USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 10
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 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
Father Dix, as he was lovingly called in those days of battle and struggle for the truth, had two children, a son, who walked in his father's footsteps and became a minister of the gospel, useful and blessed in his day; a daughter, named Amory, who married Mr. James Mil- bourne, of Somerset County, Maryland. Lodowic Ralph Milbourne, the child of this marriage, was born January 18, 1855. Amory Milbourne, in her devout Christian character and beautiful life, had the mantle of her father to fall on her. At her child's birth she consecrated him to Christ and prayed that he might become a preacher of the gospel like his grandfather and his uncle. Mrs. Milbourne died when her child was very young. The old colored woman, who was Mr. Milbourne's house- keeper for a long time after his wife's death, loved God
*Save for slight omissions this is as it was written by Dr. F. R. Boston.
149
150
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
and often spoke to the little boy about his sainted mother and her prayers for him that he might become a preacher of Christ.
Dr. O. F. Flippo was pastor of the Rehoboth Baptist Church which the family attended. He says, knowing the lad well through these years, he never knew anything of him but what was pure and good. One who had been very intimate with him writes: "I have often marveled at the flowering of such a character and life, but I sup- pose heredity was strong and God meant that the traits of the Elder Levin Dix and the pure piety of his daughter, Amory, should reappear to bless another generation in Lodowic Ralph Milbourne."
During the year of 1873, while Rev. L. D. Paulding was pastor of the Rehoboth Baptist Church, Rev. James Nelson, D. D., now President of the Woman's College of Richmond, helped in a meeting of days. Among the converts of that meeting was young Milbourne. From the very beginning of his Christian life he consecrated himself to the work of the church. He was soon made superintendent of the Sunday school. In this capacity, and in many other ways, he served his church faithfully until he went to the Crozer Theological Seminary to pre- pare himself for the gospel ministry. This was in 1878. He was graduated in 1881.
I was the pastor of the Baptist Church in Hampton, and on my recommendation the State Mission Board called Brother Milbourne to take charge of the work in Newport News. Last summer I visited the First Baptist Church, of Newport News. As I looked over that splen- did building I went back in memory to the past, the coming of Milbourne and his young wife. The little red building in which he commenced to preach was a union chapel for all denominations. His ordination was at the old Denbeigh Church, Warwick County, July 14, 1881, Dr. R. W. Cridlin, then of Portsmouth, taking part, and I delivering the charge to the candidate; then came
151
LODOWIC RALPH MILBOURNE
the organization of this First Baptist Church, and then the crushing sorrow in the death of his young wife. As I looked at this great church and its grand work for God, and the other Baptist churches of the city growing and prosperous, I said to myself : "All this mighty work was started by my friend and brother, L. R. Milbourne. Does not this illustrate that great saying of the Apostle John, 'And their works do follow them'?"
It was in 1884 that the Luray Baptist Church called him to be their pastor. This they did without seeing and hearing him. He entered upon his labors with them in April and continued until September, 1889. During this time he was pastor of the young church at Marksville, now Stanley, near Luray, and he also organized the church at Rileyville, besides doing a great deal of State Mission work in the country around. These two young churches were especially dear to him. He frequently revisited them and held meetings, and was largely instru- mental in bringing about a change of location which was of vital importance to Stanley. Brother Milbourne was greatly blessed in his pastorate at Luray. His ministry was marked by the erection of practically a new church building and still more by the greatest revival ever known in that region, when about one hundred were added to his church and the whole country was visited by a great religious awakening. It is said that in all Page County there is no name more sincerely loved than his, and it is fitting that his last earthly resting place should be there in the land he loved.
While pastor at Luray he married Miss Virginia A. Strickler, a highly educated and cultured lady, who made him a noble and faithful wife, and built again a home for him, which had been broken by death, at Newport News. Five sons were the fruit of this happy marriage. At the time of this writing Mrs. Milbourne is a teacher in the Charles Town Graded and High School. The
152
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
sons are: Ralph Maclaren Milbourne, Lodowic James Milbourne, Harvey Lee Milbourne, Drummond Fairfax Milbourne, and Roger Williams Milbourne.
In 1889 he became pastor at Rockville and Barnesville, Md., and later of Upper Seneca Church. He finally became pastor of Rockville alone. But he was always a State missionary, and very soon some of his labors resulted in the formation of Travilah Baptist Church, 1894. He erected a building for this church, also for Derwood mission, a point near Rockville, where he sus- tained preaching, prayer-meeting, and Sunday-school services. Here, as everywhere, his ministry was crowded with labors. Among those whom he baptized at Rock- ville was Miss Elizabeth Haney, now a missionary in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Here, too, he greatly endeared himself to his churches and many friends. In December, 1897, he became pastor at Charles Town, W. Va. His pastorate here was marked by solid success, steady growth of membership, and perfect organization. The finances are no longer a problem. The missionary con- tributions increased from less than one hundred dollars a year to a reliable average of over three hundred dollars. He engineered the War claim to a successful issue. A new pipe organ has been put in, and the interior of the church and Sunday-school room has been remod- eled. His church showed their high appreciation of his service by their loving and faithful devotion to him in his long sickness and finally at his death, which took place February 8, 1906.
Brother Milbourne was closely identified with the work of the Shenandoah Association. He was clerk for four years, then president for two. His influence widened steadily, and many avenues of interest were quickened by the throb of his earnest and vigorous per- sonality. It seemed that his life grew ever more strenu- ous; so far from shrinking, he invited new duties and
153
LODOWIC RALPH MILBOURNE
labors. When nature gave the signal of distress and friends and physicians urged rest, still the eager spirit urged him on as if with resistless inner force. Of his whole life and character the dominant notes were joy, hope, and love. The joy of the Lord was indeed his strength. He was an optimist under all circumstances. He lavished love, not only on his nearest, but also upon a large number of friends, whom he delighted to serve, and upon the whole Christian brotherhood. The key- note of his ministry was faithfulness. One friend speaks of his purity, another of his sincerity, one paper of the clearness and force of his convictions. All speak of his geniality.
His intellectual traits are not overlooked in dwelling upon his moral and social qualities. Dr. Hopkins, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Charles Town, paid a public tribute to his ability as a thinker, declaring that "his clear grasp of theological truth gave force, point, and power to his preaching." His mind acted with great quickness and precision. Brother Milbourne longed for symmetrical development, and wished his words to be just the expression of his manhood and to carry just the force of his everyday personality. Elo- quence as such he did not strive for. It was in dealing with men and in bringing things to pass that his strength was most apparent. He had great development in public usefulness in these last years. He was modest and unselfish. He carried out the injunction, "in honor preferring one another." In consequence of all these traits he was signally rich in friends. Every field that he served was full of them, and Charles Town, which knew him last, and perhaps best of all, honored him to a man. The loyal devotion of his church is a striking tribute. A monument will soon stand over his grave, and upon it will be inscribed just this: "A minister of Christ, faithful and well beloved."
Warrenton, Va.
F. R. Boston.
WADE BICKERS BROWN 1871-1906
In Culpeper County, Virginia, Rev. Wade Bickers Brown was born April 28, 1871, his parents being James R. Brown and Sarah Elizabeth Bickers. "As a boy he was quiet, studious, and prompt in the performance of every duty," and at the age of fifteen was baptized into the fellowship of Bethel Church, Culpeper County, by Rev. T. F. Grimsley. After his public-school days he was a student, first at Richmond College and then, much later, at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville. While at the former institution he gave his vacations to colporteur work in the Shenandoah Associa- tion, preaching as occasion offered. In 1892 he was called to a field in the Middle District, the churches being Matoaca and Gill's Grove. Later he was pastor of Woodlawn (Middle District Association) and Ettrick (Portsmouth Association). After some years in these fields and two as pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Newport News, he spent two years in study at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville. During his vacations he did supply work in North and South Dakota, and, being impressed with the need there was in the Northwest of Protestant ministers, decided to give his life to that section of our country. In accord with this resolve he was first pastor at Bangor, Wis., where he did a lasting work. His next pastorate was at Hamilton, N. Dak. Subsequently he had charge of the Central Baptist Church, Green Bay, Wis., and it was while he was here that he was married, on July 24, 1901, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Bruce, daughter of the
154
155
WADE BICKERS BROWN
late Rev. Silas Bruce, of Culpeper County, Virginia. "The work in the Northwest is slow and discouraging. At that time there were not more than 20,000 Baptists in Wisconsin. There is an unceasing unrest and moving, so that churches are continually going out of existence. These difficulties helped to strengthen and develop him. He was a hard student, and his sermons improved with each year." Perhaps the climate was too severe for him; at any rate his health failed and he was obliged to seek a place where the weather was less rigor- ous and where he could be much out of doors. He accepted, in December, 1904, a call to a field in the Lebanon Association, in Southwest Virginia, made up of the following churches: Chilhowie, Riverside, Glade Spring, and Friendship. It was, however, too late to save his life, and after a year he passed away, his death taking place on February 28, 1906, at his father's home in Culpeper County. His wife and one child, Margaret Bruce Brown, survived him. The funeral service was conducted by his old pastor, Rev. T. F. Grimsley. Mr. M. M. Morriss, of Glade Spring, wrote as follows about Mr. Brown: His brief life was crowded with unselfish work; his convictions, as to the value of time, sent him forward to his self-imposed tasks with an impetuosity unexampled in the observations of this writer. The success of his ministry in this Association is a demonstration of the wisdom of his methods and the sincerity of his purpose."
AUSTIN EVERETT OWEN 1837-1906
Austin Everett Owen came of Welsh and French stock. These elements were splendidly blended, and manifested themselves in a personality striking and strong. The Welsh are the folk who have never been subdued. They retreated to the high hills and have remained unconquered, rugged, independent, and staunch. The French are suave and quick-passioned and lovers of art. Dr. Owen's mother was of French Huguenot stock that came to Virginia in 1685. His father was of the Welsh strain that had come to Powhatan County even sooner. Dr. Owen had the original ruggedness of his father's family and all of the refined culture of the French strain. He was at once strong yet gentle, fiery yet tender, daring yet shrinking, severe yet lenient, jagged yet smooth, a flaming, burning, consuming evangel of the gospel, while at the same time he was a wooing singer of the old, old love story of the cross. These elements were so commingled in him that men were pleased to call him God's Christian gentleman.
He was born on a farm in Powhatan County, Septem- ber 27, 1837. He lived the life of a poor country lad, with little opportunity for learning except as he touched the country schoolmaster and the houses of cultured gentlemen. He was converted at nineteen, of which event he himself says: "I was fixed in the opinion that I would soon sink into hell, but I said I would serve the Lord because it was right. Then in the western heavens I saw a black cloud; soon it was torn in two; a white shaft ran down its bosom, as sometimes we see a streak
156
157
AUSTIN EVERETT OWEN
of lightning split the storm cloud. The two clouds looked like black mantles fringed with white balls; then a hand, beautiful in its whiteness, separated the edges and a face as white as the light came through the open- ing. That vision filled me with rapture, and I broke into laughter. That surpassingly glorious face of the Saviour of men remained but a few seconds, but I saw it; it thrilled me with rapture, it filled me with delight.
Changes have come to me. I have stood before the public forty-seven years telling 'the story of Jesus and his love.' I have lived in the smiles of friends and have borne the frowns of foes, but that face is as distinctly before me now as when I first beheld it."
He went to Richmond and became a house painter. He was a member of the Leigh Street Baptist Church. He showed to his brethren such marked gifts that they suggested that he enter Richmond College as a minis- terial student and a beneficiary of the Education Board of Virginia. There came upon him the overwhelming conviction that he ought to preach, and he entered college the next year. More than once he referred to his first appearance on the campus of the college. With his sınall trunk in his hands he struggled up the long walk amid the derisive jeers of the better-to-do students. Cha- grined and outraged and keenly hurt by their taunts, the young man of scarce twenty years set his heart upon the high honors of the college, and twenty years after this first awkward entrance he was elected one of its trustees, and remained in this relationship to Richmond College until his death. Dr. Owen was a student of the college from 1857 until 1861, at the breaking out of the War. As he left the college building, among the last to leave the dormitory, already the dormitories were occupied by the Lynchburg Artillery. During the summer months of these college days he led the life of a colporteur for
158
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
the distribution of tracts and Baptist literature. He tells of his treatment in the city of Petersburg: Once denounced from the pulpit of a prominent Methodist pastor, once driven out of the house of a gentleman for selling tracts on Baptist doctrines, and once, having been informed against for questionable conduct, he shows that the sole basis of all of this vilification was but an earnest and tireless and most successful prosecution of the work which he had been sent to do by the Board for the distribution of tracts for the Baptists of Virginia. During these colportage days he formed the lifelong companionship of the brilliant C. T. Bailey, of the Biblical Recorder of North Carolina.
At the close of the college Dr. Owen was called to Reedy Creek Church in Brunswick County and Malone's Church in Mecklenburg; afterwards to Wilson's or Cut- Banks Church in Dinwiddie, and to Fountain's Creek in Greensville. These churches were widely separated, and it was necessary to ride from one to the other on horse- back. He left his field for Richmond to be ordained by the Leigh Street Church. J. B. Solomon, Robert Ryland, J. B. Jeter, J. L. Burrows, and Wm. E. Hatcher com- posed the presbytery that ordained him to the ministry in November, 1861. He was married to Miss Henrietta Hall, of Brunswick County, in December, 1866. From this union there were born ten children. The children now living are: Richard Clement Owen, Mrs. M. P. Claud, Mrs. John Freeman, Mrs. J. E. Button, Mrs. W. R. Moore, and William Russell Owen. For ten years, in fertile and wealthy Brunswick and contiguous counties, Dr. Owen spent the life of a busy and success- ful country pastor, serving at various times, in addition to the four churches already named above, Hebron, New- ville, Hicksford, and High Hills. In these ten years new houses of worship were built, the churches he served
159
AUSTIN EVERETT OWEN
were greatly strengthened, and the fame of Mr. Owen spread to other parts of Virginia, so that in 1871 the Court Street Baptist Church of Portsmouth, even then one of the strong churches of the State, called him unani- mously to the pastorate.
It was in this pastorate of twenty-seven years that Dr. Owen came before the Baptists of Virginia as one of the prominent leaders. When, as a young man of thirty-four, Dr. Owen assumed the pastorate of Court Street Church, his was the only Baptist Church in Ports- mouth, and there were but three hundred Baptists. When he left the pastorate of this church, in 1898, there were five churches and about 2,000 Baptists in the city. During this pastorate many honors came to him. He was elected to the Presidency of the General Association of Virginia two terms, one term Vice-President of the Southern Baptist Convention; Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Baylor University ; he was made Grand Chaplain of Virginia Odd Fellows; was elected Trustee to Richmond College and Virginia Institute, and for sixteen years was Vice-President of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention for Virginia. On resigning Court Street Church, in 1898, he accepted the Presidency of Ryland Institute for Young Ladies, at the same time holding the pastorate of the Grace Baptist Church of Norfolk. After three years he was called back to Portsmouth to the South Street Church, which was established while he was pastor of the mother church. £ He became Editor of the Gospel Worker about this time. In a few years the Portsmouth Association called him to be its General Evangelist, a compliment of surpassing beauty, and while in this office, the beloved Bishop, the honored Nestor, the recognized leader of Tidewater Baptists, he died in the strength of his powers.
160
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
Upon his death, which occurred May 4, 1906, a spon- taneous movement was begun in Portsmouth, the scene of his life's labors, to erect a monument by the entire people of the city. The movement sprang out of a Methodist church, and the city and his noble old church, the Court Street, built him a monument, an imposing shaft of granite, that marks his grave. His lifelong wish was gratified: "I was glad to go back to Ports- mouth," he wrote just before his death; "I had long lived among the people and loved them well. Some of my children were born in that city and two of them sleep in its cemetery, and all that is mortal of my frame will lie on the banks of the Elizabeth and be lulled to long repose by the music of its waves." He often expressed the con- viction that his clear voice, a good memory, a fine sense of humor, and God's using an ordinary country boy made him the successful preacher that he was.
Wm. Russell Owen.
THOMAS BENTON SHEPHERD
1836-1906
This sketch is little more than the obituary, in slightly different form, written by Dr. Julian Broaddus for the General Association Minutes. That section of Virginia, the Valley and northern Piedmont, that was his birth- place, was, in the main, the scene of the labors of Rev. Thomas Benton Shepherd. Before his death his name had come to be a household word throughout the . Shenandoah Valley. He first saw the light in Clarke County, December 23, 1836, his parents being Park Shepherd and Elizabeth Gaunt Shepherd. His father, a man of sterling character and large means, was for many years a consistent and interested member of the Berry- ville Baptist Church; his mother, who died when he was only four years old, dedicated him, in her last hours, to God's service. After this no other vocation ever seemed to have any attraction for him. In 1852 he was baptized by the Rev. H. W. Dodge and became a member of the Berryville Baptist Church. Before long he began to exercise his gifts as a public speaker, and in 1854 entered Columbian College. During his life at Columbian he was pastor of a colored church in Alexandria. From Wash- ington he went to Greenville, S. C., as a student of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, being one of the twenty-six men who formed the student body the first year of the Seminary's existence. Ten of these men were from Virginia, namely: J. Wm. Jones, C. H. Toy, C. H. Ryland, R. B. Boatwright, W. J. Shipman, H. E. Hatcher, W. C. Caspari, Jno. W. Harrow, J. D. Witt, and T. B. Shepherd. During the session of the Potomac
161
11
162
VIRGINIA BAPTIST MINISTERS
Association, in 1858, at Berryville, Mr. Shepherd was ordained, the presbytery being composed of these minis- ters: E. Kingsford, H. W. Dodge, W. F. Broaddus, Dr. Hayes, and the Herndons. At the same time Samuel Rodgers and Richard Mallory were ordained; the former, a young man of great promise, died early, and the latter drifted from one denomination to another, and, if still alive, is somewhere in the North. For something like half a century Mr. Shepherd gave himself to the ministry of the word. About seven or eight years of this period were spent in a pastorate at Smithfield, Va., the churches served during the remainder of the time being Berryville, Ketocton, Bethel, Rockland, Charles Town, Marshall, Millwood, Waterford, Pleasant Vale, and Front Royal. Rockland he organized and served for more than twenty years. He passed to his reward June 18, 1906.
"As a preacher he was clear, strong, persuasive, and pathetic. The gospel fell from his lips with no uncertain sound. He was orthodox from center to circumference, and loved to preach the gospel as did his fathers. He had a poetical turn of mind, and often charmed his hearers by the beautiful language in which he clothed his thoughts. Like the great apostle, he gloried in the cross of Christ and the great love of God in the unspeakable gift of his son, the dear Saviour, and, in telling the old, old story, he pleaded with such tenderness and pathos that many souls were won for Christ under his ministry. In private life he was dignified, courteous, and winning in manner; always a welcome guest in the homes of the lowly and poor, as well as among the cultured and refined. He was eminently a spiritually minded man, and, as the end approached, he seemed to have a vision similar to that of Stephen, and the light of it lingered on his face until he quietly and peacefully fell asleep."
JAMES HESS 1825-1906
The New Lebanon Association was the field of labor in which Rev. James Hess spent his ministry. Here he served, at one time or another, and for periods of differ- ent length, these churches: Philadelphia, Russell's Fork, Thompson's Creek, Oak Grove, Copper Ridge. The span of his life was from May 3, 1825, to August 4, 1906. For forty years he was a professed follower of Christ, and for thirty-five years he preached the story of redeem- ing love. His membership was with the Oak Grove Church. He was in the habit of attending the New Lebanon Association, but he does not seem to have attended the General Association.
163
BENJAMIN CARTER JAMES 1861-1906
That disease which works such havoc in the ranks of men, typhoid fever, and which has seemed to be especi- ally fatal in our mountain sections, laid low the stalwart form of Rev. Benjamin Carter James, when, in his forty- fifth year, he seemed at the very zenith of his power and usefulness. The mystery of such a death makes the more evident the Christian's blessedness in having knowledge of God's merciful care of all things. Death ended a pastorate at Keystone and Graham which, though only about a year and a half in length, was rich in blessed fruit, and, in the opinion of many, the finest service of this preacher's life. Soon after he reached this field, ground had been broken for a new meeting-house, and on the second Sunday of April, 1906, the new Keystone Church, "in all its furnishings easily the most complete and attractive house of worship in the Elkhorn Valley," was dedicated, the whole debt being provided for before the services of the day were over. A parsonage, to be finished before the end of the year, was next planned. The great mineral and lumber resources of this section, and the multitudes gathered for work in these mountains, appealed strongly to this energetic preacher. He had given up a successful business career, while living for a season in Texas, to enter the ministry, and doubtless his mercantile aptitudes were a help to him as he came into touch with all sorts and conditions of men in the West Virginia mountains.
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.