USA > Florida > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 16
USA > Georgia > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 16
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Andrew Ilammill's hard work had been too much for his strength, and he retired on the superannua- ted list.
* Travis' Autobiography.
+ Ib.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
Nicholas Talley came again to Georgia as Presiding Elder on the Augusta District. Wm. Crooks, a young man who afterward for many years did fine service in South Carolina, came as junior preacher on the Apala- chee Circuit with James Bellah.
Isaac Boring was with Wm. J. Parks on Broad River Circuit. He was the son of excellent Methodist parents. They had removed from Jackson county to Gwinnett, while the country was new. The educational advantages of young Boring were such as could be secured in the frontier counties. Before he was twenty, he began to preach, and continued his work until 1850, when he died suddenly of cholera, at the General Conference in St. Lonis.
If not a brilliant, he was a highly gifted man. One whose clear head, and whose determined will, and whose consecrated heart, made him a most valuable man to the Church. He did all kinds of hard work, and well won his place among the first of the con- ference. He was the older brother of Dr. Jesse Boring, who entered the conference two years after him.
Still the work of increase goes on. The total white membership reported at the conference was 14,186 whites, an increase of over two thousand during the year.
The conference met in Augusta, January 11, 1827. There were three bishops present. McKendree, Roberts, and Soule. This was Soule's second visit to Georgia as bishop. Ile was now about forty-six years old. He was as erect as an Indian, with an eye of most piercing brilliancy; a face of great comeliness, expres- sive of great courage and dignity. He was every ir a commander, and thus every inch a Methodist Bis)
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He had now been a preacher for twenty-eight years. For half that time he had travelled in the forests of Maine. He had braved all the perils of the wildest frontier. He had traversed almost trackless forests, had swam angry streams, and in winter his clothing sometimes froze to his person as he emerged from the torrent. He had faced highwaymen in the Western wilds, had travelled through the hunting grounds of untamed savages, had been exposed to every peril of travel; had been the target for the arrows of brethren, who were bitterly hostile ; but he had never swerved a hair's breadth from the path of duty, nor quailed be- fore any danger. During this conference he preached a sermon on the " Perfect law of Liberty," which Dr. Few, no unfit judge, declared to be the greatest ser- mon he had ever heard ; but which was foolishly de- nounced as heretical. An attack was made upon it in the Charleston Observer, and Dr. Capers came to its defence. At the General Conference of 1828 the charge was referred to a committee, who found no fault in the sermon. It was nearly forty years after this that this grand old man passed away in holy triumph, crying out with his last breath, "Push on the great work." Ilis life is so interwoven with the history of Methodism in Georgia, that we shall see him again, and after time. Joshua Soule had few peers among even great meu. Ile was a man if not of colossal intellect, certainly of colossal spirit; fearless of every danger, clear-headed, conscientious, he was a commander whoin men might well consent to obey ; a leader whom all might safely follow.
At this conference Thomas Samford was placed on the Athens District. These were his days of strength,
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
and he travelled a district extending from the mountains of Habersham to the Flint River in Fayette, and in old Georgia and new made his power felt everywhere.
Win. Arnold was now placed in charge of the Mil- ledgeville District, and Samuel K. Hodges sent to the Milledgeville station. John IIoward was again at Wash- ington, and Lewis Myers, worn down by hard labor, retired to his farm in Effingham County, to work for, pray for, and think for the church of his love. The work in Florida still goes on, and the missionary reaches the remote settler in the far East and in the far West.
The Chattahoochee Circuit had on it this year a young man who was to make his name known all over the Southern work. This was Jesse Boring.
Jesse was the brother of Isaac Boring, and was two years his junior. He had been a Christian from his early boyhood, and was but eighteen years old when he was received into the conference and sent to this remote circuit. His parents were then living in Gwin- nett County. He must ride from the mountains through the Indian country for several hundred miles, to reach his first circuit, which extended to the Gulf. IIe found the people of the rudest type of frontiersmen, the houses far apart, the forest almost unbroken, and a ride of over 300 miles each month, extending into three States, before him. His home had been the home of refinement and piety. He was a shrinking and gentle- spirited lad ; and now, at only eighteen, he was thrown among strangers, and exposed to all the perils of the wilderness. His presiding elder, used to hardships and to dangers himself, had but little sympathy for one so woman-like and gentle, and told him he had better go back to his mother; but the great heart of Elisha '
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laway, his colleague, yearned over him as over a son, and he tenderly encouraged and comforted him, and thus Jesse Boring passed his first year. What his after career has been, this history can only tell, as we meet with him on our way ; and yet it would not be an un- profitable story for a young preacher to hear, of how, amid such difficulties as these, Jesse Boring won his way to the front rank among pulpit orators in America, and secured a cultivation of mind not often secured by the inmates of college halls.
This was a year of wonderful revival power in Georgia and Florida. Not only were the Methodists greatly blessed, but their faithful colaborers, the Baptists, reaped a grand harvest. One cannot withhold his tribute of praise to the noble, self-sacrificing men of God who labored in this Church. Jacob King, Zechariah Gordon, IIead Garland, Milner, in western Georgia, John E. Dawson, Jesse Mercer, now in his old age, Sereven Brantley, Kilpatrick, in the East, were strong men and good men. As yet there was no division in the Church, and Mosely and others, who were on the anti-missionary side in after-time, were at this time efficient revivalists. The revival influence was not confined to one section of the State. There was a great meeting in Milledgeville. William Arnold was presiding elder of the Milledge- ville District. James O. Andrew, who had come on a visit from South Carolina, where he was stationed, John IToward and Lovick Pierce and Stephen Olin, all united to work for Milledgeville. A large bush arbor was erected, and the services were like those of a camp- meeting. The preaching was with power, and the re- sults were glorious. In this four days' meeting over one hundred were converted.
1
Augustus B. Longstreet
REV. A. M. LONGSTREET, D.D. LL
IN GEORGIA MED RUTINA 1756-1835
During this your -que of the sono some of revivalista mit to Washingbe. The )sipulation of that promising un was toted fur wealth, hospitality, refinement, and, Tha, for skopticians and wickedness. John Howard preacher in charge of Washington, and Pierce and o emine to his help. Olin preached with matchless s, and under nun of his sermone ou evidences all -eticisin took fight A wonderful work flowed, nud erer 300 were sodée ty den Church. From this time
Darley came in 1494, 10000 s . bank us and only fourteen imsabers.
witt ; but althoog Ade ablest mwstnes applied bios ulpit, there bad . w much un ; but this year
To Greensboro, Homar fan! Pierce nad their homes, ... there Adiel Sherwood sadf others of the Baptist ir resided also. Toxy lemmined Is storm the ugyanta, and began a mentes. Angnatua B. Long-
Judge of the Circuit Court. He was highly Top religiously traitund by a Presbyterian
moral mal Bpright in conduct,
Te had married a Methodist, he
frunily, and when his dret keen -grow came Di lis-loath of his little boy, be 1-end no wanfort in his choeriem ereed of doubt. His konstan- Aww told him of Could. He began to itser les: belleved ; thôngh in per he did not trust. He com the meeting. Adial Sie preached, sal dehu ard followed him in ant ethats . Peuttoute awited forward, and Judge Legetout came with
Augustus B. Longstreet
During thin your - go of this anoto corps of revivalists IL to Washington. The population of that promising Soun was noted for wealth, hospitality, refinement, and, :\ for akoptielaty and wickedness. John Howard prencher in charge of Washington, and Pierce and (ho enie to his help. Olin preached with matchless 15 id under com of his sermais on evidences all myticism took flight A wonderful wol followed, and wer 190 were added to Chorreh. From the time forward Washington bus tes a mis dallesiky muestre- ment. For forly yre
Darley came in 1994, there ; and only fourtoce im sabers.
mulle : Unit althud ablest xove is applied tive ulpil, there had i bian much gur ; but this year
In Greensboro, Hower ! Pierce nad their homes, of there Adiel Sherwood of others of the Baptist h resided also. They Meanined In aform the howsuits, and began a moins Angnatha. B. Long.
Judge of the Grenw 1heart. He was highly tweewy religiously traived by a Presbyterian
mural and upright in conduct, He had married a Methodist, he fanily, and when his Oret keen crow came in the death of his little boyche 1-obod no wodfort in his chocri a preed of doubt. His bruitage law told him of Chud. Ho began to study dusz bolleved ; though an gue he did not trust. if6 xxx be meeting. Adiel 8 - poznhed, and J.hu ard followed him in medhandling. Punitout. wwwited forward, and Judge Lesnot came with
1
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
During this year some of the same corps of revivalists went to Washington. The population of that promising town was noted for wealth, hospitality, refinement, and, alas, for skepticism and wickedness. John Howard was preacher in charge of Washington, and Pierce and Olin came to his help. Olin preached with matchless power, and under one of his sermons on evidences all skepticism took flight. A wonderful work followed, and over 100 were added to the Church. From this time forward Washington has been a most desirable appoint- meut. For forty years, under the old circuit plan, no impress had been made on the town, and when Thomas Darley came in 1824, there was no church building, and only fourteen members. After this a church was built ; but although the ablest ministers supplied the pulpit, there had not been much success ; but this year it came.
In Greensboro, Howard and Pierce had their homes, and there Adiel Sherwood and others of the Baptist Church resided also. They determined to storm the battlements, and began a meeting. Augustus B. Long- street was Judge of the Circuit Court. He was highly educated, had been religiously trained by a Presbyterian mother, and was, while moral and upright in conduct, in religion a skeptic. He had married a Methodist, he lived in a Methodist family, and when his first keen sorrow came in the death of his little boy, he found no comfort in his cheerless creed of doubt. His brother- in-law told him of Christ. He began to study Jesus ; he believed ; though as yet he did not trust. He came to the meeting. Adiel Sherwood preached, and John Howard followed him in an exhortation. Penitents were invited forward, and Judge Longstreet came with
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
them. God converted him. IIe soon began to preach, and we shall see him again. The Apalachee Circuit was ablaze. Athens had a precious revival. At Bear Creek, in Newton, nearly 300, according to the Metho- dist Magazine, were converted. Thomas Samford wrote to the magazine: "The Lord is doing great things in Georgia. Religion pure and undefiled may now be seen not only in the church, but on the farmns, behind the counter, at the bar, and the bench. Some of our courts are now opened with prayer by the Judge himself." Wm. Capers writes : "I am just from Georgia. The work: there has been transcendant every way." Allen Turner says, "About 400 have been added to the Warren Circuit."
In Madison, Morgan County, there had up to this time been no church building, but during the revival of this year, so many were received into the communion that a church was built. The village of Greensboro was founded in 1786, and as Greene was in the circuit of Humphries and Major, the Methodist preachers probably preached in the town almost as soon as it was settled ; but when Bishop Asbury visited it in 1799. there was as yet no Methodist church, and he preached in the Presbyterian. Some time after there was a little log-church built on the outskirts of the town, but after Dr. Pierce settled there, in 1815, at his instance a better house was built, on a better lot, and he incautiously assumed the whole pecuniary responsibility, from which he was not relieved till after this great revival in 1827.
This was the first year an appointment was made to Macon, of which we have given account in another chapter.
While the work was so fruitful in blessings in the
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
older counties, all over the new country the revival fire blazed. Baptists and Methodists alike participated in the blessings. In Florida too, there was the same pre- cions results. On the Tallahassee and Pea River Mis- sion the membership was more than doubled. Camp- meetings were held in every circuit in Georgia, and a blessing attended them all. Perhaps no year in the history of the Church in Georgia has been one of richer interest than that of 1827.
The Conference for 1828 met in Camden, S. C. Bishop Soule presided. There was an increase of nearly 4,000 white members. The Church had doubled its membership since 1823.
At this session there was an election for delegates to the general conference, which was to meet in May. The delegates elected were James O. Andrew, Capers, Kennedy, Pierce, Bass, Dunwoody, Hodges, Geo. Hill, Arnold, IIammill, McPherson, Adams, and. Elijah Sin- clair.
Lewis Myers was unable to take the long journey to Pittsburg, and was not elected. The proceedings of this general conference were unimportant. The greater part of the session was taken up in hearing appeals, and in meeting some of the questions which had sprung up during the excitement of the last four years. Win. Capers and Joshua Soule were selected as fraternal mes- engers to the Wesleyan Conference in England.
There was to be still further enlargement in the work in Georgia. The territory west of the Flint River was now open to settlers. It was even superior in fertility to that which adjoined it on the east, and was soon thickly peopled. At once the missionary was sent. Coweta and Carroll were made a circuit, and a supply
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
from the local ranks selected. John Hunter was sent to the Troup Mission, and James Stockdale to Columbus. Upson was made a separate circuit, and James Dun- woody was sent to it. Although Jacob King and Zacha- riah Gordon, of the Baptist Church, had received several hundred in this county into the Baptist Church, there were still 491 Methodists in Upson. In the new coun- try of southwest Georgia a mission was formed, called the Lee Mission, and Morgan Turrentine was sent to it. This was the introduction of the Church into the coun- ties of Sumpter, Lee, Randolph, and Stewart. John IIoward, after having been nominally local for several years, re-entered the regular work, and was returned to Washington.
James Dannelly, who for several years had travelled in South Carolina, was sent to the Little River Circuit. Uncle Jiminy Dannelly, as he was generally called, was a remarkable man. IIe was born in Columbia County in 1786. IIe grew up to manhood with but little men- tal and still less moral training ; he became very dissi- pated, and while leading this wayward life, lost a ley. When he was thirty years old he was converted, and soon after licensed to preach. After travelling from 1818 in the South Carolina part of the conference, he came to Georgia. After the division of the conference he remained in South Carolina, and was superannnated in 1835. In 1355 he died. Ile was noted for his sometimes moving eloquence, and for his more frequent sharpness of rebuke. IIe was a terror to evil-doers. Sarcasm was his favorite weapon, and he did not always spare his friends. He seemed to feel it a duty to be severe. Some of the authentic stories told of him are amusing illustrations of this proclivity, but like all
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
things of the kind lose much of their flavor in putting them on paper.
Once old Father Perryman, an old Baptist preacher, said to him:
"Brother Dannelly, you have heard me preach ?" "No!"
In vain the old gentleman tried to bring to his remembrance the times when they had been together ; still Uncle Jiminy denied that he had ever heard him preach ; at last he sharply said, "No, Brother Perry- man, I never heard you preach, but I have heard you try many a time."
Another good Baptist twitted him with having bap- tized some of his sheep.
" They were not my sheep."
" Did they not belong to such a church ?"
" Yes, but they were not my sheep."
" Well, what were they ?"
"Why, they were my hogs."
" How do you make that out?"
"From the Bible."
" How ? "
" Why, the Bible says the devil entered in the swine, and they took to the water right away."
One day, he was at camp-meeting with Bishop Pierce when he was a presiding elder. Of course he was asked to preach.
"George," said he, " shall I rake 'em ?"
"Do as you please, Uncle Jimmy,"
" But, George, shall I rake 'em ?"
" Well, if I have my preference, I'd rather you would not do so."
He went to the stand, and preached a moving, 11
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
pathetic sermon on the discouragements of the Chris- tian. All were melted and comforted ; when he returned to the tent, however, he was sad. "George," said he, " I did wrong. I ought to have raked 'em."
John Wimbish entered into the regular work this year, and with M. Bedell, afterward prominent in the Florida work, he was on the Monroe Circuit. He had been many years a local preacher, and in those days, when hyper-Calvinism of the extremest type was often preached, he felt himself called upon to defend what he believed was the truth, and was very able on the Arminian view of the doctrines of grace.
On the Warren Circuit with Allen Turner was a young man, the nephew of Win. Arnold, W. P. Arnold. For forty years he was an active, popular and useful preacher. Genial, social, full of humor, simple in his manners, without ambition or jealousy, few men have been more lovable or more loved. IIe was at one time a man of property, but as his plantation cares interfered with his ministry, he sold his land and lost the debt. He however cheerfully labored on, sometimes even walking his circuit. In 1870 he was appointed to the Milledgeville station, but before his removal to it he was stricken with apoplexy, and died with a single groan.
George Pournell began his work this year. He was a man of very deep piety, and did most efficient work on the hardest missions in the conference, until 1835, when he located.
Continuing the course which had been so successful in Greene, Wilkes, and Clarke, two other small towns were united in a station, and Lovick Pierce was sent to Eatonton and Madison. The two villages were at that
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
time both very flourishing, and were seats of refine- ment and wealth. Madison was laid out in 1807, and from its settlement had been an appointment in the Apalachee Circuit, which had been served by the ablest men in the conference. The county of Morgan was very populous, the lands were generally good, and those on the rivers and creeks very good. The first church in Madison was built about 1825.
Eatonton, the county-site of Putnam, was laid out at the same time, and had now been settled for twenty years. It was an appointment in the Alcovy Circuit, which next to the Apalachee had been one of the most important of the Middle Georgia Circuits.
The old Putnam Camp-ground had been the scene of
- many great revivals, and Methodism was strong in every way in the county. Dr. Pierce, who now had charge of the two villages, lived in Greensboro, but occupied the pulpit each Sabbath, spending a large part of the time in the work assigned him.
Josiah Flournoy was the leading member of the Church in Eatonton. He had descended from the Huguenots, who had settled on the James River, in Virginia. His mother was a Baptist, and his father one in feeling. Josiah and Robert, his brother, had been converted among the Methodists, and united with. them, and when he removed to Putnam, he took charge of the little class.
There was no church previous to 1819, and public worship was held in the academy of the town. For years Josiah Flournoy stood almost alone. His asso- ciates and friends were all of them irreligious, and many of the leading men gamblers and infidels. The Rev. Mr. Pendleton, a member of the Christian Church,
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
had moved to the community, and was clerk of the court. He was a Virginian gentleman of liberal views, and de- termined to have a church built. It was to be a fine church and a union church. The Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Christians were to have one Sunday each. He succeeded in his effort, and the handsomest church in Middle Georgia was erected. Not long after this Wm. Capers visited the county in the interests of the Asbury Mission. He attracted then, as he always did, great crowds, and at the Putnam camp-meeting he achieved the grandest pulpit triumph of his life. It was in an exhortation delivered after a sermon, in which the fearful woes of a lost soul were depicted. One man was so affected by the preacher's eloquence as to temporarily lose his mind, and many prominent men were brought to deep conviction and joyous conversion. Among them were those who became eminent in church and state. Dr. Henry Branham was one of them. He was an accomplished physician and a man of very fine native mind, but he was very ungodly. Among his rul ing passions was that of gaming, too common then among respectable people. As soon as he was converted, he sought out the men from whom he had won money, and returned it to them. He was from this time forth a leader in all good things. Rev. W. R. Branham, of the Georgia Conference, is his son. Eatonton had now a strong membership, and was united with Madison, twenty-five miles away, and Dr. Pierce was sent to it.
Josiah Flournoy, of whom mention was made above, was a striking character, a man of great energy and enterprise, and one of inflexible integrity. He had great respect for hard work, and said whenever he found a man at the mourners' bench whose hand was
245.
IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
hard from labor, he felt that the man would be con- verted ; but if his hand was soft and delicate, he was not so sure. He was the originator of the prohibitory liquor movement in Georgia, and when it required far more courage than it does now to attack the evil, he made a bold, if unsuccessful attack upon it. He gave a large endowment for a manual labor school in Talbot County, and was one of the generous friends of Emory College, contributing at one time six hundred dollars for its relief. His family follows in his footsteps, and his descendants are among the truest members of the Church in the State now.
Dr. E. M. Pendleton, the son of the Rev. Edward Pendleton, of whom we have spoken, has furnished for this history the following interesting sketch of this ex- cellent man.
"Josiah Flournoy, a layman, was a man remarkable for his prayers, public exhortations, and labor at the altar. He was quite wealthy, owning a large number of negroes, and several plantations. He carried on all his secular concerns with great system, energy, and stringency, but was at the same time prompt in all his religious duties and obligations. He was always pres- ent when not providentially hindered in the old class- house at Eatonton, with the whites first, and then with the colored on Sunday afternoon, praying and exhort- ing them with much effect. At camp-meeting he was a great power, not only managing accommodations for the preachers and visitants, but in the altar, and some- times in the pulpit.
" Although not a preacher, he was often allowed an hour to expound the word and bring some important matter before the people.
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
"I remember him well at the great camp-meeting in Monroe County in 1832, when hundreds were awak- ened and converted. He most generally took the out- skirts of the congregation among the men lookers-on, and would exhort them until the effect became appa- rent, and then he would pray for them. In this way he would soon gather a batch of mourners, pray- ing, singing, and applying the promises for hours to- gether. In fact, the whole day and a good part of the night were thus employed by him and others in this way.
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