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 17
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alas! when all of his feet were fairly on the rock, he began to slip. This frightened him, and he at- tempted to turn round and go back, but fell on his side and went sliding down the face of that rock like a small avalanche. When he attempted to rise, I saw that he was lame. My horse was ruined. His hip bone was broken, and of course he never recov- ered from that lameness.
I managed to get him down to the church in time for the services, and I preached ; but when asked if I was not going to make another appointment, I said: "If the judgment assembles in Box's Cove, I shall be there ; otherwise never again."
While stationed in Talladega I wrote and pub- lished "A Waif-A Prince," a book of facts and fiction outlining the infant life of Moses with its at- tendant perils and providential deliverances. While pastor of the Church in Avondale I wrote and pub- lished "Interviews with Jesus," a forty-page pam- phlet devoted to the study of some of the incidental interviews which our Lord had with different in- dividuals.
Besides my labors as pastor and presiding elder, I served for four years as Treasurer of the North Alabama Conference; in fact, I suggested and in- troduced the custom of having a General Treasurer for the Conference.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ISAAC QUIM- BY MELTON.
I WAS born in St. Clair County, Ala., July 6, 1844. My father was a local preacher in the Methodist Church. He died in August, 1858, when I was but a boy. I lived on the farm with my widowed moth- er until 1861, when I joined the Confederate army. I was a musician in the Twenty-Fifth Alabama, where I continued during the war. In 1866 I was married to Miss Fannie Ellis, the daughter of a local Methodist preacher. In the early part of 1867 I was licensed to preach by Rev. Theophilus Moody, presiding elder. Dr. John P. Ralls was Secretary of the Quarterly Conference. In November, 1870, I was admitted on trial into the North Alabama Conference at its initial session. I was ordained dea- con at Florence, Ala., in 1871 by Bishop Pierce, and ordained elder at Huntsville, Ala., in 1874 by Bishop Doggett.
My appointments were as follows : 1871-72, Coosa Mission; 1873, Valley Head Circuit; 1874, Cedar Bluff Circuit; 1875, Dadeville Circuit ; 1876, Dade- ville Station; 1877-78, Cedar Bluff Circuit; 1879- 80, Courtland and Town Creek; 1881-84, Collins- ville Circuit; 1885-87, Fayette Circuit; 1888-89, Guntersville Station; 1890-91, Murphree's Valley Circuit; 1892-94, Warrior and Blount Springs;
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1895, Gaylesville Circuit ; 1896-97, Springville Sta- tion ; 1898-99, Piedmont and Spring Garden; 1900, Jacksonville and Piedmont; 1901, Jacksonville and White Plains; 1902, Hargrove Station : 1903, War-
REV. I. Q. MELTON.
rior and Hanceville; 1904-07, Bridgeport Station ; 1908-09, Corona Station.
At the Conference session of 1909 I asked for and was granted the superannuate relation; and the
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REV. ISAAC QUIMBY. MELTON.
Tarrent Superannuate Home being vacant, the Agent, Rev. J. W. Norton, gave us the home to oc- cupy as long as we desired, and we have lived there comfortably up to the present (1912). This com- fortable home, which we appreciate more than we can express, was donated by Dr. Felix I. Tarrent and his excellent wife.
During my ministry I have been instrumental in building five church houses and four parsonages, and of course repaired many others. I never con- tracted debts on any work and left them for another preacher to pay. I never made an account with a merchant or any other person, and I have not con- tracted a debt on any account for any amount in the past forty years. We have always lived within our means, much or little, and have never suffered. The Lord has always been good to us.
I do not know what good I have accomplished in all these years, but the Lord will reveal that in due time. I have always tried to do the right and shun the wrong in all things. The Lord has blessed us with seven children in our home, one son and six daughters, one precious daughter dying at the age of sixteen years. The rest (Dr. Wightman Fletch- er Melton, now a professor in Emory College; Mrs. G. W. Roberts, Portersville, Ala .; Mrs. W. C. Ray- burn, Guntersville, Ala .; Mrs. C. G. Shores, War- rior, Ala. ; Mrs. J. A. Collins, Woodlawn, Ala. ; Mrs.
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A. B. McEachin, Tuscaloosa, Ala.) are married and have homes to themselves, and we are left alone.
My faithful wife and I are still walking side by side, trusting in the Lord. We feel that he has al- ways been with us and will be to the end. In age and poor health I find it harder to wait than it was to work.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN WALKER NEWMAN, D.D.
I WAS born at Van Buren, Ala., October 23, 1846. My parents were Moses C. and Elizabeth Smith Newman. They were .of South Carolina stock. What education I got was in the common schools of the country, at Union Academy, and at Wills Valley Institute. The war interfered with my further edu- cation in early life. I was in the Confederate army from May, 1864, to the end of the war, serving in Company I, Third Confederate Regiment, Ander- son's Brigade, Allen's Division, Wheeler's Corps. I was converted under the pastorate of Rev. Rufus Nicholson in August, 1865, and united with the Methodist Church. After leaving school I followed teaching for two years with good success. On Oc- tober 10, 1869, I was married to Miss Hannah Ward Berry. Seven children were born to us, four of whom are living at this writing (1912). My wife died November 23, 1885. On October 6, 1891, I was again married, this time to Miss Ida S. Groce, of Talladega County, Ala. I was licensed to preach by Rev. T. G. Slaughter in May, 1870, and in No- vember of the same year was admitted on trial into the North Alabama Conference. I was ordained deacon by Bishop Doggett and elder by Bishop Mar- vin. My first appointment was Fayette Court-
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house Circuit; then Vernon, Cedar Bluff, and Jones Valley Circuits (six years on circuits ) ; then Guntersville Station, three years: Decatur District, two years; First Church, Birmingham, three years:
DR. J. W. NEWMAN.
Gadsden Station, one year; Huntsville, four years; Tuscaloosa, one year; Anniston, two years; Tusca- loosa, two years; Talladega District, two years; Birmingham District, four years; Talladega, four
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REV. JOHN WALKER NEWMAN, D.D.
years; Gadsden, two years; Talladega District, two years ; First Church, Decatur, four years (ten years on districts and twenty-six on stations ).
I received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Southern University in 1888. I was elected editor of the Alabama Christian Advocate in 1891, but for reasons satisfactory to myself I declined to ac- cept the position. I represented my Conference in the General Conferences of 1894 and 1898. I was a delegate to the World's Missionary Conference in New York in 1900, also to the World's Methodist Conference in London, England, in 1901, both of which I attended. I have been Secretary of the North Alabama Conference for twenty-two years. I served sixteen years on the first General Epworth League Board and seven years as President of the Alabama State League Conference.
I have never missed the first morning roll call of my Conference; have never been supernumerary or superannuated, but have rendered continuous and uninterrupted service from the beginning to the present. One overmastering purpose and ambition has moved me to do well whatever has been given me to do. Punctuality with me has been a moral question, and to waste my own time or the time of others a sin. Since I first saw the light under- standingly I have been a student of books, men, and things, and the same subjects still fascinate me. Many years ago I resolved to grow till I reached sixty and never to grow old. This purpose has
.
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held me to this hour, and, please God, I shall run on this schedule to the end.
Only once in thirty-seven years (and that was twenty-seven years ago) have I failed to bring up full reports from the charges that I have served. I have ever considered the gospel ministry a great honor. Preaching has been to me a supreme privi- lege and pleasure, and pastoral work a fountain of blessing unspeakable. I am now (1912) just closing a pastorate of four years at First Church, Decatur, Ala., and am waiting for orders from my Master and his Church.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV: LEANDER FAIRES WHITTEN.
M Y father and mother were David Clay and Ma- linda Faires Whitten. I was born in Lau- derdale County, Ala., near old Cypress Camp Ground, on November 27, 1848. I was baptized in infancy by Rev. Wiley B. Edwards, who officiated at the marriage of my parents.
I was away from home at school during the Civil War when the Federal army desolated our country. Returning from school, I helped my father on the farm and taught school a part of the time. I was licensed to preach in September, 1865, at Oakland Church, Oakland Circuit; Rev. J. B. Stevenson, presiding elder, and W. H. Jordan, preacher in charge. I was admitted on trial into the Tennes- see Conference at Murfreesboro, Tenn., in Septem- ber, 1869, and appointed to Frankfort Mission. My next appointment was as junior preacher on the Cy- press Circuit under Rev. John S, Marks, preacher in charge. At the first session of the North Alabama Conference (in 1870), being in its bounds, I became one of its first members, in the class of the first year with about fifteen others, only four of whom are now members of the Conference, the rest of that large class having died, transferred, discontinued, or located. I was ordained deacon at Florence by Bish-
23
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op Pierce in 1871, and ordained elder by Bishop Doggett at Tuscaloosa in 1872, having stood an ap- proved examination on a two years' course of study
REV. L. F. WHITTEN.
in one year. That was possible under the law of the Church at that time; but the law has been changed since that time so that one has to travel as
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REV. LEANDER FAIRES WHITTEN.
an itinerant preacher for four years before being ordained to the office of elder.
I was married to Miss Mary E. Carter, of Milan, Tenn., January 15, 1878. To us were born three daughters: Mrs. M. S. Hitchcock, wife of Dr. Hitchcock, deceased (she is at present, 1912, a member of Highland Methodist Church, in. Bir- mingham, Ala.); Mrs. Lena W. Lynch, of West End, Ala. (her husband is one of the official mem- bers of Walker Memorial Church). Our other daughter, Willard Whitten, is with us at present. My pastoral charge at this time is Dadeville, Ala. I have been continuously an active itinerant preach- er for nearly forty-three years, which is to me the dearest work on earth. I have served on missions, circuits, and stations, and no man could be happier in the work than I have always been. I delight to preach and to do the work of a pastor. I have tried to do all that I could for the promotion of Sabbath observance and also for the cause of prohibition. It is a great joy to me when I hear of counties and cities.voting down the saloon.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN NELSON DUPREE .*
I WAS born in Houston County, Ga., July 1, 1831. I had no early educational advantages. My fa- ther was a farmer, and none too well prepared to give his children an education. I joined the Church at Watoola at the early age of nine years, but was not consciously converted till I was thirteen. Wa- toola Church is situated about twelve miles south of Opelika, Ala. When I was seventeen years old I was appointed class leader, and have been an official in the Church ever since. I felt my call to preach at the time of my conversion. At the age of eight- een years I was licensed to exhort, and at twenty- one was licensed to preach. In 1852 I was ad- mitted on trial into the Alabama Conference at Marion, Ala., and appointed junior preacher on a circuit about three hundred miles from my home. The work had sixteen appointments, and required traveling two hundred miles to make a round on it. After remaining here three months, I was removed to the Gaston Circuit to assist the preacher on that work.
*This autobiography is given a place in this volume of sketches in honor of (so far as we can ascertain) the oldest living member of the North Alabama Conference. Brother Dupree is in his eighty-first year, and is remarkably vigorous for a man of his years. His home is near Dadeville, Ala.
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REV. JOHN NELSON DUPREE.
I was ordained deacon in 1854, and for that year was sent to the Pascagoula Circuit, which had seven- teen appointments to be filled monthly. There were
REV. J. N. DUPREE.
extensive swamp lands in that part of the country, some of which were as much as seven miles wide. Plenty of wild game was in them. . I have some-
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times hunted bears, tracking them through these swamps. There were also many Indians in that country at the time. There was only one railroad in all that country, and that was from Montgomery, Ala., to West Point, Ga. I have always had great success in revival meetings; was never known to "kill a meeting." In 1855 I traveled the Hillobee Circuit, and in that year was married to Mary E. Lockhart. In 1856 I traveled the Union Circuit. I was ordained elder at Tuskegee in 1857 by Bishop Pierce and sent to the Andrew Mission (colored). This was a pleasant and prosperous year. In 1858 I was at Dadeville and Camp Hill; 1859, Talladega Circuit ; 1860-62, Oxford and White Plains, con- ducting great revivals and four camp meetings. I
helped a great many preachers in their revival work.
In 1865-66 I was again on the Dadeville work. In my itinerant life I have had a hard struggle with poverty trying to support my family on very little money. In those days the disciplinary allowance for a married man was $300, and $100 for a single man. A married man was allowed $25 (if he could get it) for each child. I got into debt, and by the advice of my presiding elder I asked for and was granted the supernumerary relation to try to get out of debt. This was in 1867. In 1871 I was re- turned to Dadeville. In 1872 I was again supernu- merary, in which relation I continued most of the time till 1898, at which time I asked for and was granted the superannuate relation, in which I have
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REV. JOHN NELSON DUPREE.
continued to the present. I am in my eighty-first year, and am waiting for my next transfer, which will be to my heavenly home. I am living in phys- ical darkness, for I have been blind for six years. I have three living sons of whom I have no rea- son to be ashamed. If I had my life to live over again, I would rather be a Methodist preacher than follow any other calling on earth.
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