USA > Virginia > Sketches and portraits of the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church > Part 6
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At the termination of hostilities he was called, in the summer of 1865, to take the pastoral oversight of all that remained of the old Dinwiddie Street charge, in Portsmonth, Virginia. He found the church edifice in ashes, the congrega- tion scattered, the membership disbanded and the church register in the custody of a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North. By dint of effort, he sneeceded in rallying a few of the disheartened, not to say demoralized, old Methodists, enrolled their names, and thus secured the melens of a ehrch organization. Through the kindness and Christian courtesy of the anthorities, he obtained the use of what was then known as the Second Presbyterian church as a place of worship. By the close of the Conference year, the station was put upon a footing to receive a regular pastor.
At the Conference of 1865 Mr. Edwards was appointed to the Manchester Station, where he remained two years, gaining a strong hold on the affections of his people and rendering valable service to the Church. He was then appointed, for 1867-'s, to Charlottesville. In 1869 he was in Farmville, and then two years at Centenary, Lynchburg, where his labors were crowned with snecess. At the Conference of 1872 he was appointed to the Granby Street charge, Norfolk, Virginia. Here he remained for four years, intrenching him-' self in the love and esteem of his charge and leaving it in a prosperous condition.
REV. BENJAMIN E. LEDBETTER.
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From Granby Street he was sent to Monumental church, in Portsmonth, Vir- ginia. Ilis labors were eminently blessed in this charge. A revival of almost " unparalleled interest occurred in 1879, in which a hundred souls were converted in the brief space of ten or twelve days. He has since served the great enrehes in our chief cities to their edification, while widening the zone of admiration for his pastoral fidelity and pulpit powers. In 1899, Dr. Edwards was elected to the chair of Moral Philosophy and Biblical Literature at Randolph-Macon College, which position he fills with credit and ability.
Rev. William E. Edwards is a student. He nses his pen much, not only in the preparation of his sermons, but also for the press. Hle is the reputed author of a volume which has won favor among a class of readers who confer honor by admission of merit in "John Newton: A Tale of College life in Virginia." Ilis discourses give proof of careful and wide investigation. Ilis matter is well winnowed and set on paper in order and at length, and yet he never uses notes or manuscript in the pulpit. Hle possesses a philosophical cast of mind. His discussions, however, are never dry and prosy. His imagination is a strong factulty in his mental endowments. Passages of rare beauty and impassioned eloquence ornament and coruscate in bis discourses. Withal, he is modest almost to diffidence, shrinking from any display of his "shining arms." As a pastor, he is diligent, and wins the respect and affection of his flock. With each year there is an added ring to the circle of his growth in culture and a steady progress and development in all the ele- ments that crown the man of mark. If his slender frame does not vield to the pressure of mental exertions and the tax of pastoral service, a future charged with enduring usefulness to the Church and of honor to himself lies ahead.
He was ordained Deacon in Lynchburg, Virginia, by Bishop Early in 1864; and Elder by Bishop Pierce, at Norfolk, in 1866. He has been twice married, and has the usual heritage of a Methodist preacher-a houseful of children.
Dr. Edwards inenleates the Gospel by sermons rich in research, freighted with high thought and uttered in speech chaste, strong, crystal. Everywhere his manner of life adorns his vocation. The bearing of a Christian gentleman seems to be an intuition rather than a habit. It is the white flower of a stainless life. Ilis aims are elevated and single. He would have ordered the flagon of water from his own parched lips to the soldier near by on the battle-field.
REV. WESLEY CHILDS VADEN, A. M.
Mr. Vaden is rather handsome in face and feature. Ile stands a little above ordinary height in stature; his hair is dark and his eyes correspond in color with his hair; the expression of his face, in repose, is rather of the pensive, serious east, but breaks readily, under the slightest touch of genial emotion, into a rippling smile that lights up his countenance with sparkling vivacity. His face is long rather than broad, and his features are in harmony with his face, his nose being prominent and of classic mold ; his complexion is sallow, rather than bright and ruddy; his form is slender, but lithe and pliant : his voice, in conversation, is soft, but has volume and compass in animated speaking. In his
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REV. JOHN H. KABLER.
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subdued utterances there is rather a tender, pathetic tone. His manners are suave and winning, and his sentiments of mind and heart are in beautiful accord with his physical cast and features. An ideal portrait of him would represent a man on whose face the word "student" is legibly written. He is seated at a table with a Bible before him, and near him is a shelf full of choice books. Pen- cil in hand, he is ready to note the various points of a text as they appear under his careful analysis.
Ile is gifted in other ways. but. God seems to have made him for a preacher. Few among us are his equals in getting at the pith and point of the word of God and presenting them in clear and pleasing English. Dr. Lafferty says of him:
"Mr. Vaden is the Fletcher of the Conference-a devout man and a scholar. In arguments for Methodist docetrine he chloroforms by Christian courtesy before removing the roots of error. He is a man of books. His sermons are the sifted and bolted products of choice, honest and careful grinding. They will pass inspection. They are attractive and edifying. He has been a success- ful college president and a contributor to our literature. In social life he is honored for his acquirements and loved for a spotless Christian character. He is popular in the Church and the Conference."
Wesley Childs Vaden was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, on April 23, 1841. Hle was baptized in infancy by Rev. John W. Childs, after whom he was named ; was converted and received into the Church in the year 1854, under the ministry of Rev. Robert T. Nixon ; became fully impressed in the year 1857 with his duty to preach; entered Randolph-Macon College in 1858 (spring term ), and graduated with the degree of A. M. in the year 1861. In November following he joined the Virginia Conference at its session in Norfolk, Bishop Andrew presiding. In the year 1863, while stationed in Clarksville, Virginia, he was elected President of the Clarksville Female Institute, and remained in charge of this flourishing school until the session of the Virginia Conference in 1865, when he was appointed President of the Danville Female College-an institution under the patronage of the Conference.
On the first day of February, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss Sallie F. Crowder, daughter of Mr. A. B. Crowder, of Mecklenburg county, Virginia, Rev. William A. Smith, D. D., officiating. On the same day he began his duties as President of the College to which he had been previously chosen.
Although he entered this new field under difficulties well calculated to dis- hearten-by many regarded insurmountable-and under the immediate shadow of a flourishing rival institution, his efforts were so far crowned with snecess that, in 1867-'68, two years after the commencement of his labors, he reported ninety-three matrienlates and eight professors and teachers-a member in excess of most institutions of like character in the State. The fall session of 1868 opened under even more favorable anspices, but his health had failed ; and, hav- ing received, just at this time an advantageons offer for his interest in the Col- lege, he resigned the presidency of the institution. At the following session of the Conference ( 1865), in accordance with a long-cherished desire of going West, he received a transfer to the St. Louis Conference; but finding it imprac- ficable to remove on account of the continued ill health of his wife, he was ro- transferred to the Virginia Conference at its next session ( 1869), and has con- tinned in it ever since. Revivals, more or less extensive, have attended his labors in different fields, and he has never served a charge from which a request has not been sent for his return.
At the session of the Virginia Conference in November, 1896, Mr. Vadon
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REV. JOSHUA S. HUNTER.
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SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE.
was appointed Presiding Elder of the Eastern Shore District, which he served with great success for two years; and in November, 1898, he was transferred to " the eldership of the Portsmouth District, where he now labors. As a Presiding Elder, he is careful, courteous, firm, sympathizing with his preachers in their peenliar trials, and promoting the interests of the charges in his district by every means in his power.
REV. FRANCIS MARION EDWARDS ..
Mr. Edwards is fortimate in a superior physique. The image of his features, on a near page, gives evidence of high intellectual endowments. He has a fine head. And. better than these gifts, is the grace that grows in his heart, guides his life and glows in his ministrations. He has followed Jesus with no little loss of the things of this world, but the service has been a full consecration. The advantage of scholarly cultivation and years of research have enabled him to bring to the pulpit ample and valuable material. His sermons are eminently instructive, and not defective in a forceful delivery. The people hear to edifica- tion and are moved. They are built up in the faith. His life is one of deep personal religion and devotion to his duty and to his calling. He works towards a high mark. Hle never counts the cost when conscience leads. He cares to know nothing of diplomatic arts or pleasing prophesying. His behavior is such as becomes a courtly man of erudition, yet he does not shrink from proclaiming the whole consel of God, though not in rude words.
Hle was born at Walnut Hill, in King George county, Virginia, on March 31, 1826. Ili- parents, John A. and Elizabeth Edwards, were members of the Baptist denomination. They were regular attendants at their own church, but frequently heard Methodist preaching. Maternal care early impressed the sub- jeet of this sketch with the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, so that he cannot call to mind the time when he was not deeply sensible of human responsibility. Thongh losing his mother when he was about nine years old, he never forgot her godly training. He was accustomed to read the Scriptures and to engage in secret prayer at a very early age, though he did not make a public profession of religion until he had reached manhood. Two peculiarities were prominent in his boyhood-extreme particularity as to telling the truth and an ardent desire for knowledge. Scholastic advantages, more than those afforded in a common country school, were, however, not his until, by six years' service in a store, he had gained sufficient funds to place himself at a classical academy in Baltimore, taught by Rev. John II. Dashiel. He had the advantage, while attending this school, of boarding in the family of his brother, Rev. William B. Edwards, then pastor of the Charles-Street church. Leaving this school, he engaged at once in teaching-first in Northumberland county, then in Lancaster, until, in the year 1553, he established Piedmont Academy, a boarding school for young gentle- men. In December, 1858, he was married to Miss Fanny L. Bland, daughter of Theodorie Bland, Esq., of Edenton, North Carolina. He was licensed, and engaged heartily in the work of a local preacher. He was ordained to deacon's orders in due course. Soon after his ordination the excitement in reference to the
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REV. JOHN T. MOORE.
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marion of the Baltimore Conference with the Church Sonth became absorbing. Mr. Edwards took decided ground in favor of fulfilling the pledge of "going ". Sonth.'
The Academy at Piedmont enjoyed a high degree of prosperity for a number of years, until, in 1860, it was thought best to move it to Lexington, Virginia. There, under the management of Mr. Edwards, the Lexington High School was organized with very favorable prospects, but the breaking out of the war put a stop to its exercises. Removing to Lynchburg, Mr. Edwards was employed in teaching and preaching. He had charge of Centenary church, during the absence of the regular pastor, for a good part of the year 1862. In the fall of 1$63 he was admitted into the traveling connection in the Virginia Conference, ordained elder, and was appointed as junior preacher to Centenary church- afterwards as city missionary, without pay. While preaching regularly and dis- tributing religions literature in the hospitals, he made a living for his family during those troubulons times by secular employment, mostly that of teaching. After the close of the war he taught a select school at a very remmerative salary, until the Conference of 1866, when he was appointed to Mathews Cirenit, where he remained four years, very great success attending his ministry and a host of friends attesting their regret at his departure. In 1870 he was appointed to Farmville Station, and in 1872 was made Presiding Elder of the Farmville District. In these charges his wonted zeal and energy were manifest. During one of his rounds on the district he preached forty-three times in twenty-four conscentive days, and had the satisfaction of witnessing numerous professions of religion. He was popular in the district. In 1876 he was appointed to Main- Street Station, Danville; in 1877, to Albemarle Cirenit ; since serving Sussex. Central, Portsmouth, Churchland, Murfreesboro, Chesterfield ; in 1892, Presi- dent Chester Collegiate Institute; in 1894, Boydton; South Boston, 1895; Onancock, his present charge, in 1899. Entrance into the traveling connection was sought only after long meditation and prayer. Convictions of duty were controlling. From a human standpoint, the sacrifice seemed great. Many friends thought it unwise to leave a large salary for a very small one ; but after reaching the conclusion that duty required the step, that was sufficient to deter- mine action. Offers of a merative position have since been declined.
Such in outline is the sketch of a rounded and robust Christian character, honoring by the integrity of his life the sacred calling and giving the authority of wisdom to his embassadorship.
REV. TRAVIS J. TAYLOR.
If there is anything either in descent from a good ancestry or in phrenological signs, Travis Taylor started life with superior endowments. His head gives outward evidence of a large and well-developed brain. The career of Mr. Tay- lor gives proof that there is a clever composition within the cranium. Ile has intellect, judgment and religions thriftiness. There is nothing of narrowness about him. Ile devises large plans, and works up to them. There is some- what of the breadth of the Church statesman in him. Each year will find him stronger. He has success.
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REV. JAMES E. GATES.
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He has a presence engaging, graceful and dignified. His body is in fine pro- portion, well knit and firmly poised. He would pull the beam at one hundred and sixty pounds.
He is a discriminating student. His sermons are charged with independent investigation, Incidity of arrangement and the propulsion of cumulative rea- soning. Ile is animated in the pulpit, using gesture. The whirl of a thought from the brain seems to leave the body in the easy but striking posture seen in elassie statuary when the javelin is sped. It is the eloquence of action.
Mr. Taylor has had noteworthy snecess in the erection of churches. The sermon, well conceived and forcefully delivered, is only an aliqnot part of his prowess and powers. The genius for affairs is his. Among the people he has the magnetism of leadership and the gift of arousing the communities till the people have a mind to work. God's synagogues are the honors seen of men to his praise. An all-rounded Methodist minister, and of priceless value to the C'lmrch.
Ile is the son of Robert Carter and Mary Evelyn Taylor, and was born at Burwell's Bay, Isle of Wight county, Va., on May 16, 1845. His father, son of Travis Taylor, was born in Isle of Wight county, Va. ; his mother, daughter of Rev. James D. Edwards, was born in Surry county, Va. On his mother's side six ministers have been furnished to Virginia Methodism.
He was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, Sonth, in Oc- tober, 1866, and was appointed in a few weeks leader of a class. On May 18, 1867, he received license from the hand of Rev. E. P. Wilson, Presiding Elder, to exercise his gifts as an exhorter. November 2, 1867, he was licensed as a local preacher, and a few days after essayed to preach.
In November, 1867, he was received on trial, and sent to King William Cir- cuit, where he remained for two years, after which he served successively some of the most important circuits and stations in the Conference, among them being Dinwiddie, Bedford Springs, Appomattox, Prospeet, Sonth Norfolk and Smithfield and Ben's circuits. Mr. Taylor has been pastor of Wright Me- morial, Laurel Street and Calvary, North Danville, where he is now entering upon the fourth year of a most successful pastorate. Wherever he has gone suc- cess has invariably attended his labors. Hedoes not lack the highest credentials of his noble calling, for he has many "seals to his ministry and souls for his hire." He is much beloved by all his parishioners, and is gentle and kind to all. He perhaps exemplifies the doctrines of Christ, his Saviour, as well as any man in Southern Methodism. Few men have lived a more exalted life than he. In all respeets, he is without reproach, having sought throughout his career to "avoid even the appearance of evil." As a pastor, he has endeared himself to thousands of our people from the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge to the seaboard. Quite a muaber of the young ministers of our Conference were brought to Christ under his ministry and gladly acknowledge him as their spiritual father. Ilis bow abides in strength, and the years have passed over him with furred feet. There is no sign of declining health, and his work is done with the same zest as in the early days of his ministry. The Church should receive a score of year's service vet from this stalwart itinerant.
On May 18, 1870, he was married to Miss Eliza Campbell, daughter of Achilles and Elizabeth Campbell, of King William county, Va .- to whom, nhder God, he is greatly indebted for the measure of success which has attended his labors.
REV. D. G. C. BUTTS.
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REV. WILLIAM A. LAUGHON.
Integrity of character, earnest desire to advance the cause of Christ and faithful discharge of duty have marked the career of Mr. Laughon. In matters secular or religions, there is no shirking. He served the Confederacy gallantly and well. Ile never falters in the ranks of the Church. His public and private conduet wins and attaches friends. God blesses his labors.
Ile is the son of John Wesley and Elizabeth Noel Langhon, and was born in Campbell county, Virginia, November 14, 1837. He had many difficulties to encounter. The death of his father and the humble circumstances of his widowed mother. with five small children, made it necessary for him to begin regular work in the ninth year of his age; and though quite a delicate boy, the necessity for his labor was such that only little time could be spared him to receive instruction in common country schools. And when the war between the States began he, like many other true young men of the South, volunteered his . services, and on August 30, 1862, while engaged in the second battle of Manas- sas, he received a painful wound in his right thigh, which disabled him for fur- ther field service. But his desire being to serve his country as best he could, he willingly took the place of a nurse in the hospital at the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, where he remained until the close of the war.
On the night of October 24, 1864, he attended a protracted meeting near the hospital, condneted by Rev. Mr. Flaherty, of the Baltimore Conference, and went to the altar a convicted penitent and professed conversion, but did not join any church until September, 1865, when he attached himself to the Methodist Protestant church in the neighborhood where he was raised, and, by request, was appointed to lead a class. October 7, 1866, he was licensed to preach, and did it acceptably in his native county, amongst his relatives and acquaintances, about one year. On December 31, 1867, he was married to Miss Sallie Elizabeth West, of Campbell county, Virginia. On January 13, 1868, he went to Abing- don, Virginia, where Rov. George R. Barr,. D. D., President of the Holston Conference, Methodist Protestant Church, employed him to travel Jonesville C'irenit, Lee county, Virginia, where his labors were blessed. The following Conference, in October, 1868, appointed him to Good Hope Circuit, in Wash- ington county, Virginia, where he remained four years, and did a successful, satisfactory work. In 1872 he was assigned to Abingdon Station, where he had a pleasant charge ; but a severe attack of bronchitis and general debility caused him to give it up. Under the foreboding that he would never be able to do the work of an itinerant minister again, he thought it best to take his family to Missouri, and located among their relatives, who had removed to that State. But soon after he had pleasantly located, his health improved so that he felt it to be his duty to return to the work of an itinerant minister; and believing there was no sufficient cause for the continuance of the Methodist Protestant Church, especially in the Southern States, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was appointed by Bishop Keener to Pleasant Hill Cirenit, in the Southwest Missouri Conference, where he labored one year with much snecess. Bat his wife's health became so delicate that, under the advice of her attending physician, he asked to be transferred to the Virginia Conference, and it was granted. At the Conference in Danville, Virginia, November, 1875, he was appointed to Jackson Circuit, Bedford county, where he labored with consider-
REV. WILLIAM A. LAUGHON.
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able success four years. At the Conference in 1879 he was appointed to Gooch- - land Cireuit, where he labored faithfully, with gratifying snecess, three years; but the malarial affection upon him and his family in that charge was such that it was necessary for them to be removed, and at the Conference in 1882 he was appointed to Spotsylvania Cirenit, where their health greatly improved and his success was such that it was the general wish for him to be returned. But the request for his return to the North Bedford Circuit ( formerly Jackson Circuit) was granted, and he served there two years among people who knew and loved him as a true and tried minister. Ilis health again gave away, so that he was advised by physicians to refrain from the work of the itineraney, which he de- cided to do: but at the Conference of 1885 he was induced to accept the appoint- ment to Madison and Danielstown, where he was not so much exposed to the effects of traveling, and, having other favorable advantages, he soon became recuperated and did two years of the most successful work of his ministry, which resulted in the division of that mission into two stations, both of which signified a desire to have him as pastor. He was appointed to Danielstown, where he sub- stantially advanced that charge as a station ; but it not being able to sustain his growing family, he was, at the Conference of 1888, appointed to the Fifth-Street church in Manchester, which he served three years with such gratifying success there was general protest against his removal before he served the full limit of for years, which, however, was done at three years over strong protest. The new church that was being built was completed, and all the indebtedness paid, and many additions were added to the membership, which, by his judicions administration, was in good state when he was removed at the Conference of 1891, and appointed to Deny-Street church in Richmond, where he remained four years and climaxed his former successes elsewhere. The church was ro- lieved of a long-standing indebtedness and many improvements were made that advanced it to a favorable comparison with other desirable stations. A large number were added to the membership, many of whom are valable to the church.
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