USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
323
324
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
had, as the headquarters of his school, for several years after coming to Richmond, the old Lumpkin's Jail, situ- ated in "The Bottom," between Franklin and Broad Streets, on the west side of Shockoe Creek, a building that had formerly been used as slave quarters. Rev. Dr. Robert Ryland taught for a season in this school. On January 26, 1870, the old United States Hotel, a spa- cious building on the corner of Main and Nineteenth Streets, that had formerly been the fashionable hostelry of Richmond, was purchased for the school at whose head Mr. Corey stood, and which finally came to be known as the Richmond Theological Seminary. So earnest were the students of the school in trying to raise money to help pay for the new quarters, that the list of subscrip- tions sent in was six yards long. During Di. Corey's connection with this school more than 1,200 young col- ored men passed through its classes, 800 of them being students for the ministry. These preachers have gone far and wide carrying the "glad tidings" to their own people and baptizing thousands of converts. So it will be seen that the influence for good of him who wisely directed this "school of the prophets" was great. His earnest toil, discretion, self-sacrifice, and uniform gentle Christian spirit won for him the affection of the colored and white people of Richmond and Virginia. He died September 5, 1898, at Seabrook, N. H.
WILLIAM FRANCIS HARRIS
William Francis Harris was born in Caroline County on February 16, 1853. His childhood and youth were spent in New Kent County. Mr. Harris was a student at Richmond College for some sessions, taking, in 1876, his B. A. degree, and two years later his "Master of Arts." In these college days he looked strong and stalwart to an unusual degree, yet he passed through two serious ill- nesses, one his first session, when pneumonia threw his life into the balance, and the other when, in 1876-7, he was so sick that he lost a year of school.
He was ordained at Covington, Virginia, where he was pastor for one year. Then, taking his bride, Miss Mollie Payne, of Healing Springs, Virginia, he went to Missouri, where sixteen years were spent. His pastor- ates in Missouri were Glasgow, Huntsville, Palmyra, Harrisonville, and Carthage. In Glasgow, an aristocratic old town, he made the acquaintance of practically every one, young and old, in the community, and soon had the church full at every service. He reached the poor people and brought many of them to be members, even if some people took offense that the common people heard him so gladly. In a pastorate of five years at Huntsville, he built a parsonage and did such excellent work in every way that he is looked back to as perhaps "the most suc- cessful pastor the church has ever had." While pastor at Huntsville his evangelistic power came into exercise and a great meeting which he held at Palmyra led to his call, some time afterward, to this field. Here, as in Huntsville, he inspired his people to build a parsonage, this one at the cost of some $2,000. While at Palmyra he set out for a European tour, but upon his arrival in England his trip was cut short by the news that his infant son was dead. His devotion to his wife would not allow
325
326
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
him to leave her alone in this great sorrow; he at once turned his face homeward. In 1893, having been five years at Palmyra, Mr. Harris became pastor at Harri- sonville. This "thriving town in the richest portion of Missouri," the junction of four large railway systems, offered a fine field for his zeal and energy. One of the members here afterwards said: "Harris was the best pastor I ever saw for seeing after everything and every- body." In Huntsville he had come to be a leader in State mission work and a member of the State Mission Board. In Harrisonville his activity in the young people's work began. The B. Y. P. U. movement was then in its in- fancy and some of the Harrisonville saints regarded it as a heresy. So, in 1896, he became pastor in Carthage. The rest of his life was spent here. A wonderful devel- opment in zinc mining had given Carthage such a great increase in population that the town and all the region around had come to offer a fine field for evangelistic effort. "Harris was just the man to be a sort of general bishop over the whole work." The eyes of the Baptists of all the State were upon him. His church was coming up to a high standard of excellence and his influence was growing when the end came.
In the spring of 1898 symptoms of a fatal disease ap- peared, but not until about the middle of September did he take his bed. A week or so later he was carried to the Baptist Sanitarium of St. Louis with the hope that an operation might save his life. Upon being told that the end was near, he begged to be taken back to Car- thage that he might die in the midst of his own people. This, however, was impossible, and at four o'clock Satur- day morning, October 15, 1898, his spirit went to God. His body was buried at Emmaus Church, New Kent County, Virginia; a few years later, however, it was removed to Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. His wife and one daughter survive him.
EDWARD FARMER DILLARD
An obituary in the Minutes of the General Association for 1899 contains the facts given in this sketch. Edward Farmer Dillard was born in Fluvanna County, January 12, 1865, and at the early age of nine made a profession of religion and was baptized into the fellowship of the Mount Prospect Church. His youth gave evidence of mental vigor and strong Christian character. He felt called to preach and entered Richmond College, where he graduated, with the degree of A. B., in 1892. From Richmond College he went to Rochester Theological Seminary, Rochester, N. Y., where he graduated in 1895. During the vacations of his college and seminary days he helped various pastors in protracted meetings, in which many were added to the Lord. His ordination took place June 25, 1895, at Calvary Baptist Church, Richmond. In the fall of the same year he accepted the charge of the Louisa, Berea, Mount Hermon, and Mine Road Churches. After a pastorate of two years he was com- pelled to give up active service, as consumption had laid hold on him. After an illness of two years, he passed away November 13, 1898.
327
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
About 1672 some Mennonites, fleeing from Roman Catholic persecution, settled in Alsace, above Strassburg on the Rhine. In 1708 they fled to London, and from London to Pennsylvania. British statesmen in the reign of Queen Anne made a systematic effort to induce these Germans to go to England that they might eventually settle in America, and in 1708 and 1709 more than 30,000 Germans went first to England and then to America, where they settled in New York and the Carolinas, but chiefly in Pennsylvania. There was a strong sympathy between these Mennonites and the Quakers. This was but the beginning of a great stream of immigration in which the Palatine peasants were taken down the Rhine to Rotterdam and then shipped to Philadelphia. "The desire to escape from spiritual and temporal despotisms and the chance of acquiring rich lands in a salubrious climate on easy terms drew thousands of immigrants," so that for some years the population of Pennsylvania grew at the rate of a thousand a year and then more rapidly. Among these Germans were two brothers, Lud- wig and Martin Bitting.
They came from the High Baileywick of Germersheim, on the Rhine, and a part of Alsace, where they had been residents and perhaps founders of a little town called to this day Bittingheim. They were burgomeisters, and arrived, with their pass- ports, in Pennsylvania about 1708-9. They were natur- alized in Hanover township, Philadelphia County, Penn- sylvania, where each owned about 100 acres of land. They were pious people of devout and estimable charac- ter, Protestants, who for the sake of having liberty of conscience had forsaken all they had to escape Roman
328
329
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
Catholic oppression in Europe. Of this stock came Charles Carroll Bitting, whose great-grandfather was the Ludwig Bitting mentioned above. He was born in Phila- delphia in March, 1830, his mother being Miss Sarah Bucknell, an English lady, and a sister of William Buck- nell for whom Bucknell University is named.
At the age of twenty Mr. Bitting graduated at the Philadelphia Central High School, having three years be- fore this been baptized by Rev. J. L. Burrows into the fellowship of the Broad Street Baptist Church. After having studied at Lewisburg (now Bucknell) and Madi- son (now Colgate) Universities, he taught in the Ten- nessee Baptist Female College when it was located in Nashville and after its removal to Murfreesborough. While in this last town he was ordained to the ministry and from here went to Hanover County, Virginia, to be- come pastor of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church, the next year, 1856, also becoming pastor of the Hopeful Baptist Church in Louisa County. In 1859 he became pastor of the Baptist church in Alexandria. Here were spent the trying years of the Civil War. Many thrilling experi- ences came to Mr. Bitting in this period. Some of these experiences are described, as follows, by C. C. Bitting's son, Rev. Dr. W. C. Bitting, now pastor of the Second Baptist Church, St. Louis, Mo .:
"His ministry there was very prosperous. A large number of persons were added to the church. The church was in the midst of a revival when Lincoln's Proclama- tion was issued. Of his experiences during the War a volume might be written. He was one of a number of citizens of that city who declined to take the iron-clad oath after the city was invested by the Federal troops. The Baptist Church building was taken from the church and used for a negro garrison. I personally remember the Sunday morning when a squad of soldiers marched
330
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
down the aisle of the church while my father was preach- ing and the commanding officer ordered him to stop preaching. He was put under arrest that morning. The deacons of the church were assembled in a corner of the room. The commanding officer of the squad made an address to them which he ended by deposing my father from the ministry! This arrest did not amount to much, but he was allowed to go free. A room above an old the- ater building on Liberty Street in Alexandria was rented and the work still went on. My father and a Catholic priest were the only original pastors left in Alexandria during the War to minister to the people. A very warm friendship between Father Kroes and my father sprang up on account of these facts, and they about divided the religious work in the city between them. All who could get away from Alexandria left and the ministrations of both these ministers were mainly to the poor and humble. During these terrible times he spent the mornings in con- ducting a school, to which the citizens sent their children. He did not think they should grow up without instruc- tion. In this he was ably assisted by Miss Fannie Gwin, the brilliant and accomplished sister of the Rev. D. W. Gwin.
"His afternoons were spent in visiting the sick and needy, and in going to the hospitals to visit the wounded and sick soldiers of both armies. His services were alike rendered without any discrimination to any human being to whom he could in any way minister. Most often he would take with him to the bedside of the poor fellows some delicacy which the more than busy hands of my mother had prepared out of the grinding poverty of our life at that time. Many hundreds in this way felt the touch of his sympathetic heart and the comforts of the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a little taste of the deli- cacies of home life prepared by my mother.
331
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
"I well remember a second arrest on a bright Sunday morning when he was walking home from service in the Liberty Street Theater. My mother was convalescing from the experiences of maternity and expected that day to be present at the dinner table as a pleasant surprise to my father. He was walking on the street, and Mrs. Bayne had hold of his right arm. I was immediately be- hind them. I noticed a squad of Union soldiers drawn up on the opposite side of the street. The officer in charge walked across the street and told my father that he was under arrest. He was taken to a dwelling, used as a prison, where he found fifteen or twenty other citi- zens arrested likewise. The effort on the part of the military authorities was to force every citizen to take the Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government. For two months he was kept in this prison. The pris- oners were divided into two parties and every other day were given a ride on the railroad in the direction of Orange Court-House, Virginia, with the hope that the presence of these well-known sympathizers with the Southern cause would prevent the destruction of the train by Mosby's men. In the last two or three trips my father was compelled all day long to ride upon the cow-catcher of the locomotive.
"The arrest of my father was the cause of a severe relapse in the illness of my mother, and she hovered be- tween life and death for many days. When the illness seemed certain to end in death, as the oldest child, I was dressed in the best rags I had and taken to the office of the Provost-Marshal, and as a child on my knees I begged him to allow my father to come home to be present at the death of my mother. He granted permission for him to visit my mother for two hours. A Union soldier was placed at the bedroom door. Promptly at the end of those two hours, without knocking, he entered the room
332
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
and took my father from his knees beside my mother back to the prison. Of course, the tenderness and pain- fulness of the experience can better be imagined than de- scribed. Thanks to the kindness of our heavenly Father my mother's life was spared.
"It was my duty as a little boy every other day to take to my father in the prison his evening meal. My im- pressions of these journeys are very vivid, and I can still almost feel in my hand the wire handle of the tin bucket in which I carried to him the scanty food which the kind- ness of devoted friends could gather out of their poverty. One evening I was startled on my way down to meet him alone on the street. And it was some time before my childish mind could realize that my father was free. He had not taken the oath. I keenly remember the joy of my parents as they met that afternoon. My mother was still in bed, but was convalescing. Early the next morn- ing my father started out with me to market. I had a small wheelbarrow, which I insisted upon taking to bring home what could be bought. With the joy of a boy, about seven o'clock in the morning, I went out the front door of our home. I saw hanging to the door knob a big black rag. I called my father's attention to it. I shall never forget the whiteness of his face and the indigna- tion with which he tore this crape from the door knob, took it to the middle of the street, put it in a small puddle of water which remained from a shower the night before and trampled on it. Evidently the crape had been tied to the door knob by some miscreant early in the evening. The whole town knew of the serious illness of my mother. Her obituary had been prepared. When the crape was seen upon the door, my mother's obituary was promptly printed in the Alexandria Gazette. It was about eleven o'clock in the day before the many sympathizing people allowed my father to return to his home.
333
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
"He was sometimes in receipt of notes asking him to call upon persons who were ill. These came about dark. He promptly answered these calls, only to find that the notes were forgeries and the persons named in the notes were perfectly well. On several occasions, while passing alleys and dark places, he was shot at.
"One morning about eight o'clock he received notice to be at a certain dock to take a steamboat. One hun- dred pounds of baggage were allowed for the whole fam- ily, consisting of the parents, three little boys and a baby sister. Arriving at the steamer, he was carefully searched for papers, and even the lunch was examined for the same. Sandwiches and boiled eggs were broken open. It was the purpose of the authorities to deport the fam- ily. At four o'clock a message came countermanding the order for deportation, and we were told to return to the home. Absolutely everything in the home had been taken away. Every piece of furniture, every book and every chip, and the house was as naked as if it had never been occupied. It was then realized that the ruse of the deportation was simply a device for confiscation.
"All these things went on for several years, during which time my father carefully abstained from any public allusion to the War and devoted himself entirely to min- isterial services of the purest and most spiritual sort.
"I well remember an incident which will illustrate the extreme poverty in which we lived. Our breakfast one morning consisted of a tumbler half full of black mo- lasses and the crusts of bread left over from the day before. The three little boys greedily devoured this re- past. The parents looked on and helped the children to make the best of the feast. After breakfast we had our family worship, and my father, as we knelt, put one arm around me, and my mother took in her arms my two younger brothers, and in just such words as I would have
334
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
used to my father he told the heavenly Father about the family situation and the need for food. About eleven o'clock that morning a couple came in to be married and gave the minister a five-dollar gold piece. This was al- ways regarded as a direct answer to prayer.
"About one o'clock in the morning one day a horse stopped under my father's bedroom window. Of course, with such experiences as he was having he slept lightly. He arose, looked out of the window, heard his name called, and was told to come down to the front door imme- diately. He hastily dressed and went down. Upon open- ing the door there came in a man with a heavy United States Army overcoat and with his features covered by a muffler. In the dim light of the hall the two men met. The visitor asked my father if he were a Mason. The two men proved to each other's satisfaction that they were Masons. He then threw aside his overcoat and disclosed the uniform of a general in the United States Army and said to my father: 'You may go back and go to bed. You have never officiated at a service of public worship, or at a funeral, or in any other public capacity since the War began when we have not had a spy present. We have been waiting for just one public expression in prayer or speech which betrayed your in- terest in the success of the Southern Army. If you had uttered this, you would have been imprisoned in the old capitol in Washington, where a cell had been waiting for you all this time. If you continue to be as discreet as you have been, and if this War shall last twenty years and I should retain the position I now have, you will never be annoyed again." The General had come all the way from Washington on horseback, after hearing at six o'clock in the evening of the day before that my father was a Mason. My father asked him his name, which was refused. He asked to see his face. This request
335
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
was also declined. He asked for some clew by which he could identify the man. This likewise was refused. Out into the night the benefactor went. From that day to this we have never been able to learn anything whatever which would help us to discover the kind-hearted man. All annoyance ceased, and during the rest of the War my father was allowed to pursue his calling without annoyance."
Mrs. Eliza S. Childs, for many years Lady Principal at Hollins Institute, who was a member of Dr. Bitting's church in Alexandria, wrote out reminiscences of this period of Dr. Bitting's life. She gives the name of the steamer on which her pastor and a number of other citi- zens were placed, as they thought, to be carried from their homes, as the "Sylvan Shore"; this is probably the occa- sion to which allusion is made above. She also tells of how one couple, since Dr. Bitting was not allowed to perform the marriage ceremony, was sent by him to Dr. Richard Fuller in Baltimore. When he was handed a $50 note as the "fee," he sent it back to Dr. Bitting, say- ing it rightly belonged to him.
In 1866, Mr. Bitting became Secretary of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, lo- cated at Greenville, S. C. When the Board was moved to Memphis he became pastor of the Baptist Church in Lynchburg. The church was weak and without great influence in the community. Mr. Bitting took hold of the work with his usual zeal. The congregation was ir- regular and slow in coming to the services. The new pastor announced that he intended to begin promptly at the hour agreed upon. One night when the time came for the prayer-meeting no one was present save the pas- tor and his wife. She ventured to suggest at eight o'clock that no one was present save themselves. His answer was: "It is time to begin." They two sang a hymn.
336
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
Then he led in prayer. While they were singing.a second hymn a few persons came in and were surprised to find the meeting in progress with no one present save the pastor and his wife. A few more lessons like this brought the people to greater promptness. Interest began to revive and the congregations to grow. Baptisms oc-
curred. Upon entering the baptistery Mr. Bitting would read passages from the New Testament bearing on bap- tism, without any comment. Upon concluding this read- ing he would say : "This is God's word, not mine." Per- sons in other denominations began to study the question of baptism. When they called to see him he would give the inquirer a copy of the New Testament with the pas- sages on baptism marked. A number of these persons united with the Baptist Church. Interest increased, the church was greatly stirred, and the pastor began to hold services from night to night. Rev. A. B. Earle, an able evangelist, preached for a few nights. All classes at- tended. Meetings began in other churches. Rev. Dr. Burrows helped for a week. The meeting-house could not hold the crowds. For three months the services went on. The pastor would decide to close the services, but deepening interest would make this impossible. With eloquence and power the pastor preached on from night to night. Some days he was so busy looking after in- quirers and doing pastoral work that on his way to the church he would say to his wife: "What shall I talk about this evening? I have not had time to think of a single thing to-day." For weeks, before breakfast was over, his doorbell would ring and there would be in- quirers to talk with him and others asking him to go and see their friends. The work went on, the meetings being calm and quiet, earnest instruction being given. Addi- tions were constant, and one Sabbath morning 162 per- sons were received into the fellowship of the church. Mr.
337
CHARLES CARROLL BITTING
Bitting always regarded Lynchburg as his most success- ful pastorate and looked back to this wonderful meeting with great joy and inspiration.
In 1871 Dr. Bitting became Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society for the Southern States, with his headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, but after hold- ing this position for a short time, he accepted a call to the Second Baptist Church of that city. During his pas- torate in Richmond he was Statistical Secretary of the Virginia Baptist General Association and Chairman of the Memorial Committee. This committee had as its ob- ject the raising of $300,000 for the endowment of Rich- mond College. This committee, consisting of C. C. Bit- ting, A. E. Dickinson, W. E. Hatcher, J. C. Long, G. B. Taylor, C. H. Ryland, W. D. Thomas, and Thomas Hume, Jr., was appointed in Staunton, did their work well, and, notwithstanding the financial panic, secured a large part of the proposed sum. Dr. Bitting's leadership had no little to do with the success of this movement. While pastor in Richmond, Dr. Bitting, thanks to the liberality of his uncle, Mr. William Bucknell, was able to take a trip to Europe and Palestine. Three of his fel- low-travelers, Miss Lucie Jones, Miss Bucknell, and Mr. William Lawson, were baptized by him in the River Jor- dan at the traditional place of our Saviour's baptism. From Richmond, Dr. Bitting went to Baltimore to be- come pastor of the Franklin Square Baptist Church. He began his work here in September, 1876, and re- mained on this field for some seven years.
Dr. Bitting was an ardent and painstaking student of Baptist history. While in Richmond he had written a pamphlet on the "Baptists and Religious Liberty" that had had wide circulation. While in Baltimore he made a careful investigation of Bible translation and the atti- tude of various agencies for this work to the general
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.