USA > Virginia > Sketches and portraits of the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church > Part 7
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This term of service broke the physical strength of this faithful servant so that he was not able to continue in the regular line of itinerant work, conse- quently he was appointed at the Conference of 1895, with Rev. J. W. Stiff, to West-End and Asbury charge in Manchester, where failing health and nervons prostration cansed him to ask to be superannuated at the following Conference, which was granted him, and he still sustains that relation to the Conference.
REV. WILLIAM PATTESON WRIGHT.
Mr. Wright has a German cast of features. He is stout, "built up from the ground." On the square shoulders is a big head bulging with brains. He has Napoleon's sign of greatness, a sizable nose. The incidents we shall presently relate will certify that there is a surplus of plek in him. He received his full share of bullets during the war. He has read books to good purpose, and thought strongly and wisely abont them. He does not dawdle over volumes. He cracks a book and cares only for the kernels. There is mich clarified and
REV. WILLIAM P. WRIGHT ..
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independent opinion about him. The "wisdom of our ancestors" does not -. command his reverence unless it is wisdom. He takes little for granted. He must have a good reason or Scripture before he yields assent. He has a single- ness of eye, and had rather be right than President. Ile is building with gran- ite. Underneath this robust exterior and within this stalwart soul is a tender heart, brimming with sympathy, sometimes to the margin of indiscretion, in behalf of the lowly. He has a burning hatred of injustice, and perhaps coun- sels too little with prudence in enlisting against wrong. He is not a trimmer nor a Demas. The arts of a Vicar of Bray are despised.
Old Buckingham county, where he was born on May 14, 1842, has reason to be proud of him. Ilis parents were Thomas S. and M. Elizabeth Wright. He was mostly brought up in Bedford county, where his parents resided from 1849 to 1862. Ile was converted in 1859 under the ministry of Rev. Hartwell Pryor, a local preacher. From the time of his conversion he was called to an active and publie part in Church work. He was made steward, exhorter and superintendent of a Sunday-school before he had been two years a member of the Church. Believing himself called of the Holy Ghost, as well as by the Church, to the ministry, he set about supplementing his education, which had gone no further than what was taught in the country schools of the neighborhood. The breaking ont of the war found him in the midst of plans which he fondly hoped would give him the benefit of a few years at Randolph-Macon College. At the call to arms he forsook, for the time, the idea of college, and in April, 1861, enlisted as a soldier. The company in which he enrolled and served be- came Company F, Twenty-eighth Virginia infantry, of Pickett's Division. He took part in most of the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia- Lee's army. He was wounded at Gaines' Mill, in the seven days' fighting around Richmond, and was wounded seriously at the battle of Sharpsburg. This wound disqualified him for service in the field for more than a year. He was wounded a third time at Cold Harbor, not very far distant from where he shed his first blood in the Confederate cause. This wound, at first apparently serious (a gun-shot through the arm near the shoulder), healed readily and rapidly, and he was, after an absence of two months, again in the ranks. He was taken prisoner on August 25, 1864, and carried to Point Lookout. On No- vember 12th, of the same year, he was exchanged at Savannah, Ga., with the sick and wounded. Returning to the army about the first of January, 1865, he followed its fortunes to the close of the war.
The war over, he thought again of college and the work to which he was per- suaded God had called him. Everything was in confusion, and he had not so much of the world as would provide a decent snit of clothing. Besides this. the results of the war had reduced his father and family to circumstances of dis- comfort, and his first work seemed to be to re-establish them in circumstances of more comfort. To this work he devoted himself for a year, after which he applied himself to study and teaching. Influenced by his pastor to relinquish the idea of going to college, he was licensed to preach, and recommended to the Annual Conference by the Quarterly Conference of Campbell Cirenit, where he was then residing. He was admitted on trial at the Conference in Peters- burg, November, 1867. His first appointment was Williamsburg and James City. He was next assigned to Elizabeth City, N. C., where he served two years. On September 20, 1870, he married Miss Rosa E. Gilliam, of Williams- burg, a woman of rare gifts and enlture. In November of this year he was
REV. J. WILEY BLEDSOE, D. D.
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appointed to Gates Circuit, where he remained two years. ITis first year on this cirenit was blessed with an extraordinary revival, more than two hundred * persons being converted. In 1872 he was assigned to the North Southampton Cirenit, a new parish formed by the division of the Southampton Circuit. Hle was put in charge of the Bertie Cirenit in 1873, and was returned to the same work the next year. In 1875 he was sent to the New Kent Cirenit, to which he was returned the following Conference. On February 17, 1877, he suffered the loss of his most excellent wife, with whom he had lived most happily since their marriage. In November, 1879, he was appointed to Laurel Street, Rich- mond, Va. Ile served that charge four years, and returned to it after a pas- torate in Accomac, and succeeded in building the handsome Laurel Street church, which will ever be a monument to his zeal, patience and piety. It was done almost by gifts of pennies and by the tireless efforts of the pastor. He left it strong, growing, alert. He served two terms in the Eldership-one on the Eastern Shore, the other on the Danville District. He is now pastor of Chase City Circuit.
He was married to Miss Minnie Peterson, daughter of the late Rev. P. A. Peterson, D. D., of our Conference, in November, 1882-a lady in every way fitted for "mistress of the manse." He has a small honsehold of children-two.
REV. JAMES WILEY BLEDSOE, A. M., D. D.
This gentleman, in one respect, is the Saul in our itinerant army. The por- trait of Israel's princely leader, drawn by the inspired pen, finds in him its counterpart : "There is none like him among all the people;" "a choice man and a goodly ; and there is not among the children of Israel a godlier person than he ; from the shoulders and upward he is higher than any of the people." Standing about six feet two inches in height, with a physical frame finely developed and of rare symmetry, his appearance is really majestic. It would attract atten- tion and command admiration in the midst of a multitude. Ilis features are strong, clear-ent, handsome, without the faintest trace of effeminacy. Ile is gentle, vet firm ; amiable, but not weak. His conversational powers and genial humor make him the delight of every social cirele, yet he always preserves his dignity as a man and minister. When animated, the merry twinkle of his eye lights up his face like the sparkle of a diamond. At such times his countenance absolutely beams with benevolent expression, and plainly reveals the fervent charity and kindness that pulse in his heart. He possesses a magnetism that few can justly claim: it attracts strangers; it converts the acquaintance of an bonr into a firm friend for life. Children love him-and they are the best intuitive judges of character.
Intellectually, he would rank high in any deliberative assembly. He is a wise man, putting to the best use his endowments and attainments. Ilis mental faenlties exist in equipoise, and the scales are well weighted. In the pulpit, he is thoughtful, pointed, earnest, fluent, and ofttimes ornate. llis preaching is not characterized by either rhetorical froth or logical dullness. He holds well the attention of his congregation, delighting the spiritual palate while he feeds the soul. Mr. Bledsoe's voice is a musical instrument of marvelons com-
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REV. THOMAS II. CAMPBELL.
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pass and sweetness. Hle evokes its melody alike in sermon and in song. It largely contributes to his efficiency, that, while he wears with case the armor of- Israel's warrior-king, he ean, with equal facility, touch the tuneful harp of the shepherd-minstrel.
As a pastor, he has no superior. Ilis works ereet a monument to his praise on every charge that he fills. He has cultivated this great field of usefulness assiduously, gathering bountiful sheaves to recompense his toil. His record is almost unrivaled. With rich and poor he is equally popular. He is difficult to match in the pastorate. One must be a rapid and diligent binder who would follow where his hand swings the seythe and cuts the swath. In every appoint- ment to which he has been assigned his success has been uniform and-large. Ile has measured up to the demands of circuit, station and district. Everywhere the loaves broken and blessed by the Master have multiplied in his hand, and the hungry multitudes have been fed and satisfied.
In some one quality, undoubtedly, we may find Mr. Bledsoe's equal, or even his superior ; but in the harmonious blending of all the mental, moral and phys- ical attributes that are needed to constitute perfect manhood, he cannot easily be duplicated anywhere. His past life is a sure prophecy of increasing honor and snecess in the years to come.
James Wiley Bledsoe was born in Fluvanna county, Va., April 6, 1841. He was educated at Humanity Hall Academy, in Buckingham county, and at Emory and Ileury College, from which institution he received the degree of Master of Arts. His father was a prominent and successful farmer, holding an official relation to the Methodist Church for a number of years previous to his death, His mother was a daughter of the late Rev. John Goodman, a local Methodist preacher of Flvanna. She was a devotedly-pious Methodist woman. Under the wholesome training of these intelligent and pious Christian parents, he was led to accept Christ in early life, and joined the Methodist Church. At the beginning of the late war he took an active part in raising an artillery company in his native county, was chosen second officer, and, with the company, left for the field in the early part of the struggle. Mr. Bledsoe's health was greatly impaired by the exposure and hardships of camp life. He, however, remained connected with the army until the surrender. The war being over, he returned to his home in Finvanna, and commeneed the study of law. He was united in marriage with Miss Fannie D. Anderson, daughter of Mr. James W. Ander- son, of Lynchburg, Va., a lady of gemine Christian character and a member of the Methodist Church. He had previously pursued his education with a view to the legal profession. When he was about ready to enter upon the prac- tice he abandoned it, against the remonstrances of friends, being impressed with the conviction that it was his duty to preach the Gospel. He was licensed to preach in November, 1868, and was immediately employed as an assistant to Rev. George E. Booker, on the Seottsville Cireuit. His first year in the min- istry was at home, among the friends and associates of his early life. Ile joined the Virginia Conference, at its session in Richmond, in 1869. At the close of his first year he was ordained deacon, and elder the second-thus finishing the four years' course of study in two. His first circuit was West Amherst, where he remained one year, and his second appointment was Prospect, where he re- mained two years. Ile was then appointed to Smithfield Station, and, at the close of one year, to Central church, Portsmouth. Here he was instrumental in the completion of the handsome and commodious andience-room in which
REV. RICHARD FERGUSON.
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the people of C'entral church now worship. He remained with this ehureh but one year. In consequence of the delieate health of Mrs. Bledsoe, he was eon- pelled to request an appointment in the mountain section. Ile was accordingly sent to Lyn Street Station, Danville, where he spent four happy and prosper- ous years. From that place he went to Charlottesville Station for two years. At Trinity, Richmond, he next filled the pastorate for four years, and then was sent to Market Street, Petersburg, where he remained three years-at the ex- piration of which time he was made Presiding Elder of the Charlottesville Dis- trict. Hle then served four years as pastor of Park Place church, Richmond, where, as everywhere, he was greatly honored and beloved by his people. At the Conference held in Norfolk, in 1892, he was granted a supernumerary re- lation. At the Conference of 1895 he was placed on the effective list, and ap- pointed Conference Missionary Secretary. In 1896, Charlottesville Station ; 1897, Conference Missionary Secretary again and Chaplain to the famous Technical school in Albemarle county, on the Miller foundation ; 1899-'01, Gen- oral Superintendent of Orphanage, his present position.
Elsewhere the following apt and graphie summary of his superior powers have been given :
"Mr. Bledsoe carries off the palm in the matter of superb physique. IIe is tall, robust and stately. A head of Jove surmounts the splendid body ; and to add to the symmetry of the whole -- the fitness of things-a deep, rich, round voice flows from his lips, like the song of the surf mellowed by distance. The masculine frame contains a spirit of superior mold-at onee strong and gentle. It would be difficult to resist his social eharms or withstand the resolute pur- pose bending towards great objeets. He wins the admiration of his audience and the respect and affection of his fellow-citizens. He is very popular-a man of the rarest gifts. He has the manliness of the old pioneers and the gentle graces of the modern era. Ile is a student."
REV. RICHARD FERGUSON.
The fibre of Ferguson is genuine teak oak. He is faithful in few things and in the many. At Gettysburg, with cannon to the right and cannon to the left and cannon in front, Diek Ferguson exeited the admiration of veterans for his gallantry. So in the ministry, he gives himself with ardor and a sense of duty to the sacred calling. Ile quits himself as in the eye of God. There is Scotch blood in his veins and a mixture of the Briton. The Methodist pioneers would have rejoiced in his company. The Conference is honored by his membership and service. Mr. Ferguson is a man of solid piety, not spasmodic or affeeted, but steady as the stars in their courses. He has convictions, and does not fear to avow them. Convinced that he is in the right, he is as unyielding as the anvil to the sledge-hannner's stroke. He would swear to his own hirt and change not. A sermon in a certain whiskey town from the text, "Thou shalt not kill," in which he bearded the lion in his den, showed,the metal of which he is made. The flash of his eye indicates courage, and his mouth and prominent teeth, fixedness of purpose. Major Bright, of General Pickett's staff, at the unveiling of the mon- ument in Richmond, at which Brother Ferguson acted as chaplain, said to the
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REV. HERBERT M. HOPE.
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dead General's son, "See that man ; he is gentle as a lamb, but bold as a lion." He is candid and frank, modest and massuming. One can always find out his- bearings upon any question. The needle of his character is never deflected by sinister motives or mere policy. Charitableness is a prominent characteristic of him. All may be sure of merey mingled with justice at his hands. An old fam- ily servant, nursing his first-born sou, once said, in his presence, that a colored woman who came to the house had stolen her tobacco. Ile at once rebuked her mncharitableness, and on his leaving the room "Mammy" said in a half-whisper, most emphatically shaking her head, "Just like his mother." He is never known to speak an nukind word of any one, while in no degree glossing over wrong, vet always having a word of sympathy and kindness for even wrong-doers, and never believing evil of any one withont proof. This lovely virtue blooms to per- fection in him, shedding its fragrance as a rare exotic. He is also a man of great modesty, always shrinking from publicity, which the following incident will show: At the last quarterly Conference, held on Batesville Circuit, on the com- pletion of his work there, the official board drew up very complimentary resol- tions expressing their regret at his leaving, ete. They wished to send them to the Advocate for publication ; but he objected, while, of course, appreciating the motive. These resolutions were, however, printed in the Nelson paper and sent to the official brethren of the new charge.
Hle preaches and writes well, speaks deliberately and distinctly, a little lisp in his voice rather improving than impairing his utterances. Ilis sermons are systematic, practical, heart-searching and full of the Gospel. He always makes an application suitable to both saint and sinner. Ile preaches without notes. Ile is nearly six feet in height, weighs abont one hundred and sixty-five pounds, and combs his hair directly back. In 1871 he married a daughter of Major Robert Thrift, a native of Albemarle county, Virginia. Ile has seven children. As a tender and affectionate father and husband, he is unsurpassed. His chil- dren mourn his absence and greet his return with shouts of joy. He is a native of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, born October 3, 1838. His parents, William and Martha Ferguson, were Methodists. His father died when he was eight years old and his mother when he was just twelve; but eternity alone can reveal how much he owes to a pions mother's teaching and example. He was consecrated to God in baptism by Rev. Win. IT. Starr, and assumed and ratified those vous in his thirteenth year, during the pastorate of Revs. J. K. Powers and P. A. Peterson. He was educated at Randolph-Macon College, graduating in 1858. Ile is a trustee of his Alma Mater. From early childhood he felt im- pressed that the ministry was his calling, but tried to evade it. He could not, however, be happy if for a moment he relinquished the thought. When the war between the States commenced he was making preparation for the ministry, but found relief rather in feeling it his duty to join the army. He served both as private soldier and as officer; was wounded twice and captured at the battle of Gettysburg. where, it is said, he fired the last gim in Pickett's Division. Captain Richard Irby, in his sketch of his company, says of him, "He was the completest soldier I ever met with in the army." At the close of the war he re- turned to his home in Dinwiddie county, and engaged in farming and teaching. In the fall of 1868 he was licensed .to preach, and aided Rev. N. W. Guy the ensning Conference year on West Dinwiddie Cirenit; joined the Virginia Conference at Richmond in November, 1869, and was appointed to the Coalfield and Clover Hill Circuit, where his ministry was blessed in the conversion of
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REV. JOHN Q. RIIODES.
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many souls. In 1871-'72 he served Prince George Circuit. Up to that time it had been a mission since the war. A fresh impulse was given to the work and the membership increased. At City Point the church, which had remained in a dilapidated condition since the war, was repaired and regular preaching established. In 1872, by his perseverance and industry, the new Mount Sinai church was built on the spot where the old one stood, which was pulled down during the war. In 1873-'75 he served Chesterfield Circuit with acceptability and snecess. Through his instrumentality a new church was erected at Chester and others repaired. In 1870 he was on the Henrico and Charles City Circuit, where nearly one Indred souls were converted and many added to the Church. At the following Conference that circuit was divided, and he was sent to the Batesville Cirenit, Albemarle county, where he labored with succcess for four years. In 1881 he did faithful service on the Greene Cireuit, whence he was sent to the Sonth Norfolk Circuit, where he remained four years. Many were converted and added to the Church. Nearly all the church buildings were re- paired and a new one erected. During the centennial year of Methodism (1884) he built a large and commodions tabernacle at Iliekory Ground. A gracious revival followed. He next finished a four-year pastorate on Sussex Cirenit, and then North Gates, Amelia, Campbell, and Rappahannock, his present parish. These fields have been enriched by the labors of this man of God.
REV. JOHN Q. RHODES.
Mr. Rhodes would have been captured by the conseripting sergeant of Frede- rick the Great for that superb and stalwart Household Guard. IIe is a model of manly strength and figure. A head resembling the classie, round, Roman cranium sits firmly on stout and broad shoulders, and in limb and height this successor of Jesse Lee (we may so say), in robust anatomy as well as activity of body and quick parts, stands foremost in physical superiority. Rhodes has the rare union of cheerfulness and, during the sacred abandon of a Conference, even healthy hilarity with sturdy, solid and successful forays on the devil in the field. The relaxations into pleasantry are recreations to his mind. He is hailed with good-humored salutations by his brethren in the sacramental host. His bright and keen observations seem to infect with happiness whatever company enjoys his presence. The stilted dignity that stiffens by excess of starch the sleazy fibre of native poverty of intellect and the pharisaism that puckers its month into a regulation piety and oozes a vicious vinegar of private slander are the victims of Rhodes's sharp satire. They dodge him and dread his piercing wit. He smothers them in ridicule. These are but natural ebullitions of honest indignation at cant and pretense. Upon men of brain, culture and devoutness Mr. Rhodes bestows the homage of his admiration.
Ife is a man of affairs. The old and ugly places of worship grow into sightly temples of God under his enterprising administration of the temporalities of Zion. The dullest cirenit seems to take on an ambition for betterment in par- sonage and in church homes. The sound of the hammer is heard in his parish.
1 REV. WERTER II. GREGORY.
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His own tireless zeal inspires the people. They accept his leadership. The ont- come is choice improvements.
His career in spreading scriptural holiness is apostolic. The converts count into the hundreds on a pastoral charge where he calls sinners to repentance. Pervasive revivals bring entire communities to God.
The wholesome condition of his bodily powers and of his intelleet endow his brain with power to scerete with ease nourishing thought for the people. IIe could have ridden side by side with that Virginia pioneer to New England, and his repartees would have been quick and cutting as the rifle replies of Lee from his chair pulpit on Boston Commons. Mr. Rhodes is virile in the movements of his mind. His sermons are not of gristle. His mother wit gives him a grip on an audience. Hle aims at victory. He wins. He lets no flying foe escape. His vigilant pastorate captures the fugitive from the field.
ITe is a native of the noted county of Albemarle, and dates his birth from De- cember 28, 1846. Ilis parents were Richard and Martha Rhodes.
In the fall of 1867 he was converted at " B. M." church, on the Scottsville Circuit, during the pastorate of the Rev. G. C. Vanderslice. Abont ten months after his conversion, his mind becoming seriously stirred on the subject of preaching the Gospel, he determined, under the moving of the Holy Spirit, to devote himself to the work of the Christian ministry. With this end in view, he attend the Stony Point Academy. In 1868 he went to the academy in Har- risonburg, Rockingham county, Virginia. Here he remained until near June of the following year, when he was licensed a local preacher at a Quarterly Conference in the church in which he was converted. At the Conference of 1869 he was admitted and appointed to the Berlin Cirenit, where he labored until the Conference of 1870, when he was assigned to the Spottsylvania Circuit.
At the Conference of 1871, held in Portsmonth, Virginia, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Paine, and sent for that year to Bannister Circuit. IIe had charge of South Bedford Circuit in 1873-4. In Granby-Street church, Nor- folk, in 1874, he was ordained an elder by Bishop Keener. In 1875-'6 he labored on the Indian Ridge Cirenit, in Currituek county, North Carolina. At the Conference of 1876 he was sent to Northampton Circuit, North Carolina. He was assigned in 1879 to the Cumberland Circuit. He served Southampton Cireuit four years, with more than three hundred converts; built four churches and a parsonage, besides raising funds to repair other churches. In 1884 he served Rappahannock, repeating the building, repairing and the soul-saving of his last charge. In 1887 he was sent to Madison, the usual blessing of Heaven following him. In 1890 he was sent to Lonisa; in 1894, to Westmoreland; 1895, Greene; 1897, supernumerary; 1898, Louisa, his present charge.
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