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 6
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REV. GEORGE WORTH HAMILTON.
R EV. GEORGE WORTH HAMILTON was born in Giles County, Tenn., December 23, 1846, and when quite a boy came to Alabama. He professed religion and joined the Methodist Church in early life. He enlisted in the Confederate army while still a mere boy, and returned home unhurt when the war closed. Of course, under the circumstances, he had little or no education. He went to work and made a crop, sold it and his horse, and started to school. After obtaining a good English education, he fol- lowed teaching for a few years. He was licensed to preach in September, 1869, by Rev. J. B. Steven- son, his presiding elder. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Marvin in 1873, and elder by Bishop Mc- Tyeire in 1876. He was received on trial into the North Alabama Conference in 1871 and appointed to the Colbert Mission for the year 1872. In 1873 he was appointed to the Waterloo Circuit; 1874, Colbert Mission; 1875, Cypress Circuit; 1876-77, Oakland Circuit; 1878, Frankfort Circuit; 1879- 80, Shoal Circuit; 1881-84, Meridianville Circuit ; 1885, Vienna Circuit ; 1886-87, Somerville Circuit ; 1888-89, Elkmont Circuit; 1890-92, Gordo Circuit ; 1893-94, Piedmont Circuit; 1895-96, Daviston Cir- cut; 1897-99, Athens Circuit; 1900, Hartsell Cir-
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cuit; 1901, supernumerary ; 1902-03, Moulton Cir- cuit; 1904, Wilsonville Circuit; 1905, Roanoke Cir- cuit; 1906-07, Rockford Circuit.
Brother Hamilton's health had been failing for several years, and at the session of the Conference at Tuscaloosa in 1907 he asked for and was granted the superannuate relation. Soon after Conference he moved into the John E. Walker superannuate home at Alexander City, where he lingered for only a few months and passed away on February 9, 1908. He was aware of his critical condition and knew that the end was near, but he was ready for the change. The tired soldier, no longer able to battle, laid aside his armor and now wears the crown as a reward of his faithful service. He was a preacher for nearly forty years, and spent about thirty-six of those years in the active itinerant work. He never received a large salary, sometimes scarcely enough to support his family; and yet he gave the Church good service. He cheerfully went to his appointments and did his work well. He was not only faithful, but he was successful. His ministry was blessed to the edification of saints and the sal- vation of sinners. Brother Hamilton was a good business man. If he had gone out into the world as a business man, he would have succeeded beyond the ordinary. Above all, he was a good man. He loved God fervently with a pure heart. That his Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful
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REV. GEORGE WORTH HAMILTON.
servant: ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," there is no doubt.
Brother Hamilton was married to Miss Mattie Thomas on December 5, 1877. To this union nine children were born, six of whom, with their mother, survive.
REV. GEORGE W. HALL.
R EV. GEORGE W. HALL was born in Randolph County, Ala., November 30, 1866; and "fell on sleep" at his home in Lineville, Ala., March 2, 1908. He was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Pleasant Hill, in the Daviston Circuit, at the age of fifteen years, and at once began an active Christian life, which he con- tinued to the close of his career. He was licensed to preach and admitted on trial into the North Ala- bama Conference in 1894, and served successively the Graham, Wedowee, Penton, Hackneyville, and Fredonia Circuits, in the Lafayette District. On ac- count of failing health, in 1904 he asked for a trans- fer to the Indian Mission Conference, and was ap- pointed to the Hastings Circuit, which he served in 1905. Failing to regain his health, he asked for the superannuate relation at the following session of Conference.
In 1907 he was transferred back to his home Conference and granted the superannuate relation. He lingered with us but a few brief months after we received his transfer, and then went up to join the Church triumphant. He was ours, he is ours still in the memory of his pure life and faithful labors.
Brother Hall was married to Miss Dora Jenkins,
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REV. GEORGE W. HALL.
of Clay County, Ala., in 1888. His wife died in Oklahoma in 1906 and left him with six helpless children, who are now the wards of the Church which he loved so devotedly and served so faith- fully.
Brother Hall was not what the world would call a brilliant man, but he was a man of more than or- dinary intellectual endowment, and by close appli- cation he became an intelligent, logical, scriptural preacher in spite of the fact that he was deprived of early educational advantages. As a pastor he was methodical, painstaking, and diligent, look- ing after every interest of the Church in detail. He was universally popular in every charge he was called to serve, because of his clean, manly Chris- tian life and his devotion to the flock of his care. He seemed to make the impression on his people that he sought them and not theirs. This charac- teristic was one of the secrets of his great success and popularity as a minister and pastor.
REV. ETHELBERT B. NORTON.
R EV. ETHELBERT B. NORTON was dedicated to God by his parents in his infancy, converted in his childhood, and grew up a member of the Church. For fifteen years he was engaged in the work of an itinerant minister, during which time he filled various appointments in the Alabama, Montgomery, and North Alabama Conferences.
Brother Norton was a good preacher. His ser- mons were generally instructive, clear, eloquent, and effective. Few persons could listen unmoved to his earnest appeals and pathetic strains. His voice, being naturally rich in the sweetness and smoothness of its tones, had been cultivated with considerable care, and the effect produced by the inspiration of his song was often greater than that produced by the eloquence of his sermons. But, above all, he excelled as a pastor, committing him- self fully to every movement and entering heartily into every enterprise which had for its object the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Among those who stand up for Jesus in the various coun- ties over which he traveled are to be found many seals to his ministry. He sowed bountifully in ev- ery field to which he was assigned, and a harvest of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold will doubtless be gathered into the heavenly garners. The validity of his commission was attested by "living epistles
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REV. ETHELBERT B. NORTON.
known and read of all men." Those polished stones in the spiritual building show the impress of his chisel and prove him to have been a master builder. The fitting close of his life work was a sermon from the words, "Prepare to meet thy God." His last
REV. E. B. NORTON.
affliction was severe but brief. The call of the Mas- ter was sudden, but he was ready. The ministerial mantle of Brother Norton has fallen upon the two sons, J. W. Norton, the efficient agent for super- annuate homes in the North Alabama Conference, and E. B. Norton, Jr., stationed at New Decatur.
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REV. ANDERSON G. COPELAND, M.D.
R EV. A. G. COPELAND was born in White Coun- ty, Tenn., October 8, 1826; and died at his home, near Pratt City, Ala., November 20, 1894. Dr. Copeland was converted when about eight years old, and, in his own language, "had conscious ex- perience of the grace of God in his heart." He was licensed to preach when quite young, and was admitted on trial into the Tennessee Conference in October, 1848. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Capers in 1850, and ordained elder by Bishop An- drew in October, 1852.
Dr. Copeland was a graduate M.D. For some reason, after he had traveled seven years as an itinerant preacher, he located and practiced medi- cine for sixteen years, but did not neglect his holy calling ; for during all of the years in which he was engaged in the medical profession he was a faith- ful and zealous local preacher. A Christian physi- cian is one of God's chief laborers in his vineyard, for he is prepared to minister both to the body and to the soul. Luke, "the beloved physician," was one of St. Paul's companions and helpers during his great missionary work, and is believed to have been the author of one of the principal books of the New Testament Scriptures, the Acts of the Apos- tles.
REV. A. G. COPELAND AND WIFE.
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At Florence, Ala., in 1871 Brother Copeland at- tached himself to the North Alabama Conference, of which he remained a member during the re- · mainder of his life. During the twenty-three years that he was a member of the North Alabama Con- ference he served the following charges: In 1872, Danville Circuit; 1873-74, Gordo Circuit; 1875, Blountsville Circuit; 1876-77, Yorkville Circuit ; 1878-80, no record; 1881, Russellville Station : 1882-83, Madison Station: 1884-85, Coketon Cir- cuit ; 1886-88, Bellview: 1889-91, Woodlawn and Gate City. At the session of the Conference in , 1891 he asked for and was granted the superan- nuate relation. He continued in this relation for three years, and then received his final discharge from all earthly toil and entered into rest.
Dr. Copeland was a good man, a good preacher, and an excellent pastor. With him religion was a divine principle enthroned in the heart and regu- lating the life. He was truly a devoted husband and father. In all the relations of life he was faithful and in death triumphant.
Dr. Copeland's family consisted of his wife, Mrs. ·Minnie Johnson Copeland, who stands by him in the engraving as she stood by him in life's labors and sacrifices, and who has since his death gone to join him in the city of God; W. B., R. D., and Hal J. Copeland, their sons, all residents of Birmingham. Ala., worthy sons of their Christian parents. W. B. Copeland was postmaster of Birmingham during
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REV. ANDERSON G. COPELAND, M.D.
President Cleveland's last administration; City Au- ditor from January, 1902, to July, 1907 ; was nomi- nated (which is equivalent to being elected) for Clerk of the Criminal Court of Jefferson County in 1912. D. R. Copeland was Alderman from the Third Ward of the city of Birmingham from Jan- uary, 1901, to May, 19II. Hal J. Copeland was Chairman of Police of Birmingham from 1908 to 1910. As citizens and officers these gentlemen have the respect and confidence of their fellow citizens, and are an honor to their glorified parents.
REV. E. F. S. ROBERTS.
R EV. E. F. S. ROBERTS entered upon his reward in the kingdom of glory on May 1, 1900, in his seventy-third year. He died as he had lived, faith- ful and full of hope. He was married to Miss Fan- nie Moses on November 13, 1855, who for nearly forty-five years shared his fortunes and misfor- tunes and survived him only a few months. The fol- lowing synopsis of his life is taken from his private diary :
I was converted in the summer of 1838, on Sunday morn- ing, in the old brick church in Columbus, Ga., and joined the Church immediately.
I preached my first sermon in April, 1848. From childhood I felt that I must preach. I ought to have taken up the work earlier, but delayed it till I was twenty years old. Even then, after preaching, or trying to do so, a few times, I became dis- couraged and gave it up. But I felt : "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel!" I felt awful. My joy was gone; my path was dark. Again I promised the Lord that if he would restore my peace I would take up the cross. The light came. I said : "Glory to God! I'll do what he wants me to do."
I was licensed to preach by Moses Brock, presiding elder, in 1851, and employed as junior preacher on the Houston Cir- cuit, in the Memphis Conference [now embraced in the North Mississippi Conference].
I was admitted on trial into the Memphis Conference in 1852, and appointed junior preacher on the Fulton Circuit, Isham Hearn, pastor. During the summer of that year I was transferred by the presiding elder to the Hickory Flat Circuit, the preacher who was appointed to it having abandoned it.
In the fall of 1853 I was discontinued, and remained in
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REV. E. F. S. ROBERTS.
the local ranks till October, 1866. During that period I was three times employed as a supply-1862 on the Chickasaw Circuit, 1863-64 on the Frankfort Circuit.
In October, 1866, I was admitted on trial into the Tennessee Conference and appointed to Morgan [now Danville] Circuit. In 1867 I was reappointed to the same work.
This, of course, covered the year 1868 up to October. In 1869-70 I was on the Somerville Circuit. In November of 1870 the North Alabama Conference was organized, at which time I was appointed to Van Buren Circuit. In 1872 I traveled Gadsden Circuit; 1873, Fayette Circuit; 1874-76, Vernon Cir- cuit ; 1877-79, Bexar Circuit ; 1880, Luxapalila Circuit; 1881, Center Star Circuit ; 1882-83, Cypress Circuit ; 1884-86, Lentz- ville Circuit ; 1887-88, Cypress Circuit.
At the Conference session of 1888 Brother Rob- erts was placed on the superannuate roll, never again to appear on the effective list, where he had served so long and faithfully. He spent the re- mainder of his days near the charge he last served, and was known, loved, and honored by the people whom he had served.
Brother Roberts was a good preacher, sound in faith and doctrine, and was always ready and able to give an answer to him who would ask a reason for the faith that was in him. He was more than an ordinary defender of the doctrines of the Scriptures as he believed and taught them. His great age and affliction made it impossible for him to do much preaching the last few years of his life; but he never fully laid down his great commission till he placed it at the Master's feet, honored and without a blot or stain, to receive his crown. For over half
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a century he bore aloft the standard of the victo- rious cross in the midst of the din of battle and strife of arms.
Brother Roberts did not give his life to money- making, and consequently he died poor and home- less, but gained a crown and a kingdom. For the last few months of his life he seemed much troubled at times by the prospect of leaving his family homeless. On Tuesday before he died he seemed to gain a complete victory even over the gloomy thought. He said to Brother C. E. Heri- gis: "I am entirely willing to leave my family in the hands of God and the North Alabama Con- ference." Then resignedly he said : "The Lord of all the earth will do right." At one stage of the death scene he seemed to have lost his whereabouts and imagined that he and his family were wanderers from home. But in the midst of his distress at being lost from home he quietly said: "The best of all is, God is with us."
We laid him to rest on May 2 at Wayland Springs, Tenn., to await the resurrection of the just.
REV. THOMAS P. ROBERTS.
R EV. THOMAS P. ROBERTS was born in Virginia on September 26, 1826; and died at Colum- biana, Shelby County, Ala., August 29, 1901. He went with his father to Pulaski, Tenn., in 1836. In 1847 he took up his abode at Marion, Ala. At the age of sixteen he attained justification and joined the Church under the administration of the Methodists. He first married, in 1853, Miss L. E. Winn, of Greensboro, Ala. After the decease of his first wife, which occurred in 1861, he married, in 1863, Mrs. N. C. Fisher. For more than a third of a century he was in the regular itinerant ministry. His ministry was exercised for the most part in Bibb, Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair, and Talladega Counties. He was a member of the North Ala- bama Conference from the time of its organization to the time of his death. He was a devoted follow- er of Christ from the time of his induction into a Christian experience to the day of his translation to a home in the skies. He was characterized by strength. He was strong physically, mentally, and morally. He was capable of great physical en- durance. He was a man of good understanding and of sound judgment. In the practical affairs of human life he had clear views, and could make accurate estimate of the value and force of ordinary
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resources. His moral character was beautiful and strong. He was noble and inflexible. His open countenance and noble brow marked him as a man of simplicity, sincerity, and purity. He was warm and demonstrative in his greetings and friendships. In his ministry he was diligent and faithful. As an undershepherd he was devoted to the flock com- mitted to his care. Where he exercised his minis- try the people respected him, trusted him, and loved him. As a preacher he was not brilliant nor rhetorical, but he was forceful in delivery, wise in utterance, and sound in doctrine. In his ministry he was preëminently successful and useful. Here we shall miss his genial smile and his enthusiastic greeting, but we hope to shake hands with him again in that brighter clime where the saints of all ages in harmony meet. Having served his generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep. The mantle of this prophet of the Lord fell upon his worthy son, T. K. Roberts, of the North Alabama Conference.
REV. CROCKETT GODBEY.
R EV. CROCKETT GODBEY was born in Virginia on May 23, 1818; was converted in September, 1841; was licensed to exhort in June, 1842, and was licensed to preach in 1845. He was received into the Holston Conference in 1845; was ordained deacon by Bishop James O. Andrew in 1847, and was ordained elder by the same bishop in 1849.
At the close of the Civil War, during which he served as chaplain in the Confederate army, he refu- geed to North Alabama, where he served for some time as a supply, and in 1873 he joined the North Alabama Conference.
After a number of years of faithful service in the regular work, Brother Godbey was granted a superannuate relation, during which time he did what he could until he became so feeble that he had to desist. As a preacher he was above the average, strong in presenting the doctrines of his Church, which he knew and practiced. He was a good man, and it might have been truthfully said of him that he was "an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile." Like other men, he had his faults, but they. were subordinate to his excellent virtues. He was always on the right side of all moral questions of his day.
On September 20, 1901, after a long and painful
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season of affliction, this man of God passed away at his home in Madison County, Ala., in the eighty- fourth year of his natural life, fulfilling the divine
REV. CROCKETT GODBEY.
promise : "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season."
From boyhood to young manhood Brother Godbey worked on the farm and attended school as oppor- tunity offered, walking three or four miles and often reaching the schoolhouse by four o'clock in
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REV. CROCKETT GODBEY.
the morning. He was reared in a mountainous country, and spent much time in hunting game and communing with rugged nature. He was for a while deputy sheriff under his father. He had good religious training, his father being a local preach- er in Montgomery County, Va."
Rev. Crockett Godbey was a preacher fifty-six years, and served as such in several States, the last of which was Alabama, where he ended his earth- ly work. He never sought easy places, but, like a true soldier, went to any and all posts of duty cheer- fully and did his work honestly and earnestly. Like most of those old pioneer preachers, he often served. charges with twenty or more appointments. His pay was usually meager, but he always made it a point to live within his means. This he was able to do only by the careful economy of his faith- ful companion who stood by him in all of his ardu- ous labors and self-denial. The world will never know the extent of hardships endured by the self- sacrificing wives of itinerant preachers, especially those pioneer men of the long ago. Brother God- bey was superannuated a good many years, and they were years of patient waiting. In his affliction dur- ing his last days, when asked how he felt, he would say: "I am just waiting."
Rev. Charles C. Godbey, of the North Alabama Conference, is the worthy successor to his father's ministry.
REV. CHRISTOPHER D. OLIVER, D.D.
R EV. CHRISTOPHER D. OLIVER was born in El- bert County, Ga., January 19, 1819; and clied in Calera, Ala., January 13, 1892. Hence he lacked only a few days of having attained his sev- enty-third year. We know but little of his early life and religious training except that his father was a member of the Methodist Church, a man of pure life and fervent piety ; and it seems from the subsequent life of the son that he had been reared in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When about fifteen years of age he made a profession of religion and connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, there to remain till called from labor to reward. In early manhood he married Miss Laura A. Reid. Three sons constituted their family. Not long after his marriage he accepted the call of the Spirit of God to labor in his vine- yard; and leaving a valuable farm in Montgomery County, Ala., he entered upon the toils and priva- tions of an itinerant's life. From thenceforward his history is interwoven with that of the Church in Alabama, and eternity alone will unfold the part performed by our deceased brother as a wise master builder in laying deep and broad the founda- tion of our beloved Zion in several of the principal cities in this great commonwealth. We have no data
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REV. CHRISTOPHER D. OLIVER, D.D.
from which to give a chronological list of the charges served by him during his ministerial life of nearly forty years of active work. Suffice it to say that in the leading Churches of Mobile, Montgomery, Au- burn, Tuscaloosa, Florence, Gadsden, Athens, and Huntsville, also for a short time as presiding elder and Agent for the American Bible Society, he oc- cupied positions of usefulness and honor enjoyed by but few men in the Alabama or North Alabama Conference.
In the prime of life Dr. Oliver was a man of fine personal appearance, courtly in manner, and a gen- eral favorite in the social walks of life. As a preacher he ranked high among the great ministers of his day. By many he was regarded as a model preacher. His diction was pure, and with a voice of rare compass and power he was always impres- sive and at times eloquent in the presentation of gospel truth. Not only was Dr. Oliver a preacher of wide popularity, but as a correspondent of the religious press he wrote much and well, and had a wide circle of readers. About thirty-five years ago he wrote a little book entitled "St. Pe- ter's Chain of Christian Virtues." The style of this little work is eminently devout, the thought. clear, and the applications and exhortations are strong and inspiring. It has passed through sev- eral editions, has blessed and comforted many ; and now that its venerable author has been gath- ered to his fathers, it is still going on its way, a
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boon to generations unborn. We could not pass by his public services without mentioning his pow- er in prayer. In this he excelled at all times; but as he approached the sunset of life, although par- tial paralysis consequent upon injuries received had impaired his mental as well as his physical activi- ties, yet there seemed to be even a development of his power in this regard. There were times when the whole man seemed surcharged with power born of God as he pleaded for dying men. At Calera. where he spent the last years of his life, these prayers in behalf of the people of that community linger in the memory of many as a precious legacy. Not only did the Church honor him in its appointments to fields of labor, but several times he went as a delegate to the General Conference, the great law- making body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He also represented the State of Alabama at large in the International Sunday School Con- vention held at Toronto, Canada, about the year 1873. While stationed at Tuscaloosa he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and a short time thereafter became one of the original trustees of Vanderbilt University.
We do not portray our brother as faultless, but none that we ever knew seemed more ready to ac- knowledge and bewail his shortcomings than he. His final public service was on Thanksgiving day of 1891. In response to a request he made a short talk of thanksgiving and praise, then led in
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REV. CHRISTOPHER D. OLIVER, D.D.
one of his impressive, fervent prayers, and his work was done. His vocal powers failed entirely, and for nearly two months he silently awaited the com- ing of the final messenger. It is a remarkable fact that questions as to his physical sufferings and wants elicited only a feeble response, yet any in- quiry as to his spiritual condition or hopes brought at once a smile or nod of approval or the eager grasp of the hand, betokening a spirit ripe for the joys of the eternal world. In fact, his prayer meeting and experience talks toward the close of life were exalted expressions of his readiness to depart. When the Master called, the servant was ready. In the quiet of his own home, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren, he breathed his last. It was a fitting close to a long, useful life.
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