USA > Virginia > Sketches and portraits of the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church > Part 19
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REV. SAMUEL A. STEEL, D. D.
Mr. Steel was born on October 5, 1849, on a farm near Grenada, Mississippi. His father was a member of the Memphis Conference when it embraced all of West Tennessee and the northern half of Mississippi, so that young Sammel was carly initiated into the itinerancy. AAbout the beginning of the war his father located and settled on a farm in Desoto county, Miss. Here the subject of this sketch lived until he was grown, toiling hard at farm work, and deprived by the chaotic state of society of the privilege of school. His father's small but excellent library, however, furnished him with good books, and an inborn desire to learn stimulated study. A refined and cultivated Christian home, and plenty of hard work, in heroic times that tested the metal of every life, wore his early advantages. AAt length he reached Emory and Henry College, in Virginia, where he spent two years under sneh men as President E. E. Wiley, Dr. Jolm 1 .. Buchanan, Dr. Edward Longley, and Dr. C. E. Vawter, all of whom became
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REV. SAMUEL A. STEEL, D. D.
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his friends. Largely through their influence, while he was still an undergrad- uate, he was elected Chaplain of the University of Virginia, a position he filled for two years. At the expiration of his term at the University, he was engaged to supply the pulpit of Broad Street church in Richmond until Conference, it being left vacant by the election of its pastor, Rev. John C. Granbery, D. D., to a professorship in Vanderbilt University. During his chaplainey at the Uni- versity, Mr. Steel was happily married to Miss Mary Burns, of Petersburg, Va. For thirteen years she was his loving and faithful wife, to whose inspira- tion and help he attributed his success in all his undertakings while she lived.
Mr. Steel was admitted on trial in the Virginia Conference at its session in Danville in 1875, and served for three years at Broad Street church. A situa- tion in Mississippi demanded his return there, according to the judgment of Bishop Paine, and he was transferred in 1878 and stationed at Columbus. Ile remained there four years, when Bishop MeTyeire transferred him to Memphis, and appointed him to the First church. He remained there four years, and it was under his pastorate that the new and magnificent stone church was planned and partially begun. At the close of his pastorate in Memphis he was trans- ferred to Louisville, Ky., and stationed at Walnut Street church. Dr. Steel --- for he had received the honorary degree of D. D. from Emory College, Georgia, while living in Memphis-remained two years in Louisville. During this time he was appointed by the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Fraternal Messenger to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which met in New York city in 1888. In the fall of 1888 he was transferred by Bishop Hendrix to Kansas City, and appointed to Walnut Street church there. He remained in Kansas City only one year, and was recalled to Tennessee by Bishop Keener and appointed to McKendree church in Nash- ville. In this metropolitan church of Southern Methodism he remained four years. Ilis next appointment was West End, Nashville. He was taken from the pastorate there by his election to the office of General Secretary of the Ep- worth League and editor of the Epworth Era at the General Conference, held in Memphis in 1894. As General Secretary of the Epworth League, he traveled extensively over the Church in its interests, and gave general satisfaction. But he was too independent and ontspoken in his editorial management of the Epworth Era to suit the authorities, and was brought to trial by the Book Com- mittee on the technical charge of "incompetency." He was neither acquitted nor condemned, but a compromise was effected by which he was retained in the office until the General Conference met in 1898. After the meeting of the General Conference Dr. Steel was left without an appointment until the fall of 1899, when he was transferred back to the Virginia Conference and was sta- tioned at Centenary, Richmond. He remained there one year, and is now pastor of Market Street church, Petersburg.
Dr. Steel has been twice married-first, to Miss Mary Susan Burns, of Petersburg, Va., and last to Miss Ella Battle Brevard, of Union City, Tenn. By the first marriage four children were born, three of whom survive; and there are three by the second marriage. Outside of his pastoral work, Dr. Steel has done a good deal of lecturing and written several little booklets-"On the Wing," "En Route," and "On the Rail"-racy descriptions of his travels be- twoon the Atlantic and Pacific.
REV. J. W. SEWELL ROBINS.
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REV. ALEXANDER COKE SMITH, D. D.
Ile is most widely known as Coke Smith, with A. in front if the name be written. He gets too close to our hearts to be called by so long and stately a name as Alexander. He is everybody's friend. There is no lack of respect; he possesses a dignity which needs not guarding; but respect warms into trust and love at the sight of his face, the sound of his voice, the touch of his hand. Protestants and Catholics, Christians and Jews, white and colored, young and old, smile and brighten at the approach of this man with the large, brotherly heart.
Ile is a son of South Carolina. There he was born, reared, edu- cated; he married one of her danghters and lived forty-one years in the Palmetto State. September 16, 1849, was his birthday; Sumter his county (then called district). llis father, W. HI. Smith, was a local preacher. ITis memory goes not back to the time when he did not pray and desire to be a Christian. He is sure that he was one in his early childhood ; and there has been no break. When eleven years old he became a Church member by personal vows and confession of Christ. At sixteen he came into a larger conscious experience of grace. Soon thereafter he felt a call of God to preach. For two years he kept silent; but then having settled the question, he informed his parents. They wisely began at once to plan for his collegiate education. The first, the most efficient schooling and culture had already been received in that godly home. The war interrupted his preparation and crippled his father's finances. But "where there's a will, there's a way ;" so Coke was matriculated at Wofford in 1868 and graduated four years later.
He entered the South Carolina Conference December, 1872, and continued in it twenty years. Ile was stationed one year at Cheraw ; three years at Wash- ington Street, Columbia; four years at Buncombe Street, Greenville; three years at Trinity, Charleston. Two and a half years he served as Presiding Elder of the Columbia District. June, 1866, he was elected Professor of Men- tal and Moral Philosophy in Wofford College, and held that office until the General Conference of 1890 elected him one of the Missionary Secretaries. This position he resigned in July, and accepted the Chair of Practical Theology in Vanderbilt University.
A vacancy having occurred in the pastorate of Granby Street Station, Nor- folk, Va., he was transferred in May, 1892, to the Virginia Conference, and put in charge of that church. During his pastoral term there was erected by his people the elegant and commodions stone church, well known by the name of Epworth. In 1895 he was appointed to Court Street, Lynchburg, and in 1899 returned to Epworth, where he is now serving.
The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him in 1887 by Erskine College of the Associate Reform Presbyterian Church. Thrice he has sat in the General Conference-in 1890 as chairman of the South Carolina delegation, in 1894 and 1898 as a delegate of the Virginia Conference. He is a trustee of Randolph-Macon College, President of the Board of Educa- tion of the Virginia Conference, and a member of the General Board of Mis- sions. In 1890 he was chosen by the College of Bishops as the Fraternal Dele- gate from our Church to the Methodist Church in Canada.
December 29, 1900, there was celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
REV. JAMES K. JOLLIFF.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
marriage of A. Coke Smith and Miss Kate Kinard, of Newberry, S. C. Many and hearty were the congratulations. For a quarter of a century Mrs. Smith has been a mighty factor, not only in the personal happiness of her distinguished husband, but also in the popularity and success of his ministry. A blessed home is theirs-father, mother and large group of children of one mind and heart and aim. Not without the discipline of sorrow. How sharp was the grief when a few years ago they gave up that bright, noble boy, though it was to our Father's house of many mansions !
In pulpit and on platform Dr. Smith is a favorite with all classes. It is a delight to hear him. You look and listen with perfect content. There is no painful sympathy, as if he were struggling to bring out his thoughts; no solici- tude lest he should fail. The excellence of the discourse in matter and expres- sion is the only hint that he spent any labor on the preparation. Preaching seems to be to him as simple and spontaneous as talking to home folks. The style is limpid and flowing, the gestures natural and graceful, the tones mellow and ustrained. He instructs ; stirs thought, is deeply interesting ; attention does not flag. But he has also skill to find and touch the heart-strings, and they re- spond. The personality of the speaker mingles with what he says-the charm of a sincere, genial, loving soul.
Dr. Smith is the center of attraction in the social circle. He does not seek to monopolize attention, but is a good listener. He is cheerful, appreciative, sympathetic and abundant in humor. Ile takes kindly, hopeful views. He is sane, thoughtful, well-balanced. He illumines and applies whatever is under discussion by means of the best story told in the most admirable way.
Of course, he excels as a pastor. Ile always gets a warm welcome. He car- ries sunshine wherever he goes; or if the hearts be sad and sore, he shows a brother's sympathy, and tells of the balm of Gilead. There is nothing like love to win love.
REV. J. W. SEWELL ROBINS.
Ile is a brother of the late Rev. W. F. Robins, of the Conference; was born and reared in Accomae; converted in his fourteenth year (1867), and entered the Church. The call to the ministry was acknowledged soon after conversion, but the want of proper preparation made the conviction of duty a sore grief. At his majority he set out for the College at Ashland, beginning in September, 1874, and remaining until the end of the session in June, 1875. The claims at home kept him busy until the fall of 1876. Ile was, in the meanwhile, li- censed, and exercised his gifts on the Atlantic Circuit. He returned to the College and was a student for one year. He assisted on the Sonth Norfolk Cir- cuit during the sunnner. Ile entered the Conference in November, 1877, and was sent to South Dorchester. He has in the decades gone by wrought well for God and Methodism.
Ile is forty-six years of age, five feet eight inches high, and weighs two hun- dred and odd pounds. His complexion is fair, eyes gray and hair a dark brown. lle is regarded by his brethren as the most perfect specimen of health in the Virginia Conference. In the strong, stont frame there is a vigorous intellect.
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REV. J. C. C. NEWTON, D. D.
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Hle excels both in the pulpit and in conducting the business of the Church. He is an eloquent preacher. He has a powerful, flexible, rich voice. In argument, he is able and convincing. He builds elegant churches and lengthens the roll of members. The picture would be incomplete if the writer were not to add that Sewell is wonderfully gifted in song.
Ile is a delightful companion. His noble and genial soul has a good counter- part in his robust and handsome person.
Ile is not a bachelor ; and there is no surprise. Who could have refused our superb comrade ?
REV. JOHN C. CALHOUN NEWTON, M. A., D. D.
Dr. Newton was born May 25, 1848, in Anderson county, S. C. He is a son of Methodist ancestors to the fourth generation, and descended from the New- tons of Caroline and Westmoreland counties, Va. Having seen service as a sol- dier while a lad during the last year of our civil conflict, he was after the close of the war a student in Thalian Academy, a famous school in upper South Caro- lina, kept by a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. J. Leland Kennedy, M. ...
In 1869 he entered the Kentucky Wesleyan College, Millersburg, Ky., but in 1870 attended the Kentucky Military Institute, then a flourishing institute, modelled after West Point, and located near Frankfort, and under the superin- tendence of Colonel R. T. P. Allen, an old West Pointer.
Taking the full classical course, besides mathematics, modern languages, etc., he was graduated in 1874 at the head of his class, his average class grade for the four years being 99. He had the honor of being reported to the Governor as "first distinguished cadet." s In the autumn after graduation, he was received on trial in the Kentucky Conference, and for ten years was assigned work in circuit, station and profes- sor's chair of college. Afterwards, for three years, he pursued studies as a graduate student in the Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Insti- tutional History, including Ecclesiastical History, Psychology, and Ethics and Philosophy.
After laboring for a short while in the Baltimore Conference, he was sent, in 1558, to Japan by Bishop Wilson to take charge of the theological training of our young men preparing for the ministry in that field.
After nine years, he was compelled, on account of failing health of himself and wife, to give up his meh-loved work in Japan, At Petersburg, in 1899, he was transferred to the Virginia Conference, and appointed to Ebenezer church, in the village of Crittenden, in Nansemond county.
Directly after graduation, Mr. Newton was married to Miss Lettie E. Day, of South Carolina. She was of good Presbyterian stock, but in all her husband's work and travels has been a true Methodist preacher's wife. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Wofford College, South Carolina, while he was in Japan.
Dr. Newton has occasionally contributed articles to the periodicals of our Church. Two articles on Greek Philosophy and Christianity were published in the Quarterly Review while Dr. Hinton was editor, attracting favorable notice.
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REV. R. FLETCHER BEADLES.
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A booklet of 100 pages on the "New South" grew out of his connection with Johns Hopkins. He has also written for the Board of Missions pamphlets on mission education -- one for Japan and one for China. His latest work is a volume of 432 pages, entitled "Japan : The Country, Court and People." This work is the first history of a foreign people by a Southern writer, and it is grati- fying to know that it has been highly commended by a large number of journals, both religious and secular, North and South, and nowhere more highly than in Japan.
The American, with his salubrious, new and clean country, cannot conceive of the prolonged, moist, penetrating heat of Asia; the nauseating odors, nor the vile condition of the crowded cities, with no effort at cleanliness. The mission- ary easily falls victim to the climate and the germs that breed and riot in the steaming air and the hot ooze, the fermenting of filth. The East is the grave- vard of devoted women. There is an unwritten volume which could tell of robust men smitten of the viewless venom distilled out of the muck of the nastiness of ages; the sewerage of cities soaking in the soil until every inch of the earth is a cesspool weltering in the torrid sun. The miasmatic mist rising ont the malarial mud and deltas of sluggish rivers, assail and destroy the men from the Western Continent. These are unrecorded heroes. It is under these conditions our pioncers preach to the stolid people of the Orient. It is not a surprise that disease disables and drives out the missionary.
Dr. Newton was hindered by bad health. His wife was made an invalid. We shall have the advantage of his experience, training and courage. IIe can but interest, edify and inspire our Church. The reception given him in Vir- ginia has touched him. His genial manner must win a large and appreciative cirele of friends. The quiet courtesy in his intercourse tells that he has not lost in the Orient the behavior native to Carolina. His learning, passing through the alembic of an earnest soul, is clarified of all conceit. To teach the simplicity of the Gospel is his aim. He exchanged a college chair for a small circuit without protest, and was charmed by this Methodist parish, though limited in members. He is now the pastor of Owens Memorial.
REV. JOSEPH R. GRIFFITIL.
Mr. Griffith was born in the city of Richmond, Va., and is now about sixty years old. He was reared in King and Queen county by his grandmother, Mrs. Hundley, both of his parents dying before he was thirty days old. He was educated at Fleetwood Academy and at Randolph-Macon College. He gradu- ated with distinction in several schools of this college, and would have taken a degree but for the war.
In 1862 he was married to Miss Mary T. Evans, a most lovely woman, who died in Oxford, N. C., in 1878, during the pastorate of her husband.
In 1863 he was elected President of Carolina Female College, of Anson connty, N. C., where he conducted a very successful school until 1866, when he was elected President of Davenport Female College. Ile joined the South Carolina Conference this year, and his first two appointments were to the presi- deney of Davenport Female College. In 1868 he resigned the presidency, giv-
REV. S. HARVEY JOHNSON.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
ing himself wholly to the itinerant work, and was stationed in Marion, N. C., two years. In 1570 this part of the South Carolina Conference was transferred to the North Carolina Conference, and he was stationed two years at Goldsboro one of the best appointments in his new Conference. The next three years he spent on the Granville Cirenit ; the next four on the Warren Circuit. In 1879 his appointment was Toisnot Cirenit; in 1880 he was returned to Warren Cir- euit. In 1882-'83 he traveled Ridgeway Circuit; in 1884-'85, Person Cireuit, and in 1886 he was stationed at Chapel Hill, the seat of the University of North Carolina. In 1887 he was transferred to the Virginia Conference, and was sent to Rappahannock Cirenit; in 1889, to Amelia Cireuit; 1891, Hanover; 1892, Chesterfield : 1893, Pungoteague; 1897, Onley; 1900, Norfolk Circuit. Hle was licensed to preach at Randolph-Macon in 1859 ; was ordained deacon by Bishop Pierce, in Broad Street, Richmond, in 1863, and elder by Bishop Pierre, in 1870, at Greensboro, N. C. He was married the second time at Ox- ford, N. C., in 1575, to Miss Mary S. Blackwell, one of the most popular and charming persons ever reared in that town, so famous for its accomplished and beautiful women.
Such is the brief sketch of this good man, as true and chivalrous a knight as over drew a sword in the arena of Christian warfare. Ile has always been a man of results. More than three hundred persons were brought into the Church by his ministry on the Granville Circuit and well-nigh as many on the Warren Circuit. Nearly every circuit he has traveled has been divided into two or more good pastoral charges. Ilis course as an itinerant may be tracked by new parsonages and churches. A man of profound convictions, of genuine religious experience, of wonderful insight into the word of God, he has had but few equals as a pastor or as a preacher. Ile could fill any station within the gift of the Church, but his modesty and great aversion to prominence have put him behind men who have not half his ability. Men like J. R. Griffith fill the world with the light of a great hope, and to have known them is itself a religion. Converted to God in his sixteenth year, he has given thirty odd years of hard, honest work to the Church, and still "his bow abides in strength."
REV. S. HARVEY JOHNSON.
Ile is the son of a Methodist preacher of honored memory and long service in the Conference, Blassingame II. Johnson. Harvey Johnson was born near Han- over Courthouse, October 8, 1854. His mother's maiden name was Wingfield. She died when he was but nine days old. A few hours before her death she gave him to God, praying that he might be a preacher. When the child was two or three years old it fell sick, and the physicians said there was no hope. The father retired to his room and prayed that the infant might live, dedicating it to the Lord, as its mother had done. While on his knees he received assurance his prayers were heard and would be answered. Returning to the sick-room, he told the physicians it would recover. They said, in reply, "If it gets well, it will be a miracle." He firmly believed the boy would grow to man's estate and become a minister.
He was converted August 18, 1869, at a meeting conducted by his father,
REV. JOHN W. CARROLL.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
assisted by Rev. Nat. Thomas, at Sardis, Mecklenburg county. His first lead- ings toward the ministry were in 1871. Hle resisted. Ile moved away from Mecklenburg to rid his mind of the convictions. This was in 1875. The call was louder and threatening -- preach, or woc. He says the sufferings from 1871 to 1876, while he hesitated, were fearful.
Hle was licensed at a Quarterly Conference at Shady Grove, Hanover, in 1876, and attempted to preach in October of the same year. He was received on trial in November, 1876, and sent as a helper to Gates Circuit, North Caro- lina, but in September, 1877, he was removed to Hertford Circuit by the elder. At the Conference of 1877 he was assigned to Bertie Circuit; in 1878, or- dained deacon and sent to Gloucester as junior preacher ; next, West Goochland ; West Lunenburg ; transferred to West Virginia Conference and sent to Greene Circuit, in Pennsylvania, in 1883; retransferred and put in charge of New Kent in 1886, remaining four years; South Chesterfield, two years ; Charlotte, one year ; Middle Bedford, two; Appomattox, two; he is finishing a full term on Pittsylvania.
lle attended different schools, and Randolph-Macon for a short time. Mr. Jolson has superior mental endowment, and is remarkable for his sound sense in exposition, his discretion and deep devotion to his calling.
In November, 1892, he was married to Lulu O. Dahl, daughter of HI. F. and Lucy N. Dahl, of Chesterfield county, Va.
REV. JOHN W. CARROLL.
Mr. Carroll is over six feet in height, about two hundred avoirdupois, well- shaped head, elean-ent, expressive features, steady eye, mercurial temperament, quick in action. Ile will strike any one as possessing many physical qualities favorable to success in the ministry. Ilis presence is imposing, commanding. Ilis mind is vigorous, realistic in type, well trained, and in depth and range of thought constantly advancing; does not indulge in mystical speculation, but in the marrow and fatness of the Gospel, and aims at immediate results. If such a thing is possible, his spiritual fervor is up to incandescence all the time. His zeal knows no abatement. Like a good sportsman, he is always ready to shoot. If any man in the Conference can truthfully say, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up," surely it is he. After years of intimate acquaintance, we can truly say we have known no man who excels him in self-denying consecra- tion to the work of the Master.
lle shows a willingness to take long, weary rides in the saddle, over dusty or uddy roads, over plain or mountain, in order that he may teach others the "narrow way that leads to eternal life;" to live on simple fare, in order that he may feed others on "the bread that cometh down from heaven ;" to dress in cou- mon apparel, that he may hold up to the admiration of others the white robes of the saints; to live in an unpretending house, that he may point others to mansions "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" to be poor, in order that he may make others rich-rich in character, rich in destiny. He would drop any other business on earth, that he might head off a simmer on his way to hell. His Presiding Elder, at Conference in Danville, in 1887, brought a com-
REV. EMMETT E. HARRELL.
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plaint against him-and for what? For something that few men are over charged with, viz. : working too hard. His success in revivals, the number of souls converted, churches built, moneys raised for the cause of Christ designate him as one of the foremost workers in the Master's vineyard. He led his dis- trict in the number of conversions-over two hundred-and holds on to his converts after he once gets them. Wherever he labors all departments of the work prosper. What a pioneer in earlier times he would have made! He is not, and cannot be, satisfied unless the cause of Christ is prospering under his labors. A thousand snch men would capture a continent. They would be in- vincible. If he ever fails at a given point, it is not because he does not deserve success.
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