USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > The First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee : the addresses delivered in connection with the observance of the one hundredth anniversary, November 8-15, l9l4 > Part 5
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The next pastor was Dr. T. A. Hoyt,3 of New York, the father of Mrs. Robert Ewing, of this congregation. He began his work here February 1, 1873. He was a man of extraordinary executive ability and of the highest char- acter. Before coming to Nashville he had been President of the New York Gold Board, and on leaving for his new field the board voted him a gift of $1,500. Dr. Hoyt left the church in May, 1883. He died pastor of the Chambers- Wylie Presbyterian Church, of Philadelphia.
During the remainder of that year and a part of the next the pulpit was supplied by Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald, a man whose name is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him. The new pastor, Rev. Jerry Witherspoon, of Jack- son, began his work here on March 23, 1884, and continued in the pastorate until January 1, 1894, when he accepted a call to Baltimore, going later to Richmond, where he died pastor of the Grace Street Presbyterian Church.
CALLING OF DR. VANCE.
During the interim Dr. Collins Denny, now Bishop Den- ny, supplied the pulpit. On September 9, 1894, the congre-
'Dr. Moore's sermon on Gen. Lee was published in full in one of the Nashville papers at the time.
3The widow of Dr. Hoyt was an attendant upon the centennial exercises held in the church November 8 to 15, 1914.
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gation voted to call Dr. James I. Vance, then of Norfolk, a native of Bristol. At that meeting of the congregation Dr. S. H. Chester presided as Moderator and Dr. Vance was nominated by Prof. C. B. Wallace. When the vote was taken there were 237 ballots for him and three cast for ineligible men. Maj. Wilbur F. Foster and W. H. Raymond were appointed to prosecute the call before the presbytery at Norfolk. On October 6, 1894, Capt. J. B. O'Bryan re- ceived a telegram announcing that Dr. Vance had accepted. He arrived here on February 2, 1895, and was installed Feb- ruary 17, 1895. His first sermon was very typical, "A Young Man's Call." It was also appropriate. At that time he looked scarcely more than a college boy and was, in fact, only 33 years of age.
This first pastorate of Dr. Vance continued for over five years. He resigned to accept the call of the Dutch Re- formed Church of Newark, N. J. His successor was Dr. William M. Anderson,1 a native of Trenton, Tenn., then fill- ing the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas, Texas. A telegram on April 13, 1901, announced his ac- ceptance of the call. His ministry is too recent to require more than a passing comment. And that comment is that no man ever enjoyed the affection of the city at large as did he. He had the love of men in every walk of life, and the efforts to minister to their spiritual needs almost cost him his life.
On May 15, 1910, just two weeks after he had preached his ninth anniversary sermon, Dr. Anderson announced his decision to accept a call to return to his Dallas church, a call which had been unanimously extended. He left this city on the ensuing June 7.
On August 19, 1910, Dr. Vance wired from his summer
1Dr. William M. Anderson, the only survivor among the former pastors at the time of the centennial celebrations, was an attendant upon them and spoke on the night of November II.
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DANIEL F. CARTER, Deacon 1850-1860. Elder 1860-1874.
home at Blowing Rock, N. C., to Dr. Paul F. Eve that he had determined that it was his duty to accept the call of his old church here. His present pastorate began November 27, 1910, his installation occurring December 4.
Dr. A. L. Phillips supplied the church in the interim between the first pastorate of Dr. Vance and the calling of Dr. Anderson. Dr. Thomas Carter supplied the pulpit in the interim between the leaving of Dr. Anderson and the second pastorate of Dr. Vance.
ONE CENTURY OLD.
On November 14, 1914, this church, according to our reckoning, will be 100 years old. It has been singularly blessed. It is the strongest church in the Southern Pres- byterian denomination. It is one of the most successful up- town churches in the country. Its membership today is the largest in its history and its gifts the largest. The last annual report showed a membership of 1,562 and its receipts for the year were $32,087, equivalent to more than $20 for every man, woman and child, rich and poor, in the congre- gation. But this does not begin to tell the story. Nowhere in this broad land is there a finer spirit among a church membership ; nowhere in this world is there proportionately more kindliness of heart or charitableness of purpose col- lected together and expressing itself daily for the honor and the glory of the Saviour of mankind. The church has been fortunate in its pastors. Some have achieved success through executive ability; some have been priests in the truest sense to their people, and others have been notable for the eloquence with which they preached the word of God. All have been devotedly earnest in the cause of the Master. Had it been otherwise, there would have been no success. We owe a great debt to each and every one of them.
SOME NOTABLE MEMBERS.
And the membership-
Nashville's honor roll is fairly represented in the army
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of devoted men and women who have looked to this church as their spiritual home.
The great John Bell was a member, and his grand- children are prominent in the church at Murfreesboro.
Felix Grundy, Tennessee's greatest lawyer and the At- torney-General of the United States, was a member. His descendants are among the most prominent members of this congregation.
M. H. Howard, the father of Nashville's public library, was a member.
A. W. Putnam, the historian, was for some years clerk of the session.
Samuel Watkins, who did the brick work on our second house of worship, for years was a pew-holder and a large contributor before he became a member.
John M. Hill, the great and good merchant, was one of Dr. Edgar's early additions, and was for over thirty years an officer of the church. Both he and his kinsman, one of Nashville's most worthy men, the late John Hill Eakin, also an officer of the church, remembered its people and its work munificently when they neared the end.
Alfred Hume, the father of Nashville's public school system, was a deacon from May 4, 1844, till his death, Octo- ber 29, 1853.
Howell E. Jackson, of the United States Supreme Court. was a member.
Dr. Philip Lindsley, who might have been President of Princeton, and was for twenty-five years President of the University of Nashville, was a member.
R. H. McEwen, the State's first Superintendent of Pub- lic Instruction, was clerk of the session for a generation.
Dr. Paul F. Eve, Sr., distinguished surgeon, was an elder.
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Nathaniel Cross, the educator, was also a member.
John M. Bass, whose name is known wherever Nash- ville's history has gone as the receiver of the city, was chair- man of the building committee that erected this church. He did not belong to it, but described his relation as that of a half-brother.
Samuel V. D. Stout, William Nichol, Alexander Allison and John A. McEwen1 were some of the Presbyterian Mayors before the war.
Ephraim H. Foster was not a member of this church, but he was buried from it.
Gen. Frank Cheatham was not a member, but he was married in it.
Some of those who labored long and faithfully in official capacities and whose work has lived after them are A. G. Adams, J. M. Hamilton, H. Hill McAlister, Joseph B. O'Bryan, James M. Safford, Byrd Douglas and Bradford Nichol.
MRS. POLK A MEMBER.
And there are the women.
Mrs. James Knox Polk was for over fifty years a mem- ber of the denomination, and for most of the time a member of this church. Her portrait hangs in the White House, placed there by American women of the North and South, in recognition of her example as mistress of the executive mansion. Her pew is still occupied by her connection.
And Mrs. Grundy, the mother of the Sunday schools of Nashville. We honor her memory in this celebration for her great mind and greater heart.
'In this paper as read, an honor belonging to a son was erro- neously given to his father; it was stated that R. H. McEwen had been Mayor of Nashville. It was his son, John A. McEwen, to whom the distinction should have gone. The latter was a Presby- terian and a member of this church.
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And in our own time there is Miss Martha O'Bryan,2 the romance of whose life was blighted by the cruel exigen- cies of war, but whose efforts to do good never relaxed till she left this world to go and meet her hero, the unfortunate, some say the martyred, John Yates Beall.
We do not boast of names upon the rolls of the church as great. Our boast of them is the fact that these men and women were good as well as great, and several have left living testimonies of their goodness, such as the Wat- kins Night School and the Howard Library. From the for- tunes of two, both members of the same family, the church itself is a large beneficiary, and as a result has at its com- mand the means to meet its growing responsibilities effect- ively and generously. The reference is to John M. Hill and his nephew and ward, John Hill Eakin.1
Mr. Hill left two funds of $10,000 each, one for the poor of the Presbyterian churches of Nashville, the other for the relief of ministers and their widows of the Nash- ville Presbytery, any residue remaining of the income going to the widows of this church in need of aid.
JOHN HILL EAKIN'S GIFT.
The John Hill Eakin fund, amounting to $119,500,
"John Yates Beall was one of the most daring spirits in the Con- federate service. His most famous exploit, or attempted exploit, was designed to effect the release of the Confederates imprisoned on Johnson's Island. An associate in the daring enterprise was Bennett Burleigh. The plan miscarried. Beall was later cap- tured by the Federals and tried as a spy. He was executed on Governor's Island, February 24, 1865. Miss O'Bryan died Decem- ber 16, 1910. An account of her blighted romance and an appre- ciation of her life, devoted to doing good, was written for the Banner and appeared in the issue of December 17, 1910. It was written by Dr. J. H. McNeilly.
'A portrait of John M. Hill was presented to the church at the time of the centennial exercises by Mrs. John Hill Eakin. The his- tory of Davidson County says that he came here as a young man of 22 in 1819 From a modest beginning, he accumulated through exact and conscientious dealings, a handsome fortune, and retired in 1845. He is described as an "open-handed Christian."
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through the beneficence of his wife, also a member of this church, is already in the church's hands. It is to be an endowment fund, the income from which is to be used to foster and aid the benevolent enterprises of this church and promote, through this church, the building up of Pres- byterianism in Middle Tennessee. It may be said Mr. Eakin also left a similar amount to the Nashville Young Men's Christian Association, a feature of which is already the John Hill Eakin Institute.
In connection with gifts to the church, a notable one is the bell, the gift of Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, later Mrs. W. A. Cheatham. For nearly fifty years it has called the mem- bership to worship, and from 1874 to 1897 it did duty as the city's fire alarm. The bell arrived here July 6, 1867. It was made in West Troy, N. Y .; it weighs 4,013 pounds and is four feet ten inches in diameter. It cost $3,000. This is inscribed on it:
Presented to The First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tenn., by
Mrs. Adelicia Acklen. June 1, 1867.
In the course of its existence this church has been the scene of several notable occasions, some of other than a religious nature.
JACKSON PRESENTED SWORD.
For his services at New Orleans the State of Tennessee voted Andrew Jackson a sword .? It was presented in this church on July 4, 1822. After a great parade of the militia and the notables, "an audience the most numerous we have ever witnessed in this city" gathered, so the story goes, in
"An account of the presentation of the sword to Jackson is published in the Nashville Whig of July 10, 1822. The file of the paper is in the Carnegie Library.
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the original church house to witness the presentation. There was an invocation by Rev. William Hume, an address by Ephraim H. Foster, and Governor Carroll presented the weapon. After General Jackson's response and a benedic- tion by Mr. Hume, the procession proceeded to Judge John McNairy's spring, where a big barbecue was given. This sword was bequeathed by General Jackson to Andrew J. Donelson, his former Secretary and protege, with this in- junction, "That he fail not to use it when necessary in sup- port and protection of the constitutional rights of our be- loved country should they ever be assailed by foreign ene- mies or domestic traitors." This sword continues in pos- session of the family.
On July 4, 1829, Gen. William Carroll, another hero of New Orleans-he was buried from this church on his death -was presented a sword from the State, the presentation being made by Daniel Graham, Secretary of State.
POLK INAUGURATED.
On October 14, 1839, James Knox Polk took the oath of office as Governor in our church. Present that day among the applauding spectators were General Jackson and Wil- liam Carroll. Newton Cannon, as retiring executive, spoke and the new Governor spoke, the opposition paper frankly admitting that the speech of Polk was one of the purest pieces of demagogy its editor had ever heard. Politics in Tennessee was as savagely critical then as it has been in later years.
The General Assembly of the church met here on May 17, 1855, holding its sessions in this building. Dr. N. L. Rice, of St. Louis, was elected Moderator. The meeting is sadly memorable. Dr. Philip Lindsley, the veteran edu- cator, at the time Professor of Theology in the New Albany, Ind., Theological Seminary, was present as a commissioner from New Albany Presbytery. During the session he was stricken with apoplexy and died at the home of his son-
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in-law, Rev. J. W. Hoyte. His funeral was held from this church May 28.
The last meeting of the General Assembly in this church was on November 21, 1867, when Dr. Moore was chosen Moderator, and as a result received his call to the pastorate. Representing this presbytery at that session were Dr. R. A. Lapsley and Charles Ready.
A notable gathering in the church in comparatively recent years was the National W. C. T. U. Convention, which began November 8, 1907.
COINCIDENCES.
It is a coincidence to be noted in passing that the first pastor and the present pastor were licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Abingdon. There are other coincidences in this celebration. When this church was organized Europe was taking a breathing spell preparatory to the shock of Waterloo.
The fiftieth anniversary found Hood's army at the Tennessee River prepared to make its dash on Nashville, with that veteran church official, Maj. Wilbur F. Foster, among the advancing host, as was Surgeon J. D. Plunket. The hundredth anniversary finds Europe again at war-a war more dreadful even than the Napoleonic wars, but there is this satisfactory fact to contemplate in this connection, the hour is near at hand for the celebration of a century of peace among English-speaking nations.
The writer is greatly indebted to Dr. John M. Bass, a grandson of the Chairman of the Building Committee of the present church, for the loan of Dr. Bunting's history. He is also indebted to Mrs. T. M. Steger, a descendant of Mrs. Felix Grundy, and a daughter of another devoted Pres- byterian Church worker, Mrs. Felicia Grundy Porter, for other data; to Mr. Robert S. Cowan, the veteran clerk of the session ; to the Historical Society, the Carnegie Library, and Dr. J. H. McNeilly.
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CHAPTER V.
THE MINISTERS AND PASTORS OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, OF NASH- VILLE, TENN.
By REV. JAMES H. MCNEILLY, D.D.
One hundred years ago, in a pioneer town on the banks of the Cumberland River, with a population of about fif- teen hundred, six women and one man were organized as the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville by one of the mightiest preachers and greatest orators of that or any other age.
In the century just ending that little band has grown to a membership of sixteen hundred, with branches in all sections of a city of one hundred and fifty thousand in- habitants. And these branches have over two thousand members. Moreover, in the city are other churches hold- ing the same standards of faith and order, with eleven hundred members. So that today there are near five thou- sand Presbyterian church members where there were only seven one hundred years ago. Our denomination has in- creased seven hundred fold, while the population of the city has multiplied one hundred fold. And when we note the progress of our sister denominations in our city, as compared with the growth of the population, we have rea- son to be encouraged.
INTRODUCTION.
The progress of any great movement depends. under God, largely on the leaders of it, and the First Presbyterian Church, in the course of its history, has had a succession
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H. HILL MCALISTER,
Deacon 1860-1867. Elder 1867-1891. Leader in the Work Resulting in the Cottage Church.
of able and godly men-"men of light and leading, who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." They were men of commanding personality, of strong faith and courage, of intense energy, who exercised a powerful influence on the moral and spiritual life and ideals of the whole community.
I am asked to recall some of the characteristics of these ministers of the Word of God as they are preserved in writ- ten or printed records, in the traditions of a past genera- tion, or in the memories of this passing generation.
It has been my privilege to know personally every man who has served this church as pastor since 1833-eighty-one years ago. Moreover, I have known intimately Col. W. B. A. Ramsey, long Secretary of State for Tennessee; Gov- ernor Neil S. Brown, and Hon. Charles Ready, member of Congress from Tennessee. These men were in their youth familiar with the beginnings of Presbyterianism in the State, and had often heard the great preachers of that earlier time.
REV. DR. THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD.
The first Presbyterian minister to work in Middle Ten- nessee, or in the Cumberland Country, as it iwas then called, was the Rev. Dr. Thomas B. Craighead. He was born in North Carolina, the son of Rev. Alexander Craighead, who was one of; Whitefield's helpers in the great revivals under that wonderful evangelist. The son was educated at Prince- ton, N. J., graduating in 1775, and in 1780 was ordained by the Presbytery of Orange, N. C. After a few years' work in his native State, he came to Kentucky, and in a short time he came to Tennessee and located at Spring Hill, near the village of Haysboro, six or' seven miles east of Nash- ville. The tradition is that when he and his company ar- rived in 1785 they cut down the forest trees to prepare a place for worship, and the first pulpit was the stump of a large tree, while the congregation sat on the bodies of the fallen trees-the first pews.
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At Spring Hill a stone building 24 by 30 feet was erected for school and church services. There for thirty years Mr. Craighead preached, and at first taught the Davidson Acad- emy, the cradle of the University of Nashville. Some of the foundation stones of that old building are still in place in the grounds of the present Spring Hill Cemetery. The house in which the minister lived until his death was sit- uated just across the road, a short distance from the school- house. A few years ago the residence was burned down, but was rebuilt on the old walls and on the original plan.
Mr. Craighead was a profound scholar, an independent thinker, a man of intense convictions and of dauntless cour- age : and Dr. Philip Lindsley testified. "the most spiritual, heavenly-minded person he ever knew." As a preacher his diction was clear and unadorned ; his manner fervid, solemn, intense; his enunciation distinct and precise. He usually spoke without notes. In person he was tall, straight as an arrow, his countenance strong and stern, his complexion ruddy, his eyes blue, his hair sandy. His bearing was dignified. He preached frequently in Nashville and in the surrounding country.
The Davidson Academy was incorporated by the Legis- lature of North Carolina in 1785, and in 1786 Mr. Craig- head was chosen President of the Board of Trustees.
His last years were embittered by his suspension from the ministry on charges of heresy. The Presbyterianism of that day was intensely orthodox, not to say intolerant. Even Mr. Craighead himself was bitterly opposed to the measures used in the great revival of 1810, which resulted in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The sentence of suspension was rescinded some time before his death, which occurred in 1824, at the age 71 years.
Mr. Craighead was of that stern, independent, inde- fatigable Scotch-Irish stock which furnished so much of the pioneer courage and strength in the settlement of Ten-
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nessee. And he was a worthy representative of his race. It is said that General Andrew Jackson was his devoted friend. They were kindred spirits.
REV. WILLIAM HUME.
The first Presbyterian organization in Nashville was a little congregation of Scotch seceders gathered about the close of the eighteenth century. To them in 1801 came the Rev. William Hume, of Scotland, sent out by the Scotch Presbytery of Kirkaldy. He preached in a small brick building near the site of the University of Nashville, which, I believe, still stands. His congregation was small, his sal- ary was meager, his circumstances were narrow, yet he continued faithfully his ministry to them with self-sacrificing devotion until 1818, when he united with the Presbyterian Church in the United States and most of his congregation followed him, uniting with this First Presbyterian Church. For fifteen years, until his death in 1833, he served churches near Nashville, and he frequently filled the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church. For many years he was a dis- tinguished teacher. He was Professor of Ancient Lan- guages in Cumberland College, afterwards known as the University of Nashville ; after that Principal of the Nashville Female Academy until his death.
Mr. Hume was one of the wise master builders who laid the foundation of Presbyterianism and of education in Nashville. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 15, 1770; educated in the University of Edinburgh, trained in the strictest school of Scotch theology, he was a thorough scholar and an able minister of the Word of God. While he was bold and firm in the defense of the truth, yet he was a man of broad and catholic spirit, and in his daily life he was gentle and humble as a little child.
For nearly a third of a century he lived in this city. an accomplished teacher, a generous philanthropist, a cul- tured gentleman, and he so bore himself that he won the
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confidence and love of all classes of the community, and was known as "the good man of Nashville."
REV. GIDEON BLACKBURN.
We next come to the great organizer of churches, the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D.D., teacher and preacher, the Chrysostom of the pioneer pulpit-one of the most eloquent orators, most zealous workers and devoted ministers of the gospel who ever wrought for the Kingdom of God.
Born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1772, in his boy- hood he came with his family to Tennessee and was edu- cated in the noted school of Rev. Dr. Samuel Doak. Hav- ing studied for the ministry, he was licensed by the Abing- don Presbytery in 1792 or 1795. He had charge of two churches in East Tennessee, but with his heart afire with the love of Christ, he went about in all the neighboring coun- try preaching and organizing churches, and often he went from place to place armed with his trusty rifle and march- ing with companies of soldiers, who guarded the land from sudden incursions of Indians.
Wherever he went he won the sturdy pioneers by his genial, gracious manner, and by his wonderful gift of elo- quence. He not only organized churches, but he strove to evangelize the Indians, and established schools among them, which were quite successful.
In 1811 Mr. Blackburn came to Middle Tennessee and took charge of the Harpeth Academy at Franklin, where he remained teaching and preaching for twelve years. As was his custom, he ranged widely, preaching at various points in a radius of fifty miles, and organizing churches. Often on Friday evening after school hours he would mount his horse and dash off twenty miles to one of his five preach- ing places and there administer the communion, preach five or six times and be back in his classroom early Monday morning. It is said that at one of these communion occa-
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sions three thousand persons were present and forty-five were received into the church.
It was while he was teaching at Franklin that he made Nashville one of his preaching points. Beginning in the spring of 1811, at first he /came only once in every three months, then monthly, and at length semi-monthly. In November, 1814, probably on Sunday the thirteenth day of the month, he organized this church and continued sup- plying it semi-monthly until 1818 or 1819.
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