USA > North Carolina > Historical papers of the North Carolina Conference Historical Society and the Western North Carolina Conference Historical Society > Part 5
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 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
Having finished his four-year limit in the Greensboro District, Mr. Bumpas was appointed to the Danville District.
Mr. Bumpas had for some time been desirous of leaving some- thing in written form that might bring good to future generations. The long rides on the Danville District had so disastrous an effect on his health that he concluded to publish a weekly paper, believing that he could render a much needed service. Accordingly, he arranged for the publication of this paper with the understanding that his wife would continue it in case of his death.
In the autumn of 1851, Mrs. Bumpas had a severe attack of typhoid fever. During her convalesence, she had a strange and wonderful experience. "There glided across the walls of her room a panorama of her past life, in which she saw herself held tenderly by the hand of her Heavenly Father, and once, when she was falling, He stood, holding her up."
Soon after her recovery, her husband, enfeebled by constant watching by the bed-side of his wife, started to the Annual Confer- ence in Salisbury. On the way, being exposed to a heavy storm, he took a chill and was carried from his buggy to the home assigned him. On the same day, two of their children were taken with fever. As Mrs. Bumpas sought to soothe the little sufferers, she had the painful realization that other hands were ministering to her sick husband.
Death took away her oldest son and while kind friends carried the little body to its grave, Mrs. Bumpas was hastening to the bed-side
36
HISTORICAL PAPERS
of her husband. There was only the look of recognition and a word expressing his joy at her coming. For a day and a half she sat with him, then in utter desolation she returned home to place his form by the side of her son's newly made grave.
After nine or ten months of helpless grief, "a river of peace poured into her stricken heart." She says: "There was a fullness of joy which left no room for sorrow with the assurance: I am wholly the Lord's and He is mine."
With this assurance, she began to take up life's duties. She added the duties of the school room to the care of three small children and in the latter part of 1852, she began to edit the "Weekly Message" and continued the publication of this paper with the excep- tion of one year about the close of the Civil War, until 1872.
In the very outset, Mrs. Bumpas felt very keenly the responsi- bility and the burden involved in the continuation of the paper. She tried to escape, but after prayer and serious thought she felt it her duty to make an effort and leave the results with God, trusting that He would bring out of it some good. Looking on the situation from without, she saw nothing but failure and discouragement, but seeing with an eye invisible, she felt strengthened to go forward.
Though she received little remuneration, "the paper proved, dur- ing its existence, a great blessing and was instrumental in the con- version and up-building of many precious souls." The minutes of the N. C. Conference of 1853 contain the following: "Resolved, That we do most heartily recommend the Weekly Message to the patronage of our people; and that we will do what we can to increase its circula- tion the coming year, so far as it does not conflict with our church papers."
November 16, 1852, she records the fact that she offered the paper to the Conference but it was refused, consequently she felt constrained to continue the work. The Minutes of 1854 contain this resolution: "That a committee of three be appointed, whose duty it shall be so soon as they ascertain that $2,000 of the stock has been subscribed, to make proposals to Mrs. Bumpas for the purchase of the Weekly Message and if she refuse to sell, to make necessary arrangements for the purchase of suitable materials for the publication of a neat, large and respectable paper to be styled the North Carolina Christian Advocate at $2.00 per annum, strictly in advance; and that they issue a suitable prospectus. proposing to issue the first number of said paper on the 1st of January, 1856."
Later in life Mrs. Bumpas edited the column, Christian Experi- ence, in the Raleigh Christian Advocate until March 24, 1894.
From the time of her husband's death, it seems that she lived to one great end-the perfection of her Christian character. She believed in Christian perfection or sanctification or "the second blessing," as many may term it, and that is how she attained it. Nevertheless, the history of her religious life is one long process of development- a series of heroic struggles and victories won.
Being reared in the atmosphere of a religious home, she was
1
37
HISTORICAL PAPERS
early impressed with the importance of religion and sought it as a power that would enable her to perform life's duties aright. Evi- dently, she had thought much about her relation to God before she was converted in her fifteenth year at a camp-meeting in Person County. There followed a period of uncertainty. Reading much of the experiences of others and meditating upon the great mystery of salvation, she feared that she might not have attained what it was her privilege to experience. From her conversion, she desired and expected "richer manifestations." Her impatience to develop in the Christian life led her into seasons of doubt and uncertainty but over- coming one temptation and then another, she, at last, realized that "for years she lived too much by feeling instead of by faith."
Her first effort for her Master was to gather her brothers and sisters about her to study the Bible on Sunday afternoon. She also took the Bible into the servant's quarters, reading to them and in- structing their children.
In 1878, after the organization of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, she was elected Corresponding Secretary of the North Caro- lina Conference Society. This office she held until the division of the two Conferences in 1890, after which she was appointed to the same office in the Western North Carolina Conference Society. This office constituted membership in the Woman's Board of Missions and for twenty years she was a faithful attendant of the Annual Session of that body. In later life, some felt anxious lest these long, tedious trips to distant cities might be too much for her strength. Her reply to their solicitude was: "I am waiting to know what is my Father's will." In appreciation of her long and faithful service to the cause of missions, some years ago her Conference Society estab- lished the Frances Bumpas Lectureship in the Scarritt Bible and Training School, having as its object the multiplication of laborers in the mission field.
Mrs. Bumpas had learned to lean on God and never doubt. To look on her countenance and to note the tranquility there, one could easily be convinced that she had carried all her burdens to the Lord and left them with Him. When she took anything to the Lord, she was willing to abide by His wisdom rather than try to secure the approbation of God to a certain plan of her own.
The strength of her soul-life was hier faith. She closes her autobiography with the following words: "Often have special answers been given to prayer. The many deliverances thus granted need not here be enumerated, if they could be, for the promise stands, 'What- soever ye ask' and a blessed realization all may have who rest on His Word."
Mrs. Bumpas was of a type to follow in the gentler walks of life; not one to project new enterprises or to prosecute a bold venture but rather a person to cheer and comfort those who have been in the conflict. The supreme interest of her life was soul winning. Per- sonal contact at once elicited an interest and she would not hesitate to express this interest whether it be to the servant, the market-man,
38
HISTORICAL PAPERS
the porter on the train, some gay, young girl or perhaps the tramp that had turned to her door for a crust of bread.
She had a tender sympathy for all forms of suffering. In her Journal, January 10, 1880, she makes this entry: "An old family ser- vant has been very anxious lest she should lose her home, as there is a mortgage on it and it is advertised for sale. I have been com- mitting it to the Lord and advising her to have wise counsel, and was impressed with the words: 'I have laid help upon One who is mighty.' Today I learn that two small lots of hers near the house sold for enough to cover the debt. A striking Providence this to the faithful laborers as the crisis occurs just as land has risen in value."
Mrs. Bumpas was never robust. During the last seventeen years of her life, she was in frail health and unable to endure exposure during the winter weather yet she always kept in touch with the Christian workers of her community, and many sought her to relieve their distress, to comfort and to inspire them to a holier life.
The story of her life is the lesson of a great faith which none knew as well as those who were taught of her from babyhood. Her son, the Rev. Robah F. Bumpas, has too long been preaching the gospel among you to need further comment. His labors are worthy of the son of Francis M. Bumpas. A daughter, Miss Eugenia Bumpas, who inherited her mother's fondness for teaching, has spent the greater part of her life in educational work. Another daughter, the widow of the Rev. R. P. Troy, has blessed the world through her beautiful home-life. She has sent one daughter to our mission in China and the other is an artist of more than unusual abilty.
In the autumn of 1897, Mrs. Bumpas was attacked by inflam- matory rheumatism. Gradually the disease stiffened her joints until she was unable longer to hold her pen or to read from her Bible. She was cheerful during the constant suffering so that few of her friends realized how intense was her pain.
More and more she sought the Lord's will and day by day less was she concerned about any plans for a continuation of her earthly life. The last entry in her Journal says: "Resting in the Lord, waiting with patience His will-O, for grace to do His will in all things!"
She requested that there be no sign of mourning after her death, saying "Let it all be bright and joyous." Having fought the good fight of faith, on Sunday, May 8th, 1698. Frances M. Bumpas found peace in the presence of her Lord.
Rev. S. H. Hilliard, a former pastor, conducted the funeral service at West Market Street Church on the following day, using as a basis of his remarks, "She hath been a succorer of many and of myself also."
A large cortege followed her remains to Green Hill Cemetery, where they placed all that was mortal underneath a flower-covered mound.
Ellen Morphis Wood, Mary Fleming Black and Frances M. Bumpas should have a place in the memory of our Methodist people. Ellen Morphis Wood lived far in advance of her times in missionary sentiment and became the pioneer of our women in the cause of mis-
39
HISTORICAL PAPERS
sions. Mary Fleming Black was a woman of more varied interests than them and consecrated them for the missionary cause. Frances Moore Bumpas had a great faith. Such a faith as hers is rare. She was a true heroine of the cross, enduring all things and trusting with implicit faith that all would be well. She was of a quiet, meditative nature, somewhat philosophical and contributed much to the religious life of our people through the contributions of her pen.
These three notable women had each the advantage of being born in a religious atmosphere. They each had good educational opportunities, the best their times afforded; they had homes of their own, and today each has a son preaching the gospel within the bounds of our state. May the inspiration of their lives create in other women the desire to render a great service in their day and generation.
Reminiscences
REV. WILLIAM H. MOORE*
HEN I was requested to make an address, embracing "the recollections of a long and active ministerial life," at the present meeting of your Society, I gladly acceeded to the request; but not without some misgiving as to whether I could prepare a paper, without any other data than that which memory could supply, that would be of permanent value to the Society. Mine has indeed been an unusually long and active ministry, but its record has been left to the Record- ing Angel whose pen deals not in fulsome praise, but in a just appre- ciation of the work which has been done.
It is with profound gratitude to God that I stand here at this hour, to recount in some measure the ministerial life which had its beginning in this my boyhood home, and whose sacred memories still cluster about my heart, as did those of the Jewish exile, when by the river of Babylon he "sat down and wept when he remembered Zion."
I was born in Edenton, N. C., October 31st, 1838. My father, a native of Princes Anne County, Virginia, at the time of my birth was keeping a drug store in co-partnership with a Mr. Bradbery. By standing security for his partner my father was financially ruined, for at that time every thing a man possessed could be sold to make good an obligation that bore his signature. Bankrupted in purse but with honor unstained, and a family of five to provide for, he lost no
time brooding over his misfortune. About 1843 he moved his family to Windsor, and in the fall of 1845 to Washington.
Business here was good, and in the absence of other capital than that of brains and willing hands, he became a building contractor. by which he made a competent support for himself and family to the end of his life, which occurred in August, 1865.
My mother, a native of Baltimore, Md., followed my father to the grave in January, 1866. Here their dust is sleeping, together with that of my first born child, who died while I was pastor of this church in 1869.
My first recollection of the church in this place was a frame structure; it occupied the lot on which is the present one. About 1850 it was enlarged by the addition of two wings which considerably increased its seating capacity; and a large sonorous bell was hung in the steeple, whose musical tones could be distinctly heard for five miles in the surrounding country. It was at the altar of this church I was solemnly consecrated to God in holy baptism by Rev. N. H. D. Wilson, who became one of the leading members of our Annual Con- ference, and whose memory is cherished for his ability as a preacher of the gospel, and the purity of his life. The church was entirely con-
* An address delivered at the North Carolina Conference Histori- cal Society, Washington. N. C., November, 1914. The Speaker and Author died December 24. 1916.
ยท
41
HISTORICAL PAPERS
sumed in the conflagration that left two-thirds of the town in ashes when it was evacuated by the Federal garrison in 1863.
When the War between the States ended there was but one church building left in the place-the Missionary Baptist Church, and that had not been used for several years, and only intermitently for almost a generation. There was much water here, but the Baptist Church did not grow, notwithstanding that fact.
A large proportion of the wealthier part of the people in the town and surrounding country became refugees in the up country when the town was occupied by the Federal troops, and when the war ended those who returned did so only to find their homes in ashes, and the chimneys standing as silent and melancholy sentinels to mark the places where once palatial homes had stood.
And let me here observe that the wisdom of the Methodist policy now became evident to every one. With no churches and no pastors in the community, we still had preachers at the command of our Bishops ready to go where they were sent. These were more neces- sary than church buildings, and at the Conference of 1865, Rev. John S. Long was appointed to Washington. By the kindness of the Masonic fraternity the congregation was allowed the use of the auditorium under their lodge room, and, I think, without remuneration other than that which came indirectly from having the gospel preached in the community. In that building the remnant of the Methodist congregation was gathered, Rev. J. S. Long, P. E., and such faithful helpers as John A. Arthur, Lockwood Hyatt, Warren S. Mayo, and David Farrow in the stewardship. There were others in the con- gregation whose devotion to the church render them worthy of special mention whose names are left out for want of space; but 1 cannot pass unnoticed the names of Mrs. Sarah Redding, Mrs. Small, Mrs. Carrow, and Mrs. Fulford. Reduced in its membership by the ex- igencies of war, this congregation still had in it many choice and saintly spirits, whose memory is as ointment poured forth, and who being dead yet speak.
I was licensed to preach by the 4th Quarterly Conference for Washington Station, 1859, Rev. Ira T. Wyche, P. E., and Rev. W. E. Pell, P. C. The Annual Conference was held that year in the town of Beaufort, and by the solicitation of Brother Pell, I attended as a prospective candidate for the itinerant ministry, and to learn some- thing of the workings of a Conference session. I was much impressed by the spicy, yet good humored debates, and the orderly conduct of the business, but more than anything with an occurrence at the beginning and end of the Conference.
It was this way: We reached Beaufort, after dark, by boat from Morehead City. In going from the wharf to our designated homes in the town, we walked through some deep sand in the middle of the streets, and the preachers from the hills thought it mud through which they had been wading shoe deep, and as soon as they struck the harder ground on the side walk began to stamp their feet vigor- ously to knock off the mud they supposed to be clinging to them. They were greatly surprised, and a little chagrined, when by the roars of laughter on the part of their comrades they became aware that
42
HISTORICAL PAPERS
it was not clay, but sand through which they had been walking. The other incident had less of the humorous, and more of the tragic in it. The business had been finished, and the closing hour had come. The Bishop read the appointments amid profound silence, broken only by the rustling of leaves as the Secretary and a few others turned leaves in taking the appointments as read. The benediction was pro- nounced, and after a hurried handshaking each one made his way to his stopping place to prepare for his return. I, with several others, was domiciled with Capt. Styron. All but one of the preachers were pleased with their appointments. The exception was Rev. Isaac Kearns. He had been appointed to the Williamston Circuit, and walked the floor and cried like a whipped child, so sure was he that the malaria would get him, and the hills of Randolph, his native county, be enriched by his remains before the end of the year. I confess this incident impressed nie unfavorably. Does not every Methodist minister promise to go where he is sent? Why then should he cry or whine over his appointment?
I am glad to say that Brother Kearns survived his appointment to the Williamston Circuit for many years, and when he went to Heaven, did so from the hill country.
I entered the Wilson Male Academy, then under the supervision of Dr. C. F. Deems, in January, 1860. I had received a fairly good academic education, and my purpose was at the end of the year to enter some reputable college, and stay till I should be graduated; but at the close of the spring session I engaged to spend the summer months assisting Rev. N. A. H. Goodwin in holding his protracted meetings on the Greenville Circuit, of which he was the pastor. A generous brother furnished me a horse and buggy free of cost as long as I should remain on the work, and I soon got a taste of an itinerant minister's life. We had fine meetings; scores were converted and added to the church. I fell more and more in love with the work, and the generous people I was serving, and I decided to remain on the circuit, and apply for admission on trial at the ensuing session of the Annual Conference, which I did, and was received with a class of fourteen at Salisbury in 1860.
When the appointments were read I was of course eager to know where I would be sent, and at last the Bath Circuit was reached and I was read out for the place. The announcement took my breath. Had I been sent to any other place it seemed to me it would have been better. Bath Circuit then reached from Washington to the Pungo river in one direction, and to Long Acre within ten miles of Plymouth in the other. But it was not the size of the Circuit geo- graphically, nor the thirteen appointments, that dazed me; it was the fact that I was to have charge of, and be the guide to. many saints who had known me from my childhood, and could tell me more of Christ and Heaven than I yet had dreamed. My fears were ground- less, for I have never served a more considerate people, and their kindness soon put me on my metal and at perfect ease.
At the Conference of 1861 I was reappointed to the Circuit, but the Federal forces having captured Hatteras and Roanoke Island. there was such an exodus of the people to the interior of the state,
43
HISTORICAL PAPERS
I asked the P. E. to release me, which he did, sending me to Scot- land Neck for the remainder of the year. In 1863 I traveled the Magnolia Circuit, in 1864 the New Hanover Circuit, and, from the Con- ference of that year was sent as Missionary to Scales Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, then located at Petersburg. The surrender of General Lee and his handful of immortals left me without work for the balance of the year. I returned to Washington, ran a grist mill, and preached as opportunity afforded in the surrounding country till the Conference met in 1865.
November 16th, 1865, I married Miss Josephine Redding, an adopted daughter of James W. and Martha Redding, of this place. She has been a faithful and devoted wife all these years, and I know not how to pay her a higher compliment than to say, if I had my life to live over I would seek her above all women for the place she has so lovingly filled. She has not been prominent in the social work of the church, but she has been in her home; she has never led a congregation in prayer, but guided her house, and trained her chil- dren in the knowledge and love of God; and, whatever of success I have attained in my high calling, much of it is due to her for having taken from my shoulders every possible burden, and left me free to do the Master's work.
In 1866-67:68 I traveled the Mattamuskeet Circuit in which I had great success in building up the church, and formed many life long friendships.
In 1869 I served as pastor of Washington and Greenville, preach- ing three Sundays in the month at Washington, and one at Green- ville, there being no other stated service in either town.
In the spring of this year we began to build a commodious brick church. It was 40 by 60 feet, with a basement beneath the main auditorium, used for Sunday School and prayer meeting services. Dr. R. S. Moran, P. E. of the District, made an address and laid the corner stone. Owing to the massiveness of the roof the building did not present a pleasing appearance to the eye, which gave occasion for Dr. Closs to say to one who enquired of him the whereabouts of the Methodist church, "Just go down the street till you come to a / pile of brick with a big shelter over them, and that is it."
Although not a handsome building, it was commodious, well built, out of good material, and admirably served the purpose for which it was erected; but the good natured jibes thrown at it no doubt hastened the building of this new and more sightly edifice, in which we are now assembled.
Extreme nervousness, caused by indigestion, made it necessary for me to change my work, and seek to recuperate my health in a higher altitude. I regretted to sever my relation with the churches in Washington and Greenville no little, but necessity was upon me, and I had no choice, other than to give up the charge in the hope of becoming more effective in the future, or run the risk of an early transfer to Heaven. I chose the first alternative, not because I was afraid to die, but that I might stay and help to bring the world to Christ. Leaving Washington in 1869, I went to Smithfield. It was an excellent charge, and had been served by some of our best men;
-
44
HISTORICAL PAPERS
but the town at that time was undrained, and occasionally the Neuse river, on the banks of which the town was built, overflowed and submerged a part of the streets. In the summer of this year my wife was desperately attacked with gastric fever. Her life for sev- eral days was despaired of, but by the blessing of God and the unre- mitting attention of Dr. J. B. Beckwith she recovered.
I had considerable success in my work. The people became endeared to me, and I to them. I could have wished to remain with them for the pastoral limit, but my wife had been so enervated by her sickness in the summer, and my own health having improved so little, my Presiding Elder, Rev. W. H. Bobbitt, and I concluded another change was advisable. and in 1870 I was appointed to the Pittsboro Circuit. There our health was restored, and I served that charge in 1871-'72-'73-'74.
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.