USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 13
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VOLUSCO VAIDEN
Volusco Vaiden was born in New Kent County, Vir- ginia. "He possessed a vigorous, active, and brilliant mind, and had the advantages of a good classical edu- cation." Early in life he began to serve the public as an educator and as a speaker. He was always ready on any theme of general interest, and his rare gifts of wit and repartee enabled him to delight and charm his audiences. On special occasions, when he was at his best, he often rose to flights of oratory and eloquence. He was in great demand for Sunday school celebrations and other festive occasions. During the War he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and here rendered faithful service. The most valuable work of his life was as teacher and preacher. He established the "Lofty Retreat Academy," a popular and successful school, and was for many years its principal. Along with his teaching he carried the work of preaching. For some years he acted as supply for several churches, and when Rev. J. H. Barnes resigned at Liberty Church, New Kent County (Dover Association), he was elected as the pastor. This was about 1886. It seems that, hav- ing no other church, he preached at Liberty every Sun- day; this was an unusual thing for a country church in Virginia. While the Minutes do not show that there was increase in the church's membership, there may be reasons for this which do not appear in the Minutes; he baptized from year to year people not a few. Some thought that in his sermons he indulged too freely in the ludicrous ; at times, however, he was "grandly sublime," speaking in the most pathetic manner. "He possessed to the full the noble qualities of a Virginia gentleman-hos-
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pitality, kindness, goodness, charity, courtesy, veracity, integrity, manliness, chivalry-all these beautified his noble life." He died at his residence, Lofty Retreat, Lanexa, Virginia, June 28, 1893, in the fifty-ninth year of his life. This sketch is in the main, the obituary in the Minutes of the General Association for 1893.
JAMES M. DILLARD
James M. Dillard was born in Amherst County, Vir- ginia, February 14, 1816, and died of paralysis at his home at Tye River Depot, Nelson County, Virginia, October 25, 1893. In early life he made good use of the scant educational advantages he had. He grew up a farmer and was quite successful. He had a strong mind and read widely. He was active in advancing the in- terests of his community. Of an inquiring mind, he gave what time he could to study. Little did he think when thus active in cultivating and enriching his mind of the work the Lord had for him to do.
In his fortieth year he professed faith in Christ and joined St. Stephen's Baptist Church, near his home, be- ing baptized by Rev. Peter C. Hoge in Tye River. He was a man of decided convictions, and when he under- stood what his duty was did not hesitate to go forward to its discharge. This spirit prompted him when he be- came a Christian, hence his promptness in commencing work for his Saviour. So successful was he in conduct- ing prayer meetings and winning souls to Christ that he earnestly desired a wider field. He was thus gradually led into the ministry. He was very sociable and loved to have his friends share his home with him. Strangers he never turned from his door, and the poor found in him a true friend.
Two years after his conversion he was ordained to the ministry. The presbytery was composed of Revs. T. W. Roberts, P. C. Hoge, and P. S. Henson, the latter preaching the sermon. His first charge was Piney River Church, of which he was pastor for twenty years. Soon
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after commencing his work there he was called to the pastorate of St. Stephen's, and was pastor there for twenty years. He served also Walnut Grove, Fair- mount, Mineral Spring, and Ariel, all in Nelson County, and in Amherst County Piney Mount and Ebenezer. His last pastorate was Mountain Plain Church, Albe- marle County.
He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Mundy, of Amherst County. They had ten children, nine of whom still live. His second wife was Miss Lou Watts, of Amherst. She passed away several years be- fore he died.
W. J. Shipman.
WILLIAM M. RODGERS
William M. Rodgers was born near Farmville, Vir- ginia, and was educated in the classical and theological departments of Hampden-Sidney College. He was for forty years a Baptist minister, being pastor at one time of the Upper Banister and Mount Ararat churches in Pittsylvania County, Roanoke Association. During the later years of his life he did not have charge of any churches, more because of the loss or failure of his voice than for any other reason. He did much preaching at schoolhouses and private residences during his later life. He was scrupulously honest, earnest, sincere, and true; no one could say aught against him. His life was useful in very many respects, "a sermon of towering impor- tance." He died January 25, 1894, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
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ALDRIDGE MADISON GRIMSLEY
In June, 1826, Rappahannock County, which was then a part of Culpeper, gave birth to Aldridge Madison Grimsley. The Rappahannock River and its tributaries water the county, and at the age of twenty-two Mr. Grimsley was at work as a miller. In the same year, 1848, he was married to Miss Amanda Smith, of his na- tive county. Of this union three sons and three daugh- ters were born, all of whom, except Milton Robert, who became a beloved and useful minister of the gospel, died young. After twelve years of married life his wife was taken from him. In 1862 he was married to Miss Annie E. Lear. She became the mother of three sons and three daughters. In 1859 Mr. Grimsley was licensed to preach, and until 1862 was engaged in colporteur work, a part of the time in the Army of Northern Virginia. His work as pastor and preacher covered a period of some thirty-five years, during which time he served the Orleans and Enon churches in the Potomac Association, and Salem, Mount Carmel, Graves Chapel, Thornton's Gap, and "F. T.," in the Shiloh. Perhaps in the same length of time no man "married more couples, preached more funerals, or traveled more miles by private convey- ance to fill appointments." Concerning Mr. Grimsley, Rev. Dr. E. W. Winfrey wrote soon after his death, as follows: "In some things he was a remarkable man. His physical frame was of no small proportions; his features were large; his countenance was open, frank, and expressive of cordiality and all good feeling. He understood the people among whom he spent his life- not only knowing them by name and face, but entering into their thoughts and feelings and giving them freely
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and heartily his counsel and sympathy. There was never a day too cold nor a night too stormy for him to visit the poor and suffering. His people understood him, enjoyed him, loved him. Around the fireside, on the court-green, in the pulpit-anywhere and everywhere -and whether in the narration of new or familiar anec- dote, or in innocent pleasantry of conversation, or in serious discourse, they heard him with delight. Kind- ness appears to have been his most pronounced trait of character. He will be long remembered as a real friend and helper of the poor. They were his especial care. A short while before his death, a neighbor, who de- pended for himself and family upon the proceeds of a small mill, was brought almost to despair by a lingering sickness which rendered him unable to work. Brother Grimsley, volunteering his services, went day after day to the mill, and, taking up again the occupation of his boyhood, kept his neighbor's family from want.
When in his prime and under the influence of deep feel- ing, his voice must have reminded one of the blast of a trumpet-loud, full, and clear. Rhetoric and grammar and homiletics were held by him to be altogether subor- dinate to the requirements of sound teaching and saving impression. That in the country where he had always been known large congregations loved to hear him preach is evidence that his ministry was one of power." After an illness which was rather brief, on Sat- urday, April 28, 1894, he "passed into the spirit world." The following Monday many hundreds attended his fun- eral, the sermon on this occasion being preached by his friend, Rev. S. M. Athey, from the words: "To me to live is Christ and to die is gain," Phil. 1:21.
THEODORE WHITFIELD
Virginia claims this minister of the gospel because he gave the last seven years of his life to a Richmond pas- torate, and because his ashes rest beneath Virginia's sod. In Mississippi, January 31, 1834, at "Magnolia," the home of his father, Rev. Benjamin Whitfield, his mother being Miss Elizabeth Hatch, of Alabama, he first saw the light. His descent, from a long line of ancestors in this country and England devoted to the ministry, and the atmosphere of refinement and culture in the home of his childhood, had much to do in making him the man he came to be. Next door to his father's home was the church that had been built by his grandfather; here at the age of thirteen he was converted and baptized. In 1852 he became a student at Chapel Hill, entering the sophomore class of the University of North Carolina. He took rank among his fellow-students by reason of his ability as a speaker and by his service in the choir and the glee club, and graduated in 1855. His plan to be a lawyer came to an end while he was on a pleasure trip to New Orleans with a gay party of young people. He left his companions, returned home and urged his mother to help him in his new resolve to preach the gos- pel. Newton Center, Mass., gave him his theological training, and as he returned home, in passing through North Carolina, he saw for the first time Miss Morehead, who afterwards became his wife.
His first pastorate was at Danville, Ky., where the Baptist cause was then weak. A similar condition ob- tained in Aberdeen, Miss., his next field of labor. Nor were matters in much better shape in his two succeeding pastorates, Greensboro and Goldsboro, N. C. In Aber-
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deen he had large numbers of colored people members of his church. The dark war cloud was now gathering, and in Greensboro he gave much time to the sick in the army, also teaching to help support his family. In 1869 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Merid- ian, Miss., and before he left this city, to work in Mis- sissippi Baptist College, he had built a new meeting-house and greatly enlarged the congregations. He was next Professor of Greek and then superintendent of the State Blind Institute at Jackson. He now refused a flattering call to Kansas City, because he feared that his being a Southern man might cause a split in the church, and re- turned to North Carolina, where, after a few months given to protracted meeting work, he accepted a call to the church in Charlotte. Next Goldsboro claimed him a second time as pastor, and then he heeded the call of the Newberne Church. It was from here that he came to Richmond, Virginia, to what was his last, and some think his best, work, the charge of the Fulton Baptist Church. Care for this field became the "passion of his life," and here he labored almost without intermission for rest and after his strength began to fail.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Wake Forest College, a degree of which he was indeed worthy, for he was a theologian of first rank and an able preacher. While his voice was not strong, he was an effective preacher. He was faithful in his preparation for the pulpit and his ability to quote at length from the Bible was unusual. His brethren in the ministry in Rich- mond deferred to him in matters of exposition, counting him sound and able. As a pastor he was laborious, lov- ing, and wise. On more than one field he brought things to pass, healed dissensions, built church houses, and won the deep affection of his people. Once, in Richmond, in a pastoral call, he found husband and wife both sick in
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bed. The family had just moved into the house and things were not in running order ; the pastor took off his coat, went to work, put up a stove, going to the store to get a necessary piece of pipe, and got things in good shape before he stopped. Not only as preacher and pas- tor but as a writer he did valuable service; indeed, Dr. Hatcher inclined to the opinion that his finest work was with his pen. His articles for the press were marked by vigorous thought, strong argument, and purity of English.
After a long illness he passed away at his residence, 17 West Grace Street, Richmond, May 28, 1894. The funeral, which took place at Grace Street Baptist Church, and in which these Baptist preachers, L. R. Thornhill, George Cooper, W. W. Landrum, G. F. Williams, W. E. Hatcher, and Henry McDonald, took part, was attended by a very large crowd of people. And this funeral bears the distinction of being the first funeral of a Richmond Baptist pastor; others pastors had ceased to be pastors in this city when their end came. Attention was called to this fact by Rev. Dr. J. B. Hutson. Dr. Whitfield was survived by his widow and three children.
J. W. M. WILLIAMS
The life work of J. W. M. Williams was done in Bal- timore as pastor for forty-three years of the First Bap- tist Church, yet since he was born in Virginia and had here his first and second pastorates he has place in this volume. He was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, April 7, 1820, his parents, Edward Williams and Catharine Owen, being noted for sterling piety and active interest in all good works. After attending a local academy, in 1838 he entered what is now known as Richmond Col- lege. While a student there he wrote out a set of reso- lutions for the guidance of his life; the last resolution read thus: "Quench every rising wish for man's appro- bation." He was next a student at Columbian College, graduating there in 1843; twenty-three years later his alma mater conferred on him the honorary degree of D. D. His ordination to the ministry took place at the Cumberland Street Church, Norfolk (for which church he had "supplied" about a year), February 27, 1844. On October 3 of the same year he entered New- ton Theological Seminary, and on December 22, 1846, he was married to Miss V. J. Read at "Jeffersonia," Northampton County, Virginia. This union lasted for forty-four years, and was a union indeed. "Kinnie Read," as he lovingly called his wife, was his wise helper through his life. She was a woman of mental vigor and deep piety, and her heart was committed to all the work of the church and the denomination. A motto of her husband's was: "By the grace of God and Kinnie Read I am what I am."
His first pastorate was of the Jerusalem (Southamp- ton County ) and Smithfield (Isle of Wight County)
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churches. They were forty miles apart and he traveled one hundred and sixty miles a month to fill his appoint- ments. He took up collections for missions, a thing that these churches had never known before, and saw two commodious meeting-houses erected. In 1848 he became pastor of the Baptist Church in Lynchburg. He wielded an influence, not only in Lynchburg, but in all the region around, many being led to Christ under his preaching. A visit to Baltimore, to which city he went to solicit funds for a church edifice in Lynchburg, resulted in his being called to the Monumental City. His pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Baltimore began January 1, 1851, and continued until January, 1894, when he re- signed and was made pastor emeritus; this relationship continued until Tuesday, August 28, 1894, the date of his death. To tell the story of these forty-odd years with any completeness would be to give the history of Baltimore Baptists for this period. When Mr. Williams went to Baltimore the First Church was housed in the "Round Top Church," an imposing edifice that stood on the corner of Sharp and Lombard Streets. It was mod- eled after the Pantheon in Rome, was for years one of the city's landmarks, and had a seating capacity of about 1,700. Yet the new pastor found that this noble struc- ture had its drawbacks; the acoustics of the audience- room were so bad that the preacher was like one speak- ing to a congregation on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, for those in the center of the house could not hear unless the voice was on a high key. A debt also rested on the property. When Mr. Williams went to Baltimore there were only two self-sustaining white Baptist churches in the city and the other Baptist pastors were George F. Adams, Richard Fuller, and Franklin Wilson. He began his work on a salary of $1,000. He found the church connected with neither the North nor
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the South in its missionary activities, the members being expected to send their gifts to the Richmond Board or to the Missionary Union, as they might elect. The new pastor took the responsibility. After taking a collection for missions, the new pastor asked that he be appointed as a delegate to the Southern Baptist Convention; thus the affiliation of the "Old First" was settled forever. He became a leader, not only among Baltimore, but also among Southern, Baptists, nor was he unknown or with- out influence among his Northern brethren. The "Round Top" having become a downtown church, a move was deemed wise, and the new structure, on Townsend Street (near Fremont), was dedicated January 6, 1878. Amidst many ups and downs in all these years, both at the old site and at the new, Dr. Williams kept his grasp on the situation, never losing his faith in God and his church. He was a patient, laborious, loving. pastor and faithful in his sermon preparation. He was blessed with a vig- orous constitution, and in his last years, with his white hair and beard and sweet smile, was a handsome man. Before his active work came to an end he used to say that the church he then served did not call him, but that he called them, and this was literally true, for only one was left of those who had been in the church when Dr. Williams had taken charge. Dr. Williams' death took place at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. W. Gore, at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
JOHN CRALLE LONG
John Cralle Long was born in Campbell County, Vir- ginia, November 28, 1833, and died at Charlottesville, Virginia, August 6, 1894. He was the son of Armi- stead Long and his wife, Calista Cralle. His father was the son of Colonel Armistead Long, of Culpeper County, Virginia, and his wife, Elizabeth Burgess Ball, the latter being the daughter of Colonel Burgess Ball, a friend and near kinsman of Washington and an officer of the Revo- lutionary Army. John's father was educated at the Mili- tary Academy at West Point, but resigned before gradu- ation and settled on a farm in Campbell County. Here John was born, but when he was three years old his father moved with his family to Union County, Ken- tucky, making the whole journey in vehicles and on horseback. Two uncles, older brothers of his father, settled in the same county, the three families occupying neighboring farms, on one of which was the White Sul- phur Springs, a well-known watering-place of those days. Here John enjoyed a brief but happy childhood. Often would he wander care free and joyous along the streams, or in the wild and almost unbroken forests which surrounded his father's home. "Again," he wrote in a letter some years afterwards, "a brother, two years my senior, and myself would seek the shade of a tree standing all alone in a grassy field and read some book of war or love. From these readings both of us thor- oughly imbibed the spirit of chivalry, and many a tilt have we had together, our lances long, tapering weeds. The gun and the fishing rod also contributed to our en- joyments. Nor were the more elegant accomplishments of life neglected. Boys as we were-very children-we
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went much into society, and with older children mingled in the dance-not the wild whirling of the uncultivated, but the dance of the most approved masters."
For the education of the children of the three house- holds a tutor was engaged, a Mr. F. K. Heisley from Pennsylvania, who had been a college professor, but who for some youthful indiscretion had lost his place. He was an excellent teacher, and a few years later re- turned with the Longs to Virginia. Among John's schoolmates and constant companions was a younger sis- ter, Annie, who recalls that he was industrious and learned fast and, in her eyes, he appeared to know every- thing.
Two incidents of this period illustrate the boy's high spirit and strict sense of justice. One evening, at a hunt- ing camp, to which the lads from the farm had strayed, one of the hunters thought to amuse himself by prod- ding at John with "an Arkansas toothpick." The boy resented this invasion of his dignity and said: "You are not a gentleman or you would not so treat a little boy." To carry out the joke the man pretended to be insulted and challenged the child to a duel. The challenge was at once accepted, shotguns being chosen as the weapons and the next evening as the time. The boy had no idea but to fight, and when one of the colored servants sug- gested that he might be killed, answered, "Yes, but what is life without honor?" He contrived to elude the fam- ily and presented himself at the appointed place armed, not only with a shotgun, but with a huge empty pistol that an older brother had put into his hands. When the hunter treated the matter as a joke he drew the pistol on him and forced him to make an humble apology. This incident gave the lad quite a name among the Ken- tucky bloods.
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On one occasion when, in John's opinion, Mr. Heisley had administered punishment unfairly, he snatched the ferrule out of his hands and tossed it out of the window and declined to go out and get it. He declared that when he was grown he was going to whip Mr. Heisley, but when he did grow up he remembered with great esteem this teacher of his early days.
In 1841, while the family was yet in Kentucky, John's mother died. She was a devout Christian, a Methodist, and although he was only eight years old at the time of her death, she seems to have greatly influenced his char- acter and life, and doubtless it was from her that he derived some of his noblest qualities. Years later he wrote: "When my mother died-she is said to have been a beautiful woman, and as pure and noble as she was beautiful-the sun of my boyish joy was set. I can even now recall some of the particulars of that dark day ; and for years after I could not hear her name mentioned without tears."
After the family returned to Virginia, in 1843, the growing boy had as his teachers in Lynchburg the Misses Gordon, and in the country his own older brother, Armi- stead, who was afterwards to be a gallant Confederate ยท general, and the author of a life of R. E. Lee. When he was only twelve years old John entered the printing office of the Lynchburg Republican, and a little later, still as a printer, went to Farmville. Here most impor- tant events in the youth's life took place; he became a Baptist; he felt called to preach. Though not attending preaching at the Baptist Church, he came to be a mem- ber of a Bible class at that church taught by Mr. Wil- liam A. Armistead, a man of earnestness, intelligence, and honesty of mind. This teacher does not seem to have used any direct means to make a Baptist of young Long, but the silent personal influence drew the youth
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that way. A remark some boy had before this made now set the young printer to thinking and to studying the New Testament. The boy's remark was: "The Bap- tists do not use the same Bible that other people do." Our young friend had answered: "What you say can hardly be true. There must be some mistake about it." This remark first turned his thoughts towards the Bap- tists. Next came the influence of his Sunday school teacher. Finally he did not care or dare to go against what appeared to be the teachings of the New Testa- ment. So, although none of his people were Baptists, in his nineteenth year he became one, guided by a "sort of military respect for authority," not knowing "how to disobey what seemed to be positive orders." Years afterwards, in a tract, "On Being a Baptist," he wrote thus about this important event in his life: "I felt that whatsoever the New Testament teaches by plain precept or by reasonable inference ought to be the law of my life. And years have only served to strengthen the conviction that that feeling was right." He was baptized by Rev. William A. Tyree.
In Farmville, and about the time that he became a Baptist, he decided to give his life to the gospel minis- try. Soon after this purpose was formed he entered Richmond College in the fall of 1852. During his life here he was intimate, among others, with C. C. Chaplin and J. W. McCown. These three received from their fellow-students the title of "The Triumvirate," a name to be credited rather to college rivalries and animosities than to the callow wit of college fledglings. "Years aft- erwards, when C. C. Chaplin passed to his reward, J. C. Long wrote for the Religious Herald a tribute to his col- lege friend, calling it 'A Sprig of Acacia.'" And when J. C. Long died the same paper contained an article from the pen of Dr. McCown, the last survivor of "The Tri-
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