USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 25
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Craney Island, Norfolk, and Portsmouth. He was licensed to preach July 30, 1860, and having received his commission as chaplain of the 38th Virginia Regiment, June 9, 1863, he was, on the following December 6th, ordained. The presbytery, consisting of these preachers, Thomas Hume, Sr., J. B. Harwicke, T. C. Keene, John M. Butler, William M. Young, ordained, at the same time, Joseph F. Deans. During the Seven Days battles around Richmond the hospital became very much crowded, and often Mr. Cridlin helped lay to rest as many as fifty soldiers a day. He shared with his regi- ment all the dangers of the battlefield, removing the wounded from the zone of fire and helping in other ways. On to the end of the War he was with his command. He baptized many of his fellow-soldiers, sometimes
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under the very guns of the enemy. One whom he bap- tized was Captain Chas. F. James, Company F, 8th Vir- ginia Regiment, who afterwards became an able preacher and educator. Once, near Chester, he and his negro servant were preparing a pond for baptism when the enemy, thinking that he was throwing up breastworks, began to shell the place. The service was postponed. His brigade, at the end, in appreciation of his work for them, presented him with a magnificent horse, with saddle and bridle, the gift having cost them $1,200. After the surrender at Appomattox he became Principal of the Salem Academy, Chesterfield County, and the following spring became pastor of the Salem and Hepzi- bah (or Branch's) Churches. On November 1, 1866, he was married to Miss Mary E. Burgess, the daughter of Mr. William Burgess, of Chesterfield County. She lived only a year, the injuries received in a fall from a runaway horse causing her death. His second wife, also of Chesterfield County, to whom he was married January 1, 1869, was Miss Emma H. Snellings.
In May, 1871, he became pastor of the Fourth Street Church, Portsmouth, where he remained until August, 1874. After serving eighteen months as missionary of the Middle District Association he became pastor of the Red Lane, Fine Creek, and Peterville Churches, Pow- hatan County, and from there he returned to Portsmouth to become once more pastor of the Fourth Street Church. In connection with this pastorate he was also Superin- tendent of the Portsmouth Orphan Asylum. It was while he was in this twofold work that "Corvejon," in the Religious Herald, called attention to his marked personal likeness to Dr. A. E. Dickinson, and spoke further, as follows, of him: “ Brother Cridlin is quite a nabob. He lives in a princely mansion on the edge of the sea-rides in his own buggy, catches his own
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crabs, cultivates a mammoth garden, and lives like an admiral. But withal he cleaves to the Lord with full purpose of heart, works patiently on his sermons, watches for the souls of his people, and lives for eternity. He is a fluent, easy speaker, with a mellow, pleasant voice. His sermons are evangelical in doctrine, addressed to the hearts and consciences of his people, and often delivered in great fervor and tenderness." His next work was at Brambleton, where from a mission a church was organized, under his care, with nineteen members. This church is now known as the Park Avenue (Norfolk) Church. At this time he was also pastor of Salem, Mulberry, and Kempsville Churches, Portsmouth Association. While on his next field, which was in the Dover Association and was composed of the churches, Winns, Berea, and Deep Run, he established the Beulah Hill Institute.
The next period of his life was given, in the main, to education. Upon the suggestion of Rev. M. F. Sanford, and with the financial cooperation of Mr. J. D. Brad- shaw, he established at Burkeville, Va., the Southside Female Institute. Here, with the cooperation of his resourceful wife, he kept up for a series of years a school that enabled scores of young women to secure an educa- tion. In 1902, upon the death of Mr. Bradshaw, and because of other things, he was led to sell the Burkeville property and set up, at Amelia Court House, the Otter- burne Springs Institute. He gave up this work to become pastor of the Stockton Street Church, Manchester (now South Richmond), where he was to render his last public services. While here, in 1906, his wife, who had been his comfort and help for thirty-eight years, passed away, and two years later his failing health made it imperative that he resign his church. After this, however, with fine dauntlessness and energy, he set up and conducted the
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Virginia Teachers' Agency and Bureau of Information for Pastoral Supply, one of his daughters rendering him much assistance. This work he maintained for five years, though most of this time he was confined to his bed or his home. His energy was wonderful, and then, at last, on the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, 1913, he fell on sleep. His funeral at Stockton Street Church, and the burial at Riverview Cemetery were both according to the directions he had given in a letter to his son. His children who survive him are William Broaddus Cridlin, Ransdell Chiles Cridlin, Mrs. L. B. Lloyd, and Misses Addie and Nettie Cridlin.
JOHN KERR FAULKNER 1834-1913
On April 3, 1834, Mr. William A. Faulkner and his wife, Mary Anne (Crawley), needed a name for a boy, since on that day there had come into their home, near Black Walnut, Halifax County, Virginia, their first son. Some six years before this time Rev. John Kerr, a brilliant and popular preacher, who had spent some of his earlier ministry in Halifax, became pastor of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. So Mr. Faulkner, "an influential and highly esteemed citizen," named his son after the Richmond preacher. Young Faulkner had good educational opportunities, for he graduated first at the University of Virginia in Philosophy and Political Economy, and at a later period attended Richmond Col- lege. In the former institution, among his fast friends were Thomas Hume, Jr., and William Kable. He was one of the charter members of the University Y. M. C. A. After leaving the University he taught for a year or so in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. In 1861, when the noise of war was in the land, he was ordained by Black Walnut, his mother church, and became pastor of Aaron's Creek Church. In 1867, when he was still in charge of this church, being a missionary of the State Mission Board, he reported that there had been thirty- two additions to the church by baptism. Before his labors in the Dan River Association closed, besides the Aaron's Creek Church he had these churches also: Fork, Musterfield, Clover, Dan River, Mill Stone, and Laurel Grove, all in Halifax County. At this period he also ministered to Sandy Creek, in North Carolina. Think
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of his busy life when more than one year he was preach- ing to five churches. From about 1889 some ten years of his life's service were given to the Rappahannock Association, where he preached for these churches : Clark's Neck, Zoar, Ebenezer, Spring Hill, and Urbanna. His ministry outside of Virginia was as pastor at Kins- ton, Newton, Ephesus, Lincolnton, Kid's Chapel, Fellow- ship, Winterville, and Castoria, all in North Carolina, and at Fort Mill, South Carolina. "His last pastorate was held, amidst advancing years and waning strength, with the Alton and Semora Churches, south of the Dan, and when no longer able to pursue his sacred calling he retired to a home near Buffalo Junction, filled with the joyful hopes of the gospel which he had so long preached, and soothed with the love and veneration of countless grateful hearts to whom he had ministered in his toilsome life."
In 1861, soon after his ordination, he was married to Miss Lavenia Victoria Chandler (eldest daughter of Thomas Chandler and Sally Anne Puryear), of Green- ville County, North Carolina, with whom he was to spend over forty years of happy wedded life, a union broken by her death, on April 20, 1900. During her last painful and protracted illness he gave up his church to minister to her. The three children who survive their parents are Dr. Thomas H. Faulkner, a well-known dentist, of Kinston, N. C .; J. B. Faulkner, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company, Richmond; and Mary Emma, the wife of the Rev. James Long, of Goldsboro, N. C.
Evidences of the worth and usefulness of this man of God abound. For twelve successive years he was chosen clerk of the Dan River Association, and for six, treasurer, and no less than four times did this body choose him as the preacher of their introductory sermon.
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One in a position to know, said of him: "He was perhaps as well known and as deservedly loved as any minister that ever lived in Halifax. His piety, his amiability, and sympathetic disposition made him a welcome visitor in the homes of the people and especially to those with whom and for whom he labored. He was not regarded as a brilliant preacher, but was strong, tender, and thoroughly evangelical." Another, who was his neigh- bor, thus testifies to his life and influence : "He was a finished scholar and a strong gospel preacher. Through- out his life he scrupulously obeyed the Scripture injunc- tion as to giving. On looking through his papers since his decease they show that at the end of each year he footed up his accounts, showing what the gross income of all his resources was, and that he gave more than one- tenth. You can not say anything too high or beautiful as to his character-it was as near perfect as that of any man I have ever known. He was an incorruptible man, who brought up his children in the fear of God, and his daily life was an example worthy of imitation." The text-"For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified"-from which, in August, 1860, he preached at Black Walnut Church, his first sermon, came to be a motto and standard in his life. When he had preached fifty years, he said : "I have never been on the platform as lecturer, on the stump as haranguer, on the arena with 'strange vagaries,' or on the mart for doubtful emoluments ; but have been content to be only a preacher of the gospel and pastor of churches-all the way up to the present time." At this time his face, while showing the marks of age, had the strength of a Roman senator blended with the peace of a victorious child of God. Once a brother pastor in the same county sought to break up Mr. Faulkner's "field," being anxious for one of the churches himself. After-
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wards this man came to grief and his family was in want. He came to see Mr. Faulkner. Excusing himself, Mr. Faulkner slipped out of the parlor long enough to say to his daughter: "See that a sack of flour and some other provisions are put into Brother buggy, and do not say anything about it or let him see how it gets there. The wife and children will find it when he reaches home. They need it." He died in Richmond at the Retreat for the Sick at 8 A. M., August 1, 1913. On Sunday, August 3, his body was laid to rest beside that of his wife in the Chandler burying ground in Granville County, North Carolina.
JOHN ALEXANDER SPEIGHT 1840-1913
While North Carolina was the birthplace of John Alexander Speight, no inconsiderable part of his ministry was spent in Virginia. He served various churches in the territory covered by the old Portsmouth Association, and at the time of his death was pastor of the Sunbeam Baptist Church, in Southampton County, a church that was organized in 1907. This Sunbeam Church, which with Elam Church, North Carolina, formed his field at his death, was especially dear to his heart, since under his leadership it had made a wonderful record, its membership having grown in seven years from seventeen to one hundred and nine. This preacher and another preacher, Rev. T. T. Speight, at present living in Wind- sor, N. C., came from the home of a preacher, their father having been Rev. Henry Speight. Henry Speight and Olivia Pruden, his wife, were godly people, she being of Huguenot extraction. Although it is stated that the son, John, had little preparation for college save an irregular attendance upon the neighborhood schools, still it must be remembered that the influence of such pious parents was a superior preparation for college and for life. He graduated, however, at Columbian College, Washington, D. C., and in later years was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Judson College. He was born May 25, 1840, and celebrated his twenty-first birth- day in an army camp in Virginia. This fact shows how promptly he had cast in his lot with the forces of the Confederacy, and before the end of this struggle he had
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been wounded twice and had endured the unusual priva- tion of a prisoner. He was captured at Winchester and again at Gettysburg, and spent eighteen months at Point Lookout and a season at Fort Delaware. During the War he was a member of the Gates' Guards, Company B, 5th Regiment of Infantry. In 1865 he came home "with his parole in his pocket and a sweetheart in his eye." Nor was it long before this sweetheart, Miss Elizabeth Williams, of Gates County, became his wife. "She made his home happy. She bore him sons and daughters. She blessed his life."
Scarcely had a year passed, after the surrender at Appomattox, before he was a minister of the gospel in charge of a church. His ordination took place at Middle Swamp Baptist Church, in his native county, the church of which his father was pastor for years and which he himself had joined when he was thirteen years old. His ministry in North Carolina was with "Cashie Church, Windsor, with its century and a third of blessed memo- ries," and with "Ross, with its simple faith and trustful folk and genuine hope," and finally with Elam. In Vir- ginia the churches he served, besides Sunbeam, were West End (Petersburg), St. John's, North West, Kemps- ville, Centerville, Mulberry, Deep Creek, and Bethel. Besides his service for the kingdom as a preacher he spent some years as an editor, the Atlantic Baptist, of Norfolk, the Asheville Baptist, of Asheville, N. C., and the Biblical Recorder, of Raleigh, N. C., being the papers with which he was connected.
The wound that he received at Gettysburg led to his death. About three years before his end he was attacked by a cancer which finally overcame him. In July it was his joy to be at the veterans' reunion on the famous Pennsylvania battlefield and to preach to his old com- rades and foes, and on the last day of the next month he
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answered the summons to a nobler and an unending reunion. The body was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Berkley, the services being conducted by Rev. Dr. Vernon I'Anson, assisted by Rev. Q. C. Davis, Rev. T. T. Speight, Rev. T. M. Green, Rev. L. E. Dailey, and Rev. J. H. Pearcy. On September. 7, 1913, resolutions of affection and respect were passed by the Sunbeam Church.
JAMES PASCHAL LUCK 1856-1913
John P. Luck, having come to this country from England, settled in Caroline County, and later purchased a farm in Botetourt County, near what is now Hollins College, where he kept for many years a tavern known as the "Black Horse Stand." Tradition says that Presi- dent Andrew Jackson often put up at the "Black Horse" on his way back and forth between Tennessee and Wash- ington. His son, George P. Luck, purchased a farm on the head waters of Goose Creek, Bedford County, and here passed all his married life. His second wife was Miss Nannie Buford, a daughter of Mr. Abraham Buford and a niece of Captain Paschal Buford, a man of distinction in Bedford. This Mrs. Luck was a woman of deep piety, and after many years her prayers were answered in the conversion of her husband, who finally became a Baptist minister. One of the ten children of this couple was James Paschal Luck, who was given at least a part of his. maternal uncle's name. He was born August 4, 1856, at his father's home in Goose Creek Valley. This valley, lying at the base of the Peaks of Otter, that lift their heads some 4,000 feet into the air, is perhaps the most fertile section of Bedford County, being famous, especially, for its fine tobacco. Of this tobacco there were shipped, in seven months of 1886, from Montvale, the railroad station for Goose Creek, 510,550 pounds.
One could follow the life of Mr. Luck to the end with- out leaving Bedford County or going out of sight of the Peaks of Otter, save for the most brief seasons. Here
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he lived and did his work. From the training of the public schools he passed, at an early age, into business, working first on the farm, then in a store, and then becoming a commercial traveler for a Richmond firm. He made a profession of religion when about seventeen years old, but after a season of activity in religious service the temptations of the world caused his faith to grow dim and cast a dark shadow over him. While in business in Missouri he was made quite lame for several months by a kick on his knee by a horse. He returned to his father's home, and during a protracted meeting at the old home church renewed his vows to God and yielded to a call that he had resisted for some time, a call to preach. Since he dared not go forth to this new work without fuller preparation, he became a student, first at Sunnyside Academy, where that born teacher and man of God, Rev. Alexander Eubank, was Principal, and then at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
On September 16, 1887, at Walnut Grove, he was ordained to the gospel ministry, which was to be his constant and loved employment to the day of his death. In the course of these twenty-six years he was pastor, in some cases for short periods, of these seventeen churches, all in the Strawberry Association: Beaver Dam, Mt. Olivet, Mountain View, Timber Ridge, Wolf Hill, New Prospect, Suck Spring, Diamond Hill, Morgan's, Flint Hill, Mt. Hermon, Shady Grove, Staunton, Thaxton, Big Island, Hunting Creek, Mt. Zion. To Suck Spring, however, he ministered longest, his service there extend- ing over twenty-five years; his next longest pastorate was with the Mt. Olivet Church. If there could be added to this catalogue the names of the churches where he helped in protracted meetings, it would probably appear that every church in the Strawberry had heard this ambassador for God. He had evangelistic gifts, and
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doubtless many "in that day" will point to him as the one who led them to Christ. As a pastor he was a good preacher and "mild mannered, magnetic, approachable, thoughtful, sympathetic, and friendly to all, saints and sinners." His bent for business, which he followed in earlier years, was recognized by his fellow-citizens in after years, for they often came to him for advice and urged him once to run for the House of Delegates and once for the State Senate. These invitations did not attract him, for his heart was in a higher calling. For several sessions he presided with dignity as the moderator of the Strawberry Association.
For two years before the end he suffered from heart trouble, and this disease caused his sudden death. On Friday afternoon, November 13, 1913, he was in Bed- ford City until five o'clock. After conducting his family worship at nine o'clock, he was in the act of retiring when in a moment the end came. Although the day of the funeral and burial was rainy, a large company gathered at his residence, and a procession almost a mile long followed the body to its last resting place, in Oak- wood Cemetery, Bedford City. The sermon was preached by Rev. J. A. Barnhardt, who was assisted in the service by Rev. C. T. Kincannon. Mr. Luck was sur- vived by his widow (née Georgia Fizer) and six sons and one daughter, namely: George, Manly, Alva, Paschal, Gilbert, Calvin, and Estelle.
AUGUSTUS BEVERLY WOODFIN
1838-1913
On December 2, 1833, a company of eleven, going forth, in the main, from the Second Baptist Church, organized the Third Baptist Church, of Richmond, known to-day as the Grace Street Baptist Church. Among this little band were Mr. and Mrs. George Wood- fin. Mr. Woodfin was a man of high character and rare intelligence, who wielded a strong religious influence. He served in the War of 1812. His wife was a woman of deep piety. He was a native of Prince Edward County, but spent most of his life in Richmond. About twenty-one years after the establishment of the Grace Street Church, Mr. Woodfin was one of those who helped to organize the Leigh Street Baptist Church. He died in Powhatan County in 1864. Of these parents, on March 21, 1838, Augustus Beverly Woodfin was born, in Rich- mond, Va. His student life began when he was only four years old, in a little school conducted by a Miss Smithers. When he was about twelve he became a pupil in Mr. David Turner's "somewhat famous classical school." Later he went to two other similar schools, one taught by E. W. Cone and the other by W. H. Chase. From his sixteenth to his nineteenth year he was deputy clerk of the Circuit Court, of Henrico County, and of the Hustings Court, of Petersburg. "In these positions he was brought under the influence of some of the greatest lawyers Virginia has ever produced, an influence dis- tinctly educational." In 1857 he entered Richmond Col- lege, and in 1861 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, the other members of the class being R. R.
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Bailey, C. W. Farish, Geo. M. Leftwich, R. S. Lindsay, John M. Pilcher, Geo. W. Prince, Wm. H. Williams, and A. Peyton Woodfin. Six of this nine were from Rich- mond, and four of this six became preachers. While Mr. Woodfin was at college a school of Modern Lan- guages was established, the professor for two years being William Staughton Chase, son of Dr. Ira Chase and nephew of Dr. William Staughton. During these early days Mr. Woodfin, John M. Pilcher, and T. H. Ellett were close friends, and Mr. Pilcher declares that Mr. Woodfin's determination to become a minister helped him
to decide to enter the same high calling. Under the preaching of Dr. Cornelius Tyree at Grace Street Church, Mr. Woodfin was converted, and when his course at Richmond College was completed he set out, in the fall of 1861, for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Greenville, S. C. The War interrupted his studies at Greenville and he entered the army, becoming chaplain of the 61st Regiment of Gordon's Georgia Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, his ordination at Muddy Creek, Powhatan County, having taken place in October, 1862. He continued in the army till the close of the con- flict, and then taught school for a season in Cumberland County. While here, on January 12, 1865, he was mar- ried to Miss Mary Isabella Abrahams, the ceremony being performed by Dr. Cornelius Tyree. As the result of a trip that Mr. Woodfin and John William Jones took through the Valley of Virginia in the fall of 1865, Mr. Woodfin became pastor of the Mt. Crawford and Laurel Ridge Churches, the former being not far from Harrison- burg and the latter some seven miles from Staunton. During this pastorate there was a revival of far-reaching power in the Mt. Crawford Church, many heads of families being added to the church. While Mr. Woodfin was on this field, living at the village of Bridgewater, he
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and George B. Taylor, who was pastor at Staunton, enjoyed a fellowship that was helpful to both of them. Once when Woodfin was a guest in Taylor's home, at the supper table the host said : "Brother Woodfin, have some more preserves." And the answer came: "Thank you, Brother Taylor, I will take some, but I have not had any yet." One year when the Association was meet- ing with their church, Mr. Woodfin and his wife enter- tained some twenty-five guests. "Only the older guests occupied beds; the others rested on ticks filled with hay laid about the rooms. Perhaps little sleeping was done, as Dr. W. F. Broaddus was in the company, and on such occasions he usually entertained his roommates all night."
In December, 1868, after a brief pastorate at Coving- ton, Ky., he took charge of the St. Francis Street Church, Mobile, Ala. With this important and influential church he remained about six years, his work being highly successful. There were two hundred and twenty-five added to the membership, and the meeting-house was enlarged at a cost of $30,000. After two years as pastor of the First Baptist Church, Columbia, S. C., he became chaplain of the University of Virginia. The two years at the University were thoroughly enjoyed by Dr. Wood- fin and by the people to whom he preached. Dr. Woodfin was scholarly in his aptitudes, and a great lover of books, and fond of thinking through religious and philosophical problems. One of the professors, a regular attendant upon the chapel exercises, greatly annoyed Dr. Woodfin by sitting through the sermon with his face in his hands. A tactful suggestion from Dr. Woodfin was cordially received by the distinguished teacher, who buried his face in his hands no more. He was a careful sermonizer and a graceful speaker. An extract from a tribute to him, from the pen of Dr. W. R. L. Smith, written after Dr. Wood- fin's death, may well be introduced here. Dr. Smith said :
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