USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 20
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To within a few years of the end of his life Dr. Taylor had the blessing of vigorous physical health; his com- plexion was florid, his figure inclining towards corpu- lence, yet withal he was alert in his movements. He loved work, and was ever busy. While fond of books, he loved human fellowship and the companionship of friends, his loved ones, and his brethren. For all the work and trials through which he passed he was blessed with a saving sense of humor. One of the biographers of Milton says that he was lacking in humor; this is the more remarkable as it is usually one of the factors in the make-up of great men. How much strain and stress the great poet would have been saved, living, as he did, in trying days, if he had had the sense of humor! Many illustrations might be given of Dr. Taylor's humor and of his enjoyment of a joke or good story. He had, to a considerable degree, the power of mimicry and the instinct of an actor, which gifts often gave his loved ones half-hours of real relaxation and innocent amuse- ment. He was genial and companionable, knowing how to see the best in people and how to make that which was good in them better. He was fond of singing, and often in the morning his voice rang out in some hymn of devotion and praise. When he led family worship in his own home or elsewhere he was apt to start a hymn
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which was so familiar that all could share in its strains. He was widely read in a kind of religious literature that does not seem to have much popularity to-day-the books of devotion and biography that were highly esteemed some generations ago. And books that he had read seemed ever ready to his hand for use. He had quite a collection of newspaper clippings which gave interesting facts about men and manners of other days. He had the historian's instinct. As a preacher he was earnest, direct, appealing to the conscience. His hearers, whether they were learned or ignorant, were apt to go away from the church wanting and planning to lead better lives. His sermons were usually short, and he was happy in his use of illustrations. Doubtless he inherited some of his father's gifts as a pastor; certainly the people of his several churches loved him tenderly and felt, for years after his service with them ended, the uplift of his cheer- ful spirit and genuine piety. As a Baptist he had clear convictions, but was at the same time ready to find in other denominations his brethren in Christ and a high degree of devotion and consecration. He loved the meetings of the denomination, and was often seen and heard in the district and State gatherings, nor did he neglect the sessions of the Southern Baptist Convention. His contributions to the Religious Herald and other such papers were usually brief comments on men or questions of the day or excerpta from his scrapbook or from books that he had read and read again. From the movement of an active life he passed into the years of his physical decline, preserving his sunny spirit, his faith in God, and his interest in his fellow-men. Of him it was true that at eventime it was light. His children who survive him are Dr. Boyce Taylor, Dr. H. M. Taylor, Mrs. W. R. Whitman, and Mrs. W. J. Armstrong.
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GEORGE HOLMAN SNEAD
1833-1911
In the Virginia Baptist ministry there have been not a few men of ability who left the medical profession to become preachers of the gospel. The story that follows is the story of one who for many years accomplished successfully the work of physician and preacher. The community and church where this career was run are remarkable. Fluvanna County, while not one of the richest agricultural sections of Virginia, abounds in homes where people live in comfort and love to entertain their friends. In this county "The Fork" neighborhood, which takes its name from the Fork Union Church, has enjoyed, in a high degree, this fame for hospitality, and has been known as the home of an excellent and very large family, the Sneads. The chief church of this com- munity, Fork Union, as the name suggests, was origi- nally the meeting-place of various denominations. The meeting-house, and one of these denominations, the Bap- tists, have grown, through the years, until now every Sunday, and not just once a month, as was the early fashion, this people meet in this church for worship. The community is very largely a Baptist community. The enlargement and improvement of the meeting-house, having been paid for by this denomination, nothing but a friendly process of law was needed to give them legal right to the property. With no small part of this growth George Holman Snead was associated. He was born in the adjoining county of Goochland, at "Bouling Hall," the home of his parents, George Holman and Oranie Pollard Snead. Soon after his birth, which took place
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February 17, 1833, his parents moved to Fluvanna, which was for the rest of his life his home.
At the age of fourteen, in a meeting conducted by the famous evangelist, Reynolds, who afterwards lost his life in a shipwreck on the Atlantic Ocean, he made a profes- sion of religion. Of seven children, one sister and six sons, he was the first to accept Christ. The story of his mother's joy because of this event is handed down. The youth hastened home to tell his mother what he had done, and she, upon hearing the good news, broke forth in joyful thanksgiving to God. From the neighborhood schools he passed to Richmond College, where he re- mained, 1853-54. When he had selected medicine as his profession he became a student at the University of Vir- ginia, taking his M. D. degree at the Commencement of 1855. Further preparation for his life work was secured in Philadelphia, where for several months he was con- nected with the Philadelphia dispensary. The year that marked the beginning of his professional work in Flu- vanna County he was married to Miss Virginia Clopton Perkins. Until 1877, dwelling in the midst of his own people, he followed successfully his chosen profession, being popular in a wide section of country. In these years, into his beautiful home, a farm on the banks of the Rivanna River, eight children, who were to add greatly to his happiness, were born. All through these two decades Dr. Snead was active as a Christian, being a member of Bethel Church, which was near his home, and taking such part in the work of the church as his brethren laid upon him. While his ambition to be the superintendent of the Fork Union Sunday School was never realized, he was for many years in charge of the Bethel Sunday School. A busy country physician, who is an efficient Sunday-school superintendent, must be a man of earnest Christian spirit.
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After long and grave reflection, when he had come to middle life, Dr. Snead decided to enter the ministry. His bearing as a citizen, his activity and earnestness as a Christian, and his intelligence and enthusiasm, so com- manded the confidence of the community that this decision at once received the approval of the Fork Union Church. They called for his ordination, that he might become their pastor. When the ordination had taken place, the services being held at Bethel, and the presby- tery consisting of Rev. C. R. Dickinson and Rev. W. A. Whitescarver, he commenced his pastorate, that was to last thirty-four years and to the end of his life. Fork Union and Bethel were his churches during this long period, and for a briefer period he had charge of the Antioch and Columbia Churches. While he was shepherd of the last-named body a $5,000 brick meeting-house was erected in the village of Columbia. Before Dr. Snead became pastor of the "Fork" there had been a split in the church which led to the establishment of a new organization in sight of the old church. Soon after his ordination he became pastor of both these organizations, and in the process of time was able, by his tact and wis- dom, to bring both bodies together again into one vigor- ous and harmonious flock. As the years passed, the "Fork" grew in numbers and in power. When Dr. Snead had registered twenty years of pastoral service on one field, the Religious Herald paid tribute to this long and faithful record by publishing his picture and by an editorial which told about his work, mentioning the fact that he had baptized some four hundred persons. While before he became a minister his power as a public speaker was not remarkable, he grew to be strong and impressive in the pulpit and on the platform. His mind was vigor- ous, and he knew how to think straight. He was a man of decided convictions, convictions that he never hesi-
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tated to announce. His presence was pleasing and com- manding, and until the closing years of his life he was blessed with physical health. He declared that in much of his work of visitation he was able to blend the service of physician and pastor, thus effecting a great economy of time. The severest winter weather never stopped him, and, indeed, he contended that there was no reason why a country pastor or doctor should ever suffer from the cold; it was only necessary to make proper provisions against the cold, provisions that were simple and within the reach of all. If any man was ever a prophet in his own country, Dr. Snead was that man; in the whole section in which he lived he was bound by blood or mar- riage to almost every one, and yet was a prophet with honor among his own people. This, for many reasons that will suggest themselves to the reader, is a remarkable record.
Dr. Snead was always interested in education. For a number of years, in order to secure the best instruction for his own daughters and at the same time for the daughters of his neighbors, he maintained in his home a girls' boarding-school. When, under the leadership of Dr. Wm. E. Hatcher, the Fork Union Academy was established, he was among its strongest supporters, one of the trustees, up to a few years before his death the resident physician, and the first to suggest the military feature. The students always had a warm place in his heart.
Notwithstanding the fact that for some fifteen years before his death he suffered, at times most severely, from grievous diseases, to the end he kept up his work. To within a few weeks of the end he was in his pulpit. He was a man of abounding energy, and his hope had always been that he might die in the harness. And so it was. Ten days before his death he was taken to St. Luke's
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Hospital, Richmond, for surgical treatment, but relief was not obtained, and on Saturday, July 1, 1911, he passed away. It is not strange that a great concourse of people gathered at Fork Union the following Monday for the funeral. The trustees of the Academy were a funeral escort, the deacons of the church, the honorary, and his nephews, the active, pall-bearers. Dr. Wm. E. Hatcher presided over the services; resolutions of respect from the Board of Trustees of the Academy were read by Rev. L. H. Walton, who also paid a loving tribute to the departed one; the chief address was delivered by Rev. Dr. Sparks W. Melton, and the closing one by Rev. Dr. George W. McDaniel. The body was laid to rest close to the church. On the last Sunday in July a memorial service was held at Bethel, where Dr. Snead had been pastor for thirty-three years, the main address on this occasion being delivered by Rev. L. H. Walton. His children who survive him are Mrs. Jos. T. Snead, Mrs. George M. Bashaw, Mr. Channing C. Snead, Mrs. C. Vernon Snyder, and Dr. Nash P. Snead.
FRANCIS RYLAND BOSTON 1847-1911
Francis Ryland Boston was born at Shelltown, Somer- set County, Maryland, December 29, 1847, his parents being Rev. Solomon Charles and Mary Ann Marshall Boston. The atmosphere and traditions of the home into which this only child came were distinctly devout and religious. Throughout life he carried with him the memory of his grandfather, who was careful to maintain family worship, and whose house was the preacher's home. As a boy, when his father called to him not to make so much noise, he knew that Sunday's sermon was in preparation, and when he himself became a preacher and a pastor consciously and unconsciously he found himself following his father's methods. When he had finished, in the town of Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland, his academic preparation, he entered Colum- bian College, Washington, D. C. His professors at Columbian were Clarke, Fristoe, Shute, Ruggles, Hunt- ington, and Samson, and among the students were James Nelson, J. Taylor Ellyson, and F. H. Kerfoot. His friendship with F. H. Kerfoot, begun in college, was strengthened at the Theological Seminary, where they graduated together. While his father was pastor at Lee Street Baptist Church, Baltimore, on April 15, 1869, Mrs. Boston died. This sad event, and the illness which went before it, caused the son to select Crozer Seminary, which was not far away, as the place to pursue his theo- logical studies. Here he graduated in 1872.
His first pastorate was at Hernando, Miss. In the month of August, of the same year that took him to
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Hernando, he married Miss Annie Lewis Schoolfield, the only child of Ira Chase Schoolfield, of Petersburg, Va. In 1875 he accepted a call to the church at Onancock, Accomac County, Virginia. From there, in 1878, he went to the pastorate of the church at Hampton, Va., where he remained seven years. He left Hampton to become the pastor of the Curtis Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga. He remained in Augusta only one year, leaving there to accept, in 1884, a call to Warrenton, Va. Now commenced what was to be his life work, a pastorate that, with one break, was to last some twenty-three years. On April 25, 1885, about six months after he went to Warrenton, his wife departed this life. In 1887 he was married to Miss Mary Armistead Spilman, the daughter of Mr. John A. Spilman, of Warrenton. In 1891 he accepted a call to the Central Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. After three years he returned to Warrenton, where he remained as pastor until his death, Wednesday, August 23, 1911. Two children of his first marriage, Mrs. E. S. Turner and Mrs. C. S. Boston, and two of the second marriage, Miss Florence and Mr. John Armis- tead Boston, with their mother, survive him.
Dr. Boston was a man of culture and refinement. He was genial and cordial in spirit, and decided in his con- victions. He was greatly beloved and esteemed by the Virginia Baptist brotherhood, being counted as one of their most trusted leaders. By pen and voice he was always ready to champion movements that made for the progress of the kingdom of God. In June, 1903, he had in his pulpit Rev. Dr. W. H. Whitsitt, who delivered before the Judson Missionary Society of the church an address on Luther Rice, and in September of the same year a Y. M. C. A. Convention, looking to the establish- ment of this kind of work in country districts, was held in Warrenton. Both of these events greatly interested
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Dr. Boston, and he wrote about them to the Religious Herald. He was painstaking and conscientious in what- ever he undertook. At Alexandria, some years ago, at a State District B. Y. P. U. meeting, he was to lead one of the sunrise prayer-meetings. Notwithstanding the fact that it was past midnight before he got to sleep, the next morning, at a very early hour, he was up making his final preparation for the service he was to conduct. Once in a prayer-meeting at the First Baptist Church, Richmond, he said, the subject being the duty and best method of reading the Bible, that he loved to take the Bible up and just read on and on and on. One of his brother pastors, who knew him very well, writes: "Oh, how gentle, how guileless, pure, consecrated, and faith- ful was he! He sought to please the Master, but, at the same time, he was so gentle and considerate of the people that even those who did not believe in Christ loved Christ's minister. In the way of patience, meekness, and gentleness, Boston was my despair." Warrenton, one of the cultured towns of Piedmont Virginia, where Dr. Boston spent the larger part of his ministry, will not soon cease to feel the blessed influence of his life and service.
His death was sudden and unexpected. After a sick- ness of several weeks and an illness of only a few days, an operation for appendicitis not having brought the hoped-for relief, he died at the Providence Hospital, Washington, D. C. His body was taken to Warrenton for burial.
FRERRE HOUSTON JONES 1836-1911
Although his birth and death took place in North Carolina, Frerre Houston Jones was pastor for a number of years in Virginia. His father, one of three brothers who came over from the old country, apparently after some wanderings, finally made a permanent settlement on the Yadkin River. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Jonathan and Hannah Jones, and he was born September 4, 1836. Here the boy, in whose veins ran Scotch-Irish blood, spent his youthful years. When he had completed his education he went, as a young man, to teach school in Tennessee. This work was interrupted by the death of his father, which called him home. The Civil War having broken out, he became a missionary of the Yadkin Association, among the soldiers in eastern North Carolina. Before this time he had been baptized by Rev. C. W. Bessant and ordained to the gospel ministry by a presbytery consisting of Rev. G. W. Brown and Rev. Isaac Davis. In the meetings which he con- ducted in camps near Kinston, Goldsboro, Washington, Edenton, and Tarboro, many soldiers were converted, not a few of them receiving baptism at his hands. At the close of the War he was appointed missionary of the Beulah Association, which included the counties of For- sythe, Stokes, Guilford, Rockingham, Caswell, Person, and a part of Granville. His efforts to establish mission points, that would grow into self-sustaining, strong churches, were highly successful. Prosperous churches to-day in Reidsville, Winston, and Greensboro, are monuments to his zeal and the blessing of God that
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crowned his labors. Because of his executive ability and his gifts as a financier, disciplinarian, and organizer, his work was so fruitful. He won for himself the title of "The Church Builder." Mr. Jones was of medium size and some five feet nine inches tall. His hair was brown and his eyes hazel. His mouth was well shaped, and his expression and manner gentle and pleasing.
In 1885 he became pastor of the Baptist Church at Chatham, Va. During his pastorate of twelve years in this attractive town the membership of his church grew from 80 to 144, and a new meeting-house, costing about $12,000, was built. His field, while he was in Chatham, embraced the two prosperous country churches, Mt. Hermon and Kentuck. During his service with them the Kentuck Church erected a commodious house of worship. Before his work in Virginia ended he had ministered also to these churches : Bannister, Marion, Sharon, Vandola, Union Hill, and Ringgold. His field in Virginia was in the Roanoke Association, of which body he was, for many years, moderator. In this general section he did much to develop the churches in benevolence and in the missionary spirit. Upon resigning at Chatham he moved to Reidsville, N. C. After a season given to recuperation he took up mission work in the Piedmont Association, and later became pastor of several country churches not far from Reidsville. He declined more than one position of prominence, glad to work on in an humble, quiet way. In the course of the years he was moderator of the Beulah and Piedmont Associations and an officer of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. He was a great friend of young ministers. In many instances they passed their vacations in his home, doing work, which he had secured for them, that enabled them to return to college in the autumn. He died at Reidsville, N. C., December 1, 1911. The funeral was conducted by these
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ministers: H. A. Brown, W. C. Tyree, J. B. Brewer, D. I. Craig, and W. F. Womble. His wife, to whom he was married on February 18, 1864, was Miss Emma Brown, of Person County, North Carolina, the daughter of Green W. Brown and Elizabeth Coleman, of Virginia. The children of this union who grew up are William Houston Jones, Mrs. C. G. Jones, Mrs. H. L. Morrison, Mrs. R. S. Williams, and Miss Minerva Louise Jones. His wife survives him.
Rev. Wm. Hedley, now of Ashland, Va., writes thus of Mr. Jones in the Religious Herald: "It has been my privilege to visit many of these communities where Brother Jones labored, and in every place to have heard unstinted praise accorded to him for the faithfulness of his work and the purity of his character. These tributes were paid while he was yet alive. For a little over four years I had the honor of being his pastor. His guileless life, his sweet spirit of cooperation, his kindly appreciation of one's ministry, his delightful conversa- tion on gospel themes, endeared him to my heart, and he crowned his excellencies with as pervasive a spirit of humility as was possessed by any man. For fifty years he had preached the gospel, and fully two thousand souls had he buried in baptism."
S. H. THOMPSON 1854-1912
While his life, and later his ministry, began in North Carolina, the most fruitful years of Rev. S. H. Thomp- son's life were spent in Virginia. Here, for two decades, he gave himself to preaching, also having, a part of this time, the burden and the blessing of the teacher. He was born in Alamance County, April 28, 1854, and spent the days of his boyhood on his father's farm. On this farm his education, in the truest sense, began, for a country boy never gets over his country life. He studied in the academy conducted by the Rev. William Thompson at old Salem Church, and then passed, for further preparation, to the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. Finally, at Franklin College, Franklin, Ind., he took both the B. A. and the M. A. degrees. To those who knew and heard him preach and speak in the years of his public ministry it seemed that he brought back the impress of the Middle West in his pronuncia- tion and in the tone of his voice. Deeper than accent and manner was the vim and determination of the man, and if from these marks one did not soon guess his Scotch-Irish blood, he was apt, before long, to claim and glory in such extraction. At the age of seventeen he was converted, and, having led an earnest Christian life, was, in June, 1879, ordained to the gospel ministry. The year before, on July 18, he was married to Miss Tabitha Schan.
His ministry in Virginia began, and continued for some ten years, in the Dan River Association. During this period he was pastor, first of Black Walnut, South
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Boston, and Scottsburg Churches, and later of a field composed of the Scottsburg and Catawba Churches. It was during this time that he gave part of his strength to teaching. While pastor at South Boston he cordially cooperated with Rev. John R. Moffett in his work for the great cause of temperance. At a crisis in the history of the Anti-Liquor, a paper which Moffett had estab- lished, Mr. Thompson came to the rescue and assumed one-half of the financial burden, taking also a good share of the editorial work. From this Halifax County field Mr. Thompson went, in 1900, to Farmville, Va., to become pastor of the Baptist Church of that town. Here he remained till 1904, being an effective leader in his District Association (the Appomattox), as well as a faithful pastor. From 1904 until 1910 he was pastor of the First Church, Bluefield, W. Va., and in these years, under his leadership, a handsome meeting-house was built. From the crest of the Alleghanies he moved to Lake City, Fla., where he was pastor of the church and a teacher in the college. It was here that the painful illness began that terminated in his death, at Richmond, Thursday, January 25, 1912. One who had known him for years, and who saw him in these months of great physical suffering, says that his faith, instead of waver- ing, seemed to grow stronger because of this awful trial. At last the end of his agony came; the funeral took place at Farmville, the remains and the widow and two daughters being accompanied on this sad journey from Richmond by Rev. R. D. Garland.
HENRY WISE TRIBBLE 1862-1912
On the campus of Columbia College, Lake City, Fla., is the grave of Henry Wise Tribble, who, at the time of his death, was the president of this college. His death was tragic. He was returning from the Baptist Florida Convention at Ocala, where the college had received a "launching gift" of $27,000 towards its endowment. Between Cummings, on the man line of the railroad, and Rodman, where he was preaching, in connection with his college work, twice a month, an accident occurred which resulted in his death. Cummings and Rodman are con- nected by a sawmill road. "Over that road a log train is operated, and passengers are taken in an auto truck which uses the same track. It was night, and the log train had gone ahead ; Dr. Tribble and two other passen- gers were following. They had no lights, and the train had stopped when the auto crushed into it. The collision might not have been serious had not a log protruded from the rear car; that jammed through the truck, catching and crushing Dr. Tribble's leg. It passed on through and crushed the leg of a negro passenger sitting in the rear. The injuries of the negro are said to have been worse than those of Dr. Tribble, and he is recovering without amputation." Thus Dr. C. W. Duke described, in a letter to the Religious Herald, this accident. He was lovingly cared for in the home of Henry S. Cummings, a sawmill man and an earnest Christian ; but on Tuesday, February 6, 1912, with the coming of the dawn, his spirit passed to God. On Thursday, February 8, the fifty-first anniversary of his birth, his funeral took place,
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