USA > Alabama > The cyclopedia of the colored Baptists of Alabama, their leaders and their work > Part 10
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LEWIS, REV. C., is pastor of Macedonia Church, Birming- ham. Ile appears ready for any good word and work.
LOONEY, REV. J. T., of Fayetteville, Talladega county, was born in Coosa county, Alabama, May 2, 1847. He was baptized into the Fayetteville Church by Rev. Berry Ware in 1867, and in 1885 he was set apart to the work of the ministry by Rev. H. Morris and others. At the time of this writing Mr. Looney is pastor at Alpine. He is a quiet and unassum- ing man, ever friendly to education and missions, and hospi- table toward his brethren.
LOFTON. REV. J. B., is pastor at Smithfield, near Bir- mingham.
LOVELADY. REV. C. L., of Hollywood, Jackson county, is noted among his brethren for his interest in missions and edu- cation. He followed Rev. Lewis Roach in the moderatorship of the Mud Creek Association. He helps in the building of churches, and is a liberal supporter of schools.
Low, REV. GREEN, of Livingston, is one of the most mat- ter-of-faet sort of men with whom the writer has ever had any business. No man can beat him wearing his whole heart right on his face. Ile is uncovered, outspoken and fearless, and yet all seems so natural, so honest and so kind, until what would otherwise appear hard and ungenial, is really en- joyable. Mr. Low is among the leaders of the Bethlehem As- sociation.
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Mi -. A. I. Bowman, Missionary, Birmingham, Ala.
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MeAtrisk, Rev. W. HI., at present teacher of Ministers' and Deacons' Institute, under the appointment of the South- ern Baptist Mission Board, was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, June, 1847. At the age of three years, he, his mother and a younger brother were brought to this state by a "Negro speculator," who sold them to a Rev. Robert MeAl- pine, of Consa county. At the age of 8 years and on the oc- casion of the death of this Presbyterian minister, he became the property (?) of Dr. Me.Alpine, with whom he remained till the close of the war. In this family he was the nurse of the white children for about ten years. As Mrs. Dr. McAlpine was very anxious and cautious as to the quality of the first . moulding influences touching the childhood of her children. . and as the schools around were hardly up to her ideal, she had her children instructed at home. As the nurse's position placed him and kept him in constant association with the children, and as he was possessed of a literary turn of mind, he soon began to imbibe a knowledge of letters, advaneing into reading, writing, grammar, geography and arithmetic. From 1855 to 1874 he saw nothing of his mother, and for six- teen years of this time did not know where she was. Nat- urally this incident started a train of serious reflections toueh- ing the facts and hopes of human life. About the year 1864 or 1865 he was converted to Christianity and some time after was baptized into the Talladega Church (white) by his friend, Dr. Renfroe. At the elose of the war Mr. MeAlpine first worked at the carpenters' trade, which he left for school teaeh- ing. In the winter of 1866 he entered the Talladega College, supporting himself by laboring during the morning and eve- ning hours-before the opening and after the close of the school. In 1878 he severed his connection with this institu- tion, having been aroused to undertake the establishment of a similar institution for his own denomination. In 1871 he was
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ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Mt. Canaan Baptist Church, Talla- dega, which he resigned in 1875 in order to give his whole time to his school project.
To no man in Alabama has been committed trusts more varied and more weighty. While connected with the Talla- dega College he occupied the position of State canvasser under the appointment of Mr. Cravath. He has been pastor at Tal- ladega, Jacksonville, Marion and Anniston, and president of Selma University. His special excellence is not of that mental style which gives birth to fine psychological and metaphysical discernments and distinctiveness : it is that sort of mental something which strikes with broad side and ponderous weight. The breadth of his rear head would seem to indicate that all his faculties are driven forward by a force that starts from a broad base. The writer first met Dr. McAlpine in Mobile, in November, 1874, the year following that in which he brought forward, at the Tuscaloosa session of the Convention, his school idea. My first impression of him was that he was a man of special mission, and I immediately sympathized with him and with the school project, throwing myself fully into line with his pians.
In referring to his childhood life, and while talking with reference to the power of secret prayer, he once remarked to the writer: " Upon one occasion, though without my knowl. edge, Dr. McAlpine had resolved to punish me for a trivial matter on my part which had eaused him some displeasure. I had gone to feed the horses, and in the crib I was on my knees at prayer. The doctor had followed me with his whip. I was not aware of his presence of purpose, and hence as he did not speak I got through with my prayer and fed my horse and returned to the house. I learned afterward that my
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prayer had subdued him, and that he had expressed himself as being ashamed of his purpose."
Alluding once to some mistakes he had made, he observed : " We grow wiser as we grow folder." He has been happily married twice. By his last wife he has a large family of beau- tiful and promising children. The Rivers family, into which he married, are a people of very sterling qualities, and no doubt these happy associations have conduced to his success in all regards.
The act of the University in conferring upon him the honorary title of D. D. is evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by the trustees and faculty of the school. He is now theological instructor in the school and is supported by the Southern Board.
MCALPINE, F. PERCY, son of J. D. and Jane MeAlpine, was born August 1, 1865, in Forkland. Ala. He entered the world amid that good heritage which can come only of the exemplary life of parents. Though his early life was spent. on the farm, his youthful days were blessed with some edu- cational facilities, which his discerning, appreciative mind turned to good advantage. After completing primary grades in his home schools, he, against the wish of his mother and protest of brothers, entered the State Normal School at Ma- rion, Ala., with only $15 to begin the course of study pre- scribed. The next year he entered Selma University, study- ing during the school session and teaching in summer till 1888, when his mother, his only support since the death of his father, fell asleep. Ile says of this time of struggle :
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" I owe a lasting debt of gratitude to President Purce, who never left me without an encouragement which it was possible for him to bestow."
In 1890 while in his junior college year, financial straits
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forced him to give np study and go out to work. Applying for the principalship of the Bessemer City School, he made an almost perfect mark in his examination and obtained the position. While in this capacity, aided by Mr. J. C. Barker, he edited a paper known as " The Marvel Age." In 1893, he and Mr. Barker operated a bookstore.
The writer knows but few young men who equal Mr. McAlpine in modesty, industry, courage, push and beauty of moral character. An honorable future awaits him, and of friends he shall have many. Talented and studious, he must still advance in scholarship. He became a member of the Missionary Baptist Church in 1885, and lives according to his profession. He expects to complete his university course in 1896.
MCEWEN, REv. A. N., pastor of Franklin Street Church, Mobile, lately editor of the Baptist Leader, is a native of the State of Mississippi, where he was born April, 1849. When he was about 18 years of age he went to Nashville, Tenn., in search of better things than those to which slavery had in- trodueed him. Here he entered the Roger Williams Univer- sity, remaining only a very short while. Here also he found and wedded a wife. Being controlled by industry and econo- my he soon saved enough from his small wages to purchase a horse and wagon. This was the first of a series of financial successes by means of which he soon rose above poverty and want into comfortable circumstances for himself and family. While attending the services of Mt. Zion Church in Nashville in 1870 he was led to faith in Christ which he professed by receiving baptism.
Shortly after he began religious work, and in 1876 he was ordained to take charge of the pastorate at Tullahoma, Tenn. Five or six years after this he came to Alabama to take charge of the Dexter Avenue Church. Mr. MeEwen, since his en- -12
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trance into Alabama, has been intimately connected with all our state operations, educational and missionary, and-no man among us has been more successful as a church financier. He has bestowed special care upon the education of his children, all of whom he has reared for the most part without their mother's aid, as she died when they were young. The Dex- ter Avenue Church building was constructed under his lead- ership.
M.CALL, REV. E. A., at present pastor in Columbus, Ga., the son of Rev. II. A. MeCall, was born May 15, 1855, in Rus- sell county, Alabama. In 1872 he was baptized into the Hawk- insville Baptist Church by the hands of his father. In Sep- tember, in the twentieth year of his age, he was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry by Revs. A. Gachet, S. Fant- roy, J. Daniel, J. H. Davis and H. A. McCall. It will be seen that he entered the sacred office at a very early age-at an age rather soon in most cases- rather early for the good of the minister as well as for the good of the people and the cause. But though in youth he was possessed of very poor educa- tional advantages, by talent, push, courage, ambition, observa- tion and application to books, he has made surprising ad- vances. He is strictly a self-made man. He speaks with ease and performs well on the organ.
He has had a wide range of operation, having been pastor at different times of eleven different churches, some of them equaling the best pastorates in the country. Among them the church at Union Springs may be mentioned. No man in Ala- bama is more companionable than he.
MeCoRD, REV. C., of Selma, was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry by the St. Phillip Street Church while the writer was pastor in 1884. He started the study of books late in life, but by associating with men of advanced ideas and
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close application to books he is now considerably ahead of the masses of the ministry. He is a sober, judicious man, peace- . able and ever ready for work.
MADDOX, REV. J. D., the son of Daniel and Tabitha Mad- dox, was born in Barbour county, Ala., near Midway, in 1854. His father was sold away from him when he was only three days old, and his mother when he was three years old, and hence he came up without knowing anything either of father or mother.
This friendless condition early impressed him with the desire to obtain the friendship of God, which in his eleventh year, he sought and found. He was baptized into the Rama Church by the Rev. Mr. Van Hoose (white) during the same year.
In his seventeenth year, a desire to read books came into his mind. By good fortune, he came into possession of 25 cents which he invested in a " blue back speller." In order that his book and purpose might not come to the notice of the white people he decided that he would tear out and learn one leaf at the time. Thus he began to spell, aided by a more fortunate fellow slave. The widow of a Baptist minis- ter encouraged him with the statement that if he could read she would give him a hymn book and a Bible. On one Sabbath he learned the Ten Commandments. Doubtless he owes much of his success to his excellent wife, who is no less en- terprising than she is devout and faithful. Ile said to the writer : " My wife makes me study."
In 1879 at the call of the Friendship Baptist Church of Barbour county, he was set apart to the ministry by Revs. J. Shorter, A. Gachet and E. Alexander. Brother Maddox is a good man, a faithful preacher, and a successful builder-a leading man in the Eufaula Association, and is as gentle as a woman, and simple hearted as a child.
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MADERSON, REV. WILLIAM, of Greensboro, was born in Virginia in 1849, and came to Alabama in 1866. In the fall of 1872 he was baptized into the Second Baptist Church at Marion, Ala., and in the following year began to enter upon the work of the ministry, speaking in public as he had opportunity. While the Convention was in session in Marion in 1880, the hands of ordination were laid upon his head by order of the Marion Church, and by the same presbytery that ordained Dr. Pettiford. He spent some time in study in the Selma Uni- versity, under the presidency of the late Rev. Harry Wood- small. Mr. Maderson is a man of fine natural gifts which, considering his early, meagre advantages, have been well developed. He is remarkably capacitated for imbibing what is pure and clevating in good men and good books. He is dearly beloved no less for his stainless character than for his refinement and wisdom. After serving various other impor- tant pastorates, he was called to the pulpit of the Salem Church at Greensboro, where he now serves with success, greatly in- ereasing the membership and purchasing a neat parsonage. For the past seven or eight years he has been the moderator of the Uniontown Association-the largest Association in the State. Should be continue as he has begun, coming years must increase his power with God and man.
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Rev. M. Tyler. D. D., Lowndesboro, Ala.
MERRELL, REV. MASON C., of Fort Deposit, son of M. C. and Harriet Merrell, was born in Dallas county, Ala., June 26, 1849. As his parents were poor, he was apprenticed to the Rev. II. Talbird, D. D., of said county, who sent liim to the schools of the neighborhood. By such means he was early placed in conditions where he was able to lay the foundation of a liberal English education. Much of Mr. Merrell's time for many years has been spent in teaching in the State schools. The money thus earned has been a supplement to the meagre
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support given him by the small churches of which he is the efficient pastor. He was baptized into the fellowship of the Carlowville Church October, 1867, by the hands of his bene- factor. In 1879 he was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry in the city of Montgomery, Revs. J. A. Foster, W. J. Stevens, Wm. Jinkins and R. Aarons officiating as presbytery. Brother Merrell is a sociable, genial companion, a careful speaker, an earnest Christian, and a firm believer in missions and education. On all the moral questions of the times he is as straight as a shingle. He, by his various pastorates, is asso- ciated with the Alabama District and the Union Associations, and in both bodies he is held in high esteem by all the thoughful and pious persons.
Indeed, he is respected by all who know him, white and black. Because of his quietness and sunshine, as well as for his musical talent and skill, he is in special demand at our annual and extra meetings.
MURRELL, REV. PRINCE .- Rev. Prince Murrell was born in Savannah, Ga., January 1, 1817. His mother, who descended of a Congo prince, was born in Providence, R. I. Ilis father was the son of an Englishman, of the name of Murrell. Some of his youthful years were spent with his parents in South Carolina. In the year 1838, his mother with seven children, he being the youngest, moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala. At this time no member of the family knew anything of the Christian life. In 1839 his mother was baptized, which incident excited such serious impressions in her son as re- sulted in his baptism in August, 1842. About this time he began to speak and exhort as he had opportunity. At the close of the war he had been a member of the Tuscaloosa Church (white) about ten years, and was the only colored Baptist preacher in Tuscaloosa. This brother has had a
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rather remarkable career. In the year 1855 he bought his freedom, and in 1856 started to Liberia, Africa, going as far as Savannah, Ga. His aspiration for liberty, his unaided toiling for the mastery of letters and books, his tact and persever- ance in organizing the colored Baptists of his section into churches and associations, and his success in accumulating property with many other things, mark him as no ordinary man. His marriage to Miss Mary Drisdell in the year 1842, was no doubt largely conducive to his energy and success, for she-even up into old age-was a woman of strength and industry. The first colored school ever taught in Tuscaloosa was taught by him, and taught at a time when to teach a col- ored school was to put one's life at the muzzle of the shot gun. Touching this phase of work, he related to the writer the fol- lowing stories : "When we were just set at liberty I went to a white Baptist who had in times of slavery shown himself friendly toward black people, and said, "Mr. S-, we need a school teacher, can't we secure you?' He replied, .Do you think I would disgrace myself by teaching a negro school? Besides this, it would be only throwing into the waste my time, my talent and my strength. I might as well drive into a room a drove of sheep or a herd of swine, and put books be- fore them as to put books before kinky-headed nigger child- ren.'
. 2 "On one occasion, two white men who had come into town to bring a prisoner, walked into my school room with their ropes and chains in hand, and teacher and school, feel- ing sure that the ropes and chains were for their necks, were so dismayed as to excite the pity of the dreaded visitors, and they sought to remove our fears and to encourage us to con- tinue on in our good way."
Speaking of the organization of colored churches in the South, he remarked to the writer: "I was in Savannah when
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the white people were discussing the propriety of organizing colored churches." He opened the first Sunday School for colored people in the city of Tuscaloosa the first Sunday in December, 1866. He claimed to owe most of his success in the study of divine truth to the Rev. Chas. Manly. On July 1 he organized the African Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa with 25 members. As he did not begin reading till he was 22 years old he was not faultless in his mastery of the English langnage, but was a good speaker, self-possessed and ready in words. Mr. Murrell was one of the leading fathers of the Alabama work. His children were a pride to him in his old age.
In the last years of his life he spoke tenderly of his old mistress who encouraged him to learn to read, and of his maiden mistress, who in many ways saved him from oppres- sion and aided him in securing his liberty.
Since the above sketch was commenced Mr. Murrell and his good wife have exchanged the cross for the crown.
Vienons, REV. JAMES, of Greenville, moderator and mis- sionary of the Union Association, was born in Virginia May 10, 1842, and was brought to Alabama September, 1856, locat- ing at Selma, where he joined the church and was baptized by the Rev. Mr. McCraw, who was then pastor both of the col- ored and of the white churches of that city. At this time, as the dates will show, he was a young man. It was in this same church and city that he began the work of the ministry dur- ing the days of slavery.
His first marriage was to Miss Emma Allison, of Dallas county. The fruit of this marriage was two sons and one daughter, neither of whom is now living. Ilis present wife has two living children. He has an bumble home of his own.
Mr. Nichols is a man of energy, industry and decision of
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character ; he has opinions and has the courage to express them. No man has any trouble in times of controversy to locate him, and yet in his rulings as presiding officer of the above named association, the writer has seen evidences of prudence and commendable flexibility.
His early life was robbed of literary environments, and hence he is not an extensive reader of books ; but his knowl- edge of things is superior to many whose advantages have been far better than his have been. He says that he knew ab- solutely nothing of letters till since the close of the war, when he had a little opportunity to attend night school at Union- town.
He was ordained in 1873 at Georgiana, Butler county, by Revs. Dan Shepard, Nelson Briggs, Jesse Holens and others, and he has done a good work in his section.
NORTHCROSS, REV. W. E., of Tuscumbia, Colbert county, was born in Colbert county, Ala., in 1840, and ordained to the gospel ministry in 1867 by Rev. Mr. Slater (white) and Rev. Henry Bynum.
Mr. Northeross is strictly a pioneer. He, Rev. Stephen Coleman and Rev. Henry Bynum, aided by Dr. Joseph Shack- leford (white) laid down the foundation stones in Morgan. Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale and Lawrence counties.
He is a peculiar man. Ile is a man of very positive na- ture-with him it is yea and amen.
To those who do not know him as well as to those who vacilate and pretend, his sternness is repelling. But behind and below external appearances there is a heart that is as ten- der as it is brave, and as kind as it is firm. Except a little time spent in the Roger Williams University, he has had no school advantages, but he reads and writes fairly well.
The Tuscumbia, Barton and Sheffield churches were built
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up under his labors. In the formation of the Muscle Shoals Association at Tuscumbia in 1869, he was one of the lead- ing spirits. Ile relates the 'following incidents :
" Before the close of the war I was captured by the Fed- eral troops and carried to Decatur, where I joined their army. As I had a crippled foot I was allowed to remain with the commissary department. While we were camped at Athens, General Forest came upon us and defeated, captured and killed until we were almost literally wiped out of existence. I had been kind to some little white children by which I had won their love and, of course, the love of their parents. There- fore, in the time of danger, I rushed to this house, and the good people hid me and changed my clothes. IIcnee when I was found, I was taken for one of the gentleman's slaves. When I was permitted by the man to try to return to Tus- cumbia and had gone some distance, I was caught by de- serters from the Southern army, who voted to shoot me. They bound me and kept me over night, intending to do away with me the next day. It was in a lonely desert on the Tennessee river. I could not sleep, and so all night I prayed to God, and all night the wives of the men prayed for " the poor nigger "-prayed to their cruel husbands. Their cries and tears prevailed, and I was robbed and let go after I had vowed not to reveal their whereabouts. I left loving God and believing in his faithfulness to his people as I had never done before."
For years Mr. Northeross has been the trusted treasurer of the Musele Shoals Association. He is the pastor of the largest church, and has the best edifice, in northern Alabama.
Onky, REv. M. C. B., of Sylacauga, was born in Charles- ton, S. C., December 24, 1839. He was baptized by Rev. J. J. D. Renfroe, D. D., in September, 1865, and in 1873 he was set
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Mrs. Rebecca Pitts, Member Board of Trustees Woman's state Convention, Uniontown, Ala.
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apart to the work of the gospel ministry, Rev. W. Wilks, and others, officiating as presbytery. He, in speaking of the rise of the work in this section,'says : " I came from South Caro- lina in 1858, a Methodist. ; There were nineteen or twenty other slaves on our place beside myself. I, and one other. professed to be Christians. The master of the place permitted us to hold prayer services, and allowed the slaves of his kin people to attend. The Lord blessed these meetings and at the close of the war this humble beginning was ready to unfold into the Harpersville Church. At the close of the war, I began to teach night and Sunday Schools, and thus introduced the study of letters, though in the Sunday School as well as in the night school, we had nothing but the ' blue back speller.'" Brother Oden is an honorable, outspoken, industrious, prosper- ous man, whose hospitality is known far and wide. His home has often been an asylum of rest to the writer, as well as to other missionaries of Alabama of all denominations.
O'BRYANT, REV. L. F., of Eufaula, the son of Frederick and Rose O'Bryant, was born on the Dent plantation in Bar- bour county, Ala., in the year 1860. In 1879 he was converted to the faith of the gospel under the preaching of Rev. Jerry Shorter, and was baptized into the l'leasant Grove Baptist Church. At the call of the above named church, he was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry in 1885 by Revs. J. Q. A. Wilhite, A. Gachet, J. D. Maddox, E. May and J. A. Alston, of Arkansas. Notwithstanding his educational ad- vantages have been very meagre, he has, by constant study and observation, advaneed to a fair knowledge of books. He is a loving husband, a successful pastor, a strong preacher, a genial associate, and carries sunshine everywhere. The writer was associated with him for some weeks in the institute work at Eufaula, and was truly delighted with his urbanity and in-
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