USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 21
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Rev. Dr. L. B. Warren, who conducted the service, being assisted by Rev. Dr. A. J. Holt, Rev. Dr. S. B. Rogers, Rev. Dr. C. W. Duke, and Mr. Will D. Upshaw. Thus, in the full flush of a vigorous manhood and an active ministry, there came what seems, from the merely human standpoint, an untimely end to this useful life, but God has his "mysteries of grace." Dr. Tribble had not been long in Florida, scarcely long enough to learn that one can not move with the vim, in such a relaxing climate, as is possible in the bracing air of Piedmont Virginia. At the Jacksonville Convention, in May, 1911, he was the picture of health, weighing not less than 180 pounds, and, as he expressed his concern for his fellow-minister, Rev. S. H. Thompson, who was extremely ill, no human eye could foresee that their deaths would be separated by only a few days.
Vigorous in body, Dr. Tribble was likewise vigorous in mind. In him these two assets for success seemed to go together. He was a good sleeper, and usually had a good appetite. He had a good supply of rich red blood. What with his fine bodily presence and his fearless spirit he was a most manly man. In his early ministry a burly fellow took some exception to a rebuke he had uttered in the pulpit, and at the close of the service made show of fight. Tribble's invitation to come around back of the church, if he wanted to have it out, ended the mat- ter. Dr. Tribble was a leader rather than a follower. He did his own thinking, came to his own conclusions, and could give his reasons for his views. In his Rich- mond College student days, at the end of the session of 1883-84, when he won his B. A. degree, he also took the Frances Gwin Philosophy medal. This victory gave evidence of the caliber of his mind and proved a prophecy of his mental grasp of the problems of life. His mind was quick, and he was practical rather than visionary in
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the way he approached the tasks of the daily round. Dr. Duke, in the letter to the Herald mentioned above, tells how, when he, in his days at Richmond College, was ill with typhoid fever, four students, Tribble being the foremost, watched by his bedside at night to relieve the anxious and weary parents.
Caroline County was his birthplace, and here, on June 15, 1885, at Carmel Church, he was ordained to the gospel ministry. Before his course at the Southern Bap- tist Theological Seminary, Louisville, was completed, he had given a year of service as pastor of the Liberty and Hebron Churches, Appomattox County, Virginia. Upon his graduation at Louisville he became pastor at Jackson, Tenn. In this university town he remained, doing excel- lent service, until 1895, when he became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charlottesville. Here he was to do the main work of his life. After five years at the First Church, on October 4, 1900, under his leadership, the High Street Baptist Church was organized, he becoming its pastor. In eight years, having set out with a membership of 50, High Street came to be a company of 325 members, with a good meeting-house properly equipped and paid for. Three years before the organiza- tion of the High Street Church, Dr. Tribble had taken upon his shoulders the additional burden of the presi- dency of the Rawlings Institute. He kept the school full from year to year, gathered around him an able faculty, and was untiring in his efforts to set upon a sure financial foundation this institution for the education of young women.
As a preacher Dr. Tribble was in the front rank. Dur- ing his life in Charlottesville he kept in close touch with the University of Virginia, and often preached in the University Chapel. While this pulpit is filled from Sun- day to Sunday by distinguished ministers from all parts
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of the land and of all denominations, Dr. Tribble was regarded by the University community as fully equal, in pulpit ability, to the distinguished divines who came to them from a distance. As a preacher, his method of developing a theme was natural, interesting, incisive. His style was clear. His illustrations were apt. His sermons were short; indeed, it was said, half playfully, perhaps, that he was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity because he preached so well and yet preached only twenty minutes. In the social circle he was genial and entertaining, able to tell a good story and ready to join in the laughter that marks the moment of lighter vein. He was a delightful and helpful companion. He was highly esteemed by the denomination, being a leader in the work in the State and the South. He was for some years a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and in this position bore an important part in the solution of difficult problems in the life of this school of the prophets. In 1905 he was one of the vice- presidents of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. In 1888 he was married to Miss Belle Estelle Rawlings, of Augusta County, Virginia, who, with six children, survived him.
Besides the services held in Florida, in memory of this man of God, on the Sunday morning after his death, at the High Street Church, Charlottesville, Rev. Dr. H. W. Battle, the pastor, delivered a memorial sermon based on the words: "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The auditorium was appropri- ately draped, a large congregation was present, and a paper, prepared by the pastor and deacons, setting forth briefly the character and work of Dr. Tribble, was adopted. At 3 P. M. of the same day another service was held in the First Baptist Church, when the pastors and mayor of Charlottesville paid tributes to his memory.
ALBERT D. REYNOLDS
1844-1912
The Northern Neck of Virginia was the birthplace and the life arena of Albert D. Reynolds. In Westmoreland County he first saw the light, his parents being humble but godly people. Since his early days were spent in the open air, at work on a farm, and the years of his budding manhood, amidst the hardships of war and the stirring experiences of a soldier in the cavalry, he came to the real work of his life, seasoned and hardened. This may, in some degree, have compensated for his failure to secure the regular training of the schools. He doubtless had, by nature, the power of making himself at home with all sorts and conditions of men, but it is to be sup- posed that his life in the army developed this aptitude. For service in the Confederate Army he enlisted in Company D, 9th Virginia Cavalry, a most dashing and daring command. It may have been that a love for a horse led him to join the cavalry. If so, this taste must have grown during the four years of fighting, for it is certain that one of the marks of his after-life was "a fondness for a stylish and well-groomed horse."
Early in life he became a professing Christian, uniting with Nomini Church. Here he found opportunity to speak in public and to lead in prayer, and here his faith- fulness and ability were in due season recognized, and he was made a deacon, Rev. M. F. Sanford being elected to this office at the same time. Once again his mother- church recognized his gifts and called for his ordination to the gospel ministry. In the month of December, at Coan Church, Northumberland County, he was set apart
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for this work. He was pastor first of Bethany and Providence (Northumberland County) Churches. On, until within a few weeks of his death, he labored continu- ously as a Baptist pastor. Before his ministry closed, besides those already named, he had served, in several cases for twelve or thirteen years, these churches : Totuskey, Pope's Creek, Oak Grove, Rappahannock, Carrotoman, Montague's, and Welcome Grove, all in the Rappahannock Association. "His official connections thus held with these churches in five counties exceeded in number those of any other minister who has yet labored in the Northern Neck, and brought him into personal touch with more families and individuals dwelling in that region. It came to be true that in the long round of his travels in visiting his congregations he could, with rare exception, recognize and familiarly greet every resident face that he met. If there be many preachers whose search is for books and who read commentaries, he sought his fellow-men and studied human characters."
What has already been said about his lack of educa- tional training and about his love for men and the study of mankind throws light on his power and limitations as a preacher. "In preaching he was better able to break the hearts of sinners than not to break the rules of gram- mar. Without the study of homiletics, without well- adjusted notes, with scantiest aid of pen or books, or general. reading, his mind was yet quick, inventive, capable of strong reasoning, logical and argumentative, and withal ever ready to gather energy and force from its own action. A holy fire burned in his heart, and his appeals, no less in private than in public, were fearless, searching, direct, and strong, and many shining seals were added to his ministry."
For several years before his death a diseased internal organ often caused him great pain. In the winter of
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1912 he was taken to Baltimore in the hope that a surgical operation might bring him renewed strength and relief from pain. Travel between his home and Balti- more is only by water. A spell of severely cold weather closed this means of communication just at the time when he needed in the hospital the sight of loving faces and the touch of loved ones' hands. Alone he walked the path that leads to the river of death, and yet surely he was not alone, for to him was the promise: "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee." In his sixty-eighth year, on February 12, 1912, he departed this life. His second wife and three daughters survived him. She, and her sister, who was his first wife, were both daughters of Rev. James Weaver, a Baptist preacher. The quotations in this sketch are from an article by the Rev. Dr. George W. Beale, from which article, and from the obituary in the Minutes of the Gen- eral Association by Rev. E. L. Hardcastle, many of these facts have been taken.
ALBERT GRANT HASH 1876-1912
One of the many mysteries of God's providence that we do not understand is why young men, full of promise, and busy in successful work for God and humanity, are cut off. Such a life was that of Albert Grant Hash. He was born among the mountains of Virginia, and died a pastor in one of the towns of Georgia. Before he had rounded out four decades he was called away. Not long after his birth, which took place in Grayson County, March 14, 1876, he was deprived, by death, of the com- fort and blessing of a mother's love. He was the son of Abram and Rebekah Hash, and had three brothers, one sister, one half-brother, and one half-sister. His boyhood days were spent on the farm, helping his father. The mountain school which he attended in these early years brought him into touch with a teacher, Miss Sarah La Rue, who, a few years later, was in charge of the academy at Pearisburg. When he was eighteen years old he left his home and went to this academy, drawn hither, as it seems, by his old teacher. For the next three years he studied in the winter, and during the summer was himself a teacher. At the age of sixteen he made a profession of religion and united with the Pine Branch Church, and while at Pearisburg he felt called to preach the gospel. In 1897 he was licensed by his home church, and on July 17, 1898, the same body ordained him, the presbytery being composed of these preachers: Rev. J. F. Fletcher, Rev. J. S. Murray, and Rev. A. S. Murray. At once, after this event, he set out for Alabama to prepare to enter Howard College. He entered this institution
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and pursued his studies for two years, being pastor, at the same time, of neighboring churches. He suffered an attack of typhoid fever, in the summer of 1900, which was almost fatal, and the effects of which he never fully overcame. He was, because of this illness, unable to complete his college course, and for four or five years could do little work of any kind. One who knew him well says that "during these years of waiting he was learning the lessons of simple faith and patience that ever charac- terized his remaining years. His bodily weakness, to him, was an open door into God's presence and power." He became pastor of the Fort Gaines Baptist Church in January, 1905, a position that he was to hold for seven years and until his death, which took place March 4, 1912. He soon gained the esteem, not only of the church, but of the whole community. When, in the fall of this same year, he was obliged to go to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, for treatment, his church bore the expenses of this trip. With renewed strength, for the years that followed he gave himself unstintingly to his church and to the community, thus binding more closely to him his people and the town. On April 17, 1907, he was married to Miss Leola Paullin, the youngest daughter of Mr. J. E. Paullin, one of the deacons of the church. Hand in hand this husband and wife worked for God till His summons
came. March 4, 1912, he passed from earth. The church adopted resolutions expressing their admiration for him and their sorrow at his death. The Christian Index, in noticing his departure, printed an excellent picture of him, a picture suggestive at once of gentleness, strength of character, and piety. His wife and a little girl survive him.
WALTER RHODES 1872(?)-1912
The ministerial work, in Virginia, of Rev. Walter Rhodes, a native of Baltimore, Md., and a descendant of Zachariah Rhodes (who landed in this country with Roger Williams), was done on the Eastern Shore. His first pastorate there was from 1899 to 1903, his churches being Atlantic, Chincoteague, Reamy Memorial, and Modest Town. His second pastorate in this section, at the Onancock Church, began in 1909, and was broken by the hand of death. Between these two seasons on the Eastern Shore came his service in Baltimore, where he was pastor of the Second Baptist Church until October 24, 1908. During his first sojourn in Accomac County he published a newspaper devoted to the interests of the Baptist cause on the Eastern Shore. Not only in his Virginia fields, but also in Baltimore, he labored earnestly and well. In Baltimore his "zeal and progressiveness were marked, and he gained an honorable place in the Conference of the Baptist Ministers and the Maryland Association." Under his leadership the Second Church built its present handsome structure on the corner of Luzerne and Orleans streets. At Onancock he was "popular and beloved, though he pursued his work under the strain, often, of serious physical debility." Before the end of his life and labors came he was called on to pass through a long and terrible ordeal of pain. It is not for us to sit in judgment concerning his death, which was caused by a wound inflicted by his own hand, but we may well give our sighs and pity at the thought of his sufferings and anguish. His death occurred at the Caswell Hotel, Baltimore.
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At Louisville, where he studied, he proved himself diligent and successful, and he carried through life care- ful habits as to his sermon preparation and other work. Before going to Louisville he had been in the accounting department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, where he gained a good knowledge of business life. He was "a clear, systematic, vigorous, and effective preacher, and possessed high evangelistic gifts. Many weak and wan- dering souls were reclaimed and many rejoicing converts were led to Christ through his persuasive and convincing appeals. As a close and devout student of God's word, and a clear, fresh, accurate, and discriminating expounder of it, few men of his age surpassed him. His book of observations and reflections, while not of sus- tained and equal merit throughout, has many pages in it that do him honor, and has commanded high commenda- tion from an eminent critic in England. While living in Baltimore he wrote a series of articles which appeared in the Sun and which attracted much attention in religious circles." He was married to Miss Mary Evelyn Hard- wick, a daughter of Mr. Alvin Hardwick, of Westmore- land County. She and a son and daughter survived him. On the Sunday before his death he preached an unusually strong sermon from the words: "Things which eye saw not and ear heard not and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him." I Cor. 2:9. At the funeral Rev. Dr. H. A. Griesemer, who conducted the service, based his remarks on this verse. Mr. Rhodes passed away Tues- day, March 5, 1912, in the forty-first year of his life. Rev. L. M. Ritter, the present pastor of the Onancock Church, says of Mr. Rhodes: "The people here tell me he was a very strong preacher." Mr. Rhodes was a Royal Arch Mason.
JAMES E. JONES 1841-1912
At the close of one of the services of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, in Petersburg, Novem- ber, 1904, one of the younger pastors, Rev. W. Thorburn Clark, who was about to go to the pastorate of Beaver Dam, one of the churches of the Portsmouth Association, felt a touch upon his shoulder. He turned and looked, for the first time, into the face of Rev. James E. Jones. The older pastor had sought the younger one to welcome him to his new field, for their churches were near each other. This little but gracious act showed the character of the man, who, before his death came, had been pastor, for a long period, of four churches in his Association. These churches were South Quay, Sycamore, Holland's Corner, and Jerusalem. Two of these bodies, Holland's Corner and Sycamore, organized by him in 1880 and 1878, had him as their pastor for some thirty and thirty- three years. His ministry at South Quay reached through about twenty-seven years, having begun in 1885. His service at Jerusalem ran from 1880 to 1904. South Quay was the church of his childhood, and it was here, after his student days at Richmond College and the Uni- versity were over, that he was ordained to the ministry. His retirement from the pastorate of the South Quay Church a short time before his death, on account of declining health, led to the adoption, by the church, of resolutions expressing their devotion to him. These resolutions declared that their retiring pastor left monu- ments to his usefulness in South Quay, Jerusalem, Syca- more, and Holland's Corner, the two last-named points
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having come, under his guidance, from bush-arbor appointments to strong and influential churches. The resolutions spoke of him as eloquent in the pulpit, gifted in prayer, kind and sympathetic in pastoral labors, one who bound his people to him by love.
On Monday, April 1, 1912, about seven in the even- ing, at his home near South Quay, Nansemond County, in the seventy-second year of his age, after a week's ill- ness, he passed from the scenes of earth to his heavenly reward. The funeral took place the following Wednes- day afternoon at South Quay Church, being conducted by Rev. J. L. Mccutcheon, of Franklin, who was assisted by several pastors of other denominations. The body was laid to rest beside that of his wife, who pre- ceded him to the grave some twenty years. His brother and sister, Mr. Mack Jones and Mrs. Gary Beale, survive him, and also seven of his children, namely: Mrs. Hugh Lawrence, Mr. J. Paul Jones, Mrs. Randall Rawls, Mrs. Percy Vaughan, Mr. Philip Jones, Mr. William Jones, and Mrs. J. M. Robertson.
JOHN ROBERT WILKINSON 1842-1912
Not many miles from Richmond City is Dover Mines, Goochland County. At this place John Robert Wilkin- son was born June 21, 1842, his parents being Hezekiah and Mary Ford Wilkinson. From the best primary schools of his native county he passed to the Huguenot High School, hoping next to go to Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, but in this his hopes were shattered by the War. From March, 1862, when he enlisted, until the end of the conflict, he remained in the ranks. After the surrender, having taken up farming, on August 24, 1865, at Goochland (Nuckols') Church, under the preaching of Rev. A. E. Dickinson, he professed faith in Christ and was baptized into the fellowship of Dover Church by Rev. A. B. Smith. Before long he was licensed to preach, but it was not until after his removal from Powhatan and until four years after his marriage, on January 19, 1870, to Miss Adah Winfree, a daughter of Rev. Dr. D. B. Winfree, that he decided to give himself to the gospel ministry. Jerusalem Church, Chesterfield County, where he was ordained, November 29, 1874, the presbytery consisting of the ministers D. B. Winfree, W. S. Bland, J. R. Bagby, R. W. Cridlin, and L. W. Moore, was his first charge. His work as a preacher was, in the main, with churches, first in the Middle District, and then in the Dover, Association. On July 4, 1903, he organized, in Louisa County, the Mineral Church, and in November, 1906, he dedicated the imposing meeting-house that this congregation, under his leadership, had erected. This
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church, which at its organization had twenty-one mem- bers, reports now an enrollment of one hundred and fifty- seven. During the whole course of his ministry he served, besides those already named, the following churches: Skinquarter, Tomahawk, Berea, Hopeful, Mt. Olivet, Ashland, Winns, Mt. Gilead, Branch's, Arbor, and Deep Run.
After a long and painful illness, on April 9, 1912, he passed away. The funeral was conducted by Rev. Dr. J. B. Hutson, who was assisted by other ministers, and the body was laid to rest near the Mineral Church. His second wife, who was, before her marriage, Miss Emily F. Bowles, of Hanover County, and three children sur- vive him. Rev. T. A. Hall, in his obituary in the Minutes of the General Association, says of him: "There was a bewitching charm about his striking personality that won all persons with whom he came in contact. An ingenuous suavity of spirit, a whole-hearted friendship, a stainless life, and a spotless character, com- bined with signal spiritual vivacity, great love for Jesus Christ and for lost souls, together with lofty purposes in living and in doing, constituted the prominent charac- teristics of his noble life and his exalted attainments."
PATRICK THOMAS WARREN 1839-1912
On the walls of the Onancock Baptist Church are tab- lets to the memory of Rev. Patrick Warren and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Scott Warren. One of the children of this pious couple was Rev. Patrick T. Warren. In him the name Patrick had come down to the third generation, for his grandfather, a godly Baptist deacon, had borne this name. On November 4, 1839, in Northampton County, Patrick Warren III, as he might well be called, first saw the light. Through the private schools and by the help of his uncle, Mr. Lewis Warren, he was prepared for his college work, which was done at William and Mary and Richmond College. In 1861, at the Onancock Baptist Church, he was ordained, the presbytery being composed of Elders Patrick Warren, George Bradford, and S. C. Boston. This young man, the same year as his ordination, served as a supply for the Lower North- ampton Church, and, in 1862, became her pastor. This good man's ministry, which began thus in Virginia, and was to come to its close on the soil of the Old Dominion, gave many of its years to work in other States. In these years away from Virginia he was pastor at Salisbury, Cumberland, Longwood, and twice at Vienna, all in Maryland; at Mobile and Eufaula, Alabama; and at Watsontown, Pennsylvania. In 1885 he was once more back in his native State, his field at this time lying in the territory of the Portsmouth and Concord Associations ; during these years he ministered to the Fountain's Creek, James' Square, Hicksford, and Zion Churches. From 1890 to 1897 he was pastor at Williamsburg, Va. Upon
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leaving Williamsburg he moved to Pamplin City, which was his home until the end of his life. During a part of this period he was pastor of these churches, in the James River and Appomattox Associations: Liberty Chapel, New Hope, Mathews, and Rocks. He was deeply inter- ested, not only in the life of his own churches, but in the prosperity and growth of all the churches of his Associa- tions. He was moderator of the Appomattox Associa- tion and the preacher of the sermon when this body cele- brated its centennial. During his life in Appomattox a Pastors' Conference was organized, and he was made its president. For some years before the end of his life he gave up active pastoral work, but up to the close of 1911 he continued to respond to all requests for occasional or supply sermons, whether they came from Baptists or from other denominations. A few weeks before his death he was paralyzed, and this event making him realize that death was near at hand, he "set his house in order," even giving directions for his burial. At ten o'clock Friday morning, May 31, 1912, surrounded by his family, he passed away. His body was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Liberty Baptist Church, Appo- mattox, the services being conducted by Rev. C. R. Norris, Rev. Dr. H. C. Smith, and Rev. Dr. W. J. Ship- man. The wife, whose married life had extended over some forty-four years, and who, before her marriage, was Miss Mary A. Price (daughter of Dr. William R. and Susan Denmead Price), of Baltimore County, Mary- land, survived her husband, with her three daughters, Mary Houston, Hannah Denmead, and Odelle Austin (Mrs. Milledge L. Bonham), and one son, Luther Rice Warren.
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