USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 27
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
399
FRANKLIN HOWARD KERFOOT
he graduated, one of his fellow-graduates being F. R. Boston, a classmate at Columbian.
After his graduation at Crozer, upon appointment of Dr. J. P. Boyce, he worked in Texas and Missouri as agent for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. About this time he came into possession of some property and decided, as he expressed it, "to commit the folly of traveling." He went as far as Egypt and Palestine. An unscrupulous boatman on the sea of Galilee, near the middle of the lake, refused to go further unless his fare was doubled. Upon returning from the East he spent some months in Leipsic.
Upon his return to the United States, in the summer of 1874, having completed his course at the University of Leipsic, he accepted a call to the Midway and Forks of Elkhorn churches, Kentucky. So far he had given little thought to marriage, saying he had no time or taste for courtship, but that he might marry if some one would find him just the right girl. His mother had come from Kentucky, and in the home of her dearest school friend he met Miss Price, whom he married and who was his $100,000 wife as he loved to call her. When some thirty years of age he accepted a call to the Eutaw Place Baptist Church, Baltimore, to succeed Dr. Richard Fuller. He remained in Baltimore some five years. His wonderful capacity for organization and his love for system here
had a fine field. The magnetism of a great man, the matchless orator Richard Fuller, so far the church's only pastor, had been the unifying power. When Mr. Kerfoot left the church, it was like a complex, smoothly running piece of machinery. His intense energy led to a nervous collapse. The church seconded the advice of the physician that he take a trip to Europe, and the generosity of one member made it possible for his wife also to go. He returned from this vacation greatly
400
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
refreshed. On Wednesday, December 27, 1882, how- ever, he offered his resignation to accept the pastorate of the Strong Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York. During his years at Eutaw Place, 300 had been added to the church, about $80,000 raised, and colonies sent out to organize the Fuller Memorial and Immanuel Baptist churches.
While pastor of Strong Place he was called to pass through the deep waters of affliction. After a summer vacation at "Llewellyn" he had an attack which left him a cripple. The Hot Springs and then expensive and painful treatment failed to bring relief. After a long time restoration came. From Brooklyn he went to the professor's chair in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, where he was to do the best work of his life. Sorrow followed him here. A little daughter about thirteen years old, to whom he was most ardently attached, passed through a most trying illness and then died. In a sermon he said, alluding to this sorrow : "When she was between twelve and thirteen years of age I saw her dying daily for four or five months after the fatal shaft had struck her heart. And, oh, my God, no man and no woman who has not gone through it knows the agony and the anguish of giving up a child after it has thus wrought itself into the life and into the heart, and when the tendrils have gathered all about us, until they have become a very part of us."
Dr. Kerfoot gave some twelve years to the Seminary, first assisting Dr. Boyce as teacher and treasurer, and then being for ten years full professor of Systematic Theology; and for a part of this period having also the chair of Pastoral Duties and Church Government. To this last department he brought the varied experience as pastor, and "made a new era in the course of instruc- tion." In the financial side of his work he did effective
FRANKLIN HOWARD KERFOOT 401
service and helped Dr. Broadus to bring the endowment of the Seminary to the $400,000 mark. He holds "a secure place among the excellent teachers who have helped to form the theological thinking of a generation of our Southern Baptist preachers. Nor must the ever-kindly, fraternal, judicious personal relations to his pupils be forgotten." In the history of how the Seminary was put on a good financial basis, beside the names of Boyce and Broadus must stand that of Kerfoot.
From the Seminary Dr. Kerfoot passed to be Corre- sponding Secretary of the Home Mission Board (of the Southern Baptist Convention) in Atlanta. Here was a fine field for his great administrative powers. He saw in vision all Southern Baptists in line for the great work of the world's evangelization. He was setting out for the realization of this inspiring scheme, when, in the prime of his manhood, death came. On Saturday, June 22, 1901, in Atlanta, Ga., he passed away. He was buried in Shelbyville, Ky.
1
26
-
JOSEPH R. HARRISON.
Joseph R. Harrison was born in 1832, in Franklin County, Virginia. His parents were Irish Catholics. His early educational opportunities were not great. He attended as a youth Hale's Ford Academy, making money by selling books to go on with his studies. Dur- ing his vacations he seems to have worked as a colporteur, having been converted in a Presbyterian meeting. Later, through study of the Bible, he became a Baptist. In these two steps he met serious opposition from his father, yet, when his father had reached the age of seventy-three, he had the joy of baptizing him. After being licensed to preach, he was ordained at the session of the Blue Ridge Association in the summer of 1857; one of the presbytery was Rev. Daniel G. Taylor. His first work as a pastor was in his native county. On March 26, 1861, he was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Lunsford.
The larger part of Mr. Harrison's pastoral work was in the Valley Association and Southwest Virginia. He was pastor of Enon Church, Hollins, Va., from Novem- ber 12, 1865, to July, 1874. During these years he had the fellowship and friendship of Dr. C. L. Cocke, the President of Hollins Institute, and the stimulus of this
seat of learning. Mr. Harrison felt the press of want in the years just after the War, and he never forgot the marriage fee he received from Mr. D. B. Strouse, as it was the first money he saw after the War. Upon leav- ing the Enon-Buchanan field he gave himself wholly to evangelistic work for some years, but finally became pastor at Glade Spring as missionary of the State
402
403
JOSEPH R. HARRISON
Mission Board. When he went to Glade Spring there were only five Baptists in the place. Some years later he became pastor at Radford and then for about a year he was in charge of a church at St. Joseph, Missouri. Upon his return to Virginia he accepted a call to the Fulton Church, Richmond, and then was pastor of Immanuel Church, Richmond. As his life was nearing its close, he became pastor at Stuart, Va., his spirit being stirred as he saw what he thought ought to be done and what could be done at this place, his heart leaping at the prospect of being again among the foothills of the Blue Ridge.
Rev. J. E. Hutson, who has given his life to evangelistic work, writes thus of his brother evangelist: "Harrison is one of the most earnest men I ever heard speak. His sermons are intensely biblical. He sticks to a text like a bee to a flower. He interprets Scripture by the Scriptures. He doesn't shake the Bible at the people and rave over Huxley and Darwin. In other words, he doesn't act the fable of the ass parading in the lion's skin. There is no pandering to those who have 'itching ears.' He is a living demonstration of the fact that the gospel faithfully and earnestly preached (and the gospel can not be faithfully preached without earnest- ness) is the most interesting thing in the world. Harri- son is a man of God. He has laid his all upon the altar." After the close of a great meeting at the Pine St. Baptist Church, Richmond, in which Mr. Harrison helped the pastor, Rev. Dr. J. B. Hutson, the Religious Herald said : " J. R. Harrison is a most striking and power- ful preacher. Like Elijah, the word of God is as a fire in his bones, and it sets everything on fire around him. He preaches from his heart rather than his head, and yet his sermons are remarkably thoughtful and sug- gestive. His reasoning is so simple that the little children
404
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
listen almost as attentively as their parents. We noticed with particular pleasure that Bro. Harrison has no 'pretty sayings'-no straining after rhetorical embellishments. He does indeed say some sparkling things, but they drop from his lips as naturally as the dewdrops fall from the leaves when the wind blows. In the main his preaching is charmingly simple and almost ruggedly plain, and it is always fervidly earnest." At the close of a great meeting in Meridian, Mississippi, the News, a daily paper, said : Rev. Mr. Harrison's methods certainly captured our people of all classes. No pulpit jest or slang, or attempts at wit. No vituperation or abuse of men and measures, no politics, but simply 'the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, what does it say?' he would ask, and with great earnestness, he would persuade men to turn to God." Upon the occasion of a great meeting at the Clay Street Baptist Church, Richmond, when some 250 persons made profession of faith in Christ, Rev. Dr. A. E. Dickinson said: "Mr. Harrison was known for years as the children's preacher, because of the multitudes of little ones that crowded out to hear him, even when his sermons were not intended specially for them. As might be expected persons brought into the church under such preaching are apt to stick. The good influences of his meetings are not like the early dew, to disappear with the rising sun. His converts wear well."
Mr. Harrison held meetings all over Virginia, and in Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. It is estimated that 30,000 persons (and some put the figures at 40,000) made pro- fession of faith in meetings he held. He was not con- cerned about the money that a series of meetings might put into his pocket. During the meeting in Meridian, already alluded to, he said one night publicly that there was not money enough in Meridian to buy one sermon
405
JOSEPH R. HARRISON
from him, and that if a church were to invite him to hold a protracted meeting and accompany the invitation with a promise to pay him he would promptly decline it. "In all his evangelistic work he was a loyal supporter of the pastor in charge, and many of his meetings resulted in the strengthening of existing ties, the liquidation of church debts, and other outward tokens of prosperity." Not a few of those converted in his meetings became preachers. During the course of his ministry he was instrumental in building some twenty houses of worship.
The following quotation from one of his discourses in a protracted meeting gives insight into his character : "I am not here to abuse people or to say sharp, cutting things or to make you laugh. That is not my way. I pray God I may never utter a remark about any man or any class of men that is not a kind and considerate remark. You will never hear me abuse the drunkard or the rum seller, or the covetous professor of religion. I can weep over them and plead with my God to give them a new heart and a new life, but I have no unkind work to utter about them or about anybody else. The only person that I complain of every day is myself. As long as I have this wicked heart beating in my breast, so long will I feel tenderly towards my erring fellow- men. If you wish to hear people abused you will make a mistake to come here."
While at Glade Spring he established an institution of learning for young women, but not without a long struggle. When he began this movement for a school at Glade Spring there were numerous institutions of learning in Virginia for young women. He undertook to provide a place where luxuries should be disregarded, substantials provided, and the cost made as low as was consistent with good work. To accomplish this he made appeals for financial help, and used the purses presented
406
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
to him at the end of protracted meetings. At one time, when he was aiming to raise $3,000 for his school, he wrote to the Herald that he would be willing to walk 3,000 miles, if, by so doing, he could see the persons who would give him the desired $3,000. The school esta- lished at Glade Spring, after a few years, was moved to Bristol. Mr. Harrison now became the financial agent of the school, and his work resulted in the erection of handsome buildings, Mr. Harrison's son-in-law, Mr. S. D. Jones, having become the head of the institution. The years come and go, and that which was in Mr. Harrison's day known as the Southwest Virginia In- stitute, is now the Virginia Intermont College. A society in this school has as its name "The Harrisonian Literary Society." Before leaving Glade Spring, Mr. Harrison also established there a flourishing academy for boys.
Mr. Harrison was attractive in his own home and given to hospitality. While this home may not have had many of the luxuries which are so common to-day, yet it was "brilliant with the love and peace that last for- ever." There was always room under this roof for one more ; guests were constantly there, and not infrequently the children had to sleep on pallets. The door stood open and a warm welcome was inside to all. His wife, during his many absences in protracted meetings, had on her shoulders the responsibility of the whole household. This responsibility she accepted cheerfully, and when he would be away for weeks together, she lived with her Bible and was much of her time on her knees. The almost daily letter from her husband was full of "love for her and the cause of his Master, upon whose errand he was." There were four children, two boys and two girls; the boys, James Kent and Charles Tompkins, died at Glade Spring; the girls, Bettie and Loula, mar- ried S. D. and Boldin H. Jones. Mrs. Harrison died
407
JOSEPH R. HARRISON
August 19, 1890, in the fifty-ninth year of her age; her funeral being conducted by Dr. Kincannon, assisted by Rev. D. A. Glenn, Prof. H. H. Harris, and others. One who knew Mr. Harrison well speaks of his love for all loving creatures, and says: "He would give his very best efforts and last penny to one in trouble or need. Many times he was imposed on, but he always felt he would rather be deceived than to turn away one who might be worthy. His happy, loving, bright nature, and simple, implicit faith in God was an inspiration to all who knew him. So faithful to every duty, and unselfish to such a degree that his own physical, mental, and financial conditions many times suffered! He would go miles and put himself out to any extent to help a minister of God. He loved the whole world, but his very soul rejoiced in his love for the ministers and little children."
Mr. Harrison's second wife was Miss Anna Captaine, of Richmond, who survived him. He died at Stuart, Virginia, June 24, 1901, and his ashes rest in "Holly- wood."
THOMAS WILLIAM DOOLEY
The life of Thomas William Dooley covered the period from February, 1831, to August, 1901. Bedford was his birthplace, and much of his life and work seem to have been in this county. He was a student in Franklin County, at the classical school of Prof. Wm. S. Duncan, and one of his fellow-students was J. R. Harrison, and later these two men were companions in the vineyard of the Lord. Year after year the name of Brother Dooley is found in the list of ministers in the Minutes of the General Association, with either Salem or Liberty as this post-office, but there is little else in these records about him. In 1868, he was pastor of Mountain View Church, Strawberry Association, but while the obituary in the General Association Minutes says that he was pastor of "several churches in Bedford County for a period of years" they do not give his name as a pastor save at Mountain View. "He did much evangel- ical work. He possessed a good, strong, native intellect and ardent emotions. He labored with zeal and self-denial and turned many unto Christ. After a lingering illness he died August 11th."
408
J. E. RAYMOND
During the session of the General Association, at Grace Street, in November, 1901, the news was received of the death of Rev. J. E. Raymond. A Virginian by birth, twelve years of his ministry were spent in New York City, where he labored as a missionary pastor. In Virginia he had two brief pastorates. First he was in Clarke County, and then in the Potomac Association, at Marshall, Pleasant Vale, Broad Run, and Flint Mill churches. He was a son of Rev. Charles Raymond, of Mathews County, his brother being Rev. Frank Ray- mond. He graduated at Crozer in the class of 1880. After an illness of two weeks, on November 12th, at the age of about forty-five, he passed away. Bodily weak- ness was a clog to him all his life, but a strong will enabled him to do much for the glory of God in his brief career. "He was a preacher of scholarly attain- ments, and with much eloquence and spiritual power he presented the simple truths of the gospel." He left a wife and several young children. These few facts are from the obituary in the Minutes of the General Asso- ciation.
409
GABRIEL GRAY
Gabriel Gray's parents were Presbyterians, and his family one of "intensely pædobaptistic notions." He was born November 19, 1830, in Culpeper County, Vir- ginia, and educated at the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington. At Union, W. Va., where he taught school for a season, he met and married, in 1853, Miss Ellen Beirne McDaniel. After his life in West Virginia, he moved to Alabama, and became superintendent of the Greenville Military Academy. When the War broke out he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fourth Alabama Regiment and came to the battlefields of Virginia. Dur- ing the last years of the War he served as chaplain. After the War he lived in Pulaski County, Virginia, where he taught and preached.
As a preacher and pastor he served the Fincastle, Mill Creek, and Zion's Hill churches, being pastor of Mill Creek at two different periods. It appears from the minutes of the Mill Creek Church that he was called to be their pastor in February, 1868, and that he served them until 1876, his salary, for half of his time, being first $200 and then $250. During his second pastorate here his salary for one-fourth of his time was $136. He was "by nature a fine public speaker," having "readiness, energy, and magnetism." While not a student he was a man of "immense convictions," his views on all theo- logical questions having been thoroughly formed. He was successful in protracted meeting work, and was also able as a debater. It was to his taste to fight the brother that maintained the opposite side, and in Ministers' and Laymen's Meetings, where theological questions were decidedly in evidence, he was a son of thunder. He
410
1
411
GABRIEL GRAY
knew "the laws of debate and the rules of argumenta- tion" and "the fierce spirit of battle" was in his soul, yet he was thoroughly courteous and mindful of the rights and feelings of his brethren.
He seems always to have had the teacher instinct no less than that of the preacher. Upon the establishment of the public school system in Virginia he was made superintendent of schools for Botetourt County, a posi- tion which he held for ten years. He was most efficient in this work, having been regarded by some as the best county superintendent in the State in his day. In 1891, he moved to Clifton Forge, Va., carrying on there, until 1895, when death took from him his faithful wife, his work of preaching and teaching. His last years were spent in the home of Mr. B. Haden, his son-in-law, in Fincastle. For several years before his death, July 26, 1902, he was in feeble health, but his faith did not grow less. He was buried in the Godwin Cemetery, Fincastle. His three daughters all preceded him to the grave, the second daughter, Mollie, Mrs. B. Haden, having left two daughters and a son.
One who wrote of Mr. Gray, many years before his death, spoke of him as a "royally good fellow" and thus described him: "He is about fifty years of age, has a compact body, a heavy, greyish beard and has his study in the saddle. He can cross a mountain in the night, ride all day in the face of a cutting wind, talk till mid- night, or preach twice a day, and yet after all look as radiant as a young bridegroom."
CHARLES NELMS BETTS
In Northumberland County Charles Nelms Betts spent his life, this being the place of his birth and death. Not until his thirty-seventh year did he accept Christ as his Saviour, and he was in his forty-seventh year when his career as a pastor began. A sermon by Rev. W. H. Kirk, on the words: "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?" Heb. 2:3, preached October 25, 1874, in the Methodist church, Heathsville, led to his con- version in the quiet of his father's home. He united with Coan Church, and when his ministry began, this church, with Fairfield, was his charge. Here he fol- lowed, as pastor, his spiritual father. Before his minis- try closed he served Smithland, Fairport, Bethany, and Totuskey churches, Rappahannock Association. While he did not have the best opportunities for an education, and while he was not brilliant in speech, he was earnest and faithful to his Master until death. During his min- istry he married 235 couples and conducted 293 funerals. He was born March 15, 1837, and died June 7, 1902. An immense crowd attended his funeral. The obituary in the Minutes of the General Association, on which this sketch is based, was prepared by Giles F. Eubank.
412
R. E. GLEASON
For twenty years or more Rev. R. E. Gleason labored in the bounds of the Albemarle Association. This sec- tion was his birthplace and his lifelong home. For a season he was a colporteur. He served as pastor for longer or shorter periods, these churches: Mount Paran, Piney River, Mountain Cove, Rose Union, and Tye River. Rev. J. B. Turpin said of him: "He was never the victim of 'overweening ambition' and seemed per- fectly satisfied with 'the annals of a quiet neighborhood.' He provided well for his own household and was always frugal and industrious. He was always prompt and faithful in the discharge of his obligations." He died in July, 1902.
CHARLES REED MOSES
In August, 1890, at the Valley Association at Salem, a young man, who had had little education, made a speech which captivated his hearers. This young man, at the time a colporteur of the Sunday School and Bible Board, Charles Reed Moses, was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, June 8, 1870. His speech led to help that enabled him to go first to Alleghany Institute and then to Richmond College. The instruction and influence of such men, as H. H. Harris and Wm. D. Thomas, quickly told in uplift for him. He worked his way through at College, appreciating books, and even more, men- service and self-help were key words in his life. During his pastorate of five years at Zoar Church, Middlesex
413
414
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
County, he founded Delta Academy, which speedily lifted the whole community to a higher intellectual level. During the summer of 1897 he visited England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, on which journey he showed great zeal in learning all that each country could teach him. Upon his return home he wrote various articles about the places that had especially appealed to him. In 1890 he became principal of Hawkins Institute at Rural Retreat, and a year later he accepted work in the Southwest Virginia Institute (now Intermont College), Bristol. In Bristol he soon had a large circle of friends who saw in him "a citizen of the highest character and a public servant of the most unselfish purposes." He died in the home of Rev. B. Cabell Hening, July 20, 1902, leaving his widow, who was Miss Ann R. Jackson of Middlesex County, Vir- ginia. The foregoing facts and the words which follow are from the obituary prepared for the General Associa- tion Minutes by Dr. S. C. Mitchell: "His delight in growth, his concern for the large interests of the denomination, his subtle sympathy with all classes of people, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, righteous and sinful, his unflagging friendship, his resolution to be and to do with all his might, his absolute unselfishness in all these varying relations-these are the elements in his character and work that have become the permanent possession of the brotherhood."
J. T. MCLAUGHLIN
Rev. T. H. Athey, who was for a season his pastor at the College Hill Church, Lynchburg, gives in an obituary in the General Association Minutes the facts that follow as to the life of Rev. J. T. Mclaughlin. His father represented his county in the Legislature for a number of years; his mother died a few days after his birth, which took place at Lewisburg, Greenbrier County (now West Virginia), July 28, 1813. He be- came the care of his uncle, James W. Matthews of Rock- bridge County. At sixteen he entered Washington College (now Washington and Lee University). After two sessions he returned to the farm of his foster parents. In 1839 he entered the Virginia Baptist Seminary (now Richmond College), having decided to enter the ministry. His three years at the College injured his health. While teaching school and recuperating at the home of his sister, Mrs." James Dryden, Lexington, he received a call to Hill's Creek Church, Campbell County. Along with this church he served churches in Pittsylvania, Charlotte and Halifax. On September 11, 1844, he married Miss Ann B. Miller, eldest daughter of Samuel T. Miller. Of this union there were seven children. Along with the work of the pastorate, he superintended his farm, and for most of the time taught school. In 1880 he moved to Lynchburg. After his declining health made it necessary for him to give up active work as a pastor, he still took a deep interest in the College Hill Church, being present regularly as long as he was able. His courtesy and high sense of honor were marked traits of his character. Some months before his death a severe fall caused the fracture of his hip. After this period of suffering, during which not a murmur escaped his lips, he died on October 7, 1902.
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.