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 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
63
REV. LARGUS R. BELL.
bama Conference on trial, and was appointed to the Socapatoy Circuit as junior preacher, with J. T. Abernathy as preacher in charge. The following year he was appointed to the Pinckneyville Cir- cuit, with C. S. D. Lassiter as preacher in charge. His next charge was the Bexar Circuit. Being for the first time in charge of a circuit, he began to feel the responsibility of a pastor; and putting on the armor anew, he went forth in the spirit of meek- ness and the courage of a true soldier of the Cross. He witnessed a great harvest of souls for the king- dom.
In the dark and bloody days of 1862, when our Southern homes were made desolate by the rav- ages of war and invasion, Brother Bell turned his back on the endearments of home and took his place on the tented field to preach the gospel to men in the perils of war and minister to their temporal as well as their spiritual needs. After one year in · the army he returned to his loved employ, and was again sent to Socapatoy Circuit, which he served with fresh zeal and renewed courage. At Mont- gomery, Ala., he was received into full connection and was ordained deacon by Bishop J. O. Andrew. In 1864, at Tuskegee, Ala., he was ordained to elder's orders by Bishop Andrew.
We have no account of Brother Bell's labors as a minister of the gospel from 1864 to 1870, when he was appointed presiding elder of the Lafayette Dis-
64
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
trict, which he served for four consecutive years with an acceptability distinguished by important re- sults.
In November, 1888, the North Alabama Confer- ence convened in Anniston, at which time Brother Bell received his last appointment, Blount Springs
REV. L. R. BELL.
and Warrior. His health began to fail in the early part of that year, and soon he had to cease from la- bor. Earnestness and a transparent sincerity, breath- ing a spirit of love, were the chief characteristics of his preaching. A brother once paid him a high com- pliment when he said: "Largus Bell preaches to save souls." He labored as a Methodist preacher
65
REV. LARGUS R. BELL.
thirty-one years; and while it was his lot to serve many hard appointments, he did it cheerfully for the love of God and the salvation of men. His deep piety, his manifest earnestness and solicitude for the salvation of souls charged him with a revival power that was at times truly wonderful.
We learn that in 1865 he held a meeting at Par- son's Chapel, in Tallapoosa County, where in ten days more than one hundred souls were savingly converted to God. And from the same source we learn that in 1876 he held a meeting at Munford, Talladega County, where, under his ministry, one hundred and sixty-four were converted and joined the Church. The same author tells us that he was a man of marvelous faith, strong in prayer, mod- est in manner, true to his Church, affectionate in his family, and wholly consecrated to the work of the ministry. His sufferings were long and severe, but were borne with Christian fortitude and pa- tience. He possessed his faculties in full force to the last. He murmured not at the providence of God. As the end approached, he called his family about him and blessed them, telling them to meet him in heaven.
5
!
·
REV. CICERO LEWIS DOBBS.
R EV. CICERO LEWIS DOBBS, son of James G. and Ruth Dobbs, was born in Franklin County, Ga., August 3, 1831. When but a small boy he removed with his parents to DeKalb County, Ala., and located at Lebanon, which soon became the county seat of DeKalb County. In the vicinity of this little village he grew to manhood.
The home environments of Brother Dobbs were not conducive to religious aspirations. His father was not a Christian; and while he provided for the natural he could not supply the spiritual needs of his children. Death claimed the mother when the child had barely passed his seventh year. She was a pure, good woman, and a Methodist of the most methodic type. She had been trained under the masters so distinguished in Georgia Methodism- men whose names are known and read and whose power is felt throughout Episcopal Methodism. She sat under the ministry of such men as Dr. Lovick Pierce, Bishop Andrew, and William J. Parks, the latter having married her older sister, Naomi Prickett. Although taken from her loved ones when the subject of this sketch was at such a tender age, the influence of her godly life was not lost upon him. Left without a guide and coun- selor, he was still under that influence whose im-
67
REV. CICERO LEWIS DOBBS.
press had already been stamped upon him and whose power never left him.
Brother Dobbs was converted in the summer of 1852 and joined the M. E. Church, South, at Beth- el Church, near Nicholson's Gap, DeKalb County, Ala., under the ministry of John D. Warrell, of the Alabama Conference. He was licensed to preach at a Quarterly Conference on the Lebanon Circuit, held at Van Buren, September 15, 1855; Charles Strider, presiding elder, and Peter J. Walker, Sec- retary.
During the year 1856 he was employed as a sup- ply on the Black Oak Mission, in what was then the Blountsville District. In the early part of 1857 he went to school, and in December of that year was received on trial into the Alabama Conference, held at Selma. His first charge was the Hancock Mis- sion, in the Blountsville District. This mission em- braced parts of the counties of Blount, Walker, Winston, and Cullman. On October 25, 1858, he was united in marriage to Miss Martha C. Wil- liams, daughter of Rev. Uriah and Susan Williams. His next charge was the Gadsden Circuit. This charge then had ten appointments, which were filled every two weeks. At the close of the year 1859 Conference met at Eufaula. Having stood an ap- proved examination, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Kavanaugh on December 4, and was sent to the Athens Circuit, Monroe County, Miss. In 1861 he served the Cedar Bluff Circuit. At the
.
68
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
close of this year Conference met in Greensboro; and having passed an approved examination, he was ordained an elder by Bishop Early on Decem- ber 15, and was returned to the Cedar Bluff Circuit.
REV. C. L. DOBBS.
The preacher appointed to the Gadsden Circuit hav- ing failed to reach his appointment, Brother Dobbs was put in charge of that circuit in connection with his own, keeping two separate Quarterly Confer- ence records and filling each appointment on both
69
REV. CICERO LEWIS DOBBS.
circuits once a month. In 1863 he served the Cen- ter Circuit, in Cherokee County, and in 1864 he served the same charge, with the Cross Plains Cir- cuit added. In 1865 he was sent as a missionary to the army ; in 1866-67 he served the Cahaba Valley Circuit; in 1868-69, the White Plains Circuit; in 1870-71, the Lawrenceville Circuit. In the fall of 187I he transferred to the North Alabama Confer- ence, and was sent to the Fayetteville Circuit, which charge he served two years. From 1874 to 1877 he was on the Columbia Circuit. During the summer of 1877 he was called to mourn the death of his wife, who, after a short illness, died at the home of her father, in Wills Valley, near Porterville, Ala. In 1878 he was in charge of the Alexander City Circuit, which he served two years. On September 3 of this year he was again married, to Miss Laura E. Dean. Of this marriage were born two chil- dren, Charles Lewis and Cicero C. Dobbs, both of whom died in infancy.
Brother Dobbs served the Oak Bowery Circuit in 1880-83, the Alexander Circuit in 1884-85, the Talladega Circuit in 1886, the Goodwater Circuit in 1887-89, the Lineville Circuit in 1890-92, and Calera and Helena Circuit in 1893-94. He served acceptably the Montevallo Circuit in 1895, and had just fully entered upon the work of 1896 on the same charge when he was taken with a slight at- tack of pneumonia which yielded to treatment in a few days. When his friends thought him almost
70
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
well again, and when he himself felt sure that the danger point was passed and that soon he would be up and ready for work, the summons came and called him hence without a moment's warning. Heart failure was the immediate cause of his death. He possessed those traits of character that make men lovable. In him was no guilt, but the sincerity of his thoughts and conduct was as transparent as light, because he lived in this clear light of Christian candor that makes men "known and read of all men." Modesty and humility were strong char- acteristics of this man of God. He never chose for himself any chief place in the Church. He only sought such position as would enable him to do the best for his Lord. He counted all things but loss for the excellency of his Lord. If any one word more than another can express the true char- acter of Brother Dobbs as a minister, that word is "service." From his Master he had learned the les- son not to be above service to his brethren. Such a spirit lends beauty to human character and makes the universal brotherhood of mankind a tangible reality.
Brother Dobbs, for the most part, served large circuits where toil and exposure were always abun- dant ; yet he was never heard to murmur, but "en- dured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus." The spirit of the man was one of his chief charms. His was not the stoical service of one who was driven to his task, but was the glad, cheerful service
71
REV. CICERO LEWIS DOBBS.
of one who had a passion for winning souls, of one who knew the fellowship of his Lord, and was inspired by the glory of laboring together with him. He loved men, not for what they might do for him, but for what he could do for them. As a pastor he was a true undershepherd. When the news of his death was first heard in a certain com- munity where he was well known, especially by the children, a mere child, with signs of deep emotion, was heard to say: "Brother Dobbs loved little chil- dren." The incident speaks much for his qualifica- tion as a pastor and for the man himself, for it has been truly said that there is much good in a man whom a child trusts.
Brother Dobbs was no ordinary preacher. He preached a pure, simple gospel that was in demon- stration of the Spirit and of power. His pulpit ministrations never failed to edify. He fed his people. To the last there were freshness and fire and saving power in his preaching. There were two interests of the Church that lay very near to his heart: the one the work of missions, the oth- er the care of the Conference claimants. He took special interest in the Woman's Missionary Society. Wherever he went that society prospered. The superannuated preachers and the widows and orphans of preachers never had a better friend in the North Alabama Conference that he. A broth- er who knew him well said: "I have seen him
72
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
burst into a flood of tears when he saw how far short the meager collections came of meeting the real wants of our Conference claimants."
Our brother wrought long, laboriously, and well. He lived without a stain upon his Christian char- acter. He died rich in good works and in the tri- umphs of a Christian faith.
JEREMIAH G. GURLEY.
T HE memoir of Brother .Gurley was not re- ported in the General Minutes, from which we have obtained most of our data, and consequently but little can be said concerning his early life. He was-received on trial into the Alabama Conference in December, 1860, and continued in this Confer- ence up to its division into the Montgomery and Mobile Conferences. His membership fell in the Mobile Conference, and he continued in the regular work in this Conference till the North Alabama Conference was organized, in November, 1870, at which time he cast his lot with this Conference at its first session and remained with it the remainder of his life. He missed only one year from active work (1882), in which his health failed and he asked for the superannuate relation. At the following session of his Conference he reported for duty, and was appointed to the Birmingham City Mission. But his work was done. Before the next roll call of his Conference he had answered the last call of the Master, which was : "Come up higher."
.
Brother Gurley served the following charges in the Alabama and Mobile Conferences : Fayette Cir- cuit, Moscow (two years), Bexar Circuit, Moscow, Jasper District, Elyton and Irondale (two years), and Jones's Valley Circuit. His first appointment in
.
74
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
the North Alabama Conference was Jonesboro, then Northport, Guntersville District ( four years), De- catur District (one year), Montevallo Circuit, and Coketon Circuit. Then, after one year of rest, he was appointed to the Birmingham City Mission, his last appointment.
J. G. Gurley was a genial, companionable broth- er. This fact gave him peculiar fitness for his great work. He drew men to him, and knew how to "overcome evil with good." He knew the Scrip- tures and preached the gospel accordingly. His record is on high. Peace to his ashes and bless- ings on his memory !
REV. JOHN BAXTER STEVENSON.
R EV. JOHN BAXTER STEVENSON was born in Giles County, Tenn., December 17, 1821. He was the son of Rev. Elam and Lydia Stevenson. His father was one of the pioneer local preachers in that part of Tennessee. The religious belief of his paternal ancestry was Presbyterian, and that of his maternal ancestry Protestant Episcopal. But in early life his parents were both converted and joined the Methodist Church. His father was licensed to preach in 1813, and sustained the relation of a faith- ful and useful local preacher for more than half a century. Like most of the old-time Methodists, he held strictly to the doctrine of infant baptism and practiced it in his family. Of course John was bap- tized in his infancy.
The family government of the home where J. B. Stevenson was reared was patriarchal in its character, the paternal priest offering up morning and evening sacrifices of holy worship with un- swerving regularity, which consisted in reading the Scriptures, singing a hymn, and offering prayer. In 1832 John B. united with the Church on proba- tion, and was received by James B. McFerrin, pre- siding elder. In 1834 he was converted at old Pis- gah Camp Ground. He was drawn into the pure light of sound conversion by listening to two ser-
76
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
mons, one of them preached by John B. McFerrin and the other by Hartwell H. Brown. He held his membership at old Bee Spring Church, that old his- toric place of worship for almost a century, until he joined the Conference. It is said that his first public prayer was offered at his father's family al- tar. He was licensed to exhort on July 22, 1843, licensed to preach on September 2 of the same year, and recommended to the Conference to be re- ceived on trial. He had a severe struggle between his convictions of duty and what seemed to him an overwhelming consciousness of his own incom- petency for the work of the ministry, and on this rock he would perhaps have been fatally wrecked but for the timely interposition of a friend and brother who came to his rescue with kind words of encouragement. He was admitted on trial into the Tennessee Conference in October, 1843, and ap- pointed to the Bellefonte Circuit as junior preacher under Cornelius McGuire. This circuit had twen- ty-eight appointments to be filled in four weeks. He at first met with some discouragements on this work on account of some careless remarks by one or two official members of the Church, such as: "Brother Stevenson had just as well quit and go home, for he can never make a preacher." But the opposition so carelessly expressed did not drive him from the field; on the contrary, he had many seals to his ministry even during that year.
In 1844 Brother Stevenson was appointed junior
77
REV. JOHN BAXTER STEVENSON.
preacher on the Marshall Circuit, another four weeks' work with twenty-two appointments. This
REV. JOHN B. STEVENSON.
was a year of great success, some two hundred souls being converted. In 1845 .he was received into full connection in the Conference and elected
78
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
to deacon's orders, but was not ordained, no bish- op being present. He was then appointed to the Wartrace Circuit, a work of fifteen appointments to be filled in three weeks. A hundred or more were added to the Church this year. At the Con- ference session of this year he was ordained dea- con by Bishop Andrew. The next year he was in charge of Bedford Circuit, I. C. Woodward, jun- ior preacher. They had about a hundred conver- sions this year. At the following Conference he was elected and ordained elder, Bishop Paine or- daining him. His next appointment ivas Hickory Creek Circuit, another three weeks' circuit with fifteen Churches. He had about one hundred ad- ditions to the Church this year. The next year he traveled Russellville Circuit, a two weeks' work with seven Churches. The next year he was again on the Bellefonte Circuit, with W. P. Warren as junior preacher. They had twenty-two appoint- ments to be filled in four weeks.
In June, 1850, Brother Stevenson was married to Miss Eleanor G. Shriver, of Bedford County, Tenn. He had been traveling seven years, and his diary says that during that time he had preached about fourteen hundred sermons, witnessed more than one thousand conversions, received about five hundred into the Church, traveled between twelve and four- teen thousand miles on horseback, and had re- ceived about $550. His next charge was Mont- gomery Circuit, with twelve appointments to be
79
REV. JOHN BAXTER STEVENSON.
filled in two weeks. One new appointment was added to the work during the year. Before the year was out his health failed in a measure, but he con- tinued to labor as best he could. His health was sufficiently restored by the end of the year to take another appointment, and he was assigned to the Hickory Creek Circuit for the second time, with George D. Guinn as junior preacher. Here his wife's health failed so that she could not remain with him on the work, and he left her at her fa- ther's, about thirty-five miles from his work. But he labored on faithfully to the end of the year, and had great success. The next year he was sent to the Woodbury Circuit, a new work that had to be organized, which he did with great suc- cess, though his wife's condition was not improved, and his salary was so meager that he had to la- bor with his own hands five days in the week to pay for his wife's board and medical treatment. . But such were his zeal and faithful application to his work that before the year was ended he had formed fifteen appointments, which he filled every two weeks, and the Lord crowned his work with many conversions.
The next two years he traveled the Wesley Cir- cuit, with nine appointments to be filled in two weeks. Here he also had great success. Dur- ing his second year on this work his throat became so much affected that he proposed to his presiding elder to give up the work; but his elder insisted on
80
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
his holding on and doing what he could. He did so; and when he was not able to preach he would hold a class meeting, and so carried on the work the remainder of the year. At the end of the year he asked the Conference to grant him the supernu- merary relation, which was done, and he continued in that relation for quite a number of years.
In the meantime the war broke out, and he left Tennessee with the army; and while a refugee in North Carolina he served the Luray Circuit as a supply. This he did for nearly two years. On his return to his native State at the close of the war he found his wife in an advanced stage of con- sumption, and on March 6, 1866, she passed away.
At the session of the Tennessee Conference held at Huntsville, Ala., in 1866 Brother Stevenson re- ported for duty, and was sent to the Florence Sta- tion, which he served one year with marked success. On October 8, 1867, he was married to Miss Sallie C. Munn. At the following session of the Tennessee Conference he was appointed to the Florence Dis- trict, which he served two years. He next served the Valley Station for two years as a member of the Tennessee Conference. In November, 1870, the North Alabama Conference was organized, of which he became a member, and was reappointed to the Valley Station, which he served for two more years (making four in all) consecutively. Then he was again appointed to the Florence District, which he served three years; then to Oxford Circuit, two
81
REV. JOHN BAXTER STEVENSON.
years; then to the Lafayette District, four years; then to Alexandria, one year; then to the Birming- ham Circuit, one year; then to the Munford Circuit, three years; then to the Roanoke Cir- cuit, and was nearing the completion of his third year when the Master, whom he had served. so long and faithfully, called him from labor to re- ward and bade him come up higher. "He fell but felt no fear." "His sword was in his hand, . still warm with the recent fight." He met the monster death bravely. His parsonage home was near and in plain view of the Roanoke Cemetery. One day, standing on the front porch, he called the attention of his family and pointed out to them the exact spot where he wanted to be buried. There they deposited his weary, afflicted body, but the im- mortal spirit. of John Baxter Stevenson had passed into the upper sanctuary to be at rest forever.
Brother Stevenson was a solid man. Perhaps no other word is so expressive of the man in every sense-a clear head, sound judgment, unimpeach- able piety, indomitable energy, a strong will, ar- dent convictions of duty, with an unflinching cour- age of those convictions. While he was not infal- lible, he came near being one of whom it might be truly said that "even his failings leaned to virtue's side." He was warm in his fraternal attachments, gentle and fatherly in his intercourse with the young and the weak. Especially was he the friend and wise counselor of young preachers. As a preacher 6
82
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
he was clear and strong. He had a clear concep- tion of the vital truths of Christianity and preached them boldly. His wife survived him only a few years, and followed him to that better land where their happy companionship began anew to be sev- ered no more forever. The four sons still live to honor the name of their glorified parents. They represent four honorable and useful callings-a · teacher, Leon M. Stevenson; an editor, Olin H. Stevenson ; a physician, Worth W. Stevenson; and a preacher, Henry M. Stevenson, who wears with honor his father's ministerial mantle, and is at this time pastor of the Holmes Street Methodist Church, Huntsville, Ala.
REV. NATHANIEL HENDERSON SELF.
R EV. N. H. SELF was born in Jefferson County,
Ala., October 25, 1828; and died suddenly of heart failure on November 19, 1894. When about nine years old he joined the Methodist Church. In 1846 he was licensed to exhort, and two years later he was licensed to preach. In the latter part of 1855 he was admitted on trial into the Alabama Conference. Two years afterwards he was ad- mitted into full connection. He traveled consecu- tively for seven years, and during that time he served three pastoral charges-viz., Jasper, Mur- phree's Valley, and Harpersville Circuits. He then located and remained a local preacher for seven- teen years, preaching wherever and whenever op- portunity offered. For two years of that time he supplied circuits adjacent to his home. In 1879 he applied to the North Alabama Conference for readmission, which request was granted, and for ten years or perhaps eleven he served the follow- ing charges : Chandler's Springs Mission, one year ; Pelham Circuit, three years; Pinckneyville Circuit, two years; Mountain Mission, one year; Oxanna Mission, one year; and Elkmont Circuit, one year. He also served the Birmingham Circuit, but the time is not given in the record.
In 1891 Brother Self was given the superannuate
84
MEMORIAL SKETCHES.
relation, in which he continued the remainder of his life. He made his home at Wilsonville, Shelby County, Ala. His family was large and he was poor, but his was a happy home. While he was not a highly educated man, yet he was well in- formed as to the doctrines and polity of the Church at whose altars he ministered. He administered the ordinances of the Church and taught the doctrines of the same with intelligence and propriety. Such a life as his does not need a dying testimony for the consolation of his family and friends; for they knew him to be a man of God, and therefore they knew he was ready to go when the sudden call of the Master came.
REV. JOHN B. GREGORY, D.D.
R EV. JOHN B. GREGORY, D.D., was born in Pick- ens County, Ala., September 12, 1853; and died in the city of Tuscaloosa on March 3, 1899. Dr. Gregory was converted and received into the Methodist Church at Wesley Chapel, Northport Circuit, during the summer of 1873, under the min- istry of Rev. James E. Andrews. A few weeks after his conversion he was licensed to preach at Union Chapel, on the same circuit. At the follow- ing session of the North Alabama Conference, held at Talladega, Ala., he was admitted on trial and appointed to the Blue Mountain Mission, which he served during 1874. In 1875 he served Socap- atoy Circuit. In 1876 he was again on the same circuit; but his health failed, and he gave up the work for the remainder of the year. In 1877 he served Sheffield and North River Mission; 1878, Valley Head Circuit; 1879, Asheville Circuit ; 1880- 82, Birmingham Circuit; 1883, Talladega Station; 1884-85, Athens Station; 1886, Huntsville District ; 1887, Florence Station; 1888-89, Wesley Chapel; 1890, Huntsville Station. In 1891 he was super- annuated. In 1892-93 he served St. John's; 1894- 97, Gadsden Station; 1898, Decatur Station; 1899, Tuscaloosa District. This was his last appoint- ment.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.