USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 29
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Julia R. Carter, of Richmond, and soon after this he became pastor, in the Dover Association, of the Hebron Church, King William County. After some two years at this church he became a missionary of the State Mission Board, and, while working for the Board, organized the Baptist Church of the town of Salem. This event took place on May 29, 1870. After a sermon by Rev. Gabriel Gray, eighteen persons, seven male and eleven female, went into the organization of the church, adopting their covenant, rules of order and decorum, and electing their officers. H. D. D. Straton was elected pastor, Jno. M. Harlowe, clerk, and Jno. M. Evans, treasurer. On November 12, 1870, Mr. Straton resigned the care of the Salem Church. Seven years were now spent in Ken- tucky, his field being Taylorsville, Buck Creek, and Henderson, in Kentucky, and Evansville, in Indiana. In 1878 he accepted a call to Greensboro, Ga., one Sunday each month being given to Bairdstown. From this field he went to the pastorate of the First Church, Monroe, Ga. And from Monroe he moved to Atlanta, being pastor in that city first of the Jones Avenue Church and then of the Central Avenue Church. He died at Monti- cello, January 31, 1897. Rev. John Roach Straton, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist Church, Norfolk, Va., is his son.
RICHARD HENRY EDMONDS 1831-1858
Two old daguerreotypes and a diary kept for some three years are as windows to the character and brief career of Richard Henry Edmonds. One of these pictures was taken when he was about eighteen and the other when he was twenty-three years old. They show a mass of soft hair, a forehead of unusual height and width, and full, lustrous eyes. The mouth is large and well shaped, and about the whole face there is an expres- sion of blended gentleness and intelligence. Sweetness and guilelessness are in every lineament. The diary, begun when he was nineteen, reminds one of David Brainerd and other men famous for their piety, for it abounds in humble contrition for sin and cries for cleans- ing. Indeed, so strong are the words of self-depreciation and accusation that by themselves they would describe a desperately wicked man. The face that looks out from the old pictures contradicts such an opinion. So we are led to believe in his piety. In this diary he declares that his "standard of piety is too low," and that he feels, "to a lamentable extent, that all is not right within," and that one night he was "beset and well-nigh overthrown by a well-timed temptation from the adversary" of his soul. He "experiences great spiritual darkness," and records his wicked transactions of the day "with shame, with sorrow, and with bitter reflections." He is "pestered" as to the question of young ladies' society, whether it is not hurtful to the spiritual life. Yet at this time he was attending church regularly, usually three times on Sunday, was often the leader of the sunrise prayer-meeting, was a teacher in the Sunday school, and
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one of a group of young men who organized a Young Men's Missionary Society. He was in the habit of visiting the sick and of talking with the unconverted about their souls' welfare. All this time he was engaged in a business that gave him his living, but where he was surrounded by men who were very profane. Before the diary closes the question of his giving up his business to prepare for the ministry was a burning issue. On Octo- ber 13, 1850, he was licensed by his church to preach, and in Norfolk and elsewhere, although he had had no college or theological training, he often proclaimed the glad tid- ings of salvation.
As a boy, in his native county of Lancaster, he made a profession of religion, and at the age of thirteen was baptized by Rev. Addison Hall. Afterwards he was not sure whether this experience was genuine, but later, in Norfolk, he made a surrender to Christ, the genuineness of which he never questioned. During his life in Nor- folk, while an apprentice to a Mr. Hall, he came into intimate touch with the Rev. Dr. Charles R. Hendrick- son, who had been called to the First Baptist Church, his church, in 1846. He also heard such men as Rev. Reuben Jones, Dr. Tiberius Gracchus Jones, and Dr. Kirk preach, and usually he set down the texts of the sermons. While he was at work at his daily business he also gave himself to study. His older brother, now a capable lawyer in Texas, says that in those days, when they studied together, the younger lad got in one night what it took the older a week to acquire. The father died when young Edmonds was just a lad, and he came to Norfolk and went to work. During these years the city, visited and desolated by the cholera, one fourth day of August gave itself to fasting and prayer. This observance, as well as the celebration of the anniversary of the battle of Yorktown and the commemoration of the death of the Ex-President, J. K. Polk, might well
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make a deep impression on this youth. He heard of the death, by cholera, of his brother, and in his diary recorded the hope that he was "ready to go into the mar- riage supper of the Lamb." At another place he records the conversion of another brother. While he never came to be the regular pastor of any church, his love for preaching is distinctly seen in the way that he preached even when his business engaged his time day after day. Towards the close of his diary, again and again he speaks of having preached. Indeed, he was pressed by the ques- tion whether he ought not to be a missionary to the Indians. His health, that showed signs of giving way, added another factor in the problem as to his duty, he was trying to solve.
He was never to come to the full service of a minister of the gospel, yet the message of his brief life is clear and strong for devotion to God and for purity and prayer. In such a busy day as the one in which we live, such a call to consecration may well be heeded. Since there was no line of vessels making between Norfolk and Lancaster, his boyhood home, he fell on the habit of traveling the sixty or more miles across the wild, and often stormy, Chesapeake Bay, in a little sailboat, all by himself. A night and a day on the Bay in this boat, where, being becalmed, he was exposed to the hot sun and then to the cool night, brought on the illness of which, in a few weeks, he died.
His parents were Rev. Elias and Anna Lackey Edmonds. He was born January 19, 1831. On Decem- ber 1, 1852, he was married by Rev. Reuben Jones to Miss Mary Eliza Ashley, daughter of William and Mary Elizabeth Ashley. Three children were born of this union, namely: William Henry, Mary Elizabeth, and Richard Hathaway. Mr. Edmonds died in Norfolk on July 23, 1858, and almost forty years afterwards, on March 28, 1898, his widow followed him to the grave.
JAMES D. COLEMAN
-1878
On November 21, 1878, Rev. James D. Coleman was suddenly called away by death. "The last act of his earthly life was to walk in the garden and gather some flowers, and then he returned to the house and went into his chamber, threw himself on the bed, died instantly, and went into the paradise of God to gather fruit from the tree of life, which grows on either side of the river of life." He was the son of Thomas B. and Elizabeth Cole- man (née Coghill), and was born, it seems, at "Concord Farm," Caroline County, Virginia. The place where Concord Academy was located was an estate of 1,600 acres. Here Mr. Coleman lived and farmed for many years, owning a number of slaves. In Caroline County his work as a minister of the gospel was done. In this county he was pastor of these five churches: Carmel, Bethel, Bethesda, Liberty, and Round Oak. As early as 1855 he was pastor of the first of these churches, with its 508 members. Of the second of these churches he was pastor for over twenty-five years, and of the other three for many years.
Rev. T. S. Dunaway knew Mr. Coleman for more than a decade, having been associated with him in protracted meetings, and having spent days at a time in Mr. Cole- man's home. He wrote, after Mr. Coleman's death, a sketch of him for the Religious Herald. In this sketch he said : "As a man, in his physique, he was a noble speci- men of the race. Unusually tall, well proportioned and erect, his personal presence was most commanding. In almost any assembly, however large or distinguished, he
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would have been a marked and an observed man. He looked like one of nature's noblemen, born for a leader and ruler. In his deportment he was dignified and polite, unostentatiously impressing himself upon you as a cul- tured gentleman. In character and temperament he was frank, sanguine, and resolute. He was a man of deep convictions, strong will, and inflexible purpose. He could not be swerved from any purpose or opinion except by convincing his judgment. All his traits of character were of the positive sort. Bold and ingenuous, he was incapable of dissembling. While by nature made of the 'sterner stuff' of which martyrs are made, yet, under the softening touch of divine grace, he had a tender heart, an affectionate disposition, and a warm and sympathetic manner. He had great confi- dence in the efficacy of prayer, and loved the mercy-seat. In a word, he was a consecrated man. One of his most intelligent church members writes of him thus: 'For the past twelve years he has neglected his farm and all worldly interests and devoted himself exclusively to his ministerial duties. His favorite themes were faith in Christ and the atonement so full and so complete.' · All of his sermons, which were methodically arranged, showed study, thought, and great familiarity with the Bible and other books. His preaching was well adapted both to edify Christians and to awaken sinners. He frequently held protracted meetings in his own churches without any ministerial aid, and generally with great success in winning souls to Christ. He was ardently attached to his members. The sick were visited by him, and to the afflicted he adminis- tered consolation. It was at the bedside of a dying woman that he was attacked with the disease from which he never recovered. He went, the next day, the fourth Sunday in December, 1877, and preached, in great
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pain, the last sermon he ever delivered, which was one of unusual unction and power. Elder Coleman wielded a mighty influence in his immediate field of labor and in the Goshen Association, over which he presided as moderator for nine consecutive years. Had he sought a more prominent place in the denomination and a more extended influence, and attended more frequently our general meetings, his talents and piety would have secured for him a place among the foremost of the Bap- tist ministers of the South."
CHARLES HILL RYLAND 1836-1914
The first building at Westhampton, the home of Greater Richmond College, formally named by the Trustees, perpetuates the memory of the first President of the College, and of Charles Hill Ryland. In the last article that Dr. Ryland ever wrote for publication he told how Robert Burns, upon entering a new home, had the little servant go in first, bearing a bowl of salt and the big Bible, and suggested "that the formality of the opening at Westhampton include a revival of this unique old Scottish ceremony; that some servant of the corporation be commissioned to bear through the open portals of the new home a copy of the Bible, which is the source book of all true wisdom, and a bowl of salt, representing the preserving grace of God, while a proud and rejoicing throng of officers, faculty, students, and other representa- tives of the great family of interested friends, shall take possession of the Temple of Learning, in the name of our Lord." And to a loved one he said: "I would love to bear them, when we move." But it was not to be so. Just a few weeks before the first session began at West- hampton he passed away. It would have been fortunate if he could have seen the work as it started as the new site, for, with all his associations with the past, he was deeply interested in the plans for larger things. Still, in a way, it was significant that his life closed exactly with the close of the career of the College at the old location. For forty years he served Richmond College with loyal heart and willing hands. In 1874 he was elected to the position of Secretary and Treasurer of the College, and
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this position he laid down after thirty-seven years; but until the end of his life he continued with the institution that he loved so well, being still Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Librarian of the College.
While Dr. Ryland will be remembered for many other things his name will be forever especially associated with Richmond College. He was deeply interested in the stu- dents and was greatly beloved by them. Many of them counted his influence in their lives one of the best assets that their college days gave them. In 1913 the Spider, the College annual, was dedicated to him, the dedication telling of how "by his strong character, his wisdom, his great practical ability, and his unfailing Christian courtesy" he won "the love and confidence of thousands of men and women in and out of Virginia," and of how he daily illustrated to many generations of college stu- dents "the shining virtues of noble living, unflagging energy, clear and sound thinking, and unselfish devotion to the cause of Christian Education." His career as Treasurer was a most remarkable one. The tragic story of institutions of learning where mistakes have been made in financial policy, and where bad investments have proved fatal, stands in marked contrast to the history in these matters for forty years of Richmond College, and this wonderful record was in no small part due to the devotion, the painstaking care, and the sound judgment of Dr. Ryland. Practically not a dollar was lost in all these years. It was an interesting occasion when, at the close of his treasureship, he handed over to Mr. B. West Tabb, his successor, the securities of the College. The transfer took a whole day. There were present, besides the outgoing and the incoming treasurers, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the College, the President of the College, and an expert accountant of the American Audit Company. "The conscientious fidelity of the
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chairman and the accuracy of the accountant would have satisfied the Treasury of the United States. Every separate paper was opened and scrutinized. It was a pleasure also to see the scrupulous care with which all the securities of the College had been kept. Every bond was in its proper place, every coupon was accounted for, and all books balanced to the cent." When Dr. Ryland had taken charge, the assets of the College were so much smaller that the transfer was a simple matter. When Dr. Ryland became treasurer, the Endowment Fund of the College was $75,000, and when he laid down the work, it was $640,000. While Dr. Ryland was ever the friend of progress and enlargement in the work of the College, he never was willing to set such a pace as to jeopardize the resources of the College, or to threaten a sound financial basis. Again and again in the meetings of the Trustees his voice sounded out this note. While constantly careful about these great matters he had time and thought for things seemingly, in comparison, unim- portant, and yet not unimportant. His record of the meetings of the Trustees of the College was full and accurate. At the Commencement of the College in June, 1907, through Dr. I. B. Lake the College was presented by some of its friends with an oil portrait of Dr. Ryland. The College was always on Dr. Ryland's heart, and the last thing that he ever wrote for publication was a brief summary of some important events in the history of the College, and at the time of his death he was at work upon an historical sketch of the College, and a brief biography of Dr. Robert Ryland.
Not alone in the life of the College did the influence of Dr. Ryland count among Virginia, and Southern Baptists, for good. Before going to the College, and during most of his years there, he wrought as a pastor and preacher. He was sent forth into the ministry by his mother church, Bruington, King and Queen County,
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being ordained May 30, 1863. The presbytery was com- posed of these ministers : Richard Hugh Bagby, Andrew Broaddus, J. R. Garlick, J. H. Fox, and Alfred Bagby. A letter from the first of these ministers had urged the young man to consider the claims of the ministry, and this letter had had a sympathetic reply, and doubtless had no little to do with the life choice he made. Before his ordination he went, first as a missionary from Bruington to the Confederate Army, and then served as colporteur for the Army Colportage Board until the War closed. In 1865 he became pastor of Carmel Church, Caroline County, an organization that was once known as "Burrus," and, at even an earlier date, as Polecat. He gave up this field to take charge of the Baptist Sunday School work of the State, and from December, 1869, to January 17, 1874, was the beloved and successful pastor of the First Baptist Church in Alexandria, succeeding in this place Rev. E. J. Willis, and being followed by Rev. W. S. Penick. In 1870 Dr. Richard Hugh Bagby died, and Bruington "promptly and persistently" called Dr. Ryland to be their pastor. This and other calls to Selma, Leigh Street (Richmond), and Atlanta he declined. In 1879, in connection with his work at the College, he be- came pastor of the Taylorsville Church. After some nine years he gave up the Taylorsville Church, but continued to serve the Walnut Grove Church. In 1907, when he resigned this church after a pastorate of twenty-five years, the gift of a loving-cup gave expression to the devotion of this people. Dr. Ryland was always an in- teresting and forceful speaker and a good preacher. Rev. S. M. Province tells of a sermon that Dr. Ryland preached in 1867 at the Lebanon Association from the text : "In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain ?" (Psalm 11:1), which proved "one of the great hours" of this hearer's
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life. Another sermon that Dr. Ryland preached was epochal in the history of Virginia Baptists. It was the introductory sermon before the General Association in 1882. The year before Dr. Ryland had been chairman of a committee of twenty-two appointed "to devise plans for securing more active cooperation between churches, District Associations, and this body." The sermon led to the establishment of the Committee on Cooperation, a committee that has meant so much for the development of Virginia Baptists along the lines of beneficence. A resolution offered by Dr. Ryland, at the General Asso- ciation in Staunton, in 1873, led to the "Memorial Move- ment" of 1873. An address before the Alumni led to his being called to become Financial Secretary ; and this office he accepted, taking up its work January, 1874. Dr. Beale called attention, in his obituary, to the fact that Dr. Ryland was the founder of the Virginia Baptist His- torical Society, and from 1881 until his death its secre- tary, and then said : "He did more for the discovery and preservation of the materials of our denominational his- tory than any other man of his day. He was more active than any other in inducing churches to observe centennial services with a view to compiling and placing on record the events of their history; he was instrumental in securing, in connection with the General Association, perhaps all the strictly historical meetings that have been held. His devotion to the work burned like a holy fire on the altar of his heart, till strength and life failed him, and the future historian of Virginia Baptists will pause at times amidst his toilsome task to take heart over the help received from him, and to breathe a grateful bene- diction on the name of Charles Hill Ryland." Dr. Ry- land was a safe and helpful counselor, and many sought his advice, believing at once in his ability to see a question from all sides, and in his sincerity and unselfishness. A certain Baptist pastor went to him at a crisis in his life, and came away from the interview helped, and more than
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ever assured of the guidance that God gives to those who want to walk in the way the Heavenly Father would have them go. Once in the early ministry of Dr. Ryland, as he and the family of a brother preacher were leaving the train at Variety Springs, in the Blue Ridge Moun- tains, if it had not been for his quick grasp, a little daughter of the other preacher would have rolled down a steep embankment ; this seems a simple incident, but it has its lesson: Dr. Ryland went through life reaching out the kindly hand of help.
Dr. Ryland was born at Norwood, King and Queen County, Virginia, January 22, 1836, his parents being Samuel Peachy and Catherine Gaines Hill Ryland. After attending Fleetwood Academy he entered Rich- mond College in 1854. From Richmond College he passed to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in 1859, being one of the ten men whom Virginia sent to this the first session of the Seminary .* On January 11, 1911, Founders' Day, Dr. Ryland delivered an ad- dress, at Louisville, to the Seminary students and Faculty, "Recollections of the First Year of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary." In this address he told of how the students had great discussions as to who was the better preacher, Dr. Williams or Dr. Broadus. One Sun- day, when these two men were supplying the Greenville Church pulpit, Dr. Ryland's roommate, J. D. Witt, came back from the night service, having heard both these professors that day, and said: "Oh, Ryland, they beat each other every time." One morning Dr. Boyce's class in Systematic Theology was late. They explained that they had not had any breakfast, but that they had come anyhow. Dr. Boyce said they had done well to come, then excused himself for a few moments, and then the lesson went on. At the end of the hour, Dr. Boyce invited them into the next room, where he had
*See list of these students, p. 161.
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for them a delightful breakfast from his own table. Dr. Ryland was married on October 28, 1869, to Miss Alice Marion Garnett, the daughter of Dr. John Muscoe Garnett, of "Lanefield," King and Queen County. Dr. Ryland died August 1, 1914, at his home, Richmond. The funeral service that was held at the home was con- ducted by Rev. Dr. W. W. Landrum. Dr. Landrum began his remarks with these words: "Nearly eighty years of unsullied life and unselfish service." The burial was in Hollywood. On Sunday, November 15, 1914, a memorial service was held at Richmond College, when President F. W. Boatwright, Mr. George T. Terrill (one of the students), and Dr. R. H. Pitt spoke, and Hon. J. Taylor Ellyson read resolutions adopted by the Board of Trustees. Dr. Ryland's wife and these children survive him: Julia Brooke (Mrs. Ryland Knight), Annie E. (Mrs. James Hoge Ricks), Marion Garnett, Garnett, S. P. Ryland, III; C. H., Jr .; John M. Garnett.
Dr. Beale, in his obituary read before the General As- sociation in Bristol, said: "Dr. Ryland was most efficient and valuable, not with respect only to the management and prudent use of the funds committed to his care, but also to those endeavors, methods, and policies whereby additional funds might be secured. Not in the public canvasses, which augmented the revenues of the College, merely, but in private ways by word and by letter, he rendered aid in this matter.
"His eye was on the grounds and buildings for their care and preservation from defacement or injury ; his hand was busy in the arrangement, classification, and protection of the Library, and was not less so with respect to the portraits, the specimens, and other treasures of the museum. In fact, over the College and all its equipment, everywhere, his spirit brooded with a loving and un- wearied interest. He stood as a sentinel on the high tower of our educational wall, ever on the alert, ever watchful to the last."
ROBERT JOSIAH WILLINGHAM 1854-1914
Dr. George Mosse, an Irishman and a graduate of the University of Dublin, married Miss Phœbe Norton, of St. Helena Island, S. C., and a daughter of this union, Miss Jane, became the wife of Benjamin Themistocles Lawton. A daughter of Mr. Lawton, Miss Phœbe, be- came the wife of Thomas Willingham, and these were the parents of Benjamin Lawton Willingham. In 1848 Mr. Benjamin Lawton Willingham was married to Miss E. M. Baynard, the daughter of a wealthy planter of Beaufort, S. C. Her mother was a noble Christian woman, and her life useful and beautiful, spent in the bosom of her family. Miss Baynard was educated at Beaufort and Charleston, and at the age of fourteen was baptized by Dr. Richard Fuller. She was a woman of "marked intelligence and deep piety." Her home was her kingdom, she was the companion of her children, and, though gentle, her wish was law. Her husband was a remarkable man. He was a native of Beaufort District, South Carolina, and was educated at the South Carolina Military School, Charleston. He became a man of striking personality, strong will, a leader of men, a tower of strength in his church, respected and esteemed by his community. To this husband and wife nine sons and four daughters were born. The third son of this large family, Robert Josiah, first saw the light May 15, 1854, in Beaufort District, South Carolina. About a year after this event the family moved to Allendale, Barnwell County, and here, save for brief intervals, the early years of Robert Willingham were spent. "Gravel Hill," the Willingham residence, near Allendale, was a
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