USA > Virginia > Sketches and portraits of the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church > Part 28
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In 1896 he was united in marriage to Miss. Annie P. Howle, youngest daughter of Mr. J. D. Howle, of Sussex county, Va. She is a woman of cul- ture and consecration, and has been his faithful adviser and support in all his conflicts and struggles.
There are few men in the Conference who possess a larger number of the
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REV. JOHN E. WHITE.
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clements requisite to success than the subject of this sketch. As a preacher, Mr. Booker is strong, forceful and strangely eloquent. It would be difficult to find a man whose style is more pleasing and attractive. In the pulpit he is easy and natural. His gestures are graceful and expressive and his voice is elear, round and melodions. His serions are ornate, logical and spiritual, and show careful preparation and original thought.
As a pastor, he is faithful and systematic. He believes that if a preacher would know his people well-know their dispositions, struggles, needs and as- pirations-he must visit them in their homes. No mere church acquaintance or exchange of salutations on the street or highway is sufficient for these things. He possesses the happy faculty of adapting himself to all classes of society. ITis genial temperament, sympathetic heart and courtcons manner invite eon- fidence and esteem.
Mr. Booker is a man of literary tastes and inelinations, and has contributed to various periodieals and journals. His regulated imagination, chaste forms of expression and superior knowledge of men and things, all conspire to make him a writer of promise. Hle is a man of good business qualifications, excel- lent judgment and fine common-sense. Ilis motto is "go forward," and the churches entrusted to his eare advance materially and spiritually. To use the language of the gifted senior editor of the Richmond Christian Advocate, "He is a man whose genins, enterprise and training give hostages and hopes of a brilliant and vietorions career."
REV. SAMUEL C. HATCHER.
Mr. ITatcher was born in Cumberland county, Va., May 24, 1869. He is the son of John II. and Lucy G. Hlateher.
llis early life was spent on his father's farm, where daily contact with pro- lifie soil and invigorating air gave to his mind and body strength and energy. Here he acquired an intense fondness for the scenes and objeets of rural life. Ile loved to roam amid extended fields, shady forests, flowing streams and grassy meadows. And through these channels of nature the Great Architect of the universe impressed his susceptible mind and inspired him with admiration, reverence and love for things divine.
At a protracted meeting held in a schoolhouse near his home, and conducted by Rev. C. II. Boggs, a venerable member of our Conference, he was deeply and pungently convicted of sin. He realized his lost and helpless condition, made full confession of his sins and sought salvation through the atonement of Christ. For some time he was true and steadfast to his profession, but at length the attrac- tions and faseinations of the world assorted their alhiring influence, and he re- lapsed into ungodliness and sin. Ile soon found that "the pleasures of sin were but for a season," and that the world could never give "the bliss for which he sighed." Ile, therefore, renounced his wayward career and re-dedicated himself to the service of God. It was not long after he made the complete surrender that he received a solemn conviction that it was his duty to be an ambassador for his Lord. The call to the Christian ministry was clear, loud and distinet, but a
REV. WILLIAM E. MOORE.
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previous and perhaps natural inclination to pursue another calling made him hesitate and falter. There was also the usual shrinking through distrust of his own qualifications and powers. At length the conflict ceased, and with the assurance of "Lo! I am with you alway" he went forth to prepare for his high and responsible calling. In 1889 he made his way to Richmond, where he se- cured congenial and profitable employment. During this period he practiced connnendable economy and self-denial, and laid by a small amount with which to augment his training and culture. He then entered McGuire's school, an in- stitution of long standing and high grade. Here he became proficient in the ordinary branches of an English education, and laid the foundation for a col- lege curriculum. After leaving this institution he went to Randolph-Macon College, where he prosecuted his studies with marked success. While there a consecrated band of Methodists, who worshiped in the town hall at Barton Heights, made application to him to supply them with the Gospel. Finding that he could acquiesce in their desire and at the same time continue his course at college, he readily consented, and entered upon his work with enthusiasm and zeal. He soon inaugurated a movement which resulted in the abandonment of the town hall and in the erection of a beautiful and attractive church edifice. This church has steadily increased in membership, piety and talent, and stands forth a splendid monument to his genius, enterprise and energy.
In 1893 he was received into the Virginia Conference on trial and assigned to Barton Heights, where he had already served as a supply for two years. His next appointment was Denny Street, Richmond. Under his ministry at this charge the Church was greatly revived and built up, and attained to a degree of prosperity unparalleled in its history. In 1898 he was sent to Queen Street, Norfolk, where he is now serving his Master and his flock with diligence, fi- delity and efficiency.
Mr. Hatcher is eminently qualified and admirably equipped for the exalted work to which he has been called. His studious propensities have induced him to take advantage of every opportunity for storing his mind with useful infor- mation and knowledge. The Word of God which he is called to expound is his constant guide-the man of his counsel. As a preacher, Mr. Hatcher is clear, logical and eloquent. He is possessed of an analytical turn of mind and ser- monizes with facility. His sermons are replete with many excellences of speech and thought, and his delivery is animated and impressive. It is to be doubted if there are any among us of his age and experience who possess su- perior gifts for revival work. Under his tender, pathetic and earnest appeals the unconverted are melted into penitence and ery aloud for mercy. He es- pecially excels as a pastor. His social tendencies make it an easy task for him to adapt himself to all classes of society. He is equally at home in the man- sions of the rich and in the hovels of the poor, in the presence of the man of letters as well as in the company of those who have been deprived of an educa- tion. The vow which he assumed at the bar of the Conference to "visit from house to house" has not been esteemed lightly or relegated to a secluded place in his memory. In the performance of his pastoral duties he is "no respecter of persons," and is especially attentive to the poor, who regard him as a friendly counselor, and the sick who await his coming with that eagerness with which the lonely sentinel watches for the first approach of dawn.
In 1895 he was nited in marriage to Miss Mary L. Kern, of Clarke county, Va., a lady of culture and refinement. Few preachers have been more fortunate
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REV. ADAM C. BLEDSOE.
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in the selection of a companion. Her entire consceration to Christ, willingness to share the vicissitudes and trials of the itinerancy and ability to do that which her position enjoins, all conspire to make her a helpmeet indeed.
Mr. Hatcher is a man of noble impulses, generous disposition and laudable ambition. He is sympathetic, philanthropie and hospitable. The churches entrusted to his eare increase and flourish. He serves God as one who must give an account, and holds himself in readiness for the summons to higher labors and richer rewards.
REV. ERNEST FRANKLIN HALL.
He is one of the young men of the Conference, the eldest son of James Ellis and Fannie Hall, and as born in Manchester, Va., June 5, 1869. His early boyhood was spent in Richmond eity, where he attended several different private schools. At the age of fourteen he moved with his parents to Bedford City, then called Liberty, Va. IIere he attended the town Graded School, under Pro- fessor J. R. Guy; and also the "Sunny Side High School," of Bedford county, conducted by Messrs. Eubank and son, who, in their report of his school work for February and March, 1887, say of him: "Ernest is doing very well, but if he would study twice as hard, he would stand at the head of his class in every- thing, for he is full of capability, and a very high-minded yonth-nothing low or mean about him."
At sixteen years of age he was converted at a meeting at the Baptist church in Bedford City, joined the Methodist Church, and soon became deeply im- pressed that God had called him to preach the Gospel. After a period of fierce heart struggle, he finally gave himself up to God's will, attended the Randolph- Macon College four years, was licensed to preach, received on trial into the Virginia Conference at Danville, Va., November 23, 1893, and sent by Bishop Granbery to the Henry Cirenit. Ile was ordained a local deacon by Bishop A. G. Haygood at Charlottesville, Va., November 18, 1894, and elder by Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald at Danville, Va., November 21, 1897.
Mr. Ilall's fields in the itineraney have been as follows : Henry Circuit, 1894- 1895; Montross, 1896-1897; Whealton, 1898; Orange Circuit, 1899 to present date.
In 1898 he was happily married to Miss Emily Sandy, the elder daughter of George and Sarah Sandy, of Montross, Westmoreland county, Va. The sweet, beautiful character of this young Christian lady proves the wisdom of his choice. Mr. Hall has a youthful, poetic face, and something in the deep, gray eyes that suggests genins. Small in body, he is, in every nerve and muscle, astir with energy. Fond of athletics, he believes in a sana mens in sano corpore. He loves his Master, his brethren, and his work. He despises meanness, and, at the proper time, will say so. Without apparent effort, he speaks very rapidly; but an alert mind guides the tongne. He nses neither cant nor obsolete phrase- ology. He loves beauty in nature, art, and religion, and preaches a Gospel of purity, truth and love. Souls are won for Christ, and many have rejoiced under the ministry of this bright, consecrated young man. Coming years are laden with blessings for the people he shall serve.
REV. HARRY L. WESTON.
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REV. J. SIDNEY PETERS.
In the annual sessions of the Conference, the forum of the Synod, is the circling space about the Bishop's chair. Within this erescent is seen the portly presence of Mr. Peters. A visitor to the sittings would not overlook the man with the great, round Roman head, the frank features, the grave yet genial mood over- spreading the strong, ruddy, shaven face. The eye, half hid by seeming drowsy lids, is in fact alert to the commerce of opinion interchanged between pew and pew or chair and pew. This sheltering shade to the iris is automatie, like the habit in the sharpshooter to stand under a bough, avoiding the glare and securing a keener sight. Mr. Peters discharges his conscience by this attention to the affairs of the Conference, for it is rare he connects himself withr any of the fugitive questions of the hour. When he rises it is accepted that a matter of moment and gravity will be brought forward. There is no rattle of light sen- tenees nor dull drooling of stale commonplace. He presents in simple and pellucid speech, weightiest concerns distilled down to axiomatie truths. The measured and restrained voice lets fall fact and reason, like the descent of the huge steel hammer driving home the pile, deep down into firm earth. No man of his age in the Conference commands so much the confidence of the body in his seasoned and discreet wisdom or in the integrity of his character or honesty of opinions. The virile powers of the forum hold good in the pulpit. The sermons of Mr. Peters are not pretty essays on morals, but the deliveranees of a legate of Heaven, speaking with authority and amenable for the blood of men to the King of kings who commissioned him. The personal equation counts in these discourses. If there is a man among us who has marshaled the whole forces of his life to the betterment and blessing of humanity, it is this stalwart Methodist minister. He would loathe himself if he ever thought of the pulpit as a profession. At the fireside of his parishoners, the winning influences of a loving heart and consecrated life are seen and felt. The sermon is the initial element. Ile carries on the campaign, house to house.
Mr. Peters is of Methodist stock. His mother's family were Wesleyans in England from the days of the founder. He is a Virginian. Norfolk is his native place.
He was educated at the Academy in Suffolk, receiving the publie honor of his elass. He attended Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sidney Colleges. He engaged in farming in Campbell county and studied law. He was a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1889, representing Lynchburg and Campbell. Ile won against powerful influence by 2,000 majority.
Mr. Peters had at an early age connected himself with the Church, but with- out a elear witness of acceptance. He lost interest and grew wayward. In the elouded years there ever eame a call and warning, "Woe unto ine, if I preach not the Gospel." He could not banish the neglected duty. Like Banquo's ghost, it rose to disturb the feast of pleasure and haunted in silent honrs.
In 1893, under the ministry of the Rev. William E. Thompson, he gained a signal victory over himself. God gave him pardon and peace. Mr. Peters always mentions with tenderest regard and highest admiration the interest and exertion of this young minister in his behalf. The saintly life and charming character of Mrs. Peters (nee Miss Brandon, of Campbell), has been a main- stay to his career. She measures up to the many demands on the helpmeet in
REV. ROBERT L. BUSBY.
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the parsonage. The record of her career in the Church and at the fireside would enrich literature and beautify the sweet and gentle annals of devout women. They have two bright lads.
In September, 1893, the Rev. Dr. Garland licensed Mr. Peters as local preacher at a quarterly meeting in Elmington, on West Campbell Circuit. In November he was admitted to the Conference and had assignment to Staunton River Circuit. In 1894, he was selected for West Charlotte Circuit. At the Conference of 1895 he became a deacon. In 1896, Cartersville Circuit was his parish. In 1897 he was raised to elder and stationed at Barton Heights. Ile is now pastor of our chief church in Hampton. It is needless to add that the full work of a Methodist preacher was done in all these years. He could not be an idler nor a professional pulpiteer. No heart beats with a more loyal pulse to Methodism than that of the great and true soul of Sidney Peters.
REV. JOIIN J. LAFFERTY, LITT. D.
Dr. Lafferty is widely known in Southern Methodism. His extended ser- vice as a Church editor, his speeches at college, university, Chautauqua, have made his name familiar outside of our Church.
Hle had the use of fitting school, college, and university. At Emory and Henry, in its zenith of three hundred students, he held the second monitor- ship." His room-mate, Dr. John L. Buchanan, late of the Vanderbilt, only outranked him. His college life was wholesome.
Aptness for scientific pursuits drew him to medicine as a profession. With lis conversion came the summons to the ministry. Ile connected himself with the Conference in 1857. Ile displayed gifts for evangelizing, as mmusual re- vivals signalized his early years. One charge had its membership doubled.
The Civil War began as he graduated in the Conference studies. After one or two years it was announced at a session that there were Virginia troops with- out chaplains. Mr. Lafferty was returned by the Bishop to his work in an interior part of the State. He, however, had it in mind to serve the soldiers. After he had selected a regiment and placed his wife and child in a place of safety, it was arranged that one of the refugee preachers (driven from their churches by the advancing enemy and needing home and bread) should have this sung parsonage far from the ravages of war. Mr. Lafferty became the chaplain of a cavalry regiment, serving on the outposts in West Virginia.
Campaigning for a year with these "rough riders" brought on a severe malady, which has annoyed its victim for a long while. Mr. Lafferty found a successor in a gallant preacher and made ready to retire. At the suggestion of the General commanding in the Valley of Virginia, the War Department offered Mr. Lafferty the rank of a Major of Cavalry for special services, giving him a free hand in controlling his movements. After rest and reenperation, he nn- dertook the task, continuing with the army until the end.
The war closed in the spring of 1865. The preachers in the army were left "without work," home or resources. They must shift for themselves till the Conference in November. Mr. Lafferty assisted the Rev. Mr. Watts on Albe- marle Circuit at revivals, "without money and without price." His malady
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
taking on a chronic form, and the word going out that every preacher who could take care of himself better do so, as the desolation of our territory had ruined a number of appointments, Mr. Lafferty selected Lexington as a home, hoping the mineral waters in that region might benefit him.
General Lee drew hundreds of students to Washington College, and Commo- dore Maury, General Curtis Lee, and other prominent men, filled the barracks of the Military Institute with cadets. The crowd of young men brought much money to the town and unusual prosperity followed. Mr. Lafferty, a partner in three enterprises, reaped of the harvest. One of his partners, General Lee's secretary, Captain James M. Leech (now of Nashville, formerly holding office for years in the Vanderbilt University), states their position as the "largest depositor in the local bank," and that Mr. Lafferty at the end of each year had "considerable means for investment."
Mr. Lafferty, despairing of robust health, had arranged for a permanent home in Lexington, purchasing and improving a residence and making other investments. His social environments were as pleasant as his commercial ven- tures had been successful. The great schools added to the cultured citizenship of this picturesque seat of learning. He had five lads who would need the col- leges at his door. Lexington was an ideal home for one with a literary taste. Like Job, Mr. Lafferty expected "to die in his nest." God ordered otherwise.
Mr. Lafferty was residing in the territory of the Baltimore Conference. He had formed many strong attachments among their preachers. Ile filled the pulpit of the town church, during a prolonged absence of its pastor, and of the circuit till the Rev. Mr. Clarke recovered from a serious illness. He was hardly counted as a member of the Virginia Conference, seldom visiting within its bounds. In fact, he was reckoned as near the end of his life. At one period he had to abandon business cares, and rest. Hle could not attend one or two sessions. In the Advocate of January, 1874, a writer mentions meeting him at Conference, and adds: "I saw Lafferty and was sorry to see him looking so badly."
It was a surprise in the spring of that year (1874), when a close friend of the Rev. Dr. Bennett, the publisher of the Richmond Christian Advocate, broached the subject of a connection with the paper as half owner. The propo- sition did not cvoke hearty welcome. The Rev. J. B. Laurens, the negotiator, suggested consultation with brethren. He had charge of the paper during the absence of its editor at the General Conference of that year.
From the view-point of prudence, the offer did not seem attractive. Onght a partial invalid to uproot a remunerative and established business, charming social relations, superior educational advantages for sons, sacrifice the comforts his precarious health needed-for what ? The Advocate before the war, with larger patronage and at a higher price, had lost $20,000. Could it support two large families in Richmond ? Suppose the paper failed to furnish income enough ; what then ? The preacher in poor health would be adrift, having aban- doned his happy lot in Lexington. The future, as now known, was hid from him.
God directed. May it not be said that at times "kicking against the goads" is in vain. The man stood at the parting of the ways. It was a crisis in the history of a soul.
In the judgment of a noble spirit, the training on the Lexington Gazette the ready money in that era of the "Black Friday," the danger of gain and political
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aspirations, had significance. Safety of soul and duty seemed to point the same way. Mr. Lafferty enlisted with the fortunes of the Conference organ on July 1, 1874.
Ile had represented Rockbridge in conventions that named congressmen and governors. The Gazette paid for itself in eighteen months. The reversal of ambitions at high speed makes the soul quiver down to the keel and rolls a back tide over decks.
Let the narrative pause for record of a providence. Had the Rev. John B. Laurens never managed the Advocate for a while in 1874, would he have sought out Mr. Lafferty ? If he had not presented the subject to the preacher across the mountains in the territory of another Conference- a man engrossed in affairs, would two men, ahnost strangers, ever become partners in the Church paper ? The health of Laurens collapsed at the juncture of the departure of the senior colleague from the Advocate. Laurens, broken by -disease, came to the paper. Had he not been with it would there have been "Rosebuds" and a college at Monterey ? All things hang together. The Lord reigns.
Mr. Lafferty left his family for two years. There was no railway to the town. Ile seldom saw them. At the end of the first six months his colleague wrote him at Lexington, where he was spending the Christmas, a gloomy letter. After stating the condition of affairs, he added: "Unless we can have a large increase of subscribers for the future and of advertisers, it will be utterly hope- less for us to look to the paper for a living for our families." God had not for- saken them. The Conference allowed the price of the paper to be raised to $2.50, adding $500 for every 1,000 subscribers. Mr. Lafferty had inaugurated a thorough canvass in our Conference, writing those popular "editorial letters." Ile visited the District Conferences in the Baltimore Conference bounds and negotiated for the adoption of the Advocale. Nine out of eleven of these bodies voted for the paper. This movement brought in a large increase of new names at $2.50. Mr. Lafferty's residence in that Conference territory and association with the brethren gave him favor among them. The revenue of the paper rose . rapidly. At the end of 1877, the second half interest was sold for twice the net sum of the first half in July of 1874. The gross amount of 1874 was $4,000, with drawback of $1,890.45, making the net price $2,109.55. The net price of the second half of the paper in 1877 was double that of 1874.
This episode ought to carry courage to hearts that attempt duty when the road ahead is a rayless midnight. God put to flight the fears and forebodings of Ilis servants. Let it not be forgotten that there is a higher glory than sue- cess. It is the fortitude that can endure a cross while deserving a crown.
The Advocate has been carried on by Mr. Lafferty since 1877, without a loss to the Church of a single dollar. Some years ago Mr. Lafferty bought the Balti- more Conference organ. He thought it prudent at his age to distribute the ownership; so two years ago the papers were incorporated. He remains con- nected with them.
The public career of Mr. Lafferty has been sketched in various papers, and prints of his face have made the public familiar with his appearance. Ile has lectured in the principal cities of several States and uncounted times in Virginia. For fifteen years he gave much time to lecturing for churches and parsonages in the Virginia Conference, contributing many thousands of dollars. The reports of his lectures in the papers would make a volume.
The following estimate is from a pen of judicial accuracy :
REV. JOHN J. LAFFERTY, D. L.
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"It is no exaggeration to say that, as a writer, Dr. Lafferty is altogether unique. JJust such a master of the pen has not appeared among us. It is the judgment of competent critics that such a gift of expression has never beeu . possessed by any other Southern Methodist preacher. Brilliant, acute, witty, pungently satirical, graphic and original, pathetic and powerful, he is a very wizard of the press. Defects and blemishes he has ; but these do not seriously mar the excellence of his pen's product nor interfere with its adaptation to the popular taste and needs. In the best specimens, his writing will bear compari- sou with that of the leading editors of our times as to both form and inherent quality. He has an epigrammatic pithiness which is altogether inimitable. What he lacks in extent of research or depth of investigation, he makes up largely by the ingenions and attractive use of the resources he can commaud, pleasing where he does not convince or persuade, and propitiating or disarm- ing bitter antagonism by a humorous turn.
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