred to the St. Louis Conference, and was stationed at Cale- donia and Potosi. Near the conclusion of this Con- ference year he was elected President of Arcadia Col- lege, and in connection with the labors of said in- stitution he had charge of the Church at Manches- ter, some ninety miles by rail from his home. The work that he did and the severity of the winter were too much for his impaired constitution. His physi- cian advised him to come South ; hence he was trans- ferred to the North Alabama Conference and became a member at its organization at Gadsden in Novem- ber, 1870, and was appointed to the Courtland Cir- cuit. In November, 1871, he was stationed at La- fayette. In 1874 he was appointed to the Madison Station; 1875, Memphis and Fairfield; 1876, Agent for the American Bible Society. The last appoint-
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ment he ever filled was the Scottsboro Circuit, to which he was appointed in 1877. In the autumn of 1878 he was appointed to the Vienna Circuit, which he never served. It was his purpose to live at De- catur that his wife, a lady of superior culture, might supplement his salary in teaching the youth of that community ; but, alas! "in the midst of life we are in death." He was much exposed to the rigors of the weather while moving. Pneumonia took malignant hold upon him; he suffered much, waned rapidly, and died. He was attended by skillful physicians, and numerous friends administered to his wants. His labors and sufferings ended on January 21, 1879. He sleeps peacefully beside Rev. J. W. Whit- ten, his friend and colaborer, in the cemetery at De- catur.
Brother Henderson had a warm heart. He de- lighted to dwell in the atmosphere of affection. He was courteous, affable, urbane, and forgiving. He was sincere in his friendships, honest in his convic- tions, and manly in his deliverances. He loved the Church devotedly and yielded a cordial obedience to her doctrine and discipline. He died as he had lived, a Christian minister, faithful and true.
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REV. EDWARD M'MEANS.
R EV. EDWARD M'MEANS was born in Chester Dis- trict, S. C., October 26, 1803; and died in Jef- ferson County, Ala., October 26, 1879. He was mar- ried in 1824 to Miss Margaret Caldwell, through whose influence he was induced to abandon certain skeptical opinions which he had embraced, and in 1837 was converted at the Owen Spring Camp Meeting, in Talladega County, Ala., licensed to preach in 1839, and in the same year admitted on trial into the trav- eling connection by the Alabama Conference. At the close of 1858 he was placed on the superan- nuate list, which relation he sustained to the. end of his life. Twelve years of his ministerial life- were spent in the active labors of an itinerant preach- er ; twenty-one he was retired, during which time he preached as much as his strength would allow. His last sermon was preached on September 8, ceasing almost at once to work and live. As a Christian he was sound in the faith. His call to the minis- try was a deep and settled conviction of duty to God and to a world that lieth in wickedness. He was an able and useful preacher. In his zeal for the cause, by arduous labor, he overtaxed his constitu- tion and became a superannuated man, and for many
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years was able to do nothing more than preach as oc- casion required. As the shadows of death began to fall upon his path the light of the glory of God in- creased around him, and in the triumph over the last enemy he said to his wife: "I am going home." Thus passed our brother into everlasting rest.
REV. JESSE F. ELLIS.
R EV. JESSE F. ELLIS was born in Blount County, Ala., March 7, 1844; professed religion at the age of thirteen ; removed to Fayette County, Ala., in 1868; joined the North Alabama Conference in 1872, and was appointed to the Pikeville Mission. He was then appointed to the Arbacoochee Circuit, which he served acceptably three years; from thence to Luxapalila, which he served one year; thence to the Mount Hope Circuit, which he served one year ; thence to the Newtonville Mission, where he died on May 16, 1879. Brother Ellis educated himself. He was married in 1876. He was the son of a local preacher and grandson of Rev. Jesse Ellis, deceased, of the Alabama Conference, and one of the pioneers of Methodism in this State while the Creek Indians occupied East Alabama, up to 1836. Before that part of Alabama fell into the hands and under the control of the white people, Jesse Ellis, Sr., was em- ployed in collecting and forming into societies the emigrants from other States who were Methodists.
Brother Jesse F. Ellis was a man of acknowledged piety and stood above the average as a minister, con- sidering his educational facilities.
REV. EVAN NICHOLSON.
R EV. EVAN NICHOLSON was born in Monroe Coun- ty, Tenn., May 12, 1832; and died at his home, near Elyton, Ala., February 15, 1897. The family of which he was a part was a large one, fifteen in all, five of whom were itinerant preachers. The home in which he was reared was a model Christian home, redolent with the fervid piety characteristic of Meth- odism in that day of spiritual power. In his boyhood his father moved to Alabama. In September, 1848, Evan joined the Church at Van Buren Camp Ground, DeKalb County. At the same place, in September, 1849, he was converted, the Spirit tes- tifying with his spirit that he was indeed a new creature in Jesus Christ. He remembered the exact spot, hour, and minute of this blessed experience ; and in the after years, when making a pilgrimage to the old home, he would there kneel in prayer and adoration to Him that had saved and made him a partaker of immortal hopes here and an expectation of eternal blessedness by and by. He was licensed to exhort in November, 1853, and to preach on May 24, 1855. He was employed by the presiding elder as junior preacher on the Sand Mountain Mission for the year 1855, and in December of that year was ad- mitted on trial into the Alabama Conference. He was now fairly launched upon his life's work, serv-
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ing the following Churches from year to year, as set forth in his private diary : 1856, Scottsboro Circuit ; 1857, New Lexington Circuit; 1858, Jasper Circuit ; 1859, New Lebanon Circuit; 1860, Warrior Mis- sion; 1861, Talladega Circuit; 1862-63, New Lex- ington Circuit; 1864-65, Orville Circuit; 1866, ow- ing to affliction, supernumerary ; 1867-68, Jasper Circuit; 1869, Jonesboro Circuit; 1870-71, North- port Circuit; 1872-73, Yorkville Circuit; 1874-75, Tuscaloosa Circuit; 1876-78, Jonesboro Circuit; 1879, Leighton Circuit; 1880-81, Limestone Cir- cuit; 1882-84, Elyton and Helena; 1885, Birming- ham Circuit; 1886, Elyton and Oxmoor. From this time till his death he served as chaplain to the State convicts. He was ordained deacon on December 6, 1857, by Bishop Soule, and on December 4, 1859, was ordained elder by Bishop Kavanaugh. During the thirty-two years of his life devoted to pastoral work he traveled, mainly by private conveyance, 57,995 miles, witnessed 1,978 conversions, and re- ceived 2,350 persons into the Church.
Brother Nicholson was twice married, the first time, December 22, 1857, to Miss Martha A. Winn. This union was blessed with five children. He was married the second time, November 1, 1874, to Miss E. A. Murdock, of Tuscaloosa County. It is diffi- cult to speak of our dear brother as a child, a man, or a Christian minister without seeming fulsomeness of panegyric. As a son he was as nearly faultless as seems possible to frail humanity, having rendered
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all filial obedience to his father and mother in such a perfect manner that neither could recall a single in- stance to the contrary to be forgiven. In fact, he expected to live to even a greater age than he did, claiming the promise of the fifth commandment. But, like the immortal worthies spoken of in He- brews xi., "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained a good report," etc., in this regard, to some degree at least, he obtained not the promise. As a man, citizen, husband, and father he adorned the commonwealth in which he lived and centered within himself the most beautiful Christian graces of a home in which love presided and from which the holiest influences radiated. The sunshine of his nature, the amiability and benignity of his heart and soul, coupled with his fervent piety, scat- tered many a ray of gladness, joy, and hope along the pathway of numerous pilgrims seeking the eter- nal city of God. But it is his work as an itinerant preacher that will stand the test of time and the disclosures of the final judgment. He liked to preach ; it seemed to be "his vital breath, his native air." As an expounder of the great doctrines of the atonement, justification, regeneration, the. leading parables of our Lord, he had few equals. His man- ner in the pulpit was impressive. In person he was handsome, graceful; his voice soft, flutelike in its cadences, winning, and persuasive. The last ten years of his life were devoted to outcasts in the penitentiary and criminal stockades and camps of
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the State. To these he preached and ministered with all the zeal and fidelity of a heart aglow with love to fallen men. No doubt many, through the message delivered by their beloved chaplain and through the religious literature collected by his assiduity from all sources, received the light of salvation from Him who "proclaims liberty to the captives, the opening of prison doors to them which are bound."
Brother Nicholson's health failed suddenly in . March, 1896. He preached his last sermon with unusual liberty and unction the fourth Sunday of that month to the inmates of the penitentiary at Wetumpka. From that time till the day of his death he was confined to his room and bed the greater part of the time. In the midst of all his suffering he was submissive, hopeful, believing all the time that he would finally recover. A twofold reason in- spired this desire and belief : to care for his loved ones and to continue to preach the gospel to dying men. Never for a moment, though, did ·he doubt that an abundant entrance would be ministered unto him. He said that there would be no gate ajar, but one wide open through which he would sweep into the realms of fadeless glory. The dying scene was typical, picturesque-his eyes fixed upon the faces of loved ones here and his hands raised as if he would catch the pinions of angel messengers un- seen but present to bear his soul away. His breth- ren of the Conference, headed by Dr. Newman, acted as pallbearers. Dr. Hosmer, who joined the Church
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under his ministry, led in the services at the church at Elyton. The songs that he specially loved and requested to be used at his funeral were sung. From the church here, which he had built and at whose altars he had so often ministered, his body was borne to its final resting place. All felt that one more soldier of the Cross had finished his course, had obtained his crown.
REV. JAMES L. COLEMAN.
A GOOD man has been transferred from the toils and conflicts of this life to the rest and reward beyond the "valley of the shadow of death." After sixty-seven years, most of which were spent in imitating the earthly life of his Lord by going about doing good, he lay down in sight of the place that gave him birth and triumphantly passed up to the "house not made with hands" at Athens, Ala., Jan- uary 22, 1897.
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