USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
*Based on article by Dr. J. M. Pitcher, in Religious Herald, February 3, 1887.
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place in the midst of a people who had learned to love their student-pastor. He now was pastor also at Gill's Grove, another church in the Middle District Associa- tion, and the outlook seemed to be brightening. Yet it was not so to be. An attack of pneumonia in April, led to tubercular trouble of the lungs; in September he resigned his churches, his great weakness making it necessary for him to read his last sermon at Matoaca, the last he ever preached. Now began a battle for life. He went to Giles County and taught a school, and later sought the gentler climate of Florida, where again he worked in the school-room. The situation was desper- ate, and, returning to Virginia, he found a home and great kindness under the roof of Mr. J. W. Whitehorne, in Petersburg. He visited his former flock at Matoaca, and his mother's old home, and attended the Dover Asso- ciation, at West Point. He attempted to go home once more, but upon reaching Petersburg was so weak that he could go no further. Kind hands helped him, and the last days were spent in the Whitehorne home. Here he was visited by the Petersburg ministers and by Rev. S. C. Clopton. He passed away on November 6, 1886. The funeral took place at Colosse Church, the sermon being preached by Rev. S. C. Clopton, and the burial was in the graveyard of the Mattaponi Church, King and Queen County, where his ancestors sleep their last sleep. After his ordination, but before he had had the privilege of burying any one in baptism, at the age of thirty, he had fallen on sleep.
"Here rests his head upon the lap of earth; A youth to fortune and to fame unknown."
PETER BUTLER JOHNSTON
Peter B. Johnston, one of three sons, was born on Christmas Day, 1803. His mother was Anne O. Nash, daughter of John Nash, of Prince Edward County, one of the early settlers of that county and a man of promi- nence. His father was a man of means, Andrew John- ston, son of Peter Johnston, who came to this country from Scotland early in the eighteenth century, settled in Prince Edward County, and gave the land on which Hampden-Sidney College now stands. His purpose was to give his sons the best educational advantages, but his death, when his son Peter was some seven years old, frustrated this plan. Yet as two of his sons were for some time school-teachers and finally preachers, while the third brother, Edward, was at one time Judge of the Cir- cuit Court of the district in which he lived, it would seem that their education was by no means neglected. John Nash, who was older than Peter B., was, as a youth, for some years in business in Richmond, when he fell into dissipated habits which threatened to ruin him. Finally he was converted and became a useful minister of the gospel; a sketch of him is found in the second series of Taylor's "Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers." These sons were reared with gentleness, enjoying the advan- tages of cultivated society.
At the call of the Buchanan Baptist Church, he was ordained to the gospel ministry, the presbytery consist- ing of A. C. Dempsey, John B. Lee, J. P. Corron, and E. L. Mason. While Mr. Johnston was never a pastor, his preaching was inspirational. While he gave his time mainly to teaching on Saturdays and Sundays, he would
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preach as a supply or in destitute localities in his section of country. For many years his name appears in the General Association Minutes list of preachers, his post-office being Lone Pine. Rev. Gabriel Gray, who knew Mr. Johnston well, and was often in his home, gave a pleasant pen picture of his friend and his home in the Religious Herald, of January 13, 1887. On this sketch what follows is based. Having made a failure in the business to which he first gave his attention, Mr. Johnston soon took up the work of school teaching, in which career he was a decided success. His training of young men for life was faithfully and conscientiously performed, his example being a model they might well copy. While teaching other people's children his own were carefully tended. In his home love and devotion reigned supreme. He knew the art of making home attractive. He was twice married and there were children born of each wife. His first wife, to whom he was married, December 30, 1834, was Mary A. Higgin- botham; his second wife, to whom he was married Sept. 1, 1857, was Helen M. Finney. After the death of his second wife for twelve years he sought as best he could to care for his children. He had the joy of seeing them all earnest, useful Christians. Into his home his friends and acquaintances came as into a place of genial warmth and sunshine. The greater part of his life was passed in Bedford and Botetourt Counties. The last years of his life were spent in the home of his son, John H. Johnston, of Christiansburg. A few years before his death he had a severe fall, which left him a cripple for the rest of his life. He was a great sufferer, but bore his sufferings with fortitude and patience. One of his daughters was with him constantly, ministering to his wants with peculiar tenderness and affection, while others of the children came in from time to time to cheer him.
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PETER BUTLER JOHNSTON
Thus he died in the midst of affection and love, Novem- ber 26, 1886. In early life Mr. Johnston united with the Episcopal Church, where he was quite an active worker. An examination of the Scriptures led him to become a Baptist. While he was a preacher, his interest in Sunday-school work was great. He would often forego the pleasure of the preaching service in order that he might help forward the work of the Sunday school. His life reached out to fourscore years and four.
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WILLIAM MARTIN
Quite often the annals of the Virginia Baptist ministry tell of men who have gone from the profession of medicine to the work of the preacher and pastor. It was the case with William Martin, who was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, August, 1812. He was one of nine children. One of his sisters was the wife of Rev. Littleberry W. Allen, a well-known Baptist minister. Dr. Martin married Miss Ann Edwards Vaiden, of New Kent County, Virginia, and to them were born four children. He began, in early life, the practice of medicine, and was very popular as a phy- sician. He abandoned, however, this work, since his health was not good, and depended for his support upon his farm, which was a fine one. He had been reared in the Episcopal Church, but upon his conversion, having read and studied carefully the New Testament, he be- came a most decided Baptist, uniting with the James City Baptist Church, of which body he was a member to the end of his life. In 1850, he began to preach. The Williamsburg and James City churches were the only flocks to which he ever ministered. During 1877, 1878, and 1879, and again in 1883, he was pastor at Williams- burg. Doubtless at other periods, whose record does not now remain, he was pastor in the town which was once the capital of the Old Dominion. He has been described as a pastor ad interim of churches, a suggestive title. He also preached often at the Eastern Lunatic Asylum, which is located in Williamsburg. He some- times assisted in protracted-meeting work, and was in great demand for ordination services of preachers and deacons. He was an unusually strong and clear definer of the distinctive principles of Baptists, and as a plat- form speaker was ready, pointed, practical, and humorous. He was a magnificent specimen of a noble
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WILLIAM MARTIN
old Virginia gentleman, and his life was adorned by the Christian graces. The Civil War reduced him to poverty. One night he saw his large house, with all his household goods, burned to ashes by some Federal soldiers. Yet his cheerfulness and faith remained. During his last illness, which lasted some months, his daughter was reading to him one day in Geikie's "Life of Christ." With tears streaming down his cheeks he said : "If I could preach again, how I would tell people of the sufferings of Christ for us poor sinners, as I now see them, and of heaven as it now opens up before me! I see these things more clearly than I ever saw them before." He asked Rev. J. H. Barnes to preach his funeral, saying that he knew him better than any one else. From an article from the pen of Rev. J. H. Barnes, in the Religious Herald, the facts and language of this sketch are largely taken. Dr. Martin died December 15, 1886.
DAVID COULLING
David Coulling was born in Richmond, July 23, 1814, and died in Baltimore, December 28, 1886. During a large part of his life he practiced dentistry and preached as occasion offered. He was pastor in Goldsboro, N. C .; in Richmond, at what is now Pine Street Church; in Ac- comac, and more recently in King and Queen and Gloucester Counties, the last named being his place of residence after 1860. While in the Rappahannock Asso- ciation he was pastor for several years of the Poroporone Church. This sketch is in substance the obituary from General Association minutes for 1887. He was espe- cially gifted in prayer and his ministry was blessed with many conversions. A strong faith in the atonement up- held him through the feeble health of earlier years and under the sufferings of his last months.
R. R. TAYLOR
In another part of this volume will be found a sketch of Rev. Daniel G. Taylor. As there appears, he was the father of four preachers. The name of the youngest of these sons stands at the head of this sketch. He was con- verted at the age of thirteen, and from that time was active in Sunday-school and other forms of church work. While he did not receive a thorough education, he was a diligent student, and well versed in the Scriptures. He was ordained to the gospel ministry, and had as his first charge the Blackberry Church, Blue Ridge Association. In October, 1883, he was called to a field in the Valley Association, composed of these churches : Cave Spring, Mount Pleasant, Laurel Ridge, Blue Ridge. In less than three years his health so gave away that he could not preach any longer. In 1884, he had married Miss Alice Sublett, of Cave Spring, and of this union one child was born. His death occurred April 30, 1887, when he was some twenty-nine years of age. He was a man of piety and unyielding integrity. His preaching was scriptural and forcible.
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SOLOMON CHARLES BOSTON
While Maryland was the birthplace of Solomon Charles Boston, since his mother and wife were Vir- ginians and since he held five different pastorates in Vir- ginia, the Old Dominion has claims upon him. At the old homestead, near the mouth of the Pocomoke River, in Somerset County, he first saw the light. When a boy, one day as he was hunting chestnuts the falling of a burr deprived him, for life, of one eye. After his union, when a boy, with the Rehoboth Baptist Church, his baptism tak- ing place in the Rehoboth mill pond, and after his work at the neighborhood schools, he attended Richmond Col- lege and then Columbian College, where he graduated in 1845. While working as a missionary for the Mary- land Mission Board he married Mrs. Mary Ann Nock, daughter of Mr. Wm. D. Marshall, a deacon of the Chincoteague Baptist Church. As a pastor in Maryland, at Rehoboth, his mother church, and other points, he en- countered the coolness, not to say opposition, which the Baptist cause in that day had to endure in that state. While at Reboboth he organized a Baptist church in the village of Vienna. Later, Rehoboth and Pitt's Creek churches, with the Pocomoke River between them, con- stituted his field. As his appointments came he was fer- ried across the river by his members, ever faithful in keeping his engagements. While on this field he was a Baptist pioneer in Pocomoke City, or New Town, as it was then called. This work was begun in the face of much opposition. He preached for a year in the Tem- perance Hall and then in the Old Academy. So decided was his success that a meeting-house was erected which
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before the dedication exercises were over was free of debt. His Virginia pastorates were Red Bank and Lower Northampton Churches, Northampton County; the Sec- ond Church, Petersburg; Farmville; Bruington, King and Queen County ; Onancock, Accomac County. Other pastorates held were Lee Street, Baltimore, and French- town, New Jersey, and then a second time in Pocomoke City ; here his life closed on June 15, 1887.
Gentle blood ran in his veins; his mother was Enatia Byrd, a descendant of William Byrd, of "Westover." His was a social nature; he loved the companionship of his friends and was a good talker. He was faithful. Wind and cold did not keep him from his appointments, and such remarks as these from his members show in what esteem he was held: "He always prepares well"; "Touch Charles Boston and you touch me."
He was married twice, his second wife being Miss Mary Elizabeth Britton. Of this second marriage there were born a son and a daughter. The only child of the first marriage was Francis Ryland Boston, for so many years an honored pastor in Virginia.
WILLIAM A. BAYNHAM
Every life, if it were wholly known, would present interesting features all its own. Certainly the story of Wm. A. Baynham presents several striking and unusual experiences. He was born of wealthy and cultured parents, and enjoyed the best educational advantages. When he was twenty-one years of age he received his M. D. degree, then spent two years in the schools and hospitals in Philadelphia, and, in 1837, began the practice of medicine in Essex County. While there was every prospect for success in his chosen profession, he soon abandoned it to give his whole time to the management of his large patrimony of land and slaves. He desired to manumit his slaves, but was persuaded by friends not to do so; afterwards he regretted that he had yielded to their advice. In the summer of 1834, at a camp-meeting in Lancaster County, he was awakened to think about spiritual things, and soon afterwards, under the preaching of the elder Andrew Broaddus, at Enon, Essex County, was converted. For months after his conversion he never heard the name of Jesus with- out tears. He first joined the Episcopal Church, but afterwards, having given the subject careful investiga- tion, he sought baptism at the hands of Rev. Dr. Gillette, of Philadelphia, and united with the Baptists. Upon his return home he joined the Enon Baptist Church, Essex County, soon becoming quite active in its work. It was not long before he was found preaching occasionally, and in September, 1841, he was ordained at Enon, the presbytery consisting of Elders A. Broaddus and J. Bird. On Saturday before the second
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Lord's Day, 1842, he became pastor of Enon, in which relationship he continued until his death, a period of some forty-three years. In the fall of 1854, he became pastor of the Upper Zion Church, Caroline County, this union, not broken save by a brief interim in 1860, and by death, lasted some thirty-three years. This is indeed a wonderful record. In 1880, the Religious Herald published a number of letters from ministers in the State, who had had long pastorates. In his letter Dr. Baynham said: " The real ground of my continuance for so long a period as pastor of my two churches has been our strong mutual love. In
my position as pastor I have from the first endeavored to be one with my charge. I have tried to show myself the friend. I have visited them freely, familiarly, and much. The children have had a good share of attention. In affliction I have been prompt and attentive, ready to render personal assistance as necessary. One rule has been unvaried with me: not only not to neglect the poor, but to show them all kindness and attention. My social rela- tions I choose for myself-my kindness and affection for my church members is rendered to all without caste distinction. I never scold. I avoid repeating what I hear in families, and hence have inti- macy of association. My habit is daily to pray for all my flocks and for many individually. I have a list made off into three classes: 1. Families; 2. Those who are Christians-names of same; 3. Uncon- verted-named personally. Instead of going over them by name in prayer the paper is presented before God, each class separately. In addition, special cases named. This list is particularly designed for Sabbath, but not restricted to this. Another item for friends, enemies, acquaintances, neighbors, relations, members of my churches, and servants I have had."
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His power seems to have been because of his piety, his pastoral work, and his genial personality. "He was not," says Dr. Broaddus, "an attractive speaker. His voice was harsh, his articulation sometimes indistinct, his gestures ungraceful, and for so intellectual a man his sermons were frequently singularly obscure and involved, yet he commanded good congregations, and was heard with respect and attention." To a wonderful degree he obeyed the injunction that we speak evil of no man. He was scrupulously conscientious. Through- out the day, however employed, he cultivated an un- broken sense of the presence of God. In so trivial a matter as picking up a pin he called to mind the lan- guage of Hagar: "Thou God seest me." He was most refined, courteous, polite, and at the same time timid and diffident.
Dr. Baynham was never married. There is a tradi- tion that "once he wooed the fickle goddess and she dis- appointed him," and that never did he have the courage to try again his chances in the court of love. He was counted among the preachers of the Rappahannock Asso- ciation, in his day, as the beloved John. His death was tragic. On the 16th of June, 1887, when he was some seventy-four years of age, he set out against the remonstrances of friends, to pay a promised visit. On the way, either overcome by the heat, or stricken by disease, he slipped down into the foot of his buggy and died, alone with God, or as Dr. H. M. Wharton described the event: "The angels met him on the road and bore him up to the realms of bliss."
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MARK W. TOWILL
The brevity of the sketch which follows does not prove that the life described was uninteresting or barren. It rather gives evidence of inadequate means to preserve records of pastors and churches. However fragmentary human records are, and however forgetful men are of earnest labor, God's records are accurate, and his approval of all faithful service sure. Mark W. Towill was born in Lancaster County, Virginia, August 12, 1817. He seems to have begun his work as pastor of Matthews Church, in 1855. Under his leadership it grew and prospered. In 1855, the church reported twenty-seven baptisms, and a membership of 501. From 1876 to 1879, he was the pastor of Zoar Church, in the Rappahannock Association. In the fellowship of this church he died, "regretted by all, July 18, 1887."
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DRURY A. WOODSON
Since to-day Buckingham County, with its many spacious and handsome homes, has great stretches of forests, where the deer still range, what must it have been in 1835? In this county and in this year, on November 20th, Drury A. Woodson first saw the light. Many boys reared in pious homes have played preaching in their early days. So it was with Drury. . His brothers and sisters were his hearers, and in a meeting which he held under a cherry tree, his converts. Nor did he stop here; he baptized them. When some eighteen years of age he made a profession of religion. He had as a tutor a graduate of the University of Vir- ginia, and from this training at home he passed to Rich- mond College. His studies in Richmond were inter- rupted by the rude blast of war, and for several years he was schoolmaster at Clover Hill, the place now famous the world over as "Appomattox Court-House." His school was almost broken up when the imperative necessity the Confederacy had for men caused the lower- ing of the limit for military service from eighteen to sixteen years of age. One day thirteen of his scholars left him to go to the War. At the close of the War he moved to Prince Edward, where he took charge of the Sandy River Church Academy, and preached, assisting Rev. Daniel Witt, at Sandy River, Jamestown and Notto- way churches. From here he moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia (having married, September 30, 1866, Miss Ella S. Bruce, of Prince Edward County ), where he lived some years, serving in this time the following churches, that are members of the Accomac Association : Bethel, Zion, Modesttown, Onancock, and Pungoteague.
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From the Eastern Shore, having been for about a year pastor in Sussex (Shiloh and Newville churches), he moved to North Carolina, and was pastor, first at Mocks- ville and then at Murfreesboro, for some six years. While in Sussex his wife died, July 7, 1873, and on February 1, 1877, he married Miss Emma W. Bruce, a sister of his first wife. Upon his return, on March 1, 1887, to Virginia, he settled at Kempsville, Princess Anne County, taking charge of Kempsville, Centerville, and Salem churches. In June, 1887, he was attacked by malarial fever, and, upon advice of the physician, went to Prince Edward County. Disease, however, followed him, and on August 11th he passed the way of all the earth. He was a man of stalwart frame and handsome appearance, and, while not an attractive preacher in all respects, was an efficient, useful man of God. His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. W. F. Kone, from the words: "I would not live always," Job 7:16.
HOSEA CROWDER
Human lives are most interesting, but often time is lacking to study them, and full records to make them known. Doubtless throughout eternity, if earthly affairs then interest us, we shall talk over the detailed story of many a loved one, friend and acquaintance. The presence of an unusual Biblical name raises the question as to whether the parents were devout, and whether this certain character especially appealed to them. The life of Hosea Crowder, extending over some seventy-eight years, covered a large part of the nineteenth century. He was born and lived all his life in Dinwiddie
County. In 1829, he was born again, and, in 1831, was by Elder William Hyde, pastor of Mount
baptized
Pleasant Church. On September 16, 1843, he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, and suc- ceeded Elder Hyde as pastor. Of this Mount Pleasant Church, now known as Central, he was pastor twice: from September 30, 1843, to the close of 1853, and from June 15, 1856, until the close of 1874, with the exception of the year 1867. He was also pastor of Shiloh (Prince George), Matoaca (Chesterfield), and Cut Banks (Din- widdie). It is thought by some that his most useful service was that given to the Guilfield Colored Baptist Church, Petersburg, to which he ministered for some years before and during the War. For some time he was the only resident Baptist pastor in the County of Dinwiddie, outside of Petersburg. While not highly educated, he was a man of excellent sense and good preaching ability, while his piety was proverbial. He was greatly gifted in public prayer, large congregations being sometimes melted down under his appropriate and fervent addresses to the throne of grace. He was twice married and was the father of a large household. He died November 25, 1887, and a memorial address con- cerning him was delivered at Central [Mount Pleasant] Church, by Dr. T. W. Sydnor, on the text: "A good soldier of Jesus Christ."
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ALEXANDER HAMILTON SANDS
There have been men who were first ministers of the gospel and then became lawyers, and others who were lawyers and gave up the bar to enter the pulpit, but the story which follows is of one who was through a large part of his life both a lawyer and a preacher, and, as will be seen, was successful along both of these lines of work.
Alexander Hamilton Sands was born in the historic town of Williamsburg, the ancient capital of Virginia, on May 2, 1828, being the youngest son of Thomas Sands. He received his collegiate training at William and Mary College, that venerable seat of learning, where Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, John Randolph, George Wythe, and other famous men, had been stu- dents, but his career at college was cut short by the death of his father in 1842. Even though only fourteen years old he had so mastered the classics that to the end of his life he had easy and intimate fellowship with the great writers of Rome and Greece. Latin was especially his delight, and not only did he read it, but was fond of transcribing, for his own pleasure and, as his children grew up around him, for their profit as well, famous and beautiful passages in this tongue. Notebooks, which he filled with such extracts, the writing being almost like copper-plate, are still extant. Beyond doubt the memories of the old Raleigh Tavern, where in other days ambitious students, famous jurists, and eminent statesmen had gathered, indeed the whole atmosphere of his alma mater and its famous town, made a deep impression on this boy, and helped to give him his love for literature which was one of the passions of his soul through life.
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