USA > Virginia > Sketches and portraits of the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church > Part 25
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REV. ROBERT C. GARLAND.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
her a share in his success. We know that a number of our pastors are debtors to silent and superior women-their wives-for judicious counsel, kind and corrective criticism, and amendment of error in speech. Alas, while these lines were ready for the press, Death smote the beloved wife.
REV. JAMES OLIVER BABCOCK.
Mr. Babeoek is of sterling stock. His father, Bradley W. Babeock, was for years an acceptable steward of the Methodist Church. His mother, who was a Miss Cardwell, was of loyal lineage and worthy of her name. .
Mr. Babeock was born in Campbell county, Va., February 28, 1866, and was born again in August, 1880, in Bethlehem church, at Concord Depot, in a meeting conducted by Revs. T. J. Taylor and John W. Carroll. Two weeks later he felt a conscious call to the ministry, but for some time lie resisted this revelation of duty. At last yielding and believing that a call to preach the Gospel was a call to get ready to preach, he began to prepare for his life's work. Ile had been a pupil in the celebrated Union Academy, of Appomattox county, and now began to teach, spending two years in the school-room, and at the same time taking a course in theological reading under the instruction of his pastor. Then he entered Emory and Henry College and enjoyed the advantage of a two-years' course at that noble institution.
Mr. Babeock entered the Virginia Conference at its session in Danville in 1887, Bishop Key presiding. There has been no break in his Conference career. Ilis advancement has been steady. In 1889 he was ordained deacon in Monumental church, Portsmouth, by Bishop J. C. Granbery, and ordained elder in 1891 in Market Street church, Petersburg, by Bishop J. C. Keener.
He married Miss Anna J. Huffaker, daughter of the late Rev. J. N. S. Huff- aker, of the Holston Conference, and a distinguished daughter of Martha Wash- ington College, a gentle and cultivated creature, rarely qualified for compan- ionship with one whose mission is to uplift his fellows. One son, Garland, a bright boy of twelve summers, brightens the home.
Ilis rural appointments inelude West Goochland, Orange, Mt. Pleasant, King George, and Lancaster. His eity service ineludes Madison Station, Lynchburg; Fifth Street, Manchester, and Cabell Street, Danville. He is now serving his first year at Fairmont Avenue church, Richmond.
Mr. Babcock is one of the coming young men of the Conference. He is a student, possesses an exceptionally fine library, and finds time to use it. He is a prince of pastors-a real house-going preacher. All the children know him and love him. He is a good preacher. Ilis pulpit manner is easy and un- affected. His sermons are the ereations of earnest labor and prayer, and there- fore complete and compact. Hle hits the mark. He is magnetic in and out of the pulpit, a tireless worker, a sympathetic pastor, and well tills the field over which he is made overseer.
Fourteen years of carnest work for God give the condition of a record repre- sentative of what there is in true manhood consecrated to the service of Christ. The highest earthly aim of Mr. Babcock during the fourteen years of his minis- try has been to keep step with the immortal host that follows the banner of King
REV. JOSEPH D. LANGLEY.
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Immanuel. He is happiest in a revival with the "slain of the Lord" all around him, but no department of Church work is ever neglected and no figure upon the spiritual ledger left ont.
Ile wins friends by his genial address and his grace of speech in the social circle. Blessed with a discriminating judgment, he is eminently successful in advocating the interests of the Church by the selection of suitable co-workers competent to carry out the will of the pastor.
The great Duke of Marlborough was heard to say, "I carry my plan of battle in my heart." The words of the commander were an inspiration to every soldier of the line. Mr. Babcock always knows what he intends to do in the building np of a Church enterprise as a matter of preliminary preparation, but he never fails to carry it to God in prayer. It is not strange that the work of the Lord should prosper in his hands.
As the tides come and go, so are there advance waves and refluent waves in the movement of the Church of God, but it onght not to be so. A million workers in the field with the clear vision and the spiritnal momentum of Mr. Babcock would capture this world for Christ before the end of a half-century. He is a soldier of the Cross, always expecting to win a victory, because he believes in the triumph of the truth of God.
REV. BENJAMIN MOORE BECKHAM, A. M.
He is the son of the sainted Thomas Moore Beckham, of fragrant memory. His mother was Miss Lucy E. Royall, and he bears much facial resemblance to her family. Ile was born in Nottoway county, Va., Angnst 17, 1868.
In early life he was converted to God. His academic training was received at New London Academy, in Bedford county, under the tutorship of a Presby- terian minister, Rev. B. W. Moseley, now deceased. Three years, 1885-'86-'87, were spent in business in Lynchburg, Va. In September, 1887, under the im- pulse of a Divine call to the ministry, he entered Randolph-Macon College, and immediately took and maintained a high stand as a student, leading his class in Latin during his first year, and capturing a prize offered by the Professor in that school. IIe continued at college withont interruption imtil Jnne, 1891, when he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in November of the same year was admitted on trial into the Virginia Conference, and assigned to Henry Circuit. Nearly one hundred souls were added to the Church this year, and all the collections were raised in full for the first time in many years. In 1892 he was put in charge of Middlesex Circuit, where there were two hundred and forty conversions and one hundred and forty additions to the Church. The next two years were spent on West Hanover Cirenit, during which time Mr. Beckham resided at Randolph-Macon College and pursned studies in Hebrew and English Bible, receiving in June, 1895, the degree of Master of Arts. The following September he entered the Theological Department of Vanderbilt University, and by reason of his attainments in Biblical studies was admitted to the middle class, the work of which he completed with high distinction. Ile also pursned some of the studies in the junior class, was pastor of a mission church in Nashville, and was awarded the Owen Medal for special work in the
REV. JOHN D. HOSIER.
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School of Practical Theology. In June, 1896, he was employed by the Pre- siding Elder to take charge of Trinity church, Norfolk, made vacant by the resignation of Rev. C. W. Leftwich, and in November, 1896, he was sent to Asbury, Richmond, where he remained for three years. At the Conference of 1899, he was assigned to Cabell Street, Danville, of which church he is at this time the popular and sneeessful pastor.
Mr. Beckham cannot go unnoticed, even in a large crowd. Few of us have a more powerful physique. He passes the line of two hundred, and yet there is naught that would suggest sloth or self-indulgence. The head and face are molded on lines of great strength. There is force of character in every eurve. No man of judgment would try to browbeat him, for while the face is gentle and the expression kindly, yet there is a background of tremendous will-power and of deep and positive conviction. There is nothing flabby in his views of men aud things. He has his own opinions and convictions, and is not afraid to own them. Yet he is by no means pugnacious. He sits at the Secretary's table in the Annual Conference, cool and quiet, and works methodically aud per- sistently until his task is done. He is genuinely pious. When a student at college he was President of the Young Men's Christian Association and a leader in religious work among both the students and the people of the surrounding country.
Ile has a soft and pleasant, but deep and powerful voiec. He sings well. Ilis pulpit manner is easy and pleasant, yet dignified and impressive. He is genial in the social circle, wins children easily, and is an indefatigable pastor. Ile is a tireless student, and his sermons are prepared with the utmost care and conscience. IIe seeks not to make pretty addresses, but to unfold and on- force the great things of God.
REV. CHARLES 11. GALLOWAY.
He is one of the thousands of converts of the Rev. George C. Vanderslice; brought to God in Manchester, 1877.
Mr. Galloway was born uear Petersburg, in Chesterfield county, March 4, 1864. Gustavus and Martha Galloway were his parents. His family resided in Manchester from 1871.
Young Galloway had conviction when he was a mere boy that God had called him to the ministry. He had to toil for his daily bread. His father was dead. He attended night schools, working during the day in the iron shops. Such was the grit in the boy.
On April 10, 1890, he was authorized to preach; was admitted in 1891. He served Gloucester that year as junior under the Elder. He was pastor on Berlin Cirenit for two years. In 1894 he was transferred to the North Caro- lina Conference and sent to Hatteras, where, after a year, he returned to Vir- ginia. Ile then served Wicomico three years. In 1898 he was selected for Con- cord Cirenit, where he is rounding out a full term.
He was married to Miss Lula M. Roane, of Wood's Cross Roads, Va., in May, 1892. As we never heard of a daughter of the historic House of Roane who
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REV. JOHN E. MCCARTNEY.
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SKETCHIES AND PORTRAITS OF THIE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
was not a superior woman, we know Galloway had great good fortune in his choice of a wife.
Mr. Galloway has the elements of character that lead to victorious results. There is in him the toproot of a sterling manhood. The Church is carried for- ward to its best success by these sterling forces. It is the resistless force of fixed purpose that batters down obstacles and wins a triumph against odds. This undaunted resolution that never shrinks, illustrated in the career of this young minister, tells in great forward movements. He can be conuted on to bring his sheaves from the harvest field. There was merit and manhood in the boy, and augmented in the seasoned period-adult age.
REV. GEORGE HANSFORD SPOONER.
The University city of Charlottesville, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge and under the shadow of Monticello, is the native place of Mr. Spooner. He dates his citizenship from February 12, 1864. The environment of his home was a fitting school for this quick youth. He had training at the superior High School of that Piedmont shire town; also at the State Technical College of Blacksburg and the University of Virginia. Of course, he wou a school medal for elever talking before an audience.
lle, in early years, was active in religious exertions among young men. His muele, the saintly Jacob Manning, put a force on the reluctant but bright boy, and compelled him to expound in one of the Lynchburg churches. He enlisted in the Sacred Cohort in 1891. According to custom, he was given at the start the usual "hard fields," where the colts are broken in. His first parish was Woodville, with plenty of work. He wrought well, and came to the large acres of Amherst, then Westmoreland, Princess Anne, Lambert's Point ( Norfolk), and is now serving Trinity, Richmond, Va.
There is no challenge of the admitted nimble and alert powers of Mr. Spooner. These endowments have been the undoing of not a few. With the gifts, he has the balance-wheel of common sense. And so, instead of trusting to "the inspira- tion of the occasion," Mr. Spooner follows the wise way of all men of exceptional parts, who have left imprint of themselves upon the public mind, he studies. There is no superior fortune than the power to rise above the dull earth, yet possessing a telescopic iris that seans the minutest atom on its surface. The poetic fancy, the melody of tuneful tongue, the grace of forensic attitude will not atone for ignorance of the "great riches in small space," the distilled thought of genius bottled up in books.
Oratory and culture have been the assets of men with repulsive traits. De- mosthenese, whose patriotic eloquence marshalled Athens against Phillip, was charged with receiving a bribe of a gold cup. Mirabeau, "the Tribune of the People," certainly pocketed the King's million of franes, for the receipt was found in the royal archives. Cicero confessed to Atticus that he cat dirt to please Cæsar-defending a scoundrel he onee denounced.
Happy the man who does not pose as a Cato, yet has the virtues of the Stoic of Utica, never a bully for God nor a church Cataline, nor a social billygoat to gain notice.
REV. SAMUEL J. BATTIN.
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No one will ever question the courage of convictions in Mr. Spooner. It is only on matters involving high behavior that he is steadfast, immovable, and, if pressed, aggressive. Frankness and independence of thought are birthmarks. IIe has no concealments. The blandishments that win to silence, where a prin- ciple is involved, are wasted on him, though "charming never so wisely." He is honest to the core. Profit and popularity never count as against a clear case of conscience. Whatever meets his approval must have the elements of justice, honor, truth. He loathes a tricky man. Ile despises all shuffling, cunning, indi- rection. Ile caters to no man's infirmities, whims, caprices to win favor. He is not a diplomat, but a Christian gentleman, who orders his life by a chivalrous regard to the rights of others and an unflinching purpose to discharge his con- science of every duty, without the fear of man before his eyes. We may easily know that fortitude in the right, elevated aims, worthy deeds have the pull of a lodestone upon him.
It is to the credit of humanity to record that a person in public life, so firm, open, uncompromising in matters of honor and integrity, so frank, should draw around him such a wide circle of devoted friends and ardent admirers. The people he serves, almost by instinct, confide in his counsel, his hardy virtues and his sincerity. He is not opaque. His conduct is the Roentgen rays that reveals the function of a healthy, heroie and heavenly-minded man,
flis pulpit is a forum of force. The sermon is the reflex of the preacher. The thought is limpid as the rivulet of his native hills. It needs no clarifying process. The style is simple for absorption by the lad in the pew, showing an exquisite taste and choice diction, warmed by a fervid zeal, the uprush of a deep consecration, The discourse, if the theme demands, emits the sparkle of genius and the glow of genuine eloquence.
There is no veneer of parlor manners. He is a polished gentleman through and through. His heart is surcharged with sympathy, for "the bravest are the tenderest."
Mr. Spooner married Miss Allen, of Culpeper in 1893. ITis choice tallies with his usual discretion. Mrs. Spooner is so finely equipped for her position that none of the annoyances of the household get to the study. She absorbs them or sidetracks them. It might be a theme of debate where the excess of talent is in that parsonage. The domestic affairs seem to work automatically. A congregation does not always know that the brilliant sermon had genesis in a regulated dining-room and in the sereneness of the "Mistress of the Manse." The wife can make or mar the pulpit.
Mr. Spooner is the son of G. W. and D. A. Spooner, choice people of the lovely uplands of Middle Virginia.
REV. ASA DRISCOLL.
Mr. Driscoll, as his name indicates, is of Irish extraction, and was born in the "Ilill City," Lynchburg, Va., August 15, 1866. He received good academic training in his native city and also a collegiate course in the State of Tennessee.
He was converted in Lynchburg, at once nited with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and because of his great activity and untiring zeal, he was elected
REV. JESSE K. HOLMAN.
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steward, class-leader, exhorter and finally granted local preacher's license by the Quarterly Conference of Centenary church.
Ile entered the Virginia Conference in November, 1891, and has since served the following charges : Middle Bedford, South Brunswick, Cape Charles, West Charlotte and Gloucester Point. He is, in 1900-'01, on West Buckingham.
The subject of this sketch is tall and of slender build. He has dark hair and eyes, fair skin, smiling countenance and a soul big enough to embrace all man- kind. Whoever once looks into his radiant face or feels the pressure of his kindly hand grasp cannot doubt the sincerity of his heart, for they point to the true worth of the man.
IIe preaches well. His sermons are carefully prepared and are delivered with earnestness and force. His mind is of the analytical cast, and the style of the sermon is usually clear and convincing, and he is heard with gladness whenever he preaches. Ile is a man of indefatigable energy, and he brings things to pass wherever he labors. Indeed, the danger is that he will wear himself out before he has reached middle life; but be that as it may, it is the writer's impression that when he falls it will be with his face toward the foe, and he himself clad in the uniform of the soldier of Jesus Christ, and then go up to receive the plaudit of "well done" from the lips of the Captain of his salvation.
REV. ARTHUR C. JORDAN.
The page that brings his name to the present readers and bears it to the future eyes holds the record of a man worthy of the company of earnest men in any vocation. Other fields invited him, but duty was the polar star. There was no barrier high enough nor prize of sufficient magnetic power to hinder or tempt. When he saw, with unfilmed vision, the finger of God pointing the path, he put his foot on that road, and has marched, year by year, along its milestones, faithful, steadfast, and with eye unturned to right or left.
The hand of God has been with him in the way. The Spirit witnessed to him. Sinners heard him and confessed their sins. The wavering caught new courage from his life and acts. Congregations were blessed. The fireside where he tarried became a Bethel. In all the departments of Church work he labored with zeal and with sheaves.
He is symmetrical in stature, pleasing in address, of unusually engaging demeanor, reinforced by a handsome facc.
Ilis enlistment dates November, 1880. He is conducting Methodist interests on Amelia Circuit in 1900-'1-and judiciously.
REV. CLARKE W. LEFTWICH.
Mr. Leftwich was received on trial into the Virginia Conference in the fall of 1887. ITe is now thirty-nine years old, but, by reason of his unwrinkled
REV. CHARLES E. BLANKENSHIP.
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countenance, would be thought by most persons younger. He is the son of Colonel J. B. and Lucy F. Leftwich. Ilis mother was the youngest sister of Rev. S. T. Moorman, of beloved memory. Mr. Leftwich, in the opinion of some, bears a resemblance to his venerated uncle, though of much smaller size. Ilis sturdy race is of honorable record.
He is about five feet nine inches in height, and weighs one hundred and fifty pounds. He is of fair complexion, with soft brown hair and clear bluish- gray eyes, which look straight at you, and give you the impression that he is discerning your thoughts. He is genial, humorous and magnetic, and possesses in generous measure the happy faculty of making warm friends. In the re- ligious cirele and pulpit he is grave and earnest, showing to all his zeal for the advancement of the Master's cause. ITis voice is sonorous and his delivery animated, clear and emphatic, possessing the boldness and courage of convic- tion. His sermons are prepared with anxious care for the good of his charge, and delivered without note or manuscript. ITis education, though not classical, is fairly up in English literature and general information. He reads much and is observant. Those who know him best think, if his health remains firm, he will grow to large usefulness, if worthy ancestors and personal character count in the result.
REV. BENJAMIN F. SMITHI.
IIe is from au old Methodist family, and is the youngest son of Downing and Sarah Powers Smith ; was born in the county of Greene, September 4, 1848. His mother was a daughter of the Rev. John Gibson, a local preacher who came from Maryland in 1779 and settled in Orange county, Virginia. In this and adjacent counties he preached the Gospel for two-thirds of a century, and reached the advanced age of ninety-nine years, eleven months and twenty-two days. Among the early recollections of Mr. Smith was the reading of the Bible by his mother. Religion was an inheritance.
In his eighteenth year he was converted on his way home from a revival under the ministry of Rev. James O. Moss. ITis gifts and graces were soon apparent to his pastor and Christian friends. Ile has been class-leader, local preacher, exhorter. In 1875 he attended Randolph-Macon College, but ill health pre- vented his return to the college; yet he continued to preach with acceptability. In 1879 he was married to Miss Dunn, of Albemarle county, Virginia. On March 13, 1886, at Leesburg, he was ordained to deacon's orders by Bishop Keener. In 1887 he entered the Virginia Annual Conference as a licentiate, was received without a dissenting voice, and appointed to Mount Pleasant ('ir- cuit, on which he served two years; 1889, West Lunenburg Mission; 1891, Surry ; 1892, supernumerary ; 1893, Hooper's Island; 1894, Milton Mission ; 1898, Woodville; 1900, Gwynn's Island.
Mr. Smith has the look of a man in earnest-and he is. No man is more loyal to Jesus. Under difficulties he has for some years, at his own charges, wrought for the prosperity of Zion. His soul is consumed by zeal for the Lord's House. No hardship, no poverty, no distance, no storm of hail can slacken his energy .. Hlad Methodism a thousand men of the mould, manhood and conse-
REV. GEORGE T. KESLER.
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eration of our Smith, wickedness could not stand before it. His rugged face is an index of his robust soul. Roman soldier never saluted the eagles with truer devotion than this man of the Piedmont hills as he uncovers in adoration toward the colors of the Crucified.
REV. JOHN B. WINN.
Mr. Winn is of the corps of the clever juniors of the Conference. He loves the learned page, "rich with spoils of Time," but is not a book-worm-never dwaddling over books. Ile cracks out the marrow and flings the bone aside. He wastes no hours with idle people. He always has work ready to his hand; nevertheless, he is not a recluse. Ile visits his people, and is posted as to public opinion. He has the art of taking the pulse, and he prescribes from the pulpit the potions that snit the varying conditions of his andience.
There is firm fibre in him. While far from a "divine slugger," he does not show the white feather. He seeks no controversy and shuns no challenge to defend the truth.
Ile garners material for his vocation, winnows it, stores it. Wisely, he is preparing for a career where there will be no sleazy sermons, but full-weight and measure. He does not "preach out."
He has an engaging presence, adding an interest to every company he enters. There is not a dull line in his face; nor has a corroding thought grooved a fur- row in the ample and unwrinkled forehead. There is no eddy of evil thoughts in the pellucid waters of his heart.
lle will do honor to noble old Nottoway, his native heath, whose sons have made it famous, near and afar. ITe saw this world for the first time on the 14th of June, 1869. His parents, W. E. and Emily Winn ; converted in his 17th year; at Randolph-Macon College, 1887-1890, inclusive; served Clarksville Cirenit as supply one year ; joined the Conference in 1891 ; returned to same Circuit for three more years; then Chatham Circuit, remaining 1894-'98; third charge, Boydton-now in third year. Married, in 1893, Miss Annie Stuart Dabbs, of Clarksville, Va.
REV. CHARLES HENLEY WILLIAMS.
Mr. Williams was born September 2, 1865, in Pasquotank county, North Carolina. His father, Thomas L. Williams, was an able preacher and an hon- ored member of the Virginia Annual Conference. His mother was Mrs. Henrietta N. Williams.
Mr. Williams, the subject of this sketch, was converted at a protracted meet- ing in the Baptist Church and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on his father's charge, Gates Cirenit, then of the Virginia Conference, the next Sunday. This was in 1883.
HIe was licensed to preach by the Quarterly Conference of the same cirenit
REV. PATRICK H. CLEMENTS.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
June, 1890, Rev. J. W. Tucker, P. C., and Rev. Thomas II. Campbell, P. E.
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