USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Shrewsbury > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 35
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > Salemville > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 35
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He soon devoted his entire time to the work of the minis- try. To provide himself and his family with the means of sustenance, he sold his farm. When the proceeds of his farm were exhausted, he turned his attention to the study of medi- cine. After the necessary preparation, he practised medicine for a living, but continued to preach at the same time, achiev- ing success in both professions.
His health failed, and he was obliged to relinquish his work for an imperative rest. After a vacation of a year or two, he resumed his professional duties.
After a term of service at Jackson Centre, Ohio, and then at Farmington, Illinois, he finally removed to Welton, Iowa, where he died October 12, 1867.
His ministerial activities extended over a period of forty- five years. Two weeks before his death, he concluded a series of sermons on the Lord's Prayer.
He compiled a volume of sacred hymns, which he called the Sacred Lyre.
REV. PETER DAVIS.
REV. PETER DAVIS was born in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, September 16, 1783, and was, consequently, about six years of age when he accompanied his parents in the emigration of the Shrewsbury Church to western Virginia.
He was a lineal descendant of Rev. William Davis, the founder of the Shrewsbury Church. His father was William Davis, known in Virginia as "Greenbrier Billy" to distinguish him from the several other William .Davises, among whom were, "Jarsey Billy," "Bottom Billy," "Flint Billy," "Rock
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Run Billy," et al. His mother was Elisabeth Johnson, a daugh ter, probably, of Elisha Johnson and Amy Davis, who were married in Monmouth County, New Jersey, October 28, $755.
"Greenbrier Billy" was a cousin of "Jarsey Billy," whose first wife was a sister of Elisabeth Johnson, the wife of "Green- brier Billy." His ("Jarsey Billy's") second wife was the widowed mother of Joseph Jeffrey, a prominent member of the Middle Island Church in the first period of its history.
"Jarsey Billy" was a brother of Captain Nathan Davis. a soldier of the War of 1812, on whose lands the present vil- lage of West Union in Doddridge County, West Virginia, was laid out.
"Jarsey Billy" and Captain Nathan Davis were sons of Nathan Davis, who was born May 9, 1740, and Anna Gifford, born January 7, 1742. They were married January 19, 1761.
Nathan Davis (born May 9, 1740) was, in turn, the son of William Davis, who was the son of Rev. John Davis of the Shrewsbury Church, who, in his turn, was the son of Rev. William Davis, the founder of that church.1
So that, doubtless, "Greenbrier Billy," the father of Rev. Peter Davis, was the grandson of William Davis, the son of Rev. John Davis, of the Shrewsbury Church.
Rev. Peter Davis, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. became a member of the New Salem Church, probably. on August 16, 1807 ; certainly, at some time previous to Decem- ber 28, 1815. On June 19, 1819, he was chosen a deacon in the New Salem Church. He was licenced to preach Novem- ber 21, 1819, and ordained a minister of the Gospel in Decem- ber, 1823, at Middle Island (Lewisport), by Rev. John Greenc. assisted by Rev. John Davis.
He at once engaged in pastoral labour in the New Salem Church, along with Rev. John Davis.
The soundness of his theological views was called in ques- tion at different times during his ministry. In 1825. his doc- trine of the immortality of man excited some fears, which were soon shown be groundless. In 1834, his attitude toward church government, particularly toward open communion, was at variance with the views of a large number of the church.
1. From MSS. in possession of Lewis Townsend Davis, Esq., of West Union West Virginia.
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Again, at a period late in his active ministry, he startled the church by declaring that the purpose of the Lord's Supper had been fulfilled, and that it had passed away.
His life was replete with faithful, conscientious service. From his home at the head of Greenbrier Run, he was accus- tomed to walk to New Salem on Sabbath mornings to preach. On these walks, he was accompanied, frequently, by members of the church, whose homes were on the road to New Salem.
Reared amid privation and adversity, his life and charac- ter were naturally colored by his environment, and his career as a soldier added a modicum of influence. But his tender heart was as big and loyal, as he was rugged and uncompromising.
Although the Greenbrier Church was organised in 1870, he retained his membership in the New Salem Church to the end of his life.
His wife, Sarah, died January 24, 1868; and he, an inva- lid, partly blind, during the last years of his life was tenderly cared for by his dutiful daughter, Jemima, the wife of Rev. Jacob Davis. On the 4th of March, 1873, he passed to his eternal reward at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, five months, and sixteen days.
REV. JAMES BALL DAVIS.1
REV. JAMES BALL DAVIS, son of Jacob and Prudence (Maxson) Davis, was born in what is now Lewis County, West Virginia, October 1, 1814.
When he was about fifteen months old his mother died, and at the age of twelve years, he was left without a father. After the death of his father, he remained on the farm with his stepmother until he was in his seventeenth year, when he went to the state of Ohio.
He was married, May 17, 1833, to Jane Hopping. To them were born eight children, six of whom lived to reach adult life.
At the age of seventeen, soon after going to Ohio, he became a member of one of the Seventh Day Baptist churches there. In 1840, the Pike Church, of which he was a member, granted him licence to preach, and sent him as a delegate
1. The author is indebted to Mrs. George H. Trainor of New Salem, West Virginia, for material aid in the preparation of this sketch.
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to the annual meeting of the South-Western Association. which met that year with the church at New Salem, Vir-" ginia. While in attendance at the association, he preached his first sermon as an accredited minister of the Gospel, at an evening service, held at the home of John Sutton, on Green- brier Run.
In 1843, with some five other ministers, he organised a preaching circuit extending from Northhampton to the "Yankee Street" Seventh Day Baptist Church on the Sciota River, covering a distance of seventy-five miles, with eleven preaching stations, requiring four weeks for the trip. These six men took turns in covering this route, and gave their ser- vices free of charge.
His wife died in 1853, and his own health failing. he gave up preaching temporarily, and returned to Virginia. where he was married in 1854 to Emily Virginia Davis, daugh- ter of William F. and Rachel (Hughes) Davis. He then returned to Ohio and resumed his labours as a minister.
In the summer of 1857, he removed with his family to western Virginia, and settled at. New Milton, in Doddridge County. He and his wife joined the New Salem Church, but upon the re-organisation of the Middle Island Church, in 1866, he became a member of that church, by which he was at once licenced to preach. On March 1, 1867, the church called him to ordination ; and in compliance with a request of the church, a council composed of delegates from the New Salem, Lost Creek, and Middle Island churches met with the Middle Island Church on September 5, 1867. The council recommended his ordination. Accordingly, carly in the year 1868, he was ordained, Rev. Samuel D. Davis conducting the ordination service, assisted by Rev. Jacob Davis.
At various times he was formally invited by the Middie Island Church to serve as its pastor, but without waiting for such action, he preached with great regularity for the church. once a month, from the time of its re-organisation for a period of twenty years or more. The interests of the church he place !! above everything else, and his hand was its ruling influence throughout this period.
Upon the organisation of the Ritchie Church in 1870, he was invited to become its pastor. But as the church was thirty
HOME OF REV. JAMES B. DAVIS, NEAR NEW MILTON. ( After a photograph taken in 1882).
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miles away from his home, and his pastoral duties there placed him at a great disadvantage, for that reason he resigned the charge at the end of one year.
He established and maintained a preaching station on the Bear Fork of Cove Creek, where through his influence, a church was organised in 1881.
Compelled to maintain his family by labour upon his farm, and at his trade as a wagon-maker, he, nevertheless, made the most clear-cut personal impress upon the Middle Island Church, of any one man upon any one of the existing churches of the South-Eastern Association.
In 1889, he removed from his home near New Milton to Salem, and again united with the New Salem Church. Here he passed the remaining years of his life in restful peace. Although his activity in church work ceased about this time, he maintained the same deep interest that characterised his life, to the end.
He died at Salem, July 2, 1902, at the ripe age of eighty- nine years, nine months, and one day.
REV. SAMUEL DAVIS DAVIS.1
REV. SAMUEL DAVIS DAVIS was born at what is now Jane Lew, West Virginia, July 6, 1824.
He was the son of Jacob Davis, 2d, and Sarah (Hoff- man) Davis. His great-great-grandfather was Rev. William Davis, the Welshman who founded the Shrewsbury Church. Rev. William Davis's sixth son, James, was the father of Rev. Jacob Davis, who was the father of Jacob Davis, 2d, who was the father of Rev. Samuel Davis Davis.
Rev. Samuel D. Davis was baptized by Rev. Peter Davis in March, 1837, and soon afterward, was received into mem- bership in the Lost Creek Church, by Rev. Stillman Coon, who was engaged in missionary labour in western Virginia at that time.
His father died when he was but three and a half years old, and at an early age he became the mainstay of his widowed mother and four orphan sisters. His boyhood and early manhood were filled with poverty, hardship, and toil.
1. For much of the material for this biography, as well as those of Rev. John, Ist, Rev. John Davis, 2d, and Rev. Jacob Davis, Ist, the author is indebted to Rev. Boothe C. Davis, President of Alfred University.
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SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA .
In the year 1841, at the age of seventeen years, he licenced by the Lost Creek Church to preach "within bounds of the church," and was appointed to preach one Sab- bath in each month for the church. This licence was renewed from year to year, until in 1840, when, under date of Septem- ber II, he was given a formal certificate of licence to preach, signed by the clerk of the church, and renewed from year to year as follows :-
"This is to certify, to all whom it may concern, That SAMUEL D. DAVIS is a member in good standing in the Seventh Day Baptist Church on Lost Creek, Harrison County, and State of Virginia; and as such, we do licence and authorise him to preach the Gospel for cine year, wherever a door of usefulness may be opened.
"Done by order of the Church, this the IIth day of September. 1846.
"THOS. B. BOND, CIŁ."
"This is to certify, That the Lost Creek Church has extended the licence of BRO. SAML. DAVIS to preach the Gospel one year.
"Sept. 10th, 1847.
"Done by order of the Church.
"THOS. B. BOND, CIE."
"This is to certify, That the Lost Creek Church has extended the licence of BRO. SAMUEL D. DAVIS to preach the Gospel one year.
"Done by order of the Church, this the 8th day of September. 1848.
"JACOB DAVIS, Clerk."
"This is to certify, That this licence is continued.
"Done by order of the Church, this the 7th day of September. 1849.
"JACOB DAVIS, Clerk."
At a meeting of the church held on September 7, 1849. he was requested to take his ordination into consideration. This he was reluctant to do. Nevertheless, at the annual mect- ing of the South-Western Association, held with the church at Lost Creek, in the following October, the church asked that he be ordained. Rev. Peter Davis was the only ordained min- ister present, however, and his physical condition was such that on the second day of the session, he was compelled to resign his office as presiding officer of the association and consequently did not feel equal to the task of conducting an ordination service. Accordingly, the ordination was post- poned.
On the 27th of the following January, the church
REV. BOOTHE COLWELL DAVIS, D. D., PRESIDENT OF ALFRED UNIVERSITY,
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.
instructed Rev. Azor Estee, who was engaged in pastoral labour with the Lost Creek and New Salem churches, to make the necessary arrangements for the ordination.
Th ordination took place on May II, succeeding, when Samuel D. Davis was solemnly set apart to the sacred duties of the office to which he had been called, at a service con- ducted by Rev. Azor Estee and Rev. Peter Davis, at Lost Creek. The certificate of ordination is as follows :-
"To all whom it may concern :-
"This may certify that our beloved brother SAMUEL D. DAVIS, of the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Lost Creek, Va., was solemnly set apart and ordained to the work of the Gospel Ministry, by prayer and the imposition of our hands at Lost Creek, Harrison County, Va., on the eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord,. one thousand eight hundred and fifty.
"Given under our hands at Lost Creek, this eleventh day of May, 1850.
"AZOR ESTEE, "PETER DAVIS, "Elders."
Soon after his ordination, he was called to the pastorate of the Lost Creek Church, and with such brief intervals as ill health demanded for rest, he sustained that relation for more than a quarter of a century, resigning in 1875.
During this pastorate, aside from maintaining the appoint- ments of the church, he devoted much time to evangelistic and revival meetings in western Virginia, such work extending to all the churches in that region together with their many outposts.
In 1867, the Lost Creek and New Salem churches sent him and Rev. Jacob Davis as missionaries on a visit to Shel- byville, Tennesee. Some two years afterward, he again vis- ited Tennessee under the auspices of the American Sabbath Tract Society to labour with Rev. James Bailey, in the interest of Sabbath Reform. Although strongly urged by the Amer- ican Sabbath Tract Society to go upon that field and remain indefinitely, he, nevertheless, declined, believing the interests there were too great to be served adequately in the time that he felt that he could spare from the West Virginia field, to which under the call of duty, he had pledged his life work.
Under his leadership and pastoral care, the Lost Creek
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Church increased its membership from about sixty-five at the time he became its pastor, to upwards of two hundred when he finally resigned. It had also built and dedicated a new com- modious brick house of worship.
When he became pastor of the Lost Creek Church, the only other active churches were the New Salem and South Fork of Hughes River (Pine Grove) churches. With the founding and organisation of every existing Seventh Day Bap- tist church now in the South-Eastern Association, except the New Salem, Lost Creek, and Middle Island churches, he has been intimately connected.
Perhaps the most trying experience in his pastorate at Lost Creek, was that of the events of the Civil War. The political views of the members of the church were widely divergent fundamentally, and there was every incentive to precipitate unguarded action, as well as great danger of arous- ing blind and unreasoning passions. Himself, an uncomprom- ising abolitionist, he was diplomatic enough withal, not only to retain the confidence and affection of all his church, but like- wise to prevent any outburst, or open rupture in it.
During more than half of his term of service with the Lost Creek Church, he received no stipulated salary, receiving only such contributions as individual members might offer him. In one year of this period, he travelled upward of six hundred miles on horseback, preaching in the church and in school houses, holding special meetings and visiting people in their homes, and receiving for the entire year, a financial remuneration aggregating six dollars ($6.00), a part of which was in merchandise.
During these years, he maintained his family upon his farm, which had to be paid for from his earnings, performing the labour, for the most part, with his own hands, and fre- quently toiling till the midnight hour.
During the latter part of his pastorate with the Lost Creek Church, it had become sufficiently prosperous to pay the pastor a small salary, which never exceeded three hundred dollars ($300.00) annually.
In the spring of 1876, after he had previously resigned the pastorate of the Lost Creek Church, he assisted Rev. Charles M. Lewis in a series of revival meetings conducted
REV. SAMUEL HOFFMAN DAVIS.
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by the latter at New Salem. These meetings resulted in about fifty accessions to the church, and in his being called to the pastorate of the New Salem Church.
This pastorate continued for a term of three years, greatly to the good of the church, which was strengthened by growth of spiritual life, and by accessions to its numbers.
In the year 1879, he returned to his farm near Jane Lew, and engaged in evangelistic and missionary work, indepen- dently. In the following year, 1880, the Board of Managers of the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society, engaged him as a general field missionary, to labour in West Virginia under its direction.
For more than ten years he continued in this service, constantly visiting pastorless churches, conducting revival meetings in every church and Sabbath-keeping community within the bound of the South-Eastern Association, and call- ing upon the families from house to house.
Such labour as this he had performed lavishly during his long pastorate of the Lost Creek Church, and the results had been gratifying ; but now that the opportunity to do such work was larger, the beneficent results were correspondingly greater. The membership of the churches was increased, converts to the Sabbath resulted, and new churches were organised.
The field of such activities was not limited to West Vir- ginia. It extended to the church at Jackson Centre, Ohio, where he had visited at different times previously ; to Salem- ville, Pennsylvania, where in 1885, he organised a prosperous Seventh Day Baptist Church ; and to Cumberland County, North Carolina, where he found a strong prejudice against such work as he was engaged in doing. This prejudice he had the gratifying pleasure of seeing give way to a hearty wel- come to Seventh Day Baptist home missionaries.
After the close of his labours under the direction of the Missionary Board, he continued to do missionary and evan- gelistic work independently, until recently, when the infirm- ities of advancing age have compelled him almost wholly to relinquish active ministerial labour.
He was three times married. First, to Elisabeth Ford, who died in 1851. His second wife died in 1861. His third
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wife, the daughter of Jesse and Elisabeth (Gillis) Fitz Ran- dolph, who is still living has been his faithful, sympathetic companion for upwards of forty years.
Three sons were born to him by his first marriage, two of whom died in infancy. The oldest, S. Orlando, lives at Jane Lew, West Virginia.
Four sons were born to him by the third marriage. Boothe Colwell lives at Alfred, New York ; Morton Wardner, at Salem. West Virginia, and Samuel Hoffman, in Boston, Massachusetts. Simeon Gillis died at six years of age.
It is not given many men to grasp the really great oppor- tunities of life, and to fewer yet, to enjoy to its full, the fruit of the possibilities of such opportunities when once seized upon and wrought out.
To Rev. Samuel D. Davis came a magnificent opportunity, -an opportunity, however, that to most on-lookers must, at best, have appeared to be sadly obscured and doubtful. To him inviting as it was magnificent, it revealed no less surely its hardships and toil. But it was worth the effort. And to the work of cultivating the soil of the Seventh Day Baptist churches of West Virginia, he addressed himself, No spot was left unturned. There was no plant not watered, none so unpromising as not to receive the tenderest care, none so thrifty as not to need cultivation. He has literally been a pastor to every church in the association. The indelible impress of his personality is everywhere.
And he has wrought wisely and well. As he has seen western Virginia develop from the crude conditions of fron- tier life into conditions of civilisation, comfort, and it might almost be said, luxury, he has also seen the religious and spir- itual life keep pace with the changing conditions of material things. He has seen the primitive meeting house give place to neat, attractive, and commodious houses of worship. He has seen the attitude of the church toward its pastor change so that the latter may expect a comfortable maintenance. from the former.
Was it worth the while? It has produced Salem College. It has given Alfred University a president. West Virginia has produced men who, scattered in different places, participate actively in the affairs that make for the destiny
?
HOME OF REV. SAMUEL D. DAVIS, NEAR JANE LEW. ( From a recent photograph ).
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of the Seventh Day Baptist denomination,-in the affairs of the Seventh Day Baptist Education Society, the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society, the American Sabbath Tract Soci- ety, and the Sabbath School Board of the Seventh Day Bap- tist General Conference, and other places of trust and respon- sibility.
To-day, besides all this, the fruits of his work may be seen in one of the healthiest and most promising groups of churches of the Seventh Day Baptist denomination. Surely, it was worth the while.
The highest academic honours paid for ecclesiastical ser- vice, as tokens of superiour merit, are awarded for either of two reasons; vis., Scholastic attainments, or signal service to the church. No Seventh Day Baptist can lay claim to greater service to the church, than can Samuel Davis Davis, but his highest honour, his chiefest delight is to be called a Minister of the Gospel.
REV. JACOB DAVIS, 2D.
REV. JACOB DAVIS, 2D, the son of Jesse Maxson and Abigail (Hoffman) Davis, was born in Harrison County, Vir- ginia, August 15, 1827. Jesse Maxson Davis was the son of Jacob Davis, the son of Rev. Jacob Davis, of the Shrewsbury Church.
In early life, Rev. Jacob Davis, 2d, was baptized by Rev. Richard C. Bond, and became a member of the Lost Creek Church, which he served for several years as clerk.
In the year 1858, he removed his membership from the Lost Creek Church to the New Salem Church, the latter church admitting him to membership on May 14, of that year.
On November 18, 1859, the New Salem Church upon motion of Rev. David Clawson, granted licence to Jacob Davis to preach for one year within the bounds of the New Salem and Lost Creek churches. The formal action was as follows :--
"We as a church, assembled for the transaction of business, at New Salem, Va., this 18th day of the 11th month in the year of our Lord 1859, do resolve that we extend a permission to Bro. Jacob Davis to improve his gifts in explaining the scripture, preaching and setting forth the doctrines of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour,
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Jesus Christ; hereby expressing our wish that in addition to his here- tofore activity in leading in prayer and engaging in exhortation, he will freely go forward in the afore-mentioned duty as the Spirit may give him utterance, for one year from the above date in any of the meetings of this church for worship, when opportunity offers and circumstances justify.
And we also extend to him the privilege, if he should meet with the church at Lost Creek and be invited by them through their Elder, Deacons, or other efficient member, to use the privilege the same as in the meetings of this church; commending him to God and the word of his grace, praying that he may be filled with the spirit of his station, and become an able minister of Jesus Christ [to] spend and be spent in the cause,-be faithful until death and receive a crown of life."
On November 20, 1863, the church took action as fol- lows :-
"RESOLVED, That Bro. Jacob Davis be licenced to labour as a Gospel minister whenever and wherever an opportunity may offer, and that the clerk write said licence and tender it to Bro. Jacob."
By joint action of the New Salem and Lost Creek churches, he was ordained to the Gospel ministry at New Salem, on August 19, 1865.
From this time for a period of a good many years, he served the Lost Creek and New Salem churches, one or both, in a pastoral capacity, preaching sometimes regularly, at other times at irregular intervals at the various preaching stations of these churches. After the organisation of the Greenbrier and Ritchie churches, he served them both, for a time, as pastor.
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