USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 26
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"What a preacher! Not for occasions, which hampered him by inevitable artificiality, but for the usual and quiet ministration. A wizard was he in capturing the hidden meanings of a passage. His interpreting faculty gave challenge to a text like a spiritual bandit; his analysis was a divine surgery, and the sermon structure was a gem of the homiletic art. Ah, there was a sermonizer whose craftsmanship was the despair of so many of his brethren. He was with me in meetings in Lynchburg, 1888. One discourse on 'Justification by Faith' was a masterpiece. Thought, passion, and diction blended in triumphant oratory. Uncommon power was on him, and he carried the burden of great ideas with the agility and grace of an athlete. It was one of the rarest sermons I ever heard."
From the University, Dr. Woodfin returned to Ala- bama, becoming pastor of the First Baptist Church, of Montgomery. From here he moved, in 1884, to Hamp- ton, where he remained for some twenty years as pastor of the Baptist Church of that town. This was the longest and perhaps the most useful of his several pastorates. When he went to Hampton the church reported a mem- bership of 142, and before he left the enrollment had reached the high mark of 40S. Failing health made it necessary for him to take a field where the burdens were less heavy, and so he accepted a call to Waynesboro, a beautiful town in the Valley of Virginia. This was his last pastorate. After some eight years here he was obliged to give up active work. A surgical operation was not thoroughly successful, and the three remaining years were full of suffering, but he was patient to the end. Much of this time he spent in the home of his son, Mr. G. W. Woodfin, in Atlanta. Here his summons to depart came December 24, 1913. According to his request his body was laid to rest in the East Hill Ceme-
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tery, Salem, Va. His wife and five children, namely : Mrs. John Lewis Cobbs, Mr. George Wyclyffe Woodfin, Mrs. Edgar Lyle Justice, Mrs. George R. Hood, and Mr. Paul Beverly Woodfin, survived him.
Besides his work for his particular church, Dr. Wood- fin took an active part in the work of the denomination. He was Vice-President of the Virginia Orphanage Trustees, a member of the Educational Commission, and, in 1909, Vice-President of the General Association of Virginia. He was a Mason. He loved his brethren, and was fond of their company. He was genial, and ready to hear and to tell a good story. To quote again from Dr. Smith: "His presence was sunshine, his mind was intellectual keenness, and his heart was a magazine of human charities. He was the type of man who com- mands confidence to the end, and for whom admiration never limps. He was more diffident than his abilities justified. The nature of his high endowment would easily have sustained more self-assertion." He greatly admired the noble women whom he knew, and was always a favorite with the women. This does not mean that he was not vigorous in thought and fearless in his contention for the truth, for he was; but he was courtly in his grace and gentle in word and manner, and he was comely in person, and always most scrupulously neat and careful in his dress. Yet he was always popular with men, and held his own in a gathering of men, whether it was with timely anecdote or able discussion. His power as a preacher has already been mentioned, but it may be well to quote yet another testimony on this matter. Dr. C. T. Herndon, in his obituary, says : "Dr. Woodfin was a preacher of unusual ability. He had a strong and well-furnished mind. He thought clearly and had the power to express his thoughts in lucid and strong English. He loved to preach, and was a tire- less sermon maker."
JAMES MAGRUDER THOMAS 1862-1914
On the long roll of beloved Baptist preachers the name of Rev. James Magruder Thomas is affectionately and with tender memories revered by those who knew him best. James Magruder Thomas was born January 25, 1862, at Severn, Va., and died at Zanoni, Va., January 14, 1914. Between these years the impress of his charac- ter, so full of generosity, courtesy, and cheer, is indelibly written on the hearts of loving relatives and a broad circle of admiring friends. Most of his life was lived in the immediate section of lower Gloucester County, Vir- ginia. Brother Thomas always smilingly informed strangers that he came from "Guinea," and with mingled pride and humor he told of this native homeland.
Provincially, "Guinea" is known as the fishermen's country, down in Tidewater where the salt tides indent the shores. The broad York River, the Mobjack Bay, and the Severn River hem in these folks, and habitually the men follow the water as naturally as the fish swim to and fro. In the Severn River section the Thomas family is most prominent. For many generations their success and their homes here have made them well known. Of all the salt-water fishermen, Captain James Thomas, father of Rev. J. M. Thomas, is to-day remem- bered as the most prosperous. His family consisted of twelve children, five girls and seven sons. In time Brother Jim's six brothers followed the water, he alone choosing a different career. So handsome in appearance, so courtly in manner, in early manhood he was familiarly referred to as "good-looking Jim"-an epitaph which
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followed among his friends during a lifetime. He was a gentleman "to the manner born," his tastes were æsthetic, his mind alert and appreciative as a student. His fondness for books, for music, and study forecast his life work. Who knows but that his ideals were wrought in the little one-room schoolhouse, taught "in the long ago" by Miss Alice J. Thornton, a faithful, untiring teacher, whom lower Gloucester County may wisely honor for her sacrifice to those students who in later years have become prominent in citizenship! Near by this old school stands Union Baptist Church-both strong factors in the educational and spiritual development of James M. Thomas. There is doubt of whether any serious love affair marked his life. He was a gifted singer, and at one time a favorite daughter of a Baptist pastor and young Jim were often thought to have been sweethearts. She presided at the church organ and he led in the singing. Since Brother Thomas never married there is no one to know if his heart's love was ever lost or won.
When he was a splendid boy of fourteen years of age he accepted Christ as his Saviour. His baptism took place a few miles from his home at Sagey Creek, an inlet of York River, in August, 1876. He united with Union Baptist Church and was long an esteemed member in Gloucester County, Virginia. During a tent-meeting held by the Friends' Holiness Association during the summer of 1899, scores of church members made new consecration, and Brother James Thomas declared at these humble services he heard the call to preach the gospel. Following his conviction, in 1900 Brother Thomas entered Richmond College, where he remained two years. In 1902 he entered the Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., and received his first call to preach in 1903. In 1905 he was ordained at Louisville,
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Ky., accepting the work of Nansemar Baptist Church and the chapels in Charles County, Maryland.
On the third Sunday in June, 1913, Brother Thomas was taken ill-paralyzed-and fell in the pulpit after preaching his sermon. Continuing sick until January 3, 1914, at his sister's home (Mrs. R. C. Smith) at Zanoni, in Gloucester County, he died. The simple funeral services were conducted by Rev. S. T. Habel, then pastor of Union Baptist Church, and the beloved form was laid away in the shadow of the old church he cherished in "Guinea"-the scene of happy boyhood days.
Daisy Rowe Craig.
JOSEPH FRANCIS BILLINGSLEY 1839-1913
John Ashcum Billingsley was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, April 24, 1770, and died at his home, "Salem," in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, August 1, 1837. His son, John Ashcum Billingsley, was born at "Salem" on February 11, 1817, and died April 12, 1893. Joseph Francis Billingsley, one of sixteen children, was the son of John Ashcum Billingsley and his second wife, who was, before her marriage, Miss Johnson. He was born at "Salem," February 10, 1839. These three men, of three generations, were Baptist preachers. A sketch of the first of this trio is found in the "Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers," First Series, and in the Fourth Series is a sketch of the second, and now, accord- ing to the prophecy in the Fourth Series, here is a sketch of the third.
With such an ancestry and brought up in an atmos- phere of piety, it is not surprising that Joseph Francis Billingsley became a member of Hebron Church at the age of ten and later an earnest preacher. Dr. Beale says that "in the homes in which his early years were spent the altar of prayer was sacredly maintained and the Bible was daily read." From the vicinity of King George Court House, where much of his early life was passed, he went to reside in Washington City. While living there, although not ordained to the gospel ministry, he "engaged actively in evangelistic services, often exhort- ing crowds on the street." In 1895 he returned to Vir- ginia to live, making his home in Westmoreland County with two of his married daughters. On October 1, 1898,
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he was licensed to preach by the Pope's Creek Baptist Church, and on November 26, 1899, was ordained at the Hebron Baptist Church. On this occasion the presbytery was composed of these ministers: Rev. Dr. L. J. Haley, Rev. W. J. Decker, and Rev. E. P. Hawkins. His work as a preacher was done in the Hermon Association, where he was pastor, first and last, of these churches : Belle Air, Travelers' Rest, Providence, Mt. Hermon, and Mt. Horeb. The last years of his life were spent in the Northern Neck of Virginia, where he preached as oppor- tunity offered and rendered other ministerial services. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Belfield, at Stratford, Va., December 26, 1913, and the body was laid to rest at Providence Methodist Episcopal Church, Westmoreland County, Virginia. At the very time of his death the funeral of his brother, a gallant Confeder- ate captain, was taking place in an adjoining county.
Of Mr. Billingsley, Dr. Beale says: "As a speaker he was clear, entertaining, and effective, and possessed a commanding and vigorous fervor and a distinct and resonant voice. He was wont to carry with him, as a sort of vade mecum, a scrapbook in which were recorded incidents which he might use in his sermons, impressive illustrations, and literary gems." He was tall and of heavy build. His manner was quick and alert. He was a man of strong will and stern demeanor, yet his was a loving disposition. He had a keen sense of humor and knew how to rise above the petty annoyances of life. He was generous almost to a fault, and a self-sacrificing and loving father. He was of strong likes and dislikes, and was fearless in his denunciation of that which he did not approve. He was most loyal to his friends and charitable to those whose ways he did not endorse. He was a typical man's man, his few faults serving as a back- ground to bring out more fully his excellent traits.
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His wife, to whom he was married on November 4, 1856, and who survived him, was, before her marriage, Miss Almira Virginia Price, daughter of Abner B. Price. Of the seven children of this marriage, three, namely : Almira Virginia, Frank Connor, and Mary Mildred (wife of James T. Trew, Baynesville, Va.), have passed away. Those still living are Laura Kate, the wife of George W. Henderson, Washington, D. C .; Clara Belle, the wife of David C. Belfield, Stratford, Va .; Leslie Ogle, Washington; Chastain M., Philadelphia.
GEORGE COOPER 1841-1914
"Scotland and Canada bore him, England and Vir- ginia received him, Philadelphia, 'The City of Brotherly Love,' holds him." On December 27, 1812, near the village of Dunse, Berwickshire, Scotland, James Cooper was born. After having been for seven years an appren- tice at the cabinet-maker's trade, in the town of Kelso, where the saintly Horatius Bonar lived, he moved to Edinburgh. Here he decided to become a minister, and here he was married, in 1839, to Miss Jessie Sutherland. The next year, his views as to baptism having changed, he left the Presbyterian Church, and in September, 1840, was baptized in the Charlotte Chapel by Rev. Christopher Anderson, author of the "Annals of the English Bible." On the tenth day of the following December there was born to Mr. Cooper and his wife a son, who was given his grandfather's name, George. After having pursued his studies for several years, part of this time sitting at the feet of the famous Sir William Hamilton, in 1843 Mr. Cooper emigrated to Canada. Here he spent thirty- six years, being a successful and esteemed pastor and leader among the Canadian Baptists, and then, having returned to his native land, on Sunday, January 16, 1881, he passed away.
At Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, where his father had much to do with the establishment of Woodstock College, George Cooper was converted, and baptized by his father, December 27, 1857. Here there began a friendship between John Peddie, one of the elder Cooper's students, and George Cooper, a friendship which was to last
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through the years and until broken by death. From Woodstock young Cooper passed to Toronto University, where he graduated, and was the medalist in the Greek and Latin classics. In pursuance of his plan to make teaching his life work, he became a tutor in this Uni- versity, under Dr. McCaul, but in July, 1864, in one week his mother and little sister, Maggie, were laid low in death, and this bitter experience led the young man to turn his mind towards the ministry. Madison (now Col- gate) University, Hamilton, N. Y., became his theo- logical alma mater, and after graduating there, on June 1, 1866, he was ordained at North Attleboro, Mass. Here he began his work as pastor, and on June 12, 1867, was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Cole, of South Niagara Falls, Canada, the daughter of Jesse and Ann Hughes Cole. From Attleboro he passed to the pastor- ate of the Baptist Church at Gloversville, N. Y., and then, after serving the First Church (now Epiphany), West Philadelphia, and the Williamsport (Pennsylvania ) Church, on the second Sunday in June, 1885, he became pastor of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va.
His Richmond pastorate, which continued until the last Sabbath of December, 1903, covered the years of Dr. Cooper's vigorous manhood and was the most dis- tinguished service of his ministry. "Throughout this long and exacting pastorate, and with conspicuous zeal and devotion, Dr. Cooper cheerfully and vigilantly shepherded his large flock, literally knowing and calling each by name. Though he visited and ministered to his own people in season and out of season, and to an extent that greatly taxed his time and energy, his warm and sympathetic heart could not resist the appeals, voiceless, often, of sickness, distress, and sorrow, though they came from the community at large. His prayers at the bedside of the sick, and on the occasions of the last sad offices.
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for the dead, were impressively and inimitably tender and felicitous." The First Baptist Church is one of the most historic among the Baptist churches of the South. It was founded in 1780, and has had as pastors dis- tinguished men ; to have served such a church faithfully for almost two decades is indeed a worthy record.
In the denominational life of Virginia, Dr. Cooper bore an active part. Only a few weeks after his pastor- ate at the First Church began, he made an address at the Richmond Sunday School Association at Leigh Street to the children, "using a wordless book with four leaves- black, red, white, and gold-with which he symbolized the blackness of sin, the cleansing blood of Christ, the whiteness of redeemed souls, and the golden streets, crowns, and harps of the heavenly home." Not long after this, at the annual meeting of the Dover Association at Liberty Church, New Kent County, he took part in the discussions and preached "at the stand." For years he was a member of the Foreign Mission Board and Chairman of the Committee on China Missions. He was President of the State Mission Board and a member of the Richmond College Board of Trustees. He was closely connected with the establishment of the Baptist Orphanage of Virginia, being the chairman of a com- mittee appointed, upon his resolution, "to secure an expression on the subject from the various churches and Associations represented in this body, receive bids for location, hold in trust moneys and other contributions, and report to the next meeting of this Association such conclusions and plans as may be deemed by them wise and necessary to the end proposed." This was an impor- tant step in the establishment of the Orphanage, and on July 1, 1892, the institution was opened at Salem. Besides the work Dr. Cooper did in Virginia, he was on the governing boards of Bucknell University and Crozer
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Theological Seminary, and took part in the work of the Southern Baptist Convention; he was the preacher of the Convention sermon at the session in Louisville, in 1887.
From a boy he was fond of a horse, and while he lived in Virginia he often spent his vacation, or a good part of it, on a horseback tour through the mountains. On these trips he had many amusing experiences. Since he was attired in "short riding trousers, a wide-brimmed hat," and wore no coat, there was nothing to indicate that he was a preacher, and to his great amusement he was taken "for a drummer, a fruit-tree seller, a guano man, a col- porteur, and a city tramp." On these trips he usually preached every Sunday, and on one trip, when he traveled three hundred and fifty miles, and when he was gone five Sundays, he preached twice every Sunday, save one. With all of his fondness for out-of-doors life, and his wonderful activity as a pastor, he was still a student with scholarly aptitudes. Dr. John Gordon said of him that "as a Greek scholar he had few peers," and told how a few weeks before his death he wrote to him, saying: "Please go into your Greek lexicon (mine are all boxed up) and get for me the history and use of this word. I had rather have it than the best meal they can give me." Once in the Richmond Baptist Ministers' Con- ference the discussion was about the "Public Reading of the Scripture," and the paper was read by Dr. Cooper. After he read his paper, which "was a masterpiece," he seemed surprised when the ministers all agreed that he was "exceptionally skillful and impressive in the reading of the Bible." Dr. Cooper was warm-hearted, cordial in his manner, and companionable. Nor did he win the esteem of those of his own denomination only. Upon his resignation at Jenkintown, Pa., the rector of the Episcopal Church wrote to express his regret. In his
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letter he said: "You have been a leader and father to us, and your special place simply can not be filled. I have to think of the gap it means in our common work for our Master in this community, but at least there is the memory left of a most perfect and delightful coopera- tion-of that kind that ought to be always, but that too often human nature and perhaps the odium theologicum, too, prevent." After Dr. Cooper's death Dr. Strand, the Catholic priest in the same city, spoke beautifully from the pulpit about him and asked his congregation to remember him in their prayers.
After resigning the First Church, Richmond, Dr. . Cooper was pastor for a season at Media, Pa., and then came his last charge, which covered over seven years, at Jenkintown. In the fall of 1912 his health began to fail. After a trip to Montreal, Quebec, and Lake George, walking, of which exercise he had always been very fond, quickly fatigued him, and he complained of pain in his limbs. Neither a specialist nor a sanitarium in Atlantic City brought relief, and when he wanted to go to Ber- muda, the doctors deeming this unwise, Richmond was decided on. Here, in the home of his son, Mr. J. Homer Cooper, he passed from earth, on January 19, 1914. Funeral services were held in the First Church, Rich- mond, and in the Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Phila- delphia. In Richmond the services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Geo. W. McDaniel and Rev. Dr. James Nelson. In Philadelphia the exercises were conducted by these ministers : George D. Adams, A. J. Rowland, Charles Hastings Dodd, J. G. Walker, John Gordon, David Spencer, George Young, and Mr. David P. Leas.
Dr. Cooper is survived by his wife and three of his children, namely: James Homer Cooper, Mrs. Walter Sebastian, and George Cooper, Jr. A daughter, Lelia, died in 1875.
WILLIAM BONNIE DAUGHTRY 1874-1914
On June 13, 1874, at Franklin, Va., William Bonnie Daughtry was born, his parents being Thomas Daughtry and Cherry Carr. At the early age of about ten he united with the church, and when only sixteen years old was Superintendent of the Sunday school. He spent four sessions at Richmond College and two at Crozer Theo- logical Seminary, graduating at Crozer in 1901. On December 26, 1899, at Beaver Dam Church, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, he was ordained to the gospel ministry, the presbytery being composed of these minis- ters : J. L. Lawless, J. F. Love, J. T. Bowden, and J. E. Jones. After being pastor for some two years and four months of the Eastville and Cape Charles Churches, Accomac Association, he became pastor in the Concord and Appomattox Associations, his churches being Black- stone, Jonesboro, Burkeville, and Bagby Memorial. His next work was also in the Concord Association, and, before he left Virginia to become pastor in North Caro- lina, he served these churches, in the Concord : Meherrin, Mt. Carmel, Tussekiah, Union Grove, Victoria, and Mt. Zion. After about two years at Plymouth, N. C., he accepted the care of the church at Tarboro, N. C. He preached only one sermon at Tarboro, when he was stricken down with pneumonia, and after an illness of one week passed away. His death occurred January 15, 1914. On Saturday, January 17, the body was laid to rest at the Beaver Dam Church, near Carrsville, Va., the funeral services being conducted by these ministers : G. C. Duncan, J. T. Mccutcheon, W. T. Clark, and
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R. A. McFarland. His wife, to whom he was married November 27, 1901, and whose maiden name was Miss Della Poole (the daughter of Paschal and Henrietta Poole), and two children, William Bonnie and Henrietta, survive him. He was five feet, eleven and a half inches tall, and weighed from 165 to 175 pounds. His com- plexion was fair, his eyes and hair brown. Until his fatal illness his health was almost perfect.
JOHN RICHARD THOMAS 1850-1914
Baltimore was the birthplace and for some years the home of John Richard Thomas. He first saw the light March 5, 1850. His educational preparation for life was secured at the public schools of the city of Baltimore. He was a Christian from an early age, being very active, for some time, in the Methodist Church. About 1884 he was baptized in the Riverside Church, Baltimore, by Rev. W. J. Nicoll. He served this church for several years as a deacon, and then entered the ministry. At the age of twenty-two he was married to Miss Elizabeth Durmn. She and six children survive him. In the church where he was baptized he was ordained, on Janu- ary 8, 1893, and his first regular charge was the Nanje- moy Baptist Church, Charles County, Maryland. Here he labored successfully for more than seven years. It seems that his next field was in the Rappahannock Asso- ciation, Virginia, being composed of these churches : Colonial Beach, Potomac, and Pope's Creek. After several years he seems to have returned to Maryland, and either now, or at the earlier residence, organized the Port Tobacco Church. "Through all kinds of weather this man of God ministered to the people of that village, driving fifteen miles each way twice a month, and receiv- ing but meager financial support, but much joy in service." He was next pastor at Rio Grande, N. J., and he left this place to go to the church at East Georgia Plains, Vt. Then he returned to New Jersey, taking charge of the flock at Hornerstown. His health, which seems to have been frail, now failing, he returned to
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Colonial Beach. Here he ministered to the church once more, and then the end came, on February 3, 1914. His children are Mrs. Carrie E. Wheeler, Mrs. W. L. Southerland, Mrs. B. A. Southerland, Mr. J. R. Thomas, Jr., Prof. W. H. Thomas, and Rev. Charles E. Thomas.
GEORGE FRANKLIN WILLIAMS
1833-1914
The Gallatin family, which gave so distinguished a son to American public life, boasted an ancestry running back to A. Atilius Callatinus, who was a Roman consul in 259 B. C. The Williams family, of which George Franklin Williams was a member, traces its genealogy through the Weeks' line back to 534 A. D., Alfred the Great and others, famous in English history, being among their ancestors. Mr. Williams was descended from the early settlers of New England, and had among his for- bears these colonial governors: Hinkney, of Plymouth ; Bishop, of New Haven; Dudley and Bradstreet, of Massachusetts. Anne Dudley, the daughter of Gov. Thomas Dudley, who married Simon Bradstreet (after- wards Governor of Massachusetts), and emigrated with him to New England, wrote poems which were published in London, in 1630, under the title, "The Tenth Muse." This volume, which came out in a second edition (Boston, 1678), won for her the title of the first poetess in America. Members of the famous Cotton family, of New England, and of the Tufts family, that founded Tufts College, are also among Mr. Williams' ancestors. On the paternal side, the name John Williams runs back through four generations. His grandfather, John Wil- liams, who lived from 1775 to 1834, was instrumental in building, in his town of Goshen, a Baptist Church, which he sustained as long as he lived. His paternal grand- father, Rev. Asa Todd, who was born in New Haven in 1756, was one of the three pioneer Baptist ministers of western New England. During the week he strapped his
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