3.3./^ ^%/' PRINCETON, N. J. ^'tu Purchased by the • Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund. BX 8999 .A82 A5 1905 Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. jdy The centennial history of . 2 O < ft K 0} O ft ft 0 0 H H O ft I 0 o p: 2 C2 b > - ry^ :_ > c- G S <; -^ ^ d sA rt r" > D-i cd J 5' -: u > ui ^ 1— ^■ '7. ^ tr. ^ h^ . zn ■_^ ■p^ o - -;:; s 0 c/i >, E ^ >—> -r. :^ 1 r: S JH ^ '-J ^ Pm 2 c ^ .Sf ^ _: -^ 'X 7- "j: — " •/ ^ u > U FT^ 2; - Pi J w ^ rS -E C C^ 5 c^ 2: rt ^ -J - = 2 - ^H £ p; w F, -a o - coo t < < — c C5 5 X o 5 " tJC C ^ W > > Cl. I r- r-" ^ c; O O •^. tc < ^ 5 i; u 0 -r '^' ^ p< Pi ^ m 1?. u C > o *^ pi: ^- _' c^ '^. ^ ^- 2 ^ X ^ pp Pi - .S Pi -^ T - G P^ I i a = ^ > ^? . c; 3 '— I— ^ ^ '" '-J >■ H fe erf < xi ! pp" -y •= u = ■7. 'J ^ •^ 5 > ^ -- -J^ Pi _. Pi ^ ^ < ^ p£i pii >. rt .5 J & . > Pi Pi >. i; v (U fe n! ^ pp ■$■,.■ c b£ ^ — "7 = •£ > ^ C C- Pi § rt iJ § U G ^ t; o . ^- ^S 5 pp •i • 1- • hJ I— > rt 1 — , ^ >^ > ^5 — • 1; pp PL, J pcj Q • Q — i in (J o > Pi ii P^ O Pi '.■ w -H a; .:: 5 • ^ o "^ ^, Ph :i: p S -^ - --:! - Pi i; ^ .b & PP J O > <5 Pi 'U Pi .2 ^ 5 ^ "V^ ^ 'C ::: ^ C/2 D r- C '^ « - ~ :2 ji "^ u -^ > r- Pi 5 . pp bfi P!i -^ Pi 3: IZ l; ■" — — MAR 3 1919 The "^^G/CALSt^^^ Centennial History of the Associate iveformed x resby terian Church. 1803-1903= Prepared and Published by order of the Svuod. Charleston, S. C. Presses of Walker, Evans & Cogswell Co., 1905- PREFACE. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, at its meeting in Chester, South Carohna, November loth to 14th, 1898, appointed the Rev. James Boyce, John T. Chahiiers. D. D., and Rev. T. G. Boyce, Dr. J. I. ]\IcCain and J. E. ]\IcDonald, Esq., a committee on cen- tennial celebration. The Synod at its meeting in Char- lotte, North Carolina, the following year, adopted the re- port of this committee and among other things provided for "the publication of a centennial history, to contain sketches of all congregations and pastors in connection at any time with the Synod," and appointed the Rev. O. Y. Bonner, Rev. S. A. Agnew, D. D., and Rev. \\'. M. Hunter the editors of this volume. A^acancies on this committee have occurred from time to time. The death of Dr. Agnew and the resignation of Rev. O. Y. Bonner left only Rev. W. ]\I. Hunter as a member of the original committee. At the Synod of 1902, at Pisgah, North Carolina, the Rev. J. C. Galloway, D. D., was elected chairman of the com- mittee, and at various times the following names have been added to the committee : Rev. J. W. Baird, Rev. C. E. :\rcDonald, Reiv. J. S. ^'fiUs, Rev. J. L. Young. Rev. C. S. Young, Rev. H. B. Blakely, Rev. I. S. Caldwell and Rev. B. H. Grier. All of these brethren have done faithful work, but the patience and perseverance of the Rev. Dr. Galloway and the Rev. W. M. Hunter deserve special mention. They have been unwearied in their search for historical data and much of the completeness and historical accuracy of these sketches are due to their painstaking efforts. It is with genuine satisfaction that the volume is now offered to tlie public. Ja^ies Boyce, Chairman Publication Committee.. PREFACE. This memorial volume was prepared by order of the Synod to commemorate the centennial of the organization of the A. R. Synod of the South, the predecessor of the said Synod, the Synod of the Carolinas, having been or- ganized at the Brick Church, Fairfield Co., S. C, May the 9th, 1803. The volume contains a brief sketch of the A. R. Church, the Boards of the Church, and the various Pres- byteries. Also sketches of all licensed and ordained min- isters who have ever been in connection with the Synod, and sketches of all the congregations where such sketches were obtainable. And, finally, the various addresses which were delivered at the Centennial Synod in Winns- boro, S. C, November, 1903. It is a work which ought to have been done years ago, as much historical material is now irrecoverablv lost. J. C. Galloway, W. M. Hunter, C. E. McDonald, B. H. Grier, L S. Caldwell, \ Committee. J. S. Mills, J. W. Baird, C. S. Young, J. L. Young, N. E. Pressly, Gastonia, N. C. ^ .April 20th, 1904. INDEX. PART T. PAGE. History of the A. R. P. Church i Sketch of Board of Foreign Miissipns 6 Sketch of Board of Home Missions lO Arkansas Presbytery 12 First Presbytery 14 Georgia Presbytery 19 Kentucky Presbytery 20 Memphis Presbytery 24 Second Presbytery 27 Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery 31 Texas Presbytery 35 Tampico Presbytery 2i^ Virginia Presbytery 2)^ PART H. Sketclies of Ministers 41 PART HI. Sketclies of Congregations 407 PART IV. Centennial Addresses 615 rThe Organization. — By Rev. J. C. Galloway 615 The Men who Organized the Synod, and the Churches whicli Composed it. — By Rev. T. G. Boyce 625 X INDEX. PAGE. The Wives of the A. R. P. Ministers.— By Rev. W. M. Hunter 637 Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism in History. — By Hon. J. C. Hemphill 641 Associate Reformed Presbyterianism and Education. — By Rev. E. B. Kennedy 662 Introductory Remarks. — By Hon. J. N. Miller 640 Associate Reformed Presbyterians and Missions. — By Rev. S. W. Haddon 682 What the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Stands For.— By Rev. J. S. Moffatt 692 The Hand of God in Our History. — By Rev. W. L. Pressly 701 The Heritage our Fathers Left us. — By Rev. D. G. Phillips 716 Introductory Remarks. — By Rev. R. G. Miller 732 The Century Before us. — By Rev. W. W. Orr 733 PART I. A GENERAL SKETCH. THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTE- RIAN CHURCH.— The Associate Reformed Presbyte- rian Church is a composite body of Scottish origin, being formed by the union of the Associate and the Reformed Presbyterians. Both of these bodies came into existence in protest against corruptions in the EstabHshed Church of Scotland. \Mien Charles II. after the Restoration im- posed prelacy upon Scotland a large party in the Scotch Church true to the covenants in which they had sworn to extirpate prelacy and other evils, refused to conform. From this they were called Covenanters. By persecution the staunchest of these were driven in 1679 to armed re- sistance. Defeated and outlawed, they suffered fierce per- secution until William III. came to the throne in 1688. By him Presb}terianism was re-established in Scotland. But on account of the royal supremacy, the refusal to recognize the covenants, and the inclusion of the prelat- ists, some of the Covenanters refused to return to the Established Church. Of these was organized the Re- formed Presbytery in 1745. Events proved the wisdom of their course. The Es- tablished Church soon became corrupt in doctrine and tyrannical in government. Under the law of patronage pastors were forced on unwilling congregations. In opening the Synod of Perth and Stirling in 1732 Eben- ezer Erskine preached against these abuses and was re- buked. He and three others protested and were rebuked bv the General Assemblv. Refusing to submit, they 2 A GENERAL SKETCH. were deposed ; and soon after at Gairney Bridge, Decem- ber 6th, 1733, organized themselves into the Associate Presbytery. The presbytery thus formed grew rapidly, soon spreading to North Ireland ; whence many emigrated to America, settling principally in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Carolinas. In 1753 the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania was organized. Reformed Presbyterians had likewise early come to America and in 1774 a Re- formed Presbytery was organized near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Causes which kept Reformed and Associates sep- arate in the old country lost their meaning- in America. The movement for political union and independence, which both supported, suggested the taking of a similar ecclesiastical step. Accordingly in 1777 there were opened negotiations for union which resulted in the or- ganization of the Associate Reformed Synod in Phila- delphia, November ist, 1782. The Westminster Stand- ards were adopted, the sections concerning the civil magistrate being reserved for future revision. At the time of this union there were more than fifty societies of Associates and Covenanters south of the James River. In this wide region ministers of both bodies had labored ; missionary tours had been made by members of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. There had been one pastoral settlement. With the form- ation of two other pastorates the Associate Reformed Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia was organized at Long Cane, S. C, February 24th, 1790, with four ministers and forty-four congregations. Ten years later this presbytery was divided, forming the First and Second presbyteries of the Carolinas and Georgia. In the twenty years since its organization the growth of the Associate Reformed Synod had been such that in 1802 it was deemed expedient to resolve the body into four synods and to organize a General Synod. Accord- A GENERAL SKETCH. 3 ingly, on the 9th of May, 1803, the Associate Reformed Synod of the Carolinas was organized at Ebenezer, Fair- field county, S. C. This, with the synods of Pennsyl- vania, New York, and Scioto, organized the General Synod, May 30th, 1804. There followed five or six years of harmony, during which a theological seminary was established in New York City. Later, the govern- ment of the denomination became centralized ; the Gener- al Synod always met in Philadelphia • on account of distance the outlying synods were inadequately repre- sented. In the dominant party there developed an over- bearing spirit and a laxity of practice which kindled jealousy and suspicion. In consequence the Synod of Scioto withdrew and became independent in 1820; the Synod of the Carolinas followed, April ist, 1822, chang- ing its name to the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. That there was ground for such action was proved a few weeks later when the General Synod, disregarding the vote of its presbyteries, united with the Presbyterian Church. These events left the Associate Reformed Church in a dismembered condition, the several synods having no organic connection. In 1826 the Synod of the South made an effort to have the General Synod reorganized, and, in spite of failure, continued to cherish the hope un- til the growing alienation of the northern synods com- pelled its abandonment about ten years later. At its organization in 1803 the Synod of the Caro- linas had about two thousand members. The slow growth which characterized the next thirty years was due in part to conditions just described ; in part to the work of a closely related body, the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas, in the same field. Organized in 1803 by disaffected Associate Reformed ministers, it divided the field, rent congregations and caused a waste of energy in dissension. The more than one thousand members which it gathered should have been Associate Reformed. 4 A GENERAL SKETCH. During this period emigration to the West and Northwest also proved a constant drain. Those moving to the Northwest were lost to the Synod. The movement to what was then the West, while causing a temporary- loss, planted many new congregations and stimulated the Synod to great missionary activity. The States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky were for many years traversed at intervals by ministers on horseback gathering, organizing and holding the dispersed "Seceders" till a regular ministry could be provided. The results of this work were seen when be- tween 1837 and 1843 four new presbyteries were organ- ized in this region. This expansion increased the demand for workers • and the Synod, since 1822 an independent body, under- took to educate her own ministry. Two theological professors were elected in 1825 and served several years. In 1834 steps were taken which resulted in the estab- lishment of Erskine College four years later. In 1837 another professor of theology was elected. In no period of her history has our Church been more active and prosperous. In 1843 ^^e publication of a monthly, the "Christian Magazine of the South," was undertaken. For ten years the Associates had been returning and in 1844 the re-union was completed. The missionary spirit outgrew the wide home field. Con- tributions to foreign work were made through the boards of other churches. In 1843 there was begun an inves- tigation looking to independent work which resulted in the African Mission. Both in America and Liberia colored youths were put in training for service. But the plan proved a failure and was abandoned about ten years later. From the consequent discouragement the mis- sionary spirit began to recover just as the outbreak of war rendered work impossible. At the outbreak of the Civil War the condition of the Associate Reformed Church was full of promise. A GENERAL SKETCH. 5 The generation then Hving had seen field, ministry, and membership grow greatly. Seven new presbyteries had been erected. Institutions of learning had sprung into vigorous life. The war arrested progress and destroyed in part the results of past effort. Endowments were swept away ; institutions were closed. The wealth of the Associate Reformed people was destroyed, but not their spirit. With zeal disorganized work was resumed, with sacrifice supported. A temporary endowment was provided for Erskine College, followed after a few years by a permanent fund which approximates $100,000. A fund of $42,000 has been raised for the Theological Sem- inary. The missionary spirit revived. Plans were perfected for work in co-operation with the United Presbyterian Board and in 1875 Miss Mary E. Galloway was sent to Egypt. With her death in 1881 work in this field closed. But independent work had already been undertaken. In 1878 Rev. Neill E. Pressly was sent to Mexico, where a successful and growing work has been prosecuted since. There has been a like revival of home missionary activity, attention being turned more and more to cities and towns. Many of these have been occupied and new fields are constantly offering. In the interest of home and foreign missions and education the Synod is raising a fund of $60,000. For some years there has been a growing desire for union, or reunion, with brethren of the North who since 1858 have borne the name of United Presbyterians. But hitherto neither body has been willing to make conces- sion in those matters of minor and mainly historical importance which alone separate them. The present condition of the Associate Reformed Church is one of health and growth. In doctrine she is sound ; to distinctive principles loyal ; in work aggres- sive ; in spirit united. Her growth, while slow, has brought in no element of weakness. Her present 6 A GENERAL SKETCH. strength is indicated by the following statistics : Pres- byteries 9; congregations 151; ministers 107; members 12,000. In conserving sound doctrine and pure worship as well as in saving souls, past history and present condi- tions alike indicate that an important work is possible for the Associate Reformed Church. BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.— The Board of Foreign Missions, as at present constituted, was organ- ized in 1873. This Board, however, had its predecessors. In 1837, at a Meeting of Synod held at "Due West Cor- ner," the following action was taken : "Resolved that Messrs. Wilson, Flenniken & Young be appointed a Board of Foreign Missions for one year." It would seem however, that beyond raising some Funds for the cause, little was done for a number of years. Such Funds as were raised were contributed to the Board of other Churches, in 1837 to The Board of Commissioners of the Synod of New York, and in 1839, to The Board of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. In 1843 the question of establishing a Foreign Mission of its own began to be agitated by the Synod. In 1845 it became very much interested in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, as a field for Foreign Work. As a result a school for training colored men for work in this field, was established in Kentucky under the supervision of Rev. N. M. Gordon, and, in addition to this, four boys, natives, were maintained in the school of Thos. Ware, colored — afterwards conducted by Rev. H. W. Erskine, of the Presbyterian Board — in Liberia, Africa, with • a view to employing them as Missionaries to their own people. The following extract from the minutes of Synod of 1847, will show how lively an interest was taken in this scheme at that time, "The Committee to whom was referred the subject of the African Mission, have had it under consideration and recommend that a A GENERAL SKETCH. 7 member from each Presbytery be appointed constituting a Board to take charge of the whole subject as to employ- ing a teacher in Africa, selecting proper persons and making provision for their education; and that for prose- cuting this work the Board be directed to communicate with the churches generally on this subject and be au- thorized to draw on the Foreign Mission Fund for the sum of $500." "The report," it is added, "was received for consideration and after a full and harmonious ex- pression of opinion on the subject was unanimously adopted. Synod then united in singing the 126th Psalm and in prayer by J. Wilson." The Board provided for in this action consisted of Rev. N. M. Gordon, Rev. T, Turner, Rev. W. R. Hemphill, Rev. J. Wilson, Rev. L. McDonald, and Rev. J. M. Young. But the scheme failed and the Church was so discouraged that at the next meeting of Synod, 1857, the Board of Foreign Missions was "discharged." In 1858, the very next year the Board was reorgan- ized. The following is the minute in relation to the reorganization. "The Committee on Foreign Missions report that in their judgment the Synod should reorgan- ize the Board of Foreign Missions and it is believed that the members constituting the Board should live in the vicinity of each other." This recommendation was adopted and the Board as reorganized consisted of the following persons. Rev. J. Boyce, D. D., Rev. R. W. Brice, Rev. L. McDonald, Rev. A. R. Ross, Rev. J. C. Chalmers, John Simpson, Henry Elliott and J. Y. Mills, Esqrs. Of this Board Dr. Boyce was Chairman and Rev. R. W. Brice, Secretary and Treasurer. Its Head- quarters were at "Chesterville" S. C. This Board ad- dressed itself vigorously to the work before it, and selected Alexandria, Egypt, as the field and were in earnest search for a Missionary when the War between the States put an end to this work. In 1873, before the country or the Church had yet recuperated from the 8 A GENERAL SKETCH. ravages of war, the Synod took up this matter again. A conference was held on the subject of Foreign Missions. The result was the Board of Foreign Missions was or- ganized once more. The roll of that Board as then con- stituted is as follows : Rev. Jas. Boyce, D. D., Rev. H. T. Sloan, D. D., Rev. R. W. Brice, Rev. W. M. Grier, D. D., Prof. J. P. Kennedy, Prof. Wni. Hood, Rev. J. I. Bonner, D. D., Rev. A. R. Ross, D. D., Rev. J. C. Chalmers, Rev. J. P. Weed, Jas. A. Brice and Dr. J. L. Pressly. Dr. Boyce was made Chairman of this Board and Dr. Bonner Secretary and Treasurer. On April 29, 1 88 1, Dr. Bonner died and W. L. Pre^h^ succeeded him as Secretary and Treasurer. On July 29, 1889 Dr. Boyce died and was succeeded in the Chair by Dr. W. M. Grier. Dr. Grier died Sept. 3, 1899, and was suc- ceeded by Dr. F. Y. Pressly, who still (Mar. 1903) occupies that position. In 1874, on invitation of that body the Synod re- solved to co-operate with the United Presbyterian Church in its work in Egypt, and on Jan. 28, 1875, Miss Mary E. Galloway (afterwards Mrs. Giffen) the first Foreign Missionary of the Associate Reformed Presby- terian Church, left for Egypt. In 1878 Synod took the following action : Resolved ist., That Synod hereby renews its pledge to sustain our first Missionary. Mrs. M. E. Giffen, in Egypt. 2nd. That the Synod will enlarge its Foreign Mis- sionary Work. 3rd. That in said enlargement we will establish an independent Mission. 4th. That said independent Mission be established in Mexico. 5th. That the Board of Foreign Missions be directed to select the field and make all necessary arrangements to send out a Missionary as soon as practicable." A GENERAL SKETCH. 9 Rev. Neill E. Pressly was selected as the Missionary and Tampico on the gulf coast of the State of Tamaw- lipas, as the place. ]\Ir. Pressly began work here in Jan. I, 1880. This city is the center of that part of the field that lies on the gulf coast. It is also the seat of the Girls' School in which Miss Alacie Stevenson and Miss Mattie Boyce and the lamented Miss Fannie L. Wallace, have rendered such efficient service. In 1888 the Mission was reinforced by the arrival of Rev. J. S. A. Hunter and wife. ]\Ir. Hunter located at El Maiz. For a number of years a flourishing school has been maintained here, conducted by Miss Lavinia Neel. In 1894 the Mission was still further strengthened by Rev. J. R. Edwards and wife. These are located at Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi. Besides the congregation, the Orphan- age is under the care of Mrs. Edwards. The Boys and Training Schools under Rev. J. G. Dale, and the medi- cal work of Mrs. Catherine Neel Dale, M. D., are all located in this town. In June 1888 the Presbytery of Tampico was or- ganized. At present there are on its roll the names of Foreign Missionaries — four. Natives, ordained ministers and Licentiates, seven. The Presbytery has a Home Mission Board and supports one Home Missionary. The field covers the territory of three States, \"era Cruz, Ta- mawlipas and San Luis Potosi. Number of ordained Ministers, 9 ; Licentiates. 2 : Fam- ilies, 112; Communicants, 292. Collections for 1902 $1 , 1 55.06 Vnlue of property — Church buildings $18,600.00 Parsonage 2,600.00 School property 6.000.00 Orphanage property 1,000.00 Total $28,200.00 lO A GENERAL SKETCH. BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS.— The idea of a Board of Home Missions originated with some of the ag- gressive preachers, but came before the Synod at New Hope, S. C, Oct. 2ist, 1887, in the form of a resokition offered by Mr. A. G. Brice, directing the Committee on Domestic Missions to report whether or not the organiza- tion of such a Board would be for the best interest of that branch of our work. There was opposition in the com- mittee, but it did report favorably and presented a plan for the formation and regulation of the Board. However, such a storm of opposition was raised by some of the older and influential members in Synod that the whole matter was deferred for a year. In 1888, during the meeting of Synod at Potts Station, Ark., the matter came before the committee on Domestic Missions and there was such opposition, that the member from the First Presbytery pledged that the Board would not cost the Synod a cent for the first year, that all expenses would be met by First Presbytery. The committee agreed to report favorably. This report, though opposed by some, after the same guarantee was made, was adopted by the Synod, and the plan of organization was accepted, and the following persons were elected to constitute the Board of Ho/me Missions, Revs. W. W. Orr, G. R. White, C. E. Mc- Donald, R. G. Miller, D. G. Caldwell and A. G. Brice, Esq. These members met in Charlotte, at a hotel, on November 20th, 1888, and organized by electing the fol- lowing officers : President, R. G. Miller; Cor. Sec, W. W. Orr; Recording Sec, C. E. McDonald ; Treasurer, G. R. White. The first year was spent in getting the work in hand and in organizing Young Men's Home Mission Societies in many congregations. These contributed to the support of the Board, also the corresponding sec- retary spent three months in the field holding meetings and stirring up the Church members; and received 177 A GENERAL SKETCH. n accessions to the churches. This work was continued for some years and was commonly called evangelistic work. The 2nd year 174 were added to the church and the 3d year 363. During the first nine years of the Board's existence while Rev. W. W. Orr was Cor. Sec, and doing more or less Evangelistic work, there were nearly 2600 persons added to the Church, and over $9,000.00 raised for the Home Mission work. The members of the Board wrrc re-elected by the Synod at New Hope, Ky., in 1890. Rev. C. E. McDonald moving to Winnsboro, S. C, re- signed, and Rev. C. E. Todd was elected in his place in 1892. In 1895 Rev. J. C. Galloway was elected to take the place of Rev. C. E. Todd who moved to Due West, and at same time Rev. W. Y. Love was elected to take the place of Rev. D. G. Caldwell who was also at Due West. At a meeting of Synod at Chicota, Tex., the constitution of Board was so changed at the request of Board as to consist of seven members instead of six, and Rev. J- T. Chalmers was elected a member. The Synod at Belfast Tenn., 1897, assigned Rev. W. W. Orr to the Mission at Corsicana, Texas, severing his connection with the Board against its earnest protest. Rev. James Boyce was at the same meeting elected a member of the Board in his stead. At the next meeting of the Board Rev. J. T. Chalmers was elected Cor. Sec, and performed well all the duties of that office except inspection of stations and evangelistic work. Since Rev. W. W. Orr's severance from the Board there has been no evangelistic work done by the secretary. In 1898, J. S. Moflfatt was elected a member to fill out the term of James Boyce, who moved to Due West. , During the ten years of the Board's existence, through its agency, fourteen churches have been organ- ized, with a membership of more than 1,000. Among these are Atlanta, Columbia. Rock Hill, Little Rock, Corsicana and East Avenue. The money put into churches during that period is more than $85,000.00. 12 A GENERAL SKETCH. In 1900, Rev. J. T. Chalmers resigned on account of his decHning strength, and Rev. OHver Johnston was elected in his place. In Dec. of the same year the Board was reorganized and Rev. J. C. Galloway, D. D., was elected chairman, Rev. W. Y. Love recording sec- retary, R. G. Miller cor. sec, and Rev. G. R. White treasurer. On account of distance Rev. Love resigned recording secretaryship and Rev. Oliver Johnston was elected in his stead. , At Pisgah in 1902, the term of the Boards expiring, and on this Board's recommendation (the Board of Church extension having recommended the same thing the previous year) these two Boards were consolidated arid their work combined. The members were increased to nine. The members of the old Board of Home Missions, with Dr. George Pressly and J. G. Bigham were elected members of the new Board, and it was named "The Board of Home Missions." In Dec, 1902, Dr. Galloway was elected chairman, R. G. Miller cor. sec, Oliver Johnston recording secretary, and G. R. White treasurer. ARKANSAS PRESBYTERY.— In the early part of the past century the tide of emigration began to flow from the eastern to the western States. Thousands of people left their homes in the Carolinas and Georgia in search of a more fertile soil beyond the Mississippi. As early as 1850 a considerable number of Associate Reformed Presbyterians had found permanent homes in the State of Arkansas. They settled mostly in colonies in different parts of the State, and where they had sufficient numbers asked Synod to supply them with the ordinances of God's word. One of the first ministers of our faith to visit the State was Rev. John Patrick, who came in 1852. He visited Pope County, and after visiting other points, re- turned in Jan., 1853, and organized Pisgah, the first A. A GENERAL SKETCH. 13 R. p. Church organized in the State. A Httle later Revs. W. S. Mofifatt, J. M. Brown, and J. K. Boyce came into the State as home missionaries. Rev. John Wilson also visited this field. Under their efficient labors the Mon- ticello church was organized in 1855, Mt. Zion in 1858, Hickory Springs, and Prosperity in 1859, and Saline in 1861. On Friday before the first Sabbath of May, 1861, Revs. John Patrick, J. M. Brown, J. A. Dickson, W. S. Moffatt and A. Alayn met at Pisgah church and organ- ized the Arkansas Presbytery. The territory covered by this Presbytery is the State of Arkansas. The }ears immediately following were unfavorable for church work. The country was disturbed by the Civil War. Nearly all the young men, the hope of the church, joined the army ; homes were broken up and the natural support of the church taken away. The general demoralization incident to the war and reconstruction days proved a great hindrance to the church. During this period the only additional laborer to come into the presbytery was the Rev. David Kerr. In 1867 there were two additions to the membership of the Presbytery. Rev. M. Oates, who became pastor of Pisgah, and Rev. John Wilson, who supplied Monti- cello. About this time Revs. Brown, Dickson and Kerr and a number of private members withdrew and con- nected with the Southern Presbyterian church. The Ebenezer church was organized in 1869. ^^ the same year, Rev. J. P. Marion came into the bounds of the Presbytery, and labored mostly in the southern part of the State, for the space of six years. In 1871, New Hope church was added to the list; in 1872 Rev. J. C. McDonald began his labors at Prosper- ity and New Hope; in 1873 the Shady Grove church was organized, and in 1874 Rev. J. S. A. Hunter and Rev. W. A. Wilson were added to the ministerial force. In 1875 Cannp Creek was organized and 1879 Zion Church. 14 A GENERAL SKETCH. In the latter year Rev. J. L. Young became a member of the presbytery and was called to the pastorate of the Monticello church. Rev. W. L. Patterson labored at Ebenezer and Zion from '80 to '84 — and Rev. J. P. Er- win continued the work from '85 to '92. Rev. T. G. Boyce was pastor of Shady Grove and Hickory Springs from 1888 to 1892, and Rev. F. B. Stewart served in the same capacity from 1894 to 1899. Churches were organized at Russellville and Little Rock in 1893. In 1895 Rev. M. T. Ellis began his pas- torate at Prosperity and New Hope. In 1896 Rev. J. C. Douglas became pastor at Russellville. Rev. G. G. Par- kinson took up the work at Little Rock, July, 1895, and organized a church at Jacksonville in 1896. In 1898 Rev. J. W. McCain began his work at Saline; in 1900 Rev. J. W. Carson at Pottsville and Bethany; Rev. L. Hickman at Zion, and Rev. A. H. Griffith at Little Rock. Rev. J. A. Smith was installed as pastor of the Russell- ville church in April, 1902. At present the presbytery has eight active ministers, twelve churches and nearly nine hundred members. THE FIRST PRESBYTERY.— The First Presbytery of the A. R. Synod of the South was formed by the divis- ion of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia into two presbyteries. Neither the place where thir^i organization took place nor the day of the month is deraiitely known. It oc- curred some time in October, 1800. As an organization, therefore, it antedates the Synod of which it forms a part by something like two and one-half years. At that time, or at least in 1798, two years previous, there were eight ministers in connection with the Pres- bytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, vis., David Both- well, James Rogers, William Blackstock, Peter McMullen, John Hemphill, James McKnight, Alexander Porter and William Dixon. A GENERAL SKETCH. 15 Of these, it is probable that Revs. James Rogers, Wil- liam Blackstock, John Hemphill and James McKnight became the original members of the First Presbytery. The following churches were probably embraced in the First Presbytery at its organization, vh : In South Carolina: Ebenezer, (York Co.) Steel Creek (sometimes called Blackstock), Neely's Creek, Ebenezer (Fairfield Co.), Rocky Creek (now Hopewell), Rocky Creek Meeting House (now Union), Ebenezer (now New Hope). In North Carolina : Coddle Creek, Nezv Hope ? Gilead, Prosperity, Rock Springs, New Sterling, New Perth, Sardis, Providence and Waxhaw. In the division of the original Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, all that part of the Presbytery lying to the east of Broad River, was designated as the territory of the First Presbytery. And probably by com- mon consent a line drawn on about the sajme parallel of latitude was recognized, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, for about the year 1830, we find the First Presbytery taking the oversight and sending supplies to a congregation in Obion County, Tenn. While at a later period the churches in Virginia were for a time connected with the First Presbytery. But the division of the Old Presbytery and the estab- lishment of two new ones was not altogether agreeable to some of the members, and for some time the dividing line between the First and Second Presbyteries was practically ignored. For example : Sardis and Provi- dence, N. C, and Waxhaw, S. C, remained in connec- tion with the Second Presbytery till 1805, while Cannon Creek, Kings Creek and Prosperity, S. C, continued un- der the care of the First Presbytery till 1825. And Sharon, Kings Mountain and Turkey Creek were under the care of the Second Presbytery until they left the A. R. Church and united with the Associate Church. The Records of the Presbytery for the first twenty- i6 A GENERAL SKETCH. nine years of its existence have been lost. The earUest minutes that we have been able to find were those of a meeting", held at "Sardis Meetinghouse," April 6, 1829. Members present Rev. Messrs. William Blackstock, John Hemphill, James McKnight, Isaac Grier, Eleazer Harris. Elders, John Millan, James Steel, Aba Scott. Rev. Jas. Rogers, Robt. Galloway and Jas. Lowrie absentees. In the absence of statistics it is impossible to present an accurate statement of the relative growth of the Pres- bytery. But the minutes above quoted show that the number of ministers had increased one hundred per cent, in the twenty-nine 3'ears of its existence, and we may suppose that the memberhip would increase in something like the same proportion. The following ministers have been or are now in con- nection with the First Presbvterv : James Rogers John Hemphill William Blackstock James McKnight Isaac Grier Eleazer Harris Robert Galloway James Lowry James Boyce Warren Flenniken Jonathan Galloway John Wilson W. R. Hemphill Robert McElroy R. C. Grier James Walker L. McDonald S. C. Millen R. A. Ross J. B. Watt John Hunter J. K. Boyce D. McCaw M. Elder, Student I. G. McLaughlin R. W. Brice J. A. Sloan Horatio Thompson John Patrick Thos. Ketchin John Miller R. F. Taylor J. R. Castles E. E. Boyce D. P. Robinson W. M. McElwee James M. Walker A. F. Quay A GENERAL SKETCH. 17 H. Robinson J. E. Pressly W. B. Pressly C. B. Betts S. C. Boyce J. C. Boyd R Lathan M. Gates R. L. Grier J. H. Simpson J. H. Peoples J. C. Chalmers A. Ranson Josiah Moffatt E. E. Pressly J. McTodd J. S. A. Hunter G. R. White R. G. Miller J. S. Mills W. M. Hunter D. G. Caldwell J. M. McLain W. Y. Love J. P. Marion W. W. Orr H. R. McAuley J. A. White W. H. MiUen W. O. Cochran H. Rabb W. T. Waller J, T. Chalmers R. M. Stevenson M. W. Pressly C. E. McDonald J. Boyce, Jr W. A. ^I. Plaxco J. C. Galloway J. S. Moffatt H. B. Blakely J. M. Grier C. R. Birnbach T. B. Stewart C. E. Todd T. G. Boyce J. B. Cochran R. Y. Mills J. P. Knox J. M. Garrison A. G. Kirkpatrick W. S. Castles J. H. Moffatt E. B. Anderson W. C. Ewart J. H. Pressly R. Livingston Grier J. M. White E. F. Griffith B. H. Grier S. W. Reid J. S. Grier O. Johnston T. W. Sloan J. G. Dale A. S. Rogers J. E. Johnston S. J. Patterson R. E. Hough R. L. Robinson L. T. Pressly J. M. Bigham A. J. Ranson J. B. Hood i8 A GENERAL SKETCH. T. W. Hayes J. L. Dates D. P. Neill W. B. Lindsay A. H. Griffith I. S. Caldwell J. W. Carson R. Millen A. T. Lindsay R. C. Davidson J. Knox Montgomery J. W. Simpson E. A. Ranson STUDENTS : G. W. Hanna N. E. Smith B. G. Pressly G. L. Kerr Among the names appearing on this roll will be found some among the ablest and most efficient men whom our Church has produced, and some whom she has honored with the highest gifts in her possession, while as a whole they constitute a class of sound, earnest, devoted minis- ters of the Gospel, who have spent or are now spending their lives with much self-sacrifice and a commendable zeal in preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. A fine spirit of unity and brotherly love has always characterized the members of the Presbytery in their in- tercourse and fellowship with each other. Earnest at- tempts have more than once been made to divide the Presbytery, on account of its size and the extent of terri- tory it covers, but on account of this fraternal feeling it has so far failed. The most earnest advocates of division have always been found among those who have been but a short time members of the Presbytery. To-day the Presbytery as a body is doing as good work as at any time in her history, evincing her progressive spirit in the organization of new churches, increasing the membership of old ones, and in enlarged liberality in the educational work of the Church and in the work of Home and Foreign Missions. The last minutes present the following statistics : A GENERAL SKETCH. 19 Ministers, 28. Licentiates, 2. Students, 4, Church organizations, =jO. Communicants, 4912. Contributions, $27,047. S. S. Members, 3,389. Contributions, $1,244. Women's Societies, members, 785. Contributions, $,1,860. Young Peoples Societies, members, 923. Contribu- tions, $493. The following persons have served as stated clerk of the Presbytery since 1832 : Rev. James Boyce, D. D., H. L. Elliott", Rev. J. C. Pressly, D. D., Rev. J. T. Chalmers, D. D., and Rev. G. R. White, and Rev. James Boyce, Assistant Clerk. Recording Clerks : Rev. D. G. Caldwell, Rev. R. M. Stevenson, Rev. B. H. Grier and Rev. J. H. Simpson. GEORGIA PRESBYTERY.— On the 12th of Octo- ber, 1842, at Due West Corner, the A. R. Synod of the South passed an Act authorizing the organization of the Georgia Presbytery. In accordance with this Act, John S. Pressly, David C. Haslet and Thomas Turner, minis- ters of the gospel, and Alexander Cowan and \Ym. Little, ruling elders,met at Bethel, Burke County, Ga., on Friday, 31st of March, 1843. After sermon by Rev. Thomas Turner from Zach. 4-10, Presbytery was constituted with prayer. D. C. Haslet was chosen moderator and T. Turner, clerk. Rev. J. S. Pressly was installed pastor of Bethel at this meeting. A committee was appointed "to make known the state of the church and to propose some regulations proper to carry into effect the principles, order, and prac- tice of the A. R. Church." They reported nine organized churches known by the following names and places : Bethel, in Burke County, Ebenczer, in Jefferson, statedly supplied by one minister ; Smyrna ; a vacancy in Stewart 20 A GENERAL SKETCH. County ; Hopewell, in Newton County ; Providence, in Campbell Co. ; Bethesda, in Cobb County ; Prosperity, in DeKalb County; Oathcaloga and Pine Log and Sardis, in Benton Co., Ala. Besides these organizations, there were several Mission stations where churches could have been quickly established had there been an adequate number of ministers. The fields were white to the har- vest, but the laborers were few. All this great field had to be worked by three or four men. The history of this presbytery is a sad one. It is a story of superhuman ef- fort and of inevitable failure. These three ministers for many years led a forlorn hope. The Synod gave them all the help she could, sending a supply for a year or part of a year. The Presbytery in turn supported the enterprises of the church, contributing to the College and Seminary, Home and Foreign Missions from time to time. Their great desire and prayer was for an increase of ministers. Their hopes sometimes brightened as now and then a young man came into their bounds. The fidelity with which the people clung to the faith of their fathers was truly pathetic. Some of them had preaching once a month ; some once in two months ; some two or three times in a year ; some none at all. It is not strange that many sought a church home in other denominations. The matter of organic union with the G. A. P. Church was seriously considered by the Presbytery. Communi- cation between the different churches, at all times difficult, was rendered impossible by the war between the States. During this period and soon after, many of the churches in this Presbytery disintegrated and some of her ministers sought and found fields of labor in other branches of the church. Those who remained decided to unite with the 2nd Presbytery of the A. R. Synod. The last meeting of the Georgia Presbytery was held Friday, March the 26th, 1869, at White Oak Church, Coweta County, Ga. PRESBYTERY OF KENTUCKY.— This Presbytery was created by an act of the General Syod, in dividing A GENERAL SKETCH. 21 the Second Associate Reformed Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania. It was formally organized Feb. ii, 1801, in Lex- ington, Ky., Rev. Adam Rankin preaching the opening sermon from Matt. 10:16. The following ministers were present : Revs. Adam Rankin, John Steele, and Abraham Craig, and elders David Logan, James Parks and Thomas Stewart. It embraced the larger portion of five States, viz : Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. In 181 5 the following names appear on the roll: Adam Rankin, Abraham Craig, John Steele, Wm. H. Rainey, Alex. Porter, David Risk, Wm. Baldridge, Robt. H. Bishop, John McFarland, Samuel Brown and S. Crothers. In 1 8 16 all the territory north of the Ohio River was cut off and formed into new Presbyteries, leaving only Rankin, Rainey, Steel, Bishop and IMcChord in the Ken- tucky Presbytery. By reason of controversies and difficulties among themselves all progress was arrested, though the churches north of the Ohio seemed to increase rapidly. Bishop and Steel moved north, McChord changed his church connection, and Rankin died, leaving only Wm. H. Rainey. On Aug. 30, 1820, the Synod of the West reorganized the Presbytery with Rainey and Samuel Brown and elders James Beaty and Jaimes Steel. In 1826 the slavery question began to be agitated more earnestly than ever. From this date removals of individ- uals and families to the States north of ibc Ohio River so much reduced the number that only two minis- ters were left, viz., W. H. Rainey and Hugh j\Iayne. The churches had very little preaching for several years, and Hinkston and Flemingsburg joined the Presbytery of Chillicothe, O., Synod of the West. The Presbytery of Tennessee was organized in 1836 — cutting off terri- tory on the South. In 1840 the churches made overtures to, and asked supplies of preaching fro^n the A. R. Synod of the South 22 A GENERAL SKETCH. The following year, Oct., 1841, Revs. N. M. and G. Gordan were sent to them, and on Friday before the 3rd Sabbath of Dec., 1842, the Presbytery was formally organized at Ebenezer, Jessamine County, in connection with the Synod of the South, with which it has remained to the present time. The opening sermon was preached by G. Gordon from ist Pet. 2:3. and H. Berry and Robert Guyn were present as elders. The following year Rev. W. H. Rainey and S. S. Ralston were added to the Presbytery. (The former presenting to the Presbytery the official records of the original Presbytery since its organization in 1801, in a large folio book still in good state of preservation.) At that period the following names of churches appear on the roll : Ebenezer, Mt. Olivet, Shelbyville, Round Top or New Hope in Ken- tucky, and Mt. Zion, Buffalo and Concord in Missouri. In 1845 Hinkston and Flemingsburg were received from the Presbytery of Chillicothe, and in 1854 a church was organized in Louisville. Also one at Clarksburg, Ind., in 1847. It was from the church at Clarksburg that the question of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, vis., John Kincaid and Mary E. Kincaid, Sept. ist, 1849, came before the Presbytery and was referred to Synod, and caused serious agitation for several years. In 1850 when the subject of establishing a Foreign Mission in Africa was agitated, a training school to edu- cate and train negro men as missionaries was established by the Synod under the care of Rev. N. M. Gordon in Jessamine County. The effort was continued only a short time, and abandoned in 1853. The settled pastors of the Presbytery were, N. M. Gor- don, at Ebenezer; G. Gordon, at Mt. Olivet; T. S. Lee, at Hinkston ; S. .C. Boyce, at New Hope ; and S. S Ralston, at Mt. Zion. Quite a number of the ministers of Synod at various times did missionary work, some- times for a period of several years in the bounds of the Presbytery. A GENERAL SKETCH. 23 The proposition for union with the Southern Presby- terian Church came before the Presbytery in a paper prepared by Rev. N. M. Gordon on the "State of the Church," Aug. 23, 1867. The final vote on this question was taken May 13th, 1870, at Hinkston, to be carried into effect on Oct. 13, 1870. The vote stood eight for, and six against it. Of the six congregations composing the Presbytery at that time, three voted sohdly against it and the remaining three were divided. By this action the Presbytery lost Revs. N. M. and G. Gordon, T. S. Lee and W. M. McElwee. The Presbytery was at once reorganized by the remaining ministers, Rev. J. G. Miller and J. A. Myers and Elders Wm. A. Anderson and Robt. Butler. The churches all retained their property except one, vh., Louisville, which was afterwards reorganized and obtained possession by the payment of a sum equal to one half its value. Rev. W. R. Hemphill, D. D., came to this Presbytery in November, 1870, and rendered excellent service for three years. The longest period or stated supply was that of Rev J. G. Miller, from i860 to 1875, at Mt. Zion, Mo. The following are the settled pastorates since 1870, vis. : Rev. D. B. Pressly at Hinkston and Mt Olivet from 1871 to 1886, W. O. Cochran, New Hope and Ebenezer, from 1880 to 1884, Rev. W. H. Millen, Ebe- nezer and Hinkston from 1892 to 1896, Rev. James Boyce, at Louisville from 1882 to 1896, and Rev. S. W. Reid at Louisville from 1898 to the present. Mt. Zion, Rev. F. Y. Pressly, D. D., from 1882 to 1886, and Rev. B. H. Grier from 1889 to 1893, and Rev. W. S. Castles one year, 1896. Since 1870 the Presbytery has made an enviable rec- ord in meeting its assessments in full for the various purposes of Synod. Mrs. Ann L Wallace of the New Hope congregation donated $15,000 to Erskine College, and more than $5,000 to various other purposes of the Church. 24 A GENERAL SKETCH. The Presbytery has been well represented in the Foreign Mission fields. Revs. Potter and Love in China, the Gambles and Shaws in India, and the Fraziers in Egypt trace their ancestry to Hinkston, and Miss Fannie Wallace, who was so suddenly cut down in Mexico in the service of our own Board, was from New Hope. The longest period of service by any minister was rendered by Rev. Wm. H. Rainey, who served from 1803 to 1850. Through all the changes that came he was faithful to the end, and was ever true to the cause. The Presbytery has at present six congregations with an aggregate membership of three hundred and thir- teen. MEMPHIS PRESBYTERY.— The Memphis Presby- tery was organized according to order of Synod at Eben- ezer church, Tippah County, Mississippi, April 15th, 1853. It was composed of churches in west Tennessee and north Mississippi that had previously belonged to the Tennes- see and Alabama Presbyteries. The name was taken from Memphis, Tenn., the chief city of that section. The roll of members and congregations at the time of organi- zation was as follows : Ministers—]. Wilson, J. L. Young, J. P. Weed, H. H. Robinson, J. K. Boyce ; absent, J. A. Sloan. Elders— A. McOuiston, Major R. McBride. Commissioners — O. Buchanan, J. Caldwell, Dr. E. Agnew. Congregations — Bethany, Ebenezer, Hopewell, Mt. Car- mel, Shiloh, in Mississippi. Salem, Sardis, Troy, Union (now Beulah), in Tenne- see. In 1857 by action of Synod the work in Arkansas was placed under the inspection of this Presbytery, and in 1859 the church in Starkville, Miss., and the work in Holmes County, Miss., was transferred from the Ala- A GENERAL SKETCH 25 bama Presbytery to this, and the names of David Pressly and J. A. Dickson were added to the roll of ministers. The largest enrollment at any time has been fourteen ministers, and that was immediately preceding the form- ation of the Arkansas Presbytery, which removed four names from the roll. The first settlers were chiefly farmers from the Caro- linas seeking better and cheaper lands. The country was one which the Lord had blessed; the resources were varied and abundant, and vegetation grew in rank lux- uriance. The advantages and disadvantages, the joys and sorrows of frontier life were allotted to these people. As the country became settled and somewhat worn the westward movement continued, and congregations that had been formed in this way, after a season, began to suffer from the same and some have altogether disap- peared. At the first meeting steps were taken to establish a Presbyterial school, which was located near Ebenezer Church, and was continued several years under the care of Mr. J. C. Irwin. In April, 1865, on motion of Rev. S. A. Agnew, the following resolution was adopted : "That a member of the Presbytery be appointed to preach a sermon, or read an essay at each regular meeting of the Presbytery on some particular passage of Scripture, or subject to be assigned by the Presbytery." On motion of Rev. J. G. Miller, in ]\Iay, 1888, the Presbytery inaugurated "a course of conferences relat- ing to the doctrines of our holy religion, and points of practical godliness," to be held at each regular meeting in the spring, and to take the place of the special sermon. The committee on Nominations select the subject and preacher for the Presbyterial sermon, and the pas- tor and session with whom the meeting shall be held prepare and publish the program for the conference. In this way provision is made for a special service at each 26 A GENERAL SKETCH regular meeting. The work has been well done. In- teresting and important subjects have been selected, ex- cellent sermons and addresses delivered, and a number of these published by request of the Presbytery. This arrangement has been quite satisfactory and will likely be continued. About thirty-five sermons have been de- livered, and fifteen conferences held. Since 1893 a convention, composed of delegates from the various societies in the churches and the ministers, has been held annually. This generally meets in connec- tion with and immediately preceding the fall meeting of Presbytery, and addresses, essays, readings, and re- citations are delivered according to a previously arranged program. Attention has been devoted to evangelistic work, and at intervals of a few years the Presbytery has endeavored to have all of its congregations favored with special pro- tracted services. The claims of the beneficiary work have been recog- nized, and a number of young men have been assisted financially in prosecuting their studies. Mr. John Adams of Tipton County, Tenn., in 1891, bequeathed $1,000 to the Presbytery which is "to be safely invested and the interest, and only the interest arising therefrom, to be expended by the Presbytery in preparing, or aiding to prepare, candidates for the ministry under the care of the Presbytery." Two years later the Presbytery was incorporated under the laws of the State of Tennes- see and seven Trustees were elected to manage this fund. Two hundred dollars of beneficiary fund in hand were added as principal to the above bequest, making a sum of $1,200, the interest of which can be used. When the Board of Ministerial Relief was formed by the Synod it was located within this Presbytery, and Prof. R. E. Robison having been a leading advocate of the forma- tion of this Board was made President of the same. This Presbytery generally observes the practice of ro- A GENERAL SKETCH 27 tation in distributing honors, privileges and labors among its members, and in selecting the place of meeting. At the regular meeting in the spring of 1903, the semi-centennial anniversary of organization was cele- brated. It seems that during these fifty years of its existence, semi-annual meetings were held regularly, not one omitted, a commendable interest was manifested in the enterprises of the Synod, the standard of righteous- ness was held up, truth proclaimed, and sin condemned. The following persons have been licensed to preach by this Presbytery: S. A. Agnew, J. H. Strong, W. S. Moffatt, T. Davis, J. A. Dickson, T. P. Pressly, D. W. Wiseman, J. W. Baird, J. P. Erwin, Peter Bryson, S. J. Patterson, R. S. Harris, J. W. McCain, J. L. Boyd, R. W. McDaniel, D. P. Pressly. The following, reared in and some of them financially aided by this Presbytery, as a matter of convenience, were licensed by another. Calvin Pressly, J. B. Muse, E. E. Strong, C. M. Boyd. The roll of deceased Ministers is as follows : J. L. Young, J. L. ]\IcDaniel, H. L. Murphy, J. K. Boyce, R. L. Grier; H. H. Robison, D. W. Wiseman, D. Pressly, D. D., J. H. Strong, J. P. Weed, S. A. Agnew, D. D. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE SECOND PRES- BYTERY.— The order of Synod dividing the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia into the First and Second Presbyteries of the Carolinas and Georgia was adopted October, 1800. The territory allotted the second was the counties in South Carolina west of Broad River and the State of Georgia. The ministers assigned were Revs. David Bothwell, William Dixon, Peter McMullan, and Alexander Porter. The first meeting was held at Cedar Spring, Abbeville, S. C, April 8th, 1801. The ministers above mentioned were present, except David Bothwell, who died in June of that year. David Bothwell -vas pastor of Buckhead 28 A GENERAL SKETCH and Big Creek, and preached at other churches in Jef- ferson and Burke Counties, Georgia. Peter McMullan was pastor of the church at Due West, Alexander Porter of Cedar Spring and Long Cane, S. C, and Mr. Dixon of Sharon, S. C, and Kings Mountain, N. C. There were other organized churches as the minutes indicate and petitions for preaching from numerous places in the Carolinas and Georgia. The principle business transacted at that ',meeting was a scale of supplies of preaching for the vacancies by the pastors and probationers. James McGill and James McCauley were present as Probation- ers, and Isaac Grier and Robert Irwin as students. There is no data remaining by which we can ascertain the num- ber of communicants. The people were of Scotch-Irish extraction and most of them or their immediate ancestors had emigrated from Antrim and the adjacent counties of Ireland. Some of those persons had suffered civil pains and penalties for the conservative system of faith and Scriptural rit- ual of worship, which they brought to their adopted country. The Presbytery ordained and installed James McGill pastor of Little River and Rocky Creek, Abbeville, S. C, in 1801. The students completed their course of study the next year and Robert Irwin was installed pastor of Generostee and Diamond Hill in South Carolina, and Isaac Grier of Sardis, N. C, and Waxhaw, S. C. In 1805 Isaac Grier and his churches were transferred to the First Presbytery. The growth of the Presbytery was very slow for many years. Dr. Lathan in his history of the Synod suggests that the reasons for this slow growth were the organization of the Associate Presbytery ; immigration to the Western and North- western States, and the lack of institutions for training young men for the ministry. To remove the last mem- tioned hindrance to growth the Synod in 1825 elected Rev. J. Hemphill, of the First, and Rev. J. T. Pressly of A GENERAL SKETCH 29 the Second Presbytery, to teach theology in connection with their work as pastors. In consequence of that action the number of ministers and churches was in- creased. The pastors and probationers of this and the First Presbytery had for many years been doing home missionary work in other States, and now a pastorate in Alabama and one in Tennessee was established under the supervision of this Presbytery. At that time the churches in Newberry, S. C, were transferred to the Presbytery and the churches in Laurens County began to arrange for a pastor. From the blessing of the Lord on this effort to in- crease the number of ministers, a classical school was established by the Synod at Due West in 1836. The following year a teacher of theology was added to that school. In 1842 that Institution had grown into Erskine College, and Clark and Erskine Theological Seminar^^ The churches in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia were organized into Presbyteries, and the number of churches increased and supplied with pastors. That was the dawn of an era of great prosperity and extended to i860. From the beginning the colored people had been received as members of the churches to which their masters belonged, and extended the enjoyment of all the ordinances. Pastors and other officers were instructed to look well to these members of their household. In many cases they were given the rudiments of education in disregard of the statutes of the State. The war of the Sixties interrupted and in fact paral- yzed all of the activities of the Presbytery. One of the pastors, H. T. Sloan, D. D., became a Chaplain, and others spent considerable periods of time in ministering to their meimbers as soldiers in camp ; two of the students were killed in battle and others diverted from the purpose of preparing for the ministery. IMeetings of the Presby- tery were generally held but little more could be done 30 A GENERAL SKETCH in those four long years than to maintain the organiza- tion of the churches. At the Fall meeting of 1865 a Presbytery was sharing the desolation common in this section. A large number of the young men of the churches were sleeping in soldiers' graves, and the sur- vivors sorely disheartened. But in less than two years the churches began to re- vive. At the Fall meeting in 1867 the Presbytery was gratified by receiving under its care four students of theology. D. W. Reid, who had been practicing medi- cine for fifteen years, and three members of the senior class of Erskine in 1861 constituted that class of students. In a few more years the College and Seminary of the Synod located in the bounds of the Presbytery resufned their helpful work. The home mission work was taken up with increased vigor, not only so but the new feature of planting churches in the towns and cities was suc- cessfully inaugurated. Up to that time our people had been engaged in farming, and the pastors generally owned farms and managed them successfully. The Presbytery also co-operated heartily with the other Pres- byteries in undertaking work in the foreign fields. From that day the Presbytery has contributed her full quota of men and women to that important feature of the Synod's work. Such are some of the facts gleaned from the minutes of the Second Presbytery for an hundred years. These were selected from many others of equal, or, perhaps, greater importance, but the allotted space forbids their record in this place. At the late meeting there were twenty-four names of ordained ministers on the roll of the Presbytery, and two students of theology. The num- ber of churches is thirty-two and the number of commu- nicants is 2,378, and the number of a ".cessions t^iis year is 131. A GENERAL SKETCH 31 TENNESSEE AND ALABAMA PRESBYTERY.— In the year 1836 the Associate Reformed Synod, at Ches- ter, S. C, passed the following order : "Moved and sec- onded that it is expedient to form a new Presbytery in the West, bounded as follows : Commencing- on the Miss- issippi River at 34 N. Latitude, running east to Georgia line, thence north to the middle of the State of Kentucky, thence west to the Mississippi River, thence down the river to the beginning ; and that it be called the Presbytery of Tennessee." This Presbytery met at Salem, Tennessee, April 24th, 1837, Rev. E. Harris, the senior member, presiding. The following roll was made : Ministers, E. Harris, R. M. Galloway, H. Bryson. Elders : Thomas Galloway, Archibald Kidd. At this meeting Rev. John Wilson, a probationer, after presenting a trial sermon, was ordained to the full Avork of the ministry. These four servants of Christ took up the work not only of caring for their home churches, but also of sup- plying mission stations in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennes- see, and Kentucky. In 1839 Rev. R. M. McCoy was transferred from the First Presbytery, and supplied the church at Troy, Ten- nessee. The same year Rev. S. S. Ralston was ordained and installed pastor of Head Springs, Cornersville, and Zion, Tenn. In October, 1840, one of the original members of the Presbytery, the Rev. R. M. Galloway, was removed by death. At a meeting of the Presbytery at Bethel, Tennessee, in 1843, the following resolution was passed : "Resolved, That it is desirable and practicable to organize a new Synod embracing the Presbyteries of Alabama, Tennes- see, and Kentucky, to be called the Southwestern Synod." In the same year Rev. S. S. Ralston accepted a call to Mt. Zion and Buffalo, Mo. In 1845 Rev. J. K. Boyce 32 A GENERAL SKETCH was ordained and installed pastor of Hopewell and Head Springs. In the same year Rev. R. McCoy obtained a transfer to the 2nd Synod of the West. In 1847 Rev. J. P. Weed was ordained and installed pastor of the church at Troy, Tenn. In 1847 Rev. Henry Bryson, who on account of ill health had retired from the pastorate, gave over to the care of Presbytery the Viney Grove Academy. This good man has left his impress as a great teacher as well as an able minister of the Gospel. In 1848 Rev. A. S. Sloan was ordained and installed pastor of Prosperity, Tennessee. In the same year Rev. T. W. Parkinson was licensed. Presbytery gave Rev. J. K. Boyce permission to demit his charge, and gave appointments to J. M. Sharp, H. T. Sloan, J. E. Pressly, and T. W. Parkinson to labor in the vacancies till next meeting. Rev. T. W. Parkinson was ordained and installed pas- tor of Bethel, Zion, and Head Springs in 1851. By an act of Synod in 1852 the Presbytery was divided forming the Memphis Presbytery and the Tennessee Presbytery. The roll of the Tennessee Presbytery after this division was as follows : Ministers : Rev. H. Bryson, Rev. A. S. Sloan, Rev. D. McCaw, Rev. T. W. Parkinson. Elders : Robert McCalla, Jas. Davis, Robt. MontgoHmery. Rev. A. S. Montgomery was received as a student of divinity in 1853, was licensed and ordained in 1854, and was installed pastor of Head Springs in 1858. Rev. David McCaw obtained a certificate and connected with another branch of the Church. Rev. John H. Bryson was ordained and installed pas- tor of Hopewell in 1854. The same year Rev. J. M. Brown was ordained. Rev. T. W. Parkinson died Sept. 6th, 1857. From 1861 till 1865 there were no sessions of the Pres- bytery on account of Civil War. A GENERAL SKETCH 33 Rev. A. S. Montgomery withdrew from the Presby- tery and connected with the United Presbyterian Church. In 1866 Rev. John H. Bryson was granted a certi- ficate to unite with the Presbyterian Church South. The Civil War caused a division in Rev. A. S. Sloan's charge, one part of which formed a United Presbyterian Church. Rev. Andrew INIcElroy came to Head Springs in 1866 as stated supply. In 1866 Rev. J. H. Peoples came to Hopewell, and the following year was ordained and installed pastor there. J. L. Orr and J. Preston Marion were received as students about this time. Rev. C. S. Young came to the Presbytery and was or- dained and installed pastor of Head Springs in 1873. In 1872 Rev. A. S. Sloan demitted his charge and formed a new pastorate over Bethel and New Hope. In 1874 Rev. J. B. Muse was ordained and installed pastor of Prosperity and Blanche. In 1874 Dr. Henry Bryson, who had been retired for several years from active work, died, and a memorial sketch of his life was prepared by Rev. A. S. Sloan and published. In 1881 Rev. J. A. Myers came into The Presbytery. On April 21st, 1882, the Tennessee and Alabama Pres- byteries were consolidated, enrolling five ministers in Tennessee, and two in Alabama. In 1883 Revs. J. B. Muse and C. S. Young removed from the Presbytery. The following year Rev. J. A. Myers, by certificate, removed to the United Presbyterian Church. • Rev. O. Y. Bonner came into the Presbytery, and was installed pastor over Prosperity and Blanche in 1889. The same year Rev. J. H. Peoples was released from Hopewell. In 1890 Rev. H. M. Henry organized a church at Camden, Alabama. Rev. O. Y. Bonner removed from the Presbytery in 3 34 A GENERAL SKETCH 1 89 1, and Rev. W. B. Logan was received and was in- stalled pastor of Hopewell and Head Springs in 1893. In 1893 Rev. W. S. Castles came into the Presbytery, and was installed pastor of Bethel and New Hope. In the same year Rev. A. S. Sloan died, being the oldest member of the Presbytery, after having faithfully and fruitfully served in the same field for nearly a half century. In 1894 Rev. W. S. Castles demitted his charge. In 189s Rev. I. N. Kennedy came into the Presbytery and was ordained and installed pastor of Elk Valley (New Hope and Bethel consolidated.) At the same time Rev. A. J. Ranson became a mem- ber of the Presbytery, and was ordained and installed pastor of Prosperity and Blanche. The same year Rev. J. M. White was installed pastor of Hopewell and Head Springs. In 1898 Presbytery was called upon to lament the loss by death of one of her noblest members, the Rev. J. A. Lowry. In 1899 Rev. J. M. White demitted his charge. The same year Rev. W. A. Blakely was installed pastor of Prosperity and Orrville, Alabama. Messrs. A. T. and E. P. Lindsay were received as students of divinity in 1900. In 1901 Rev. R. L. Robinson was installed pastor of Camden. In 1901 Rev. A. J. Ranson demitted his charge, and in 1902 Rev. J. B. Hood was installed pastor of Prosper- ity and Blanche. The Presbytery, at this date, consists of five pastorates and three vacancies, with the following roll : Ministers : Rev. H. M. Henry, D. D. Rev. W. A. Blakely " J. H. Peoples " J. B. Hood " I. N. Kennedy " R. L. Robinson A GENERAL SKETCH 35 THE TEXAS PRESBYTERY.— Rev. A. J. Ranson. - — Tlie beginnings of our work in Texas may be read in the history of some famihes which came to this State as early as 1853. Our pioneer missionary was the Rev. T. J. Bonner, who came in the winter of 1859. He preached as opportunity allowed for more than fifteen years. "At the meeting of the A. R. Synod of the South, held at Hopewell, S. C, Sept. 26, 1876, an order was passed allowing Revs. T. J. Bonner, W. L. Patterson, and J. M. Little to organize a Presbytery, to be known as the Texas Presbytery, and directing Rev. T. J. Bonner to lead in the organization." In accordance with this order, the brethren met at Harmony Church, in Freestone Co., Texas, on the 9th day of Dec, 1876; and after a sermon by Rev. T. J. Bonner, from 2 Cor. 10:4 and 5, organized what was then called, and has since been known as the Texas Presbytery. The Rev. Wm. L. Patterson was the first clerk and the Rev. T. J. Bonner the first moderator. At the time of the organization of the Presbytery, there were three organized Associate Reformed Churches in the State, as follows : Richland, Navarro Co., Sept. 23, 1876; Harmony, Freestone Co., Oct. 14th, 1876; and the Hardin Co. Church, which was organized in July, 1875. Those were the days of small things in our Texas work, and indeed we may still be in the day of small things, but this Texas Presbytery has many things for which to be thankful to a kind and merciful God. It required brave and true men to begin this work and sus- tain it under the blessing of God in the trying years of the past. The work is not yet self-sustaining, but every part of the Synod's great work has a share of this liberality of the western section of the Church. The following servants of God have given more or less of their time to missionary work in the bounds of the Presbytery, in the more than 25 years of its life. Rev. T. J. Bonner, J. M. Little, Wm. L. Patterson, H. R. McCauley, R. E. Patterson, W. H. Millen, H. 36 A GENERAL SKETCH Rabb, E. E. Patterson, David Pressly, E. P. Stewart, E. B. Anderson, J. A. Myers, J. L. Pressly, Calvin Pressly, W. W. Orr, L. I. Echols, J. H. Simpson, T. W. Hayes, J. R. McCormick, A. J. Ranson, and J. R. Millen. Others made short missionary tours in the bounds of the Presbytery from year to year. At the present writing — May 21, 1903 — the Presbytery is composed of the following Churches and pastors : Hermon, Greer Co., Oklahoma, Rev. J. R. Millen ; Chicola, Lamar Co., Rev. T. W. Hayes ; Corsicana, Na- varro Co., Rev. A. J. Ranson ; Richland and Harmony, Rev. J. R. McCormick ; Marlow, Milan Co Revs. W. L. Patterson, E. P. Stewart and Calvin Pressly, having given years of valuable services to our Western work, and being honored, still live in the bounds of the Presbytery. Interesting facts are omitted, but the above will re- mind the Church that the Texas Presbytery lives, and .moves, and has its being by the blessing of God. We thank God for the past and confidently face this future. May His blessing abide with us. THE T AM PICO PRESBYTERY.— Republic of Mexico. — The territory embraced in what is known as The Tampico Presbytery is in the Republic of Mexico, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and comprises a portion of the southern part of the State of Tamaulipas, of the northern part of the State of Vera Cruz, and of the eastern part of the State of San Luis Potosi. During the Synodical year of 1885, Neill E. Pressly, the missionary, was instructed by the Board to organize a Presbytery ; but on account of the territory covered and the difficulties of travel, the organization was not effected. At the meeting of Synod in 1886 at Bethany, Lee Co., Miss., of which Rev. D. B. Pressly was Mod- erator and Rev. R. Lathan, Clerk, the following minute was adopted : "On motion of Rev. Yi. T. Sloan, D. D., A GENERAL SKETCH 37 Rev. Neill E. Pressly is directed to or.c^anize a Presby- tery in Mexico to be known as the Presbytery of Tampi- co." In the year 1887 the missionary translated and pubhshed in Spanish an edition of "The Book of Church Government, Discipline and Directory for Worship," and reported to the Synod through the Board that he hopes to organize before the end of the year the Presbytery of Tampico, as ordered by Synod. At the meeting of Synod that year, "Dr. Ross moved that the order to organize a Presbytery in Mexico be continued." On the 29th of June, 1888, the missionary Neill E. Pressly, Rev. Pedro Trujillo, Elder Pablo Morato and the licentiates, Zenong Zaleta, Ines Her- nandez and N. Arrebalo assembled in the hired chapel at Tampico for the purpose of organizing a Presbytery. Neill E. Pressly stated the object of the meeting and preached a sermon founded on Acts 18:9-11, and by him The Presbytery of Tampico was constituted with prayer. Rev. Pedro Trujillo was asked to act as clerk and a roll of the above mentioned persons was prepared and called. Rev. J. S. A. Hunter of the Arkansas Pres- bytery, U. S. A., having been commissioned to the Mex- ican field, as a missionary, was received as a member, and his name enrolled. At the first meeting, Sr. Ines Hernandez was ordained. The second meeting of the Presbytery of Tampico was held at Tampico and was presided over by Rev. Pedro Trujillo, and Neill E. Pressly elected clerk, wdiich posi- tion he has filled ever since. The Presbytery meets only once a year in the first part of the year, and is now composed of four missionaries, six native ordained ministers and one native licentiate, vie, Neill E. Pressly, Pedro Trujillo, J. S. A. Hunter, Ines Hernandez, J. R. Edwards, Francisco Mellado Meza, G. Cruz, J- G. Dale, S. S. Torres, C. Cruz and licentiate Pablo Morato. The Presbytery has in its ter- ritory seven church buildings and chapels, and school 38 A GENERAL SKETCH property valued at about $33,600.00. The collections the past year for various purposes amounted to $1,078.88. There are twenty odd points of preaching, and four day schools, in which are employed ten teachers. The Pres- bytery now has a Home Mission Board, composed of Revs. F. Mellado Meza, J. G. Dale and Neill E. Pressly, the latter being Secretary and Treasurer. Rev. S. S. Torres is the missionary supported by the Presbytery and is located at Tantoyuca. Peace, harmony and a Christian spirit characterize the meetings of Presbytery, and hard work the duty of each Presbyter. THE VIRGINIA PRESBYTERY. —The Presbytery of Virginia is composed of the following churches : Old Providence, Augusta Co., Timber Ridge, Ebenezer and Broad Creek, Rockbridge Co., Va., and New Lebanon, Monroe Co., W. Va. Ebenezer congregation for many years worshipped regularly also in Bethel Church, and was therefore called often Ebenezer and Bethel. Services are now very seldom held in the latter church. These five churches were in connection with the Presbytery of Pennsylvania from 1782 till Oct. 22, 1802, when they were connected with Big Spring Presbytery. This re- lation being dissolved at the forced union in 1822, the residue of the Associate Reformed congregations joined the Associate Church. The Associate Churches main- tained their connection with the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, and were. May i, 1800, transferred to Chartiers Presbytery. In Aug., 1803, however, they were a part of the Presbytery of the Carolinas, and here they remained till April 16, 1844, when they became a part of the First Presbytery. The Virginia Presbytery was organized at Ebenezer, May 8, 1854, the following members being present: Rev. Horatio Thr)mpson, D. D., Rev. I. G. McLaughlin, Rev. W. M. McElwee. Student, A. B. Beanier. A GENERAL SKETCH 39 Elders, Hugh Brownlee, Michael Beamer, John McKerny. Dr. Thompson preached the opening sermon from John 4 : 38, "Other men labored and ye are entered into their labors." The following persons have served the Presbytery as stated Clerks for longer or shorter periods of time : Calvin Harper, James H. Callison, James G. Dixon, James S. Callison, William B. Douglass, and Charles D. McCormick, who is at present clerk. Owing to the fact that "Book A" containing the minutes of this 'Pres- bytery is lost, the dates of the election and resignation of all these servants of the Church are not obtainable. When Calvin Harper was elected to, and when he re- signed the office, is unknown. Nor is it known when James H. Callison was elected clerk, but the last work he did in this capacity was done at Timber Ridge, Sept, 14 and 15, 1888. He died March 10, 1898, just a month before the Spring Meeting of the Presbytery. On Sa- turday, April 10, 1798, James G. Dixon was elected clerk at Broad Creek, and resigned Oct. 13, 1822. James S. Callison was elected to this office April 15, 1893, at New Lebanon, and resigned Oct. 3, 1896. William B. Douglass was elected at Broad Creek Oct. 14, 1898, and resigned April 19th, 1902. Charles D. McCormick was elected at Broad Creek April 19, 1902, and still fills the place. The following ministers have been in connection with the Presbytery as pastors : Horatio Thompson, D. D., W. M. McElwee, D. D., I. G. McLaughlin, J. H. Simp- son, S. W. Haddon, R. M. Stevenson, J. H. Moflfatt, E. F. Griffith and D. P. Neill. The following brethren have labored in its bounds as supplies, some of whom were members of the Presbytery and some not : J. R. McCormick, W. A. M. Plaxco, W. A. Wilson, W. M. Hunter, E. B. Anderson, H. R. McAulay, E. E. Pressly, 40 A GENERAL SKETCH J. P. Knox, T. W. Sloan, O. Y. Bonner, W. S. Castles, J. W. McCain and W. E. Anderson. The following persons, born and reared in this Pres- bytery, have studied theology and been licensed to preach the Gospel : A. B. Beamer of New Lebanon, J. A. Thompson of Timber Ridge, Lewis Hickman of Ebene- zer, J. R. McCormick and C. D. McCormick of Old Providence. Solomon says, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord." The following ministers have obtained this favor in the churches of this Presbytery : Horatio Thompson, D. D., W. M. McElwee, D. D., Monroe Gates, J. L. Hemphill, E. F. Griffith, J. C. Galloway, D. D., J. M. Todd, D. D., J. R. McCormick, J. B. Hood, J. M. Garrison, R. C. Davidson, and D. P. Neill. Our limited space forbids us to speak of the encour- agements and the discouragements of the work of the Lord in the Presbytery. The interest in and the con- tributions to Home and Foreign Missions have been good. The women, the young people and even the chil- dren have contributed to it. May the Lord prosper his work more and more. PART II. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Adair, IVilliaiii. — Was born in Co. Antrim, Ireland; educated and licensed in Scotland by the Presbyte- rian Church, and preached in his native land with encour- aging prospects and acceptance. The United Irishmen raised the standard of independence about 1798. Con- fined to Countys Down and Antrim, it was soon sup- pressed. The subject of this sketch becoming unex- pectedly involved in this struggle, betook himself to their ranks for safety. He was very much exposed and made his escape by means of a swift horse. A price was set on his head. He concealed himself in a vessel bound for America, though there were cards on board, offer- ing a reward for him. This exiled Irishman and licentiate was received by the A. R. P. Presbytery of Big Spring Nov. 15th, 1804. After laboring a few years in Pennsylvania and Virgina, he was ordained by said Presbytery April 7, 1807, and at that time received a call which was accepted, to Old Providence, Augusta Co., Va., and The Sinks, Monroe Co., near West \'a. Released from Old Providence because of 100 miles, six large rivers and three high mountains over one of which there was no regular road intervening between his churches, he gave the re- maining half time to Sinking Creek and Antonies Creek, Greenbrier Co., W. Va. Mr. Adair continued to supply these churches till Nov. 22, 1813. The Sinks Church, New Lebanon, petitioned Presbytery to be released irom their relation to him. By his own request the Big 42 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Spring Presbytery, May 25th, 1814, permitted him to cease from discharging the functions of the Gospel min- istry. The impression lingers in Monroe that he was silenced for error or immoral conduct. Had this been true the records of our early fathers in dealing with others show they would have prosecuted to the bitter end. Ceasing to be edifying largely through intem- perate hate of the British and intruding it into pulpit and church yard a change was thought necessary for the good of the congregation. He married Miss Ellen Davis of Greenbrier Co., W. Va., and they lived near Pickaway and were regular worshippers at New Lebanon. His ministerial life far from being in vain might have been more useful and edifying had he given himself wholly to it. Surrounded here by grand opportunities nothing but the gravest reasons could justify turning away from the ministry. Mrs. Ellen Adair died Dec. 8th, 1848, in the 89th year of her age. Three days later, Dec. nth, Rev. William Adair died in his 90th year. They were hurried in the same grave and a common marble slab marks the place. "They were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their ::i^^^ death they were not di- vided." Agiiczv, Samiiei An- ; ; dreiv, D. D. — Was the son i of Enoch Agnew, M. D., and Letitia Simpson Todd, and was born November 22, 1833, in Abbeville Co., S. C, near Due West. He attended school in Due West from a child. Later he entered Erskine College and graduated in his 19th s. A. AGNEW, D. D. year, August II, 1852. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 43 He united with the Due West church when quite young. In 1852 he removed with his father's family into the bounds of Bethany, Miss., congregation and there spent the remainder of his hfe. He was received as a student of theology by the Memphis Presbytery in 1853, and took his course in theology at Due West, S. C. He also studied under the direction of Rev. J. L. Young, Sr. pastor of Bethany. He was licensed by the Mem- phis Presbytery at Troy, Tenn., April 26, 1856, and by this Presbytery he was ordained April 23, 1859. He spent one year as a missionary in Madison Co., Miss., and for awhile taught in Guntown, Miss. In 1858, he began to supply Hopewell, Union Co., Miss., which con- tinued until 1870, when, the congregation having ex- tended a call, he was installed as pastor July 23, 1870. Previous to this time he was installed as pastor over Bethany, Lee Co., Aliss., July 31, 1868. This pastorate continued until his death, July 15, 1902. The Hope- well branch of his pastoral charge was demitted April 21, 1899, Dr. Agnew assigning as the reason that "he had reached a period of life when it would not be pru- dent for him to continue the work longer." Thus for 44 years, 32 of which he was pastor, he broke the Bread of Life to the people of Hopewell, and for about 35 years he ministered to Bethany. It is not strange that one sees the fruit of this long ministry in the lives of those who compare the membership of these congrega- tions. For a number of years he preached regularly at Guntown, for the benefit of some of the aged of his con- gregation who could not attend Bethany, Also he preached 5th Sabbaths at a school house 5 miles west of his home. Mr. Agnew received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater. Dr. Agnew was a careful, methodical sermonizer, and made much use of his MSS. His mind was well trained by wide and varied reading and research. His library 44 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. was perhaps one of the largest private Hbraries in the Synod. His sermons were plain, practical, thoughtful and helpful. Though not possessed of a good delivery, his preaching was earnest, impressive, edifying and comforting. In his latter days he manifested quite a fondness for family history, and gathered a select library on this sub- ject. As a historian he was accurate and faithful, and perhaps his account of the "Battle of Brice's Cross Roads or Tishomingo Creek," is the best available. For 30 odd years he kept a diary of current events. Dr. Agnew was a man of sterling integrity of charac- ter, of positive convictions and absolute loyalty to truth and right. He was respected by friend and foe, a man mighty in the Scriptures. Death found him "in the harness." Saturday night was spent at Kinsman's on his way to preach at Gun- town the following day, but he was taken seriously sick during the night and on the following Tuesday afternoon his spirit was released from its tenement of clay. He died July 15, 1902. Dr. Agnew was first married to Nannie E. McKell, of Oktibbehah Co-, Miss., and a daughter of David and E. J. McKell. Two children were born to them, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Agnew died July 24, 1868. He was married the second tijme to Rachel Janie Peoples, Jan. 21, 1875. She is a daughter of John Brown and Rebecca M. Peoples. Nine children were born to them, two of whom died in early childhood. Of the remaining four are sons and three arc daughters. Anderson, Abraham, D. D. — Abraham and Elizabeth (Chestnut) Anderson rejoiced Dec. 7, I7()8, at the birth of a child. His martial spirit led him to follow Gen. Harrison's career in the war of 1812. Leaving the mus- ket, he took up the college cap and gown and graduated SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 45 at Jefferson, 1817. Spending one year with Dr. John Anderson, he served the next three years as Prof, of Languages in his aima mater, where he finished his di- vinity, as also a course of medicine. Chartiers Presby- tery granted him hcense Aug. 29th, 182 1. He declined a call to New Lebanon, West Va., in 1822. The Presby- tery of the Carolinas ordained and installed him over Steele Creek and Bethany (Back Creek), Mecklenburg Co., N. C, Oct. 3rd, 1822. For about ten years he served most ably and acceptably this charge and then became pastor of West Hebron, Washington Co., N. Y., 1833- 1847, and then Prof, of Didactic and Polemic Theology in the seminary of his denomination, Canonsburg, Pa., till his death May 9th, 1855. He laid many and varied gifts on the altar of the Master. Anderson J Elbert Bry- son. — Was born of Scotch- Irish godly parents, Feb. I2th, 1863, in Laurens Co., S. C. His father was an industrious, judicious man and a ruling elder. His mother was a Bryson, re- lated to the family of that name which Dr. Henry Bryson so honored. Early in childhood he became in- terested in books and school, carrying a New Testament in his pocket and reading it through several times in a year. At 16 he began the struggle alone for an education. By alter- nately teaching and going to school, his preparation for College was made at Reidsville High School, Spartan- burg, S. C, and the Freshman class at Erskine College was entered Oct., 1885. A full four years' A. B. course E. 1!. ANUEKSON. 46 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. was taken and he graduated with honor in a class of 13 in 1889. Giving his heart to Christ in his mother's Church "at twelve, 30 miles awa)^" with an early desire to preach the glorious Gospel, it is no wonder that two years of the three then required in the seminary were taken during his literary course. His divinity course being completed in June, 1890, his licensure having been previously given him by the Second Presbytery Sept. 14th, 1889. Labor- ing for some time in the Memphis and Texas Presby- teries he was by the latter ordained Nov. 30, 1890. In Nov. 1 89 1 he began stated labor at Amity and Elk Shoals, Iredell and Alexander Cos., N. C, respectively, and was installed pastor of the latter Nov. 17, 1892, and of the former next day. His first year here was devoted in part to the Hiddenite Mission. This charge was re- turned to Presbytery x^pril 5, 1898. After resting a few months in the home of his ■mother the Board of Home Missions sent him to Broad Creek, Va., in Sept., 1898. There he remained as Stated Sup- ply till Nov. I, 1902. As a student he was painstaking, a great reader, being careful to keep himself posted. , As a pastor he was reasonably blessed in the fields where he labored — more so than many with twice the physical strength. The ease and tact with which he could approach a wayward, worldly sinner might well be coveted. As a presbyter he was watchful, ready in debate, well versed in parliamentary law and the judicial acts of his Church. His genial manner, his general information made him an agreeable companion. Facing difficulties and discouragements frotn the very beginning of his ed- ucation, and the prosecution of his ministry not being without its trials the master has been pleased to give him tests to his call and souls for his hire. If reward is measured by trials overcome then great will be his. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 47 William Edgar Ander- son.— Is a son of Elbert Dickson Anderson and Sarah .Vnn Brj'^son, and was born near Reidsville, S. C, June 14, 1872. He was educated at Erskine College and Erskine Theo- logical Seminary, gradu- ing from the former June, i8(», and from the latter June, 1902. Was received as a student of theology by 2nd Presbyter}' at Iva, S. C, April, 1901, and li- censed by the same Presbytery at Wrens, Ga., April, 1902. He is now laboring at Broad Creek church in Virginia. He joined the church at W'oodrufif, S. C, Oct. 18, 1891. W. E. ANDERSON. Baird, James Warden. — Son of Cornelius Baird and Elizabeth McDaniel (Boyd) McQuiston, was born in Tipton Co., Tenn., Sep- tember 3, 1867. His father was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and came to America at an early age with his father's family, and settled near Corn- well's Turnout, in Chester Co., S. C, in the bounds of Hopewell A. R. church, and thence removed to Tipton Co., Tenn. where he died. His mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, born in Chester Co., S. C. She J. W. B.MRD. 48 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. was married to Hugh M. McQuiston, of Tipton Co., Tenn., who died, leaving four sons, three of whom sur- vive. She was afterwards married to CorneHus Baird, James W. being the only child of this union. James was given such educational advantages as the country schools afforded, and entered the sophomore class in Erskine College in 1885, graduating from that institute in June of 1888. He joined Salem A. R. Church about his sixteenth year, transferring his mem- bership to Due West, S. C, when he entered college. He entered Erskine Theological Seminary in October, 1888, but on account of his father's death in March of 1889, was called home and during the spring and summer pros- ecuted his studies, by order of Presbytery, under Rev. J. H. Strong, returning to the Seminary in the fall. On May 3, 1889, he was received as a student of theology by the Memphis Presbytery, at Rives, Tenn., and was li- censed by the same Presbytery at a called meeting at Salem, Tenn., July 6, 1890. He labored chiefly in the Memphis Presbytery during the next two years — at Re- hoboth, Shiloh, Mt. Carmel, Beulah and Rives, spending a few weeks each at Starkville, Miss., and Prosperity and Blanche, Lincoln Co., Tenn. In the fall of 1892, he was called to the pastorate of Ebenezer, Tippah Co., Miss., and was ordained and installed there by a called meeting of Presbytery, Dec. 3, 1892. In 1902 the Synod ap- pointed him to the work of establishing a church in Covington, Tenn. He gave up the pastorate of Ebene- zer where he had labored faithfully and acceptably for a period of 10 years, and entered upon the work in Coving- ton, Jan. I, 1903. He was Moderator of the Synod of 1902, which met at Pisgah, Gaston Co., N. C, and was appointed by Synod a member of Committee on Me- morial Volume, in place of Rev. S. A. Agnew, D. D., deceased. He was for 10 years Stated Clerk of the Mem- phis Presbytery. Mr. Baird was married, June 4, 1891, at Due West, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 49 S. C, to Miss Anna Maria Brice, daughter of the Rev. R. W. Brice and Anna M. Steele. She was born in the bounds of Hopewell, in Chester Co., S. C, January 31, 1864. Of the six children born to them, three daugh- ters and two sons survive. Baldridge, IVilliani. — Son of Alexander and Jenny (Ramsey) Baldridge, was born in Lancaster Co., Pa., Feb. 26th, 1761. In 1764 his father moved to Lincoln Co., N. C, within the bounds of Gilead church, A. R. So patriotic, when the Revolutionary war broke out, his youth preventing his enlisting, he served first as a team- ster and then to the end of the war in a cavalry company. Preparing for college under Rev. Robert Findley he graduated with honors at Dickinson, 1790. His divinity course was pursued under Rev. Alexander Dobbin of Gettysburg, Pa. A part of his course being taken under Dr. Nesbit, President of Dickinson, license was granted him by the A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania May 2^, 1792. This same court admitted him to the pastoral charge of the united congregations of James River and Battetant in Virginia. The Associate Reformed Synod met May 29th, 1797, in Philadelphia, Pa., and he was honored with the moderatorship. He served these churches as pastor for ten years. Many of his families having gone to Ohio this charge was demitted Oct. 19th, 1803, but he remained stated supply of Forks of the James in connection with Timber Ridge till June, 1809, when with a caravan of his people he removed to Ohio and became pastor of Cherry Fork and West Fork, Adams Co. He was twice offered the Presidency of Washington College, Lexington, Va., now W. & L. University, possibly between Sept. 1796 and Oct. 1799. This high honor was declined because the scarcity of ministers would not warrant his withdrawal from ac- tive pastoral work. His death occurred of "dropsy of the chest," Oct. 26th. 1830, 50 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He was twice married. Miss Rebecca Agnew born Oct. 13th, 1771, near Gettysburg, Pa., became his first wife July 17, 1792. Her death occurred Oct. 26th, 1817 at the birth of her thirteenth child. Mrs. Mary (Logan) Anderson, born in Pennsylvania, May 22, 1782, became his second wife. Her death occurred at Spring Hill, Ind., Sept. 15, 1870. As to personal appearance, a man of commanding physique, in height over six feet and one inch and a frame well rounded and imposing. As to manners and study, sedate without austerity, a close and regular stu- dent he was methodical and impressive in matter and manner, well acquainted with the human side of life and the divine workings of the spirit in the regeneration of the soul. Painstaking and faithful also in pastoral visi- tation he was successful and beloved. Banks, Joseph. — Son of Dr. John Banks, was born in Florida, N. Y., July 2'^, 1806; was graduated at Uni- versity of Pa. at the early age of 17. His course of divinity was under his father in Philadelphia and the Presbytery of Pennsylvania granted him licensure Oct. I, 1828. This youthful recruit succeeded the old vet- eran. Rev. Wm. Dixon. A call was made by the wide parish in four Counties and two States March 20, 1830, viz. : Nob Creek, Cleveland Co., and Pisgah, Gaston Co., N. C. ; Bethany, York Co., and Sardis, Union Co., S. C. That he might be more useful and awaiting his decision to enter into the pastoral relation, his early ordination was delayed by sickness till Oct. 15th, 1831. He retired from the field in the early fall of 1833, served as pastor in Ohio, and as Chaplain of the Western Penitentiary of Pa., was his church's pioneer missionary to Trinidad for eight years, beginning in 1843. Died at Mercer, Pa., April 8th, 1859, of consumption. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 51 Beamer, Augustus Baleiitiiie. — Born ^\ug. 26th, 1826. in Monroe Co., West Va. ; prepared for college by Rev. I. G. McLaughlin; was graduated at Jefferson, 1852; spent a session each at Allegheny Seminary, Pa., and Erskine, S. C, and the Mrginia Presbytery licensed him Aug. 25th, 1855. He preached for some three years in the Virginia Presbytery till disqualified by sore throat trouble. He spent many years as a successful teacher. In 1874, Sept. he was happily married to Miss Ro- manza Miller. She is an industrious, amiable and godly woman, and cares for him in his age and helplessness. He retains connection with and has deep interest in the church of his childhood, though thirteen miles away, at Zenith, West Va. His death occurred Jan. 30. 1903. Bcli Robert Lee.— Was born near Due West, S. C, on July 6th, 1870. His parent'^ were Mr. Francis Marion and Mrs. Jane (Hawkins) Bell. He was educated in Due West, graduating from Erskine College, June, 1889. He then taught school two }'ears in Montgomery, Ala., being elected the Principal of the Capital City Male and Female In- stitute, after which he en- tered l£rskine Theological Seminary, completing the course in June, 1893; was licensed at Spring- meeting of the 2nd Presbytery at King's Creek, Newberry County, S. C, on April 12th, 1893. He left the Seminary and under direction of the Pres- bytery entered upon work at Hopewell, Newton County, K. L. BELL. 52 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Ga. He was later on called and ordained, and installed the pastor of Hopewell, Dec. 8th, 1893. He organized and built a church at Fairview, Henry Co., in 1894, and remained the pastor of these churches for seven years. He resigned this pastorate and accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church at McDonough, Ga., being installed by the Atlanta Presbytery Nov. 19, 1901, and has contin- ued to serve this church up to the present writing. He married Oct. 12, 1898, Miss Effie Louise Dawson, the daughter of Mr. James B. and Mrs Eliza (Alex- ander) Dawson, of Louisville, Ga., and two children have blessed this union. He has been in great demand as an evangelist, preach- ing the Gospel in its purity as once delivered to the saints. Betts, Charles Bozven, D. Z).— Rev. C. B. Betts, D. D., was born at Char- lotte, Dickson Co, Tenn., Nov. I2th, 1828, and is the son of William Betts and Eliza Bowen. He was prepared for College at Viny Grove Acadejiiy, in Tenn., and graduated at Jefferson College, Penn., in 1851. In Oct., 1851, he was received as a stu- dent of theology by the C. B. BETTS. D. D. , -rt , ta Second Presbytery at Due West, S. C, and received his theological training in Er- skine Seminary, being licensed by the Second Presbytery in Oct., 1853. Li May, 1855, he was ordained at Winns- boro, S. C, and installed pastor over Winnsboro and the Brick Church in Fairfield Co., S. C. Here he remained SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 53 until Nov., 1869. when he was sent to the Mission at Nashville, Tenn., by the Synod. He resigned his charge of Winnsboro and Brick Church, but remained at Nash- ville only one year, accepting a call in Dec, 1870, from the united charge of Union, Chester Co., S. C, and Neely's Creek, York Co., S. C. In 1889, he gave up the Neely's Creek branch of his charge, and has remained pastor of Union continuously ever since. Mr. Betts has been twice married. First to Miss Atmarinth H. Sharpe, daughter of Clement Sharpe and Esther Hawthorn, of Due West, S. C, who bore him six children, dying in Nov., 1870. The second marriage was to Miss Flora M. Burns, of Chester Co.. S. C, who was born Dec. 19th, 1846, and who is still living and the mother of six children. During the war between the States, Mr. Betts was chaplain of the 6th Reg. S. C. V., until its reorganization at Summerville, S. C, and after that he was Chaplain of the 12th S. C. V. and went with them to Virginia. While serving as chaplain of the 6th Reg. S. C. v., Mr. Betts had a thrilling experience that nearly cost him his life. With three companions, Wm. Creight of Winnsboro, S. C, and Hassie and Russell of Charleston, he visited a part of the regiment stationed at the mouth of the Stono River, near Charleston, S. C. At 6 P. M. they started to return to their quarters and very shortly afterwards their boat capsized, and for three hours they clung to the upturned boat in the water. They were at last rescued by some negroes in a boat. Mr. Betts was unconscious when rescued and remained so until 12 o'clock. He has always looked upon it as a special interposition of providence, and is grateful that God spared him to a long life of usefulness and service. Mr. Betts received his degree of Doctor of Divinity from Erskine College a few years ago. He has been elected moderator of the Synod, and will have the honor of presiding over its Centemiial Session at Winnsboro, S. C, in Nov., 1903. He died Dec, 1903. 54 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. J. M. BIGHAM. .Bighain, John Mills. — Rev. John Mills Bigham is the son of James White Bigham and Mary Isa- bella Mills, and was born at Wellridge, Chester Co., S. C, May 17th, 1875. He received his primary edu- cation under his mother in the home until he was fourteen years old, then attended the public schools until he entered Erskine College in 1893, graduat- ing in 1896. He joined the church at Hopewell, S. C, 1897, was received as a student of Theology by the First Presbytery, at Hickory Grove, S. C, in the fall of 1897, and pursued his studies in Erskine Theological Seminary. He was licensed by the First Presbytery at Winnsboro, S. C, 1899. After supplying churches in Alexander Co., N. C, and at White Oak, Ga., he was called to Huntersville and Gilead in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and was ordained and installed pastor of these churches Nov. 27th, 1900, and is still serving them. Under his leadership the church at Hun- tersville has erected a new and beautiful house of wor- ship. Birnbach, C. R. — Rev. C. R. Birnbach was born and raised in Germany. He joined the First Presbytery, by certificate from the United Presbyterian Presbytery of Sidney, Ohio, at Gilead, in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, April, 1886, and preached in various churches in North and South Carolina for a year. On April 4th. 1887, Mr. Birnbach was dismissed by letter to the Bethel Presby- tery of the Southern Presbyterian Church, and after preaching in that church for a short while, returned to the North. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 55 Black, John Victor.— Son of Elihu Black and Harriet Shaw, was born April 20, 1871, at Frankfort, Ind. He received his collegiate training at Monmouth College of the United Presbyterian Church. He joined the church at Austin, Texas, in 1883, and was received by the Sec- ond Presbytery as a student of theology at Mount Car- mel, S. C, Nov., 1894. He attended the Erskine Theo- logical Seminary and was licensed by the Second Pres- bytery at Ebenezer, Ga., in the spring of 1896. Having accepted a call from Generostee and the Grove in An- derson Co., S. C, he was ordained and installed pastor by Drs. W. M. Grier and W. L. Pressly, commission of 2nd. Presbytery, in the spring of 1897. He was mar- ried in the spring of 1897, in Newberry, S. C, to Miss Lizzie Allen Blackburn, daughter of James and Mollie Blackburn. To them one child has been born. Gener- ostee and the Grove have developed during his pastorate. Mr. Black is a man of fine presence in the pulpit, an impressive speaker, and an earnest worker and pastor. Blacksfock, William. — Born at Ballynahinch, Ireland; educated in Scotland; licensed by the Associate Presby- tery of Down and supplied for some time the Associate congregation of Ballynahinch. Embarking on the "Irish Volunteer" on the 25th of Sept., 1792, he landed in Charleston, S. C, a Christmas gift to the A. R. church. "Rev. B. preached once, the captain paying strict atten- tion, but not the crew." He was ordained and installed pastor of Steele Creek, Ebenezer and Neely's Creek, all in York Co., S. C, June 8th. 1794, by the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. Having labored faithfully in this triple charge for ten years, the following unhappy divis- ion in Steele Creek and Neely's Creek induced a change. Revs. Peter IMclNIullan and William Dixon became dissatified with the A. R. P. Church principally because of just discipline inflicted on the former. They declined their authority and joined the Associate Presbyterian 56 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Church and were subsequently with Rev. John Cree of Rockbridge Co., Va., organized into the Associate Pres- bytery of the CaroHnas Aug. 31, 1803, at Steele Creek, N. C. As before said two of his congregations were thereby rent by schism, one part singing David's Psalms and the other the Psalms of David. About 1804 he became pastor-elect, but for some rea- son not installed, of New Perth, Old Sterling, and Rocky Springs. Here his wife died, April 26th, 18 10, aged 45. Her maiden name was Sarah Hutchison. Removing to Tirzah, Union Co., N. C, about 181 1 he became pas- tor as also of Ebenezer, York Co., S. C, which latter he demitted July 12th, 1815, as also Neelys Creek, 1814, which pastorate he had assumed some time before. His influence was now great and his activity untiring. A punctual and influential member of church courts he was called to the Moderatorship of Synod 1805, 1812, April 8, 1812, Nov. 18 and 1825, as also in 1809 a dele- gate to the General Synod. It was customary to appoint yearly a missionary West. For 14 weeks in 1821 he made such a journey. It is probable in a second such journey 1827 he preached the first sermon ever delivered in Obion Co., Tenn,. under a large beech hard by the Troy A. R. P. Church. Possibly he felt partially re- warded when the next Synod thanked him "for unwear- ied and persevering exertions." His pastoral relation with Tirzah was dissolved early in 1827. This faithful and laborious minister did much pioneer work in the bounds of the First Presbytery. His memory is em- balmed in the hearts of a grateful people. The Master gave him the distinguished honor and to us the blessing of thirty-nine years faithful, loyal, untiring service. Many must be the stars in his crown of rejoicing. His coronation day was Oct., 1831, and his remains were in- terred at Tirzah, where for so many years he had preached the Gospel. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 57 Blakcly, Rev. Hunter Bryson.— The congregation of Bethel, now Ora, S. C, has given to the church a num- ber of useful ministers ; among these Liro. H. C. Blakely occupies a prominent place. He is the son of Tudy Blakely and :\Iargaret Bryson, and was born near Ora, Laurens Co., S. C, January 6th, 1863. He attended tli£ common school of his neighborhood and was from a boy a diligent student. Brought up under the ministry of Rev. D. F. Haddon, he joined the church in childhood. Entering Erskine College as a Freshman, he graduated in Tune, 1883, with the first honors of his class. He was especially distinguished for his proficiency in Mathemat- ics. He taught school one year after graduation and then entered the Seminary at Due West in the fall of 1884. The sessions at that time consisted of three terms of seven months. He graduated from Seminary in May, 1887. He became a member of Presbytery at Doraville, Ga., in April, 1885 ; was licensed at Bethel, Laurens Co., S. C. in April, 1886 ; spent some time in Tennessee, Lin- coln Co., during the following summer. Was called as pastor to New Hope. S. C, and was there ordained and installed, October 19. 1887. He remained here three years, but the congregation al- tho' growing in liberality and in grace during his minis- try, was much weakened by removals. He accepted a call to Lancaster, Gill's Creek and Unity— and labored in that field for four years. He was sent by the Board of Home Missions to Atlanta, Ga., in September, 1894, and labored faithfully and successfully in that field for seven years. Was called to Troy, S. C, in December, 1901, where he is now pastor, the church there having taken on new life since his work began. Bro. Blakely is a most successful pastor and an earn- est, scriptural preacher. He was married November 3rd. 1892, to ^Tiss Susan M. Marshall, daughter of John T. and Sallie Thorn Mar- shall, of Millersburgh, Bourbon Co., Ky. They have four children living and one dead. 58 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. W. A. BLAKELY. Blakcly, IVarren An- drcxv.—Son of Milton Blakely and Elizabeth Jane Thompson, was born January 3, 1874, near Clinton, Laurens Co., S. C. His educational oppor- tunities were good, being prepared for college in the ordinary public schools, and graduating from Er- skine College in June, 1895. He joined Bethel A. R. church when but 10 or II years of age, entered Erskine Theological Seminary, Oct., 1896, and was re- ceived as Student of Theology by the Second Presbytery at Bethlehem, S. C, in the spring of 1897. He was li- censed to preach at Generostee, S. C. April 19. 1898. the Rev. E. P. McClintock acting for Rev. J. S. Mills, Mod- erator. Was ordained by a commission of the Second Presbytery at Due West, S. C, Dec. i, 1898, Rev. W. M. Grier, D. D., Moderator, and Rev. O. Y. Bonner, Clerk. He labored at Doraville, Ga., and Prosperity and Or- ville, Ala. In the fall of 1899 he was called to the pas- torate of Prosperity and Orrville, and was installed over the former Dec. 3, 1899, and over the latter May 21, 1900. The Rev. H. M. Henry officiated on both occasions. Mr. Blakely was left an orphan when eight years of age and was taken into the home of his grandmother, Mrs. E. A. Thompson. BoiDicr, John I.- — Was born in Monroe County, Ala., in 1823, but spent most of his early years in Wilcox County of that same State. In 1837, his father removed to Indiana, and living not far from Oxford, Ohio, the seat of Miami University, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 59 ^m «4 REV. J. I. BOXNER, D. D. was in the position to give his son the advantages of an excel- lent education. During the years 1843, 1844, and 1845, he studied theology in the Semi- nary at Due West, S. C, under Rev. E. E. Pressly, D. D., and was licensed by the Second Presbytery at Long Cane, S. C, Oct. 6, 1845. Although not the pastor of a church, he very frequently went out on preaching tours, occupy- ing vacant pulpits and assisting on sacramental occasions. About Due West and over the adjoining counties of Abbeville, Laurens, Anderson, and Newberry, his name was al- most as familiar as household words. He took an ac- tive part in committees, in Boards, in church courts, in literary and educational labors, all of which brought upon him many cares and responsibilities. He began his editorial experience with the Erskine Miscellany in 1851. Then with the Telescope, and last- ly with the A. R. Presbyterian. . In the management of this paper he displayed tact, energy, and perseverence. He had great facility in the use of the pen, using lang- uage terse, vigorous, and idiomatic, and sometimes in the heat of controversy, sarcastic and trenchant. Dr. Bonner did many things and did them well, he served the Church efficiently in various offices, but per- haps his life work, that which enlisted his best efforts and called forth his fullest energy was teaching. In 1859 he was chosen President of Due West Female Col- lege, and it is mainly to him that this Institution owes the high rank it now holds. He lived and worked for it with all the energy of his nature. From the date of its organization until his death he was its only President. 6o SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He possessed to an unusual degree eminent qualifica- tions for his work as College President. He was a man of great sagacity and practical sense. His foresight was almost prophetic. One of the most salient points of his character was his great force of will which in large mea- sure made him what he was. It was essential in the po- sition he held and during the times in which he filled it. It was his unconquerable resolution that infused hope and courage in others. Again he possessed great ad)iiinis- trative tact, a quick perception of the individualities of his pupils and a readiness in adapting his instructions to fit their peculiar needs. But above all these qualifi- cations for his calling, Dr. Bonner possessed the great and essential one of love for his work. His whole heart was in it. He sought with fervent zeal to make the Institution over which he presided, one of the best in the land, and surely this In- stitution is his best monument in that it tells what he was and what he was capable of achieving. As College President, editor, and member of Presbytery and Synod, he wielded an extensive and powerful in- fluence. It is difificult to say in which of these three ca- pacities he wielded the most influence, but it may be said that being of a public spirit and fully abreast of the age, he was on the lookout for all legitimate measures by which to put the Church on high vantage ground. Dr. Bonner was married three times ; to Miss N. M. Baldridge of Indiana, who lived but a short time ; to Miss L. A. Lindsay, of Due West, daughter of James Lindsay, and sister of Rev. J. O. Lindsay, D. D. ; and to Miss A. L. Morse, of New York. At the time of his death he left a widow and seven children, four sons and three daughters. He died at his residence in the Female College, Due West, S. C, April 29. 1881, in the fifty-ninth (59th) vear of his age. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 6i REV. O. Y. BONNER. Boiuter, Rev. Oliver Young. ■ — Youngest son of Rev. J. I. Bonner, D. D., and Mrs. A. L, iionner, was born in Due West, S. C, November 15, 1863. His early educational advantages were excellent, and at the age of twenty years he was gradu- ated from Erskine College. Af- ter his graduation from Erskine College, he entered Erskine Theological Seminary, and af- ter two year spent in that in- stitution, he entered Union Seminary, N. Y., from which he was graduated in 1887. After his graduation from Union Seminary, he preached six months within the bounds of the Virginia Presbytery, six months in Kentucky, and six months in the Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery. In 1888, he was called to the joint pastorate of Prosperity and Blanche. Tenn. Accepting the call, he was installed the same year, and remained there until May, 1891. In June, 1 89 1, he was installed pastor of Due West A. R. P. church, a relation existing at the present time (1904). Under his ministry, the church has grown in strength and in every good work. In addition to his pastoral duties, Mr. Bonner is junior editor of the A. R. Presbyterian, a position he has held since the death of Dr. W. M. Grier in 1899. After the death of Rev. C. E. Todd, Synod commis- sioned Mr. Bonner to prosecute the collection of the Twentieth Century Fund. He entered into this work with zeal and energy, and met with much success. At the meeting of Synod at Winnsboro, S. C, in 1903, he was, at his own request, released from this work. Mr. Bonner has always been deeply interested in mis- sions, and is considered an authority on almost every phase of foreign mission work. 62 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. In 1892 Mr. Bonner was united in marriage to Miss Belle H. Neel, daughter of Dr. J. D. Neel. of Troy, S. C, and to them two children were born. Mrs. Bonner died in 1901. On June 30, 1903, Mr. Bonner was married to Miss Jennie Edwards, daughter of Dr. E. H. Edwards of Due West, and for many years the talented and successful teacher of vocal music at the Due West Female College. Bonner, Rev. Thomas Joel. — Was born in Monroe Co., Ala., Dec. 23, 182 1. His father, William Bonner, had moved from Cedar Springs, in Abbeville Co., S. C. ; af- terward located in Wilcox Co., Ala., and later in Free- stone Co., Texas. Thomas spent his early years on the farm. He attended Miami University a while, but graduated from Er- skine College in 1843. The same year he married Miss Amanda Posey, of Abbe- ville Co., S. C. His theo- logical studies were prose- cvited under Rev. Joseph McCreary one year, and in Erskine Theological Sem- inary. He was licensed by the Alabama Presbytery in 1846. For a number of years he was S. S. for a vacancy in Lowndes Co. and occasionally visited vacancies in Georgia and Mississippi. At the so- licitation of friends and kindred, he moved to Freestone Co., Texas, in 1859. Some time before this he was ordained sine titudo by the Alabama Presbytery. He preached regularly in this new field, always loyally maintaining the ])rinci]:)les of the church of his choice. For perhaps 15 years, he T. T- BONNER. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 63 never saw the face or heard the voice of an Associate Reformed minister, yet always had a Hvely interest in the enterprises of Synod. About the year 1865 he or- ganized a Psalm singing church at County Line school house, near the line between Freestone and Navarro counties. This church was temporarily placed under the care of a presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. The congregations of Harmony, Richland and Ebenczer come out of this organization. In the organ- ization of the Presbytery of Texas, at Plarmony Church, Dec. 9, 1876, Rev. T. J. Bonner presided and preached the opening sermon. He, with Revs. J. M. Little and W. L. Patterson composed the Presbytery. Failing health compelled him to retire from the active work of the ministry about the year '79. He died June 13, 1895, at the hohie of his son, W. B. Bonner in Wortham, Texas. He left a widow and six children. Borroivs, James. — Born in Washington Co., Pa., March 3, 1821, was graduated at Muskingum, 1847, ^^^ took his divinity course at Allegheny. The Second Ohio gave him license April 10, 1850, and ordination Oct. 27, 1852. After serving as pastor in Ohio and Pennsylvania, he came with the Presbytery of Ohio into the A. R. P. Synod of the South Sept. 19th, 1867, as pastor of Eben- ezer, Crawford Co., Pa. He was installed pastor of Hartstown, same county, April, 1868, and Sugar Grove, Mercer Co., Pa., 1870. Returned with his congregations to the U. P. Church May 30th, 1881, and the Ohio Pres- bytery was dissolved. He died of paralysis May 13, 1886. Bothwell, David. — Was born in 1749. in Monaghan, Ireland. His parents were David and Margaret Both- well. He had good educational advantages and was graduated from the University of Edinburgh, perhaps in 1786. He studied theology at Haddington imder John Brown and was a member of the last class tauo-ht bv that 64 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. eminent divine. He joined the church at Belen Albany. He was received as a student of theology by the Presby- tery of Monaghan at Monaghan in 1787. He was li- censed by the same Presbytery at Belen Albany, 1789. He was sent immediately to labor in Georgia, and on his arrival supplied the churches in Jefferson and Burke Counties. He landed at Charleston, Jan. ist, 1790. He was perhaps installed as pastor of Bethel and Eb- enezer Churches, but preached at other points, and no doubt made long missionary tours. On Oct. 19th, 1789, at Monaghan he married Miss Jane Wright. Her pa- rents were John and Mary Lowther Wright. She was born at Monaghan Jan. 24th, 1773. David Bothwell left four sons ; his widow married Rev. John Renwick and left a number of children, one of whom, Mrs. Henry, still lives at Due West. Mrs. Bothwell, afterwards Mrs. Renwick, died Dec. 12th, 1849. David Bothwell was for ten years a prominent figure in the history of the A. R. Church, and was a preacher of great power. He was called upon to preach before the legislature of Georgia during the Yazoo excitement. He died in the midst of his usefulness June 30th, 1801. Boycc, Ehenezer Er- skUic, D. D. — Of the many distinguished ministers Sardis, N. C, has pro- duced, none are more con- secrated, useful and lov- able. He was of distin- guished and pious ances- try. Mrs. ' Margaret Har- per gave birth to two sons in Ireland who, emigrat- ing to Philadelphia, es- tablished the "Harper Bros." Publishing House. E. E. BOYCE, D. D. -n i i ' By her second marriage SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 65 Margaret Morehead was born. This daughter and James Boyce, grandfather of above, marrying in Ireland and emigrating to Mecklenburg Co., N. C, brought her mother, whose remains lie in Providence cemetery. Mrs. Margaret Morehead "had some illustrious descendants, among whom was Wm. H. Morehead, Governor of N. C. and a very nvimerous generation descending through her daughter Prudence Smith. The youngest son of Samuel Boyce and his wife Deborah Black, born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, Dec. 12, 1820, bore both a scrip- ture and a Scottish name — Ebenezer Erskine. His preparation for college began in 1837, under Dr. R. C. Grier at Union Academy. In 1842 he entered Jef- ferson College, Pa., a horseback ride of two weeks, grad- uating in 1844. After a full course in Erskine Semi- nary, he became a probationer of the First Presbytery, Nov. II, 1846. That winter was spent at Ebenezer, Rockbridge Co., Ya.. The next spring and summer in Kentucky, the Synodical year^ '47-'48, in West Tenn- essee. Some time during this year he preached the first sermon where Richland church now stands, under a large poplar tree. His ordination and installation took place over the united congregations of Bethany, York Co., S. C, and Pisgah, Gaston Co., N. C, June 28, 1849. Then and there began possibly the most successful pastorate in Synod. Pisgah was divided in 1856 and Nebo in Cleveland Co. organized. Nebo was divided into King's Mountain, now Boyce ^Memorial, and Bethel. Gastonia, Crowder's Creek, Clover and Bessemer, all fair daughters, sprang up. The two original have grown to eight with pastors, a total membership (1903) of 814, accessions //, contributing $3,921, and church and manse property worth $17,600. True, this is not all the work of Dr. Boyce. But God was pleased to use this prince of pastors and wise master builders to lay the founda- tion and direct this remarkable expansion in his pas- torate. Bethany was demitted Sept. 7. 1885. On the 66 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 25th Sept., 1893, this laborious servant, because of age and infirmity and as he said "because he loved his peo- ple," demitted Pisgah and Gastonia. The words were spoken and the vows taken, Aug. 29, 1850, which wedded him to Miss Margaret Jane, daughter of John Simonton, of Fairfield Co., S. C. Short was their united life. Death in her father's home, Oct. 10, 185 1, sundered this tie. His second wife was Miss Rachel E. McElwee, the nuptial day being May 11, 1854. She still survives and is the mother of all his living children. He was modera- tor of Synod, 1870, delegate to the United Presbyterian General Assembly, Monmouth, 111., May, 1874, and re- ceived D. D. froim Westminster, Pa., 1885, and from Erskine College the same year. Suddenly the summons came early Wednesday morning, Nov. 5, 1902, at Gas- tonia, N. C. During that day and the next morning the Synod was collecting in Gastonia for their meeting at Pisgah, a few miles distant. By unanimous consent the members at- tended and conducted his funeral in the city at the very hour they should have met in Synodical session. Such a coincidence has never occurred but once before in our church. Rev. R. M. Galloway died at Hopewell, Maury Co., Tenn., Friday, Oct. 9, 1840, and was buried by his Sy- nod, which met the following Monday. A most remarkable servant of his Master, great in goodness and good in greatness, he was the beloved disciple. His preaching was flash lights on the text, striking, original, intensely interesting and helpful. His pastoral work was exemplary, never forgetting he was an ambassador, always mingling gravity with innocent gaiety, and trying to make every common place incident produce a spiritual impression. He was pre- emiently spiritually minded, a peace maker, and a wise counsellor. His home was a model. Grace and nature SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 67 made this distinguished servant a Nathaniel in guileless- ness, a John in lovehness, a iNIoses in meekness. Boyd, James Cisero. — Rev. James Cisero Boyd was born in the bounds of Hopewell Church, in Chester Co., S. C, Nov. 28th, 1833, and was the son of James Boyd and Frances Agnew. He was educated at Due West, S. C, graduating from Erskine College in the class of 1855. In the fall of the same year he was taken under the care of the First Presbytery as a student of theology at Sar- dis, N. C, and after spending two years in the Seminary at Due West, S. C, was licensed by the First Presbytery at Coddle Creek in the fall Z'' \ of 1857. In the spring of 1858, he was by the Second Presby- tery ordained and installed pastor of Head Springs, Cannon's Creek, and Pros- perity, in Newberry Co., S. C. For thirty-two years Air. Boyd was pastor of these churches and left his impress on the people of ^ these churches, and did a noble work among them. J- *■ '"'^■'•- In 1890, Mr. Boyd re- signed the charge that he had so long served and went to Iredell Co., N. C, where he was soon installed over the congregation of New Stirling. Here he remained pastor for ten years, resigning because of ill health in 1900. Af- ter long years of faithful service in the Master's vine- yard, this servant of the Lord passed to his reward March 29th, 1902. and is buried at New Stirling. Mr. Boyd was married three times. In Aug., 1857, to Miss Elizabeth J. Pressly, daughter of Rev. E. E. Pressly, D. D.. of Due ^^Vst. S. C, who soon died, leaving him one 68 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. daughter. His second marriage was in May, 1861, to Miss Margaret F. McClintock, of Laurens Co., S. C, daughter of John and Mary McCHntock, by whom he had seven chiklren. She died June 19th, 1880. On Dec. I2th, 1881, Mr. Boyd married Miss Lavinia Pressly, daughter of Richard and Mary Barron Pressly, who survives him. He served his generation by the will of God, and fell on sleep, and his works do follow him. Boyce, James. — Was born in Gaston Co., N. C, Jan. 25th, i860. His father was Rev. E. E. Boyce and his mother Miss Rachel E. McElwee. He had good educa- tional opportunities in his early youth. When 13 years of age, he spent some time at Elk Shoals Academy. The influence of the teachers, especially Rev. W. B. Pressly, the principal, was very great, and has been a blessing and great factor in the formation of his character. He graduated from Er- skine College in 1878. Dur- ing the three years spent in college, he lived with his uncle, Dr. James Boyce, and enjoyed the best of op- portunities for development of character. He joined the church, under the pastorate of his father, at Bethany, York Co., S. C. He was received as a student of Theology, Sept 26th, 1879, by the First Presbytery at a called meeting at Union, S. C. He re- ceived his theological training at Erskine Theoloo-ical Seminary, Due West, S. C. He was licensed by the First Presbytery at Shiloh, Lancaster Co., S. C, Sept. 7, t88i. Dr. Lathan ofiiciating. He was ordained by the JAMES BOYCE. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 69 Kentucky Presbytery at liiiikston, Dec. 16, 1882. For one year after licensure he assisted his father, who at that time had charge of Pisgah, Bethany, Kings Mt. and other congregations. The Synod of 1882 appointed him to work in Louisville, Ky. He was twice invited to re- turn to Bethany. He was called as pastor of 7th and Chestnut Street Church, Louisville, Ky., in 1884, and was installed Oct. 3rd. The church prospered under his ministry. He demitted this charge in October, 1896, to accept a call to Huntersville, N. C. He was installed there Feb. ist, 1897. He demitted this charge April ist, 1899, to accept the Presidency of Due West Female Col- lege. Oct. 17th, 1883, at Headcjuarters, Nicholas Co., Ky., he was married to Miss Jennie Isabella Thompson, a daughter of Robert Alexander Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Fleming. Mrs. Boyce was born at Head- quarters, Ky., Nov. 23rd, 1859. They have four chil- dren. Rev. James Boyce has been stated clerk of Synod since 1890 and assistant clerk of ist Presbytery since 1897. For ten years he has been editor of the Youth's Department of the "A. R. P." He has a fine physique and is the most handsome man in the Svnod. im "m^. J.XMES BOYCE, I). I). Boyce, James, Rev., D. D. — Son of Samuel Boyce an 1 Deborah Black was born in Sardis, Mecklen- burg Co., N. C. July 13, 1808. The name, Boyce, has generally been re- garded as Scotch-Irish, but there are some reasons for believing the family to be of Huguenot origin. — "Either theory points to an illustrious descent, a noble ancestry, worthy of the name." 70 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. In his "Autobiography/' Dr. Boyce says that when, at the age of twelve years, he expressed a desire for a classical education, his father agreed to pay his expenses up to the end of his collegiate course, but no more, no farther, and fulfilled his word to the letter. At the age of thirteen he became a pupil at Sugar Creek Academy, near Charlotte, conducted by Rev. Sam- uel Caldwell. He remained here one year, receiving his initiation into the "absurd mysteries" of the Latin Gram- mar, and was then removed to Ebenezer Academy, in York District, S. C, under Rev. Eleazer Harris, where he remained two years. In August, 1827, he set out for Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., riding the entire distance, 600 miles, on horseback, the horse being a gift to him from his uncle, John Black. He entered the junior class and was graduated in two years in a class of thirty-three, returning South in October, 1829. At the age of twelve years he had been received as a member of the church at Sardis, N. C, and immediately after his graduation he was received as a student of theology un- der the care of the First Presbytery at Hopewell, S. C, and under the instruction of Rev. Isaac Grier. In Nov., 183 1, his trial for licensure having been considered sat- isfactory, he was licensed, "in a little old house down among the elms," the home of Dr. John Hemphill, dur- ing the meeting of Presbytery at Hopewell. Later on in the same year he was ordained and installed over the Brick Church and New Hope, Fairfield Co., S. C. In 1843, the Brick Church becoming weakened by emigra- tion to the West, he withdrew from that part of his charge and gave the whole of his time to New Hope, until 1869, when, leaving as he says "a tried for an untried situation," he exchanged his pastorate, his com- fortable home, desirable neighborhood, and a reliable congregation, for a Theological professorship in the Seminary at Due West. Here he taught until his death eighteen years later. SKETCHES OF MI'NISTERS. 71 Dr. Boyce was marr.ed twice, ffis first wife was Mary Ann Bell, daughter of Charles Bell Esq. of L t- tle River. Fairfield Co., S. C. -\t her death, nt 1847, he ft four ehildren. On Jan. i, .850. he marr.ed Martha H Witherspoon. widow of Rev. John Waherspoon and daughter of Rev. Isaac Grier and Isabella Hams Gr.er. To them two children were born. In 184^ Dr. Boyce took charge of the Chnstian Mag- azine of the South, a monthly publication gotten up by Synod to promote the interests of the church. The publication of this magazine was kept up fornme years, being discontinued at the end of .851. Dr Boy" says he came out of his journahst.c venture with fly ing colors" financially, having made $300.00 m nme years! He was also associate editor of the A. R. Pres- byterian for a number of years. In 1854 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon h.m by Erskine College, and on the same day of the recap of this news he was notified that the Board of Trustees of Jefferson College, Penn., had conferred upon hmi the same title. . ■, ^ ^^^A Dr Boyce was fond of sight-seeing and traveled much, both at home and abroad, having a keen eye and Teing a close observer of men and things. His letters were highly instructive and fascinating. He had a heart of tenderness and love, with a great sympathy with the afflicted and bereaved. The subject of union with the United Presbyterian Church of America was ever near his heart. He longed for it. labored and prayed for it; but his eyes were not permitted to behold it. Dr. Bovce died July 29, 1889, aged 81 years, and his body was' laid to rest in the cemetery at Due West, S. C. Boyce, John Kirkpatrick.-^^s a son of John Boyce and Isabella Kirkpatrick, and was born m the btate ot North Carolina, June 15. 181 5- He was married Nov. 72 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 25, 1845, to Martha Bowen, a daughter of Rease Bowen, and SalHe Strong. She was born Nov. 15, 182 1, and died Feb. 14, 1899. Eight children were born to them, and all, perhaps, are dead except two sons, William C, of Covington, Tenn., and Rease, now residing in State of Missouri. A part of Mr. Boyce's ministerial labor was spent in middle Tennessee, where he was pastor of Hopewell and Head Springs, being installed April 18, 1845. How long this pastorate continued is not stated, nor in what other fields he labored. But we know that he came to Tipton Co., Tenn., and preached occasionally in the churches in West Tennessee. He lived on a farm a few miles south of Covington, and there he died. He is buried in Salem cemetery, and there are buried his wife and deceased children. Boysc, John. — Was born in Ireland, 1757; came to this country before the Revolution, and settled with his father in Long Cane, Abbeville Co., S. C. He was graduated at Dickinson College, Pa., 1787. Taking one course here, he finished with Rev Matthew Lind, of Greencastle, Pa. Very soon after his licensure by the Presbytery of Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1788, he was sent as stated supply to Hopewell, S. C, Coddle Creek, Gilead and Prosperity, N. C. He was by the same presbytery ordained July i, 1789, his installation this charge occurring later. Catholic and Hopewell, Chester Co., S. C, were his stations in that State. He, together with Dr. Thomas Clark, had prayed and la- bored for the organization of a Presbytery in the South. His work was blessed especially at Hopewell. It took two days in May, 1792, to examine candidates for mem- bership. He boarded with and died at the home of David McQuiston on Little River in the bounds of New Hope congregation, to whose daughter, Margaret, tradition says he was engaged. She soothed his dying pillow and SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 73 herself departing this Hfe early afterward, her remains lie near his in Hopewell cemetery. His decease was on March i8th, 1793, the immediate cause being consump- tion. His parish was very extensive. At the beginning of his labors and until the arrival of Rev. William Black- stocks, Dec. 25th, 1792, near his death, there was not even a resident minister in the bounds of the First Presbytery. All the field from Fairfield Co., S. C, to Iredell Co., N. C, with churches formed and fomiing was indeed a bur- den. He was instrumental in holding much of this large ter- ritory for the A. R. P. Church. Although of delicate con- stitution he not only preached in this extensive parish, but excelled in catechetical instruction. He had also a very accurate knowledge of human nature. His mental qualities were of high order and his pulpit exercises very acceptable and fruitful. He was a de- voted, learned and laborious minister, but the ]\Iaster called him early to exchange the cross for the crown, the church militant for the church triumphant. Boyce, Samuel Coluiiibus. — Was born near Sardis Church, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, June 7, 1828. When about 17, his father having died, he went to Lincoln Co., Tenn., and entered \^iney Grove Academy, and in three and one-half years was prepared for and entered Er- skine College, graduating in 1852. His divinity course was taken under Dr. James Boyce and Rev. J. M. Walker, and at U. P. Seminary New- burg, X". Y.. and the Presbyterian in Columbia, S. C. The First Presbytery granted him license April 17, 1855, and Synod that fall ordered him to Kentucky, supplying ]\It. Olivet two years. His stated labors began then at New Hope, where he was installed pastor Sept. loth, 1859. his ordination by the Kentucky Presbytery taking place May 20th, that year. This relation was dissolved May 1 2th. 1864, and because of an unhappy domestic 74 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. occurrence he was suspended Sept. i6th, 1864. He sought and obtained restoration and joined the Presbyterian Church May 25th, 1872. After spending three years in Arkansas, he removed to Winchester, Union Co., N. C, where he now resides, "an humble, meek and patient man of God." Boyce, Thomas Gilinorc. — Son of Samuel iVmzi Boyce and Eliza Moore Nisbet, was born February 3, 1862, in Sardis congregation, Mecklenburgh Co., N. C. He worked on the farm until nearly 19 years old, going to school only during the slack season of work, a few months in the winter and after the crops were laid by. He went to school one full year and then entered the Sopho- more class at Erskine Col- lege in 1882. He gradu- ated with first honors in the class of 1885. When about 15 years of age he joined the church at Sar- T. (;. BOYCE, D. D. jjg^ j^g ^^,^g reccived as a student of Theology by the First Presbytery at White Oak, S. C, Sept. 8, 1885, and prosecuted his Theological studies at Due West, S. C. in Erskine Theological Semi- nary. He was licensed to preach by the First Presbytery at Smyrna, York Co., S. C, April 5, 1887. While labor- ing in the Arkansas Presbytery, he was called as pastor by Hickory Springs in Bradley Co., and Shady Grove in Cleveland Co. This call was presented and accepted Oct. 29, 1888. He was ordained and installed by the Arkansas Presbytery at Hickory Springs, Dec. 4, 1888, and at Shady Grove his installation occurred two days later, Dec. 6, 1888. In these churches he labored until SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 75 he was called to the pastorate of Salem Church, Tipton Co., Tenn., which call was accepted and he was installed there March 4, 1893. This relation continues to this day, 1903. He was married January 30, 1889, to Miss Agnes Jane Peoples, daughter of Richard R. Peoples and Agnes McDill Peoples, the marriage taking place at her grand- mother McDill's in Hopewell congregation, the Rev. Jno. A. White officiating. She was born Oct. 10, 1867, in Mecklenburgh Co., N. C, and died in Tipton Co., Tenn., June 7, 1896. Two children were born unto them, James Harvey and Iva Theresa, both of whom are still living. He was married the second time to Mrs. Lois Martin Mills, in Newton Co., Ga. She was the widow of Rev. R. Y. Mills and daughter of Rev. John E. and Isabella Grier Martin, and was born July 3, 1868. Three children have been born unto them, Margaret Marian, Mofifatt Grier and Edward Gilmore. Since February, 1892, Rev. Boyce has been on the ed- itorial stafif of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian, oc- cupying the position of senior editor since the death of Dr. W. M. Grier. He was moderator of the Synod of 1896, which met at Chicota, Lamar Co., Texas. He is an able preacher, presenting the Gospel message in a remarkably simple, clear, logical and irresistible manner. His deep spirituality and intense earnestness are not only marked in his pulpit efforts, but "in the care of the flock which comes upon him daily." It was his privilege to spend the years of his literary and Theologi- cal training in the home of his uncle, the Rev. James Boyce, D. D., whose valued assistance he has never for- gotten. Wise in counsel, discreet and clear in judgment, broad-minded and ])rogressive. he is esteemed among his brethren. Boyd, John Laurense. — A son of A\'illiam B. Boyd and Francis Ann Carrington, was born at Cayce; 76 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Miss., Jan. 15, 1872. He joined the church at Mt. Carmel, Miss., about 1888. He attended Erskine Col- lege and Seminary, and was received as a student of theology Oct., 1901, by the Memphis Presbytery. He was married to Sa- rah Elizabeth Crenshaw, daughter of N. B. and S. E. Crenshaw, of Luck, Miss. The marriage took place Dec. 31, 1895. Two children have been born to them. Boyd, Charles Morgan. — Is the son of W^illiani Baldridge Boyd and Francis Ann Carrington, and was born at Cayce, Miss., April 25, 1875. He re- ceived his common school training in the public school, and his High School training in the Rob- inson High School at Atoka, Tenn. He in- tended entering Erskine College in the fall of 1896, but was prevented by a spell of fever. In 1897 ^^'^ entered college and was graduated in June, 1900. He joined the church at the age of thirteen and was received by the Second Presby- tery as a student of theology at Iva, S. C, April, 1901, licensed by the same Presbytery, Aj^ril, 1002, and or- M. BOY 11. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 77 dained at Due West, Nov. 13, 1902. He spent his entire seminary time at our own Erskine Seminary at Due West, S C. He has preached since his Hcensure at Prosperity, Kings Creek, and Unity, Newberry, S. C. This charge has presented through the Second Presby- tery flattering calls to him. Mr. PJoyd has some marked gifts as a writer and speaker, having won the prize as the best orator at the "Inter-State Collegiate Contest" of the Colleges of S. C. Bradley, Rev. R. F. — Was born in Abbeville Co., Sept. 22nd. 1846. In early life he had the advantage of neigh- bormg schools, and the High Schools taught by Rev. E. L. Patton, near Long Cane, and was grad- uated from Erskine, 1869, and from Erskine Semi- nary in 1872. He was li- censed by the Second Pres- b}ter}' the same year at its fall meeting. Cannon's Creek, Newberry, S. C. Mr. Bradley was or- dained and installed pastor of Generostee and Con- cord, S. C, Sept. 5th, 1873, ^"<^1 demitted this work in the fall of 1883. He was also installed the first pastor of Troy S. C, in the spring of 1884, and demitted this charge in the spring of 1889, at the meeting of Presbytery at Ebenczer, Ga. On Dec. 5th, 1 89 1, he became pastor of Long Cane, S. C, and still continues the honored pastor of this charge. Mr. P>ra(lley has led a l)usy life. In addition to the duties of the pastorate, he began the publication of the "Psalm Singer," which continued for two years and was sold to Rev. Geo. Warrington, Reaver Falls, Pa. It had the K. i;k.\i>i,ev. 78 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. honor of proposing the first Pan Psahiiody Counsel, held in Belfast, Ireland. Mr. Bradley also proposed the famous pastoral letter issued by the A. R. Synod of 1882, and is an enthusiastic advocate of union between the A. R. P. and the U. P. churches. Mr. Bradley was the Delegate from the A. R. Church to the U. P. in 1893. He is descended of dis- tinguished parentage on both sides of his ancestry, and was reared in choice surroundings in early life. He is a vigorous, fearless preacher, true to every conviction at any cost, is a diligent student, and an impressive speaker. Brice, Robert Wilson. — Rev. Robert Wilson Brice was born at the home of his father, Robert Brice, near New Hope Church in Fairfield Co., S. C, July 2nd, 1826. His ancestors were all Scotch-Irish. His grandfather, James Brice, came from County An- trim, Ireland, about 1780, and settled on Little River. He married Jane Wilson, the daughter of Robert Wilson, one of the leaders of the Whigs in his neighborhood, during the Revolu- tionary War. The mother of Robert Wilson Brice was Margaret Simonton, the daughter of John Simonton and Jeannette Strong. On both sides the parents of Mr. Brice were in- telligent and pious, thrifty and industrious. His grand- father, James Brice, gave the land on which the New Hope Church stands, and his father, Robert Brice, was for many years an elder in the congregation. His grand- father, John Simonton, was also an elder in New Hope. K. \V. BRICE. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 79 When a boy, R. W. Brice attended the schools near his home, and was prepared for college by John McClurkin, who for many years taught the school at New Hope. In the fall of 1840 he entered Erskine College, gradu- ating in 1844. Even as a boy and young man, those no- ble traits of character which were displayed in his life afterwards, were plainly manifested, and he always ex- erted a good influence over his associates. He connected with the church while a student in college, and in Dec, 1844, when only a boy of eighteen, he began the study of Theology under his brother-in-law, Rev. L. McDonald, then pastor of Union Church in Chester Co. The session of 1845 -1846, he spent in the A. R. Sem- inary at Alleghany, Pa., then presided over by Dr. John T. Pressly. On returning to the home of his father in the spring of 1846, he taught school for a time at New Hope, and then went to the Seminary at Due West, S. C, where he completed his course in the spring of 1848. He was received as a student by the First Presbytery in 1847, and was licensed in April, 1848. After supplying some of the vacancies in the First Presbytery, he was sent to Kentucky in 1848, to supply some of the vacancies in that State. In the winter of 1849-50 he received a call from Hinkston, Ky., and in Jan., 1850, he also re- ceived a call to Hopewell, Chester Co., S. C, and this latter call he accepted, and on May 31st, 1850, he was ordained and installed as pastor of Hopewell, and there spent the remainder of his life, as the beloved pastor of this people. On March 4th, 1850. he was happily mar- ried to Anna Maria, the daughter of Rev. John and Jane C. Steele, of Kentucky, who proved to be to him a help- meet indeed, and a model pastor's wife. To them was born a large family of children, all of who(m have proved worthy children of a noble pair. As a pastor, Mr. Brice was greatly beloved by his congregation. His people placed implicit confidence and trust in him, for they found him to be a man without guile and without hv- 8o SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. pocris}'. He possessed, a clear intellect, sound judg- ment and rare common sense. His sermons were plain, expository and practical, and more than ordinarily in- teresting- and instructive. Dr. R. Lathan, who was raised in Hopewell, says : "He never preached a poor sermon — never an unstudied one." His custo'tn was, during the winter months, to explain a Psalm and preach a sermon, and during the summer months to lec- ture on some book of the Bible, selected in regular or- der, and then after a short interval to preach a sermon. In this way he had explained the whole book of Psalms, and his lectures covered a good portion of the books of the New Testament. In his time Hopewell was literally a school house in which the Bible was taught. These faithful labors, together with regular pastoral visitation and catechising were blessed to the edification of his congregation. In 1866 or 1867, Mr. Brice began to preach one third of his time at old Purity, two miles south of Chester, and there in 1869 he organized the present A. R. P. Church at Chester. He continued to minister to this new organization for one third of his time until October, 1875. From the first to the last, Mr Brice took an active in- terest in everything that pertained to the welfare of his denomination. He was constant in his attendance at Presbytery and Synod, and was an influential member of both these courts. He was Moderator of Synod at Sardis, N. C, in 1862, and at Hopewell, Tenn., in 1874, and he was Treasurer of Synod's Home Mission funds from 1854 to 1878. In summing up the character of Mr. Brice, Dr. Lathan, who was in early life a member of his congregation, and for a while a student in his home, says in his history of Hopewell and its Pastors : "He was in the strictest sense of the word a model man. Nature had bestowed on him some rare gifts. His dis- position was that of a high-toned Christian gentleman. In his nature there was nothinc: wild and fanciful. He SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. was by every instinct of his being a matter of fact man. His passions were kept under perfect control. Xo man, so far as we know, ever saw him violently angry, nor did anyone ever hear him utter a hasty or rash sentence. x*\ll his convictions were reached calmly and conscien- tiously. Amid all the vicissitudes of life, he was, as near as mortal man can be, the same. His manners were plain but always gentlemanly. No man was better adapted to make himself friends, and no man was better fitted to retain them when made. Nature designed him to govern others, in that he was granted power to govern himself." With the close of the year 1877. the actual labors of Mr. Brice came to an end. On the last Sabbath of that year, he preached at Hopewell his last sermon. As the sun went down on the 14th of March, 1878, he peace- fully passed from earth, saying: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." On the i6th of March he was buried at Hopewell amid the tears of a sorrowing family and congregation. He left surviving him his be- loved wife and ten children, three sons and seven daugh- ters. Brysoii, Henry, D. D. — Was born February 20, 1799, in Laurens District, S. C, whither his parents had come from the North of Ireland before the war for Independence. He was one of the pioneers among the ministers of the Asso- ciate Reformed Presby- terian Church west of the Allegheny Mountains. For nearly half a century he exercised a wide and pow- erful influence as a . IIENKV liKV.SON, D. D. 82 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. preacher and teacher in Middle Tennessee, building strong churches and sending out many young men well prepared for their life work. The family were members of the Liberty Springs Presbyterian Church and his training was after the strict manner of the Scotch Irish of that day. The son, Henry, was prepared for college under Rev. Sam'l P. Pressly, at Union Academy, in Abbeville District, S. C, where he also assisted in teaching. He then went to Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., from which he graduated with a class of forty-seven in 1823, honored for his piety and scholarship. He had dedicated himself to the Gospel ministry, and on his return home finding that the family had united with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, he joined with them. As his father had died and he was needed at home, he studied Theology privately with the Rev. John T. Pressly, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery, March 4, 1826. He was at once sent on an exploring and evangelistic tour through the then thinly settled West and Southwest. He traveled over four thousand miles on horseback, over the mountains, through the Indian country, through the wilderness, visiting the scattered settlements of Presby- terians and preaching to them. He was gone for a year, and experienced many thrilling adventures, escaping many perils and showing the heroic stuff of which his spirit was formed. As he reached home he found the congregation gathered to hear Dr. Pressly preach his funeral. They had not heard from him for many months and were sure he was dead. During this jour- ney he was stricken with fever in Florida. His life was despaired of when an old Scotch Highlander visited him and prayed earnestly for him in Gaelic. He began at once to improve and always felt that his recovery was in answer to that prayer. On the 3rd day of November, 1827, he was ordained SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 83 to the full work of the ministry. Soon afterward he was married to Aliss Hannah MclNIullen, a woman of sterling character, of deep piety, of refinement and cul- ture, wdio proved to be a helpmeet indeed. They came to Lincoln Co., Tcnn., where he began his work of life, with two feeble organizations. Delicate health so inter- fered with his efforts that his active ministry w-as only for twenty years. Yet in that time he preached the Gos- pel so earnestly and was so faithful in pastoral visiting that he gathered over four hundred into his churches. His preaching w-as scholarly, yet simple and plain. While he held strenuously to the Calvinistic doctrines, yet he made everything lead to Christ as a living, per- sonal Saviour and God owned and blessed his work. He early realized the need of a high class school in the community, and so he established and for years con- ducted a classical academy at his home, A iney Grove. He was a fine teacher, able to impart knowledge, to train his pupils to think and to inspire enthusiasm in them. Many students came to him from Tennessee and the neighboring States, and his students have filled im- portant positions in church and State. But after awhile ill health forced him to give up teach- ing and for a number of years he was an invalid. But even then his influence was very great as an adviser and comforter. He delighted as long as he was able to visit the sick and afflicted and pray with them. In 1874 the end came and the summons found him fully ready. His end was not only peace but triumph. He entered his rest with the praise of God's grace on his lips and the light of God's countenance brightening his face. His whole life was a glorifying of Christ and his death was a going to be with Christ. Brysoii, John Henry, D. D. — \\'as a son of the Rev. Henry Bryson. D. D.. and was born at Fayetteville, Tenn., April 3. 1831. He took his literary and Theo- 84 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. logical course at Erskine College, Due West, S. C, and Newburgh, N. Y. He was ordained in 1855 and spent a year in evangelistic labor in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was then installed pastor of Hopewell Associate Re- fomied Presbyterian Church, Alaury County. It was a strong church and his work was very effective there until the beginning of the civil war. He was appointed in the Southern Army and finally became Chaplain of Hardee's Corps, in the Army of Tennessee. He was abundant in labors for the soldiers, and was one of the most eft'ective chaplains. After the war closed, he was called to the Presbyterian Church at Shelbyville, Tenn., and he was received into the Presbyterian Church. Thenceforward he was one of the leading ministers of that denomination. He Avas pastor at Shelbyville from 1868 to 1872. He then spent a year of study at the University of Virginia. He was pastor at Co- limibia, S. C, from 1873 to 1876, was delegate to the Pan- Presbyterian Council at Edinburgh in 1877, and then spent a year in travel in Egypt and Palestine. In 1881 he became pastor of Huntsville, Ala., where he remained to the end of his days, for 16 years. Dr. Bryson was moderator of the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church at Augusta, Ga., in 1886. Was one of the committee of the Southern As- sembly to arrange terms of fraternity with the Dutch Re- formed Church. He was a preacher of great power and a man of very lovable character. Pie won the devotion of his people by his unselfish labors for their welfare. He was absolutely fearless in the discharge of his duty. He was a man of large public spirit. The citizens of Huntsville called on him frequently to use his influence in behalf of civic enter- prises of moment. Especially had he studied the Nica- raugua Canal question, and delivered a remarkable ad- dress before the Legislature of Tennessee at their request. For more than a year before his death his health was SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 85 failing. Refusing to allow him to resign, his people did all they could for him. But on Feb. ist, 1897, he entered into rest, mourned by the whole community. The church at Huntsville, in honor of his character and work, have erected a chapel to his memory, placed a beautiful memo- rial window in the church and furnished a reading room in the Alabama Orphanage in his name. Bn'soii, Peter, Col. — Son of Henry and \'iolet Bryson, was f3orn in Laurens Co., S. C, Feb. 19, 1838. He had no opportunity to go to school. He joined the church at Bethany. Miss., during Rev. J. L. Young's pastorate, per- haps in 1854. He was received as a student of Theology in May, 1884, by the Memphis Presbytery, studied The- ology under Rev. Samuel A. Agnew, D. D., and was li- censed at ^It. Paran, Tenn., Sept 13, 1884, by the Mem- phis Presbytery and was ordained by a commission of this Presbytery at Salem, Tenn. on Saturday before the 5th Sabbath of May, 1887. He preached two years in Lee Co., Miss., and since then has been the virtual pastor of Hebron, Tenn., tho' he was never installed, and there he continues to labor, fulfilling a long cherished desire— to preach the Gospel. Without education, his familiarity with the Word of God is remarkable. He is able to repeat from ,memory practi- cally all the Metrical Psalms, and many other portions of the Scripture, and there is spiritual discernment of the truth. Humble and pious in life, he is devoted to his High Calling in Christ, laboring faithfully among his people, his living being not wholly of the Gospel, but largely by his own hands. He was married about 1864 at Rev. J. L. Young's, to Sallie Young, daughter of Joseph and Dicey Young. Eleven children were born to them. One of his daughters was educated at the United Presbyterian College in Knoxville, Tenn., and taught school for some time. She died in 1902. 86 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Brozvn, James Alontgomery, D. D. — Was of Scotch descent, a son of Samuel Brown, born in Lincoln Co., Tenn., Nov. ii, 1834. He was reared in the bounds of Prosperity, attended Viney Grove Academy and joined Bethel in 1853. After three years in Erskine College, he graduated in the class of 1856, and from the Theological Seminary in 1857. The Tenn. Presbytery licensed him to preach that year, and he supplied churches in Tennes- see and Kentucky Presbyteries until Oct., 1858. At that time Synod sent him to Arkansas to labor under the di- rection of the Memphis Presbytery. He was ordained by the Tennessee Presbytery before entering upon this mission. He became pastor of Mon- ticello, and Mt. Zion in 1859, but demitted the former the next year. He continued to serve Mt. Zion as pastor for half time until 1884. The other half of his time was given largely to evangelistic work, — a work in which he took great delight. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confed- erate service, in the 29th Arkansas infantry, and was soon elected chaplain and historian of his regiment. In this capacity he served faithfully until his regiment was disbanded at Marshall, Texas, in May, 1865. When the army went into action he always carried his musket as a private soldier. He had many thrilling ex- periences and narrow escapes. After the close of the war, he returned to his pastorate. In the fall of 1867 he and the Mt. Zion congregation changed their connection to the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. From that time until 1900 he served his presbytery as evangelist, devot- ing a part or all of his time to this work. When failing health compelled him to resign this work, his presbytery, after adopting a scries of very complimentary resolu- tions, conferred on him the unique title "h^vangelist Emer- itus of Pine Bluff Presbytery." He received the degree of D. D. from the Presbyterian College at Batesville, Ark. He died at his home, Fordycc, Ark., Jan. 7, 1903. Dr. Brown was possessed of superior social qualities. H[is SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 87 preaching was scriptural and his style well adapted to evangelistic work. He was married to Miss Sarah Ellen Marshall, daughter of William Marshall, an elder m Mt. Olivet, Ky, Oct. 25, 1859- She died March 14, 1862, leaving one daughter. He married Miss Mary Susan, daughter of Dr. Robert Harper, an elder in Mt. Zion, Oct 13, 1863. Ten children were born to his second wife two of whom became ministers in the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., viz. : E. D. Brown, A. M., president of Daniel Baker College, Brownwood, Texas, and S. W. Brown, pastor of Ruston, La. Caldivell, Dallas Grier.— Son of Charles Allen Caldwell and Louise Jeannette Coch- rane, was born in Cabarras County, N. C, Feb. 19, 1856. Having access to good schools, his primary education was sound and thorough, and at an early age he entered upon his college course at REV. D. G. c.\LD\vELL. Ersklnc Collcge, being grad- uated from that institution at the age of seventeen. \\\\\\e a student at Erskine, he united with the church at Due West, S. C. In the fall of 1873. the year of his graduation, he be- came a student in Erskine Theological Seminary, was re- ceived as a student of Theology in the spring of 1874 by the First Presbytery at Hopewell, S. C, and was grad- uated from the Seminary in the spring of 1875. In Sep- tember of that year he received license to preach from the First Presbvtery, and was ordained in November, 1876, bv a commission appointed by First Presbytery, at Ster- ling, N. C. After his ordination, he assisted Rev. W. B. Pressly in the Statesville field for several months, and during the next two years supplied at various times the 88 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. following churches : Sterling and Amity, N. C. ; Hope- well, S. C. ; Huntersville, Gilead, and Prosperity, N. C. In 1879 he accepted a call to the pastorate of Gilead and Prosperity, N. C, and was installed in the spring of the same year. At the end of six years he became pastor of the church at Statesville, N. C, where he remained for six years longer. In 1891 he accepted a call to Neely's Creek, S. C, where he served a pastorate of three years. On the thirteenth of July, 1875, at Due West, S. C, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Barksdale Sitton, daughter of James Young and Harriet Davis Sitton. Of the eight children born to them, five are liv- ing. Since 1893, he has occupied the chair of Latin and French in Erskine College. Caldwell, Rev. Ira S. — Was born in Mecklenburg County, N. C, in 1872. His father was John H. Caldwell, his mother Miss Rose L. Hunter. He grad- uated at Erskine College in the class of 1897. He joined the church at Back Creek, N. C. in 1885. He was received as a student of Theology in April, 1898, by the First Presby- tery, in the city of Charlotte. He studied Theology at the Erskine Seminary, Due West, S. C. He was licensed to preach in April, 1900, by the First Presbytery, at Pisgah, N. C. He was ordained by a commission of Second Presby- tery in December, 1900. He began his ministerial labors at White Oak, Coweta County, Georgia, in June, 1900. He was called to be the pastor of this church in October I. S. CALDWELL. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 89 of the same year, and was installed as pastor in Decem- ber. On Oct. 1 6th, 1 90 1, he was married to Miss Car- rie Preston Bell. Her father's name was Richard Henry Bell and her mother's name was Miss Katharine Withers. They lived at Warenton, Virginia, where Mrs. Caldwell was born. Her great grandfather was a personal friend of LaFayette and served wath him in the war of the Rev- olution. Rev. Caldwell served in the U. S. Army in Cuba during the Spanish American war. He has rare gifts as a preacher and is doing a splendid work in his chosen field. Calderhcad, Eben&zer Brozuii. — Son of Rev. Alexan- der; born in Belmost Co., Ohio, Jan. 4th, 1810; w^as graduated at Franklin, 1836, and took a course in divin- ity at Allegheny, 1837 ; licensed by Steubenville Presby- tery, May 9th, 1840, and ordained by Second Ohio, Aug. II, 1 841. Serving as pastor in Ohio till 1861, he came through the First A. R. Presbytery of Ohio into the Southern Synod. Passed to Western Missouri in 1869, and w^as living without charge in the U. P. church at iMarysville. Kansas, 1891. Carson, Rev. John Woo- ten. — Was born March 8, 1873, in Gaston Co., N. C, in the bounds of Pisgah congregation. He is a son of John B. and Nancy (Bigham) Carson. His mother was from Hope- well church, in Chester Co., S. C. At 12 years of age he was admitted to full mem- bership at Pisgah. He at- tended the High School in Gastonia two years, en- J. W. CARSON. 90 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. tered Erskine College in the Freshman Class Feb., 1895, and graduated with distinction in the class of 1898. He worked his way through College. He entered Erskine Theological Seminary in Oct., 1898; was received as a student of Theology by the ist Presbytery at Winnsboro, S. C, April 3, 1899, and was licensed by the same Pres- bytery, at Pisgah, N. C, ]\Iay 8, 1900. In June, 1900, he began work at Bethany and Pottsville, Ark. He was ordained by the Arkansas Presbytery at Zion, Nov. 3, 1900, and installed pastor of Bethany and Pottsville, Nov. 6. He married Miss Nannie Crawford, Jan. 16, 190 1. She was a daughter of J. T Crawford, of Pisgah congregation, N. C, and a graduate of the Due West Female College in the class of '96, and is a woman of culture and marked social gifts, and an ideal helpmeet to her husband. Mr. Carson is a man of fine personal address, a forcible Scriptural preacher, devoted to his great calling, and an enterprising and successful pastor. On Oct. 30th, Mr. Carson demitted Pottsville and Bethany to accept a call to Ebenezer, Miss., and was transferred to the Arkansas Presbytery. Castles, JVilliain Sam- uel.— Was the son of Wil- liam Lyles and Sarah Stirling Castles, and was born in York Co., S. C, May 2nd, i860. In his youth he was fond of read- ing and studying the Bible, which came to be a life long habit. He made a profession of religion and himself with Church, S. C, 1886. He was W. S. CASTLES. connected Hopewell June 5th, brought up on the farm SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 91 and his educational advantages were limited. He en- tered the Sophomore class in Erskine College in 1883 and graduated in 1886. His health was somewhat im- paired, and he spent several years in teaching before tak- ing up a profession. In Sept., 1889, he entered the U. P. Theological Seminary, in Allegheny, Pa. Sept., 1890, he joined the ist A. R. P. Presbytery at King's Moun- tain. He finished his theological covirse in Erskine Theo- logical Seminary, and was licensed by the ist A. R. Pres- bytery, at Union Church. Richburg, S. C, on April 7th, 1891. The following July, he began preaching in the Virginia Presbytery at Bethel and Ebenezer. In the fall of the same year he went to Kentucky and preached eight months at New Hope, Hinkston and Ebenezer. In July, 1892, he began preaching for the churches in Lin- coln Co., Tenn., in the Tennessee and Alabama Presby- tery, and was received into that Presbytery by certifi- cate from the ist A. R. Presbytery. Accepting a call from the united congregations of Bethel and New Hope, he was installed as pastor Nov. 2nd, 1893. He had been ordained by this Presbytery at its spring meeting April 29th, 1893. The work prospered in his hands, and the two congregations became united in one, which erected a new and handsome church on the south bank of Elk River, and called it "Elk Valley Church." He demitted this charge Sept. 29th, 1894. He returned to Kentucky in December, and preached at New Hope until Mar. 15th, 1895, when he went to Mt. Zion, Mo. Having received a call from that church, he was installed as pastor May i6th, 1896. Plis work was short, for he died Feb. i6th, 1897. in the full triumphs of a blessed faith. His last words were, 'T see the great empire of the world open- ing up before me," and, raising both hands and looking upward with a smile upon his face, he passed to his re- ward. His body was taken to Hopewell, S. C. and bu- ried there. Mr. Castles was never married. He was much es- 92 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. teemed by his brethren in the ministry. His people were greatly attached to him. He was in the prime of life, in his thirty-eighth year. A man of excellent spirits, a work-man that needeth not to be ashamed. Castles, James Robinson. — Son of Henry and Marga- ret (Sterling) Castles, was born in Fairfield Co., S. C, June 26th, 1823; was graduated at Erskine College Sept., 1844. After a full course in Erskine Theological Sem- inary, the First Presbytery licensed him Nov. 11, 1846. For five years he did mission work in his Presbytery, making his home in Fairfield Co., S. C. Smyrna, York Co., and Sardis, Union Co., S. C, united in calling him and his ordination and installation occurred July II, 1 85 1. From this charge he was released April 15th, 1862, because of disease of the throat. He had the gravity of ministerial habits, presented the doctrines of grace in a clear, earnest, methodical and in- telligible manner. His was pre-eminently a Job-like suf- fering not only in bodily infirmity but in loss of estate through the war and security. His was a ijninistry of suffering. "The triumph of his faith in his last hours left the impression on all who witnessed them that he was one of those precious ones, whom God in his mysterious yet gracious providence had perfected through suffering." The Lord gave him a helpmeet in Miss Martha Watt, sister of the late Rev. J. B. Watt. "She was empliatical- ly a gift from the Lord as all will testify who knew any thing of her long and weary, but tender and sympa- thetic attentions to her afflicted husband during the long years of his suffering." Chalmers, James Clark. — Son of Capt. James and Pris- cilla (Clark) Chalmers, of Scotch-Irish descent, born in Newberry Co., S. C, April 26, 1811. Being piously trained and thoroughly indoctrinated, he began the study of the languages, 183 1, in Newberry village, under his SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 93 pastor, Rev. S. P. Pressly, and entered the State Uni- versity, Athens, Ga., 1834, and graduated Aug., 1836. He began the study of theology under Dr. E. E. Pressly, being, with Rev. L. McDonald, the first students to enter the infant Seminary at Due West. After two years the Second Presbytery granted him licensure Oct. 5th, 1838. In one of his missionary journeys with Rev. Joseph McCreary they lodged one night with a family who were occupying a cabin in which a few months pre- vious an entire family were murdered by the Indians. Oct., 1839, he accepted a call from Generostee, Shiloh and Midway (Concord), Anderson Co., S. C, and was or- dained in April and installed in May, 1840. This charge necessitated much labor, Generostee and Midway being twenty miles apart and Shiloh ten miles distant. To re- pair his health Synod directed him to spend four months in south Georgia and Florida. This mission was fulfilled beginning November, 1844. Pleasant Grove, Decatur Co., Ga., was reorganized, other places refreshed and much good done. Midway was demitted in fall of 1844, and soon after Shiloh almost in a body em- igrated to Mississippi and formed the present Hope- well. He continued half time at Generostee and the other half at destitute contiguous points. A part of the year '54-'55 was spent by order of Synod in collecting Endowments for Erskine College. The Synodical year '56-57 found him missionary to the city of Nashville, Tenn. That }ear the Presbytery not accepting his resignation and being about to engage in niission work at his over charges, a call came to him from Steel Creek. N'. C, and the installation took place Oct. 29, 1858, and the resignation Sept. 6, 188 1, because of serious and protracted physical inability. Having re- moved June. 1883. to Wimisboro, S. C. he ceased from his lalx^rs and entered on his reward July 7. 1887. As a preacher he was plain, practical and Scriptural; his powers in the pulpit were above the average. In fact 94 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. when he was in the prime of Hfe he was regarded as a revival preacher ; his sermons were always prepared with great care and were delivered with animation, never prosy and always edifying. As a Presbyter he was at all times considered safe, always deliberate and cautious, never rash. One of the marked features was love for God's people. No man ever embraced more heartily the distinctive doctrines of the A. R. P. Church or adhered more rigidly to its practice but with charity for all. The colored people received a share of his ministrations. Synod called him to the Moderatorship in 1855. He was a faithful minister and punctual. In 43 years pas- torate 381 were received into the Church, 331 infants and 55 adults baptized and 121 marriage ceremonies per- formed. Much of this fruitful ministry was doubtless due to his life companion, Mary Letitia Strong, born April 12, 1 82 1, and married Dec. 12, 1839. A woman of great devotion to her Church she had decided literary tastes, being the authoress of "The Harris Fa^mily." Nine children were born to them, all of whom except the youngest died in infancy. This one, the Benjamin, was spared to them and became the tireless worker, the master planer and builder, the skillful debater, the elo- quent, learned late John Thomas Chalmers, D. D. Chalmers, John Thomas, D. D. — Rev. John T. Chal- mers, D. D., was the son of Rev. James Clark Chalmers and Mary Letitia Strong, and was born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, June 6th, i860. Dr. Chalmers is a descendant, on his mother's side, of John Harris and Elenor Reynolds, who were married in 1754, in the Monaghan jail in Ireland, by the Rev. Dr. Thos. Clark. Dr. Clark at that time had been impris- oned for refusing to take the State Oath and to kiss the book. These young people of his congregation came to him in the jail, and were married by him. They soon afterwards came to America, and from this historic pair SKETCHES OP MINISTERS. 95 CHALMERSj D. D. has sprung a numerous progeny who have occupied useful and influential places in the A. R. P. and other churches in this country. In a sketch of the Harris family, published by Mrs. Mary Chalmers a few years ago, it is stated that at that tunc there were forty-nine ministers descended from this pious and worthy pair, and one of these is Dr. Chalmers, the subject of this sketch. In 1875, at the age of fifteen, Mr. Chalmers entered Erskine College, and graduated in 1878. Soon after he graduated he commenced the study of theology under his father, and afterwards attended Erskine Seminary at Due West, S. C, and completed his course at Union Sem- inary, New York City. He was licensed by the First Presbytery at Steele Creek, N. C, April 6th 1880. Before leaving the Seminary he received calls from New York in the United Presbyterian Church, and also from North and South Carolina. Pie accepted the call from Winnsboro, S. C, and was ordained and installed at Winnsboro, April 28th, 1881. For nearly eleven years he was pastor there, and under his ministry the church prospered greatly, and his influence was great in the Pres- bytery and the Synod. In the fall of 1891 he resigned his charge at Winnsboro, and in October of the same year, he became pastor of the Fourth United Presbyter- ian, Philadelphia, Pa., and continued there for four years. This is one of the largest churches of the U. P. Assem- bly, and under his pastorate it maintained its high stand- ard of excellence. While he was pastor there, he started a Sabbath School in 1892, with eleven pupils. In three 96 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. years' this enterprise developed into a church with fifty members and a Sabbath School of two hundred and seventy-five members. To-day it is the Wharton Square Church, with several hundred members, and is one of the leading U. P. Churches of Philadelphia. Dr. Chalmers was attaining an eminent position in the U. P. Church, but he could not stand the severe climate, and he had to return to the South in 1895. On April 22nd, 1896, he was installed pastor of the A. R. P. Church at Charlotte, N. C, and so continued until his death on March 6th, 1902. While he was pastor in Charlotte he opened a mission school, which soon grew into a congregation. He can- vassed the Synod for funds to build a church, and erected it, and it is now the East Avenue Church, with a pastor, a membership of two hundred and fifty and a Sabbath school of over three hundred pupils. While he was pastor in Winnsboro, he was for five years Associate Editor of the A. R. Preshyterian, and contributed more than six hundred articles to its columns. In 1900 he published a pamphlet entitled "Ten Reasons why the A. R. P. Church Adheres to an Inspired Psal- ter," which is said, by competent judges, to be one of the ablest papers on that subject. He was a popular lecturer of high order, and his efforts on the platform always met with the highest en- comiums from the people and the press. During the year 1884 he spent three months as a special agent of Erskine Theological Seminary, traveling over the Synod and raising an additional endowment of $25,- 000. At the meeting of Synod in Charlotte, N. C, in 1899, he was elected President of Erskine College to suc- ceed the late Dr. W. M. Grier, but he declined to accept it, preferring to reinain in the pastorate. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the trustees of Monmouth College, in Illinois. Dr. Chalmers was twice married, first to Miss Johnnie SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 97 Caroline Brice, of New Hope, Fairfield Co., S. C, on Oct. 26th, 1882. She was the daughter of John Brice and Agnes C. Strong, and was born Oct. i8th. 1863. Six children were the fruit of this marriage, four of whom survive. Mrs. Chalmers died Jan. 15th, 1893. His sec- ond marriage occurred Aug. i8th, 1897, to Miss Bessie Mitchell, a half sister of his first wife. She is the daugh- ter of Thos. P. and Agnes Mitchell and was born Aug. 28th, 1870. Two children were born to her. who with their mother survive. About two years before his death, Dr. Chalmers developed pulmonary disease, and it was a sore battle with him until the end peacefully came. In Dec. 1900, accompanied by his wife and child he went to Mexico, and spent eight months in seeking to overcome his disease, but all that climate or medical skill could do, did not stay the destroyer. Surrounded by his sorrowing family, in the manse hard by the church of his love in Charlotte, X. C, he passed away March 6th, 1902. His remains were taken to Winnsboro, S. C, and he now rests beside his father and mother, his first wife and two children, in the A. R. P. Cemetery at that place. Dr. Chalmers was a man of very remarkable gifts and endowments, and his death so early in life was a great loss to the Church. He was a finished scholar, a learned theologian, a pol- ished and eloquent orator in the pulpit or on the platform, a man of clear judgment, wonderful executive ability, indomitable energy, and a natural leader of men. To sit under his ministry was to feed on the deep as well as the practical things of the word, and to be his parishioner was to be a worker in the vineyard of the IMaster. Had he belonc-ed to one of the large denominations of our country, he would have had a national fame. We shall not soon see his like again, and there was mourning all over the Church on the day that he received his crown. 98 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Clark, Thomas. — Has been called the father of the A. R. P. Church in the South. Little is known of his pa- rentage, birthplace and early education, except that he was born in Scotland, of pious parents and brought up vuider most hallowed influences. "After a thorough course of study he graduated at the University of Glasgow, there received the degree of M. D., and in the war against the Pretender in 1745 and 1746, did faithful service in the army. The earliest pub- lic mention made of him is in connection with the first meeting of the Associate Burgher Synod at Sterling, Scotland, in June 16, 1747." At that meeting the Presby- tery of Glasgow took him on trial for license, and after studying at Sterling under Ebenezer Erskine, he was licensed to preach April, 1748. He accepted a call to Ballibay in Ireland, and was ordained and installed pastor of that congregation by a commission of Presby- tery July 23, 1 75 1. In the same 3'ear he and two others were organized under the title of the "Associate Presby- tery of Downs." This Presbytery later grew into a Synod. In 1754 he was imprisoned in Monaghan jail for alleged disloyalty to the King, but his incarceration was found to be false and he was released April 3, 1754. Dr. Clark now began to direct his thoughts to America, and on May 10, 1764, he sailed from Newry with 300 people, landed safely, and settled down for sixteen years as pastor of the little colony located where Salem. N. Y., now stands. Some of his people having settled in Long Cane, Abbeville, S. C, in 1786 he removed to Cedar Spring and Long Cane, where he labored until his death, Dec. 26, 1792. Dr. Clark was a ready writer, both on doctrinal and practical subjects. He wrote an able defense of the Scripture Psalms for the worship of God. He was also the author of "a Pastoral and Farewell Letter," ad- dressed to his former charge in r)allibay. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 99 In his labors at Long Cane, Dr. Clark found a broad field opened before him, and he was the man whom God had raised up for its successful cultivation. "With un- tiring zeal and entire consecration to his Master's work, he set himself to building up Christ's Kingdom in the wilderness, and many were added to the Church of such as should be saved." Cochrane, iriiisloz^' Osborne. D. D. — He was born Sept. 29th, 1854, in ^lecklenburg Co., X. C, in the bounds of Rack Creek church. His father, William Law- son Cochrane, was a successful farmer and an elder in said church. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Su- san McCaleb, of Tennessee. He was brought up on the farm, but did not learn to love farming. His dislike for it, was so pronounced that at the age of seventeen his father decided to educate him for a profession. His early education was obtained in the district school, from which he went to Erskine Col- lege, where he graduated with honor in the class of 1877. He entered Erskine Theological Seminary in the fall of 1877, and completing his course was licensed by the First Presbytery of the Carolinas Sept. ist, 1879, at Amity, N. C, Dr. E. E. Boyce officiating. The following December he was sent to the Kentucky Presbytery to supply Xew Hope and Ebenezer. He was ordained and installed pastor of these churches Sept. 17th, 1881. This relation continued until Sept. 13th, 1884, when it was dissolved at his own request, he having de- cided to transfer his membership to the Southern As- se'mbly Presbyterian Church. It was during his pastor- ate that the Ebenezer church erected a new and handsome house of worship. He is now pastor of the First Pres- byterian Church in Bristol, Tenn. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by King's Collcoe of that place in 1900. Dr. Cochran married I\Iiss Macie B. Lee, daughter of lOO SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Prof. Jos. F. and Martha Brice Lee of Due West, S. C, June 27th, 1878. To them were born five children — four of whom are still living. Cochrane, James Brice. — Was born in the bounds of Back Creek, Mecklenburg Co., N. C. ; was prepared for college at Huntersville High School, and graduated at Erskine, 1887. One year was spent at Erskine Divinity Hall, and the First Presbytery granted him license on condition that the course be completed June 5, 1888. That winter a course was taken at Allegheny U. P. Seminary, Pa. Mission work was done in the First Presbytery in the spring and summer of 1889. On the 24th of Oct., 1889, he joined the Presbyterian church. Cree, John. — Was born in Perth, Scotland, 1754; grad- uated at Glasgow University, 1778; studied divinity in Associate Hall, under Rev. Wm. Moncrief ; was licensed in Scotland, 1786, and came to New York, 1790, and supplied the Associate Church in the city for a time. He was ordained and installed pastor of the Associate Presbyterian congregation of New York City, Oct. 12th, 1792. Resigning this charge Oct. ioth, 1795, he became pastor of Ebenezer, Rockbridge Co., Va., 1796. This was demitted 1803 ^.nd July 5th, 1803, New Lebanon, West Va., presented to the Chartier's Presbytery a call for his services. This was declined and he began that year the stated supply of Fairfield and Donegal, West- moreland County, Pa. The death of this useful and pious pioneer minister of the Virginia Presbytery, of whom we would love to know more, occurred April i, 1806. Cms, Goiidaluf^e. — Son of Sr. Dominoo Cruz and Juanna Guevara was born on the 12th of December, 1839, on the rancho de las Palomas, near El Maiz, State of San Luis Potosi. Raised in the Romish Church, as a SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. loi child, he was piously inclined. His early training was sadly neglected ; he never went to school, and what in- struction he received was from his father, and by read- ing such books as he could from time to time obtain. His father was being educated for the priesthood, but aban- doned his purpose on account of the dogma of celibacy practiced in the Romish Church. When about fifty years of age, Sr. Cruz became in- terested in the Gospel under the ministry of Rev. J. S. A. Hunter, and he made a public profession of faith and was baptized at El Maiz in 1890. In that same year he began a course of study under Rev. J. S. A. Hunter, preparatory to work as an evangel- ist. \fter two years of study he was licensed by the Tampico Presbytery at Chiconcillo, State of Vera Cruz in 1892. He labored in the Italian Colony and in the ad- jacent ranchos for about seven years. He was ordained by the Tampico Presbytery at Tampico in 1895. In 1899 he was sent to Alequines, State of San Luis Potosi, where he had been stationed for three years. He has been married three times. The present wife, Sra. Gila Zalazar de Cruz, was before marriage the teacher of the Girl's School for several years at Chiconcillo and Palo Blanco. He is most zealous in his endeavors to extend the Mas- ter's kingdom and his most effectual work is done from house to house, reading the Scriptures, and in conversa- tions. He is familiar with his Bible and is an interesting laborer in this pioneer work. Cruz, Rev. Crcccnciano. — Son of Rev. G. Cruz and Sra. Juana Zuniga, was born at Charco Blanco, in the municipality of El Maiz, State of San Luis Potosi, on the 14th of Sept., 1875. He early manifested a dispo- sition to study and enjoyed such advantages as the mu- nicipal schools of his locality offered. From a child he was piously inclined, but the teachings of the Catholic I02 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Church (Hd not appeal to his heart. He was blessed with a good memory, and after he came under the influence of the gospel, he would commit to memory whole chapters of the Bible, and in less than a year he had memorized the entire four gospels. The impressions that led to his conversion were re- ceived from Mr. and Mrs. Hunter at El Maiz, where he united with the church and was baptized in 1891. At the age of eighteen years, he was sent to the United States and entered Huntersville High School luider the direction of Rev. Dr. W. W. Orr to learn English. After acquiring a sufficient knowledge of English, he went to the Preparatory School at Erskine College, and pursued a special course of study. On the completion of this course he entered Erskine Seminary in 1896, and grad- uated with the class of 1898. He was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery of the A. R. P. Church at Generostee, Anderson Co., S. C, in 1898. At the close of his training he returned to his native country, being transferred to the Tampico Presbytery in Mexico. Work was assigned him at Valles in the southern part of the State of San Luis Potosi, which he began in 1899. and at this point he is still located. In 1900 he was ordained to the full work of the minis- try by the Tampico Presbytery at its annual meeting in Tampico. Mr. Cruz is an earnest preacher, but the bearer of Gospel tidings in Mexico has so much opposi- tion that his congregation is small and the work hampered by the ignorance and fanaticism of four centuries. He wedded Sra. Enidina Gonzalez of Valles in 1900. They have no children. Dale, Mrs. Katlicriiic Xccl, M. D. — Heredity and en- vironment, two recognized agencies, show their results in the development of character and fitness for active life, as well as in the growth of a physical organism. It has been asserted 1)\- the author, Oliver Wendell Holmes, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 103 MRS. DALE. that the time to begin med- ical treatment of a sick man is a hundred years before his birth. If this statement is accepted, it is reasonable that no bio- graphy is complete without some reference to ances- tors and progenitors. :Mrs. Katherine Xeel Dale's grandfather, Dr. George Pressly, was a noted physician of his day, as well as a pillar in the A. R. P- Church. She has an uncle and cousins in the same profession. Her father and brother are successful physicians and an honor to thcr profes- sion • and it was natural that the granddaughter and daughter of phvsicians, in choosing a professional life, should be inrtuenced to the same profession Mrs. Katherine Dale, M. D., is the daughter of James David Xeel, M. D.. and Margaret Elizabeth Pressly, and was born at Trov. Abbeville Co., S. C, on the 13th of August, .872. At the age of fourteen years, she was brouoht to Christ and identified herself with the Church of h^r fathers at Troy, S. C. Her i,rin,ary education was received in the schools near her home, and she graduated from Due West Female College. Due West, S C., m ,802 The following year, she dedicated her life ami work to the service of God in a foreign Af ;"<">> ,''^ Board she was appointed to the Mex.caH field Fedmg herself called to the Medical XX'ork, she took a <"" ~";^^ at the Woman's Medical College, Phdadelphia, Pa., and was graduated in 1897. She spent one year as Resident PhvJ^cian in the hospital of same institution. Eminently <,ualificd for the SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 123 hill and Dr. Isaac Grier. He was licensed at Hope- well, Chester Co., S. C, in 1833, in company with Rev. Warren Flenniken. He did some missionary work in Tennessee. He was then, in 1835, called by four churches : Head Springs, King's Creek, Prosperity and Cannon's Creek. He was ordained Nov., 1835, and in April, 1830, he was installed. He -'■ '■^'•'"^^•^''- was pastor of three of these churches for nineteen years. He gave up his pastoral work on account of declining health. On the 4th of De- cember, 1838, he was married to Miss Martha Speer, a daughter of John Speer, of Abbeville Co., S. C. Her mother's name was Miss Elizabeth Caldwell. The Speers and Caldwells both descended from a distin- guished ancestry. They had seven children, among them Dr. J. C. Galloway, of Gastonia, X. C, and Mrs. Aviary E. Giffen. the first missionary of the A. R. P. Church. Mrs. Galloway was born near Lowndsville, S. C, Aug. i6th, 1814. She died at Due West, May 23rd, 1896. Rev. Jonathan Galloway was a distinguished preacher in his (lav. If space permitted much could be said of his ability and attainments. Xo less was he noted for per- sonal piety. The conception of the Due West Female College originated with him. He longed for the day when the daughters of the Church as well as her sons might be educated under her intbiencc. And towards this end he lal)ored early and late. His labors were crowned with success. He was the first^ person chosen President of the I'\'male College. r)Ut on account of feeble health, he declined. He died March 3rd, 1879. 124 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Gallozvay, Jonathan Caldzvell, D. D. — Rev. J. C. Gal- loway, D. D., is the son of Rev. Jonathan Galloway and Martha Speer, and was born in Newberry Co., S. C., July 7th, 185 1. His education was received in the schools at Due West, S. C., graduating from Erskine College in 1 87 1. He was received as a student of theology by the Second Presbytery at King's Creek, S. C, Aug., 1871, and prosecuted his studies in Erskine Seminary, being licensed by the Second Presbytery at Generostee, S. C, Sept., 1873. He was or- dained by the Second Pres- bytery in Thompson St. Church, Newberry, S. C, April, 1876. The first year of his ministerial life was spent in Kentucky, at Eb- enezer and Flemingsburg, and the following year he took a post graduate course m the Seminary at Due West, preaching thereafter for a few months at Lodi- mont, S. C, and Louis- ville, Ga. In April. 1876, he was sent to Louisville, Ky.. for two, months, to get together the remnants of the church there. In May of 1878, he was installed over Bethel and Louisville churches in Georgia, and continued pastor there for about eight years. In Oct., 1884, he was sent by the Synod to take charge of the mission in Charlotte, N. C, and spent a year in that work. In Nov., 1885, he was installed over Yorkville and Tirzah, in S. C, remaining pastor of these churches for nine years. In Dec, 1894, he removed to Gastonia, N. C, and became pastor of Gastonia and Pisgah churches, giving half his time to each church. In Januarv, iQOi, he gave up the Pisgah J. C. GALLOWAY, D. D. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 125 branch of his charge, and was called for the whole of his time to Gastonia, where he still remains. Mr. Galloway has been twice married. First, to Miss Josie Brice, the daughter of the late Rev. R. W. Brice, of Hopewell, S. C. They were married Jan. 23rd, 1879, and she died July 23rd, 1887, leaving three children. The second marriage was to ]\Iiss Blanche McKemy, of Monmouth, Va., June 6th, 1889. Mr. Galloway re- ceived his deg-ree of Doctor of Divinity from Erskine College in 1898. He edited "The Life and Letters of Airs. Giffen." Airs. Giffen was his sister and the pioneer foreign missionary of the A. R. Synod of the South; and by the appointment of Synod he is the editor of the "Centennial \*olume." He has represented his church at the meeting of the United Presbyterian General As- sembly as fraternal delegate, and also as a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council. He has been a member of the Board of the College, the Seminary, and Home Missions, and is at present the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Seminary, and of Home Missions. Galloicay, Robert Milieu. — Was born in York County, S. C, December 25, 1796. His mother's name was Mary Alillen and his father's Alexander Galloway. He graduated at the University of Xorth Carolina in 1820, was received as a student of theology in the fall of 1822, and licensed in fall of 1824. He was sent im- niediately to Tennessee. He was ordained and installed pastor of Hopewell and Union in Alaury Co., Tenn., in the summer of 1825. Revs. Wm. Blackstocks and Isaac Grier riding on horseback some 500 miles to officiate. He had charge of Hopewell for a number of years and was pastor of that church at the time of his death. In September. 1839, he domitted the Union branch of his charge. He was INIoderator of Svnod at Bethel, Ga., in 1828. 126 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. The Presbytery of Tennessee was organized at Salem, Tipton Co., Tenn., April 24, 1837, and with this Presby- tery he and his congregation became connected. His Synod and Presbyter}- were both to meet at his church in October, 1840. But in the strange providence of God, during the sessions of the Presbytery and three days be- fore the meeting of Synod he was introduced to a higher court. The Report of the Tennessee Presbytery to Synod contains the following minute : "On this evening our beloved brother, R. M. Galloway, departed to the world of spirits. He appeared to leave us in the tri- umphs of the Gospel he had preached to others. Some few days ago he remarked to one of our number that he longed to depart and be with Christ and had no desire to remain except to be useful to his family and people. The Presbytery being constituted we adjourned and went immediately to his house where, wdth feelings of the highest sympathy, accompanied with Christian resigna- tion we witnessed his departure. We feel that we have lost a friend and brother and yet he is not lost, for 'he being dead yet speaketh.' " He died Oct. 9, 1840, and was laid to rest in Hopewell cemetery. He was loved and respected by his congregation and friends generally, and was a devoted Christian. He was married by the Rev. Henry Bryson of Lin- coln Co., Tenn., to Miss Eliza Ann Leetch, a daughter of James Leetch, a native of Ireland who came to North Carolina. She was born Jan. 6, 181 1, and died Jan. 13, 1873- There were four children born to them. James Millen, born Sept. 26, 1830, a minister of the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church 44 years of his life, died Dec. 3, 1898. Mary Ann, died in infancy. Samuel Marcus, born June 4, 1835, died Oct. 2, 1837, near Chattanooga, Tenn., Sarah Jane, born April 12, 1839, the only surviving member of the family. She is now Mrs. J. IP McLean of Shawn Mound. Ilcnry Co., Mo. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 127 Garrison, James Mack. — Rev. J. ^l. Garrison is the son of Samuel A. Garrison and Elizabeth J. Hunter, and was born in Mecklenburg Go., X. G., ]\Iay ist, i860. He graduated at Erskine Gollege in 1888, and in Sep- tember of the same year was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Xew Stirling, X. G. His theological course was taken at Erskine and at Princeton Seminary, and he was licensed by the First Presbytery at King's Mountain, X. C, April 8th, 1890. ^^figg^ In Jan., 1892, he was ^0^ called to be pastor of the W^ m church at King's Moun- % ># 0^ tain, X. G., and was or- ^»4 \ .M dained and installed April 27th, 1892. He has been pastor there for eleven years, and during the time the church has grown and prospered ; they have built an elegant modern church and provided a comfortable manse for the pastor. Mr. Garrison was mar- M. GARRISON. ^icd Scpt. 7th, 1892. iu thc church at Broad Greek, \'a.. to Miss Francis Xair, the daughter of George William and ]\Iargaret Jane X^air. Mrs. Garrison was born in Rockbridge Go., \'a., Aug. 1st, 1864. Giffcn. Mrs. Mary GaUoivay. — Daughter of Rev. Jona- than and Martha Speer Galloway, was born in X^ewberry County, S. G., Dec. 8th, 1842. Her early education was secured in the common schools, and later in a high school in the town of X'^ewberry, under the tuition of Prof. Wil- liam Hood. Even in childhood she gave evidences of that mental alertness, dilig-ent application, thoroughness and love of knowledge whicli ciiaracterized her maturer years. 128 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. On account of throat affection, Rev. Jonathan Galloway was forced to re- sign his pastorate in 1857, and soon afterwards re- moved to Due West, that he might avail himself of the institutions there. The subject of this sketch entered the junior class in the Due West Fe- male College, then under the presidency of Dr. J. I. Bonner. At the age of MRS. GIFFEN. , eighteen she graduated from this institution, having won the highest distinctions and leaving behind a record of unusual excellence in all departments of study. But her education was not finished ; it was only fairly begun. The foundation was laid upon which she continued to build through life a superstructure of large and fair proportions. With an unsatisfied craving for knowledge her mind sought communion with the noblest and best spirits in literature. Her contributions to the press, which began in early womanhood, gave evidence of a breadth of information and refinement of culture that commanded general attention and excited enthusi- astic admiration. Mrs. Gififen's religious life began in 1864, or at least, this is the date of her profession of faith and connection with the Church. The cultivation of her soul was entered upon with the same ardor that had characterized the discipline of her mental faculties. She became a diligent student of the Bible and of other books that make plain the way of life. A meagre and superficial knowledge of divine truth did not content. She earnestly SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 129 sought for a full, clear, satisfying theoretical and experimental knowledge of the truths and doctrines of God's word. And as a result of her ardent search there was a rapid growth in the knowledge of divine truth, and a beautiful and symmetrical de- velopment of Christian character. The love of Christ laid a mighty constraint upon her, and she eagerly sought to find some service by wdiich she might express her love for Him. Just at this juncture she was providentially led to read biogra- phies of some of the eminent missionaries in for- eign lands, and her sympathies were deeply moved for the millions in heathen lands. Scarcely had the clouds of civil war lifted when she began zealously to seek appointment to foreign missionary service. The Associate Reformed Pres- byterian Church was so disorganized and impov- erished by the war that the thought of embarking in foreign mission work could not be entertained. Application was therefore made to the United Presbyterian Church for the appointment, but there was no opening. Accepting this as a providential indication of the divine wall, ]\Irs. Gififen decided to devote her life to teaching, and at once began to execute this purpose. Her success in the school- room was marked. To this work she dedicated without reserve all her splendid resources of mind and heart. Exact scholarship, unflagging energy, an ardent temperament, an enthusiastic love of truth and a power to excite it in others — these fur- nished an equipment that insured success of no ordi- nary kind. She was still teaching in Texas and forming large plans for missionary work among- the needy and neglected population of the far Southwest when the call came to become the representative of her denomination in Egypt in co-operation with I30 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. the United Presbyterian Church. The magnitude of the work and the sacrifices which it demanded might well have seemed appalling. It is impos- sible for us, with conditions so greatly changed, to see the matter from her point of view. But when convinced that the call was from God she hes- itated no longer. Her decision lacked nothing of the heroic, and it sent a thrill of joy and admiration to the furtherest extremes of the Church. An interest in foreign missions, such as had never been known among us, was speedily mani- fested. That decision marked an epoch in the history of the Associate Reformed Church ; it was the beginning of a new age. The impulse given to the cause of missions by the hand of wo- man is still felt in our little Zion. May it never wane ! On Feb. lo, 1875, Mrs. Giffen, with two other mission- aries, Messrs. Giffen and Alexander, took ship at New York. On the voyage across the Atlantic, on the journey across the continent of Europe, and during the year of missionary service, she sent frequent letters to the x-Vs- sociate Refortned Presbyterian. These letters, edited by her brother, Rev. J. C. Galloway, D. D., have been published in one volume under the title "Life and Letters of Mrs. Giffen." They are splendid specimens of epistolary literature. Of Mrs. Giffen's missionary labors little can be said here. After the remarkably short period of eight months in the study of the language, she began work in the schoolroom at Mansoora, and for six years devoted herself with unsparing diligence and fidelity to the cause to which she had dedicated her life. The larger part of this period was spent in educational work at Asyoot. She was married June 5th, 1876, to Rev. John Giffen Three children were born to them. Bruce J., who has now taken up his mother's fallen mantle and is a mission- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 131 ary in Egypt ; Margaret S., now Mrs. Fred Phifer, of Statesville, X. C, and ]\Iarion G., at present a student in Erskine College. Mrs. Giffen fell on sleep at Cairo, Oct. i6th, 1881, and her dust rests in the land for which she gave her life, awaiting "the resurrection of the Just." Good, John Walter. — Son of James Alexander and Martha ]\Iinerva Good, was born Feb. 13, 1879, near Ar- gyle, Tenn. At the age of ten he made a profession of religion at Prosperity, Lincoln Co., Tenn. At the age of 17 entering the Training School of Prof. R. K. ]\'Ior- gan, Howell, Tenn., a three years" course was taken. A two years' course was taken at Erskine College, where his degree of A. B. was taken June, 1902. Prior to this he taught a year with Profs. ^Morgan and Peoples in Fay- etteville, Tenn. Leaving the farm at 17 he supported himself in his preparation for the seminary in Due West, where he is pursuing his studies. Gordon, Gilbert. — The oldest son of John and Sarah ]\IcCurry Gordon, was born in Elbert County, Ga., Dec. 13th, 181 1. His early days were spent in the quiet se- clusion of his father's farm near the Savannah River. The parents were members of Generostee A. R. church, across the river from his home in Anderson County, S. C. He was brought up with pious care, and in due time be- came a member of the same church. His classical education was obtained in ]\Iiami Univer- sity, where he graduated in 1836. He studied Theology in the Seminary at Due West, S. C, and was licensed by the Second A. R. Presbytery April 4th, 1840. He visited and preached in the vacant churches in the West until Oct., 1841. when he was sent by Synod to Ken- tucky with his brother. Rev. N. AL Gordon. They were sent in answer to a petition for supplies of preaching 132 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. from churches in Bath and Jessamine Counties, which had withdrawn from the Synod of the West on account of differences on the subject of slavery. In December of the following year a Presbytery was organized in con- nection with the Synod of the South. March 4th, 1843, he received a call from Mt. Olivet in Bath County, which he accepted and was installed as pastor on Saturday be- fore the Fall Communion service, the same year. In 1847, for several years, he supplied the Church at Flem- ingsburg, and also organized a church at Clarksburg, Ind., Sept. 8th, 1848, which he continued occasionally to supply. The pastoral relation with Mt. Olivet was dissolved Sept. loth, 1852. At the same meeting of Pres- bytery he was authorized to begin preaching in Louis- ville, and on Jan. 6th, 1854, a church was organized there. He was appointed by Presbytery to solicit funds in the other churches to assist in building a house of wor- ship. Much of his time was occupied in this work. A call was made out for him and he was installed as pastor Dec. i6th, 1859. Becoming dissatisfied with the prospects of the church, he with a majority of the ministers of the Presby- tery, changed his connection and joined the Southern Presbyterian Church on Oct. 13th, 1870. He jmission- ated among the churches in McHenry County, and also at Lagrange and Westport. Then removed to Florida and died at Orlando on the loth of August, 1887. Mr. Gordon married Charlotte, daughter of Rev. Peter Montfort, Oxford, O., in 1842. They had no children, but adopted one, who is now Rev. C. M. Gordon of Wallace, Va. Mrs. Gordon died July 5th, 1901. Mr. Gordon was editor of the "Scottish Presbyterian," a monthly periodical, published first in 1859 and running through several years. His grand parents came to this country from Scotland. He was financially successful and had great influence with the people among whom he labored. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 133 Gordon, Xcal, McDougal. — ^^'as the son of John and Sarah Margaret McCurry Gordon, and was born Nov. 13th, 181 3, in Elbert County, Ga. With his father's fam- ily he attended church at Generostee, Anderson Co., S. C, of which he became a member early in life. He was of delicate constitution from his childhood. His nervous temperament and (|uick temper was more than overbalanced by his generous, affectionate disposi- tion. He was naturally fond of books, which his pa- rents encouraged, and was given the best opportunities the common schools afforded. Entering Miami Univer- sity, Oxford, O., he graduated there with the honors of his class in 1836, and soon afterwards began the study of Theology in Erskine Theological Seminary, Due West. S. C. In 1839 he was elected Professor of Lan- guages in Clark and Erskine Seminary, in which position he served only one year. He was licensed by the Sec- ond xA.. R. Presbytery at an adjourned meeting, just after a meeting of Synod at Bethel, Tenn., Oct. 8th. 1840, and ordained by the same Presbytery Oct. 13, 1841, in North Carolina. The first year after his licensure was spent among the vacant churches, about six months being at Hopewell, Maury Co., Tenn. In October, 1841, he was sent to the destitute churches in Kentucky, which field he reached Dec. 5th, 1841. He was installed as pastor of Ebenezer, May 13th, 1843, and Shelbyville Aug. i6th. 1843. In 1846 he sought release from the Shelbyville branch of his charge, but Presbytery did not grant it. This relation was continued until Oct. 13th, 1870. In 1846 he was apjicMuted by his Presbytery delegate to the ■ Presbyterian Council, which met in London, l^ngland. which meeting he attended. In 1848 the Synod attempted to train colored men to be sent as missionaries to Africa. Three young men were placed in school for that purpose and Rev. N. M. Gordon was ]-)ut in charge of the school at his home in 134 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. Jessamine Co., Ky. Two of the boys proved to be moral- ly and one intellectually unfit for the work, and the effort was abandoned in 1853, and never revived. Oct. 13th, 1870, j\Ir. Gordon with the majority of his congregation changed his Church connection to the Southern Presbyterian Church. His death occurred shortly afterwards for he died March 19, 1871. Mr. Gordon was a man of deep piety and solid literary attainments. In 1856 he published "Alleghan," a poem in nine books. In 1864 he published a pamphlet entitled "The Purpose of the Book of Psalms." He was an able minister of the Word. Mr. Gordon was twice married. His first wife was Martha Jane Harris. He was married at the home of her brother, Henry Harris, Maury Co., Tenn., Nov. 18, 1841. She died in Kentucky, Nov. 8th, 1845, ^"<^^ ^^^t no chil- dren, her only child, a daughter, having died in 1844. He was married again Jan. ist, 1849, to Catherine, daughter of Dr. James Smith, a prominent minister in the Cumberland and afterwards in the Old School Pres- byterian Church. She became the mother of six chil- dren. She died Nov. 9th, 1888. Griffith, Rez'. Aaron Henderson. — Oldest son of J. Walker and Lula I. (Grier) Grifiith, was born Aug. 14, 1875, in Meck- lenburg Co., N. C, in the bounds of Ebenezer con- gregation. He received his education in Erskine College. He taught school one year, after his Junior year in the Seminary, 1899. Me graduated from the Seminary at Due West, S. C, June, 1900. The U. (.KIFFITH. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 135 First Presbytery licensed him at Pisgah, N. C, ]\Iay 8, 1900. From June to Oct., 1900, he supphed Hickory Spring and Shady Grove, in the Arkansas Presbytery, He was ordained by the First Presbytery in Charlotte, N. C, Dec .11, 1900. Under direction of the Board of Home Missions, he took up the work in Little Rock and Jacksonville, Ark., Dec. 20, 1900. The Mission pros- pered, and in Oct., 1902, the Little Rock church pre- sented a call for his pastoral services, asking for all liis time. This call was accepted and he was installed pastor of the Little Rock church Dec. 3, 1902. He was married to Miss Eva Lee Prather, of Little Rock, Dec. 25, 1901. He is a vigorous, earnest preacher and has been unus- ually successful in building up the work committed to him by the Synod. On Jan. 25th he was granted a certificate to connect with the U. P. Church, and is at present laboring in Oklahoma City, Ok. E. F. GKH^FITH. High School, under Dr. Orr Griffith, Eli Franklin. — Son of Charles Franklin and Harriet Amanda (Ba- ker ) Griffith, was born four miles south of Charlotte, N. C. Feb. 22, 1866. At 17, after much prayer and Bible study, feeling a deep yearning to preach Christ, that call was answered by the necessary preparation. A session and a half was spent in the Charlotte Graded School and two sessions in HuntersviHe Entering Erskine College in 1888, he won his diploma in 1802. Tn addition to his lit- 136 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. erary course, a full term of divinity was taken at the same time, and the Presbytery granted him license to preach April 6th, 1892. His first work was from July to Nov. that year at Broad Creek, A'a., then five months following in the Memphis Presbytery. On July 25th, 1893, the Virginia Presbytery ordained and installed him pastor of Ebenezer, Va., and over Timber Ridge the 14th of Oct. following. This charge was demitted Nov. i8th, 1896, and was installed pastor of Edgmoor, S. C, Dec. 29, 1896. This congregation being demitted Nov. i, 1898, he labored as stated supply of Gilead and Moores- ville, N. C, the succeeding year. The next year his la- bors were prolonged in the Shoe- String circuit of Moores- ville, Hiddenite and Taylorsville, N. C. The field being re-districted, not for political but practical purposes, he was installed over New Perth and New Stirling, Iredell Co., N. C, May 27, 1901. Three days after the interesting ceremony of his in- stallation at Timber Ridge, there was another rite in the same consecrated court. James Graham Dixon gave his youngest daughter Minnie to the young pastor. They with two olive plants live in the parsonage near New Stirling, N. C. The subject of this sketch is an earnest and zealous minister, successful in winning souls and tender in his appeals to the unsaved. Grier, Boyce HeuiphiU. — The brief biography of the above named minister of the Gospel is comprehended in the following facts. He was the ninth child of Rev. R. C. and Barbara Grier, was born at Due West, November 8th, 1861. Was educated in the Due West Female College until he reached about the age of fifteen, then entered Erskine, graduating in the class of 1882. He spent one year after graduation in the University of Virginia, studying es- pecially Latin and Greek, with a view of entering the profession of Teacher. He taught school, however, only SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 137 one year at Honea Path, S. C. He then entered Erskine Theological Semi- nary, graduating in May, 1887. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery at iiethel (Ora), Laurens Co., S. C, April 18, 1886; preached in vacancies in irirst Presbytery in S. C. and X. C. during the sum- mer. In Xovember, 1887, he was ordained at Due West sine titulo, and by I'- H- G'^^E'^- the order of Synod went to :^lillersburg, Ky. ; preached for eighteen months at Hinkston, Olivet and New Hope churches, in the Ken- tucky Presbytery. In September, 1888, upon the death of Rev. D. B. Pressly, his brother-in-law, he took charge of the church at ^It. Zion, Mo. He was called to this church and installed pastor October 5th, 1889, by Rev. James Boyce. He resigned his charge May 20, 1894, seeking a warmer climate than Missouri. He was called to Yorkville and Tirzah churches in the First Presbytery, and in August. 1894, was installed over these churches. Receiving a call to Bethel (Ora). Laurens Co.. S. C, he accepted and was installed as pastor August, 1901, where he is still laboring, happy in the love of a devoted people. Mr. Grier has been twice married, first to Miss Julia F. Kennedy, daughter of Prof. J. P. Kennedy. She was spared to her husband only seven months after their marriage in Xovember, 1889, dying from the effects of an operation in June. 1890. F[is second /marriage was with Miss Susie M. Lee, on July 28, 1891. daughter of Prof. Joseph F. Lee of Due West. There are four children living, the fruits of this marriage, Joseph Lee, 138 SKETCHES OP MINISTERS. JNIark Brown, Lois Francis, Alartha Lee — one an infant, is dead. Grier,John McDill. — Rev. John M. Grier is the son of Thomas Pringle Grier and Grizilda Strong, and was born in Steele Creek. ^Mecklenburg Co., X. C, Sept. 5th, 1861. He graduated from Erskine College in 1882. After teaching two years, he was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Winnsboro, S. C, April , 1884. He studied Theology at Erskine, Union, and Princeton Seminaries, and was licensed by the First Presbytery at Pisgah, N. C, April 6, 1885, and was or- dained by the same Presbytery in the fall of 1887. He was installed pastor of Kings Mountain and Bethel churches in Cleveland Co., N. C, August, 1888, and remained pastor there until October, 1891, when he was dismissed by certificate to the Mecklenburg Presbytery of the Southern Presbyterian Church. Mr. Grier was married July 13th, 1886, at Statesville, N. C, to Miss Columbia Davidson, the daughter of Robt. Quincy Davidson and Jane Brown. Airs. Grier was born at Statesville, N. C, Dec. 14th, 1866, and they have two sons. ^^^^^ Grier, Rcz'. Isaac Liv- JtBK/KK^ ingston. — Rev. L L. Grier, I ^^k ^ student of theology in Jm *>* '■^^^^ the Associate Reformed ff iK Church, was born in York ^ J^ Co., S. C, near the present •^ town of Clover, August i^ ^L^ 28th, 1841. He was the ^^^^m^LjgH^^^^^^^^ first born of Rev. R. C. and ^^^^Hjj^^^^^^^^^^v Barbara Grier. ^^^^^ a^^^^^^^m After the ^^^m £^^^^^^W parents to Due West he ^%(^^^^^^^r attended the schools in that ^^^^^^ village, entering in due '• '- '■''"=''• time Erskine Colleoe, and SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 139 graduating in class of i860, with his younger brother, Rev. W. M. Grier, D. D., and receiving the first honor. He entered the theological seminary at Due West, but on the breaking out of the Civil War volunteered as a sol- dier in Orr's Rifles, a company made up largely of troops from Abbeville and Anderson Counties, S. C. On the '27th of June, 1862, he was killed in the battle of Gaines' Mill, \'a. Grici; Isaac, D. D. — Robert Grier, a native of Pennsyl- vania, and ]\Iargaret Livingston, a native of Ireland, were married in X. C. in 1775. That year they moved to Greene Co.. Ga., and the next year a son was born. Because of Tories, they refugeed to X. C, where this child of promise, Isaac, was baptized by Rev. William Martin, a Covenanter minister of their faith. He was the first Presbyterian minister born in Georgia. Piously in- structed and indoctrinated, his academical training was committed to Revs. Cunningham and Cummins of his native State, and his diploma was received from Dickin- son College. 1800. After a two years' course in theol- ogy under Rev. Alexander Porter, the Second Presbytery gave him license Sept. 3, 1802. Sardis and Providence, Mecklenburg Co.. and Tirzah, (Waxhaw), U.nion Co., X". C, united in a call and he was ordained and installed by the Second Presbytery Oct. 19th, 1804. "]\Ir. Magill preached the sermon and Mr. Irwin laid on the obliga- tions." In 1808. Tirzah was demitted. and Lower Steele Creek or Blackstocks assumed under his pastoral care. Providence was demitted 181 5. and his time equally di- vided between Sardis and Steele Creek. The stated clerkship of Synod was his responsibility, 1803-1814, and the moderatorship, 1816. The Associate Reformed Sy- nod (General) met June 3rd. 1807, at Gettysburg, Pa. The subject of this sketch represented his Presbytery as also the Second. In 1820 his Synod commissioned him on a three months missionary tour to Tennessee. Some T300 miles were travelled on horseback. 20 days I40 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. spent in preaching, $50.00 collected and $37.00 expended. An effort was made to unite the three Associate Re- formed Synods, vis., New York, Sciota, and the South. This convention met in Pittsburg, Pa., Sept.12, 1827. Revs. J. T. Pressly and Isaac Grier represented the two Presbyteries in the South. August 3, 1808, he was happily married to Miss Isabella, granddaughter of John Harris and Eleanor Reynolds of Ireland romance. She was a woman of great force of character and de- voted piety judging from her godly and distinguished descendents. The title of D. D. was conferred in 1837 by Jefferson College. After a long and faithful and successful ministry of over 40 years he demitted his charge Oct. 5th, 1842, and a little later, Nov. 2nd, 1843, received his crown. There are some things very remarkable about his forty years of labor. Death invaded not the ranks of the ministry for nearly a quarter of a century. He saw a faithful band half the number of the Apostles lift their banner in the Southland and hold up the inspired Psalter as a manual of praise. He saw this vanguard thinned in the early '30S to be recruited by his efforts in training at Union Academy, young men for the ministry, and in the rise and growth of Erskine Seminary and College. Spared far beyond his co-temporaries his life and work led through the darkest period of our Church history. "]\Iin- ished and brought low" he saw his beloved Church "take deep root." What experiences, what responsibility, wdiat power, humanly speaking, was committed to this heroic spirit, since it was his immense responsibility to give complexion, character and courage to a large part of the First Presbytery. Many would, as many liave, turned to an easier path and a brighter prospect. But Dr. Grier was not so built, the blood of martyrs was in him and he had the stuff of which heroes are made. In the darkest days of his Church having faith in her prin- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 141 ciples and following his convictions he taug-ht, toiled and trusted and at his death about one half of his Presbytery- were children of his charge. This good work has gone forward. He being dead yet speaketh. As Virginia was the mother of Presidents, so Sardis is the mother of ministers. Not only was his eye on the youth of his con- gregations, but he was diligent and successful in instruct- ing the colored people, many of whom became profess- ing- Christians. He was punctual in his appointments to preach and in his attendance on Church judicatories, faithful in pastoral visitation and catechetical instruction. A devoted, godly minister, a faithful loyal servant, an exemplary husband and father, serving w^ell his generation, and his name is as ointment poured forth. Grier, John Stez^'ard. — Rev. J. S. Grier is the son of the late Rev. Robert Leroy Grier and Alartha Ann Kirkpatrick, and was born in Troy, Tenn., Sept. 19th, 1868. jVfter the death of his parents, he was reared b}- his maternal grandparents in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and after their death he was provided for by his un- cle, John Moore Kirkpatrick, who helped to educate him. He was educated in the ordinary country schools until prepared for College, when he entered Erskine College in the fall of 1887, graduating from that institution in 1891. He connected with the Church at Ebcnezcr, X^. C, in 1882, was received as a student of theolog}' by the First Presbytery in the fall of 1891 at Steele Creek. X. C, prosecuted his studies in Erskine Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the First Presbytery, at Charlotte, N. REV. J. S. GRIER. 142 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. C, in 1893. On July 22nd, 1893, he was ordained and installed pastor of Ebenezer, Jefferson Co., Ga., by the Second Presbytery, and was pastor of that church until April, 1896, when he received a call to Sharon, York Co., S. C, which he accepted, and was installed there July 23rd, 1896, and still continues pastor there. Through his eft'orts a new church called Hebron was organized on the outskirts of Sharon, and Mr. Grier was installed pastor of this new organization in July, 1901, for one fourth of his t\fne and still continues pastor there. Mr. Grier was married at Ebenezer, Ga., Dec. 2nd, 1896, to Miss Julia Elizabeth Cain, daughter of George Lyman Cain, and Mary Elizabeth Stone. Mrs. Grier was born near Louisville, Ga., Dec. 3rd, 1871. They have had two children, one of whom is dead. Grier, Rev. J. Julius. — Was born Dec. 12, 1868, in Mecklenburg- Co., N. C, within the bounds of Back o Creek A. R. P. Church. His mother, Agnes Grier, is a daughter of Rev. 1. G. McLaughlin. His earlier education was obtained, for the most part, in the public schools of his native county. After com- pleting his college course, he was graduated in 1891 from Erskine College. After teaching for a short while he entered Erskine Theological Seminary and was gradu- ated from that institution in 1894. On July 25, 1894, he was ordained by a communion of the Second Presbytery, and on the same day was installed pastor of the Abbeville S. C. A. R. P. Church. This charge he demitted in November, 1895. In 1897 he was granted a certificate by the Second Presbytery. He con- nected with the Southern Presbyterian Church, and went to Birmingham as stated supply for the East Lake Pres- byterian Church. On May 20, 1900, he was installed pastor of this church. On account of throat trouble he resigned this pastorate January, i, 1903, and accepted the position of Einancial Secretary of the Texas Pres- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 143 byterian College for girls, located at Milford, Texas. This position he still holds. On July 24, 1901, he was happily married to ]\Iiss Louise Palmer of Birmingham, Alabama. Grier, Mark Brozvn.—Rey. M. B. Grier is the eleventh and youngest child of Rev.R.C.and Barbara B. Grier. He was born at Due West, January 3rd, 1867. Received his preparatory education in the primary department of the Due West Female College, and also in some of the Col- lege classes. He entered Erskine. graduating in June, 1885 ; spent one year at Johns Hopkins University, Balti- more, taught school one year near Covington, Ga., stud- ied at Erskine Seminary and also at Princeton, graduat- ing at the latter in May, 1891. He decided to go as a missionary to China, and offered himself to the Ex- ecutive Committee of the Southern Presbyterian Church ; spent one year in Dr. Dowkout's ^Missionary Training School, and went to China in September, 1892. He is now actively engaged in his work in the city of Heiichoufu, teach- and preaching the Gospel to the heathen. He was married 1894 ( ?) to Miss Nettie Donaldson, a missionary of the Northern Presbyterian Church in China, but originally from Greenville, Pa. They have been blessed with one child, Isabel. Grier, Robert Calvin. D. D.— The suliject of this sketch was born ]\Iarch 2nd. 181 7, in Providence Town- ship, ^lecklenburg Co.. N. C, some ten miles south M. B. GRIER. 144 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of Charlotte, within the bounds of Sardis congre- gation, the pastoral charge of his father. Rev. Isaac Grier, D. D. The commu- nity was distinguished for its moral worth and civic virtues. The citizens of Mecklenburg ever since their famous declaration of Independence, have been renowned for their patriot- ism, and almost equally fa- mous for their substantial K. L. cKiER. religious character. Dr. Grier descended from a pious and highly respected ancestry. His mother Isabella, was of the Harris fam- ily, well known in the Steel Creek community as good citizens, substantial livers, and exemplary Church mem- bers. The grand-parents of Dr. Grier were noted for their strict piety ; Hugh Harris was noted especially for his strict punctuality in attending Church. His home was some thirteen miles distant from the church which he attended two-thirds of the time, but he was usually among the first to arrive on Sabbath morning. Mrs. Grier walked in the footsteps of her father, and was noted for the purity of her life and the simplicity of her manners. She was particularly attentive to the conduct and education of her children. Rev. Isaac Grier, D. D., the father of R. C. Grier, was born in Green County, Ga., the 7th of October, 1776. He was the first minister of the Presbyterian order born in the State. Dr. Isaac Grier's family was not large — two sons and one daughter- — one son died in infancy. The daugh- ter, Martha, married Rev. I. G. Witherspoon, and after his death Dr. James Boyce. She was the oldest and Dr. R. C. Grier the second child. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 145 The academical education of Dr. Grier, Jr., was ob- tained partly in the Sardis neighborhood and partly in Greenville Count}-. S. C., in a school conducted by ]\Ir. William Moffatt. In Isiay, 1833, in his 17th year, he repaired to Canonsburg, Pa., and entered Jefferson College, then in the full tide of success, under the popu- lar presidency of Dr. Matthew Brown, where he gradu- ated in September, 1835. After graduation he taught school for awhile in association with James Walker, afterward a minister in the Associate Reformed Church, near his home in Sardis. He commenced the study of theology under his father. Dr. Isaac Grier, but completed his course in Erskine Theological Seminary at Due West under Rev. E. E. Pressly, D .D. He was licensed by the First Presbytery in April, 1839, received calls from Bethany and Pisgah churches, and was ordained and in- stalled pastor in June, 1841. His father. Dr. Isaac Grier, Rev. Thomas Ketchin and Rev. John G. Witherspoon taking part in the exercises. His pastorate lasted for seven years. He was a faith- ful pastor and much beloved by his congregations. In October, 1847, it became necessary for the Synod to elect a president for Erskine College to succeed Dr. E. E. Presslv, w'ho had resigned on account of ill health. Dr. R. C. Grier was chosen to fill this responsible position. He was but thirty-one years of age, and w^as up to this time unknown to fame, the pastor of two country congre- gations. He had appeared but seldom in the public prints. Had written perhaps two or three articles for the "Christian Magaaine of the South," published by Dr. James Boyce. But his friends had discovered in him certain gifts which only needed cultivation and a field for their exercise to bring him to the front rank of useful- ness in the Church as an educator. The selection of the Synod proved to be most wise. He accented the presi- dency to which he was chosen, much to the regret of his churches. In the spring of 1848 he wa'^ inaugurated. 10 146 SKETCHES OF iMINISTERS. In 1858, wearied with his arduous duties, he resigned. He had served the Church for ten years and had brought the cohege up to prominence in the State and in the whole South as one of the best denominational institutions. To his gifts of scholarship, he added great tact and knowl- edge of human nature. He knew how to control young men, his discipline was mild but firm, he saw the best that was in ever}- man and appealed to that, he thus in- spired young men with a noble ambition to do right. He had a saving sense of humor which served him well of- tentimes in bringing out the follies and foibles of youth, and leading his students to see how ridiculous were their college pranks and misdemeanors. For his department of mental and moral science he was especially fitted. Having a keen logical intellect, able to see a point clearly and to make it plain to others. We have heard some of his students say that he ought to have written a text book on Moral Philosophy. As we have said he resigned the presidency in 1858, in the following year he was elected professor in the Seminary. On the death of Dr. E. E. Pressly. in i860, Dr. Grier was chosen pastor of the Due West Church. To this im- portant field of labor he brought his best gifts as a preacher, as he had offered his best talent as teacher in the work of the college. If he was distinguished in the class-room, he was scarcely less so in the pulpit. He was re-elected president of the college at the close of the war. His second administration was equally distinguished and as successful as the first.. His hands were now full — as professor, pastor and teacher in the Seminary — besides these there were many other duties that belonged to him as the father of a large family and the care of numerous business matters. His burden was too great for him. He wore himself out in the work of the Church. On March 15th, 1871, he was taken seriously ill with a disease which baffled the skill of the physicians, and which seemed to affect both SKETCHES OE ^IIXISTERS. 147 the liver and stomach, though the trouble was never certainly diagnosed. He lingered two weeks, until the 30th of March, when his spirit took its flight from the suffering body and returned to God who gave it Dr. Grier was married in August, 1840, to Miss Barbara B. ^loffatt, the eldest daughter of William Moffatt a prominent merchant of Lewisville. Chester County, S. C. She survived her husband twenty-five years. There were in all eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, Isaac Livingstone, killed in battle in June, 1862, William ]\Ioffatt. President of Erskine College, Isabella, who married Rev. J. E. ^^lartin, Laura, who married Rev. G. R. White, Lois , who married Rev. D. B. Pressly, and Jane, who married Mr. James E. Todd. Boyce H., present pastor at Ora. S. C, Paul L., professor in Erskine College and Mark B., missionary to China. Dr. Grier received his title of Doctor of Divinity from Washington and Lee LTniversity, Lexington, Va., about the year 1852 or 1853. Grier, Robert Leroy. — Son of Isaac Grier and Isabella Robison, was born in Mecklenburgh Co., X. C, June 18, 1832. He completed his literary course and graduated from Erskine College August 8th, 1855. He married Martha A. Kirkpatrick April 24, 1856. She was a daughter of Hugh and Louisa Kirkpatrick. He was li- censed to preach the Gospel by the First Presbytery of the Carol inas in April, 1858, and under the order of Synod he labored in the Georgia, Memphis and First Presbyteries. He was ordai'-'ed and installed pastor of the A. R. P. Church of Troy, Obion Co., Tenn., Nov. 19, 1861. He demitted this charge during the year i86<;), and moved to Marshall Co., Miss., and settled in the bounds of Mt. Carmel church and employed his time in teaching school and preaching to the congregation of ^^it. Carmel anil also that of Beulah, Shelbv Co., Tenn. 148 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. Here he was called to mourn the loss of his wife, who died June 27, 1871, after a protracted sickness. She was "a faithful companion, a woman of undoubted piety and highly esteemed by all who knew her." She was the mother of six children : Dr. Isaac Oscar, de-( ceased, Louisa Isabella, wife of J. Walker Griffith, Hugh Kirkpatrick, deceased, Robert Baxter, Margaret Anna, and John Stewart. Mr. Grier was installed pastor of Mt. Carmel and Beulah churches in 1872, and there labored faithfully for nearly eight years. He married Oct. 10, 1872, Miss Eleanor Jane Moffatt, daughter of Samuel and Eleanor Jane Mofifatt, of P^Iarshall Co., Miss. Mr. Grier demitted the Mt. Carmel branch of his charge in 1879, sold his possessions in Mississippi and moved to Shelby Co., Tenn., 1880. About this time he experienced a severe attack of jaundice, and gradiially sank under weakness, and on Feb. 16, 1881, his body was laid to its long rest and his spirit returned to God who gave it. His two oldest sons died the same year as their father. Of the survivors, Rev. John S. Grier is now pastor of Sharon, S. C. Rev. A. H. Griffith, now of Little Rock, Ark., is a grandson of Mr. Grier's. Mr. Grier is remembered as a fluent speaker and a good preacher. Grier, Robert Livingston. — The second child of Dr. William M.and Nannie McMorries Grier, was born Sept. 15th, 1867; was educated in Due West, S. C, and grad- uated from Erskine College, June, 1887, under the Pres- idency of his father. In 1891 he entered Erskine Theo- logical Seminary, completing his course in 1893, and was licensed by the 2nd A. R. Presbytery, at King's Creek Church, Newberry Co., S. C, in April, 1893. Accepting a call from Steel Creek congregation, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, he was transferred to the ist Presbytery, and was ordained and installed as pastor there Aug. 11, 1893, by a Committee of the ist Presbvterv, — but Dr. Grier, his SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 149 father, a member of the 2iid Presbytery, was present and took part in the services. His great-grandfather, Rev. Isaac Grier, D. D., many years before, had sustained the same relation to the ancestors of some of the members of Steel Creek church. The relation as pastor was dis- solved April 5th, 1897. His next field of labor was Mt. Zion, Mo., in the Ken- tuckv Presbytery, beginning his work there in 1897, and continued until Sept. 21st, 1899. In 1900 having adopted some doctrines contrary to the teachings of the A. R P. Church on the subjects of Future Punishment and Nature of the Atonement, he voluntarily withdrew from the e>fercise of the ministry, and requested his name to be dropped from the roll of the Presbytery, which was done Oct. 24, 1901. His name was restored and h'^ was reinstated as a member of the Presbytery Aug. 30ti;, 1902, on his written acceptance of the standards and doctrine of the A. R. P. Church. A short time after this he made application to and ^vas received by examination into the South Carolina Presbytery of the Southern Presbyterian Church. Air. drier has married twice. His first wife was Miss Fannie Grist, daughter of Capt. W. M. Grist, editor of the "Yorkville Enquirer," Yorkville, S. C, and was con- summated May 20th, 1891. She died June 5th, 1893. On the 20th of Febuary, 1895, he was married to Miss Jennie Marshall, daughter of Capt. J. W. ^Marshall, of Rock Hill, S. C. Grier, William Moffatt, D. D. — In an old house, built by his father, about one mile from the present little vil- lage of Clover, York Co.. S. C. on the nth of February, 1843, William Moffatt Grier was born. He was the sec- ond son of Robert C. and Barbara B. Grier. His brother, Isaac Livingston, being the first born. At the time of his birth. Dr. Robert C. Grier was pastor of Bethany and Pisp-ah congregations. In 1847 he was elected President 150 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of Erskine College and re- moved to Due West, and It was here that Dr. Grier, Jr., was brought up. He attended the schools of the village, which were fairly good, and in due time en- tered Erskine College, graduating in class of i860. He shared the sec- ond honor of the class. The first honor was taken by his brother Livingston with one or two others. VV. M. GRIERj D. D. y- 1 .^ .l- r, 1 • ror a short time after his graduation he engaged in teaching in Fairfield Co., S. C. While pursuing this quiet vocation, the war between the States broke out, and, fired with a spirit of patriotism. Dr. Grier volunteered his services, joining the sixth regiment of S. C, which was made up largely of Chester, Fair- field and York Co. troops. Dr. Grier was not in the ser- vice long; he was severely wounded at Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862, was taken prisoner, and after his ex- change returned home. In 1864 he connected with the Second Presbytery. In April, 1866, at Cedar Springs, he was licensed, and in August, 1867, settled as pastor at Oak Hill, Wilcox Co., Ala In September, 187 1, he was called from his quiet and happy pastorate to succeed his father as President of Erskine College. He accepted with some misgiv- ings the important position "Relying," as he said, "upon the Divine blessing and the cordial support of those who had elected him." The task before him was no easy one. The Southern country was sufifering from the terrible ravages of the war, the people were impoverished. The burden of reconstruction was upon them. Dr. Grier was young, just twenty-eight, without experience — the old SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 151 endowment was gone— there were no effective plans for a new one. On the whole the problem of sustaining the college, or at least of promoting its advancement seemed to be a real one. And then Dr. Grier, Jr., was succeed- ing a father who had been eminently successful, and wdiose ability and worth had been held in the highest es- teem by the whole Church— and he was to take his place at the head of the facult\-, some of whom had bsen his honored instructors, l.ut the choice of the Synod was fully justified. Dr. Grier soon had his work in hand. He achieved his greatest fame as college president. Dr. F. Y. Pressly says of him: "That he was raised up, quali- fied and called of God to this service, no one can doubt who is familiar with the history of Erskine College for the last quarter of a century. Such pre-eminent qualifica- tions for so difficult and responsible a station came not by chance. There is no occasion to repeat the question of Mordecai: "Who knowest whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this." The success of the College under Dr. Grier's encumbency is well known. "His worth was recognized far outside the bounds of his own denomination, and he was generally accepted as an exponent of the highest and best Christian culture in the South. Under his wise guidance the Col- leo-e has extended her influence, and has a recognized place among institutions of higher Christian learning. With rare tact and with faithful, unsparing toil he has done what he could in rearing a fair superstructure on the foundation laid by the great and godly men who preceded him." Dr. Grier was a most competent instruc- tor in the chair of Mental and iMoral Science, and w^as distinguished by the clearness and cogency of his reason- ing and his skill in imparting knowledge to his students. He was pre-eminently fitted for the government of the College. "He was gentle, firm, considerate and just. he relied more on appeals to the student's sense of right than on the naked hand of the law. Submission to 152 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. rightful, constituted authority he insisted upon as a car- dinal virtue ; but in the enforcement of obedience there was always manifest an affectionate concern for the highest good of the student." ^ The confidence and ap- preciation of his work as president was fully shown by the Synod, when weary with his labors and his heavy responsibilities, she refused to accept his resignation ten- dered at the close of his twenty-fifth year of service. But not only did Dr. Grier serve Erskine College well as her president and professor. He was a number of times called upon to act as agent. Once he canvassed the Synod, in part, for the endowment, once for money to erect new buildings, and again to raise money on the debt incurred in the erection of the new building and the Dormitory. In his last canvass during § very hot, sultry summer he remarked that he thought when this was finished he ought to graduate. He was not given to consult his own comfort when the Synod called upon him to perform any duty. Dr. Grier was almost equally as distinguished a preacher, as educator. As one said of him, "He stood in the front rank as a pulpit orator. His sermons were clear, logical, scholarly, and instructive, and withal plain and practical. He preached with a pathos, power and eloquence that captivated and moved his audience. He was a man of power in the pulpit." His Sabbath after- noon sermons preached in the Due West pulpit will not soon be forgotten, and they have left their impress, upon many young persons, who it maybe have forgotten his words in the class-room. As professor in the Seminary and as editor of the "Associate Reformed Presbyterian," Dr. Grier also served his Church most efficiently. There was no labor that he enjoyed more perhaps, than writing for the "Pres- byterian." His editorials were alwavs fresh ancl force- able, and widely influential. He was indeed a faithful, unselfish servant of the Church, and of the cause of education. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 153 He died in the midst of his usefuhiess and in the height of his intellectual powers. Returning from his appoint- ment at Bethlehem a few miles from Due West, one hot Sabbath at noon, September 3rd, 1899, he sat down to dinner, but with little appetite. Complained of feeling sick, fell over in an instant in his chair, and in an hour after he was dead. The stroke of apoplexy soon did its work. He was removed at once from the toil of earth to the blessed rest of heaven. Dr. Grier w^as most fortunate in his marriage, his wife, who survives him. was Miss Nannie M. AIcMorries of Newberry. S. C. daughter of the late Dr. McMorries. She was a true helpmeet, assisting her husband in his high position and great labors by her sympathy, her ap- preciation and her prayers. She was a tower of strength, modestly standing behind the scenes but an active partici- pant in all that has been accomplished. There are seven living children. Mrs. J. S. Moffatt of Chester, S. C, and Mrs. Laura Mofifatt of the same place. Rev. R. L. Grier of Elizabeth City. N. C, Mr. W. I\I. Grier of Due West and Mr. R. E. Grier of Charleston. S. C. Misses Helen and Agnes, two daughters unmarried, are at home with their mother. Two little ones passed away in childhood. Haddoii, David Franklin.— Son of Abram Haddon and Anna Hawthorne, was born near Due West, Nov. 7, 1820. and died Dec. 13. 1896. As a child he attended school in the country and later spent one session at Athens, Georgia, at what is now the University of Georgia. He then entered Erskine and af- ter finishing the prescribed course of study was graduated in the First Class. At some time in his early youth he united with the Church at Due West, S. C, and was received as a student of Theology l)y the Second Presbytery, immediately af- ter being graduated from colleere. 154 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He then continued his studies at Erskine Theological Seminary. On May 15, 1854, he was ordained and installed by a committee appointed by the Second Presbytery, as pastor of Bethel, Head Springs, and Providence in Laurens Co., S. C. In this charge he lived and labored for the long term of 42 vears. After his installation he married Margaret Taylor, daughter of James and Elizabeth Taylor. Xo children were born to them. After her death he married Eliza Thompson. Haddon, Samuel Wal- ter.— Son of Abram Frank- lin and Eliza J. (Dickson) Haddon, born at Antrc)- ville, Abbeville Co., S. C, June 18, 1855. Professed religion at 16 while a stu- dent in preparatory depart- ment of Erskine College, where he received his di- ploma, 1877. A full course of theology was taken at. Erskine Divinity School. During- this course Y. M. C. A. work, both in Port- land, Me., and Newberryport, Mass., was offered. Yield- ing to the experienced judgment of his Presbytery, the church of his fathers has had his valuable services in the direct work of the ministry, and the Master has set the seal of approval on his decision. Licensed by the Second Presbytery Sept. 16, 1880, he spent three months beginning Nov. i, 1880, at Ebenezer and Bethel, and Broad Creek. Rockbridge Co., Va. On the first Sab- bath of Feb., i88t, he began preaching at Old Providence and Timber Ridge, Va., as co-pastor with Dr. IT. Thomp- son. Having been ordained by the Virginia Presbytery W. HADDON. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 155 April 23r(l, 1881, he succeeded Dr. Thompson and was installed pastor, April 19th, 1883, of Old Providence, remaining- stated supply of Timber Ridge till 1892. On the 6th of November, 1883, he was happily married to Miss Anna Brown, daughter of Capt John Brown and Margaret (iTanna) Galloway of Maury Co., Tcnn. She was born in aforesaid county Sept. 30th, i860, and graduated at the Due West Female College in 1879. His eleven years work at Timber Ridge lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes is still bearing fruit. About the latter part of 1892 there was a redistricting and Timber Ridge was associated with Ebenezcr under Rev. Plaxco and Bro. Haddon gave all his time as he does yet to Old Providence. The congregation has grown steadily in numbers and liberality, good evidence also of spiritual increase. He was the Synod's accredited delegate to United Presby- terian General Assembly in Pittsburg, Pa., 1895. Before the most cultured of that cultured denomination, in one of their finest churches, Bro. J. G. Dale says he electrified the audience. He served on the Board of Trustees of Erskine College five years, from 1892. Remarkably punctual in his Presbytery, he has missed but four meet- ings of Synod in the 21 years of ministerial service. This is an honorable record when all save one of these meetings were in other States from 400 to 1000 miles. This brother is in many respects a model minister. Kind but firm, prudent but positive, a cultured scholar, a de- vout Christian, in the pulpit an orator, in the Church courts a wise counsellor, in his home a charming host, in your home an instructive conversationalist, he is the Master's servant at all times and attends strictly to his professional functions. Haiiiill. Robf. — Son of \\'m. T. and Mary Ray Hamill, was born March 2nd. 1871, on his parents' farm, where they still reside, three miles distant from Indiana, Pa. 156 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Until 18 years of age, he attended the nearby country pubhc school, where the annual term was never more than six months. Worked at home on the farm during the rest of the year and also during vacations of after school life. The years 1889 and '91 were spent by him in the Indiana State Normal, and four years ('91-95) in West- minster College, by which he was graduated in the clas- sical course in 1895. Two years were spent in teaching in Norfolk, Va., Mission College. Attended Erskine Theological Seminary at Due West, i897-'99, and Al- legheny Seminary 1899-1900, and graduated there in the class of 1900. He united with the U. P. Church at Indiana, Pa., at the age of 15, and was licensed by the Second A. R. Presbytery of the Synod of the South April 8th, 1899. Received ordination at the hands of the Pawn'e Presbytery (U. P.) April loth, 1901. H'^ served the Jewell, Kansas, congregdtion 1900-1901, and since 1902 has served the Lebanon congregation, Fay- etteville, Tenn. Haiiua, George Washington. — Son of Wm. Dixon and Harriet Bradley Hanna, \a is born in Gastonia, N. C Feb. 26th, 1878. His preparatory studies were at Gas- ton Institute, Gastonia, under Prof. J. P. Reid. Erskine College gave him a diploma June 10, 1902. He is now a student in Erskine Divinity Hall. Harris, Eleazar. — Studied Theology under Dr. John M. Mason, of New York, graduating in 1815. He taught school awhile at Ebenezer Academy, York Co., S. C. Was never a settled pastor, but supplied several vacant churches — preaching a part of the time at Troy, Tenn. The dates of birth and death, and other details of his life, are not known. Harris, Robert Sidney. — Son of John Christopher Har- ris and Sarah Martha Anderson, was born in Troy, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 157 Tenn., August 24, 1870. His mother died when he was about 12 years of age. Until 16 years old he attended Obion College at Troy, Tenn. Two years he clerked for j\Ir. J. S. Moffatt, a merchant of Troy. Resuming school in January, 1889, he entered the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, in September of that year, remaining there one year. In the fall of 1890 he entered the Sophomore Class of Erskine College, Due West, S. C, where his education was completed. He taught four years in the public schools of Obion Co., Tenn., and of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, and the year previous to his enter- mg the Seminary was a leacher in Obion College. He joined the Troy A. R. r". Church when about 15 years old, Rev. T. P. Pressly, pastor. Was re- ceived as a student of the- ology by the Memphis Presbytery at Rives, Tenn., m April, 1897. Entered Erskine Theological Sem- mary October, 1896, and completed the course June 10, 1898 ; was licensed to preach at a called meeting of the Memphis Presbytery at Troy, Tenn.. July 6, 1898, and was ordained by the same Presbytery at Bethany, Miss., Nov. 6, 1899. He preached a short while each at Shiloh, Miss., Hinkston and Ebenezer, Ky., Ebenezer and Wrens, Ga., and Edge- moore, S. C, and Huntersville, N. C. Came to Hope- well, Miss., as supply in July, 1899, was called there Nov. 20, 1899, for one half time, and was installed May 14, 1900, Revs. T. P. Pressly" and J. W. Baird officiating. He has also been supplying the Mt. Carmel, Miss., con- gregation regularly for several years. R. S. HARRIS. 158 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He was married July 6, 1899. to Miss Margaret Brice, of Troy, Tenn. She was a daughter of Dr. Walter Brice and Jane Bonar Moffatt, and was born in Troy, February 4, 1871. She died March 12, 1903, after an illness of but a few hours. Her memory is as ointment poured forth. Their only child, Robert Brice Harris, was born August 20, 1900. Haslet, David C. — Was born in the vicinity of Church Hill Academy, Abbeville Co., S. C. His parents were John and Hannah Haslet. His mother's maiden name was Vernon. His educational advantages were good for that day and time. He was for some time a student in Franklin College at Athens, Georgia, but probably did not grad- uate. He was licensed by the South Carolina Presbytery (G. A. P.) at a church known as "The Rocks" near Cam- bridge, sometimes called Ninety-Six. He was licensed in 1824. He preached for a time in Anderson Co., S. C. In 1840 he decided to become a member of the A. R. P. Church, and was received by the Second Presbytery at Bethel Church in Burk County, Georgia. He preached at various places in Georgia, and was for many years a member of the Georgia Presbytery. He died near Mari- etta, Cobb Co., Ga., in 1855, aged about sixty years. Hayes, Rev. TJwiiias JJ^ylie. — Son of William Riley and Eleanor Jane (Whitesides) Hayes, was born near Rock Hill, York Co., S. C, April 4, '67. He attended the High School at Huntersville, N. C, and graduated in the class of '95, in Erskine College. That summer took a six weeks' course in Moody's Bible Institute, Chi- cago. He continued his theological studies in Erskine Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the First Presbytery, April 7, 1896, at Gastonia, N. C. Fie labored in Corsicana, Texas, sixteen months under the direction of the Board of Home Missions. He was ordained by SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 159 T. W. HAVES. the Texas Presbytery at Alarlow, April 18, 1897. He was installed pastor at Chicota, Texas, in Jan- tiary. '98. He was mar- ried Oct. 6, '97, to Miss Estelle, daughter of 'Sir. John Alexander Pope, of Alecklenburg Co., N. C. Air. Hayes is one of the growing men of the Sy- nod. Universally accepta- ble in and out of the pulpit and has a bright fu- ture. Hciiiphill, John, D. D. — John Hemphill, D. D., was the son of John Hemphill and Alargaret Ramsey, and was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1761. In his youth he was apprenticed to a tailor and learned the trade of a tailor. After learning his trade, he came to America in 1783. He plied his trade in Philadelphia for a while, and afterwards became a clerk in a clothing store. In a few years he had saved enough to come South, where he lived for a time, and worked at his trade in the home of his half-brother. James, who lived on Fishing Creek in York Co., S. C. It is probable that j\Ir. Hemphill had determined to obtain a classical edu- cation before he left Ireland, and this may have been the reason of his coming-. While engaged in working at his trade, at the home of his brother James, he began his studies, but whether under a preceptor or not, we are not able to say. He commenced the study of Latin at the school of Rev. Samuel Warnock. a few miles north of where Union Church now is, in Chester Co. Some time afterwards he left this school, and entered the school of Rev. Joseph Alexander, D. D.. on Bullocks l6o SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Creek in York Co. In 1791 he entered the senior class in Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and graduated in May, 1792. Mr. Hemphill had been a member of the Covenanter Church in Ireland, but on coming to America, he went into the Associate Reformed Church. Soon after gradu- ating, he began the stvidy of theology under the Rev. Alexander Dobbin, near Gettysburg, Pa. How long he remained under the instruction of Mr. Dobbins is not known, but it is certain that he completed his theological course under Rev. ^latthew Ljnn, at Greencastle, Pa. He was licensed by the First Presbytery of Pennsylvania at Big Spring in May, 1794, and was ordained by the same Presbyter}^ in October of the same year. He immediately set out on a missionary tour through Virginia and the Carolinas. He reached Hopewell, which was to be the scene of his future labors, in Febru- ary or March, 1795. Hopewell made out a call for him, but a number of other churches wanted him too, so he did not accept any one of them until he returned to Greencastle, and consulted with his wife. He accepted the call to Hopewell, and in 1795. in August or Septem- ber, he set out with his young wife and their little child, on horseback, for the Scotch-Irish settlement on Rocky Creek, in Chester Co., S. C, and arrived sometime in October. Two young men of Hopewell had gone to Greencastle to remove their pastor. They each rode a horse and led one, and when they reached Pennsylvania, they purchased a wagon, and brought their pastor and his effects to Hopewell. The distance was about five hundred miles, and it must have been a hard and tedious journey. It is proper to state that Hopewell then in- cluded what is now Union and New Hope Churches as well as Hopewell. These churches were organized dur- ing Mr. Hemphill's time, and he was the pastor of these as well as Hopewell. Mr. Hemphill was installed over Hopewell on Sept. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. i6l 19, 1796, and for thirty-six years he continued to be the pastor of Hopewell, and foremost man of all that region. At his death, one, who was not a member of his church, said : "Dr. IIemi)hill made Rocky Creek what it is." W'lien he came to 1 lopewell. he and his wife and a child about one year old, boarded at the home of James Strong. They afterwards settled on a plantation about half a mile south of Hopewell, and there he continued to live until his death. Dr. Hemphill was a man of great ability, and he made an impress on the people of his charge, that lasts in their children of to-day. He was a fine scholar, a profound theologian, and an able minister. He was a man of fine judgment, and of afifable and engaging manners, and held the love and confidence of all his people. The de- gree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Jefiferson College in 1828. Dr. Hemphill died May 20th, 1832, in the 71st year of his age, and is buried in the graveyard at Hopewell. Air. Hemphill's first marriage was to Jane Linn, the daughter of Rev. ^Matthew Linn of Greencastle, I'a. ."-^he was the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters. Jennette, married Sam- uel AlcCalla ; Margaret married William ■\IofFatt, and Eliza married Rev. John Wilson. Matthew was a mer- chant, John was a lawyer, and afterwards Chief Justice of Texas :and William Ramsev, was an able minister of the A. R. P. Church. Mrs. Hemphill was a godly woman, of great strength of character. She died in 1809. Air. Hemphill's second marriage occurred in 181 1, to Mary, the widow of James Andrew Hemphill, M. D. This Dr. Hemjihill was no blood relation to the subject of this sketch. This Mrs. Hemphill was tli^e daughter of Col. John Xixon. She had four children, three sons and one daughter. Hie daughter died in childhood, and one son, David, died in 1842. James became a lawyer, and prac- ticed his ])rofession in Chester, S. C, and was a man of 11 1 62 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. the noblest character, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He died at his home in Chester in 1902, be- loved by all who knew him. Robert Xixon farmed at the old home. He made a considerable fortune, and was very liberal with his means, and a man of the highest character, and a Christian of the finest type. He gave liberally to the College and Seminary during his life, and at his death left several legacies to different causes of the Church. Mrs. Mary Hemphill, was also a woman of the noblest character. She died Feb. ist, 1854, aged 75 years. HemphiU, John Lind. — Was born in Abbeville County, S. C, Feb. 21st, 1838. His father was Rev. William Ramsey Hemphill, his mother, Hannah Smith Lind. His educational op- portunities were good. He attended the primary schools at Due West. He graduated from Erskine College in 1858. He joined the church at Due West, in April, 1854. He was re- ceived as a student of The- ology by the Second Presbytery in 1859. He studied Theology at Due West, and was licensed by the same Presbytery at Bethel. Laurens Co.. S. C, April 6th, 1861. Just after the war he preached for a time in Ohio. In the year 1867 he preached in Kentucky, and during a few months of the same year in Newton Co., Ga. He went , to Virginia, May, 1868, and labored in that State ten years. He was called by the Church at Ebcnezer and Broad Creek, and served them for eight years from his installation in 1869. He was sent bv Svnod to Charlotte HEMPHILL. SKETCHES OF MFXISTERS. 163 in 1877-78. He began his work in Georgia at White Oak in December, 1879. He was pastor here for twenty years, being called July 30th, 1886, and installed Xovem- ber, 1886, and dying Oct. 30th, 1899. He married Miss Xancy Hannah ^^IcKemy Sept. 6th, 1871, in Rockbridge Co., \'a. His wife was the daugh- ter of Col. John and Caroline ]^lcKemy. She was born Oct. i8th, 1850, in Rockbridge Co., Ya. She was the mother of three children and is still living at Xewnan, Georgia. As a man he was pure, honest, cheerful, kind. As a pastor he was faithful, gentle, sympathetic. As a preacher he was plain, unafifected, and presented as nearly the mind of the Spirit in the text as he could. He was a com- panion to the young so that he held the young people to him and the Church. He was never known to com- promise what he believed to be the teaching of the Word of God, and yet all who differed in their belief had not only respect but a positive attachment for him. The congregation at White Oak will bear the impress of his teaching and character for many a year. W. K. ilE.Ml'HlLL, IJ. D. Hei'iiphill. irHliaiii Ram- sey.— Born in Hopewell. Chester Co., S. C, March 14, 1806; was a son of Rev. John Hemphill, D. D., a conspicuous figure in the history of the Asso- ciate Reformed Church for the first quarter of the 19th century. It seems that he was kept back several years from his educational pur- suits, being engaged with his bmther in a mercan- tile ])usiness in Providence. l64 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. jNlecklenburg Co., N. C, but in 1831 he entered Jeffer- son College, Pa., then under the Presidency of Rev. Matthew Brown, D. D. He entered the junior class, and on the 4th of Oct., 1833, obtained a diploma. At the age of seventeen he had been admitted to the communion of the Church, being examined on that oc- casion by the Rev. William Blackstock, who happened to be present as an assistant to his father, and after his graduation he turned his attention to theology and entered the Seminary at Allegheny, at that time under the presi- dency of Dr. John T. Pressly. He attached himself to one of the Presbyteries about Pittsburg during his theological course, but that Presby- tery refused to license him on the ground that the can- didate was suspected of being somewhat heterodox on the subject of slavery. He returned South, and was licensed by the First Presbytery in June, 1836. In June, 1837, he was ordained and installed by the Second Presbytery pastor of Cedar Springs and Long Cane, Abbeville County, S. C. During the ten years of his pastorate he stulied hard, preached with all his might, spared neither body nor mind, and succeeded in laying the foundation of hi^ ministerial fame. In 1848 he was elected by Synod to the Chair of Latin in Erskine College. This position he filled until the College was temporarily broken up by the war. In 1871 he removed to New Hope, Madison Co.. Ky., where he remained three or four years, until failing health caused his return to his old home. Due West. On Mav 10, 1837, Dr. Hemphill had married INliss Llannah Smith Lind, the daughter of the Rev. John Lind, who was for a long time pastor of the .V. R. Church at Greencastle, Pa. To them were born five children, Mrs. Hemphill died Oct. 5th, 1895. in the 87th year of her age, at Cen. R. R. LTemphill's, Abbeville, S. C. Attention has been directed to Dr. I lenii)hill as a stu- dent, as a pastor, and as a ])rofessor, he also merits some SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 165 attention as an agent, a thankless occnpation, but one which the interest of the Church and of educational in- stitutions require to be performed. In 185 1 he helped to raise money to pay for the erection of Lindsay Hall, in 1853 to raise the old Endowment, since the war to get up the Five Year Endowment, and later, the $100,000 Endowment. How much talking, how much explain- ing of things, how much reasoning with people, how many objections, how many unreasonable and hard things have to be listened to, how much traveling in bad weather over bad roads, what long periods of absence from home fall to the lot of the min- ister who occupies the unenviable position of an agent. A man whom most people do not want to see, and one whose absence is about as agreeable as his presence. This service Dr. Hemphill rendered the Church and the Col- lege with skill. ]:)erseverance. self-denial, and long-suffer- ing. He also enjoyed a wide reputation as a writer. His newspaper articles, if collected, would fill several vol- umes. These articles are on a variety of topics — agri- culture, trade, politics, literature, travel, and theology. The characteristics of his style were humor and picjuancy. He was somewhat of a polemic, indulging occasional- ly in the controversial. About the year 1843 and 1844 he was drawn into a controversy in the "Charleston Ob- server" with "Charlestoniensis" ( Dr. Thomas Smyth) on the subject of Psalmody. The fire was kept iip for some time with spirit on both sides, neither party being willing to admit that he had been beaten. This well-known and highly esteemed minrster depart- ed this life at his home in Due West, Abbeville county, S. C, on the morning of Friday, July 28, 1876, aged 70 years. 4 months, and 14 days. Henry. IIui::h McMasfer. D. D. — Horn at Hazlewood. Chester Co., S. C. Dec. (), 1852, was a son of William J. anrl Sarah Henrv. In his childhood, he experienced l66 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. some remarkable escapes — once from drowning", at an- other time from a coal-kiln with a burned leg, and again from the accidental discharge of a shotgun in the hands of Rev. Jno. A. \\niite, then a boy with him. He enjoyed good educational advantages for the times, numbering amono- his instructors Airs. Nancv Ratchford, INIatthew Elder, James Hamilton and Miss Sarah Blain, regarded as excellent teachers. He graduated in Erskine College in 1874, joined the Church at Hopewell, S. C. He was received as 'a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery, at Due West, S. C, in the fall of 1874, and was licensed to preach by the same Presbytery, Sept. 20, 1876, in Newberry or Prosperity, S. C, and ordained at Due West, S. C.,"Sept. 28, 1878. For 16 months he labored in the Arkansas Presbytery, in Drew, Bradly, Dorsey and Lincoln Counties, and three months at Sal^ii, Covington Co., Ala. He declined a call to the pastorate of Saline, Ark., but accepted a call to Bethel, Ala., the latter part of 1878, and was installed over this congregation in the fall of 1879, where he con- tinues to labor. He received his degree of Doctor of Divin- ity from his Alma Mater. He is a man of strong person- ality, an original and striking character, devoted to his Church and her institutions. He was married October 4, 1881, at Due West, S. C, to Miss Mary Evelyn Young, a daughter of Rev. Jno. N. and Mrs. Euphemia E. (Strong) Young. She was born in Due West, S. C, Sept. 14, 1855. Eight children have been born unto them. Dr. Henry's grandfather was a Covenanter and lived some 86 or 87 years. Mrs. Henry was a granddaughter of the Rev. Charles Strong. One of her ancestors was killed while at worship during the Revolutionary War. Heron. Aiidrci^', D. D. — Bom and educated in Scot- land, came to the U. S. in 1807, and after finishing his literarv studies under Dr. Alexander Bullions, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 167 entered the first Protestant seminary the Associate or- ganized, at Service, Pa., April 21, 1794. The Char- tiers Presbytery gave him license Sept. i, 181 3, and the Carolinas ordained and installed him pastor of Eb- enezer and Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co., Ya.., April 1st, 181 5. He entered zeal- ously and systematically upon this wide extended field, making full proof of ANDREW HERON', D. D. , • ■ • ^ " his mmistry. His talents were recognized as an educator as he held the Chair of Languages in Washington College, Lexing- ton, \'a., (now A\'. and L. University), for four years, beginning in 181 5, as also Trustee for thirteen years. The Trustees were loathe to give him up. "Dr. Heron was a strong character and an able profes- sor." He was Moderator of the Associate Synod in 1820, her stated clerk from 1827 to 1842, and a liberal, punctual and influential member of his Church courts. The Associate Synod at Pittsburg, Pa., Friday, May 29th, 1829, resolved to engage in public covenanting. This was a very solemn service, the acknowledgment of sins and the signing of a bond. Dr. A. Heron preached the sermon on that memorable occasion. In May, 1832, a call was presented and accepted from Caesar's Creek, Green Co., Ohio, and on the 8th of Jan- uary, 1833. he was installed pastor, having- removed from \''irginia the preceding August. In this region he rounded out exactly 60 years of ministerial life, being licensed Sept. i, 181 3. and his death occurring at Cedar- ville, Ohio, Sept. i, 1873. Washington and Lee L'niversitv l)ears unasked and im- 1^8 SKETCHES OF lAIINISTERS. partial testimony thus : "Dr. Heron possessed strong mental powers as well as strong religious principles. He was also both scholarly and literary. His memory was wonderfully retentive. Toward the last, when blindness cut him oft' from his great resource of reading he en- tertained those around him by pouring out from the stores of his memory an astonishing variety of knowledge. Shortly before his death he repeated the whole of the one hundred and fifty Psalms in the Scotch metrical version. When 83 years old he got a severe fall, wdiich confined him to bed for some time, during which period he composed a sermon, "The Angels at School," by which he was so inspired as to rise from his bed, and hobbling on crutches go from church to church preaching his new sermon, and con- ducting all the services with accuracy and propriety, al- though he could neither see nor hear. Thus ended the career of a strong, good man, of the brave old Cameron- ian type." Hcniaiidcc, Iiics Rev. — Son of Eutimio Hernandez and Sostenes Morato, was born in an Indian village, Chontla, State of Vera Cruz, on the 20th of April, 1850. His father was a gambler and passed the most of the time going from one fandango to another, and so the son was raised in the midst of vice and poverty. He never had any shoes until he was twelve years old, his dress being the primitive wear for children among the Indians fifty years ago. He enjoyed no educational advantages until he was eighteen years old, and then for only ten months. He read what books he could find, and was of a religious turn of mind, but his father forbade him to go to the Catholic church. He never inclined to the vice of his father, though he was taught in all the tricks of gam- bling. He worked in the primitive way that farming is yet done in that section. After marriage he was ap- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 169 pointed a teacher at Chiconcillo in the :Municipal- ity of Tantimar. In August, 1882. God in His Providence, called the :\Iissionary from Tampico, through the instrumentality of young Zenon Zaleta, who had been sent from Chiconcillo to Tampico to learn the blacksmith trade, and who was converted in Tampico. The missionary and young Zaleta spent six weeks in Chi- concillo in 1882, and Sr. Hernandez was then in charge of the school. The missionary left the congregation gath- ered in his first visit, of which Sr. Hernandez had been the most active, in his care and from that time he began a course of study under the missionary, preparatory to the ministrv. He was received as member of the Church on a public profession of faith and bajitized in November. 1882. As the congregation grew and the work began to spread out. and as there had been no organization of a Presbytery in the missionary field, he was given a mis- sionary's license to preach, and resigning from the pub- lic school, he devoted his whole time to the care of the Church and study, which was carried on largely by cor- respondence. It was the custom of the missionary in Tampico to visit Chiconcillo twice a year, spending a month each visit. During this time studies were re- viewed, explained and developed. After the organization of the Tampico Presbytery, he was by it ordained in 1888. His field was the most encouraging in the >nission. but manv things have conspired to bring schisms in the Church and vicinity, from which the Church has suffered. His expositions of Scri])ture were clear, his sermons all carefully prepared and his ministrations acceptable. In 1872- he was united in matrimony to Srita Rosa- ria Lugo by the civil authority and also by the Catholic Church. Their children number five: Sara. Alberto. Lioba. Sandalio and Juan Ebenezer. The two eldest are dead, and the youngest, named for Dr. J. E. Pressly. is in the training school at Rio ^^erde. I70 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Hickman, Rcz'. Lcicis. — Was born on Kerr's Creek, Rockbridge Co., Va., May 30, 1874. His father, Lewis Hickman, was of English, while his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was educated in Lexington, \'a., where he spent two years in the High School, and three in the Washington and Lee L^niversity. He spent two years in Erskine Theological Semin- ary, graduating in 1900. He was licensed by the First Presbytery, May 8, 1900. He supplied Ebenezer and Hinkston, Ky. that summer and fall. He then began work at Zion, Ark. He was ordained by the Virginia Presbytery Feb. 6, 1901, and was installed pastor of Zion, Ark., May 16, 1902. He was married to JMiss Carrie Hood of Sardis, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, Feb. 27, 1901. While a student of theology he ofifered himself to the Board of Foreign Missions. He was accepted but not sent out at the time for want of means. Mr. Hickman's brief ministry has been crowned with marked success and he ranks with those who have a passion for souls, and are willing to spend and be spent in his Master's service. K. K. HOUGH. Hough, Rcr. R. E.— Was born in Lancaster Co., S. C, May ist, 1874, near Gill's Creek, A. R. Church. His early educa- tional advantages were limited, owing to the death of his father, and poor country schools. One term in the Lancaster Graded school training were all the educational advantages enjoyed until he entered Erskine College in 1893. Mr. Hough graduated in SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 171 1897, and completed his Scininarv course in i8(>S. having" taken one year of the Seminary course in connection with the senior year in Erskine. He was Hcensed by the First Presbytery in Charlotte, X. C, Ai)ril 5th. i8(j8, and was ordained at a called meet- ing of the same Presbytery at New Sterling, N. C, Nov. 26th. Revs. J. C. Boyd, J. H. Pressly and E. B. Ander- son officiating-. His first work was done in Iredell and Alexander Counties in 1898, at Amity, Elk Shoals, Hid- denite and Taylorsvillc, remaining in this field until March, 1899. The same year on May 31st. he was called to Back Creek, X. C, three-fourths of his time to be given to Back Creek and one fourth to Prosperity. He was installed July ist, 1899, Rev. J. T. Chalmers presiding. Rev. R. G. ^filler preaching and addressing the people and Rev. S. J. Patterson its pastor. On the 28th of August, 1902, Mr. Hough accepted a call to Wrens and Ebenezer, Ga., Revs. H. B. Blakely and R. F. Bradley officiating. Though preaching regularly at Prosperity, N. C, he was never pastor there. Mr. Hough is at present pastor of Wrens and Ebenezer, Ga. He was married to Miss Nannie Roddey of Rock Hill, S. C. in the A. R. Church of that city ]>c. r)th, 1899. She belongs to a distinguished family and is in every way a most efficient and worthy helpmeet and wife. .Mr. Hough's ministerial life has been eminenth* suc- cessful. Flis preaching is in much plainness, unction and power, and his work as pastor earnest and evangelical. I food, James Boycc. — Was born in Sardis congrega- tion, X. C, Mecklenburgh Co.. August 2S>, 1868. Flis father was J<^hn Richard Hood, and his mother was Mary Ann Ilunter. He received his primary education in the school at Sardis, then spent three years in tiie High School at Hiuitersville. N. C. FTe spent four years in Erskine College and two in Erskine Theological Semi- nary. He was graduated from the former June, 181)4, 1/2 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. and from the latter June, 1896. He was a pious youth, connecting with the church under Rev. John Htuiter, at Sardis, in 1883. He was taken under the care of the First Presby- tery as a student of Theol- ogy, at Hopewell, S. C, in Sept., 1894, and was li- censed by the same Pres- bytery at Gastonia, N. C, and ordained at Charlotte, N. C, bv a called meeting J. li. tiUllV. " *" Dec. 15, 1896. He was ordained without a call because he was to go to the mission at Bartow, Fla., and it was thought best that a man occupying this mission be ordained. He remained only four months at Bartow, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of Kings Creek and Head Springs, in Newberry, S. C. The installation took place on Satur- day before the second Sabbath of October, 1897. He continued to labor successfully here till a call was pre- sented in May, 1902, from the vmited charge of Blanche and Prosperity congregations of Lincoln Co., Tenn. He was installed over these churches July, ic)02. He is doing a good work there. Hunter. John. — "During the years beginning 1768 and ending 1773, the North of Ireland was drained of more than one-fourth of its population." During this period came Henry Hunter and Martha (Sloan), having mar- ried in the old country. They made their wav from Charleston, S. C. When al)(nit 1788, Watts" version of the Psalms was unwillinglv thrust on a minoritv at Pop- lar Tent, he with others organized Prosiieritx- A. R. church, Mecklenburg Co., X. C. From such descended SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 173 a grandson, [olin, son of Thomas and Margaret, Nov. 13th, 18 1 4. in Ak'cklcnbnrg- Co., X. C. Spending two years in Jefferson College, Pa., he graduated in 1841. After a full course in the Seminar\- at Due West, S. C, he was licensed by the First Presbytery, April 18, 1843. Serving vacancies in the First Presbytery, in the early summer of 1844, in X'irginia and West Virginia, he was ordained and installed pastor of Back Creek, Prosperity and Gilead, Alecklenburg Co., X. C, July 24th, 1844. From the two latter he was released April 14th, 185 1. In consequence of ill health he demitted Back Creek Sept. 5th, 1855, and removed to Allegheny Co., X". C, where the next year he organized Laurel Spring congre- gation from some families who had removed there from Mecklenl)urg and other counties. After some three years service this colony removing and his health improved, he was installed pastor of Sardis congregation. X^C, Jan. II, i85(). Always zealous in shepherding his flock and in mission work, in 1874 a ring of his congregation built Ebenezer to the west. In 1886 Thyatira to the east erected a house of worship. As soon as this house could be used he appointed preaching March, 1886, and came, tied his horse to a bush and as he pulled through the brush to reach the door remarked : "This looks like the church was breaking forth on the right hand and left. This is the second daughter of Sardis." He then read I Cor., 13 Chapter, and taking for his text verse 13, be- gan his sermon. In a few minutes it was seen that some thing was wrong. As he seemed to be falling, liis son. Dr. L. W. Hunter caught him. 1 le was ]:)aralyzed. This was the first service in Thyatira and his last effort to l^reach. This charge was demitted Aug. 31, 1886. He lingered for nearly four years, ripening for that heaven to which he had so often directed sorrowing hearts, falling asleep IMay 16, 1800. July i8th. 1843. his life was linked in matrimony with Miss Isabella 11. Peoples of Mecklenljure' Co.. X'^. C. She was the mother of his four 174 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. children. Some time after her death he contracted a sec- ond marriage with Airs. Martha Simonton Bell of Fairfield Co., S. C, Dec. lo, 1861, whose death again left him bereaved May 9th, 1865. He was married the third time, Oct. 9th, 1866, to Miss Mary Ann McDill of Chester Co., S. C. Her death occurred June 27th, 1894. Rev. John Hunter was scrupulously honest and con- scientious in his business dealings. A most indulgent and kind hearted father and hus- band and given to hospitality his home was a bright spot for his family and a benediction for guests. As a pastor he was kind, sympathizing and faithful, and his minis- try was blessed. As a preacher he was in some respects unique, full of beautiful, lofty imagery, such as his celebrated "eagle," sermon. He caught the attention from the first and there was not a listless ear nor a sleepy hearer. His pe- culiar intonation, his commanding, tall for(n, his in- tensely earnest manner, the vividness of his imagination the freedom of his extempore speech made him an in- tensely interesting speaker. The writer heard in 187.8 Dr. John Hall of New York in Atlanta, Ga. In manner and gesture and impressiveness he reminded us of Father Hunter. Intensely loyal in his convictions, a strict construction- ist, a master of wit and sarcasm, a dangerous antagon- ist in debate, a magnetism, an enthusiasm that stirred, all this with tireless energy and nerves of steel he laid on the altar of God's glory. Eternity alone will reveal the trophies of forty-seven years ministry. Hunter, James Sainiiel Ainrsi. — Son of Lorenzo and Anna Boyce Hunter, was born at Sardis, N. C, Nov.' 13. 1847. Early in life he felt the strivings of the Spirit and prayed God to send some one to talk to him about his salvation. His prayer was answered. He was received into Sardis church. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 175 Haviii"^ finished his aca- demic studies at Sardis school, he entered Erskine College in 1869, graduat- ing in 1 87 1. At once he decided for the ministry and was received by the First Presbytery in 1871. Completing his theological studies in the theological Seminary at Due \\'est, he was by the First Presby- tery licensed in 1873 at Ebenezer church and or- J. S. A. HUNTER. , ■ i ^ e T • O darned at Sardis m 1874. He was married to Emma Jane McDill of Due West, S. C, ]\rarch 22, 1877, who, after a life of rare faithful- ness and singular beauty in the service of her Lord fell asleep in Jesus at Ciudad del 2^Iaiz Nov. 12, 1901. To them were born seven daughters and two sons. From 1873 to 1879 he labored in Arkansas Presbytery with the exception of the year 1876, which was spent in the Kentucky Presbytery. Nov. 28, 1879, he was in- stalled over Hickory Springs and Shady Grove congre- gations of the Arkansas Presbytery, which pastoral relation existed till 1887, when Synod appointed him and Airs. Hunter as Foreign jMissionaries to Mexico. Al- ready they had been considering the claims of Foreign Missions, hence they received Synod's appointment as God's open door. At once they heeded the call, leaving for Tampico, Mexico, where they studied the Spanish for one year. They were assigned to Ciudad del Maiz in the State of San Luis Potosi, where they have labored spending and being spent for the salvation of that, and the surrounding towns. Ciudad del Maiz was most fanatical and would have proved too nuich for their faith had thcx" not learned alreadv to draw heavilv on the 176 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. strength of Him who said "Lo, I am with you ahvays." So bitter was the opposition that at first none would at- tend the services. Often rocks were thrown in the room where the services were held. Though seemingly they were spending their strength for naught, they labored on till after two years the Lord of the harvest gladdened their heart by the reception of II charter members in the Church. Up to 1903 his efforts have fruited in the reception of 82 members, two of whom have entered the Gospel ministry. From the first this worker has learned the supreme im- portance of putting the Bible into the hands of the people. Wherever he goes he carries a few Bibles and tracts and in season and out of season he seeks to sow thus beside all waters. To a, large extent he has felt the motive power that constrained Paul, to free himself from the blood of all men by giving the Gospel to all within his reach. Within a radius of a hundred miles he visits the ranches on horseback, which costs no little sacrifice. However he endures it all as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. On Oct. 28th, 1903, Mr. Hunter was married the second time to Miss Rosemma Virginia Beamer of Al- toona. Pa. Hunter,Mrs.J.S.A. — The name of the late Mrs. J. S. A. Hunter is justly dear to an extensive circle of surviv- ing relatives and friends ; it is held in afifectionate remembrance by thous- ands of the A. R. P. Church. Her maiden name was Emma Jane McDill, daughter of William Wiley McDill and Jane Taylor McDill. She was born at Newberry, So. Ca., on the i8th of May, 1855. We have no event in her early life worthy of partictilar MRS. HUNTEu Tccord in a sketch of this nature. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 177 When quite }oung", her family moved to Abbeville County, S. C, and settled^^near Due West. She enjoyed the edu- cational advantages offered at Due \\'est, which were all calculated to develop her and prepare her for a useful life. She graduated from the Due West Female College under the Presidency of the late Dr. J. I. Bonner, in the class of 1873. Raised up and tutored in the spiritual atmosphere of which Due West is proverbial, she was, when yet a girl, admitted into full membership of the Church, during the pastorate of Dr. W. L. Pressly, and, as she grew in years and experience, by her uniform piety and the zeal- ous ardor she displayed, she became not onl_\- a pillar in the Church, but an ornament to the cause of missionary labor. On the 22nd of jNIarch, 1877, she was wedded to the Rev. J. S. A. Hunter at the home of Dr. James Boyce near Due West by Dr. W. ]\I. Grier. Shortly after the marriage she went with her husband to his field of labor in the State of Arkansas. As a pastor's wife, she took an active part in her husband's work and was beloved by the members of the two congregations he served. About ten years after their settlement in Arkansas, she became deeply impressed with the foreign missionary work, and, as the Church of her choice and love was calling for a teacher in the ^Mexican field, it found an earnest response in her heart. With her Jiusband, their services were tendered to the Foreign ^Missionary Board, as missionaries to Mexico. The meeting of the Board, at which they were formally accepted, was held on the 26th of September, 1887, and the following is the minute on record : "Whereas, The Uoard believes that it is advisable to send out two missionaries into the Mexican field, a male and a female, and, Whereas. The Board believes that the Rev. J. S. A. Hunter and his wife, Mrs. Fmma Hunter, arc eminently 12 178 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. suitable for this work ; therefore resolved : That they be cordially recommended to Synod a^ co-laborers for our missionary in [Mexico. '' This resolution was ap- proved by Synod and the new missionaries were ordered to proceed at the earliest convenience to their field. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Hunter arrived at Tampico, Mexico, in January, 1888. About one year was spent in Ta'mpico in the study of the Spanish language. The town of El Maiz, State of San Luis Potosi, was chosen by the Board for the scene of their labors, and in May, 1889, they re- paired to their future home. In Mrs. Hunter, her husband had a most devoted and faithful co-worker. Her work in the school and in the (Jhurch lives, as a precious ointment poured forth. In complete confidence, she dedicated her self in body and soul to the Master, and His service and His work was her meat and drink. The benighted, the ignorant and the poor, found in her one, who would minister to their necessities, spiritual and temporal, with the most patient attention and affectionate sympathy. She was an affec- tionate wife and a good mother. She was the mother of seven children, four of whom survive her, Mrs. Ximena Reid, Misses Katrina and Elveree and James Hunter. Amid the ])reparation, and in anticipation of a mission- ary tour in company with her husband to the ranchos adjacent to their center of work, the call of the Master came. After a brief illness of about eight days and in intense suft'ering, which she bore with Christian forti- tude, her spirit took its flight. She fell on sleep at the missionar^- home in El Maiz, the scene of her missionary labors, on the 12th of November, 1901. and her body rests in the city cemetery of her adopted home. Her death was peaceful — a triumph. A while before her death she said : "My peace is mar- velous." To her children in the United States, the fol- lowing is a ])art of her last message, "1 have always- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 179 loved you with a great love, and had a faint hope to go back and unite my love with yours in my declining years, but God has indicated to me now a more glorious home. And I want you to participate of the celestial joy I feel to-day and not to weep for me. Farewell ! till you come up higher." The funeral services were directed and the sermon preached by the Rev. J. R. Edwards. The members of the Church, which she helped to plant and nurture, and a large concourse of friends followed all that was mortal of Mrs. Hunter to her last resting place. "Soldier of the Cross, well done, Rest from thy lov'd employ ; The battle's fought, the victory's won, Enter thy Master's joy." 'Sirs. Hunter was the author of a small volume of prayers in Spanish. Hunter, JVilliain May. — Rev. W. M. Hunter is the son of Robert B. Hun- ter and Rebecca M. Jones, and was born in ^lecklen- burg Co., N. C, Feb. ist. 1850. He was the son of godly parents, and w^as well trained in the home. He graduated from Er- skine College in 1872. in a class of nineteen, nine of whom became minis- ters. In Sept., 1872, he was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery, at Pisgah, X. C, and prosecuted his studies in Erskine Seminary, being li- censed by the First Presbytery, at Union Church in Sept., 1874. He was sent to the mission at Charlotte, X. C, W. M. HUNTER l8o SKETCHES OF ^IINISTERS. in Oct., 1874, and was ordained at that place, Oct. 19th, 1875. He spent three years at Charlotte, and then spent one year as stated supply at White Oak and Doraville, Ga. In September, 1878, he was installed pastor of New Stirling- and Elk Shoals,, N. C. While laboring in this charge he began preaching at Salem, or Hiddenite as it is is now called, and by order of the Presbytery organ- ized a church there in 1883. While pastor of these churches, the house of worship was built at Elk Shoals, and from April, 1884, to April 1885, he was stated sup- ply at Amity, N. C. In October, 1888, Mr. Hunter de- mitted his charge, and removed to Huntersville, N. C, and was Professor of Greek and Mathematics in the Hunters- ville High School from October, 1888 to December, 1892. While professor in the H. H. School he began to labor at Prosperity Church in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and was installed pastor in October, 1889, and continued un- til February, 1896. Pie was installed pastor at Gilead, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, in May, 1893, and continued pastor until December, 1898. In December, 1898, he removed to Monitor, W^st Virginia, and became stated supply at New Lebanon, where he still continues. Mr. Hunter was 'married in Charlotte, N. C, Sept. nth, 1877, to Miss Martha Monica Nisbet, who has borne him six children, four of whom are living. Mrs. Hunter is the daughter of John Nisbet and Jane Ross, and was born near Coddle Creek, Cabanas Co., N. C. May 1 6th, 1850. Irvin, Robert. — Or Irwin as the name is sometimes spelled, was born in Ireland, but no definite record has been left of the exact date and place of his birth, or of his parentage. He was, without doubt, born of pious parents, who gave him the advantages of whatever mea- gre educational facilities their circumstances allowed. He studied theology under Rev. Alexander Porter, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. igi pastor at Cedar Springs, and was one of the three elders present when the Second Presbytery was organized at Cedar Springs, April 8, 1801. At this meeting of Pres- bytery "Father" Irwin was received as a student of the- ology, and on Nov. 18, 1802, he was ordained at Long Cane. His trial discourse on this occasion seems to have been of a length at least, to satisfy the most exacting of "auld lichts." It called forth the remark of one of the elder Calhouns going home, "He told us all that ever had transpired, all that is now transpiring, and if they had only let him alone, I suppose that he would have told us all that was to come." It seems that they stopped him at the end of the second head, for want of time probably. For nearly two years after his ordination he acted as stated supply at Long Cane, and Cedar Springs. Some time in his early ministerial history he received a call to Due West Corner. In 1803 he was installed pastor of Generostee, and here he lived and labored until his death, Sept. 9, 1823. This pastorate of twenty (20) years was the only one he ever held. His first wife. Miss Little, of Jefferson Co., Ga., lived but a short time, and after his settlement at Generostee, he married Eleanor Gordon, sister of John Gordon, and Aunt of Rev. Gilbert and Xiel Gordon. They had no children, but an adopted son lived with them and cared for Mrs. Irwin until her death, forty-two years after that of her husband. Mr. Irwin purchased a portion of land 255 acres, near the church where he resided, and in his will bequeathed the land to Generostee Church, the income each year to support the Gospel in that church. Mrs. Irwin was to remain on the land as long as she lived, and after her death the proceeds were to go to the support of the pastor. ]\Ir. Irwin was very "near-sighted," so much so that he could do no manual labor, so his whole time was de- l82 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. voted to his pastoral work and pulpit exercises. He had the greatest part of the Bible committed to memory, and when the Sabbath da}' came the whole day was lit- erally spent in the worship of God." Jolinston, J. Erviii. — Rev. J. E. Johnston is the son of Thomas Johnston and Sarah Bourland Neill,and was born near Antrim, Ohio, Dec. 12th, 1856. He graduated at JNIuskingum College, Xew Concord, Ohio, in 1886, and was received as a student of theology by the Mononga- hela Presbytery of the U. P. Church, in Dec, 1890. He attended McCormick, Allegheny, and Erskine Semina- ries, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery of the A. R. P. Church in April 1891, and was ordained by the same Presbytery in Nov., 1891. After preaching for awhile at Neely's Creek, S. C, he had charge of the mission in Atlanta, Ga., from xA-Ug., 1891, until June, 1893. He afterwards supplied churches at Salem, Ala., Sharon, Gill's Creek, and Buford Monu- ment in S. C, and was installed pastor of New Hope, in Fairfield Co., S. C, in May, 1897, ^^''^1 continued pas- tor until Jan., 1900, when he resigned and removed to Fillmore, California, and is stated supply of a Presby- terian Church at that place. Mr. Johnston was married at Due West, S. C, Sept. 19th, 1892, to Miss Anna Young, daughter of Rev. J. N. Young, for forty years Professor of iMathematics in Erskine College. Mrs. Johnston was born at Due West. S. C, Dec. 28th, 1858, and is the mother of three chil- dren. Johnson, Oliver. — The fifth child of Henry McKinney Johnson and ^lary Eliza Bouchillon, was born at Bor- deaux, in /Vbbcville County, South Carolina, July 30, 1866: was graduated from Erskine College, June 27, 1888, and from the Princeton Theological Seminary ]\Iay 8, 1894; was licensed to preach ]\Tay 18, 1893, ^l^' the Sec- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 183 ond A. R. Presbytery in session at Due West, S. C, having- at that time com- pleted two years of the theological course at Princeton ; spent the sum- mer of 1893 with the church in Atlanta ; sup- plied the pulpit of the First A. R. P. Church at Char- lotte during the summer of 1894, the regular pastor being absent for surgical treatment ; was installed as I IJ\ K:< JOHNSON. r 1 1 • t-. pastor 01 the Associate Re- formed Presbyterian Church at Leslie, in York County, S. C, October 18, 1894; was married October 30, 1901, to ]\Iiss Tirzah Christine Elliott, of A\"'innsboro, S. C. a daughter of the late Henry Laurens Elliott and Tirzah Christine Ketchin. daughter of Thomas Ketchin. Air. Johnson, in May. 1900. bore the fraternal greet- ings of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod of the South to the General Assembly of the United Pres- b\terian Church in session at Chicago. He was an in-i vited speaker at the Young People's Christian L^nion Convention, held at Winona Lake, Ind., in July, 1901, and, as representing the "Seceders" of the South, was presented on the floor of the convention with a gavel made of wood from Gairney Bridge, Scotland. Lmder the words "Gairney liridge" on the gavel was inscribed the date, "December, 1733," the latter being the year in which Ebenezer Erskine and his coadjutors met at Gair- ney Bridge and organized the movement which came to be popularly known in Scotland as the "Secession" Church, and which was the progenitor in this countrv of the ".Associate Reformed Presbyterian" Church, the members of which are still familiarh- known as "Se- ceders." l84 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Mr. Johnson, by election of the Synod, has been a director of the Erskine Theological Seminary since No- vember, 1897, and a member of the Board of Home Mis- sions since November, 1900. Mr. Johnson, while in college, was awarded the med- als offered by the Euphemian Literary Society to best declaimer in Freshman class and best essayist in Junior class ; was declared winner in essay contest, had between members selected from Euphemian and Philomathean Societies ; was orator in his Junior year to present di- plomas of Euphemian Society to its graduating mem- bers, and spokesman in his Senior year to respond for his classmates on receiving the Society diplomas ; made the "Senior Farewell" in the "Class Day" exercises of his graduation year. Mr. Johnson, by invitation, has officiated as chaplain in both the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Congress. In his speech, vigor of thought, strength and simplicity in expression, are marked char- acteristics. Mr. Johnson, on the side of his mother, is of the Huguenot stock which settled at Bordeaux in Abbeville County, S. C, in 1764; on the side of his father, his an- cestors were among the early settlers in East Tennessee. The .married life of his paternal grandparents, to whom thirteen children, his father being the fourth, were born, was forty-nine years, five months and ten days ; the mar- ried life of his maternal grandparents, to whom fifteen children, his mother being the ninth, were born, was fifty- two years, eight months and ten days. Kennedy, Isaac Newton. — Son of William Patton Kennedy and ]\Iargaret Elizabeth McLain, was born August 5, 1874, at Wideman's, Abljcvillc Co., S. C. He attended several primary country schools, also at Due West, S. C. Fie entered Erskine College and graduated in June. iHc;^. He joined the church at Due West, S. C, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 185 I. N. KENNEDY. in 1887, and was received as a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery at Doraville, Ga., in Octo- ber, 1893. and prosecuted his Theological studies at Erskine Theological Semi- nary at Due West, S. C. He was licensed at Wel- ford, S. C, April 13, 1895, and was called to the pastorate of Elk Vsd- ley church, Lincoln Co., Tenn., in October of that year, and ordained and in- stalled Nov. 10, 1895, and there continues to labor. He was married in Newberry Co., S. C, November 22, 1899, to ]\Iiss Mary Emma Carlisle. She was born in Newberry, S. C, October 16, 1878, and is a daughter of Dr. Richard Coleman Carlisle and Emma E. Ren- wick. Three children have been born unto them. Kennedy, Rez'. E. B. — The parents of Rev. E. B. Kennedy were Mr. Wil- liam Patton Kennedy and Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth McClain Kennedy. He was born on Long Cane Creek, in the southern part of Abbeville County, South Carolina. \\'hen he was still a small boy, his parents removed to Due West, in the northern part of said county. The object of this move was to net closer to the colleges located in that town, in K. p.. KRXNEDV. l86 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. which they intended to educate their large family of chil- dren. Of these, there were eight, four boys and four girls, living at that time, and of school age. At an early age, Mr. Kennedy was entered as a stri- dent in Erskine College ; and at the end of a four years' course of study, was graduated, while still rather under the usual age, in the summer of 1889. On leaving college, he taught school six years, three of which was in the common schools in South Carolina and Alabama. From the fall of 1892 until the close of the collegiate year in 1894, he filled the chair of Greek and German in Erskine College. During the year 1895, he took a course of study in Yale College, and was given the degree of Master of Arts by that institution. Re- turning to Due West for a short time, he accepted a school in A'ictoria, Texas, where he taught one year. When the session of 1896 opened in the Theological Seminary at Due West, he entered it. He completed the course in the Seminary in two years, and at the close of the session in 1898, received licen- sure. Before he was licensed, Mr. Kennedy received a call from the congregation at Bartow, Florida, to become the pastor of that people, as soon as his studies in the Semi- nary would be finished. As he had signified his intention to accept this call, Presbytery had arranged that his or- dination should, as soon as convenient follow licen- sure; and that the Revs. C. S. Young and S. W. Reid should provide for, and conduct the services of installa- tion at Bartow, Florida. In the early part of July, he reached Bartow, and preached his first sermon on the second Sabbath (loth) of that month. On the third Sabbath (20th) of August, 1898, the brethren named above, in the presence of a large, appre- ciative audience, and a delighted congregation, perf(~)rmed the solemn services of installation. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 187 The Bartow members had been aware from the first, that, to call a young and promising mmister to take charge of a small congregation not yet beyond the changes incident to frontier life, far removed from other churches of his own denomination, and he a minister that could easily find a home in a larger, wealthier, and more central congregation, was asking him to make a great sacrifice. They soon found, however, that it was the preference of the one they had selected to build for himself rather than on another's foundation. To this character of the work, :SIr. Kennedy at once addressed his efforts. The building has not been as rapid as he doubtless hoped, still his labors have never relaxed; and, if removals were less active, he would to- day have a congregation ranking among the fullest in numbers in his Presbytery. Kennedy, /an/ 1^^.— Reinforcing Revs. Armstrong and Fulton, pioneer Associate ministers to Kentucky, came this licentiate in 1796, of Irish birth, 1768, and Scottish education. Spending some time in mission work in Washington, Knox and Blount counties, Tenn., he was ordained and installed by the Kentucky Presbytery, 1807, pastor of Salem, Knox Co. Here he labored faithfully far from the elbow touch of his brethren of like precious faith till April 24th, 1826. The next year he was called to his reward. He left a son and namesake, who was a loyal and intelligent Psalm-singer and liberally sup- ported the church of his fathers. Ketchen, Thomas.— Was born in the village of How- gate, Midlothain Co.. Scotland, either March 3rd or 8th, 1786. At II. after attending school, he served as shep- herd boy each alternate day with Robert Cranston. .\t about 17, after three years' preparation for college, he. with his shepherd friend, entered Edinburg Univer- sitv. Three sessions were spent there. He then entered i88 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. the Divinity Hall of his denomination— the Associate Anti-Burgher — under Prof. Paxton, a learned and elo- quent divine. After a full course of five or six sessions, licensure was granted July 19th, 1815, after a rigorous examina- tion. The next Sabbath he occupied the pulpit of the late John Brown of Haddington. His first work was on Strowsa, one of the Orkney Isles. Urged by his Pres- bytery to accept a call made out for him there that year, he declined, probably because of the rigor of that high latitude. After mission work for some four years, his Synod, May 3d, 1820, appointed him "to go to Nova Scotia, Canada or the States of America." Landing at Halifax, N. S., an invitation was extended him by the Scotch Church to remain with them. This he declined, and landing at New York, passed into the Philadel- phia Presbytery (Associate) and was ordained by this court December 7, 1820. During that winter we infer he supplied New Lebanon, West Virginia, and Shiloh, Lancaster Co., S. C, as calls were presented from both these charges in the spring of 1821. The lat- ter was accepted and his installation occurred Dec, 1821. The Synod had advanced him a $100.00. This Shiloh refunded and added $80.00. "Such exemplary liberality the Synod consider deserving of honorable mention." He preached his first sermon at Knob Creek, Cleveland Co., N. C, where he was destined to end his labors and his remains rest awhile. His field, Shiloh and Neely's Creek, was large, containing in 182 1 one hundred and twenty-four families and two hundred and thirty mem- bers. Ten years later there were 167 families and 308 communicants. Having labored faithfully, he was led, A/Tarch 28th, 1832, to decline the authority of the Asso- ciate Synod because of her recent act on slavery. After negotiations with the First Presbytery, he and his Shi- loh charge, Neelv's Creek declining, were admitted into SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 189 the A. R. P. Church, April 7, 1834. Xeely's Creek was demitted in the summer of 1833 and Shiloh, because of insufficient support, May 29, 1839. About 1840 he began stated supply of Winnsboro, Fairfield Co., S. C, and Perry's Church, Lancaster Co., S. C. Installed pastor of the former March 8th, 1844, his official connection ceased April 20th, 1852. Remov- ing from thence to Cleveland Co., N. C, he preached at Knob Creek and other points. Here, while preparing a sermon he was smitten with a fatal malady, Sept. 26th, 1855. His remains were re-interred at Shiloh. Father Ketchen was twice married, first to Miss Mary Mcllwaine, Feb. 23rd, 1823. Her death having occurred Miss Margaret Beaty became his second wife Aug. 17th, 1841. Though well indoctrinated and mighty in the Scrip- tures, his forte, says Dr. James Boyce, "Was at the head of the communion table where he seemed to lay out his whole power. It was wonderful to see the power with which he expatiated upon a Saviour's love, to witness the fluency and animated declaration with which his en- kindled mind discharged itself upon the communicants seated at the table before him and upon a delightful au- dience. When we saw that countenance kindled up with expressiveness and love to Christ, and him crucified, together with his promises portrayed to his people, we were tempted to think that whatever the Lord's table and the sacramental occasion may have been to others under his administration they were to him a Bethel, the house of God and the gate of heaven. Kerr, Rei'. David lames Harvey. — W'as born March 21, 1837, at the Waxhaws, Lancaster Co., S. C. He was the son of Maj. Jennings B. and Mrs. Jane (Walkup) Kerr. He graduated from Frskine College in 1858. He studied theology in Erskinc Theological Scminarv, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery in Aug., i860. 190 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Synod sent him to Arkansas the same year. He supplied Pisgah, Ark., until May, 1863. He was married March 5, 1862, to ^liss Xannie R. Oates, a daughter of J. F. Oates and a niece of Rev. M. Oates. He was ordained by the Arkansas Presbytery May 9, 1863. From that date until 1866, he was in Drew Co., Ark., teaching school and supplying vacancies. In 1866 he connected himself with the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He died May 9, 1874. His wife died May 2. Five small children were left to the care of his sisters, Mrs. H. F. Sloan, Airs. DeWolf and ]\Irs. J. L. Brown. Kerr, Gilbert Lazvson. — Son of Prof. Wm. A. and An- nis Rebecca (Lawson) Kerr, born in Iredell Co., N. C, Dec. 28, 1877, made a profession of religion at New Perth, Aug., 1891, was prepared for college at Coddle Creek, spent fotir years in Erskine College and graduated June, 1900. He is now a student in Erskine Theological Seminary, having entered Sept., 1902. Kirkpafrick, Alien Gricr. — Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick is the son of Hugh Kirkpatrick and Louisa Reid, and was born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, Sept. 25th, 1850. He was educated at Trinity College in North Carolina, and for a number of years he was a successful teacher and farmer in Mecklenbin-g County, N. C, and was an efficient deacon in Ebenezer Church. Feeling that he was called to the ministry, he joined the First Presbytery in 1889, and took the full course in Erskine Seminary and was licensed by the First Presbytery at Union Church in Chester Co., S. C, in 1891. He was soon called to New Hope, in Fairfield Co., S. C, and was or- dained and installed in August. 1891, and remained pas- tor here for about six years. In 1896, he demitted New Hope, and accepted calls from the Brick Church in Fair- field Co., S. C, and from Prosperity in Newberry Co., S. C. Fie resigned the charge of these churches in 1899 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 191 on account of ill health, and soon after took charge of Jones' Seminary, a school for yovmg ladies in Gaston County, X. C, and is at present president of that insti- tution. Through the efforts of Mr. Kirkpatrick and the Church at Xew Hope, while he was pastor there the old Brick Church or Ebenezer, where the Associate Reformed Synod of the South was organized in 1803, was reorgan- ized, and stands to-day as a monument to his zeal and energy. Mr. Kirkpatrick was married in Charlotte, N. C, Dec. loth, 1874, to Miss Elizabeth Evelyn Gary, the daughter of George and ]\Iargaret Gary, who has borne him nine children. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was born in Texas in 1854. Knox, John Patterson. — Rev. J. P. Knox was born near Davidson College, N. C, Oct. 19th, i860, and is the son of Samuel W. Knox and Sarah C McAuley. He attended the public schools and worked on the farm until he was nineteen years old, and then the Huntersville High School and Erskine College, graduating with the class of 1887. He joined the First Presbytery at Yorkville, S. C. September, 1887, and spent two years in study at Erskine Seminary, and one year at .Vllegheny, I'a.. and was licensed by the First Presbytery at Chester. S. C. April, 1889. At a called meeting of the First Presbytery at Charlotte, X. C. he was ordained to the full work of the ministry, and from April, 1890, until October, 1891, he was stated supply J. V. Kxnx. 192 SKETCHES OF ^IINISTERS. for Broad Creek, and Ebenezer and Bethel in Virginia. In the fall of 1891 he accepted calls from Hickory Grove and Smyrna. York Co., S. C, and was installed pastor of these churches in November, 1891, and here he contin- ued until he was sent to take charge of the mission in Columbia, S. C, in 1899. During his pastorate at Hick- ory Grove and Smyrna, and largely through his efforts, the A. R. P. Orphanage was established, and he has been the Chairman of its Board of Trustees ever since. During his service in Columbia, he has canvassed the Synod for funds, and has built a new house of worship which is called the Centennial Chvirch, as a memorial of the Centennial of the A. R. P. Synod of the South. Mr. Knox was married in Due West, S. C, Nov. 20th, 1890, to Miss Louisa Julia Brice, the youngest daughter of the late Rev. R. W. Brice and Anna M. Steele, and she still lives to bless the home of her hus- band. Mrs. Knox was born in Chester Co., S. C, April 2nd, 1868. Her grandfather Steele was a minister, three of his sons were ministers, his daughter, Mrs. Knox's mother, married a minister, and three of her daughters married ministers. La than, Robert. — Was born in Fairfield Co., S. C, of Scotch-Irish parentage, Dec 2^, 1829, and died June 15, 1896, at Bradley, Abbeville Co., S. C. His father was a farmer, a man of good education, who early inspired in his son the ambition to become a scholar. School facilities were poor, but in his father's home was a large collection of useful and instructive books, and the boy applying himself to these soon laid the foundation for a thorough education. At the age of 19 (nineteen) he entered a school taught by Rev. James Gilland, a Presbyterian minister, and was here prepared for college. In 1853 he entered the Sophomore Class at Erskine College, and two years later was graduated with high honors. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 193 After leaving college, he commenced to study for the ministry under Rev. R. W. Brice, pastor of Hopewell A. R. P. Church in Fairfield Co., S. C, and after pur- suing his studies here for two years, entered the Theolog- ical Seminary at Due West, and completed the course. In 1858 he was licensed to preach and sent to Virginia, where he remained until the fall meeting of Synod. In 1859 he accepted a call to the pastorate of York- ville and Tirzah, and was ordained and installed in May of the same year. In 1884 he was elected to a pro- fessorship in the Theological Seminary, holding this office until the fall of 1894, when he resigned and ac- cepted a call to the churches at Bradley and Cedar Springs in Abbeville Co., S. C. On the tenth of May, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Fannie E. Barron, daughter of Dr. A. T. Barron of Yorkville. To them were born seven children, live of whom are now living. In connection with his pastoral labors. Dr. Lathan also engaged in teaching in and near Yorkville, for twenty years. His schools were what are known as tl.e ''old field" school, but in them he did some splendid work. His pupils were often from a distance of 20 or 30 miles and there are many substantial well-educated citizens in York County to-day who never had any other teacher. Shortly after the War, Dr. Lathan was elected School Commissioner of York County, held the office for a short term, and was re-elected in 1874. The public school system was, at that time, worse than chaotic. The school laws vague and clumsy in their meaning, but with undaunted energy and fine force of will, he set to work with the meager material at hand and organized a system of public schools which for efficiency was without a superior in the State. In addition to his other duties, Dr. Lathan also found some time to devote to literature. He was for years a 13 194 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. valued contributor to the "Yorkville Enquirer:' In his sketches of the "Early Settlement of South Carolina,'' is to be found, to this day, the best history of the State up to and including the War of the Revolution that has yet been written. He also wrote a history of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. In recognition of this work he re- ceived the degree of D. D. from Westm-irtster College, New Wilmington, Pa., in June, 1881. Dr. Lathan is an exceptional illustration of a minister who did his best work after his fiftieth year. His work as stated supply at Bethlehem and Due West, and in the regular pastorate at Bradley was fruitful of much good. Christians were instructed and comforted, and simfers were awakened. Lcc, TJwmas Stephen. — Was the son of Joseph Fran- cis and Mary Jenkins Lee, and was born Oct. 15, 1827, on Wadmalaw Island, S. C, and was of English ances- try. His grandfather. Col. Wm. Lee, of Charleston, S. C, and great grandfather, John Jenkins, were captains of military companies of the Continental Army, in the Revolutionary War. His father removed to x\bbeville District, S. C, in Jan., 1837. In the fall of that year he was sent to Clark and Erskine Seminary, then under the care of Mr. (afterwards Rev.) John S. Pressly, Due West, S. C, and graduated in the third class, that of 1844, in Erskine College, the institution having been changed into the College in 1839. He was raised in the Protestant Episcopal Church, but joined the A. R. P. Church while in college. He entered the Theological Seminary soon after his gradua- tion, and was licensed by the Second A. R. Presbytery at Generostee, S. C, April 3rd, 1847. ^^^ i'^47 ^^^ wa^ sent to the Kentucky Presbytery. At first, his time was divided between New Hope and Hinkston. A call was prepared for him by Hinkston, May 8th, 1840, and in SKETCHES OF ^IINISTERS. 195 April 26, 1850, he was received by certificate from Second Presbytery and ordained June, 1850, at New Hope. He was, however, not installed until 1852 as pastor of Hinkston Church. This proved a fortunate pastorate and continued until Oct. 13th, 1870, when he connected himself with the Southern Presbyterian Church. In that Church connection he became pastor of a church at Troy. Ky., where he died Jan. 6, 1876. ]\Ir. Lee was married Sept. 19th, 1848, at Sidney, O., to ]\Iiss Susan J. Montfort. She was a daughter of Rev. Peter and Anna Maria Montfort. The fruits of this union were nine children. Airs. Lee removed South and is now living at Orlando, Fla. Mr. Lee was clerk of the Kentucky Presbytery from 1852 to 1870. He was an able minister and an active and influential mem1)er of Presbvterv. Lindsay, Ebcnrjcr Prcss- ly. — Son of John Lindsay and Alary Francis Sloan, was born in Lincoln Co., Tenn, near Fayetteville, October 16, 1877. He first attended the country schools of the community, and later for three or four years the Fayetteville Col- legiate Institute. He en- tered the Sophomore Class of Erskine College and graduated from that in- stitution in June, 1899. He joined New Hope Associate Reformed Presbyter- ian Church, Lincoln Co., Tenn., Sept. 9, 1889, under the preaching of the Rev. A. S. Sloan. He was received as a student of theology by the Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery at Belfast, Tenn., September 29, 1900. He 196 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. took his theological course in Erskine Theological Sem- inary at Due West, S. C, and was licensed to preach April 13, 1901, by the Second Presbytery, at Iva, S. C, by request of the Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery, the Rev. E. P. McClintock, D. D., officiating. He was ordained September 28th, 1901, by the Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery at Orrville, Ala., the Revs. I. N. Kennedy and H. M. Henry, D. D., being- the officiating- ministers. He labored for awhile each at Russellville, Ark., and Birmingham, Ala. The year 1902 and up to the present time, 1903, he has served the Rives and Polk, Tenn., congregations. Mr. Lindsay is a grandson of Rev. A. S. Sloan, and a twin brother of the Rev. A. T. Lindsay, of Pisgah, N. C. Lindsay, JVilliaui Barkley. — Was born at Chester, S. C, Nov. 21, 1871. His- father, William Lindsay, and his mother Nancy Stewart, were from Ire- land, and most excellent representatives of the god- ly Protestant Irish. He spent eight years in the Chester graded school, and was graduated from Er- skine College, June 20,. 1893. He joined the W. B. LINDSAY. ^^^^^.^j^ ^^ ChcStCr iu 1885. He was received as a student of theology, Oct. 1895, by the First Presbytery. He attended Erskine Theological Seminary, and was licensed at a called meeting of the Presbytery, at Chester, Aug. 3, 1896. He was ordained by the Second Presbytery, at Wei ford , S. C, Oct., 1897, and was installed pastor over the Woodruff and Welford churches. He did a niost excellent work here, remaining SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 197 five years and a half. At the meeting of Synod, at Pisgah, N. C, Nov., 1902, the Synod adopted a recommendation of the Board of Home Missions that he be sent to the Mission in Memphis, Tenn. He accepted this appoint- ment, and at the time of this writing is in charge of that mission. Mr. Lindsay excels in pastoral work, is most genial and sweet-tempered in his intercourse with men, and his preaching is marked by tenderness and unction. Lindsay, Archie Thomp- son.— Son of John and IVIary Lindsay, born Oct. r6th. 1877, "6^^ Fayette- ville, Lincoln Co.. Tenn. Prepared for college at the Fayetteville Collegiate In- stitute, he entered the Sophomore Class at Er- skine College, Oct., 95, and graduated June, 98. Having spent one year, be- ginning Oct., '99, in Er- skine Theological Semi- nary and some time at Princeton and Allegheny, he was licensed by Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery, Sept 28, 1900. The First Pres- bytery ordained and installed him pastor of Pisgah and Bessemer, Sept. 27, 1901, where he remains and the Lord is blessing his work. On Nov. 20th, 1901, he was happily married to Miss O. L. Whitelaw, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John White- law, of Raleigh. X. C. A. T. LINDSAY. Little, Rev. Jo'Uics McKinney. — \\'as born in Jefferson Co.. Ga., Sept. 20. 1828. His father. l'""orester Little, was of Irish stock, being born the year after his parents landed 198 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. in America. He moved to Stewart Co., Ga., when James was eight years old. There he made a rehgious profes- sion, and at the age of eighteen, was ordained an elder. In "49 he married Aliss Martha A. Pendrey. In i860 he moved to Andalusia, Covington Co., Ala., where he engaged in the practice of law. He served his county two years as Superintendant of Public Instruction, and his district as Prosecuting Attorney for nine years. He was licensed to preach in 1873, by the Alabama Presby- tery, having prosecuted his studies privately. He was ordained in the spring of '75. He preached in Covington Co., Ala., until 1876. About the beginning of that year he moved to Milan Co., Texas. There he spent about 20 years in a life of self-denial and hardship, preaching the Gospel. His wife died Jan. 5, 1892, leaving four living children. Some months later he married Miss Susan Mitchell, daughter of Albert Mitchell of Hardin Co., Texas. After an illness of many months he died of consumption, Sept. 11, 1896. Lozi'ry, James. — Born in the historic Hopewell, S. C, 1780; entered S. C. University Jan. 10, 1805, and gradu- ated in a class of 31 in 1808. His divinity course was pursued under Dr. J. M. Mason in New York, and- license was granted him by the Second Presbytery, March 10, 18 18. Owing to in- firmities and unsatisfactory condition of temporal matters he surrendered his license, which after admonition was returned Dec. 15th, 1824. The next day a certificate of transfer was given to the First Presbytery by which court he was ordained May i8th, 1826. Called to the Moderatorship of the Synod in 1827 and 1834. he resided in Chester Co., S. C, and preached occasionally when opportunity offered and health permitted. In 1836 his Presbytery called him to account for preaching that "Christ died a spiritual death." The Synod l)eing a])])ealc(l to, allowed ^\r. Lo\vr\- lo withdraw SKETCHES OF ^IIXISTERS. 199 his case and himself from the jurisdiction of the A. R. Church Oct. loth, 1837. "At his residence in Chester Co., S. C, May 25th, 1853, died Rev. James Lowry in the 74th year of his age. He bore his long illness without a murmur, and left this world with a firm faith and high hopes of a blessed im- mortality bevond the grave." Locvry, James Robert Alexander. — Son of Rev. Joseph Lowry and Mary Pressly, was born October 4, 1838, in Jefferson Co., Ga. As a boy he was a great lover of fun, full of mischief and, therefore, played many pranks on his mother, sisters and school- mates, but was always a great favorite with his as- sociates. \Mien his mother would become fretted by -'• •''• '-'»\^'<'^- his mischief and want to whip him, his father would say. "Well, !Mary, he is a good deal of trouble now, but he may be a great comfort to you some day." He went to school to his brother, Prof. A\'. S. Lowry, in Louisville, Ga., until entering college in Due West, where he remained four years., graduating from that institution August ir, 1858. He joined old Bethel church, Burke Co., Ga., in 1853. He commenced the study of theology Dec. 6, 1858, under the care of the Georgia Presbytery. He prose- cuted his studies in Erskine Theological Seminary and was licensed by that Presbytery }^larch 25, i860, in Dekalb Co.. Ga. He was ordained in INIarch, 1862, at White Oak Church. Coweta Co., Ga. In November, i860, he went to Kentucky and preached until !March, 200 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. i86i, and then returned to South Carolma. In July, 1862, he went as a missionary to Lee's Army, took sick in August, and returned to South CaroHna. In Novem- ber went as Chaplain to 5th Regiment South Carolina Reserves, Charleston, remaining there till next spring. In 1863 he went to Georgia, preached and taught school there till May 31, 1864, when he received the Chaplaincy of the 48th Georgia Regiment. Here remained until the the close of the War. In January, 1866, he left Georgia for Tennessee, and preached in Nashville till he was called to the pastorate of Prosperity Church, Dallas, Co., Ala., in September, 1867. He was installed here Sept. 23, 1867, Dr. J. I. Bonner and Rev. W. R. Hemphill officiating. He married the first time August 3, i860, Mary Jane McCaslin, a daughter of Moses Oliver and Susannah Clark McCaslin. She was born June 10, 1838, in Ab- beville, S. C. One daughter, Mary Agnew, was born to them, who married Rev. E. P. Davis, D. D., now of Opelika, Ala. Mrs. Lowry died July 4, 1863. He was married the second time to INIiss Euphemia Hawthorn in the summer of 1867. She died the following ( ?) year on the 2nd of May. One child born to them died in infancy. He was married the third time to Miss Kittie C. Craig, daughter of Robert G. and Mary E. Craig, May 10, 1870. She was born near Harrells, Ala. Four children were born of this union, only one of whom is still living, Julia Mabel, who married the Rev. J. H. Pressly of Statesville, N. C. Mrs. Kittie Lowry died March 17, 1878. He was married the fourth time January 5, 1881, to Mrs. Jennie E. Pressly at Oak Hall, Ala. She was the daughter of Dr. William and Mary Mathews Dale. She left one little girl who died at 3 months old. Mrs. Jen- nie Lowry died ]\Tay 13, 1883, at Crenshaw, Dallas Co., Alabama. Mr. Lowry died April 6, 1898, after a pastorate of 31 vears of ])ros])crity, Dallas Co., Ala. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 201 Loicry, JJ'illioin Joseph, D. D. — ^^'as born June 7th, 1838, in Greensboro, Georgia. But his parents were at that time residents of Jefferson County, Ga. His parents were Prof. A\'. S. Lowry and Ehza (Stevens) Lowry. He enjoyed good educational advantages, and was gradu- ated from Erskine College in 1838. He probably joined the church at Bethel, Ga., in his youth. He was received as a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery in 1859, and studied theology at Due West. His first work was done in Kentucky and Tennessee. His first pastorate was Lebanon, Ala. He also preached at Camden and other points in Alabama. About 1865 he was called to the G. A. Presbyterian Church in Selma, Ala. He accepted this call and served that church for a number of years wath great acceptance. In 1875 he was called to the FirstPresbyterian Church in Louisville, Ky., and continued until his death one of the most use- ful and eloquent ministers in that city. He died Nov. lOth, 1877. He married T^Iiss Maggie M. Bell, August 13th, 1861. She was a daughter of Mr. Robert Bell of Starkville, IMiss., where they were married. They had three children. She died in Selma, Ala. January 23rd, 1874, he married Miss Mary C. Dixon. Dr. Lowry was a lovable man and made for himself an enviable reputation. His appearance in the pulpit was most striking and impressive, and he was gifted with rare eloquence and power. He was marvelously per- suasive as a speaker and eminently successful in winning men to Christ. Lowry, Joscph.~\\'as born in York Co., S. C, Jan. 1st, 1777. He must have enjoyed good educational ad- vantages. He graduated at in perhaps 1808 or 1809. He studied Theology in Xew York and completed his course in 1813. was licensed by the First Presbytery. He received calls from the Newberry churches, from Ce- dar Springs, and Long Cane, and from Bethel, Georgia. 202 SKETCHES OF ^IINISTERS. He accepted the latter. It was dated April I4tli, 1814. On the 2nd Thursday in October, 18 14, he was ordained and installed pastor of this congregation. He was pastor of this church from that date until his death, July 20th, 1840. On Feb. 21st, 1813, he was married by Rev. Alex- ander Porter to Aliss Mary Pressly. She was born July loth. 1797. They had three sons and nine daughters. Mrs. Lowry died Nov. 17th, 1875. One of their sons became a minister, another was a professor in Erskine College. Six grandsons are preachers, five in the A. R. P. Church and one in the Baptist Church. It is to be regretted that so little is known of his history. When licensed to preach he was a member of Hopewell, Chester, S. C. Love, JJllIiajii Voiiiig. — Rev. William Young Love is the son of Andrew Franklin Love and Martha Gilfillan, and was born in York County, S. C, March i6th, 1849, aiicl connected with the church at Sharon, in 1866. Mr. Love graduated from Erskine College in 1874, and was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at w. Y. LOVE. LTnion Church, Chester Co., S. C, in 1874. His theological course was taken in Erskine Seminary, and at the U. P. Seminary at Alle- gheny, Pa., and he was licensed by the First Presbytery at Statesville, N. C, in April. 1876, and was ordained by the Second Presbytery at White Oak, da., in 1879. After doing mission work in the bounds of the First and Second Presbyteries, he went to the Memphis Pres- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 203 bvtcrv and was installed as pastor of Bloomin^ton Church in Tennessee in 1880. After remaining there for several years he returned to the First Presbytery and was for a while co-laborer with Dr. E. E. Boyce at Pisgah, Bethany, and Kings Mountain. In 1885 he accepted a call from Gilead, in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and was installed in October of the same year. In April, 1892, he was installed as pastor of Perth and Coddle Creek, and during his pastorate there he was largely instrumental in reorganizing the church at Mooresville, X. C, and in Iniilding a house of worship for that congregation. After leaving these churches, he was installed pastor over Amity, Elk Shoals and Taylorsville, in 1901, and still continues pastor there. In September, 1876, Mr. Love was married to Miss Mary C. White, the daughter of Col. James P. and .Vmanda White of Iredell Co., X. C. ^Nlrs. White was born in Alexander Co., X. C, Jan. 1 2th. 1853., She has been a true helpmeet to her hus- band and has borne him nine children. Lylc. James. — Was born in Eastern Pennsylvania about 17*^5 '• ^vas educated at Dickinson College and studied theology at Service and Canonesburg, Pa. ; was licensed by the Associate Presbytery of Ohio, Aug. 20th, 1823, and sent December following as a missionary to the South. I^ie Presbytery of the Carolinas ordained and installed him ]\Iay 4th, 1825, pastor of Bethel (Winns- boro). Little River (Stively Meeting House), Fairfield Co., and Smyrna. Chester Co., S. S. On the 1 8th of September. 1834, he demitted this charge and was granted certificate to Miami Presbytery to take pastoral charge of the lately organized congre- gation of Bloomington. Indiana. This for some reason he did not acce])i. In his latter days "his life was out of tune." He deserted the niinistr\- and was suspended in 1837. 204 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Soon after this he removed to Texas and was there ac- cidently killed by the discharge of a gun in 1840. Magill^ Rev. James. — Dr. J. B. Scoullers says, "Most probably born in Eastern Pennsylvania, graduated at Dickinson College, 1794, studied theology privately, and was licensed by the First A. R. Presb}-tery of Pennsyl- vania, May 25th, 1797." He was received as probationer by the Second Presbytery, at her first meeting at Cedar Springs, April 8th, 1801, and ordained and installed pas- tor of Little River and Rocky Springs, Abbeville Co., S. C, May 14, 1802. These he demitted July 23, 1805. He attended as delegate of the Second Presbytery the First General Synod, at Greencastle, Pa., May 30, 1804. The General Synod met again in New York City, May 28, 1806. He was also a delegate representing both Presbyteries, and the Synod laid a tax on each pastoral charge of $8.00 or each member ^ of a $1.00 to pay his expenses. After his return from General Synod he divided his time be- tween the two Presbyteries. About 1807 he went to Ohio and lived a recluse, and died about 1830, unknown to the world about him. His domestic life was not happy. He separated from his wife, but the Synod at its meeting at Hopewell, S. C, April nth, 1805, decided that he ought not to be subjected to judicial censure, and he was given appointments to preach in the Presbyteries. Marion, John Preston. — Rev. J. P. Marion is the son of Alexander Marion and Mary Jane Sterling and was born near Rossville, Chester Co., S. C, Dec. 23rd, 1847. He attended schools taught by Revs. Hugh and Christo- pher Strong at Mayesville, S. C. and at other places, and graduated at the ITniversity of Virginia. He attended Frskine Seminary and also studied under Dr. McGuffy at the University of Virginia, and was licensed about 1870. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 205 He labored in Arkansas for five or six years, organiz- ing several churches in that Presbytery. In 1876 Mr. ■Marion was called to Chester, S. C, for three-fourths of his time, and the other fourth was given to White Oak, S. C, until 1879, when he was called to Chester for all of his time. He continued pastor at Chester until the spring of 1882, when he resigned his charge and en- tered the Southern Presbyterian Church. Since that time he has been pastor of various churches in that denomination, where he has been a successful preacher and pastor. Martin, John Edward. — Was born March 19th, 1843,. in Fairfield Co., S. C. His father was John Aiken Mar- tin. His mother, Miss Pernecy Frances Gary. He grad- uated at Erskine College in 1861. In youth he made a profession of faith and became a member of the old Brick Church, Fairfield Co., S.,C. He was received as a student of theology in the fall of 1867 by the Second Presbytery at Bethel Church, in Laurens Co., S. C. He studied theology at Due West, S. C. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery in 1869 at Prosperity, S. C. He was ordained by Second Presby- tery at Due West, in 1871.. He was a domestic mission- ary for two years, laboring in Xewberry, S. C, Middle Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and Georgia. He was called and installed as pastor of Hopewell, Ga., in the fall of 1871. He married Miss Margaret Isabella Grier at Due West Oct. 27th, 1864. His wife's father was Dr. R. C. Grier. Her mother's maiden name was Miss Barbara Moffatt. She was born in York, S. C, April 5th, 1847. They have had eight children, seven of whom are still living. Rev. Martin is a devout Christian. For many years he was an earnest and faithful minister of the New Testament. His health was never very good. In 1890 he became so feeble that he felt constrained to resign his pastoral charge. He did so in August of that 2o6 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. year, and has been an invalid ever since. He lives on a farm near Covington, which he owns and has managed successfully for many years. Mayiic, Alexander. — Son of Rev. Hugh Mayne and Sarah Shannon, was born in Fleming Co., Ky., Jan. 24, 1830. His father was a native of Ireland, and a gradu- ate of Glasgow University. From him the son received his early education. He graduated from Hanover Col- lege, August 6, 1 85 1. At the age of sixteen he connected himself with the Church at Richland in Rush Co., Ind., on profession of faith. He studied theology at Oxford, O., under Dr. Claybaugh in the winter of 1853-4, and at Due West, S. C, January '59 to April '60. The Second Presbytery received him as a student of theology early in 1859 and licensed him April 7, i860. Very soon after this he be- gan to preach in southern Arkansas. Synod of i860 authorized the formation of the Presbytery of Arkansas. It held its first meeting the following May at Pisgah in Pope Co., Ark. ]Mr. Mayne was ordained sine tifiilo at this meeting May 4, 1861. He married ]\'Iiss Amanda C. Kerr Nov. 22, i860, in Drew Co., Ark. She was born in York Co., S. C. He continued his labors in southern Arkansas, preaching as opportunity offered, principally in Bradley and Drew Counties until June, 1865. He then moved to Indiana where he connected himself with the United Presbyterian Church. He labored as stated sup- ply in Indiana, Michigan, Kansas and Iowa until the fall of 1879. On account of his wife's health, he moved to Bethel Springs, Tenn., where she died July 18, 1880. In 1881 he moved to Indiana, and on ( )ct. 22, of that }'ear he was married to Miss Mary E., daughter of John W. and Martha Brown. He continued to preach regularly until 1900, when he became disabled from bronchitis. Of his children, only one out of seven survives — a daugh- ter of his first wife. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 207 H. K. M^AULAV. McAulay, Hugh Rod- eric. — The ]\IcAulay fam- ily, from whom Rev. H. R. descended, came from the highlands of Scotland prior to the Revolutionary war. They settled in Mecklen- burg Co., X. C, on ^NIcAl- pin's Creek, near where Sardis church now stands. The great grandfather of the above mentioned minis ter attained the wonderful age of 102 years. The mother of Rev. H. R. was descended from the Grier family, being the daughter of Robert and Mary Heard Grier. The Griers came from the North of Ireland, and settled in Wilkes Co., Ga. Here the mother of the subject of this sketch was born. Her name was Melvina Heard Grier. Her parents shortly after her birth moved to Alabama, near Cahaba, and there they both died and are buried. The children were brought to North Carolina by Dr. Isaac Grier, an uncle, then ])astor of Sardis Church. In the course of time Neil McAulay, the father of Hugh Rocleric, married Melvina Heard Grier, and they moved to Iredell Co., N. C, and located near Coddle Creek Church. Hugh R. was born June 3rd, 1849. The op- portunities for an education were very limited during his youth, as the country was disturbed by the Civil War. P>ut b}' close economy his father managed to give him an education, sending him first to Profs. W. A. Kerr and R. A. Leaser at Coddle Creek, and then to Erskine College, which he entered in 1871, graduating in 1875. Having joined the Church at Coddle Creek under the ministry of Rev. J. E. Pressly, D. D., when a youth, his mind was turned towards the ministrv. He con- 2o8 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. nected with the First Presbytery at Huntersville, N. C, in the fall of 1875, entered the theological seminary at Due West and completed his course under Dr. James Boyce in 1877. He was licensed in the city of Charlotte by First Presbytery, Sept. 4th, 1877, and sent to Texas, here he remainetl as a home missionary one year. He spent also one year in Virginia. He then attended one session at Allegheny, Pa. He was ordained by the Vir- ginia Presbytery in 1880 at Old Providence. In 1882 he was sent as supply to Woodruff and Cannon Creek, and received a call from both these churches. He ac- cepted the call from Woodruff, and was installed in 1884. In 1888 he demitted his charge, and labored in vacan- cies in Kentucky, North and South Carolina. In the fall of 1890 he was sent to Hopewell, Ga., and remained there for two years teaching and preaching. After his work in Georgia he supplied Prosperity and Head Springs in Newberry Co., S. C, for some time. Since that time he has had no stated appointments, living at his home in Woodruff he has preached as opportunity offered in some of the vacancies. Mr. McAulay was married at Union, S. C, to Miss Thompson Carlisle, Nov. 26th, 1884. They have one daughter. McCain, JoJm Nishet. — Was born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, June 19th, 1820. His father's name was Hugh Johnson McCain and his mother's maiden name Martha Moore. He had fairly good educational opportunities, and was graduated from Erskine College in 1846. He joined the Church in Tipton Co., Tenn. Rev. John Wilson was his pastor. He entered the Seminary at Due West in 1846, and was received as a student by the Second Presbytery at Generostee, Anderson Co., S. C. He was licensed by the same Presbytery at the same place in 1848, and was ordained by the Georgia Presby- tery at Ebenezer, Jefferson Coimty, in 1848. He sup- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 209 plied Smyrna Church from 1848 until 1863, and preached also at many other points. He has taught school a great deal during life. During the war he was cut off from all association with his own Church. He then connected with the General Associate Presbyterian Church. He finally moved to Texas and for many years preached in the southwestern part of that State. For several years he has been unable to preach on account of feeble health. He was married April 12th, 1848, to Miss Sarah A. Hearst, a daughter of John and Margaret Hearst. She was born in Abbeville County, S. C. They had nine children. Rev. and Mrs. McCain are still living in Bee County, Texas. McCain, Rev. John Wilson. — Son of Mr. H. H. and Mrs. N. C. (Simpson) McCain, was born at Idaville, Tenn., Sept. 5, 1871. From early life he was identified with Salem church. He graduated from Erskine College in '96, and from Erskine Theological Seminary in '98. He received license to preach from the Memphis Pres- bytery at Salem, Tenn., July 17, '97. He supplied Shiloh, Miss., that summer. In '98 he preached in Louis- ville, Ebenezer, and Hinkston, Ky., and New Lebanon, W. \'a. The Memphis Presbytery ordained him, sine titulo, Dec. 5, '98. In '99 he supplied Saline Church in the Arkansas Presbytery. The next year he divided his time between Saline and Hickory Springs. These two churches called him October, 1900. He was in- stalled pastor at Saline, June 30, and at Hickory Springs July 22, the following year. On Sept. 11, 1901, he mar- ried Miss Lula C. Concrly, at Wilmar, Ark. .She was born and reared in Tylertown, Miss. McCaw, David. — Son of James and Sarah McWilliams McCaw, was born in Chester, S. C, March 16, 1816. His educational advantages in early life were limited to the old field schools of his day, but being anxious to secure 14 2IO SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. a collegiate education, he entered Miami University, and graduated from that institution August 5, 1838. He joined the Church at Hopewell, Ohio, under the pastorate of the Rev. Joseph Claybaugh. In the fall of 1841 he was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery, A. R. P. Church, in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and studied theology in Erskine Theological Sem- inary at Due West, S. C. He was licensed and ordained in 1842 by the First Presbytery. During 1841 and 1842 he was tutor in Erskine College, and in the fall of 1842 was elected a professor in the College, in which capacity he was retained until the fall of 1848, when he resigned. He is the author of the Motto of Erskine College, "Scienfia cum morihns conjnncta." In April, 1839, he was married by Rev. Warren Flenniken in Chester, S. C, to Jane Dickey Torbit, a daughter of John and Mary Hare Torbit. She was born in Chester, S. C, Oct. 16, 1818. Three children were born to them, two daughters still living, and a son who died in 1876- She died June 10, 1858. She was a good woman greatly beloved by all who knew her. He was married a second time to a daughter of Hon. John B. Cross of Jackson, Tenn. She was born in 182 1 and died July 20, 1898. She was be- loved and mourned by all. McClelland, George JVilliaiu. — Was born in Newton Co., Ga., August 9th, 1825. His father was John McClelland, and his mother Miss Lucy Lummus. He joined the church June i8th, 1843, ^^ Hopewell, Newton Co., Ga. He enjoyed little or no educational advantages. He felt called to preach and made most heroic efforts to obtain an education. In 1844 he went to the home of his pastor, Rev. Thos. Turner, who was interested in him and taught him for a time. Fie then went to Burke Co., Georgia , and studied for a time under Rev. John S. Pressly. His health failed and he SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 211 had many obstacles thrown in his way, but he per- severed and finally graduated from Erskine College with honor in 1849. He was received as a student of theology Sept. loth, 1849, by the Georgia Preslpytery. He studied privately except a few months in the Sem- inary at Due West, and was licensed to preach at Bethel, Burke Co., Ga., Oct. nth, 185 1. He taught school in Jefferson Co., Ga., and preached in the pastoral charge of Rev. D. G. Phillips until July, 1852. He was then sent to Hopewell, Maury Co., Tenn. He took sick by the way and was never able to preach after reaching the scene of his labors. He returned to Newton Co., Ga.. and died Nov. 15th, 1852. McClintock, Ebciic::ei' Pressly, D. D.— Dr. E. P. McClintock was born June nth, 1845, "ear to wdiat is now Ora, Laurens Co., S. C. in the bounds of Bethel congregation. His parents w^ere John and Mary McClintock, the former an elder in Bethel church. He was brought up un- der the ministry of Rev. D. F. Haddon, and though we have no specific knowl- edge of his childhood, we are safe in concluding from the character of the man that he was quiet, studious and obedient, both at home and in school. The Ora community has always been noted for its intelligence and love of education, and there was a good school there in Dr. McClintock's boyhood, which he attended. In due time he entered Erskine College, graduating in the year 1861. under the presidency of Dr. E. L. Patton. p. MCCLINTOCK. 212 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. The college exercises were interrupted that year on ac- count of the Civil War, and the young men left the institution in May to join the Confederate Army, the class of '6 1, however, were afterwards given their diplo- mas. Dr. McClintock was two years a Confederate soldier in Hampton's Cavalry. In the fall of 1867 he entered Erskine Seminary, hav- ing previously connected with the Second Presbytery as a student of theology at Bethel, his former church. After completing his theological studies he was licensed by the Second Presbytery at Prosperity, S. C, in July, 1869. He did some missionary work in Mississippi and Ken- tucky for four months, and was then sent as supply to Thompson St. and Kings Creek Churches in Newberry. Re was called to the pastorate of these congregations in 1 87 1, and was ordained and installed in August of that year by the Second Presbytery. For twelve years he continued to serve as pastor over the united charge, liv- ing in the country in the bounds of Kings Creek congre- gation. In 1883 he gave up this church, moved to New- berry and devoted his whole time to the town church. The Thomson St. congregation has been greatly strengthened during the last few years. When Dr. McClintock first went to Newberry there were only eight or ten members, there are now 120 enrolled. In May 17th, 1870, Dr. McClintock married Miss Elizabeth Jane Young of Due West, daughter of Prof. John N. Young and Eleanor Euphemia Strong, she has proved to be a great helper to the pastor in his work, though often in delicate health. Five children have been born, two are now living, Miss Euphemia, who is the accomplished president of the Presbyterian College for Women in Columbia, S. C, and Miss Mary Law, who is the lady principal of Ward Seminary, Nashville, Tenn. These two daughters are the pride of their parents, having fine minds and thorough training, both of them are graduates of the "Women's College" of Baltimore. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 213 Dr. McClintock is an excellent preacher and much be- loved pastor. At this writing his congregation is taking steps to build a new and handsome house of worship in a most desirable lot. 7. K. M'-'CORM ICK. McCorinick, John Rob- ert,— Son of Nathaniel Davis and Sarah Harris McCormick, was born near Old Providence, in Au- gusta Co., Va., Dec. 5th, 1863. He became a mem- ber of Old Providence when 15 years of age. He was educated in the local schools and at Hunters- ville, X. C, and Erskine CoU'ege, and graduated from the Theological Sem- inary at Due West in 1893. The Second Presbytery licensed him April 7th, 1893. He supplied Broad Creek, Va., from ]n\y ist, 1893, to November, 1897. ^^^^ Virginia Presbytery ordained him si)w fitiilo. April 13th, 1894. Synod removed him to the Texas field the latter part of 1897. From that time he was stated sup])ly of Richland and Harmony until installed their pastor, April 14th, 1899. He was mar- ried April 14th, 1894, to Miss Margaret H. Brown, daughter of Col. R. H. Brown of Rockbridge Co., Va. Mrs. McCormick has been a helpmeet indeed to her hus- band. Mr. McCormick has given his strength and time unsparingly to the work and his pastorate has been blessed in the building of his churches. Energy, purity and unselfishness are prominent traits of character. McConiiack, Charles D. — Son of Nathanael Davis and Sarah Margaret (Harris) McCormick. born Dec. 7. 214 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 1870,, in Old Providence, Augusta Co., Va. This pious boy decided to enter the ministr}- at 15, and joined Old Providence at 16. Preparing for college to this end at A'alley Hig^h School under Messrs. R. A. Lee, A. E. Bell and J. A. McClure. he spent three years at Erskine Col- lege and two in the Seminary there. License was granted by the Second Presbytery, April 9, 1898. Was transferred to the Virginia Presbytery, Nov. 4th, 1899. He preached at Broad Creek, Va., August, 1898 and in Kentucky six weeks July and August, 1899. A severe catarrh of the throat caused him reluctantly to lay down the work to which he had dedicated his young- manhood. He resides on a farm in Old Providence congregation, is efficient in Church work and is stated clerk of the Virginia Presbytery. AlcCoy, Robert M. — Was received from Reformed Presbyterian Church, by First Presbytery, April 3, 1837, and licensed by that Presbytery first Wednesday of Dec, 1837. Joined Presbytery of Tennnessee in fall of 1838. Graduated at Miami, Ohio. Married Barbara Millen. daughter of John Millen, of Union,, S. C. Missionary in West Tennessee, 1837- 1838. Ordained by Tennessee Presbytery in spring of 1839. Stated supply of Troy, Obion Co., Tenn., from licensure till 1845. Dismissed to serve Presbytery Second Synod West in 1845. Joined the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Springfield in June, 1845. Passed in a few months to Presbytery of Illinois, and in 1847 received a certificate to connect else- where. Died April 12, 1879, in Texas, in the Presbyte- rian church. "Scouller." McCrcary, David. — Son of Joseph McCreary, and' Mary Boggs,, was born in Abbeville, S. C, Oct. 30, 1816. He attended common schools in Abbeville, and later Er- skine College, where he graduated in 1843. ^^ joined the church at Cedar S])rings, and attended the Theologi- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 215 cal Seminary at Due West, S. C, but was never licensed to preach. He was never married, and died in William- son Co., Texas, August 17, 1852, from bilious fever, and is buried in the cemetery on Brushy Creek in that county. Mr. McCreary, while a student of theology, went to Dallas Co., Ala., where he taught school a year. Being in poor health he removed to Texas in hope of being bene- fited. An affection of the throat is thought to have been his reason for never preaching. He was a brother of Rev. Joseph McCreary. McCrcary. Joseph. — Son of Joseph AlcCreary and Mary Boggs, was born in the Cedar Springs neighbor- hood, Abbeville Co., S. C, May 3, 1812. He attended school in Abbeville, but while yet a youth became very desirous of a higher education. He therefore joined a body of emigrants and walked the distance through to Oxford, ()., lending help to the drivers when necessary. To pay his expenses through school, he gave up his in- terest in his father's estate to his brother. In the Univer- sity, his fellow-students nicknamed him the "Philosopher of the School." He graduated in 1834. He joined the A. R. Church at Cedar Springs previous to his entering the University, and immediately after graduating he went from Oxford to Allegheny, Pa., and entered the Associate Reformed Seminary. He was licensed by the Second Presbyterv in 1836. He luission- ated in company with Rev. J. C. Chalmers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and some in Indiana. In the fall of 1839 he was called to the pastorate of the congregation in Wilcox Co.. Ala., now known as Bethel, and was in- stalled over that church in 1840, where he was a faithful shepherd till his death. Mr. McCrcar}- was one of the victims of the ill-faeted "Lucy Walker," which blew up on the Ohio River, Oct. 23, 1844. He and other brethren returning from a meeting of Synod in Kentucky took passage on this 2l6 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. steamboat. The explosion of her boilers wrecked the boat and killed and injured a number of her passengers. He lived for two daj^s after the explosion — dying Oct. 25, 1844. His last words were "Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit." He was buried in New Albany, Ind. Joseph McCreary was married to Mary Bonner August 15, 1839. She was a daughter of William and Annie Lee (Joel) Bonner, and was born near Cedar Springs, S. C, Nov. 13, 1818. In 18 19 she was moved with her parents to Monroe Co., .Ala. She is the mother of 3 children. Mrs. McCreary still lives, residing in Cor- sicana, Texas. Both of Mr. McCreary's grandfathers died of yellow fever, in Charleston, during the Revolutionary War. His father was a lawyer, and Joseph was one of 7 children. McDanicl Robert War- den.— Son of Rev. James Lowr\- McDaniel and Lliz- beth Baird, was born near Cotton Plant, Miss., May 13, 1869. In early youth his educational op- portunities were very lim- ited. After he became of age he began to feel the necessity of an education, but it was not until he was twenty-six years old that he found ojjportunity R. W. MC DANIEL. f^-, ^^^^^.,^,J ^^hool. Havlug then accumulated a little over $700.00. including about $180.00 from his father's estate, he entered the male academy in Covington, Tenn., under the direction of Prof. James Byars, where he studied for two years. Then he went to the Robison High School for about two years, and entered F.rskine College in 189c). Two vears SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 217 later he entered the Seminary at Due West, S. C, and completed the course in June of 1903. He joined the Associate Reformed Church at Salem, Tipton Co., Tenn., during the year 1884, was received as a student of theology by the ^lemphis Presbytery in 1901. He was licensed to preach the (jospel by that Presbytery at a called meeting at Salem, June 30, 1903. He was married June 25th, 1903, to Miss Annie Belle Dunlap only living child of the late Wm. H. Dunlap of Salem. Tenn. McDai'.icl, James LoK'ry, a son of Edward McDaniel and Mary Lowry, was born in Chester Co., S. C, Jan. 1818. He worked his own way through college, teach- ing and attending college alternately, graduating in Er- skine College, in 1849. That year he was received as a student of Theology and prosecuted his studies in Er- skine Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach in 185 1 by the Second Presbytery. He missionated one year preaching- in Ten- nessee, Mississippi and Georgia. He accepted a call from White Oak. Coweta Co.. Ga., in 1852, preaching and teaching there till the fall of 1856, when he removed to Tippah Co., Miss., and took charge of the Presbytery Academy at Ebenezer, preaching as he had opportunity. He taught there until 1861. It was during this period in the spring of 1859 he was called to mourn the death of his wife, Melinda Eliza, daughter of John Lindsay Ellis and Mahala Ellis. She was born in Due West. S. C, May 10. 1831, and died in Tippah Co.. I\Iiss.. April 26, 1859. They were married at Due \\'est in 1852. and five children were born unto them. He was married to Elizabeth Raird. daughter of Joseph and Jennette Baird, in Tipton Co., Tenn., in 1861. She was born ^March 24, 1834, in Chester Co.. S. C, and died March 28. 1876, in Tipton Co.. Tenn. Seven children 2i8 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. were born to them, two of whom are dead, one is a practiciiig physician in Arkansas and another, R. Warden, completed his course in Erskine Theological Seminary in June of this year, 1903, and all are useful members of the Church and society- He removed to Tipton Co., Tenn., in 1872, and there lived the remainder of his life. He died March 9, 1887, and his body lies in the Salem graveyard awaiting the resurrection. McDonald, Rev. James Calvin. — Was born Dec. 23, 1839, in the bounds of Long Cane, S. C. He was the oldest child of John and Sarah ( Shanks ) McDonald. In the spring of i860, he joined White Oak church, Ga. The 31st of May, 186 1, he enlisted in the Confederate army, in Company 'T,'" 7th Georgia regiment. He was a faithful soldier, but lost his right arm in a battle in East Tennessee, Nov. 16, 1863. He returned to his friends in Coweta Co., Ga., where he remained two years. His desire was to preach the gospel, and finding his way back to Long- Cane, S. C, he entered the High School taught by Rev. E. L. Patton, L. L. D., in January or February, 1866. Friends in the community paid his expenses during his three years in the High School. In October, 1869, he entered the Junior Class in Erskine College, as a beneficiary of the second Presbytery. The next year he entered the Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 'yz. The Second Presby- tery licensed him Septemeber 7, ^2. From November 10, 1872, to October 10, 1874, he supplied Prosperity and New Llope, Ark. He was ordained by the .Vrkansas Presbytery Sept. 20, 1874, at Saline, and installed pas- tor of Prosperity and New Hope, the loth of the fol- lowing October. Three days later he married Miss Susan E. L. Chesnut. daughter of William R. Chesnut, a worthy elder in Prosperity, and a native of Hen-""- '"o., Ga. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 219 He (lemitted the charg-e of Prosperity in 1876, and of New Hope in 1881. He continued to supply these churches frequently for years, besides preaching in des- titute neighborhoods and giving much attention to Sab- bath School work. His wife died August ri, 1900. He was married again Nov. 19, 1901, to Miss Fannie McCombs, of Abbeville Co., S. C, who was the object of his afifections while attending the High School 32 years before. McDonald, Laughlin. — Son of John and Marga- ret (McCurry) McDon- ald, was born in Hart Co;, Ga., Oct. 3rd. 1810. His parents were members of the A. R. P. church of ^^ti^^ '^^ ^Bl^^ Generostee. ten miles ^^^■^ ^^^^^m "^^^^ father died ^^^^B ^^^^^m In 1832. he ^^^B ^/(^^^ entered an academy known ^ ^^^^ as Drake's Old Field, three miles east of Due West, S. C.. taught by Rev. John S. Pressly. In one year he was prepared for the Sophomore class in Miami University, Ohio, where he graduated in i83('). After a course of theology un- der Dr. E. E. Pressl}\ the Second Presbytery commis- sioned him a probationer. Oct. 5th. 1838. On the icth of Dec, 1830., he was by the First Presbytery ordained and installed pastor of Tirzah. York Co., and Union, Chester Co., S. C. The former was demitted Oct, 4, 185 1, and assumed pastoral oversight of Neely's Creek, York Co., S. C, Sept. 5th, 1853. On account of bodily infirmity, this extensive charge was given back to Pres- bytery Sept. 5th. 1870. and New Ho])e, Fairfield Co., S. U MCDONALD. 220 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. C, became his pastoral charge April 28th, 1871. Here he labored most acceptably though with many interrup- tions on account of cancer, which caused his death. March 26th, 1874. The Synod of 1854 made him mod- erator. He selected as life companion, June, 1840, Miss Margaret S., daughter of Mr. Robert Brice, of New Hope, S. C. This companionship was dissolved by her early and lamented death, Jan., 1842, leaving a daughter only a few months old. In 1843, a second" matrimonial connection was formed with Miss Melissa L.. daughter of Daniel G. Stinson, of Chester Co., S. C. A rare jewel' of Christian character, she fell on sleep at Winns- boro, S. C, Nov. 15th, 1890. ''Rev. Laughlin jMcDonald was a grand man. Phy- sically, he was above the average size, but his form was very symmetrical. Rev. Laughlin McDonald always presented the mien of an individual who had been trained in a militarv school. In his general appearance there was something princely wdiich always attracted attention. There was in his gait the dignity of the clergyman and the stately air of ^the soldier. These elements were so blended and combined in his nature as to present not even a trace of the repulsive. He was the son of poor parents. His mother was left a widow when he was a boy. The home of his parents was in a rural district, surrounded by a people stran- gers to everything which is called refinement. In spite of all these unfavorable surroundings, Laughlin McDon- ald was a man of polished manners. If in childhood and 3^outh he contracted uncouth modes of speech or rural wavs, these were, on arriving at manhood, removed, root and branch. Around the humble hearthstone in a rural district of Georgia, far away from the learned and elite, Margaret McDonald taught her son Laughlin the principles of the Christian religion, and thus, as an humble instrument in the hand of God, made him a polished gentleman like his di\ine Master. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 221 Great as was Rev. Langhlin McDonald when viewed simply with respect to his social endowments, it is as a preacher that he is best known. Here it may be said that God bestowed upon him many gifts wdiich specially fitted him for being an ambassador of the cross. There was something attractive and commanding in his per- sonal appearance.. In his early ministry 'Sir. ^McDonald was, apparently, beset by none of the infirmities of the fiesh. His personal appearance in the pulpit was com- manding. Again, he was possessed of a voice of wonder- ful compass and exquisite melody. To his majestic per- sonal appearance and marvelous voice power may be added a vivid imagination, very superior descriptive powers, and a heart susceptible of being moved easily and powerfully. With his natural abilities, had he entered the political arena, he would have ranked with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay ; had he chosen the forum, he would have taken position in that place where A\'ebster said, "There is always room." 'Tt may be safely said that had he settled in New York, and been in con- nection with some of the large denominations, he would have ranked among the first pulpit orators."' — Robert Lathan, D. D. He bore the sore bereavement of cancer of the face with Christian fortitude and patience, express- ing a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. McDonald, Charles Edgar. — Son of Rev. Laughlin and ^Melissa Lucinda (Stinson) McDonald, was born near Richburg, Chester Co., S. C, Nov. 23rd, 1859. Pre- pared for college at New Hope, S. C, by Mr. H. M., now Dr., Henry, he graduated at Erskine College, July 4th, 1877. Spending the next two years with his wid- owed mother on their farm in Fairfield Co., S. C, his theological course was taken at Erskine Seminary and license was granted him by the First Presbytery, Sept. 6th, 1881. Steele Creek, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, 222 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. E. MCDONALD. called this promising li- centiate and his ordina- tion and installation took place Nov. 3rd, 1882. From Oct., 1885, to April, 1886, by consent of his congre- gation and arrangement of his* Presbytery, he sup- plied the mission in Char- lotte, N. C. On Dec. 23rd. 1886, he was happily mar- ried to Miss Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Robert Hemphill Harris, of York Co., S. C. She was born July 28th, 1866, and graduated from the Char- lotte Female Institute, 1885. During his pastorate at Steele Creek, the two former sites, Steele Creek and Blackstocks, were sold and Central was built and hard by a manse. Both these were large and comfortable. This congregation was demitted April 5th, 1892, and installed pastor of Winnsboro, S. C. May 13th, 1892. A new parsonage and a new church seem to be his twin passions. Soon after his'- pastorate began at Winnsboro, a large and elegant parsonage was bought and the Cen- tennial Synod, 1903, will dedicate the new church. He was moderator of the Synod at Due West, 1895, delegate to the Young People's Convention of the United Presbyterian Church at Saratoga, N. Y., Aug. 5, 1898, and made an address "Echoes from the Cross" ; and an appointed delegate to the Psalm Singers' Conference at Belfast, Ireland, Aug., 1902. In 1884 he was elected a member of the South Carolina Historical Society. From 1893 to 1902 the editorship of the A. R. P. Quarterly was his responsibility and he has served as editor of the Woman's Department of the A. R. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 223 Presbytcriaji for fifteen years. A delightful and in- structive companion, a bright and sunny Christian, a welcome guest, a ripe scholar, an efficient presbyter, a devoted pastor, a popular orator, an eloquent preacher, and a devoted Christian, he lives yet in the hearts and works, in the homes of a delighted people. Since the above was written, Mrs. McDonald has passed hence, falling asleep most happily June 15th, 1903. McElroy, Rev. John. — Rev. John McElroy's father was Samuel McElroy. His mother. Mary Stevenson. He was born in Anderson Co., S. C, November 30th, 1805. He enjoyed the most limited educational advan- tages. He joined the church in early life. He studied theology privately and was licensed to preach by the Georgia Presbytery at Bethesda, Cobb Co., Ga. He sup- plied Doraville, Ga., and White Oak, Ga., but was never installed as pastor. He married Margaret Chestnut McDill, of Newton County, Georgia, a daughter of George and Margaret Douglas McDill. His wife was born in Chester Co., S. C, Feb. 15, 181 2. They had one living child. She died May i8th, 1884. McElroy. Andrci<' Jackson. — Andrew Jackson McEl- roy's parents were Samuel McElroy and ]\Iary Steven- son. He was born in Anderson County, S. C, March 15, 1 8 16. He received a common school education and prepared for college under Rev. T. T. Turner, but did not graduate. He joined Prosperity Church, near Dora- ville, Ga.„ Aug. 13th. 1836. He was received as a stu- dent of divinity by the Georgia Presbytery, and entered the Seminary at Due West. He preached at'' Bethesda and Prosperity, in DeKalb Co., Ga., in 1844. He went to Decatur Co., Ga., in 1845. and preached until 1856. He was ordained and installed by the Georgia Presbytery at their spring meeting in 1847, ^^ Pleasant Grove, De- catur Co., Ga. 224 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. After this he returned and preached at Prosperity and White Oak until after the war. He was installed pas- tor of White Oak. He married, in 1840, Miss Margaret McDonald, a daughter of Mr. Neal and Sarah Curry McDonald. His wife was born in South Carolina, in 1820. She was the mother of six children. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Byrani, in Nashville, Tenn. Her husband at the time of his death was editor of The Joncshoro Nczvs, at Jonesboro, Georgia. X McEkvee, William Meek, ' ' *^ D. D. — Rev. William Meek McElwee, D. D., was the son of William ' McElwee and Rachel Newman, and was born on i Clark's Fork, York Co., S. C, April 1st, 1802. His education was received at Statesville, N. C, under Rev. John Mushat, and he graduated at the South Carolina College in 1820. In pursuing his theologi- W. M. MCELWEE, SR., D. D. . cal studies, he spent one year under Rev John Mushat, at Statesville, N. C, and completed his course in the Associate Seminary at Can- onsburg. Pa., and was licensed by the Associate Presby- tery of the Carolinas, Aug 3rd, 1825. On April 25th, 1827, he was ordained by the same Presbytery, and in- stalled pastor of Sharon and Tirzah, York Co., S. C. This pastoral relation continued until Oct., 1832. At that time, owing to the agitation on the subject of slavery, he demitted his charge in S. C. and went north, and became pastor of the Associate congregations of Frankfort Springs and Service, in P>eaver Co., Pa., in 1833, and continued pastor there for many years. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 225 He died June ist, 1886, at Frankfort Springs, Pa. Mr. McElwee was married in 1825 at Canonsburg, Pa., to Miss Maria Ramsey, daughter of the Rev. Dr. James Ramsey, President of the Associate Seminary at Can- onsburg. They had no children, and she died only a little more than a month before her husband. Dr. McElwee was a man of large influence in his church, and had much to do in bringing about the union of the Asso- ciate Synod and the Associate Reformed Synod, which formed the United Presbyterian Church of North America. McEhvee, William Meek, D. D. — Descended from John R. and Rebekah McElwee, both of whose parents, John and William, were elders and founders of Bethany, York Co., S. C, was born Jan. loth, 1826, the subject of this sketch, in York Co., S.C. His Hannah-like mother devoted him to the minis- trv from his very birth. After five vears, spent in . D. - ^ Erskine College, he was Studying divinity in the home of Rev. J. (^i. Witherspoon, of Coddle Creek, N. C, till his death. Jan. 6, 1846, the course was completed at Erskine Seminary and license granted by the First Presbytery A]iril i8th, 1848. About the first of May. 1848, he reached the \'alley of A^irginia commissioned to supply Ebenezer and Broad Creek, Rockbridge Co. His at- tractive manners, pulpit eloquence and earnest piety won these hospitable and well indoctrinated \'irginians, and after supplying them some two years, he was or- dained and installed pastor July 26th, 1850. 15 W. M. MCELWEE, JK., D graduated in 1845 226 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Broad Creek was demitted in i860 and the whole time given to Ebenezer and Bethel, a new organization on Kerr's Creek. This charge opened up bright prospects for pastor and people and a numerous, loyal and loving people waited on his ministry. If it was a hard and dis- couraging struggle during the dark days, '61 to '65, it was possibly more so seemingly when money and other property was lost, farms dilapidated, stock taken and many discouraged. Because of these discouragements the pastor was constrained to visit by invitation some Southern sympathizers in Washington Co., Pa., and Bel- mont Co.. Ohio, but he did not see his way to accept a call there. Ebenezer and Bethel, Va., were demitted April 17, 1868, and he became a member of the Ken- tucky Presbytery, supplying their vacancies. He was honored and entrusted by the Synod to extend her salu- tations to the General Assembly Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Ky., May, 1870. Oct. 13th of that year, he, with some others of his Presbytery, joined the Presby- terian Church. In 1851 his life was linked with Miss Anna R. Harvey, of Lexington, Va., "a lady of remark- able intelligence and strength of mind and character." She died lamented July i, 1901. Kings College, Bristol, Tenn., conferred the title of D. D. in 1895. Universally loved and honored by his people, he toiled in the ministry over half a century and received his re- ward Aug. 24th, 1901. McKnight, James. — Son of James and Mrs (McKey) McKnight, born two miles northeast of Coddle Creek, N. C, Feb. 3rd, 1770; was graduated at Dickinson Col- lege, Pa., May 2nd, 1792, and studied' theology privately with Rev. Alexander Dobbin, at Gettysburg, Pa. The Second A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania granted him license April 3rd, 1794, and ordination Sept., 1796, and he was sent to supply vacancies in Kentucky and Caro- lina. His installation as pastor of Coddle Creek, Iredell SKETCHES or MINISTERS. 227 Co., and Prosperity and Gilead, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, occurred in 1797. His marriage to Miss Elizabeth Tor- rence, of Coddle Creek took place some time prior to this. Xo children were the fruit' of this marriage, and she died Nov. loth, 1830, in the 62nd year of her age. He retained this, his only charge, covering a large part of upper Mecklenburg and parts of Iredell and Cabarras till his death, Sept. 17th, 1831. Accompanied by an elder from Prosperity, Henry Hunter, he attended the first meeting of the A. R. Synod of the Carolinas and Georgia, May 9th, 1803. He was a man of great energy and power ; weighing 300 lbs., he always rode Jehu-like, and consequently a sway back horse. His voice was in proportion to his size and energy and youths at a far distant spring dis- cussing the last general muster could make their absent mother believe they heard the sermon. These were the days of long sermons, and two at that, and often the stars were out and the chickens on roost when a family two miles distant reached home. His marriage cere- mony was usuall}' an hour. As he was unw^earying in the pulpit, so he was systematic and faithful in family visitation. During a sermon which had consumed the greater part of a long summer evening, and the sun getting low, Mr. Blackstocks arose and addressed Mr. IMcKnight, "My brother, what you are saying is very good, but it is grow- ing late and many of these people have a long road to get home. Such being the case, I think you had better bring your discourse to a close." To this Mr. McKnight replied : "My hearers, God's ministers never have any- thing good to say but Satan is throwing some hindrance in the way. Paul preached till midnight on one occa- sion." "Yes, he did," rejoined Mr. Blackstocks, "and a young man fell down from the loft and was taken up dead, and now do you think if some of these people get killed 228 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. going- home, that you can restore them to life as Paul did that young man?" McLain, James Millen. — Son of Henry and Isa- bella Catherine (White) McLain, was born in Al- exander Co., N. C, Aug. 6th, 1848. Prepared for college at Elk Shoal Acad- emy, under the magnetic Pres,sly and the majestic Burke, he graduated at Erskine College, July 10, 1872. After spending one session at the U. P. Sem- inary, Monmouth, 111., and another at Erskine Divin- ity Hall,, he was licensed by the First Presbytery, Sept. 7th, 1875. Early afterwards he began as stated supply of King's Mountain and Bethel, Cleveland Co., N. C, and was ordained and installed pastor, June i, 1877. King's Mountain was demitted April 5th, 1881, and Bethel,, Sept 6, 1882. In two weeks he joined the Pres- byterian church. He was, March 6th, 1877, happily married to Miss Mary Ellen, daughter of A. P. Campbell, M. D., of Clover, S. C. She was born Aug. 19th, 1857, and is an amiable and devoted wife and mother. He resides at, and is pastor of. Poplar Tent, Cabarras Co., N. C, an earnest, acceptable and useful minister. M. Mi^LAIN. McLaughlin, Isaac Grier. — Born near Sardis, Meck- lenburg Co., N. C, Jan. 29, 1820; began Latin at 14 under Dr. Williamson ; finished preparatory studies at Union Academy, under Revs. R. C. Grier and James Walker. On horseback he went to Jefferson, in the fall of SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 229 1838, and graduated in the fall of 1841. One session was spent in Erskine Seminary. In company with Rev. E. E. Boyce, he traveled over- land to Canonsburg, Pa., to complete his Theological education, and there also on Oct. 9th, 1842, was married to Margaret Augusta Black. Spending that winter in Allegheny Seminary under Dr. J. T. Pressly, he was licensed by the First Presbytery June 6th, 1843. A weary traveler called for lodging late Saturday night, July 13th, 1844, at Grey Sulphur Springs, ^lonroe Co.. West Va.. The dining room is converted into a sanctuary and he faces his first \^irginia audience. He was ordained and installed pastor of Xew Lebanon, Mon- day. Aug. 4th, 1845. His ministry was greatly blessed. Eighteen were added on this occasion and in IMay or June, 1849. some 57. He was in labors abundant, in reaching out to the destitute, in the long, cold rides through these valleys, and over these mountains to com- fort the sick, to solemnize marriage, perform the rite of baptism and bur\- the dead. :\lrs. McLaughlin toiled in the home and assisted him in the school-room : wrought in private while he worked in public and cared for their little children while he was concerned for those of others. While living temporarily at Rockv Point, she died suddenly, March 20th, 1855, aged 34 years. The care of six motherless children and a call to Back Creek, N. C, near his own mother led him to demit Leb- anon. May 1856. and he was installed over this new charge Oct. 24. 1856. Here began an official ministry of 40 years, a real ministry of some 47 years. Tt had its joys and sorrows as well as its successes. A second happy union was formed with Miss Marga- ret Wright McElwee, of York Co.. S. C. Six children were the fruit of this marriage. A scourge of fever swept through his family. In two months and a haU 230 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. four children and their mother, the entire family of his second marriage, all these in rapid succession were called to the long home ; and yet this Job-like brother, was meek and submissive. Worn out with years and constant labors, he surrendered a 40 years official leadership Sept. 22, 1896, though continuing as stated supply till July i, 1899, when his successor was installed. Father McLaughlin is a man of most amiable temper- ament, a peace maker, a treasure in the sick room, a comforter to the dying, and a benediction at funerals. He was meek like his Master, went about doing good, and breathed the spirit of gentleness and love. He is now rounding out an active ministry of 60 years, a record unparalleled in our Synod, yea in few Synods. A wise counsellor, a most agreeable companion, a faith- ful pastor, an instructive preacher, a model father, hus- band and Christian is Father McLaugKlin. McMorries, W. W. — John McMorries and Dorcas Elizabeth Hawthorne were blessed with one son, Wil- liam Washington, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Newberry, S. C, on August 17th, 1859. He was early bereft of his father, the latter having been killed in the civil war. His mother sent him to Due West to be educated. He attended the Due West Female College, entered Erskine in due time and gradliated in 1880. He was indebted to his grandfather, Andrew Haw- thorne, and to his uncle. Rev. W. M. Grier, D. D., for his education. In 1882, he connected with Kings Creek Church in Newberry, and shortly after was received as a student of Theology by Second Presbytery at Troy, S. C. Was called to the pastorate of Kings Creek and Cannon Creek churches, in Newberry Co., S. C, and in- stalled over these churches in 1884. This pastorate lasted for ten years. He was suspended from the ministry in 1894 because of disobedience to the order of Presbytery. This order was that he discontinue preaching within the SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 231 bounds of the Prosperity congregation, because the peace and harmony of that church was disturbed by his con- duct. He gave up King's Creek church, but Cannon Creek still adheres to him, where he continues to preach at the present writing. Mr. McMorries has never mar- ried. McMullan, Peter. — Beginning" life in the second half of the 18th century, in the Emerald Isle, his literary and divinity training in Scotland, he was pastor for a time of the Associate congregation of Ahoghil, Ireland. Reaching S. C. in 1789, he was a charter member of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, organized Feb. 24th, 1790. In the spring of 1794, he was installed pas- tor of Due West. S. C. "Possessed of great physical strength, stentorian lungs and popular talents gener- ally, his settlement promised extensive usefulness. Dur- ing the early part of his ministry, his energy and zeal were instrumental in collecting a large and flourishing congregation." Charges being preferred against him by his elders, his Presbytery deposed him, r)ct. 13th, 1801. The next meeting was at Sharon, York Co., S. C, April i6th, 1802. The only ministers present were Revs. Alexander Porter and William Dickson. The lat- ter, with ruling elders, being in the majority, voted his restoration. He subsequently declined the authority of the Synod, and. Rev. Dickson joining, applied to the Chartiers Associate Presbytery. I 'n fortunately, Mr. McMullan's habits nor influence improved in the new organization, since his Presbytery was obliged to suspend him in 1806, and by advice of Synod a formal act of deposition was passed in 1807. Soon afterwards he moved to Lincoln Co., Tenn. Miss Ross, of Due West, S. C, became his wife. One daugh- ter, decidedly pious, married Andrew Mullins, and cared for her father in age and infirmity. He taught in his latter years and had the honor of training such pupils as 232 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. Col. Thomas Benton, for thirty years U. S. Senator from Missouri. "Sometimes at the soHcitation of the people, he would preach, and the old people tell us he was a powerful one, and frequently would close bathed in tears, with the ob- servation, 'Friends, do as I have told you, and not as I have done.' " — Rev. A. S. Sloan. He died in the teens of the 19th century and lies buried two miles northwest of Blanche, Lincoln Co., Tenn. It is said of him that he is an example of good parts and excellent training lost for the want of self government. "Rev. Peter McMullan brings us in sight of the beacon lights, and while w^e would go backward and spread a mantle, let us not extinguish the lights God, in His prov- idence, has kept burning for nearly one hundred years on the path of the church to warn ministers of danger near." — Dr. E. E. Boyce. Meza, Rev. Francisco Mellado. — The missionary in Tantima is the youngest son of Nestor Mellado and Ja- cinta Meza, and was born in Panuco, State of Vera Cruz,, on the sixth of October, 1870. At the age of eighteen months, his mother died, and when three years old he was left an orphan. He was cared for and raised by an aunt. In 1884, when about the age of fourteen years, he was brought under the in- fluence of the gospel and was one of the first of three persons baptized in Panuco by Dr. Neill E. Pressly. Rev. Zenon Zaleta was soon after this put in charge of the work in Panuco, and with the preacher he lived and be- gan studying under him. He had gone to school very little. He made a public profession of his faith and was baptized at Panuco in 1885. Rev. Z. Zaleta died in 1888, and then he began to work at the blacksmith trade, keeping up his studies at night and when time permitted. His zeal for the gospel was manifest from the time he became a member of the SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 233 Church. After the death of Rev. Z. Zaleta, he met often with the people at the places he had visited, and read the Bible to them, exhorting them as best he could and also he distributed tracts throuj^h the ranchos. In 1890, Dr. Pressly brought him to Tampico and with diligence he began to prosecute studies under his teach- ing with a view to the ministry. His progress was most satisfactory, and in 1891 he became a member of the Tampico Presbytery and b\- this Presbytery was li- censed at El Mesias in Chiconcillo in 1892. Work was assigned him by the Presbytery at Tantima, State of Vera Cruz, in April, 1893, ^"<^^^ ^^ ^^ X^^ stationed at that place. He was ordained to the full work of the ministry at Tampico, State of Tamaulipas, in 1894. His work has not grown much. He is an acceptable preacher, but he has a hard field. He was married to Srita Galdina Botello on the 24th of May, 1893. ^"""l fo"^ children have been born to them, — Berta, Elvira, Ernesto and Napoleon. Milieu, Rev. John Rob- ert.— Born Sept. 3, i860, in the bounds of Union congregation, Chester Co., S. C, the son of John and Isabella McMaster (Hen- ry) Millen. He received his college education at Erskine College, which he entered in 1895. ^^ grad- uated from Erskine The- ological Seminary in 1901. Was licensed by the First Presbytery, at Ebenezer, X. C. May 7, 1901. and ordained by the same Presbytery at Chester, S C. Jan. 15, 1902. He married Miss Lois, daughter of Rev. John T. R. MILLEN. 234 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. H. Simpson, at Hickory Grove, S. C, Dec. 26, 1901. She was educated in the Due West Female College. Synod in 1901 appointed him to the Texas Presbytery for the work at Hermon, Okla. He began . lis work there in Jan- uary, 1902, and still continues in the field. Milieu, William Hemphill. — Son of Robert and Nancy (Lynn) Millen, was born in Chester Co., S. C, Nov. 7, 1852. He enjoyed fairly good educational opportunities and graduated from Erskine College,, Due West, S. C, July 4th, 1876. He joined Union (Chester Co., S. C.) Associate Reformed church in August, 1870, and was received as a student of Theology by the First Presby- tery at King's Mountain, N. C, in April of 1877. His course in Theology was prosecuted first in Erskine The- ological Seminary, at Due West, S. C.„ and afterwards at Xenia Seminary, Ohio. He was licensed by the First Presbytery at Neely's Creek church, S. C, July 30, 1878, and was ordained Nov. 21, 1879, at Union, Chester Co., S. C, by the same Presbytery. He served the Winnsboro Church, S. C, for six months, and for three years he labored as Missionary in the State of Texas. For ten years he was the pastor of Ebenezer, Miss., and a new church building, and a well organized, active and growing congregation are some of the external evidences of his faithful ministry. For four years he was pastor of Ebenezer and Hinkston, Ky., and seven years he has acceptably served in his present pastorate over Richland and Brighton, the former in Shelby, the latter in Tipton Co., Tenn. Rev. Millen is possessed of splendid oratorical powers, preaching without note, carefully prepared sermons. He is, moreover, efficient in personal work, and is a diligent, faithful pastor. For a number of years he was Stated Clerk of the Memphis Presbytery and is at present the vSuperintcndent of Missions of his Prcsbvtcrv. He was married near Winnsboro, S. C, \\)V\\ 17th, SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 235 1879, to Jessie May Rabb, daughter of John G. Rabb and Nancy Watt. She was born near Winnsboro, S. C, Mav ist, 1853. A son and two daughters are the chil- dren God has given them. Millcii, Stafford Cnnie, D. D.— Was born near Fish- ing Creek church. Chester Co., S. C, March ist, 1812. Having irreproachable, industrious and Christian pa- rents he was piously trained. In early life the ministry was his desired profession, and with this purpose in view his earlv education was taken under Dr. John B. Gaston, of Chester Co., S. C, and at Fairview Academy, in Greenville Co., S. C. A journey to Xenia, Ohio, in March, 1833, opened to him additional literary advantages. In the Acad- emy here Mr. Millen remained one year and then en- tered Indiana University where a complete course was interrupted by ill health. One year was spent teaching near this Institution and returning South a school was opened January, 1838, near the home of Rev. Warren Flcnniken. Chester Co., S. C. This generous pastor and wife boarded him free and extended to him the kindness of a parent for a son during this year, as also acting the part of Aquila and Priscilla in his divinity studies. After two years in Erskine Seminary the First Presbytery gave him license April 21, 1840, and or- dained and installed him pastor of Tirzah, Union Co., N. C, and Shiloh, Lancaster County, S. C. Nov. 17th, 1841. These demitted Oct. 4, 1845, he started t6 days after- wards to Kentucky with a bride. Returning July, 1846. he began as stated supply of New Stirling and Virgin Spring, Iredell Co., N. C, Nov. I, 1846, and was installed over the former Nov. 8th. 1847. This was Dr. Millen's great and best work. For twcntv years they had been destitute of a fixed pastor. Many things had gone wrong, but. being a kind and teachable people and respectful to the minis- 236 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. ters of the gospel, by the blessing of God upon warm preaching and wholesome discipline there was a great change. Fifty years ahead on the temperance ques- tion, he threw the strength of his strong character and the denunciation of his powerful oratory against in- temperance with marked success. He spent years here and his official connection ceased Sept. 9th, 1853. His next charge was Yorkville and Tirzah, York Co., S. C, installed Dec. 8th, 1853. He retired from this field Nov., 1857, the official resigna- tion being April 20th, 1858, and spent a year supply- ing the United Presbyterian Church of Clayton, 111. The fall of 1858 found him broken in health and unable to preach ; he opened a school in Yorkville, S. C. In July, i860, he accepted the Presidency of the States- ville Female College, N. C, and Sept. 4th following severed his connection with the Associate Reformed Church. He was twice married. First to Miss Sarah Ann Adline McQuerns, Dec. 9th, 1841. Short was her mar- ried life. The reaper came to the young minister's home Sept. 29th, 1842. On Thursday, Oct. 15, 1845, he was again married to Miss Nancy E. Henry, of York Co., S. C, Rev. R. C. Grier officiating. Dr. Millen excelled in bold denunciation of wrong as well as strong support of truth. In fact, his earnestness and overwork broke down a constitution never strong. He was even braver and more heroic in suffering. He called the last three years his "dying days." A Baxter in sufifering, a Payson in spirituality, a saintly man, his sufiferinos ceased, and he fell on sleep April 13th, 1874, and godly Mrs. Millen, a most excellent woman, departed this life Oct. i6th, 1890. Miller, John Gardner. — Son of James Miller and Isa- bella McCullough, was born June 23, 1823, in Fairfield Co.. S. C. His educational opportunities were not good. SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 237 J. G. MILLER. His parents taught him at home, so that he could read distinctly at five years jf age. He was a pupil in the common schools until his ninth year, a few months each year. In 1837 he came to Tipton Co., Tenn. From his 9th to his 22nd year, he went to school but two weeks. He returned to S. C. in his 26th year, and attended school under Mr. S. P. Rice, an excellent teacher. Preparatory to entering college, he prosecuted study at Concord Academy, under the tuition of Rev. J- R- Gil- land, noted for his efficiency in teaching Latin, Greek and the higher branches of mathematics. He graduated from Erskine College in 1854. He united with the church at Salem, Tipton Co., Tenn., about the year 1844. He was received as a stu- dent of Theology in 1853 by the Second Presbytery, at Bethel Church, Laurens Co., S. C, and prosecuted his studies at Erskine Seminary, and was licensed to preach by the same Presbytery in 1855, at Cedar Springs, and during that year was also ordained, sine titulo, by that Presbytery. His field of labor was :\Iicanopy and vi- cinity. Then he labored a year in Head Springs, Pros- perity and Cannon's Creek, Newberry Co., S. C, and at White Oak, Ga., and New Hope, Ky. Then two years in Nashville, Mt. Olivet and Flemingsburg. He was called to the pastorate of Mt. Zion, Mo., and preached there fourteen years, but was never installed. After that he labored ten years at Mt. Paran, Tipton Co., Tenn. He married I\Iiss Martha Jane Williams in Nash- 238 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. ville, Tenn., Dec. 29, 1859. She was a daughter of Elmore W. Williams and Louise (Bell) Williams, and was born in Davidson Co., Tenn., Oct. 20, 1836. She was the only child of her mother. Five sons and five daughters were born unto them. One son is not. She died Dec. 12, 1886. His father was born and reared in County Antrim, Ireland. His maternal grandparents were born and mar- ried in County Antrim, Ireland, but his mother was born in Fairfield County, S. C. Miller, John, D. D.— Dr. John Miller was born July 24th, 1825, in York District, S. C. ; entered Erskine College in 1840; graduated in 1843, and was licensed in 1845; preached in Virginia in 1845, and came on horse- back from Virginia to Lebanon Church, Wilcox County, Alabama, in 1846, and was installed pastor the same year. In 1846 TOHN MILLER, D. D, . • j . T\T- he was married to Miss Sarah Pressly, youngest daughter of Dr. Samuel Pressly and Elizabeth Hearst Pressly. In 1853 and 1854 he con- ducted a large school at Society Hill, in Wilcox County, along with his pastoral duties, and in 1855 was elected President of Wilcox Female Institute,, at Camden, Ala. In 1858 he was elected President of Erskine College, but declined to accept. He was at different times mod- erator of the Synod, twice delegate of his church to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, and was member of a committee of his own church to revise the metrical version of the Psalms. He died June 3rd, 1878, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 239 pastor of his first and only charge, at Oak Hill, Wilcox Co.,. Ala., over which he was the under shepherd for about thirty years. He left a widow, since deceased, and five sons and three daughters, viz. : Hon. J. N. Mil- ler and Hon. B. M. Miller, Camden, Ala. ; Hon. J. H. Miller, Birmingham, Ala. ; Mr. James P. Miller, Rose- bud, Ala. ; Mrs. Barnette M. Pogue, Gadsden, Ala. ; Mrs. A. G. Brice, Chester, S. C. ; Mrs. Janie M. Dale, Oak Hill, Ala. ; and David P Miller, Camden, Ala., since de- ceased. The degrees of A. M. and D. D. were conferred on Dr. Miller by his Alma Mater. In 1866 he purchased the Wilcox Female Institute, at Camden, Ala., and for five years made it one of the first institutions of learning in South Alabama. At the end of five years he returned to his people at Oak Hill, as pastor. During the war he visited his young men in the army at Port Hudson, in Miss., and preached for them for several months, and the "Wilcox True Blues" pre- sented him with a handsome family Bible, which he greatly prized. He was a loyal and liberal friend of his Alma Mater. He had l)y virtue of subscription to the ante bellum en- dowment of Erskine College a perpetual scholarship in the College and until that endowment failed by the disasters of the war, he kept a worthy young man there as the beneficiary of this privilege. The foregoing constitutes the outline of the work and achievements of Dr. Miller. When he graduated. Dr. Ebenezer Pressly, then President of Erskine, said, as Dr. Miller, a boy of eighteen years, took his seat after delivering his graduating speech, 'T expect to hear from that boy." Dr. Miller in his youthful ministry wrote his sermons in blank verse — he was not only of a phi- losophic but poetic turn of mind. Hon. W. A. Lee, of Abbeville, S. C, a classmate of Dr. Miller, in writing a sketch of the class of 1843. said of the subject of this sketch, "He was a poet and a genius, with a mind singu- 240 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. larly acute and philosophical, whose early promise has been amply verified in the achievements of after life. He came to Due West in the first flush of his early youth and bright with the glow of health and intellect and remained a model student to the close of his Acad- emic career. After years of labor in pulpit, school room and college, as has been herein before recorded, he spent the closing years of his life as Pastor of his first and onl}^ charge, among the scenes of his early la- bors and in sweet accord with the youthful and dearest associations of his life." Dr. Miller was not only a scholar, but an orator. It is recorded of him that while he taught in school and col- lege, he never ceased to preach each Sabbath, and that he was a man of great and recognized pulpit powers. His wonderful research and earnestness, his resistless force and amazing profoundness, attracted up to his death great admiration. "He loved the work of Pas- tor. He was devoted to the cause of a risen Saviour.' " His people not only respected but loved him. He la- bored for them a lifetime, and the church he founded at Oak Hill stands as his memorial. It has stood like a rock in the cause of right now near a half century, true and loyal, not to Christ and his cause alone, but loyal to the distinct features of our denomination. Dr. Mil- ler was too broad a man to be sectarian, but he was too true to be disloyal. It takes a special form and quality of loyalty and moral courage to stand almost alone on the frontier for the peculiar tenets of our faith. With our ministers in the West, there is no touch of elbows as in the East. In the wall of the church at Oak Hill, to the right of the pulpit he occupied so long, is a marble tablet with the inscription : "To Rev. John Miller, D. D. Our Pastor for 30 years. The righteous shall be in ever- lasting remembrance." Rev. A. J. Witherspoon, D. D., himself then a citizen SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 241 of Alabama, in giving an account of Dr. Miller's visit in 1875 to the Presbyterian General Assembly at New Orleans, as delegate from our church, said, "that Dr. Miller was one of the foremost men in the pulpit of Alabama." When the history of old Lebanon on Prairie Creek, and Bethel Church at Oak Hill, and fe- male education in Wilcox County, and Associate Re- formed Presbyterianism in Alabama, and the great overshadowing cause of gospel truth in Alabama, are fully recorded, the name of Rev. John Miller, D. D., will be interwoven with them all. Miller, Robert Grier, D. D. — Of the pious and godly Thomas and Nancy Miller, of Alexander Co., N. C, was born the sub- ject of this sketch Sept. pth, 1849. His brother and guardian. Col. J. S. Miller, put him under Dr. S. C. Millen and later un- der the tuition of Prof H. T. Burke and his pas- tor. Rev. W. B. Pressly. He entered Erskine Col- lege with the highest of mortal motives, the ministry, graduating July 12, 1871. That winter was spent in Allegheny Seminary, Pa. Oct. 2nd, 1872, his life was blessed in a happy matrimo- nial union with Miss Roberta S., daughter of James and Elizabeth Emmons, of Statesville, N. C. With Mrs. Mil- ler, he repaired to Erskine Seminary and. finishing his course, was licensed by the First Presbytery, July 18, 1873. The following Sabbath preached his first sermon after licensure at New Stirling, his mother church. For the next year his time was divided between the 16 R. G. MILLER, D. D. 242 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. charge of his pastor and New Hope, S. C, at which place he was ordained and installed Dec. 2nd, 1874. In many respects this was a prosperous pastorate. The liberality of the congregation, always generous, im- proved, an expensive iron fence was put around the cemetery and a new and handsome house of worship was erected and some sixty were added to the roll. This charge was demitted Aug. 31, 1886. In the spring of 1887 three calls were presented. One from Coddle Creek and New Perth, one from Charlotte, N. C, and a third from Sardis, N. C. The latter being accepted, his installation took place May 13th, 1887. This brother has borne a large share of the honors and responsibili- ties of his church. The Synod has given him rare trusts and she made no mistake. Early in the ministry, 1884, called to the moderatorship of the Synod, he was also a delegate immediately after the sessions of Synod to the Psalm singine Conference in Pittsburg, Pa. He lias, since 1886, and is yet a most efficient and punctual member of the Board of Trustees of Erskine College. The Board of Home Missions was organized in 1888. He was a charter member and still proves himself faith- ful, zealous and progressive. He served five years as Director of our Seminary. Last year, 1902, the addi- tional honor was worthily bestowed to bear the greet- ings of his Synod to the General Assetnbly of the United Presbyterian Church, in Allegheny, Pa. The title of D. D. was conferred by Erskine College, 1898. His tenacious and unyielding purpose to build a Dor- mitory for Erskine College was rewarded. He led in a far reaching enterprise which has been duplicated in the Wylie Home and will doubtless fill that lovely grove with more handsome memorial buildings. Bro. Miller is a well rounded man. Cultured, refined, with a delicately poised sense of right, deeply sympa- thetic, inviting approach and confidence, yet when prin- ciple or conscience is involved, he is an ecclesiastical SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 243 "Stonewall." He could shine in the drawing room of the cultured and sit on a three-legged chair in the hum- blest home and make the inmates thereof feel easy. As to pimctuality on the Boards, it has been well nigh complete. I'or 30 years a member of his Presby- tery, and for 28 years an ordained minister of Synod, it is said he has missed but one meeting from each. Such a record is seldom equalled, rarely excelled. As a presbyter, he is always watchful, progressive, reaching out to extend the Master's kingdom, ready and tactful and convincing in debate. As a pastor, he is faithful and successful, visiting from house to house setting an example of an unsul- lied personality and a beautiful home life. As a preacher, he is interesting, evangelical and in- structive, with winsome manner, with a musical voice, with deep earnestness, the Master gave him power in the pulpit. But, best of all, Bro. Miller has been from his youth familiar with the shut closet. Having wrestled in prayer, he is a prince possessing power with God and man. Mills. James Spencer. — The subject of this sketch was born at Blackstock, S. C, September 10, 1848. His parents were James Young Mills and Sarah Isabella Nelson. To Rev. Robt. Lathan he was in- debted for his early edu- cation. Three of his sis- ters were educated at the Yorkville Female College, and to them also was due much of his early mental J. s. MILLS. training. As a boy of six- 244 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. teen, he enlisted as a Confederate soldier, and joined the State troops. He belonged to Hardee's Corps, and surrendered with Johnston's army. After his brief soldier career, he worked on the farm for a year or more, and then began preparation for college under Prof. W. B. Thompson. He entered the Sophomore class in Erskine College in 1868, and grad-- uated in 1871. Under the ministry of Rev. R. W. Brice he became a member of the church early in life, and turned his thoughts to the ministry. He connected with the First Presbytery at a call meeting at Long Cane, S. C, in the fall of 1871, entered the Seminary at Due West, completing his course in 1873. In the same year he was licensed to preach by First Presbytery at Ebenezer, N. C, July i8th, his pastor. Rev. R. W. Brice, propounding the c|uestions. For several years he preached in vacancies in First Presbytery, and was or- dained at New Hope in 1876. His most important work was done in the old Tirzah congregation of Lan- caster, S. C. He was able, along with others, to keep about one-third of this church in the Associate Re- formed Communion, the larger part going into the Southern Presbyterian Church with Rev. D. P. Robin- son, their pastor. The minority that remained true to the principles of the Associate Reformed Church were organized into the new church of Unity. In 1876, Mr. Mills did some mission work in New Salem, Tennessee. But the people at this point became divided by politics. The Plymouth brethren also did proselyting among the members of this church, and between the excitement of politics in the Tilden and Hayes campaign and the disintegrating doctrines of the new sect, the church went to pieces. After this Bro. Mills supplied the churches of New Hope and Ebenezer, Ky., also Mt. Zion, Mo. Broken in health by the severe climate of Kentucky and Missouri, he was unable to preach for a year or more. In October, 1883, he went to Starkville, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 245 Miss., and from there to Louisville, Ga., in Xovember, 1884. Here he settled over the united charges of Bethel and Louisville, and was installed by Dr. Phillips in 1885. He still serves these churches, preaching better, his peo- ple say, as he grows older. Bro. Mills has been twice married, first to Miss Alice A. McMillan, of Knox Co., Tennessee. Four children were the fruits of this marriage ; three survive, two daughters and a son. His first wife died August 31st, 1882. His second marriage was to Miss Alberta Helen Little, on April 28th. 1885, by whom he has seven children. ^^*^^ ^^fm ^ *r- Mills. Robert ]'oiiiig. — ■ Rev. R. Y. Mills was the son of Edward IMcDaniel Mills and Martha E. Boyd, and was born near Black- stock, S. C, ]\me 20th, 1861. Even from childhood he said he A\as going to have an education and preach the gospel, and his wish was fulfilled, for he entered Erskine College Oct., i88q, and graduated K. V. MILLS. . 00 ni 1883. He was received as a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery at Long Cane, S. C, in the fall of 1883, and prosecuted his studies at Erskine Seminary at Due West, and at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery April nth, 1885, at Doraville, Ga. He was sent to the Kentucky Presbytery in 1885, and was ordained by that Presby- tery, and supplied churches in its bounds until April. 1888. During the summer of 1888 he supplied Lancas- ter and Gills Creek churches in S. C, except during M 246 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. August and a part of September, when he was en- gaged in evangehstic work in West Tennessee. He was installed pastor of Lancaster and Gill's Creek in Nov., 1888, and continued there until his death, March 4th, 1889. He had expected to offer himself to the Board as a Foreign Missionary in the fall of 1889, but death cut short this as well as many other bright prospects. He was a preacher of force and power, and the people heard him gladly. Mr. Mills was married Sept. 20th, 1888, near Coving- ton, Ga., to Miss Mary Lois Martin, the daughter of Rev. John E. Martin and Margaret Isabella Grier. She was born at Due West, S. C, July 3rd, 1868. Several vears after the death of Mr. Mills, she was married to Rev. T. G. Bovce, of Atoka, Tenn. Moffatt, James Strong. — Rev. J. S. Moffatt is the son of Rev. William S. Moffatt and Martha Jane Wilson, and was born at Wheeling, Fulton Co., Ark.. July 17th, i860. He gained the rudiments of an education from his mother, and afterwards attended schools in Union- town. Ohio, at Xenia and St. Clairsville, in the same State. He spent two years in Erskine College, and two years at ^Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, graduating at Muskingum in 1883. He was received as a student of theology in the autumn of 1884, by the Western Missouri ['resb\tery of the \J. P. Church, at Mulberry, Mo. lie graduated from the Allegheny U. P. Seminarv. after taking the three years' course. In the J. S. MOFFATT, D. D. SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 247 spring of 1885. he was licensed by the Western Missouri Presbytery at Greenwood, Mo. In April, 1886, he connected with the First Presby- tery of the A. R. P. Synod, and had charge of the mis- sion at Charlotte, X. C, for one year, and was ordained at Charlotte, X. C, in July, 1886. In the spring of 1887 he was called to the church at Chester, S. C, and was installed in the summer of the same year. Under his pastorate at this place, the work has greatly prospered. The congregation has built an elegant new church, and many wait on his ministry. Mr. Moffatt w^as married at Due \\>st, S. C, Xov. 23rd, 1886, to Miss Jennie Moffatt Grier, the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Wm. M. Grier and X'annie McMorries. She was born at X'^ewberry, S. C Sept. 2nd, 1865, and is the mother of six children. ]\Ir. ^^loffatt's father and his mother's father and grandfather were ministers in the A. R. P. Church. Mrs. Moffatt's father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great, great grandfather were also ministers in the A. R. P. Church. Moffatt, Josiali HcinpJull. — Rev. Josiah Hemphill Moft'att was the son of William Moffatt and Margaret Hemphill and was born at Lewisville, in Chester Co., S. C. :^Iay 1st, 1836. His father was a prosperous merchant, and a leading member of Union congregation, and his mother was a daughter of Rev. John Hemphill, D. D. His earlv opportunities, both in a social and edu- cational way. were of the best, and he developed into a godly and pious young man. He graduated at Er- skine College, in 1859, and even in his college days he manifested that pious and generous spirit which ever characterized him. Everything that seemed to contrib- ute to the glory of God and the spread of the gospel was met with an o]icn purse. 248 SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. He helped a number of poor young men through college and onl}- the giver and receiver knew about it. In addition to these private benefactions, he contributed the larger part of the money that was used in building the beautiful Hall of the Euphemian Literary Society, on the campus of Erskine College. After graduating at Erskine, he entered the Semin- ary at Due West, S. C, completed the course, and was licensed to preach. After preaching for a while to some churches in York Co., S. C, his health, which had become impaired in College, gave way, and he re- tired to the home of his mother, where he died March 1 8th, 1867. Mr. Moffatt was married Oct. i8th, 1864, to Miss Jane Elizabeth Lathrop, who was born in New York State in 1837. She bore him two children, one of whom died in childhood, and the other is Rev. Josiah Mof- fatt, who lives in Florida. Mrs. IMofifatt was a godly woman, of very strong character, and was a tower of strength in Union con- gregation. She afterwards contracted a second mar- riage to Mr. G. G. Nisbet in 1882, and died Feb. 27th, 1902. Moffatt. Rev. JVillioin Samuel. — Son of James S. and Martha Moffatt, was born in Greenville Co.,S.C. liight years later his father settled in Obion Co., Tenn. He received his college education at Erskine Col- lege, graduating in 1854. He studied theology in the Seminary at Due West. S. C, and spent one year in the Seminary in Alle- uhcnv. Pa. He was mar- VV. S. MOFFATT. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 249 ried to !Miss Martha, daughter of Rev. John and Mrs. EHza (Hemphill) ^^'ilson. at Salem, Tipton Co.. Tenn., April 17, 1856. The Memphis Presbytery licensed him, April 2^. 1857, and ordained him April 2^, 1859. He labored in Tennessee and Arkansas under direc- tion of the Memphis Presbytery August 12, 1859. He organized Prosperity Church, in Fulton Co., Ark., and became its pastor the following December. This rela- tion continued until May 4. 1868. During the Civil \\'ar he endured many hardships, and was often exposed to dangers. His neighborhood was overrun by both armies. Being newly settled, the country afforded few comforts at best. The armies added to the hardships of the people by taking their horses, mules and provi- sions, ^lore than once his house was ransacked, and his life was in danger from jayhawkers and bushwack- ers. At the close of the war he moved to west Tennes- see, where he supplied vacancies until 1867, when he returned to Arkansas. In 1868 he became S. S. of the congregations of Uniontown and ]\IcMahon's Creelv. Ohio. He was installed their pastor April 19, 1869. He demitted the Uniontown branch of his charge in 1881, and McMahon's Creek in 1883. At first he found many difficulties to be overcome in this field. Sharp division of political sentiment had caused partisan feel- ings to run high, and an}' man from the South was regarded with suspicion. His first effort was to over- come this bitterness and distrust. The gentleness and kindliness of his manner greatly assisted him. He soon won the confidence and friend- ship of the people, and his influence for peace and har- mony became a power in the community. With the A. R. Presbytery of Ohio, he went into the United Presby- terian Church in 1881. He became pastor of the United Presbyterian Church of Centerview, Mo., in 1883. He demitted this charge in 1888. Here his wife died August 13. 1887. In 1888. he returned 250 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. to Arkansas and took up the work again as S. S. of Prosperity and New Hope. This work he kept up until 1891, and, at Prosperity as health per- mitted, until 1895. In June, 1888, he married Mrs. J. E. (Paden) Livingston of Wheeling, Ark. He died at Wheeling, Ark., Jan. 18, 1899. His first wife became the mother of three sons and two daughters. Of the sons James S. became a minister of the Gospel, and settled as pastor of the Church in Chester, S. C. John became a physician in Ohio, and Walter A. entered the legal profession in Leger, Okla. Of the daughters, Mary became the wife of Rev. J. T. Curry of the Nashville Conference of the M. E. Church South, and died in April, 1902, and Miss Anna a professor in Stuttgart College, Ark. Moffatt, Josiah Henry.— Rev. J. H. Moffatt is the son of Rev. Josiah Hemphill Moffatt and Jane Elizabeth Lathrop, and was born at Lewisville, Chester Co., S. C, April 1st, 1867. He graduated at Erskine College, in 1887, and was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery, in the spring of 1890. His theological course was taken at Erskine Seminar) and he was licensed by the First Presbytery at Union Church in April, 1891. After preaching for some time m the Virginia and the Kentucky Presbyteries, he ac- cepted a call from New Lebanon, West Virginia, and was installed in the spring of 1893. In September, 1895, owing to the fact that his views on some matters of religious doctrine were not in harmony with the standards of the A. R. P. Church, he resigned the charge of New Lebanon, and withdrew from the Presbytery, and has lived since then in the State of Florida. Mr. Moffatt has always been esteemed for his U]:)righl char- acter, and zeal for the cause of Christ. He was married Oct. 5th, 1887, at White Oak, S. C, to Miss Marv E. Price, the daughter of Mr. W. W. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 251 Brice and Hattie \inson. She was born at White Oak, S. C. Oct. 9th, 1869. She and Mr. Mofifatt have seven children. MOXTGOMF.KV. Moiitgoniery, A)idrezv S pence. — Son of Robert and Esther Spence Mont- gomery, was born at New- berry, S. C, June 16, 1822. When he was seven years of age, the family emi- grated to Marshall Co., Tenn. He obtained the most of his literary edu- cation at \'iney Grove Academy, in Lincoln Co., Tenn.. under Dr. Henry Bryson. and under him he began the study of Theol- ogy, in 1852, and was taken under the care of the Ten- nessee Presbytery. He entered the Seminary at Due West, S. C. in the fall of 1853, and was licensed to preach by the Ten- nessee Presbytery at Bethel A. R. P. Church, and was ordained at Head Springs by the same Presbytery. He preached for six months in Franklin Co., Ala., and for two years in Decatur Co.. Ind. His first pastorate was at Head Springs Church, Marshall Co., Tenn., the church which he joined when sixteen years of age and of which nearly all his kindred were members. He re- signed the pastorate of this church during the war and moved North. He accepted a call to the United Pres- byterian Church of West Union, Til., in 1864. He serv^ed this congregation for twenty years, during \vhich time his influence was felt upon the entire community. He started an academy at Enfield, Ills., which grew into a college. For eight years he served the congre- 252 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. gations of Summerville and Eden, Ind. His last pas- torate was Springfield, Ills., from 1890 to 1894. He was married March 28, at Viney Grove, Tenn., to Lavina Grace Tate, daughter of Samuel and Mary Boyd Tate. She was born at Chester, S. C., Oct. 6, 1 82 1. Five children were born to her. She died at West Union, Ills., March 3, 1874. He was married a second time to Mary Malissa Taylor, daugh- ter of Henry and Catherine Sloan Taylor, at Fayette- ville, Tenn. She was born Feb. 28, 1832, in Lincoln Co., Tenn. His eldest son, S. Alonzo Montgomery, after graduating from the Indiana State University at Bloomington, Ind., became a professor in Institution. His youngest son, J. Knox Montgomery, is now the pastor of the First A. R. P. Church, Charlotte, N. C. Mr. Montgomery was a strong and original thinker, an earnest and effective preacher, and a most wise and judicious pastor. He was remarkable as a peace-maker and was often called upon to visit different congrega- tions in this capacit)^. He always preached without notes and kept fully in touch with the age. His heart never grew old and he had a great influence over young men. Many are in the ministry to-day because of his influence over their lives and thoughts. Through the larger part of his ministry was spent in the U. P. Church he never forgot his first love, and often referred to the fact that the first forty dollars he ever made as a minister he gave to Erskine College. He entered into rest June 20, 1900, being 78 years and one week old. He sleeps in the church yard at West Union, Ills., hard by the church in which he did his greatest work. Mont (joinery, John Knox. — Rev. J. Knox Montgom- ery was born in Belfast. Tenn., Aug. 4th, 1861, and is the son of Rev. A. S. Montgomery and Lavinia Grace Tate. When about a vear old. the familv moved north SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 253 MONTCO.MERV. and he was reared in the State of lUinois. He grad- uated at the In(Hana State University in 1884, and in September of the same year was received as a student of theology by the Princeton Presbytery, of the L'nited Presbyterian Church, at Summerville, ind., pursued his studies at Xenia Theological Sem- niary, Xenia, Ohio, and was licensed by Princeton Presbytery, at Portland Mills.' Ind,, April, 1886. In April, 1887, he was ordained by Chillecothe Prcsbvtcry, and installed over Unity, Ohio, where he remained until December, 1889. From January, 1890, until October, 1895, he was pastor at Sparta, Ills., go- ing from there to the First Church of Cincinnati, Ohio. Resigning this Church on account of ill health in 1899 he came South, and was stated supply at the East Avenue A. R. P. Church, Charlotte, N. C, from July, 1900, to July, 1901. In September, 1901. he accepted a call to the Garfield Boulevard United Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Ills., and continued pastor there until July, 1902. Having received a call to the First A. R. P. Church at Charlotte, N. C, and not being able to stand the vigorous climate of Chicago, he connected with the First Presbytery of the A. R. P. Synod of the South, and took up the work in Charlotte in August, 1902, and still continues pastor there. Mr. Montgom- ery was married at Unity, Ohio, Dec. 25th, 1888, to Miss Emma Letta Patton, the daughter of Nathaniel C. and Mary A. Patton. Mrs. Montgomery was bom at Harshadville, Ohio, 254 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Jan. 31st, 1862, and is the mother of five children. Mr. Montgomery has published a number of sermons and tracts, and has written a great deal for the press. Since 1899 h^ has edited the prayer meeting page ui the "CJiristian Union Herald," and for nine years has published the "Evangel," a congregational paper. He is a very popular speaker, and has often been called to address Presbyterial and national young people's con- ventions. He has also been a popular lecturer on Chau- tauqua platforms, and under the Inter-State Lecture Bureau. The Synod of Ohio in 1896 and the Synod of Illinois in 1900, elected him Synodical Evangelist, but he felt compelled to decline the position both times. In the year 1900, while resting because of ill health, he ran for Secretary of State on the Prohibition ticket in the State of Ohio, and more than doubled the vote of the party in that State. Moore, James Nathaniel. — A son of James Moore and Jane H. Craig, was born in 1821,, in Dallas Co., Ala. His educational opportunities were fairly good and he graduated at Erskine College in 1846. About the year 1838 he joined the Prosperity Ala., A. R. Church. Re- ceived as a student of theology about 1847 ^y the Second Presbytery in South Carolina, he studied at Erskine Theological Seminary and was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery about 1849. His health having failed he preached only occasionally for a year or two, spending a year teaching school. After regaining in measure his health, he labored in Alabama and was instrumental in organizing a church at Sum- merfield, Ala., and erecting a neat church building. Also a church in Perry Co., known as Farrer's Church, and another named Fairview, above Marion, Ala. During this time he made several visits to Salem in Covington Co., Ala., preaching sometimes a month or more. In 1854 he visited churches in Mississippi, Temiessee and SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. ■b:) Kentucky. In 1855 he was called to Monticello, Ark., and left Alabama the latter part of July for that place. Arriving at Memphis, he went by boat to Gaines' Land- ing on the Mississippi River. Being detained at this place he was there taken sick. Reaching Monticello he died in a few davs, never having preached at that place. He was never married. H. L. MLKI'HV. Murphy, Henry Lcland. Was a son of William Murph}- and Sarah Lang- ston, and was born in Due West, S. C, Septem- ber 9. 1823. When a child, his father removed to Laurense Co., Ala., and thence to Lincoln Co., fenn., and later to Tipton Co., Tenn., his boyhood being spent on the farm in the latter two counties. His chances of an educa- tion during this period of his life were meagre, but when about 18 years old he manifested a desire for a college course, he was encour- aged by his father, and along with several other young men began the study of the classics under Rev. John A\'ilson. The sudden death of his father stopped this, but he did not abandon his purpose Two kind maiden aunts in South Carolina offered him a home and the means of going through college. He took a first stand in his class and graduated with distinction, in 1847, from Erskine College. Soon after he entered the Theological Seminary .at Due West. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery at Head Springs, Laurens Co., S. C, and "was installed over Kings Creek and Thompson Street, Newberry Co., S. 256 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. C, where he was preaching- when the war broke out." About two years he labored as a missionary, partly in the West. During this time he served as college agent, collecting funds to build Lindsay Hall. On the 9th of September, 185 1, he was happily married near Green- wood, S. C, to Miss Martha Ann Hearst, a daughter of John and Margaret Hearst, and born near Green- wood, S. C., July 30, 1833. Five sons and six daughters were the fruit of this union. She died near old Bloom- ington, Tenn., March 14, 1903. For a year or more after his marriage Mr. Murphy taught school in Tipton, and also in Shelby Counties, Tenn., and did acceptable and successful work. After the war between the States he accepted a call to Bloomington and Richland churches, and continued as pastor of the latter for three years and of the former until his death. He died Sabbath morning, November 24, 1878, in Tipton Co., Tenn., being a little more than 55 years of age. He was a ripe scholar, refined in taste, a forcible, attractive and impressive speaker. He was several times appointed by Synod a travelling agent of Ers- kine College. He was a very devoted husband, a kind father, and a pleasant, sociable companion in all the relations of life. He joined Salem A. R. P. Church in April, 1841, under the ministry of the Rev. John Wilson. Morris, Samuel Taplin. — Was a son of • Samuel and Margaret McCollough Morris, and was born in bounds of Cedar Springs, S. C, April 14. 182 1. He had good educational advantages, studying both at Due West, S. C, and Oxford, Ohio. He was a graduate of the latter institution, but it is not known whether in letters or in Theology. His father was an elder in Cedar Springs,, noted as a peace maker, and died at 45 years old. His mother, a friend to the orphan and helpless, died at 90. Rev. Morris studied under Rev. John S. Pressly. He SKETCHES OE MINISTERS. 257 was a preacher and teacher, but his short hfe prevented his being- much known. He died when only 27 years old. He was married in 1848, in Montgomery, Ala., to a daughter of Judge Graham of that city. He lived only 6 weeks after his marriage. He died Sept. 16, 1848. McNeal^ John. — He was received as a student of The- ology by the Kentucky Presbytery at a meeting held in Shelby County, Aug. 19, 1843. ^^ ^^'^s directed to at- tend Erskine Theological Seminary, but it does not ap- pear that he did so. He seems to have studied under the direction of Rev. N. M. Gordon. His college education was secured in the Indiana University. He was licensed Oct. 15th, 1844, and labored for a short time in Tennes- see and Kentucky. May 30, 1845, certificate was given him, at his own request, to join the A. R. Presbytery of Indiana. Muse, Rev. Joseph Braiiierd. — The subject of this sketch was born near Starkville, Aliss., July loth, 1848. His parents were Robert Muse and Jane McKell. His early educational advantages were good and in due time he entered Erskine College and graduated in class of 1870. He entered Erskine Seminary, joining the Second Presbytery at a meeting at Due West, in the spring of 1871. He was licensed by the Presbytery at Cannon Creek, Newberry Co., S. C, September 7th, 1872. His first labors were in Alabama. He was then as- signed to Tennessee to the churches of Blanche and Prosperity, and on Friday before the first Sabbath of November, 1874, was ordained and installed as pastor over these churches by the Tennessee Presbytery. Here he labored faithfully for about eight years, when he re- signed his charge — in 1882. Since that time he has lived at \^erdery, S. C, in the bounds of the Second 17 258 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Presbytery and has preached as opportunity offered, though largely devoting his time to farming for a livelihood. On September 25th, 1872, Mr. Muse was married to Miss Nina Estelle Devlin, daughter of James J. and Mary A. Devlin of Cedar Springs, Abbeville Co., S. C. The result of this union has been eight children, none have been lost by death. Mfisliaf, John. — A native of Washington Co., N. Y., was graduaetd at Union College, Schenectady, 1807. His full course of divinity was taken under Dr. John Ander- son,, in the Associate Seminary, Service, Pa., and the Cambridge granted him license Sept 20th, 1809. His services being much in demand, calls were made out, not only in his Presbytery, but from Shiloh, Neely's Creek and Big Spring, S. C, and from New Stirling, Cambridge and \'irgin Springs, N. C. Ordained by the Cambridge Presbytery Sept. i8th, i8ri, he soon after became pastor of the latter group of churches. His zeal and eloquence early promised great usefulness. His home was some three miles northwest of States- ville, in which town he conducted for a number of years a very successful High School. "John Mushat was famed in his day as an educator of youth." Chief Justice R. M. Pearson, Gov. W. A. Graham, and Dr. John Moore Harris, father of Mrs. Rev. W. B. Pressly, were among his many pupils, often reaching 120. In October, 1822, finding it impracticable from his local situation to discharge the duties of pastor, he demitted this charge but continued to supply them till January, 1825, when on account of indisposition suspended the exercise of his ministry. About 1827 his Presbytery began dealing with him for various violations of ministerial vows. In March, 1830, he was suspended and in the following October deposed "because ( i ) of his connection with the Ma- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 259 sonic Society, (2) of contempt of the judicatories of the Church, (3) of his desertion of the holy ministry, by neglectint^- its (hities and engaging in the practice of law." Of influence he possessed much, of abihty more. We draw a mantle of charity over a brilliant beginning marred by visions of property and power. Father Mushat after a ministry of about 16 years went ^^'est and died there we know not where. We trust he found that Saviour precious whom he preached so eloquently and earnestly in his younger days . Myers, James Alexander.— Son of John Graham Myers and Cynthia McCreary. was born in Mecklenburg Co.,, X. C. April 13, 1829. He was a very truthful lad, and his first teacher, Miss Xancy Ewart, was wont to call him her "little preacher." His opportunities of securing an education were not good, but he attended the public schools of the times in his neighborhood, and having entered Erskine College was graduated from that institution in 1857. He joined Gilead Church, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, in 1850. and having decided on the Gospel ministry was received as a student of theology in 1857 by the First Presbytery at Coddle Creek, N. C. He studied in Erskine Theological Seminary, Due West, S. C, and was licensed to preach, presumably by the Second Pres- bytery in 1859, at Kings or Cannon's Creek, Xewberry Co.. S. C, Rev. E. E. Pressly,D. D., officiating. He was ordained by the Second Presbytery in 1864. and Rev. R. C. Grier, D. D.. was the ofificiating minister. He labored two years in Generostee, S. C. and connections, and one year in Georgia. Two years were spent in the armv preaching, and on battlefield and in hospitals as assistant surgeon. In Indiana. Clarksburgh, two years. and the same length of time at Xew Hope, Ky., and other points. He was pastor for twelve years of Patter- 26o SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. son's Mills, Washington Co., Pa., and Point Pleasant, Hancock Co., W. Va., being installed in 1871. In 1897 he was installed over Hopewell U. P. Church, Lincoln Co., Tenn., and continued for two years. Previous to this he had for several years served as supply of the A. R. churches of Prosperity, Blanche and Pisgah, Lincoln Co., and Head Springs, Marshall Co., Tenn. Mr. Myers is now and has been for a number of year? in connection with the U. P. Church. He was married in 1858 in Abbeville Co., S. C, to Sarah Jane Morris, daughter of Samuel Morris and Margaret McCullough. She was born in Abbeville Co., S. C, in 1834, and died January 14, 1883. Ten chil- dren were born to them. He was married the second time to Miss Mollie Harper Allen. Feb. 13, 1893, at Malina. Tenn. She was born June 3, 1869. She is a daughter of George Riley Allen and Isabella Strong. She has borne him two children. Mr. Myers has given a good deal of attention to teaching vocal music since 1862. He has enjoyed the instruction of such teachers as George F. Root, Mus. Doc. of Chicago. He has taught classes in no less than eight States, and did efficient work. Neill, David Prcssly. — Child of Thomas Pinckney and jMartha Jane Neill, born at Walkers ville, Union Co., N. C, May 28th, 1870 Working on the farm till nearly of age, he spent one year at Huntersville High School and passed to Erskine College in the fall of 1891, where he graduated in June, 1896. By hard study and close applica- tion, one theological year was included in this literary course. His course being finished in June, 1897, the First Presbytery licensing him April 6th preceding, he began work at Ebenezer, and Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co.,, Va., the first Sabbath of July following. The First Presbytery ordained him to the ministry Nov. 10, 1897, and the Virginia Presbytery installed him pastor over SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 261 these congregations July i, 1898. On the 14th of Sept., 1898, he found a helpmeet indeed in Mrs. Theressa (Gibson) O'Brien, of Timber Ridge, \'a. She is well fitted by nature and grace to cheer him in his hours of trial and nurse him in his times of suffering. He has met difficulties with a heroism that is worthy of example. When we consider the rigor of that climate in winter, the scattered condition of his churches ten miles apart and these appointments filled and this pastoral work done by a minister bent with rheumatism and aching with pain and all these obliga- tions met with as much punctuality as most strong preachers, this is the zeal of a Baxter. As a preacher he is evangelical presented in a rich drapery made more interesting by intense earnestness and a vivid imagination. As a pastor his work has been blessed, his congi^ega- tions have had a steady, healthy growth and one has completed a beautiful and commodious church. A firmness tempered with wisdom, a zeal according to knowledge, a will power far beyond the average, these crowned with consecration and laid at the Master's feet make him a servant that needeth not to be ashamed. Oatcs, Jai>ics Lcroy. — Rev. J. L. Oates is the son of James Blackwood Oates and Nancy Jane White, and was born in Gaston Co., N. C., April 8th, 1873. Wlien he was seven years old, the famil}- moved to York Co., S. C, and he was brought up in Xeely's Creek congre- gation. He graduated at Erskine College in 1896, and was received as a student of theology by the First Pres- bytery, at Clover, S. C, Oct., 1895, ])rosecuted his stud- ies in Erskine Seminary, and was licensed by the same Presbytery, at Huntcrsville, N. C. April. 1897. He was ordained at Charlotte, N. C, June 23rd, 1897, and spent three months in preaching at Bartow, Fla. 262 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He was installed pastor of Unity and Gill's Creek, in Lancaster Co.,, S. C, Nov., 1897, remaining" there un- til Feb., 1900, when he ac- cepted calls from Hickory Grove and Smyrna, in York Co., S. C, and was installed March 13th, 1900. He still continues pastor of these churches. Mr. Oates was married, Jan. 19th, 1898, to Miss Lee Crockett, of Troy, Tenn., and they have two children. Mrs. Oates is the daughter of Mr. Harry Hill Croc- kett, and was born in Troy, Tenn., March 3rd, 1876. J. L. OATES. Oates, Rev. Monroe. — Was born June 30, 1832, at the foot of Crowder's Mountain, Gaston Co., N. C. His father, John Oates, was an elder in Pisgah. His preparation for college was made at Hickory Grove, S. C. He graduated from Erskine College in 1855. He studied theology at Due West, S. C, finishing the course in 1858. He received license from the First Presbytery Sept. 7, 1858. That year he visited Arkansas, and preached in Drew, Hemstead, Pope and Fulton Coun- ties. The next two years he supplied churches in Vir- ginia, principally New Lebanon, Monroe Co. Sept. 6, i860, he was happily married to Miss Amanda S., daughter of Capt. J. F. Harper of Rockbridge Co., Va. From October, '60 to October, '61, he supplied Pleasant Grove Church, Decatur Co., Ga. Synod directed him to spend the next year in the First and A'irginia Pres- byteries, but as he could not reach his appointments in Virginia on account of the war, he spent the year SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 263 supplying" Smyrna, S. C, and Knob Creek, X. C. The First Presbytery ordained him in 1862, and installed him pastor of Smyrna Xov. 5, 1863. In 1864 he en- tered the military service of S. C, but was honorably discharged after a few weeks. He demitted the pas- toral charge of Smyrna Sept. 3, 1867, and moved to Pope Co., Ark., in December, and was installed pastor of Pisgah, Monday, August 31, 1868. This relation continued until Jan. i, 1900. This was a happy set- tlement and the church prospered, though it sustained heavy losses by the removal of its members to other fields. ]\Ir. Oates took frequent and long trips on horseback to visit vacancies. For some years he paid a visit annually to Prosperity and X^ew Hope — a horse- back ride of several days through a mountainous coun- try. For about 20 years he visited Zion in Yell Co., 30 miles away on 5th Sabbaths and at other times oc- casionally. For 28 years he was clerk of the Arkansas Presbytery, rarely ever missing a meeting. He was careful in writing and keeping the minutes. He was the delegate of the Synod to General .\ssembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States at Little Rock, Ark., in 1873. During the year 1900 he felt that the end was near and was anxious to see the new pastor installed to succeed him. His desire was gratified. The installation took place Xov. 6, and he died the ne.xt morning, Xov. 7. 1900. Orr, William 11'., D. D.— Rev. William Orr, D. D.. is the son of \\'illiam W. Orr and Sarah Ann Rodgers. and was born in the bounds of Back Creek, in Mecklenburg Co., X. C. Se])t. 7th. 1855. His father died before he was born, and his mother never married again. On the day of his birth, she dedicated him to the ministry, and consecrated her life to his training and education. Mrs. Orr was a godly woman of finest character, and God was pleased to spare her to see the child whom she had ded- 264 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. \V. W. ORR, D. D. icated to the ministry, am- bassador for Christ. She tarried only a Httle while after this,, and then God took her to be with Him. Although Mrs. Orr was in very limited circum- stances, she kept her son in school almost constant- ly. At the age of four- teen she sent him to school at Sardis, N. C. While there, he boarded in the family of Rev. John Hun- ter, the pastor of Sardis, and he and his wife exerted a sacred and hallowed influ- ence over his life. After that he was sent to a High School at Coddle Creek, N. C, and while there he joined the Church under the pastorate of Rev. John E. Pressly, D. D. In the fall of 1872, his mother removed to Due West, S. C, where he entered the freshman class, and graduated in 1876. He joined the First Presbyter}^ at a called meet- ing held at Due West, S. C, during the meeting of the Synod of 1875, and the following year took the senior course in college, and the junior course in the Semin- ary. He completed his course in Erskine Seminary in 1877. and was licensed by the First Presbytery in the old chapel in Charlotte, N. C, Sept. 7th. 1877. After supplying churches in North and South" Carolina for several months, he was called to the church at Hunters- ville, N. C. and was ordained and installed Oct. i8th. 1878. He continued pastor of this churcli for seven- teen years, demitting his charge in 1895. ^^^'- O^^ spent a busy and useful life during these years, and built up a large and flourishing congregation, preaching at Huntcrsville every Sabbath, and also preaching at SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 265 Mission points, at Mt. Mourne, nine miles away, and at CaldweH's, three miles away, each alternate Sabbath afternoon. He was abundant in labors, and had many seals to his ministry at home, and was in great demand for holding evangelistic meetings in the churches. In this work he had large success. In 1879 Mr. Orr organized the Huntersville High School. The school outgrew several buildings, and a large joint stock company was formed, and a large two stor}- brick building was erected. For a number of years the school enrolled from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy-five pupils, at least one half of them from various Southern States. The school had six teachers in the faculty. Mr. Orr taught in, and managed this school, for fourteen years. It was a constant feeder of the colleges. A great many young men were here prepared for college, who afterwards entered the ministry. Fourteen of these young men are now in the A. R. ministry and five are in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. The Board of Home Missions was created by the Synod at Potts Station, Ark., in October, 1888, and at the organization of that Board Mr. Orr was made cor- rcs])onding secretary, which ofiice he held for nine years, leaving it only when he took up the work in Corsicana, Texas. During these nine years he was not only the corresponding secretary of the Board, but also the evangelist, and in this work he held protracted meetings in all the churches of the Synod with four ex- ceptions. In these meetings he preached more than fifteen hundred times, and received more than twenty- five hundred people into the churches, and raised be- tween $8,000 and $9,000 for the Board of Home Mis- sions, and organized many churches. Owing to the pressing demands for evangelistic work he demitted the Huntersville charge in 1895. and the next two years 266 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. were spent exclusively as the evangelist of the Board of Home Missions. In 1897 he asked to be assigned to the work in Cor- sicana, Texas. In January, 1898, he removed with his family to Corsicana, and took up the work of the Mis- sion at that place. He was sent by the Synod to can- vass for funds for a church building, and in this he was successful. A large and elegant building and a com- modious manse was also erected. During this pas- torate the church grew from forty-three members to one hundred and nine, and the contributions more than doubled. Having received a call to the East Avenue Tabernacle, Charlotte, X. C, he resigned his charge at Corsicana, and entered on the work at Charlotte, being installed Nov. 29th, 1901. In the fifteen months in which he has been pastor at East Avenue Tabernacle, there have been one hundred and forty-five accessions to that church, and over four hundred on the Sabbath School roll. At this writing he is still pastor of this church. Mr. Orr received the degree of A. M. from Erskine College, and the degree of D. D. from Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pa., in 1901. In addition to his work as pastor of East Avenue Tabernacle, he is one of the professors in Elizabeth College, Charlotte, N. C. Mr. Orr was married Jan. i6th, 1879, to Miss Lula May Hunter, the daughter of Robert B. Hunter and Rebecca W. Jones, of Huntersville, N. C. She was born April 4th, t86o. and has borne her husband twelve children, seven of whom are still living. Dr. Orr is a preacher of marked ability, and a pastor who draws men to him and wins them to Christ. His work for God and the Church has been great, and most successful. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 267 KKV. C. G. PARKINSON. Parkinson, Rev. Gilbert Cordon. — Was born in Lincoln Co., Tenn., the son of James and Mary ( Pinkerfon ) Parkinson, iriis father was an elder in Prosperity. He was educated in Erskine Col- le^^e, spending one year in the Prei[)aratory Depart- ment, and four years in the College Classes. He graduated in 1891. After teaching school two years at Troy, S. C, he entered Erskine Theological Seminary in Oct., 1893, and grad- uated in "95. The Second Presbytery lice'nsed him April 13. 1895. That he might be better equipped for the work to which he had been assigned, the same Pres- bytery ordained him in the Divinity Plall, Oct. 28, 1895. By appointment of the Home ]Mission Board he took charge of the mission in Little Rock. Ark., July, 1895. In July, the following year, he opened a mission in Jacksonville, Ark., which he carried on in connection with the work in Little Rock, until N'ovember, 1900. At the meeting of Synod in 1900 he was elected Pro- fessor of Church History, Homiletics and Pastoral The- ology in Erskine Theological Seminary. He spent one year in special preparation in Princeton Theological Seminary, and entered the duties of his professorship in October, 1901. He was inaugurated Dec. 12, 1901. He is a diligent student, a scholar of attainments, and possesses a vigorous and acute intellect. Parkinson. Thomas JV. — Son of Brown Parkinson and Mary Moore, was born in Fairfield Co.. S. C. Sep- tember 3. 1822, but was reared in Lincoln Co., Tenn. 268 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. His father, a Scotchman, emigrated to this country in early times, and settled in the upper edge of Fairfield Co., and connected with Hopewell A. R. P. church, un- der the care of Rev. John Hemphill, D. D. Thence he removed to Lincoln Co., Tenn.,, and with his family formed a part of the nucleus out of which has grown the congregation of Prosperity. Thomas was one of 7 children and his educational opportunities were limited. He joined Prosperity A. R. P. Church early in life, began and completed his course of study at Viney Grove Academy — the log col- lege of the Tennessee Presbytery — where also he taught for awhile. He had a strong, vigorous mind. "We believe it was admitted that he was one of the best lin- guists educated at Viney Grove, and probably one of the best in the Southern Synod." He spent one year in the Seminary at Due West, S. C, riding through on horseback, leaving his home on the long journey in October or November of 1846. Returning home, he completed his theological course under private instruc- tions. Was licensed by the Tennessee Presbytery at Head Springs, Marshall Co., Tenn., was ordained at Bethel, Lincoln Co., Tenn., and settled as pastor over the united congregation of Bethel and Head Springs. A year previous to his death he gave up the Bethel branch of his charge in consequence of ill health. He was in ministry about eight years and for five was corresponding editor of the Due West Telescope. He died Sept. 6. 1857. He was married September 15, 1847, to Griscilda B. Sloan, a daughter of Samuel vSloan and Mattie Parkin- son. She was born in Chester Co., S. C, Sept. 22, 1824. Two children were born to them — a son who died in 1892, and was Mrs. Hettie A. Moore, of Molina. Tennessee. As a preacher Mr. Parkinson was plain rather than showy — instructive rather than fascinating. He was a plain SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 269 man and delighted to present the Gospel in its simpli- city. As a speaker he was earnest and impressive, as a theologian, thorough and accurate, a genuine lover of the old Divines ; as a writer, pointed and clear. In manner he w^as quiet and reserved. He was a good man — best loved by those who knew him best. Patrick^ Rev. John. — Son of Charles and Isabella Pat- rick, was born in Union Co., S. C, Feb. 3, 1804. He was of "Irish parentage who were remarkable for their intelligence and piety." He was a farmer until nearly 30 years of age, at which time he thought of becoming a minister. One day when between the handles of the plow,, the thought came into his mind, "Am I pursuing my proper calling — ought I not to preach the gospel?" He soon entered school, and began the study of Greek. After a course of four years, be graduated from Jeffer- son College, Canonsburgh, Pa. He pursued his studies in theology at the same place completing the course in 1841. On account of his views on slavery he returned to the South and was licensed in 1841 by the Associate Pres- bytery of the Carolinas. He labored in connection with Dr. Horatio Thompson, to bring about a union of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas with the First Presbytery of the A. R. Synod of the South. This union was consummated April 15, 1844, the Synod having approved the basis of union at its meeting Oct. 10, 1843. By this union Mr. Patrick became a member of the First Presbytery. He was never a settled pas- tor, but was diligent in labors. He itinerated among the vacant churches and missions fields of Virginia, east and middle Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, amid great hardship, self-denial, and expo- sure. In 1849 he reported that he had preached 47 Sabbath and 13 week days, and received $51.54. Bal- ance due him $100: of which he donated $10.46 to 270 SKETCHES OF AIINISTERS. Domestic Missions. He made no charge for travelling expenses. He took an active part in discussing ques- tions brought before the courts of the Church. In 1849 the Synod overtured to the Presbyteries in regard to a man marrying a sister of his deceased wife, the ques- tion : "Shall sessions be authorized to receive such persons into membership if, in their judgment, it be proper under particular circumstances?" The next year when it came before Synod Mr. Patrick took the lead in opposition to the overture. In the Synod of 1853. by appointment of the year before, he read an essay on the "Principles of Church Fellowship." This essay was printed in pamphlet form. In it he defended the position that the privilege of communion should be restricted to those who subscribed to the subordinate standard of the Church. About the same time he published a pamphlet containing three discourses on baptism. After the adjournment of Synod at Salem, Tenn., in 1852, he visited Pope Co., Ark., where he preached three months. He organized Pisgah church Jan. 29th, 1853. He then returned to his work in the first Presbytery. He married his second cousin. Miss Mary E., daughter of John Patrick of Union Co., S. C, Feb. 3. 1854, his fiftieth birthday. During the summer of 1855 he moved to Pope Co., Ark., and set- tled in the bounds of Pisgah congregation. He was stated supply of this Church until i860, also from May, 1863, to December. 1867. After that date he was able to do very little preaching. He died Feb. 23, 1875, leaving five children. His wife had died some time before. Patterson, Alexander Loivry. — Alexander Lowry Pat- terson was the third son of Robert J. and Sarah E. Pat- terson. He was born on the i8th day of May, 1847. in Burke Co.,, Georgia. When about ten years old, his parents SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 271 A. L. PATTERSON. moved to Jefferson Coun- ty,, Ga., near Ebenezer. He was reared on the farm. He entered the army quite youno^. and served a year ni the war, in the com- mand of Wade Hamp- ton. He was severely wounded in a charge near h^ayetteville, X. C. After the close of the war, being unable to work upon the farm, he was sent to the Academy at Louisville. Georgia, where he was prepared for college. On the /th of Jan... 1861;. he entered Erskine College, and graduated June 28th. 1871. Entered the Theological Seminary (at Due West) January. 1872. lie was licensed b\- the Second Presbytery at Generos- tee. Anderson Co., S. C, Sept. 1873. During the years of 1874 and '75 he taught at Ebenezer. Jefferson Co., Georgia, and preached at the vacancies of "Pine H 11" and "Urier Creek."' ( )n the 2nd Sabbath of Decem- ber. 1875. ^1^ began preaching at "Lodimont" in the western part of Abbeville Co., S. C. A few members of the A. R. Church had been gathered into an organization, by Dr. Thompson Sloan, at this place. During the year 1876 a call for one half of his time was presented by the church at Lodimont (afterwards m ■ ed into the village of Mt. Carmel). This call was • cepted. and at a call meeting of Presby- tery, he was ordained and installed. Eor twenty-seven years he has labored in this com- munity. Many and varied have been the difficulties of his field recjuiring much self-denial and effort. For many years he was the only minister in that section of the countrv. There were no schools and but one church 272 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. within miles. Stills and whiskey wagons were plenti- ful. Surrounded by ignorance, infidelity and indiffer- entism, he taught school during the week and preached in church or school house on Sabbath. In 1893 he began preaching at Iva, a town in Anderson C, S. C, on the C. & W.^C. R. R.. In the summer of 1894 he organized a church in that place, where he has labored in connection with Mt. Carmel. On the 3rd of September, 1874, A. L. Patter- son and Mary Alice Trimble, the daughter of James and Susan Lowry Trimble, were united in marriage. Seven children were born to this marriage, of whom five are living. On the 29th of December, 1901, Mrs. A. L. Patterson "fell on sleep." He is still living, and laboring at the same place — Mt. Carmel, S. C. Patterson, Edzvin Erskinc. — Born in Burke Co., Ga., Sept. 8th, 1853; was graduated at Erskine College, 1877. His divinity course was taken at Erskine Theol- ogical Seminary, and the Second Associate Reformed Presbytery granted him license April 8th, 1882. He was sent very soon to the Texas Presbytery, and there, Dec, 1883, ordained. His stated labors began at Chicota, Lamar Co., Texas, 1886. In 1888, he was installed pas- tor, and resigned in 1896. He did a good work, both in building up this conpfregation and in founding and maintaining the Chicota High School. Early in the summer of 1896, he became stated supply of New Leb- anon, West Va., and continued till Dec. 15th, 1897, when his connection was transferred to the Southern Presbyte- rian church. Patterson, Robert Emefte. — Was born May 6th, 1850, in Burke Co., Ga. His father's name was Robert Jack- son Patterson, and his mother's maiden name Sarah E. Lowry. He had good educational opportunities, attend- ing the Louisville (Ga.) Academy, and graduating from SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 273 E. PATTERSON. Erskine College in 1875. He joined the church at Bethel, Ga., in 1867. He was received as a student of Theology in 1876, by the Second Presbyter}'. He studied Theology at the Erskine Theological Sem- inary, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery in 1878. He was ordained by the same Presbytery the same year, and went immediately to Texas, where the first five years of his life were spent in missionary work, often making long trips three and four hundred miles on horseback. He endured many hardshps. Most of this time he made his home in Lovelady, Houston Co., where he was instru- mental in building a church. He was installed pastor of this church in April, 1884. He continued, however, to make long missionary tours, and was often absent from home for long periods. On account of his w^ife's health, he demitted this church and returned to Georgia in Nov- ember, 1886. A large part of 1887 he labored in Arkansas. But again on account of his wife's failing health he re- turned to Georgia. He was installed pastor of the Doraville church in 1888, and labored there and among the vacant churches of that vicinity for ten years. He demitted this charge in X'ovember, 1897. Soon afterward he was stricken with typhoid fever and died Sept. 26th, 1899. Nov. 13th, 1883, he was married to Miss Sophronia Boyd, a daughter of Hon. Robert Boyd. Her mother's maiden name was Miss Ruth Patterson. Mrs. Patter- son was born in Jeflferson Co.. May, 1854. They had seven children. She is still living at Doraville, Ga. 18 2/4 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. J. PATTERSON. Patterson, Samuel Jas- per.— Rev. Samuel J. Pat- terson is the son of Wil- liam Jasper Patterson and Elizabeth Foster, and was born in the bounds of Eb- enezer congregation, Union Co., Miss., Jan. 2nd, 1875. His father died when he was three years old, and his mother when he was four. His educational advan- tages in his youth were limited to a few terms in the public schools. He determined, however, to have an education, and was prepared for college at the Robinson High School in Tipton Co., Tenn., and graduated at Er- skine College, in June, 1897. He was received as a stu- dent of theology by the Memphis Presbytery, at a called meeting at Due West, S. C, Oct. 26th, 1895, and gradu- ated from Erskinei Seminary in June, 1898, being li- censed by the Memphis Presbytery at Ebenezer, Miss., August 22nd, 1896. He was ordained by the same Pres- bytery, at Richland, Tenn.,, Oct. 29th, 1898. Having accepted a call to Steele Creek, Mecklenburg- Co., N. C, he was installed Nov. 19th, 1898, and re- mained until Feb. loth, 1902, when he resigned to ac- cept the appointment of the P>oard of Home Missions to the mission at Memphis, Tenn. Here he remained until Xovember, 1902, when, on account of his health, he had to give up the work in Memphis. He was re- called to his old charge at Steele Creek, and was rein- stalled Dec. 1 2th, 1902, and still continues pastor there. Mr. Patterson married Miss Margaret Lily Davis Jan. 19th, 1899. She is the daughter of Robert C. G. Davis and Mary Allie Coleman, and was born near SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 275 Nelson. Drew Co., Ark.. Jan. 4th. 1877. Two children have been born to them. Patterson, Rev. IViUiam Little. — Was born in Jeffer- son Co., Ga., March 7, 1846. His father, Robert J. Pat- terson, was an elder in Ebenezer. His mother, Sarah E., was a daughter of Rev. Joseph Lowry. His early education was received from his uncle, William S. Low- ry, in Louisville, Ga. During the civil war. he did faith- ful service for more than a year as a member of Cobb's Legion in Hampton's Cavalry. He spent three years in Erskine College, graduating in 1871. He graduated from Erskine Theological Seminary in 1873, and was li- censed by the Second Presbytery at Generostee. S. C, Sept. 6, 1873, and ordained by the same Presbytery in Dec, 1874. In 1873 the Synod directed him to "labor as a missionary in the State of Texas for the year." He entered this field Jan. 13, 1874. This was the beginning of Synod's work in Texas. Rev. T. J. Bon- ner's work had not been directed by Synod. Mr. Pat- terson's first year was spent mostly in exploring the field. He visited every location in the State that seemed to offer an opening for the Associate Reformed Church, some times spending several months at the most inviting places. He travelled on horseback. The next year he concentrated his labors at Richland in Navarro Co. Here, in connection with Harmony and other points in Freestone Co., he labored for about six years. But he was frequently called to visit other sec- tions, and plant churches. In 1880 he was sent by Synod to Arkansas, where he spent four years supplying Zion and Ebenezer. He spent a few months in 1881 supplying Prosperity and New Hope. He married Miss Nannie R. Boyd in Lincoln Co., Ark., Dec. 21, 1882, a daughter of A. J. and Mary (Sterling) Boyd, and a native of Chester Co., S. C. She became afflicted with rheumatism in a 276 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. few years, and was a cripple until her death, which oc- curred Dec. I, 1897. He Avas called to the pastorate of Harmony and Richland, Texas, and was installed in 1885. His eyes failed, causing great suffering. For this cause he resigned his charge in 1897. In Decem- ber, 1901, he married Mrs. Susan Little, the widow of Rev. J. M. Little. Few ministers have ever served the A. R. Church in her service more faithfully and loyally, and endured more hardships in her service than Rev. W. L. Patterson. Patton, Edmund Lends, L. L. D. — Edmund Lewis Patton was born in Abbe- ville District, South Caro- lina, on the 15th of Feb- ruary, 1827. His father was William Patton., a successful planter and merchant, who was robbed and murdered in Tennes- see, in 1833, by a man who had travelled with him some three or four days before committing this terrible crime. Mr. Patton left a family of nine children, four daughters and five sons. The subject of this sketch entered the Preparatory department in Erskine College in his fourteenth year, and after some five or six years in that institution, en- tered the junior class in the South Carolina College, making his degree, in 1846, with the highest distinction. Of this class, Thomas B. Jeter, afterwards governor of South Carolina, and Henry Mclver. at present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, were both members, and E. L. PATTON. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 277 others who have made an honorable record in the his- tory of the State. After leaving his Ahna Mater, Dr. Patton spent some months in Yale College in the study of the modern languages; principally Italian and French. In 1854 he was elected Professor of Ancient Languages in Erskine College, and entered upon the discharge of his duties in the following year. In 1859, he was elected President of the same Institution; but only two classes completed the prescribed course during his administration, the exercises of the College having been suspended in consequence of the Civil War. In 1869, he was elected President of West Tennessee College, Jackson, Tenn., which position he occupied some eight years, when he returned to Erskine College as Professor of Greek and Hebrew in the Theological Seminary, and of the Greek Language and Literature in the Institution with which he was formerly con- nected. This position he held in College and Seminary until 1882 when he was elected Professor of Ancient Languages in his Alma Mater, the South Carolina College, with which he was connected sixteen years, retiring in 1898. He has been spending his time, since his retirement, at Baltimore, Indian Head, and Washing- ton, with his sons, W. E. Patton and J. B. Patton. Of five sons, only these two survive. Henry Cow- per Patton, his second son, was a member of the legal profession, and well known throughout the State as a young man of more than ordinary talent. Dr. Patton's whole life has been devoted to teaching. He was licensed, and subsequently ordained, by the Second Presbytery of the A. R. Presbyterian Church, soon after his connection with Erskine College as Pro- fessor of the Latin Language and Literature : but his work in the pulpit has not been regular, but only oc- casional, as opportunity offered from time to time. In earlv life, fat the age of fourteen"), he connected him- self with the church of Cedar Spring and Long Cane, 278 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of which Rev. Dr. Hemphill was pastor at that time; whose "name is an ointment poured forth." In 1859 he married Miss Mary Bryson, daughter of Dr. Henry Bryson, of Fayetteville, Tennessee, so long and favorably known in the Associate Reformed Pres- byterian Church. Her mother's maiden name was Hannah McMullen, sister of Dr. R. B. McMullen, a distinguished minister in the Southern Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Patton was born in Lincoln County, Ten- nessee, on the 2 1st of March. 1834. The parents of Dr. Patton and wife, on both sides of the family, were of Scotch-Irish extraction. Dr. Patton is very fond of reading, and has been a student all his life, but has prepared nothing for the press — at least, nothing of a permanent character. He is now well advanced in his seventh decade. Of his father's family, consisting of nine, only two survive, Dr. Patton and Mrs. K. P. Kennedy. Patton, IVilUani JJ'ashiiigton. — Born near Cedar Spring, Abbeville Co., S. C, Feb. 23., 1824, was a son of William Patton and Jane Kennedy. The educational opportunities of his times were limited and after a few years in the common schools of the neighborhood, he was sent to the Academy at Due West, S. C, then presided over by the Rev. J. S. Pressly. Here he was prepared for college, and in the fall of 1838, at the age of 14 years, he, in company with his brother Frank, and two other young friends, went to Oxford, Ohio, and grackiated from Miami University, in 1842, with the highest honors of his class. At the time he entered college, Dr. Bishop was Pres- ident, but was succeeded in 1841 by Dr. Junkin, who was President when he graduated in 1842, in a class of 40 or 50. ;\bout half way of the course in 1841, in a great revival meeting conducted by Dr. Lyman Beecher, he became a convert, and ever after was SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 279 ''dead unto sin l)ut alive to God" tlir(mt;"li Jesus Christ our Lord. The fall after his graduation he entered the Theo- logical Seminary at Due West, S. C, and was licensed to preach the Gospel at Cedar Springs, S. C, at the spring meeting of the Second Presbytery in 1844. He led a very busy life, preaching in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. He was ordained in 1846, and soon after his ordination was ordered by Synod to go to Texas in company wnth Rev. J- M. Young, for the purpose of ex- ploring that country and establishing mission stations. In 1848 he went to New York, where he spent the greater part of the winter and spring of 1849 '" preach- ing and study. Being desirous of securing a settle- ment in the West, he was sent by the Northern Branch of the A. R. Church to wSt. Louis in the summer of 1849. At that time the cholera was devastating the city, and he was urged by relatives and friends to leave for a place of safety. But in a letter just before his death he replied that he could not leave his charge when they were sick and dying all around him and more than at any other time needed the consolation of the Gospel. He said the Roman Catholic Priests were ev- erywhere ministering to the sick and the dving, and surely a minister of the Gospel could not be less faith- ful. Like the Roman Sentinel he remained faithful to his post until he was cut down by the terrible scourge, cholera, on the 6th of July. 1849, aged 25 years and a few months. He was buried in the Presbyterian cemetery of that city and there he will sleep until the day break and the shadows shall flee away. ria.vco. Rcr. //'. ./. .l/.^The subject of this sketch is a native of York County, having had his birth in the Bethany congregation, .\(ncml)er 10th. 1856. He was 28o SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. W. A. M. PLAXCO. the son of pious parents, and was reared under care- ful religious training. His father was W. S. Plaxco, an elder for many years in Bethany, and his mother was Margaret M. Gallo- way. Bro. Plaxco was educated in the country schools of the community, and was sent to prepare for college to King's Mt., N. C. He entered Erskine in 1878, and graduated in the class of '81. In the fall of that year he entered the Seminary, hav- ing previously joined the First Presbytery at a meet- ing held at Shiloh, Lancaster Co., S. C. He was li- censed at Charlotte, N. C, in the spring of 1883, spent some time after the completion of his course in supply- ing Hinkston and Olivet in Kentucky, during the ill- ness of their pastor, Rev. D. B. Pressly. He received a call to Shiloh, S. C, and was settled over that con- gregation in October, 1884. He served this church faithfully for seven years, teaching school also part of the time to supplement his salary. From Shiloh he went to Ebenezer, Ya., and was stated supply there for eighteen months ; he then spent some time in Arkansas, and also labored one year at New Hope, Ky., one year at Sharon, S. C, and re- turned to New Hope for two years. He then served the churches in Laurens Co., living at Ora, and preach- ing there in connection with Providence and Head Spring. He finally settled at Clinton, over Providence and Head Spring as pastor in 1900. From this brief account of Bro. Plaxco's labors it will be seen that he SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 281 has endured hardness. He has traveled over many States to reach his fields of work, has supplied weak congregations and received only a meager salary. He has not hesitated at much sacrifice to go wherever the Synod sent him or God in His providence called him. Few ministers in our church have made greater self denial to do what seemed to be the will of God. Bro. Plaxco married in 1883, Miss Mary Elizabeth Whitesides, of Smyrna, S. C. Eight children are the fruit of this marriage, all living. Peoples, James Harvey. — Son of Richard Peoples and Jane Harris,, was born Nov. 22, 1834, at Hemphill's Store, on McAlpine's Creek, in Providence Beat, 11 miles south of Charlotte, Mecklenburgh Co., N. C. His childhood was without any incident of special note. He first attended the common schools of that vicinity; later began classical studies with Rev. John Hunter, in Stony Creek, near Back Creek, N. C. He completed his pre- paratory course at Providence Academy, Mecklenburgh, N. C, and then entered Erskine College, from which he graduated in the summer of 1856. He joined the church at Sardis, probably in the early 50's. He was received as a student of Theology in the fall of '58 or spring of '59, by the First Presbytery at Am- ity, N. C, where he delivered his first trial. His Theo- logical studies were at first in private with Rev. John Hunter, near Sardis, but later in the Seminary at Due West, S. C. He was licensed in the spring of i860, probably at New Hope, S. C. by First Presbytery. He was ordained at Hopewell, Maury County, Tenn., by Revs. A. S. Sloan and An.lrew McElroy, of the Ten- nesse Presbytery. He first preached the fall and winter in Nashville, Tenn., from 1861 to 1865 in Con- federate camps in North Carolina and Virginia, and also at Gills Creek and other vacancies of the First Prcsbvterv. He supplied New Eebanon. W. \'a.. the 282 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. summer of 1866, came to Hopewell, Alaur}- Co., Tenn., in October of that year, was called to the pastorate of that church in the fall and installed in the spring of 1867. This pastorate continued for many years. He is now supplying them with an occasional appoint- ment, from his home in Columbia, Tenn. He was married at New Hope, S. C, April 24, 1862, to Miss Margaret Simonton Douglass. She was a daughter of Alexander and Jeannette Simonton Doug- lass, and was born in Fairfield Co., S. C, Nov. 24, 1836. She has borne nine children, all living but one. The ancestry of both families were good and worthy people. His two oldest sons are capable and efficient educators at the head of training schools, one at Bells and the other at Fayetteville, Tenn. Phillips, Daz'id Gardiner. — Was born in Louisville, Ga., April 12th, 1865. His parents were David G. Phillips and Miss Eliza W. A. Little. In his youth he had good educational opportunities. He graduated from Erskine College in 1887. He joined the church at Ebenezer, Ga., in 1880. He was received as a student of Theology in 1888, by the Second Presbytery at Cannon Creek church, Newberry Co., S. C. He studied Theology at Due West and Princeton. He was licensed April 12th,, 1889, by the Second Presbytery, at Ebenezer, Ga. He was ordained by the same Presbytery April loth, 1890. His first work was done in Kentucky Presby- tery in 1889. In 1890 he served the church at Bartow, Fla. In 1 89 1 he went to Prosperity, S. C. In a short time he returned to Bartow^, Fla. He labored there from 1892 until 1896. He was then called to Cedar Spring and Bradley, S. C. He w^as their pastor from 1897 to 1901. From there he was called to the Atlanta Church, and is still their eificient pastor. He was called as pastor By Prosperity, S. C, Jtme, 189T. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 283 V>y Bartow, Fla., Nov., 1892. Cedar Spring- and Bradley, S. C, Sept., 1896. Atlanta. Ga., 1901. He was installed as pastor at Prosperity. S. C, June, 1891. Bartow, Fla., Nov., 1892. Bradley and Cedar Spring, Jan., 1897. Atlanta, March, 1902. He was married A])ril 15. 1891, at Due West, S. C, to Miss Janie \\^ideman. Her parents were Dr. J. W. and Mrs. E. Wideman. She was born May 3rd, 1869, in Abbeville Co., S. C. They have six children. Phillips, David Gardi- ner, D. D. — Was born, February ist, 181 7, at the Rocks., near Salisbury, Rowan Co., N. C. His pa- rents were Enoch and Francis Phillips. His father died while he was quite young, and he had to educate himself ; his moth- er was able to teach him some at home. He at- tended school only a short time. He graduated in 1846, from Erskine Col- lege, and divided first honor with H. T. Sloan. He joined the church in 1824. when seven years old. He was received as a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery, and studied Theology at Due West. He was licensed by Second Presbytery, at Concord, in An- derson Co.. S. C. He was ordained in May, 185 1, at Eb- enezer, Georgia, by a commission from the Second Presbytery. His first work was done in Jefferson and Burke Coun- D. G. PHILLIPS, D. D. 284 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. ties, Ga., where he served as stated supply at Ebenezer, Bethel, Pine Hill and Louisville. In 1851 he was called and installed pastor of these churches and continued as such until 1892. In 1875 he demitted Louisville and Bethel. He received calls from churches in Atlanta, Nashville and other cities but refused them all. April 1 2th, 1849, he married Mary Isabella Hearst, daughter of John and Margaret Hearst. She was born in Abbe- ville County, S. C, May 4th, 1824. She died February 28th, 185 1. She left one son, John Hearst, who died March 15th, 185 1. Rev. D. G. Phillips afterward married Miss Julia E. W. A. Little, March 24th, 1853. She was a daughter of Wm. and Nancy Little and was born in Jeflferson Co., Ga., April 7th, 1835, and died Nov. 2nd, 1883. They had four sons and four daughters, all living and all married except one son. In 1868 Dr. Phillips published a pamphlet entitled "Xachash," or "Who and What is the Negro." It attracted much attention at the time. He died August 22nd, 1899, ^^ the home of his son, Hon. W. L. Phillips, in Louisville, Ga. He was a man of ex- cellent spirit. A preacher of great power, he wielded a great influence for good. His preaching was charac- terized by great analytical and logical power. Few men have surpassed him as a reasoning and a close and cogent thinker. He had a remarkable memory and much of what was best in the writings of Byron, Young, Shakes- peare and Milton was at his command, and enriched his writings and sermons. He was often thrillingly elo- quent. He was a profound theologian. Porter, Rev. Alexander. — Of the original four mem- bers who organized the Second Presbytery of the Caro- linas, viz.: Peter McMullan, Wm. Dixon, Alexander Porter and David Bothwell, on the 8th of April, 1801. Mr. Porter was the youngest member. He was born and reared in Abbeville district, S. C, just west of Parson's SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 285 jNIountain. He was the first native born member of the Second Presbytery, and among the first of the Synod. Most of the other members were natives of Scotland or England. Having received his primary education at home, he repaired to Dickenson College, Pennsylvania, and here received his literary and theological training under the venerable Dr. Nisbet, the president of the college. He was licensed by the Associate Reformed Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia and settled in his home churcn as pastor, succeeding Dr. Thomas Clark. At Cedar Springs church, April 2nd, 1798, he was or- dained and installed i)astor of that congregation in con- nection with Long Cane's. Rev. John Hemphill deliv- ered the charge, both to pastor and people. This was the oldest and largest pastoral church in the presbytery. He continued here as pastor until the latter part of 1803, when he was released on account of feeble health and the uncommon largeness of his charge. Three months after the dissolution of their pastoral relation, Cedar Springs called him for the whole time. He continued to serve here as pastor until 1813 when he moved to Preble County, Ohio, being dismissed to the Presbytery of Ken- tucky, which at that time embraced a part of the State of Ohio. A colony went with him from his own church and other churches in the South. They organized one of the first congregations of the Associate Reformed Church in Ohio. IS'Ir. Porter made the change of his location on account of his health. This seems to have been much improved, for he was most abundant in his labors and continued to exercise his min- istry for twenty years longer. He died in 1835. ^^- Burns says of Mr. Porter that he was an excellent preacher and an unrivalled pastor. He quotes from those who knew him, "His sermons were artless in style, simple in their arrangement, yet personal in their aim, searching in their delineations and forcible 286 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. in their conclusions. They were always delivered with a native simplicity and a total disregard of all rule, that was attractive in the highest degree." Dr. John M. Mason testified to his godly character. "Mr. Porter," he said, "is a holy man." Dr. McDill, who knew him well, sets forth this excellent trait of his character, "When God's truth was involved, no man was more inflexible, unrelenting and uncompromising than Mr. Porter; cus- toms he did not like to change, and was slow to change ; but for the sake of a custom, he would never make an uproar in the church, as long as it was not imposed on him by some odious stretch of authority." Mr. Porter is described as a man well versed in Scrip- ture, a great Bible student, of much faith and prayer. He was of eminent ability as. a theologian and nine of the early ministers of our church studied under his direc- tion. He took an active part in Synod in staying the disruption threatened in the case of Mason, Matthews and Clark. "He died in the triumphs of faith, talking on his dying couch of death as of a familiar friend, and rejoicing in hope of a glorious immortality at God's right hand." He left one son in the ministry to go forth to the help of the Lord against the mighty, one a physician, and three daughters. Pressly Bonner Gricr. — Rev. P). G. Pressly is the son of Rev. N. E. Pressly, D. D., and Rachel Elliott, and was born in Tampico, Mex., March 5th, [880. When but a boy, he was sent to the United States to be educated and was prepared for college at Mt. Zion Institute, at Winnsboro, S. C, and graduated at Erskine College, June. 1900. After spending two years in teaching at Leslie, S. C, he entered the Seminary at Due West, in Sept., 1902, where he is now prosecuting his studies. He was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery, at Charlotte, N. C, in 1903. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 287 Pressly, Rev. Calvin. — Born at Starkville. iMiss., iNIarch 19, 1847, was the oldest son of Rev. David Pressly, D. D. His mother was a daughter of James h'air, of Abbe- ville Co.. S. C. In i860, he professed religion in his father's church. During the civil war he served with distinction in Gen. N. B. Forrest's famous cavalry. His educational advantages were good, — in a classical school in Starkville, Miss., and in Erskine college, where he graduated in 1869. In Oct. of the same year he was re- ceived as a student of theology, and entered Erskine The- ological Seminary. He completed the course in 1871. and was licensed by the Second Presbytery, at King's Creek, S. C, Aug. 11, 1871. The following year he preached in western Kentucky and at Shiloh, Miss. The Memphis Presbytery ordained him at Starkville, Miss., Aug. 31, 1872, and a few^ months later installed him pastor of Shiloh. This relation con- tinued until 1878. On account of feeble health, he was laid aside from regular ministerial work for six years. In Oct., 1884, he was installed pastor of Generostee, Concord, and Grove, S. C. He demitted this charge in 1894, and began work in Milam Co., Texas, Jan. 2. \)^. He was pastor of Marlow. Texas, from the spring of 1897 to Dec. I. 1902. He married. July 21, 1869, Aliss N. Ellen, only daugh- ter of Rev. J. P. and Mrs. Mary E. Pressly, Due West, S. C. She is a graduate of the Due West Female College in the class of 1863. Eight children were born to them. Pressly, Ehcnezcr Erskiiic. D. D. — In the lower part of Abbeville district, on December 23rd, 1808, Dr. Eben- ezer Pressly was born. ?Ie was the youngest son of Wil- liam and Elizabeth Hearst Pressly, both of whom were remarkable alike for their intelligence and piety. His father was one of the leading members of Cedar Springs congregation; an elder for many years, a man of strong- mind, well cultivated, with a heart devoted to the cause of Christ. 288 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. The mother of Dr. Pressly was a fit helpmeet for the father. Kind, affectionate and devotedly pious, she ex- erted a hallowed influence upon all abotit her. But a mysterious Providence called the father home, while the future Doctor was yet in his infancy. The same hand, however, that had removed the father raised up an uncle to take his place. Mr. William Hearst, discovering signs of promise in the boy took him under his care and provided for his education. He attended the common schools and was afterwards placed in Union Academy, Abbeville Co., S. C, over which Dr. Jno. T. Pressly was placed as Superintendent. This was a school of high grade for that day and had as teachers such scholars as Samuel P. Pressly and John S. Pressly. Among Dr. Pressly's classmates were men who became prominent in their respective callings. At the age of sixteen, Dr. Pressly, in company with his cousin. Dr. James P. Pressly, went to Lexington, Ky., expecting there to enter Transylvania University, but finding Dr. Bishop leaving to take charge of Miami Uni- versity, they went with him and entered the junior class. After a course of two years he graduated in 1826. He spent one session in post graduate study and in the spring of 1827 returned and connected with the Second Presby- tery at Bethel, Jefiferson Co., Ga. He studied theology under Dr. Jno. T. Pressly. He was licensed to preach at Due West on the 21st of February, 1829, not being yet 21 years old. He spent sometime in preaching in the districts of Abbeville, An- derson and Laurens, and in a missionary tour through Georgia, Florida and Alabama. In his journeys he en- dured many hardships, the country was, much of it, a wilderness, the settlements new and the hunting ground of the savage. Alone he traversed these three new States hunting the dispersed of the Associate Reformed Church. Such heroism puts the 20th century preacher to shame. In the spring of 1830 he received a call from the congre- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 289 o-ations of Generostee and Due West, and was installed O over these churches at Due \\'est, on the 7th of August. For seven years he served as pastor for both congrega- tions, though distant from each other twenty-five miles. At the expiration of seven years, the congregations hav- ing increased, Generostee was demitted, but he con- tinued at Due West as pastor for thirty years. In 1872 he was chosen professor of theology, and was the princi- pal teacher for fifteen years. The Associate Refonmed Church felt keenly the scarcity of ministers in the Second Presbytery. Rev. Joseph Lowry and Dr. Pressly were often the only members present. The idea of a denomin- ational high school in which young men could be trained for college and the ministry was broached, and Dr. Pressly was largely instrumental in its establishment. Dr. Pressly took charge of it in 1839. During the next year two other professors were associated with him and thus Erskine College had her beginning. With some propriety then, Dr. Pressly can be called the father of Erskine College, and if he had done nothing more for his Church and the State, this alone would have en- titled him to the grateful recognition of posterity. But his work now was too heavy for one man. He was President of the College, Professor in the Seminary, and pastor of the church. His health was breaking, he felt compelled to oft'er his resignation of his presidency and also his professor- ship. In September, 1846, the Synod, reluctantly accepted his resignation, but requested him to continue with the College until his successor could take his place. His connection with the institution was not dissolved until 1848, when Dr. R. C. Grier took charge. Two years rest served to restore his health to a good degree, and in 1849 he accepted the presidency of the "Anderson Female Collegiate Institute." He accepted only on condition that his dtities as teacher and president should not interfere with his pastoral relationship. He 19 290 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. retained his connection with the Anderson College until 1852. In 183 1 Dr. Pressly was married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Malinda Agnew of Due West, S. C. Fourteen children were born to them, all of these died in infancy except three daughters and one son, Dr. W. L. Pressly, President of Erskine Seminary. On June 20th, 1853, his wife died. He afterwards married Miss Mary A. Taylor of Laurens Co., S. C, in 1854. Two children were born from this marriage, both dying in in- fancy. On August 21, i860. Dr. Pressly met his death from an accident, being thrown from his bug-gy while on his wa)' to fill an appointment at Little Mountain. As a preacher and educator. Dr. Pressly deserves a distinguished place in the A. R. Church. "During his presidency of Erskine he proved his ability not only to teach but to govern as well. As a preacher his discourses were marked by originality and a grandeur which excited the admiration of the hearer and showed that the speaker thought for himself." Pressly, Ehenezer E. — There was born of David A. and Elizabeth (Todd) Pressly, about 1837, in Anderson Co., S. C, a son to whom they gave the name above. At 18, Dec. 31, 1855., young Ebenezer entered the Preparatory Department of Erskine College, and was in the large class of 1 861, numbering 37, whom patriotism led a few months before graduation to exchange the college gown for the camp gun. In Aug., i86r, he volunteered in the Confederate Army, and June 27, 1862, was sorely wounded at Cold Harbor, in the ankle joint. While he recovered so as to walk with a cane, the musket ball re- mained for 28 years, producing all this time a running sore. A ha])py matrimonial alliance was formed with Miss Lizzie McDill of Donalds. S. C. After a full course of SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 291 theology at Erskinc Divinity Hall the Second Presbytery licensed him April 9th, 1870. He was ordained and in- stalled pastor of Shiloh. Lancaster Co., S. C, June 14, 1871. which charge was demitted April 2, 1883. Early in his ministry he supplied Unity and Gills Creek, being installed pastor over the latter Nov. 24, 1882, and over the former. May 23rd, 1879. Demitting both Sept. 7th, 1885, a short time was spent in northern Arkansas and Rockbridge Co., Va. He became stated supply of Amity from 1886 to Sept. 29th, 1890, when he joined the Presbyterian Church, where for seven years he ministered. Now retired, his home is Scotts, N. C. A quiet unassuming minister, retired and reticent, labor- ing under many difficulties he patiently awaits the sum- mons to go hence. Pressly, David, D. D.— Son of Samuel Pressly, M. D.., and Elizabeth Hearst, was born near Cedar Springs church, in Abbe- ville Co., S. C, January 8, 1820. His educational op- portunities were such as the country afforded. He graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1839. His theological studies were prosecuted at Allegheny and Erskine Theological Seminaries. He was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery in 1841, and ordained by the same Presbytery, at Due West, S. C, Oct. 12, 1842. That year he was called to the Starkville. Miss., church, and was installed pastor April 7, 1843 ^'^^^ continued in this pastorate for over 40 years. Subsequently he preached at I\It. Carmel Miss., and U.WIU PRESSLY, D. D. 292 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Beulah, Tenn, and was pastor of Bloomington, Tenn., for a number of years. He married Miss Lettie Ann Fair, daughter of James Fair and Anne Glasgow, who was born Jan. 13, 1825. She bore five children and died Oct. 10, 1849. He was married the second time to Miss Sarah Brown Peden, daughter of Thomas and Isabella Peden, April ij, 1852. She was born August 13, 1827. Seven chil- dren were born to them. She died January 17, 1883. He was married the third time May 18, 1886, to Mrs. Janie Moffatt Grier, widow of the late Rev. R. L. Grier. There were no children by this marriage. Mr. Pressly received the honorary degree of D. D. from Erskine College. He was the author and publisher of a number of pamphlets. He was a good preacher and a very pious man. He regularly in addition to family worship, upon retiring, committed himself as a little child to God — in fact repeated the child's prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep," etc., and soon as the morning awakened his the incense of a grateful heart rose from his lips to the "Keeper of Israel." He was rarely if ever sick, and his life overflowed with kindness and good cheer. He was wont to say "Never better, " or "Better than ever," and his beaming face reflected the happiness of a heart in touch with God. On the 29th day of July, 1891, his spirit returned to God and his body the following day was laid to rest in Salem Graveyard. Pressly, David Brainard. — He was a son of Dr. James P. and Mary E. Young Pressly, and was born in Due West, S. C., Oct. 28, 1848. His early education was ob- tained in the Academy at Due West, and in the primary department of the Due West Female College. He spent one year in military service, in 1864-5 of the civil war, in the Confederate Army. In the fall of 1865 he entered Erskine College, and graduated in 1869. He en- tered Erskine Theological Seminary in 1869, ^^^ grad- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 293 uated in 1871. and was li- censed ])>■ the Second A. R. Presbytery, at King's Creek, Xewberry Co., S. C, Aug. nth, 1871. In October of the same year he was sent to the Ken- tucky Presbytery, to Hink- ston and Mt. Ohvet. Calls were presented to him irom both these churches, which he accepted, and was installed as pastor in the tall of 1872. This proved to be a pleasant and useful pastorate, and continued fourteen years. His health gave wav and after several years of increasing bodily afflic- tions, he reluctantly asked for a dissolution of the pas- toral relation, which was granted Nov. i8th, 1886. He removed to Mt. Zion, Mo., and undertook the work there, but there was no improvement in his health and he died Sept. 24th. 1888, in his fortieth year. His body was conveyed to Due W'est, S. C, and liuried in the cemetery there where he sleeps with his fathers. Mr. Pressly was married in Due West, S. C Oct. 24th, 1872. to Miss Martha Lois, daughter of Dr. Robt. C. and r.arbara Mofifatt Grier. To them were born four children, two of whom, with their mother, still survive. I\lrs. Pressly returned to Due West and now occupies the Grier homestead, among the friends of her youth. Mr. Pressly was j^romj^t and faithful in all his official duties, and rarely absent from any meeting of his Pres- bvterv or S\nod. His was the longest continuous ser- vice of any minister in the Presbytery since 1870. As Financial Agent for this Presbytery he had much to do with securing for it that reputation which it has so long borne. .\s a ])reacher he was sound, evangelical and 294 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. practical and earnest in his appeals. He was beloved by his brethren in the Presbytery and his death was a per- sonal loss to each of them. His memory is tenderly cherished by those whom he served so long" and well in his pastoral charge, and general work in the Presbytery. In his death the Presbytery lost one of its most active, earnest and influential members. Pressly,- David Fed en. — Son of the Rev. Thomas P. Pressly and Dora Augusta Smith, was born January 8, 1881, at Troy, Obion Co., Tenn. He enjoyed good edu- cational advantages, attending Obion College, in Troy, Tenn., and graduating in Erskine College, Due West, S. C, in June, 1901. He joined the Asociate Reformed church of Troy Nov. 22, 1896, and entered the Theolog- ical Seminary at Due West, in the fall of 1901, finishing the course there in June of the present year, 1903. He was licensed at a called meeting of the Memphis Pres- bytery, at Salem, Tenn., June 30, 1903. I. E. PHE.SSI,Y, U. n. Pressly, JoIiJi Ebcnezer, D. D.— 'Sa\y the light Nov. 3rd, 1826, 39 days after his father's death. His mother, who was Martha Devlin, of Cedar Springs, S. C, married a second time. He was left then in care of his uncle. Dr. E. Ej. Pressly, President of Clark and Erskine Sem- inary. A high school in connection with the Di- vinity School had been opened Eeb i, 1836. The leading spirit and jirincipal SKETCHES OF MIXISTERS. 295 Professor was John S. Tressly. Into this primary in- stitution he was placed, and graduated in her third class, 1844. After a full course in the Divinity Department there, the Second Presbytery granted him license Sept. 18th, 1847. After missionar)' work in the West he spent four months in the winter '49 and '50 at Coddle Creek and New Perth, Iredell Co., X. C, and was ordained and installed pastor Feb. 12, 1851. Then began a long and faithful pastorate over two congregations 18 miles apart, two sermons each Sabbath in summer, baptizing children, solemnizing marriages, catechizing, preaching in neigh- boring congregations over an area of some twenty-five by fifteen miles. He was moderator of Synod in 1868, and Erskine College conferred the title of D. D. in 1878, and the responsibility of the clerkship of the First Pres- bytery was put upon him from April 7, 1873, to April 4th, 1883. In 1869 the Synod appointed a committee to revise the Psalms. In this work as main factor he became intensely interested, wrote much and aroused the Church in get- ting the mind of the Spirit in this Book of Praises. About Nov. loth, 1885, Dr. Pressly received a hurt which caused great sufifering and lamed him for life. He demitted his charge April 13th, 1886. Though con- fined to his room his pen w^as busy and many messages went out from his sick chamber. Loving to preach as he did and regaining in a measure his strength, he Nvas heard often when propped up in the pulpit. After lingering for ten years among a people he had served as pastor thirty- five years, he died May i6th, 1897. Next to a man's conversion, that which shapes his life most is his marriage. April 4. 1849. a helpmeet indeed was given him in Miss ^^lartha S. Sherard, a daughter of William and Phoebe Sherard of Anderson Co.. S. C. She was a woman of great prudence, good judgment and self-possession, "of unusual good common sense, of nerve 296 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. and of gentleness," the stay, support and balance wheel of her distinguished husband with his nervous tempera- ment and delicate constitution. She was a model, sys- tematic housekeeper, but best of all devotedly pious. As a preacher he made the most careful and painstak- ing preparation, his thoughts were systematically and logically arranged. Believing that the priest's lips should keep knowledege, he never went into the pulpit unpre- pared. When he arose to speak there was a uniqueness, originality, striking and vivid utterance, sometimes a vein of humor, all consecrated, that commanded and held the attention of the most listless hearer. He preached Christ both to the head and heart. As a pulpit orator he ranked among the very best in the Synod. Dr. Pressly was a singular genius. In the same sen- tence he would make you cry and cheer. Wlien not de- pressed with disease, an entertaining, suggestive, and brilliant conversationalist. He wielded the pen of a ready writer. Ever loyal to his denominational vows, an able defender of her distinctive principles, he was ever watchful of changes lest they be hurtful innovations. His last great speech was delivered before the First Presbytery at Cen- tral Steele Creek, Oct. 6th, 1891, against the introduc- tion of the organ. His congregation have chiseled in tablet : "He was a man of wide influence and culture, a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a devoted soldier of the cross." But better than tables of stone he is indelibly engraved in the fleshly tables of the heart in the thousands of his spiritual children. Pressly, James Hearst. — Rev. James Hearst I'ressly is the son of Rev. William L. Pressly, D. D., and l*^-an- cis Wideman, and was born March 8th, 1866, in the parsonage at Generostee, Anderson C'o., S. C'., when his father was j^astor tlure. \\'hen lie was but a child, his SKKTClll'-S OF MINISTERS. 297 fatht-r was called to the pastorate of the church at L)ue West, S. C, ajid his education was obtained in the schools at that place, lie graduated from Er- sKine College, in June. I685, and spent the next tive vears in teaching, at iVlarion Junction, Ala. In this work he was eminent- ly successful, but he felt called to enter the minis- try. In i8qo, he entered Er- skine Seminary, graduating in 1892. He was licensed bv the Second l'resl)ytery„ at Woodruff. S. C. Oct., 1891. He was ordained and installed as pastor of States- ville, X. C, by the Mrst Presbytery, in July, 1892, and still continues pastor of that church. His work in States- ville has been very successful ; the church has grown and developed in every way, and his influence is felt for good in all the city. Mr. Pressly was married to ^liss Mabel Lowry of Harrells, Ala.. June 19th, 1895, and they have five chil- dren. ]\Irs. Pressly is the daughter of the late Rev. James A. Lowry and Katherine Craig of Prosperity, Ala. J. H. I•UESSI,^, Pressly, Joseph Loicry. — Is the son of Rev. \\'illiam Laurens Pressly, President of Erskine Theological Sem- inary. His mother was l^Vancis Elizabeth, daughter of .\dam Wideman. of Long Cane. S. C. He was born lA'b. 5tlT. 1868. at Moffatsville. $. C. His father re- moving soon afterwards to Due W'cst. S C.. his early education was secured in the schools there. At thirteen years of age he connected himself with the A. R. P. church in Due West. S. C. He graduated from Erskine 298 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. College in the class of 1890, and w'RS received as a student of theology by the Second Presbytery, in April, 1892, and pursued his studies in Erskine The- ological Seminary. He was licensed by the Sec- ond Presbytery, April 7th, 1894, and was ordained by the same Presbytery, .Oct. 26th, 1895. He spent a portion of the following year in the Texas Presby- j. L. PRESSLY. ^^^^^^ j^^^g^jy ^^ Milano. From there he went to Generostee, S. C, and afterwards to Ebenezer and Wrens, Ga. Then to Hinkston and Ebenezer, Ky., six months in 1898. The next two 3'ears were spent at Salem, x\la., and Hood Spring, Tenn., most of the time at the latter place. He joined the Ken- tucky Presbytery, by certificate from the Second Pres- bytery, in Nov., 1901, having spent the summer at Hink- ston and Olivet. The following year, 1902, he continued to serve these churches with zeal and fidelity. At the meeting of Synod, Nov., 1902, he received appointments in the Memphis Presbytery, and was assigned work in the congregation at Bethany, Miss. His familiarity with the Scriptures and ability to repeat large portions of it, and his knowledge of the Psalms is remarkable. He is an earnest Bible student, and sound evangelical preacher of the Word. Frcssly, John Neivton. — Was bom Oct. 20th, 1813, in Hopewell, Preble County, O. Was educated at Miami University. He studied Theology at Allegheny, Pa., 1835, aufl contimied his studies in Erskine Theological Seminary, Due West, S. C, the following year, and was SKETCHES OF MIXISTERS. 299 licensed by the Second Presbytery, at Bethel, S. C, in Xov. 1836 at the same time with Joseph jMcCreary. He was assigned work in the First A. R. Presbytery until the spring- of 1837, thence went to Georgia, Ala- bama, Tennessee and Kentucky. He continued in Ten- nessee and Kentucky until the spring of 1838, when two months were spent in the First Presbytery, from which point he went to Indiana and joined the A. R. Presbytery there by certificate from the Second Presbytery of the Carolinas. He was ordained and installed as pastor of Bethesda, Shiloh and Richland in Rush Co., Ind., by the Indiana Presbytery June 27th, 1838. From this period his work was not in connection with our Synod. He continued in active service at various points until his death, August 22n(l, 1866. In January, 1844, with his wife and two children he made a visit to relatives in Burke County, Ga., the Lowry family, and returned North in the spring. As a boy he was said to be very quick to learn — -being able to read at an unusually tender age. He was able as a preacher, but his strong anti-slavery opinions made him unacceptable to the Southern people. J. p. PRESSLY, D. D. Pressly, Rev. James Patterson, D. D. — Dr. James P. Pressly belongs to a most distinguished family. Three of his brothers achieved distinc- tion, two as physicians and one as an eminent theolo- gian. His father was David Pressly, and his mother Jane Patterson, of Cedar Springs Church. They belonged to that good stock of Scotch- 300 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Irish people who helped to make up the Associate Re- formed churches in Abbeville Co., S. C, some hundred and twenty-five years ago. Of the parents of Dr. Pressly a friend, Gen. P. H. Bradley, said : "His father was a man of uncommon energy and business tact, and he succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune for his day. For strength of char- acter and keen perception his mother had few equals." As a boy Dr. Pressly attended Union Academy, a school taught in the neighborhood by his brother. Dr. Jno. T. Pressly. Afterwards, with his cousin. Dr. E. E.* Pressly, he went to Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, then under the presidency of Dr. Bishop. He was but sixteen when he entered college in 1824, and only eighteen when he graduated. After returning home he began the study of theology under Dr. Jno. T. Pressly, his brother, the pastor of Cedar Springs. He was very youthful in ap- pearance at this time, and was remarkable for his timid- ity. He was licensed on February 21st, 1829, at Due West, and was ordained to the full work of the ministry at Generostee March 2y, 1830. After licensure Dr. Pressly labored for a time in the vacancies of the Second Presbytery at Due West, Gene- rostee, Bethel in Laurens Co.. etc. He then visited various points in Georgia. Alabama and I'dorida. Two of the places visited by him were settlements of Associate Reformed people in Dallas and Wilcox Co's., Ala. Most of these people had emigrated from South Carolina. Those in Dallas Co. went chiefly from Newberry and Fairfield, and those in Wilcox from Long Cane and Cedar Springs in Abbeville. These communities being des- titute of a preacher called Dr. Pressly. He went to Alabama just after his marriage and began work in this laborious charge in 1830. He divided his time equallv between Prosperity in Dallas and Lebanon in Wilcox. The two places were forty miles apart and on different sides of the .Alabama river. The work was arduous, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 301 but Dr. Pressly did not shrink from it. He made his home in Wilcox, and regularly every other Saturday he rode to Dallas on horseback, preached on the Sabbath and returned on :\Ionday. This was Dr. Pressly 's first and only pastorate. He remained in this field about ten years. Here he made his reputation as a preacher. He was a close student. All his sermons were carefully written and memorized. This was his habit througli life. He never went into the pulpit without the most careful preparation, yet never used a manuscript or a note, nor did he approve of it in others. His sermons were chiefly doctrinal, and as expounder of Paul's Epistles, and the great doctrines of human depravity, atonement, jus- tification, sanctification, God sovereign and man free, conversion, etc., he had few equals in the Associate Reformed Church or in any Church. He had some peculiarities as a preacher, resulting from his excessive modesty and timidity. He rarely ever gestured. He scarcely ever moved his eyes from a point straight in front of him and a little above his au- dience. He never used his handkerchief or looked at his watch while preaching. He never moved out of his tracks or turned to the right hand or to the left. But with all his timidity in the pulpit he was intensely in earnest, this manifested itself in his eye and in the tone of his voice, and he was often eloquent, he possessed the eloquence of truth in its naked simplicity. But the great work of Dr. Pressly was don*^ as a teacher in Erskine College. About the year 1840 his relation as pastor with the churches in Alabama was dissolved and while he was looking about for another field of labor he was chosen Professor of Languages in Erskine College, and accepted the position as the call of God. Dr. Pressly was identified with the college from the day of its organization to the day of his death. The latter part of his life he was Professor of Greek only. He was a most conscientious and faithful teacher, never 302 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. slighting his work. He was a thorough scholar, master- ing whatever he attempted to do, diligently preparing himself for his work. He was exacting in his demands upon himself, he was likewise rigid in his requirements of others. The diligent might confidently expect his approval, his merited commendation, the lazy or idle student might just as well expect his severe rebuke, he had no patience with the student who was trifling with his work and wasting his time. It is safe, therefore, to say that but few men have been more successful as teachers of the ancient languages than Dr. Pressly. But not only did Dr. Pressly do a great work for the Church as teacher in Erskine College, he was also a most useful servant as professor in the Seminary. During his whole period as Professor in the College, he was Professor of Greek Exegesis in the Seminary, and in interpreting Scripture he excelled, possibly his highest attainment was in the knowledge of the New Testament. He was also professor for some time of sys- tematic Theology. He left his impress upon the minds of a large number of ministers of the Associate Re- formed Church. , Dr. Pressly was married three times. His first wife was a playmate of his youth, a daughter of Col. John Hearst of Cedar Springs, a sister of the late Dr. John W. Hearst. She died early. His second wife was a member of his church in Wilcox Co., Ala., a daughter of Samuel Young, Esq., and a sister of Rev. J. M. Young. She left two children — Mrs. Reid, now deceased, and Sam. P. Pressly, still living. The third wife was a daughter of Francis Young of Generostee, S. C, a sister of Revs. James L. and John N. Young. Three sons, the late Rev. D. B. Pressly, Dr. F. Y. Pressly, Prof. Jno. L. Pressly, and one daughter, Mrs. Calvin Pressly, were the fruit of this marriage. Dr. Pressly entered into rest March 30, 1877, full of years and of service and ripe for glorv. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 303 Prcssly, John S. — AN'as born in Abbeville County, S. C, Nov. nth, 1793. His parents were Samuel and Elizabeth Pressly. He was reared by an undo, his mother having died when he ^ ^ ii||. was young. He went to ( )hio '^ffff fs^^ when a youth, but on account of the climate he returned. He was noted as a child for his va- racity and deep religious charac- joHN s. pKEssi.v. ter. He joined the church at Generostte. His educational opportunities were lim- ited. He attended the Church Hill Academy in Abbe- ville Co., for a time. He graduated from the South Carolina College in 1831. His first theological course was taken at Oxford, Ohio. The next under Dr. John T. Pressly at Allegheny, Pa. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery Oct. 8th, 1840, at Bethel. Lincoln Co., Tenn., and was ordained by the same Presbytery at a meeting of Synod at Coddle Creek, N. C, ( )ct. 14, 1841. He accepted a call from Ebenezer and Bethel in Jefferson Co., Ga., in 1842, and in April, 1843, ^^'^^ installed over them by the Georgia Presbytery. On account of ill health he demitted this charge in 1847 He then located near Generostee, Anderson Co., S. C, teaching and preaching as opportunity afforded. He died June ist. 1863. He taught school for a time and served two terms in the S. C. Legislature before he began preaching. It was largely through his influence that Dr. Cooper was removed from the University of South Carolina. He was the founder of the Academy at Due West which afterwards developed into Erskine College, lie married Martha Jane Strong. September 29th, 1842. Her parents were Rev. Charles Strong and Nancy Harris Strong of Steel Creek. X. C. Mrs. Presslv was born in Newberrv Co., S. C. Tan. i8th. 1820. 304 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. They had no chihh-en. She is still living near Due West, South Carolina. Prcssly, John Taylor, D. D. — Son of David Pressly, born in Abbeville Co., S. C, March 28, 1795, graduated at seventeen Transylvania University, Ky. Four years in the A. R. P. Seminary, N. Y., under the peerless Ma- son fitted him for license by the Second Presbytery, July 3, 1 81 6. July 10, 18 17, he was ordained and installed pastor of the large and waiting congregation of Cedar Spring, S. C, and Long Cane eleven years later, Feb. 28, 1828. Under Synod he was entrusted with the first mission West — to Tennessee. Two months in 1819 were spent, a sermon on an average, was preached each alternate day, $17.25 collected, expenses $33.40 and $7.00 per week was allowed. Synod highly approved his work and "expressed their gratitude to the head of the Church for the cheering intelligence and kind reception of the missionary during his tour." He was Moderator of Synod 1820, her Professor of Divinity 1825- 183 1, early influential and always punctual. Dr. Pressly, in connection with Dr. Isaac Grier, was a delegate to a convention of the three A. R. Presbyterian Synods in Pittsburg, Pa., Sept. 12, 1827, with the hope of union. In the midst of his rising popularity and extended usefulness in his congregation of 172 families and 334 members this relation was dissolved Nov. 11, 1831. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod of the West established a Theological Seminary in Pittsburg, Pa., May 1825. To the sole charge of this responsible work he was unanimously elected Oct. 10, 1831, and entered upon his duties Jan. 5, 1832. During that year he accepted a call to the First A. R. P congregation of Allegheny, Pa. , and removed the Seminary to his church. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 305 The title of D. D. was conferred by Jefferson in 1832, of which he was a trustee 1839-1865. He married Miss Jane Hearst of Cedar Spring, S. C, Sept. 22, 1846. Synod elected him President of Erskine College. This was declined. For over 15 years he was an honor to our Synod, facile princcps, very early in his ministry being called to her most responsible, difficult and delicate duties. His subsequent, useful and far reaching career be- longs to anotlier Church very near to us. He was the prince of the distinguished Pressly family. Dignified in person, systematic and laborious in study, able in debate, expository in preaching, a master in the class- room and oracular with his students. Psalm singing Presbyterianism never had an abler or more influential defender. His death occurred August 13, 1870. Pressly, Francis ]'oung, D. Z).— Son of Dr. J. P., was born at Due West, S. C, Jan. 18, 1853. an alum- nus of Erskine College, 1871, and was licensed by the Second Presbytery, Sept. 20, 1873, after a full course in Erskine Semi- nary. That winter was si)ent in the United Pres- byterian Divinity School, Allegheny, Pa., and the next summer, having preached in the Ohio A. R. P. Presbytery, he was ordained by the Second Presby- tery, Oct., 1874. He was stated supply of Mt. Zion, Mo.. Oct., 1874, to Sept.. 1876, and pastor, 1880 to 1886. the intervening four years being spent as missionarv in Louisville. Ky. : was pastor of Starkvillc. Miss.. 1886- 20 I'KESSLV, D. 1). 3o6 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 1890, and while there taught in the A. and M. College; was stated supply of Abbeville, S. C, 1890- 1894. The Synod elected him, 1893, Professor of Greek and Ger- 'man in Erskine College, and one year later entered upon his duties. He was moderator of Synod, 1893, and D. D. was conferred by Westminster, Pa., 1896. Synod clothed him as her delegate to the United Presbyterian Assembly, Xenia, Ohio, May, 1880. Since his resi- dence at Erskine College, he has been a professor in her Divinity Hall. When urged by Synod Nov. 13, 1899, to accept the Presidency of Erskine College, he spoke these memorable words after four hours prayerful deliberation: "I have been accustomed all my life to regard the voice of the Church as the voice of God. I wish I could do so now. But I surrender my judgment to that of my brethren and undertake this work until God shall make known His will to you and me."" He has filled many positions, both as a citizen of his town and in executive work of his Church, as Board of Trustees of local school districts, Intendant of the town of Due West, in charge of Bethle- hem Church, Chairman of the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, President of the Alumni Association of Erskine College, Manager of the College Home. The Institution has prospered under his presidency, the roll steadily increasing, the Wylie Home for girls built, filled and seeking larger quarters. Coming of a distinguished intellectual family he has sustained his reputation. He wields a polished pen, the mint of his cultivated mind coins English undefiled, his sermons are gems, his bearing dignified, his behavior modest and unassuming-, a courteous Christian gentleman. Oct. 10, 1877, the words were spoken which linked his life with Miss Louise M. Reid of Louisiana, Mo. Pressly, Leon Taylor. — Rev. Leon Taylor is the son of the late Rev. William B. Pressly and Lorenna Eve- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 307 Una Harris, and was born in Iredell Co., N. C, March 8th, 1870. He was educated under Profs. J. H. Hill and A. D. Kes- tler, at Statesville, N. C, and at the Huntersville High School, and at Er- skine College. After leav- ing college, he taught for four years, and was re- ceived as a student of the- ology by the First Presby- tery at New Hope, S. C, in 1892. His theological course was taken at Erskine Seminary, and he was li- censed by the First Presbytery, at Charlotte, N. C. After supplying churches in Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina for some time, he was called to Edg- moor, Chester Co., S. C, and was ordained and installed Nov. 28th, 1899, and still continues pastor there. Mr. Pressly was married at Hickory Grove, York Co., S. C. Feb. 20th, 1901, to Miss Emma Jeannette McDill. Mrs. Pressly is the daughter of J. Nixon McDill and Mary Martha Wylie of Hickory Grove, S. C, and was born Feb. 6th, 1874, and is the mother of one child. Pressly. Mason Wiley. — Rev. Mason Wiley Pressly is the son of Rev. John Ebenezer Pressly, D. D., and Martha Sherard, and was born at Coddle Creek, X. C. July 24th, 1859. His preparatory education was received at Coddle Creek Academy, and his collegiate course was taken in Erskine College, where he graduated in 1879. Mr. Pressly joined the church at Due West, S. C, in 1877. while a student in college. In the fall of 1879 ^^^ ^^'^^ received as a student of theology by the First Pres- 3o8 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. bytery, and studied in Erskine Seminary, graduating from that institution in 1881, and was licensed by the First Presbytery, at Coddle Creek, in the spring of 1881. He spent a year in Princeton Theological Semin- ary and graduated there in 1882. After leaving the Seminary he received calls to several churches and ac- cepted the one from Chester, S. C, and was ordained and installed pastor there in the fall of 1882. In the spring of 1886, Mr. Pressly received a call from the North Cnited Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pa., and accepted it, and hence severed his connection with the A. R. Synod of the South. In 1889 Mr. Pressly resigned his charge of the North Church, and spent a year in post graduate studies in Princeton Seminary and in Princeton University, and was afterwards pastor of U. P. Churches at Bovina Centre, N. Y., Sewickly, Pa., and Plamilton, Ohio. In 1897 he commenced the study of medicine in the American School of Osteopathy ar Kirksville, Mo., and became a professor in the Institu- tion. In 1899 he was professor in a similar institution in Minneapolis, Minn., but in 1900 he removed to Philadel- phia, Pa., and founded the Philadelphia College of Os- teopathy, of which he is one of the leading professors. While in Kirksville, AIo., he was Associate Editor of i\\Q."Journal of Osteopathy," and has established the "Philadelphia Journal of Osteopathy, and at the present time is editor of this journal, and professor in the Phil- adelphia College of Osteopathy, besides practicing his profession in that city. Besides many articles in the religious press, Mr. Pressly has published the following pamphlets : "The Logical Method in Theology," "The Metaphysics of Theology," and "Osteopathy as a Therapeutic Science." He is also a member of the following organizations : The American Academy of Political and Social Science ; Archeological and Paleontological Department of the University of Pennsylvania ; The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 309 On Dec. 25th, 1883. Mr. Pressly was married to Miss Annie Clarkson Worth of Asheville, X. C, who has borne him five children. Mrs. Pressly is a daughter of the late Dr. T. C. Worth, and was born at Fayetteville. X. C, Feb. 26th, 1862. The Worth family has for a number of years been promin- ently identified with the State Government of Xorth Carolina, and Mrs. Pressly is a woman worthy of her name. Pressly, Xcill Erskiiic, D. D. — Pioneers are brave spirits. Carey and Morri- son led the van guard in missions, as Livingston in exploration. What these and others were to mis- sion work in sister churches, the subject of this sketch was to A. R. I'resbyterianism. Foreign missions have never been lost sight of, though sometimes crowd- ed out. The aid given Re- formed Presbyterians in India, the Liberal mission and Miss ^Tary Galloway's brilliant devoted Egyptian co-op- eration w itli L'nitcd Presbyterians, these were picket fir- ing, skirmislus in this holy war. God in his ])rovidence was raising up one to lead and bear the brunt and mar- shal the forces in a larger campaign and more extended warfare. .V man child gladdened Rev. J. E. Pressly, D. D.. and Martha .Sara (Sherard) Pressly, Sept. 11, 1850, at Moffattsville, .Anderson Co.. S. C. His father about that time being called to Coddle Creek. X. C, his early days were sjx'ut there. .After his eleventh year, on ac- count of the Civil War. his educational advantages were meagfre and he labored on his father's farm. N. E. PRESSLY. I). D. 3IO SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. In 1867 he engaged as a clerk with his uncle, Mr. Pink Helper, Davidson, N. C, afterwards he formed a part- nership with Mr. Jas. Allison. This gentleman gene- ousl}' offered to treat him as a son in Davidson College when his wish was made known to prepare for the min- istry. This was highly appreciated but declined. Prof. Augustus Leayer, who said to the writer that of all his pupils this one gave him the most pleasure, prepared him for Erskine College at Coddle Creek Academy, 1872- 1873. Entering this latter year he graduated from both the college and Seminary in June, 1878, taking the six years course in five years. His licensure was granted by the Second Presbytery April 13th, 1878. Rev. J. N. Young, L. L. D., officiating, who had performed the same service for the licentiate's father 31 years before. On Dec. 14, 1878, the same Presbytery ordained him at Due West, S. C. Jan. 2J, 1875, an affecting farewell meeting was held on the departure of Miss Mary Galloway for Egypt as a foreign missionary. A college student, N. E. Pressly, then and there formed the high and noble pur- pose of devoting his life to missions. The Synod August 19, 1878, established an Independent Mission in M^exico. This measure was led by the late Dr. J. I. Bonner. The subject of this sketch was selected, and youthful and inexperienced as he was, entrusted with this mighty and responsible mission. After some visiting among the churches he arrived -cla Vera Cruz in Mexico City, Jan. 14, 1879. About a year was spent here learning the language and studying the field. By an arrangement with other denominations and the consent of his own Board he located in Tampico Dec. 6, 1879. Mr. Pressly wedded Mrs. Rachel Elliott Rosboro, daughter of Mr. Henry Lawrence and Mrs. Millagan (McMaster) Elliott of Winnsboro, S. C, Nov. 5, 1878. Three sons are the fruit of this marriage, Bonner Grier, John Ebenezer and Henry Elliott. In some aspects Bro. Pressly is one of the most re- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 311 niarkable young men of our Church. His faith and courage is seen when alone he set foot on a foreign soil and undertook to found a mission backed by a denomin- ation not large in numbers nor rich in resources nor trained in experience. Yet he followed his convictions, the indications of providence, plead for his Savior and awakened the sympathy and sustenance of his Synod. His devotion to the Mexican Mission is exemplary, ani- mating and sublime. His Alma IMater honored him in 1901 with the title of D. D. His Master has blessed his work not only in administrative ability in selecting other countries but in his own special sphere. Here are 2 schools, 6 teachers and 100 pupils, collections in 1902 were 491.12, addi- tions 20, 5 assistant native missionaries and church and school property worth $15,600. In that too short list of brave pioneer Foreign Missionaries "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens," the name of Xcill Erskine Pressly will have an honored place. ^ Pressly, Rev. Paul Adam.— Rgy. Paul A. Pressly, at this writing a student in Erskine Theological Seminary, is the son of Rev. W. L. and Mrs. Francis Wideman Pressly. He was born September 30th, 1878, at Due West, S. C, while his father was pastor of the church at that place. Attended school at the Due West Fe- male College, and afterward at Erskine, graduating from the latter institution in 1900. He entered Erskine Seminary in fall of 1902, having previously taught school for one year at Clover, S. C, and having read law for sonic time in the office of Judge J. H. Miller, of Birmingham, Ala. In April, 1903, he connectctl with the Second Presby- tery at Due West, and during his summer vacation 312 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. labored in the bounds of the Texas Presbytery. In September of the same year he was married to Miss Lois Moffatt of Troy, Tenn. Prcssly, Mrs. Rachel Elliott. — Is a descendant of the sturdy Scotch-Irish of Fairfield Co., S. C, and a daughter of the late H. L. Elliott and Mary Milli- gan McMaster — families eminent in Fairfield andl the A. R. church. She was born Dec. i6th, 1848. She was the second lady missionary of the A. R. church. She received her earh- education in the Fe- MRS. N. E. PRESSLY. i " ,- ■ -itt- male Semmary at Wums- boro, and later under the tuition of Rev. Dr. Lord, of New Orleans. She was always an apt, diligent pupil. In early youth she made a profession of faith, in Winns- boro, under the ministry of Dr. C. B. Betts. At the age of 20 she was married to Mr. B. C. Rose- boro, who died within five years. In 1877 she entered the Due West Female College to study music. Here she made the acquaintance of Rev. Neill E. Pressly, a divinity student, to whom she was married in Winnsboro, S. C, Nov. 5th, 1878. Mr. Pressly, before completing his theological studies had resolved, if the way was open, to go as the second missionary of his Church to Egypt, and with him his bride-elect was to share the work of his life. At the meeting ot the Synod that year, it was determined to open an Independent Foreign Mission in Mexico and Mr. Pressly and his wife were commissioned to Mexico as the first missionaries of their Church to that field. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 313 The first year of their missionary life was spent at Mexico City, and in the latter part of 1879 they were located at Tampico on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, where they have lived for about twenty-three years. Mrs. Pressly has been a faithful wife, a true helpmeet, a safe counselor to her husband in his labors and difificulties, and has always taken an active part with him in his work. She is not only a devoted and fond mother to her chil- dren, but was the educator of her three boys until they were sent to enter the high school of her native town. Knowing the evil of a bad education, she resolved to train up her children in the fear of God, a difficult task in the moral surroundings of her adopted country. If exem- ])lar\- deportment through half a century of life, an unremitting zeal in contributing to the happiness of others, and a full conviction of the truths of religion and morality form the basis of a good woman, these ele- ments are manifest in her character. ]\Iay she be spared man\- years to her Church, to her friends and to her loved ones. She is the mother of five children : ]\Iary Elliott, Jennie Bell, Bonner Grier, John Ebenezer and Henry Elliott. The eldest has passed over the river. T. 1*. rKESSl.V. Pressly, Thomas Pedcn. — Was a son of the Rev. David Pressly, D. D., and Sarah Brown Peden, and was born near Starkville, Miss., January- 15, 1853. lie attended school in Starkville* ^liss., and graduated from Erskine College, Due West, S. C, in 1872. Two years pre- vious to this he joined the .\ssociate Reformed church at Starkville, then 314 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. under the pastoral care of his father. In January, 1874, he entered the Theological Seminary at Due West, S. C, and was under the care of the Second Presbytery during the course. He was licensed to preach by the Mem- phis Presbytery, at Salem, Tipton Co., Tenn., Septem- ber 4, 1875, and was ordained by that Presbytery at Richland, Shelby Co. Tenn., September 2, 1876. He accepted a call to the pastorate of the Troy, Tenn., church, August 31, 1876, and was installed pastor over this congregation October 14, 1876. Here he continues to labor with great acceptance, an earnest, faithful and consecrated minister of the New Covenant. Two years ago, in 1901, the quarter-centennial of his pastorate was appropriately celebrated by his congregation. He was married at Troy, Tenn., Dec. 25, 1877, to Miss Dora Augusta Smith. She was a daughter of Major James Graham Smith and Sarah Eliza Allen. Four children were born to them, one of whom, David Peden, is now (1903) completing his theological course in Ers- kine Seminary. She died April 15, 1890. He was mar- ried the second time to Mrs. Elizabeth (Stephens) Bittick, Dec. 22, 1892. She was the daughter of Jerry Stephens and Martha Ann Taylor. Four children have been born to them. Pressly, William Barron. — In the home of Richard McMillen and Mary (Barron) Pressly there was born, March 2nd, 1828, a son of whom it might have been predicted, "grace is poured into thy lips." After a full course in Erskine College, he graduated in July, 1849. He then spent some time teaching in Steele Creek, N. C, and passing thence to Erskine The- ological Seminary, was licensed by the First Presbytery, Dec. 8, 1853. After some mission work in Kentucky, his ordination and installation over New Stirling and Amity, Iredell Co., N. C. took place, Nov. 9, 1855. Of engaging manners, lovely disposition, a |)rince among SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 315 REV. \V. B. PRHSSI.V. men with tact and energy and intense piety, he was soon the leading spirit in the Master's work in that whole section. During the civil war, Bro. Pressly began to teach. After the war, about 1866, he was asso- ciated with Prof. H. T. Burke. The school flour- ished for a number of years, and did a good work for the cause of education in general and the pulpit in particular. When the office of County Superintend- ent was created about 1880, he was elected to fill that responsible place, and such was his efficiency that the August preceding his death the position was put upon him again. He was a missionary pastor. His belief was that building missions was the wa}- to strengthen the mother church. About 1867 services were held at Hiddenite and a little later at Statesville, X. C. Another wing, now Elk Shoals, was cultivated. April 8th, 1878, was the date of his demittal of New Stirling and May 17, 1878, he was installed pastor over Statesville, X. C. having removed there the preceding year. The Moderator- ship of the Synod was his responsibility in 1876. But this weak body could not carry the load nor these nerves bear the strain. Palpitation of the heart had given him concern for a number of years. A sermon was prepared for X^ov. 25th, 1883. Man proposes, but God disposes. The Sabbath being stormy, only a few were out. Returning home, inclement weather kept him in doors. Sound sleep is disturbed at 10 P. M., a strange noise, unusual breathing and his 3i6 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. inanimate clay lay in the presence of a heart-broken wife and sons. As one said, he walked with God that day and he walked so close and so far with him that night, that the Father said "just come over home with me." Appropriate exercises were held in his church at Statesville. The city cemetery begged his body and a monument was as- sured. But his intimate friends preferred the country church yard at Xew Stirling. The common terms of eulogy would seem tame when applied to him, and to go beyond these might seem to those who knew him not extravagancies of speech ; but to say he was as pure and gentle as the purest and gentlest woman is to speak within the facts. No man in the county was so well known and beloved. People of all denominations mingled their tears over his grave, and experienced much of the keenness of the grief which settled upon the hearts of his own people. He was a rare combination. Few men had his won- derful tact and foresight in mingling agreeblv and yet loyally with all creeds. No man ever saw him needlessly ofifend and none ever saw him uselessly compromise. Peerless as a peace maker, naturally high mettled, in- tensely sympathetic, grace laid these under contribtition to make him a power in the sick room, in the house of motirning, in the church, court, in the parlor or among the rude. He was eminently a pastor. He ruled men unconsciously by love and gentleness. No one could nurse resentment in his presence nor resist his appeals. The story goes that about 1853 while teaching at Steele Creek, N. C, a mother brought a girl just entering her teens, "Train her up right and you can have her." May 26th. 1858, he claimed this now well-educated and accomplished pupil, Miss Lorenna Evelina Harris. She shared his hardships, made bright his home, kept the fires on the altar burning. She toiled in secret that he might triumph in public. How much she contributed to his great success we will not know till the record of surprises is unrolled. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 2>^7 \\. L. PRESSLV. D. F). Prcssly, Rev. ]Villiam Laurens, D. D. — The be- loved president of Erskine riieolog-ical Seminary, the chstinguished son of a dis- tinguished sire, was born near Due West, S. C, May 3rd. 1837. His parents were Rev. E. E. Pressly, D. D., and Elizabeth Ag- new. Dr. Pressly, senior, lived on a farm for some time about half way be- tween Donalds and Due West, while he was pastor of the church at the latter place, and it was here that his son, William Laurens, was born. There is now nothing left of the old residence, but it was situated south east and not far from the present home of Mr. J. E. Todd. Dr. Presslv, senior, was much afflicted in the death of his children, a number of them dying in infancy. Three daughters and one son, the subject of this sketch, lived to maturity, but the daughters have all passed away, and Dr. W. L. is the only representative of the family left. The schools in the Due West community furnished very good educational opportunities to boys some fifty years ago. Dr. Pressly's advantages in early life w^ere therefore good, he entered Erskine College at an early age, and graduated in the class of 1857. He did not immediately enter the Seminary strange to say, we are told that he merchandized for some time. The calling seems somewhat out of harmony with the Doctor's temperament and tastes as we now know him, but the information, incredible as it may seem, is given us on good authority. We do not know what success he achieved behind the counter, we feel sure, however, that whether he made money or not, he never misrep- resented his goods. 3i8 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. It was the custom then as now sometimes for young men to marry before they completed their theolog- ical course. To this latter custom Dr. Pressly con- formed. He was married to Miss Francis Elizabeth Wideman of Long Cane, S. C, Dec. 23rd, 1858. She was the daughter of Adam Wideman and one of the well-known families, Caroline Davis of Dr. H. T. Sloan's congregation. In his marriage Dr. Pressly found an helpmeet indeed worthy of his distinguished place, and great usefulness, an efficient co-worker with hijii in all his labors. In 1859, ^^'^^ year after his marriage, Dr. Pressly entered the Seminary, then presided over by his father. He connected with the Second Presbytery and in April, i860, was licensed to preach the Gospel at a meeting at Cedar Springs. He received a call to the united charge of Generostee and Concord in Anderson Co., and was ordained and installed pastor over these churches in 1862. In this field he labored for nine years most acceptably. The church at Concord was small but Generostee at this time, while not as large as it had been in some pre- vious pastorates, was, nevertheless, a flourishing con- gregation. During the war, however, the salary was exceedingly small. The people were not able to pay much, and a few hundred dollars would doubtless cover all the salary for the four years of that period of want, distress and bloodshed. In 1871 Dr. Pressly was called to Due West as pastor of the church at that place, to succeed Dr. R. C. Grier. He entered upon his work here in January, 1872. For seventeen years he laborefl as pastor and preached in this congregation. During all this time his pulpit was his throne of power. The Doctor grew in wisdom and strength as a preacher, and in this possibly the most fruitful field in the Synod, his work was greatly blessed. Besides the people of Due West, large numbers of young people in the two colleges waited upon his ministry and SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 319 ever profited by his preaching. His sermons were full of instruction, saturated with Scripture, most earnestly and at times eloquently delivered. Dr. Pressly is es- pecially strong in his power of analysis, in ability to see the truth of a text and to draw out the special doctrine taught in any particular passage. He has a profound reverence for the words of the spirit, deep spiritual in- sight, a remarkable knowledge of Scripture and great aptness and facility in quoting from it. His sermons were often full of Calvinistic theology, or rather the theology of the Bible and contained meat for the strong. He usually packed a great deal in a sermon, and some- times was thought a little long by the younger mem- bers of his congregation. His delivery was ordinarily quiet and impressive, but sometimes his utterance was most emphatic and he was frequently truly eloquent. He makes no attempt at oratory, but all would regard him as a very earnest speaker. As a pastor Dr. Pressly was kind, sympathetic and tender. His visits were full of comfort to the sick and he was always ready to furnish Christian consolation to the sorrowing. His pastorate in Due West was abundantly blessed in building up the congregation and in adding many souls to Christ. It was with great reluctance that the church yielded to the call of Synod, and consented for him to accept the presidenc}' of the Seminary — on the death of Rev. James Boyce, D. D. He was elected to this position in 1889 at a meeting of Synod held at Prosperity, S. C, and now for thirteen years has been doing most excellent service in training young men for the ministry. He had been a teacher in the Seminary for many years before his election to the presidency, having charge of Hebrew. He still retains this department in addition to his work as professor of systematic theology. Dr. Pressly has nine children living. The only daughter. Effie. is the wife of Prof. Paul L. Gricr of Erskine College. Two sons are physicians. Dr. 320 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. E. W. of Clover, S. C, and Dr. Henry of Birmingham, Ala. Three are in the ministry, Rev. J. H. of Statesville, S. C, Rev. Joseph L. of Mt. Zion, Mo., and Rev. Paul A. of Lancaster. S. C. One is in the Seminary and the other sons are with the family at home. Priiiglc, James. — Son of Rev. Francis, was horn near Belfast, Ireland, 1788, and came to America with his father, 1799, who had become indirectly implicated in the "United Irishmen's Oath;"' graduated at Dickinson, 1808. His theological studies were pursued under the learned Dr. John Anderson, and the Associate Presby- tery licensed him Oct. i, 1812. The Presbytery of the Carolinas ordained and installed him pastor of Steele Creek, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, April 4th, 1814. He was moderator of the Associate Synod at Huntingdon, Pa., 1816. Short as was his ministry, not over five years, he was sincerely mourned and affectionately remembered. The Master called him up higher and crowned him in the dew of youth and early morning of his ministry, Oct. 28th, 18 18. A letter bringing this sad tidings to the old home, neither father nor mother betrayed any violent emotion. In a calm voice his father said : "Peggy, James never cost us a tear till now. 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord.' Let us retire and pray that we may obtain strength to bear with Christian fortitude our terrible bereavement." Quay, Aaron Foster. — Son of Aaron and Catherine (Lessly) Quay, was born in Chester C. H.. S. C, Jan. 28 1826. The father's death occurring before this birth, his mother began the hard struggle by her needle to train and educate her boy. In 1840, he began preparation for college under a Methodist minister, assisted by Rev. J. L. McDaniel. Entering Erskine Nov. 3rd. 1842, he was graduated Sept. i8th, 1846, investing in brains the house and lot left him in Chester by his grandfather. Teaching SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 321 one year at Pinckneyville, S. C, he entered Erskine The- ological Seminary in 1847, and was licensed by the First at Old Providence, Augusta Co., Va., Sept. 15th, 1849. His first missionary labors were in Alabama and Tenn., and in 185 1 and 1852 he supplied Neely's Creek and Tirzah, York Co., S. C. He was ordained at Back Creek, May 20, 1853. Living in the bounds of this con- gregation he soon thereafter became a great sufferer from bodily infirmity, but spent his time in preaching and teaching as he was able. Fatal consumption closed his heroic endurance, Nov. 20, 1857. On the 7th of May, 1851, he was happily married to Miss Jane C. Howie, of Back Creek congregation. Com- paratively short was that united life, but crowded with sanctifying influences! "What a glorious thing it is to have such a merciful Redeemer! Trust in the Lord and he will save your soul." With such expressions she passed into the blessed beyond, Feb. 13th, 1859. Rev. Henry Quigg, D. D. — Was born in the North of Ireland, February 25, 1825 or 1826. His father's name was Henry Quigg. His mother's name was Miss Nancy McLaughlin. He received his early education in the public schools of his native place. He graduated at Er- skine College in 1853. He joined the church at the age of 16, in Ireland. He was received as a student of The- ology by the Second Presbytery, at Due West, S. C, in 1853. Studied Theology at Erskine Seminary. Was li- censed in 1854 by the Second Presbytery. His first work was in Georgia. He was ordained by the Georgia Presbytery in 1855. -^^ preached for a year at White Oak, Coweta County. In 1854 he began preaching at Hopewell in Newton County. He was in- stalled as pastor of Hopewell in 1855, and served this church until 1867. Fle married Miss Bertha Elizabeth MoflFett in 1854 in Chester County. S. C. Her father was William Mofifett, her mother Margaret Hemphill 21 322 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Moffett. She was the mother of one daughter, Miss Lizzie Quigg, who died in early womanhood. Mrs. Quigg died in 1855. In 1857 Dr. Quigg married Miss Sarah Agnes Craig. Dr. Quigg was a chaplain in the Confederate Army. He is a preacher of marked ability, and deep spirituality, a courtly and affable gentleman. Full of Irish wit, he is an interesting figure in any company. He left Ireland when a youth, and sailed as an emigrant to Quebec. There he was principal of the St. Andrews Institute for two years. About this time his cousin, Dr. R. C. Grier, invited him to come South and finish his education. In response to this call he came to Erskine College in 1851. In 1867 he joined the Presbytery of Atlanta, G. A. P., of which he is still a member. He received the degree of D. D. from Emory College, Georgia. He has been for forty years pastor of Smyrna Church, near Conyers, Ga., and for twenty years pastor of the Conyers Presbyterian Church. He resigned this pastorate eight years ago, just before his visit to Palestine. Dr. Quigg is a ready writer. His contributions to current literature, accounts of travel, and other writings are valuable. He has been an extensive traveler, having visited England and Eu- rope. He is now living at Conyers, Georgia, in the en- joyment of an hale and hearty old age. Rabb, Horace — Is a son of John Glazier and Nancy Kincaid Watt Rabb, and was born near Little River, Fairfield Co.. S. C, May 27th, 1855. He was educated in the common schools and after- wards attended Mt. Zion Institute, under the manage- ment of Adolphus Woodward. In 1872 the family re- moved to Due West. S. C, where the father of the fam- ily died, Feb. 26th, 1872. Graduated from Erskine Col- lege in June, 1876, and entered Erskine Theological Sem- inary, Oct., 1877, ^^ '^ student in connection with the First A. R. Presbvterv. He was licensed at Amitw N. C. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 323 Dr. E. E. Boyce presiding. The winter of 1879 and '80 was spent in the U. P. Seminary at Xenia, O. In the spring- of 1 880 he preached in Texas under the Board of Home Mis- sions, visiting vacancies in the counties of Freestone, Navarro. Johnson, Ander- son, Houston and Lamar, remaining in this field un- til the Fall of 1881. Im- mediately after the meet- H. RABB. , ■ 1 • 00 U mg of Synod m 1881, he took u]) work in Richland and Beulah congregations in Western Tennessee, in Memphis Presbytery. Accept- ing a call for one-half of his time, he was ordained and installed pastor of Richland congregation Dec. 8th. 1882. Rev. J. H. Strong and J. G. Miller con- ducting the services. The relation proved to be a for- tunate one. for in 1886 the congregation employed him all his time. This relation was dissolved Sept. 27th. 1895, after a pastorate of 13 years. Removing to S. C, he was installed pastor of Bethel, Providence and Head Spring. Laurens Co., in Second A. R. Presbytery, Nov. 20th, 1896. This relation was dissolved Sept. i8th, 1897. The following year he was in charge of the church at Ab- beville, S. C. In Dec, 1898, he took charge of Doraville church, DeKalb Co., Ga. During the summer of 1899. he with Rev. H. B. Blakely held a meeting at Miller's school house, where J. C. McElroy and others had been conduct- ing a Sunday School, which resulted in the organization of Antioch church, with a membership of fifty-three persons. In Dec, 1899. he removed to Mt. Zion, Mo., in the Kentucky Presbytery, where he has since labored. 324 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Mr. Rabb was married Jan. loth, 1883, to Miss Mary Jefferson Walker, daughter of Samuel Craig and Ann Shannon Walker, in Louisville, Ky. Mrs. Rabb was born June 25th, i860, near Hanover, Ind. She became the mother of four children, three of whom survive, one son and two daughters. Mr. Rabb's maternal great grandfather, John Glazier, was a Captain in the Revolutionary Army, and distin- guished himself in the battle of Stono River and Eutaw. His body is buried in the cemetery of the old Brick Church. Mr. Rabb's father superintended the construc- tion of the stone wall around the cemetery in 1846 or '47 —and his mother caused the Brick Church to be repaired after the destruction caused by Sherman's army in 1865. Mr. Rabb's preaching is plain and practical. He has given a good deal of attention to work among the young people. He has shown himself to be an earnest and zeal- ous minister of the Word. At a called meeting of the Kentucky A. R. P. Presby- tery, Nov. 3rd. 1903, he asked for a certificate to connect with the Indiana Presbytery of the M. P. Church. Plis recjuest was granted, and he is now pastor of Shiloh M. P. Church at May's, Indiana. Rainey, IVilliam H. — The family emigrated from Ire- land and located in eastern Pennsylvania. William was sent to school, and graduated in Dickinson College, Pa., in 1798. He was licensed by the A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania, Oct. 30, 1800. He was sent by the Synod, Oct. 2nd, 1802, to the First Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. He remained there one year. The fol- lowing year he went to Kentucky. Oct. 5th, 1803, he was received by the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky on certificate from the First Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. He supplied vacant churches in Central Ken- tucky. Oct. 30th, 1805, he was ordained and installed pastor of Paint Lick and Silver Creek (now New Hope) SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 325 cono-re^ation. This relation continued until April 17th, 1817 when he demitted his charge. For several years he preached for the vacancies in the Presbytery, nianily in Bourbon, Bath and Fleming counties. The subjects of intercommunion and also slavery agi- tated this Presbvtery deeply, resulting in some of the ministers changing their church connections, and others moving North of the Ohio River. The Bishop and Rankin difficulty also agitated the Presbytery. In addition, the Presbytery was divided, cutting off all the territory North of the Ohio River, which was the strongest portion of the Presbytery, into a new Presbytery, to be called the Presbytery of Ohio, the division to take efifect Jan. ist, 181 7.' The result was the Presbytery soon became dis- organized. April 20th, 1820, the Synod of the West authorized Revs W. H. Rainev and Samuel P.rown to reorganize the Presbvtery, which they did Aug. 30th, 1820. These, with Wm. Baldridge and Hugh Mayne, constituted the working force of the Presbytery up to 1835. The sub- ject of slavery, perhaps, more than any other one cause, (as the source of supply of ministers was from the North), resulted in the disorganization of the Presby- tery again. Several of the congregations sought connec- tion with the Presbytery of Chillicothe, O.. as also did Mr. Rainey. He was installed pastor of Hinkston, the 2nd Thurs- day of Dec. 1825, and continued in this relation until April, 1832. He continued to supply the churches in Central Kentucky occasionally up to 1842, when the Presbytery was reorganized in connection with the Synod of the South. ^Tay i8th. 1844, he again connected him- self with the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky, at a meeting held with the New Hope congregation. He was clerk of the Presbytery from 1820 to 1835, and in 1844 he pre- sented to the Presbytery the original records from Feb. nth, 1801, to that date, which are yet in the possession 326 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of the Presbytery. He continued occasionally to preach up to the time of his death, in 1850. Mr. Rainey married Margaret Fisher. They had four sons and two daughters, none of whom are now living in the bounds of any of the A. R. P. churches in Kentucky. The family lived in Harrison County, Ky. Mr. Rainey's father and President U. S. Grant's father were cousins. Mr. Rainey was connected .with the A. R. P. church in Kentucky about 47 years, a much longer period than any other minister ever connected with it. In the Report of the Kentucky Presbytery to Synod, Oct. 14th, 1850, we find the following tribute : "He en- tered the ministry at an early day in the history of the Kentucky Presbytery, and adhered to the original prin- ciples of the church through the long series of difficulties with which it was tried. For a considerable time the congregations were almost wdiolly dependent on him for supplies. His memory is embalmed in the affections of many, both in the church, and in the wide circle of his acc|uaintances." Ralston, Samuel Shannon. — Was the son of James and Esther Shannon Ralston, and was born near Nashville, Tenn., May nth, 1809. His memory of his earlier days was remarkable. In his autobiography he mentions the earthquake shocks of 1811-12 as distinctly remembered. His parents were poor and he was very anxious to secure an education. At the age of eighteen he had never owned as much as ten dollars. At this age he left his father's and hired as a day laborer for nine dollars per month. He spent several months in school at Lebanon, Tenn., with his uncle, Rev. William Ralston, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. About this time Rev. Plenry Bry- son, D. D., offered him free board and tuition in his school at Viney Grove, Lincoln Co., Tenn. This he gladly accepted and spent three years under Dr. Bryson's care. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 327 During- that time he became a member of Bethel, one of Dr. B.'s churches. Two years were spent in college at Jackson, Tenn. He afterwards spent a year or two in Maury Co., Tenn., studying with and assisting Rev. Robt. Galloway in his school. He now began studying Theology under Dr. Bryson, but after one year, went to the Seminary at Due West, S. C, and completed his course, and was licensed by the 2nd A. R. Presbytery, May 6th, 1837, and ordained by the Tennessee A. R. Presbyter}- in June 1838. His first preaching was done in S. C. in 1837. The winter of 1837 was spent in Alabama, Mississippi and West Tennessee, reaching Middle Tennsesee in 1838. He w^as in charge of Head Spring, Marshall Co., and Zion in Lincoln Co., until 1843. ^vhen he removed to the bounds of the Kentucky Presbytery and accepted a call from Mt. Zion and Bufifalo, Mo., and was installed as pastor over these churches May 30th, 1845, three-fourths of his time at ]\It. Zion, and one-fourth at Bufifalo. He demitted the Bufifalo branch of his charge March 26th, 1852, though he continued as stated supply. Sept. 10 1859, he asked to be released also from ]\It. Zion, though formal action was not taken until Sept. 8th, i860. At this tinie he was not only released from the pastoral relation, but was also given a certificate to connect with the United Presbyterian Church. He removed to Le Claire, Iowa, where he died Nov. ist, 1890. Mr. Ralston was moderator of the A. R. Synod of the South in 1852, and delegate from the M. P. church to our Synod in 1873. He was a man of more than ordinary abilities, and was held in high esteem by his brethren. Mr. Ralston was married three times. His first wife was Mary Ann Hill, of Maury Co.. Temi., who became the mother of four children, one of whom is ]\Irs. John G. McCain, of Tdavillc, Tenn. She died Aug. 28th, 1845. He was married June 6th, 1846. to .Sarah Yeager, of 328 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Kentucky, who died April lo, 1873. He was married again Dec. 30th, 1875, to Mrs. Rebecca McGarvey, of Freeport, 111., who is still living in Freeport, 111. Neither of the two last had any children. Mr. Ralston published "Ralston on the Apocolypse" in 1858, and "Five Arguments for the Post Millenial Theory" in 1875. His views on prophecy being somewhat dififerent from those ordinarily entertained, he hesitated to publish his book. While in this state of mind, he and his wife ear- nestly engaged in prayer for the divine guidance and when thus engaged there was a considerable shock of earthquake. He accepted this as the divine approval, especially as it was accompanied with a feeling of such calm assurance as he had never felt before. Ranson, Alexander, D. D. — Was born in Laurensville, S. C, Aug. 22nd, 1 82 1. He was early trained in rigid economy, industry and morality. Entering Erskine Col- lege in 1845, without means, Dr. George W. Pressly, of Long Cane, S. C, unsolicited advanced the means for the two years in the College, and the same time in the Seminary. This money was returned, the generous Dr. accepting no interest. Graduating from the Literary department in 1847, and the theological in 1849, the Second Presbytery gave him license Sept 22, 1849. From this time till about Jan. i, 1852, he taught at King's Creek Church, Newberry Co., S. C, and supplied that pulpit. A short time being spent in East Tennessee and Georgia, he passed to the Kentucky Presbvtery, by which he was ordained May 7th, 1853, where he spent some four or five }ears. The united congregations of Gilead and Prosperity, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, called him and his installation took place Dec. 11, 1857. Very soon after this he be- gan preaching at Craighead stand, a point near Ilun- tersville, N. C. The place was removed nearer town SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 329 and a church org^anized Sept., 1874. He was pubHc spirited. The Mecklenburg- Co. Bible Society found in him a true and tried friend and an efficient member. Naturally of a practical cast of mind, his influence on farming, economic questions and settlement of difficul- ties was very great, especially in upper Mecklenburg. Practical and far seeing, he worked steadily at his object and gave everything such a touch of common sense as to recommend it. His church recognized his ripe scholarship and his ability as a Bible exegete and placed him on the commit- tee to revise the Psalms and constituted him Professor of Sabbath School Literature. He was honored in 1877 with the title of D. D. from his alma mater. As a safe, learned and conservative expounder of God's word he had few equals. His reading was extensive, considering his opportunity for books. But what he read was at his command. Always a welcome and helpful contributor to secular and religious papers, this opportunity especially wdien laid aside was embraced. As a preacher he was not eloquent in fluency and flow of language. But there was the eloquence of clear illus- tration, the power of lucid explanation and the beauty of home application. He had strong faith and was a marvel of patience. With him, God's time was the best time. During the four years struggle, '6t to '65, he was faithful in burying the dead, comforting the widow and orphan. There was martvr's blood in this man. Wise in coun- sel, mild in manner, broad minded in his views, it was never in his mind to compromise his religious convic- tions. His charge was demitted Sept. 3rd. 1877. After a min- istry of thirty-three years, he approached death with the same calm, conscious faith, saying. "I know I will be saved for I know I believe." He died Aug. 12, 1880. 330 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Nov. 15th, 1853, )*Iiss Sarah Shannon, of Nicholas Co., Ky., became his Hfe companion. She was a lady of good education, of fine conversational powers, combined with tact, prudence and piety. Sharing the cares and sacrifices for the gospel's sake with her patient and godly companion, heirs together of the grace of life, thev now wear the crown. A. J. RAXSON. Raiison, Rev. Arthur Jones. — Son of John J. and Rose Elizabeth ( Hunter) Ranson, was born at Huntersville, N. C, Aug. 26, 1873. When ten years old, joined Huntersville church. He attended Hun- tersville High School and Erskine College, graduat- ing in 1893. He entered I^rskine Theological Sem- inary that fall, and gradu- ated in 1895. He after- wards spent one year in the Seminary at Princeton, N. J. The First Presbytery li- censed him at Back Creek, April 8, 1895. He took up work as stated supply of Prosperity and Blanche, Tenn., July I. 1895, and was ordained and installed pastor of these churches, Nov. 10, 1895. This happy relation was interrupted, when by the appointment of Synod he left that field, Nov. 17, 1901, to take charge of the Mission church in Corsicana, Texas. Mr. Ranson was happily married to Miss Julia E. Cowan, at Due West, S. C, June 27,, 1897. She was a daughter of W. T. and Mary (Brownlee) Cowan, and a graduate of the Due West Female College in the class of 1895. She died Aug. 8, 1902, leaving one child. Mr. Ranson is still in charge of the church at Corsi- cana, and his labors arc meeting with great acceptance. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 331 Ranson, Edgar Alexander. — Rev. E. A. Ranson is the son of John J. Ranson and EHzabeth Rose Hunter, and was born at Huntersville, N. C, June 3rd, 1876. At the age of fifteen, he lost an arm in an accident. He was prepared for college at the Huntersville High School, and graduated at Erskine College. He was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Ebenezer, N. C, May 7th, 1901, and was licensed at King's 3^Ioun- tain, X. C, May 7th, 1902. He attended the Seminary, first at Princeton, then at Erskine, and took a post grad- uate course at Allegheny U. P. Seminary. Reid, Daniei Washing- ton.— Was born in Xew- berr\- District, S. C, Oct. 10th, 1826. His father was Daniel Reid and his mother Miss Jane Fleming. His educational opportunities were fairly good. He graduated from Erskine College in 1847. He joined the church at Cannon Creek, in 1849. ^^ ^^'^^ received as a student of Theology in 1867, by the Second Presbytery. He studied Theology at Due West. He was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery at Generostee, 1868. He was ordained by the Memphis Presbytery, at Rich- land Church. Shelby Co., Tenn. He preached at Hopewell, Xewton Co., Ga., as stated supply for two years. He also served the church at Richland, Tcnn., until called as their pastor. He was there eight years. On Oct. 16th, 1849, •'"' Abbeville Co., S. C, he married Miss Elizabeth Amanda Bradley. Her parents were Archibald and Sarah Bradley. She was D. W. REID. 2>2>2 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. born Oct. 21st, 1829, in Long- Cane. Abbeville Co., S. C. They had three children. She died March 30th. 1895. Soon after his graduation, Dr. Reid began the study of medicine. He graduated in Eclectic School of Medicine in the year 1849. From then until 1857 he practiced medicine successfully in South Carolina. In that year he removed to Georgia and continued to practice his profession until after the war, when he began the study of Theology. Rcid, Samuel JVatsoii. — His parents were Samuel Watson and Jane Pressly Reid. He was born Sept. 9th, 1867, in Steel Creek, N. C, Mecklenburg Co. His mother was a daugh- of Rev. James P. Pressly, D. D., of Due West, S. C. As a child, he was un- usually thoughtful and had a habit of taking ev- erything to God in prayer, believing that God would hear and answer his pray- ers. His early education was obtained under Prof. H. K. Reid, at Ebenezer, N. C, and A. G. Kirkpatrick, at Sharon, N. C, and J. P. Reid, at various places, Pine- ville, Steel Creek and Gastonia, N. C. He graduated at Erskine College July 8th, 1891, and was received as a student of Theology by the First A. R. Presbytery, Oct. 2nd, i8(;i, and entered Erskine Theological Seminary. He was licensed by the First A. R. Presbytery, April 5th, 1893, at Charlotte, N. C, Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick, moderator. He was ordained and installed as pastor of Woodrufif, S. C, July 15th, 1893, and Welford, S. C, Aug. 26th, S. W. REID. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 333 1893, by commissioners appointed by the 2nd. A. R. Presbytery. This pastorate continued until May, 1897, when it was dissolved in order that he might take charge of Ebenezer and Wren's congregations, Ga. His work in Ga. continued until Sept. I3tli, 1898. Having re- ceived a call to Louisville, Ky., he was transferred to the Kentucky Presbytery, and installed as pastor Dec. 31st, 1898, Rev. L. I. Echols, of the Kentucky Presbytery and Dr. W. M. Grier, of the 2nd Presbytery, officiating in the installation service. He was appointed Financial Agent and Superintend- ent of Missions for the Presbytery in May, 1899, which position he still fills with zeal and fidelity. He has been active in the work of the Young People's Christian Union, co-operating with the United Presbyterians and has attended several of the General Conventions. Through his labors, the church in Louisville has been making constant progress, and at the present rate of growth bids fair soon to be self-sustaining. Mr. Reid is married. He is an earnest, zealous, conse- crated minister of the Word and is highly esteemed in love for his work's sake. Renzvick, John, Sr. — This father of the Associate Re- formed Church was born in Ireland, of Scottish ances- try, likely in the year 1735, and in County Antrim. In 1770. he emigrated from the mother country with a large portion of his congregation, and settled in Newberry County, South Carolina. A part of his congregation had preceded him, in the year 1767, and still another portion followed him, in the year 1772. These were Anti-Burghers, and Rev. John Ren wick was the first Associate Reformed preacher in Newberry County. His son. Rev. John Renwick, Jr., was born December 31st, 1770, at sea, on the passage over. These people with their pastor, founde)d the churches of King's Creek and Cannon Creek, and out 334 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of these grew the congregations of Prosperity and Head Spring. These are all the facts we have been able to gather in the life of Rev. John Renwick, Sr. He died August 20th, 1775, aged 40. Rcnzvick, John, Jr. — This minister w^as born at sea, December 31st, 1770, while his father and many of his parishioners from Ireland were making their voyage to Newberry Co., S. C. He was received as a student of theology by the Sec- ond Presbytery, March, 1805, and studied under Rev. Alexander Porter. He was elected clerk of Second Pres- bytery, April 1st, 1806, before licensure, and "on prom- ising fidelity took his place." He was ordained and in- stalled pastor of Gilder's Creek, Newberry Co., S. C, June 28th, 1809. at the same time supplying Warrior's Creek (now Bethel), Laurens Co., until March loth, 1812, when he became pastor of this church also. He demitted Gilder's Creek, March ist, 1814, and gave up Warrior's Creek, November nth, 1825. He continued to preach until a few years before his death, which occurred about the close of the year 1836. He was moderator of Synod in 1826. His wife was the widow of Rev. David Both- well, of Georgia. Robinson, David Prcssly. — Born in Long Cane, Ab- beville Co., S. C, 1819, a graduate of Erskine College, 1843, of her divinity department two years later, and a licentiate of the Second Presbytery, Mar. 29th, 1845. Declining a call in 1848 from Bethel and Ebenezer. Ga., he was ordained and installed pastor of Tirzah. Lhiion Co., N. C, and Shiloh, Lancaster Co., S. C, Nov. 3rd, 1848. Margaret, daughter of Capt. Wm. Bonner, of Wilcox Co., Ala., linked her life to this gifted licentiate. A bride of three months, this beautiful but fragile flower waited Aug. 4, 1846. With amiable temper and gentle manners, she won favor and admiration. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 335 His second marriage, May 24, 1849, ^^'^s to jNIiss Margarett, daughter of Robt. Brice, Esq., of Fairfield Co., S. C. She was a good woman, a devoted mother and wife. Two of her sons, Gardiner Springs and Lawrence Henry, became ministers. She died Jan. 31, 1868. In the fall of 1867 he made complaint of the conduct of two elders in Shiloh, and later that congregation de- siring the relation dissolved, a commission was ap- pointed "to adjudicate the difficulties there existing." This committee recommended the dissolution of the pas- toral relation, which was done Sept. 23, 1868, the congre- gation being required to pay balance of salary. These arrearages and declaring the pulpit vacant led to strained relations between him and some members of his Pres- bytery. "Partiality, tyranny and usurpation" being his com- plaint against the Presbytery, this court began a formal process at Ebenezer, N. C, July 16, 1873. When every- thing was ready for trial, Rev. Robinson requested and Presbytery agreed to submit this whole matter to a Board of Arbitrators, two of whom should be selected by himself, two by the prosecuting court, the four to se- lect a fifth, all of them to be members of the A. R. P. church outside the Presbytery, and their decision final. This Arbitration Board met at New Hope Church, Fair- field Co., S. C, Dec. 3rd, 1873, and unanimously sus- tained the charge of the First Presbytery, "making due allowance for peculiar circumstances and temperament of Mr. Robinson, some palliation of the offence should be allowed." D. G. Phillips. D. F. Haddon, H. T. Sloan, Joseph Caldwell, J. L. Miller. Making exception to the construction of this Board, which the Presbytery refused to entertain, and in April, 336 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 1874, giving verbal notice of his Avithdrawl, this judica- tory erased his name Sept. 8, 1874. He was in his best days a fine preacher, a clear, tren- chant and logical writer, a man of the most remarkable nerve and coolness. A bright future was largely clouded, a prospective usefulness partly hindered, pure Christian joy largely interrupted because out of tune "in submis- sion in the spirit of meekness, to the admonitions of the brethren of this Presbytery." He joined the Southern Presbyterian Church and for a niunber of years carried through all our courts the same unhappy litigation. After a stormy life, he left evidence that he entered peacefully the haven of rest, Nov., 1902. Robinson, Hugh Harris. — A son of Ezekiel and Eleanor Harris Robinson, was born March i, 1824, in the bounds of Sugar Creek, Mecklenburgh Co., N. C. His father died when he was two years old, leaving him to be reared by a pious and affectionate mother. She re- moved to Steele Creek in 1828, and in 1840 went to the Coddle Creek congregation. He prosecuted his studies in the common schools and at Union Academy, and entered the Sophomore class in Erskine College, in Nov., 1844, and graduated September 15, 1847. He had joined the Associate Reformed Church at Coddle Creek in 1840. He was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at North Bethany, Mecklenburgh Co., N. C, April 17, 1848, and was licensed to preach by that Presbytery at Old Providence, Augusta Co., Va. He studied theology at Erskine Theological Seminary, and after licensure missionated extensively in Georgia, Ala- bama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. He was called to the pastorate of Ebenezer in Tippah Co., and Shiloh in Lafayette Co., Miss., 185 1, and having been transferred to the Alabama Presbytery he was ordained in the spring of 1852 at Starkville, Miss. He was in- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 337 stalled at Ebenezer by Rev. J. L. Young, July 24, 1852, and at Shiloh by Rev. J. A. Sloan, and he continued to minister to Ebenezer until his death in 1881. He de- mitted his Shiloh charge in 1856. He married Miss Alary Adaline Ellis of Due West, S. C, Oct. 21, 185 1 She was a daughter of John Lindsay and Mahala Dodson Ellis, and was born March 4, 1827. She was Uie mother of eight children, seven of whom survive to this day. Of them John E. is a prac- ticing physician at Bethany, Miss., and Ralph E. and Hugh H. are prominent educators in the State of Tennessee. He was acting chaplain of the 3rd Mississippi Regi- ment and was captured at Fort Donelson in February, 1862, and was kept a prisoner of war mostly at John- son's Island. He came near dying there and was released and stopped over in central Kentucky and returned to his home in September, 1862. His death was a melan- choly providence. In returning from visiting a sick little child the horse he was riding became frightened by the barking of a dog and threw him, injuring him so seriously that after three days of great suffering he died. May 19, 1881. His last words were "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Mr. Robinson was a man of great force of character, a close student and an excellent pastor. Faithful in pulpit and pastoral visitation, he was greatly beloved throughout the whole community. His visits were pecu- liarly comforting and helpful to the sick and afflicted, and nnich of ministerial labor was spent in the homes of his people. His Presbytery pays tribute to his worth as "a prince and great man in Israel — wise in counsel and efficient in action — as pastor, manifesting special care in visiting sick and comforting the afflicted. As a citizen, modest, exemplary, exhibiting at all times the beauty of holiness and the excellency of undefiled religion." He was Moderator of the Synod of 1866, which met 22 338 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. at Prosperity, Lincoln Co., Tenn. He was the stated clerk of the Memphis Presbytery from 1856 to 1873. His body sleeps in the church-yard at Ebenezer hard by the church around which centered his ministerial labors for nearly 30 years. R. L. KDBINSON. Robinson, Richard Lee. — Son of Nathaniel Press- ly Robinson and Agnes l^lizabeth Lathan, was born Oct. 31, 1872, in Lan- caster, S. C. He attended the country schools until his fourteenth year, the last two of which he studied under Rev. W. \. M. Plaxco. He was prepared for college by Prof. J. G. Baird, at Franklin Acad- emy, Lancaster, S. C. En- tering Erskine College, Due West, S. C, in 1889, he was graduated from that insti- tution in June, 1892. He made a public profession of his faith at Shiloh church, Lancaster, S. C, in his twelfth year, during the pastorate of the Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco. Immediately after graduation, he taught school one year at McConnellsville, S. C. In August, 1893, he took charge of the Oak Hill School, at Oak Hill, Wilcox Co., Ala., in which he taught for three years. It was during this period that he reached the conviction (November loth, 1895) that he should give himself to the work of the ministry, and in Sept., 1896, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, where he spent three years, grad- uating in May, 1899. In May, 1898, he was received as a student of theol- ogy by the First Presbytery and licensed May 15, 1898, at Charlotte, N. C. During this summer he supplied SKETCHES OF MIXISTEltS. 339 the churches at Louisville, Hinkston and Ebenezer, Ky. returning to Princeton Seminary in the fall. In connec- tion with his theological studies he took post-graduate work in Princeton University under Profs. jMark Bald- win, Bliss Perry and Paul \'an Dyke. .\.lso extra curriculum studies in the Seminary under the instruc- tion of Drs. George T. Purves and G. \'as. Immediatel}' on completing his studies in the Seminary he began work at Camden, Ala. He was ordained by the First Presbytery at Lancaster, S. C.. Xov. lo, 1899, and installed pastor of the church at Camden, Ala., by Rev. H. "SI. Henry, D. D., of the Tennessee and Ala- bama Presbytery on the fourth Sabbath of Xovember, 1900, and still labors in that field. He is unmarried. Rogers, Arthur Siiiall. Rev. A. S. Rogers is the son of the late Atmar Rog- ers and Mary J. Craw- lord, and was born in Xewberry, S. C, March nth, 1869. He attended the city schools in Xew- berry until he was twelve }ears old, and was prepared for college at the Hunters- ville High School, and graduated at Erskine Col- lege in 1894. He was re- ceived as a student of theology by the First Presbytery. April 7th, 1895, at a meeting at Back Creek, X. C. His theological course was taken at Erskine Seminary, and afterwards a short course at the Moody Bible In- stitute in Chicago. He was licensed by the first Pres- bytery at Gastonia. X. C, April 7th. 1896, and was ordained by the same Presbytery April 5th. 1807. Iin- KCJGERS. 340 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. mediately after his licensure Mr. Rogers was sent by the Board of Home Missions to take charge of the mission in Rock Hill, S. C, for five years. Under the direction of the Board he canvassed the Synod for funds to erect a church building in Rock Hill. Largely owing to his zeal and energy, and under his wise administration, we ncAv have an elegant church building and a flourish- ing congregation in the city of Rock Hill. At the expira- tion of his term of five years under the appointment of the Board, he was called as pastor by the congregation, and was installed Dec. 19th, 1901. and still continues pastor there. Rodgcrs, John, M. D.—Oi Scottish birth, 1745, a graduate of St. Andrews' Universitv, with a full course of medicine added, the Associated Synod of Edinburg after his licensure commissioned him to the wilds of America, 1770. Ordained that summer he sailed in the fall. Before leaving his native soil he married, Oct. i, 1770, Miss Elizabeth Blackwood of gentle and wealthy parentage. April 4th, 1772, he became pastor of Big Spring and connections, Cumberland Co., Pa. For error in doctrine he was deposed on the ninth anniversary of his installa- tion. This act was not unanimous and the next year his friends being in the majority because Revs. Marshall and Clarkson declined entering the union which formed the A. R. Synod, he was restored. This terminated his connection with Big Spring. Dr. J. B. Scouller says : 'Tt is rather difficult to believe that Mr. Rodgers was very much of an errorist in substance and reality, when men of such undoubted orthodoxy as Murray, Smith and Logan refused to condemn him." His first wife died in Pennsylvania. His second wife was Miss Isabella Ireland of Cumberland Co., Pa. In 1783 he was installed pastor of Old Providence and Timber Ridge, Va., thus constituting the oldest pastorate in the Southern Synod. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 341 Charges were preferred against him in 1789 affecting his ministerial standino- and usefuhiess. Revs. Ale.\'- andcr Dobbins, John Boyse and John Smith were sent with full powers to investigate and report. On the strength of this Synod, j\Iay 19th, 1790, in the city of Philadelphia suspended him from the office of the min- istry. He never afterwards sought re-admission. Having received a thorough medical education he turned his attention to this and became a successful practitioner. About the year 1803 he donated fifty-five volumes ot Calvinistic Theology in Latin and Hebrew to \\'ashing- ton College, Lexington, Va. It was the first donation during the first seventy years of her existence. Dr. Rodgers continued the practice of medicine till his death in 1812 on his farm near Timber Ridge, \'a. Rogers, James. — Rev. James Rogers was born in County ]\Ionaghan, Ireland, Aug. 2nd, 1768. He grad- uated at Glasgow L^niversity, and studied theology two terms with Dr. Lawson, at Selkirk, Scotland, and was li- censed Sept. 8th, 1789, that he might go to South Caro- lina with a brother and sister. He landed in Charleston, S. C, Dec. 25th, 1789, and soon after went to Fairfield and Abbeville Districts. He was present at the organization of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia of the Associate Reformed Church. At Long Cane. Feb. 24th, 1790, and officiated as clerk. He was called to the pastorate of Kings Creek and Cannon's Creek, in Xcwberry Co., and of Ebenezer, now called the Brick Church, in Fairfield Co., S. C, and was ordained and installed Feb. 23rd, 1791. About 1815 Mr. Rogers resigned his Xewberry Churches, but con- tinued to be pastor of Ebenezer until Ins death. August 2 1st, 1830. The Associate Reformed Synod of the Carolinas was organized at Mr. Rogers' church. Ebenezer. May 9th. 342 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 1803, and Mr. Rogers was the Moderator of the meeting. He was also Moderator in 1809, 1814, 1817 and 1821. Early in his ministry he founded the Monticello Aca- demy, near Ebenezer, and presided over it for more than twenty-five years. This Academy was somewhat famous in its day, and man^^ men who afterwards became famous in the South obtained the rudiments of an education in this school. Dr. Lathan, in his "History of the A. R. Church," says : "James Rogers was a man of fine mental attain- ments and cultivated taste." Dr. Schanler says : "He was decidedly attractive and popular as a preacher, and equally so as a man in his private intercourse." Mr. Rogers was married three times, first to Jane Wilson Murray, who died July 30th, 1803, leaving one child, John Rogers. His second wife was Celia Davis, who died Sept. 21st, 1818. The third wife was Jane Adger, daughter of Wm. Adger of White Oak, S. C. After the death of Mr. Rogers his widow married Mr. Scott of Columbia, S. C, by whom she had one son, but ihev are all now dead. R. A. ROSS, D. D. Ross, Robert Annstroiig, D. D. — Was born in Ca- barrus Co., N. C, near Coddle Creek church, Oct. 9, 181 7. His preparation for college was largely at Union Academy, Meck- lenburg Co., N. C, under Dr. R. C. Grier. While a pupil, a kind providence saved him from an awful tragedy. July 4, 1837, was being patriotically ob- served at People's Old SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 343 Store, in the lower part of Mecklenburg- Co. Not sat- isfie-vl with ordinary explosives, the cannon was filled with mud. R. A. Ross had been touching it off. Josiah Boyce, a bright student in preparation for the ministry^ took the match. Ross stepped back. There was a terri- ble explosion by the bursting' of the cannon. A great wedge passed over Ross's head and ploughed the field. Josiah Boyce and Andy Patton were killed. ''Now, truly here we stand in awe before the \visdom and foreordination that shapes our ends. That fifty years pastorate was written on the invisible canvas with which angels tented Patton's old field that day and they read their charge : Bear him up in your hands : take that match out of his hands ; he is the man of destiny. Let the other fall and his life go out." Dr. E. E. Boyce at semi-centennial of his pastorate. Spending two years he graduated at Jefferson, Pa., 1840. and after a course of divinity under Dr. James Boyce and at Erskine. was licensed by the First Presbyter}^ Nov. 30, 1842. ordained by same and installed pastor of Sharon. Smyrna and Olivet, York Co.. S. C, Dec. 6, 1843. At "Briar Patch" on Queen's Road, a great crowd usually spent the Sab- bath playing "shinncy" and other desecrating games. With the leaders he reasoned and induced them to aban- don it. Thus convincing their will and appealing to their better nature many of them were his fast friends through life. He threw all the ardor of his giant mind and strong character into preaching and pastoral work, taking an active part in whatever questions came up in Presbytery or Synod, being Moderator of the latter 185 1 and 1872, July 28. 1846. he married Miss Nancy E. Kennedy. This tie being sundered by death he contracted a second marriage with Miss Naomi Caldwell. September. 1854. Her death occurred 1891. Smyrna being demitted April 20. 1852, and Revs. J. R. Castles and M. Gates serving as pastors, he was re- 344 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. installed May 5, 1871. His text next Sabbath was: "I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?" Olivet was disorganized some time after his ministry began and Smyrna was again demitted Sept. 29, 1890. Washing-ton and Jefiferson as also Erskine conferred D. D. in 1874. Synod commissioned Drs. James Boyce, R. A. Ross, J. I. Bonner, Prof. J. P. Kennedy and Gen. P. H. Bradley to meet a similar committee of the United Presbyterian Church on co-operative missions and union. They met in Baltimore, December, 1875. The commencement of Washington and Jefiferson, 1890, marked the semi-centennial of his graduation. Invited he participated in the class re-union. But another semi-centennial was drawing near as this veteran of the cross was battling with disease. Laid aside some time from active duty his people would not hear of his demittal. The Synod met Oct. 19-24, at Sharon, to join his people in surveying half a century's pastorate. We found him nearing the shore, the land birds lighting on his craft. It falls to the lot of few as Drs. Thompson and Ross to serve one people continu- ously fifty years. In these days of itching ears it is a credit to both minister and people. The afternoon session of Friday, Oct. 20, was devoted to a service unwitnessed before with this programme : Poem by Rev. I. G. McLaughlin, Historical Address by Dr. E. E. Boyce, Open Letter from George Earle, L. L. D., Washington, D. C., a classmate. Address in behalf of the Synod by Dr. W. M. Grier. Lingering till Nov. 25, 1903 the summons came for this brave, loyal and valiant soldier to lay his armour down after 51 years service less 5 days. Dr. Ross was far above the average. Possessed of a vigorous and well cultivated mind had he chosen law the judge's bench would logically have been his. If States- manship, Congress would have resounded with that stentorian voice, ready utterance, dignified language, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 345 compass of thought and logical acumen of which he was master. As a debater and clear reasoner he had no equal in Synod, cool, calm and deliberate under the most excit- ing questions. If Synod had needed a supreme court judge unanimous consent would have invested him with the ermine. These powers of body and mind he laid on the altar of God's glory and circumscribed them within the sphere of his convictions and Church. What a pity says the short sighted, as the Egyptians of Moses, to bury such talent! But touching and in- fluencing by his orthodox leadership three generations, he is greater, more far reaching in influence than R. A. Ross another Thomas Benton thirty years in the United States Senate. Sharp, Washington Marion.— Son of Robert Clem- mers Sharp and Esther Hawthorn, was born November 18. 1 82 1, near Due West, Abbeville Co., S C. Until grown he went to school in the home neighborhood, then to Rev. J. S. Pressly, until Erskine College was estab- lished. In 1845 he went to college in Oxford, Ohio. He graduated at the University of Indiana. He joined the Church at Due West, S. C. Began the study of theoloo-y under the direction of the Second Presbytery about 1846 in the Theological Seminary, and was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery in the spring of 1848 at Generosicc church. Anderson County, S. C. Was ordained at Due West by the same Presbytery and sent to Texas as a missionary in 1849. The Synod of 1848 ordered him to missionate a few Sabbaths each at Dalton's and in Bradley, Monroe, Blount. Knox. Washington and Sullivan Counties, Tenn., and Washington Co., A^a. The first of these were included in what was termed in a general way the "bounds" of the Tennessee Presbytery. The Synod of '51 and '52 continued him as missionary to Texas, of which lUirnhani was a center, and recjuired to visit other 346 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. points in the State which might be inviting. He was poorly paid by Synod for his services in this difficult work as her missionary, and he labored under many discouragements. In the report presumably of the Second Presbytery to Synod of 1853, it is stated he was given a certificate to join another Church. In 1861 he entered the war as a private in Orr's Regiment. Some time in the 70's he removed to Texas. When and where he died is not known. Simpson John Walter. — ■ Rev. J. W. Simpson is the son of Dr. Isaiah Simpson and Sallie Patton, and was born in Charlotte, N. C, July 1 2th, 1876. He was prepared for college at the Presbyterian High School at Rock Hill, S. C, and at the Charlotte Military Institute, and entered Er- skine College, Sept., 1807, completing his course with the class of 1901. He en- tered Erskine Seminary Sept., 1901, and was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery, at King's Mountain, N. C, May 7th, 1902, and was licensed by the l-'irst Presbytery at Charlotte, N. C, May, 1903. Pie is at present stated supply at Concord and Bessemer City. Simpson, John H. — The subject of this article de- scended from Sarah Wylie and John Simpson. In Ches- ter Co., S. C, he was born in 1834. Spending five years at Erskine College without missing a recitation or a roll call, he well earned his diploma in 1856. He says him- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 347 J. H. SIMfSON. self: "Studied Theology three years in Due West. Commenced Hebrew and violin music at the same time and have kept up the study of both since, but I do not expect to make a finish of either till 1 get to heaven." The First Pres- bvtery commissioned him as a probationer Sept. 6th, 1859. The next year his missionary labors being divided between the First and Kentucky Presbyte- ries, he was sent in Oct.. i860, to Xew Lebanon, West Virginia. Friday, April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was bom- barded. A 'cry soon after, as himself says, "became a non- commissioned chaplain, surgeon, nurse and undertaker in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee." After the war he resumed the pulpit and supplied vacancies. Reinforced by a most worthy help- meet, ]\Iiss Elizabeth Moffatt of Chester Co., S. C, May 8th, 1866, he began stated labors at Xew Lebanon. \\'est Virginia, June 2nd, 1867. The First Presbytery or- dained him Oct. 24th, 1867. He continued as stated sui)ply of this \'irginia charge till August 28th, 1869, when he was installed pastor. l*"or a quarter of a century he labored in this held, going in and out, preaching in outlying and destitute districts. Two interesting events of wide spread interest occurred at Lebanon during his pastorate. At the meeting of Synod with this church August i5-20th, '78, Synod inaugurated her Independent Mission in Mexico. The other event was a ten days meeting, August 29th, 1889, held by Rev. W. W. ( )rr, in which fifty-seven professed conversion. 348 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. This charge was demitted Oct. 3rd, 1891. Removing to Huntersville, N. C, he did mission work in the First Presbytery. A call was made for his services as Prin- cipal of Hickory Grove Academy, S. C. After complet- ing this contract he labored for a time in Kentucky and Texas. When an orphanage was opened at Hickory Grove all eyes were turned to him, and well has he filled the post. Remarkably cool, calm and patient, his habits were plain, his information minute. He was never guilty of copying any man. His motions in church courts, his methods of expression, his sallies of wit, his means of reproof, his correspondence, social conversation — these all sparkled with originality. To all these was always added a chaste Christian speech, a devotion and love for his Church, a pure life and a personal piety. Sloan, Archibald Strong. — Was born in Newberry, S. C, Dec. 8, 182 1, and was a son of James Sloan and Jane Thompson. He graduated at Erskine College, Due West, S. C, in 1844. He joined the church at Cannon's Creek while a child, was received as a student of Theol- ogy by the Second Presbytery in the autumn of 1844, and prosecuted his studies at Erskine Theological Sem- inary. Was licensed by Rev. J. L. Young, at Due West, S. C, September 17, 1846. His field of ministerial labor was the Associate Re- formed Presbyterian Churches in Lincoln Co., Tenn., and for 43 years he did efficient service for the Master in that part of the vineyard. Such is the very brief summary of a life dedicated to God, whose work still lives in the lives of many of the sons and daughters of the com- munity where was the scene of his earthly ministry. Pie preached the Gospel with great power — was a fluent speaker, and a man of strong intellect. Many will recall his famous "White Horse" sermon which he repeated again and again by request. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 349 Mr. Sloan was married to Elizabeth Jane Stewart, daughter of James and ^Margaret Stewart. She was born Nov. 21, 1828. She bore him seven children and died Dec. 2, 1894. He died April 27, 1893. Sloan, James Alexander. — Son of John Sloan and Eliza Martin, was born in Fairfield Co., S. C, Oct. 6, 1817. His early educational opportunities were very good, and he graduated from Erskine College, August 9, 1842. He was received as a student of theology by the Presbytery, studied at Erskine Theological Seminary and was licensed to preach Sept. 24, 1844. He moved to Marshall Co., Miss., Nov. i, 1845, ^"<^ became pastor of Alt. Carnicl church .\pril 19, 1846, and preached there one half his time till 1862, when war broke up the regular services. He was married to Miss Sarah Ann, daughter of ]\'Ioffatt and Jane ]\Ioffatt. She was born in Chester Co., S. C, Dec. 28, 1827, removed with her parents to Benton Co., Ala., thence to IMarshall Co., Miss., in 1844. She was married April 22, 1846, and died in Corinth, Miss., March i, 1893. She was the mother of nine children. Mr. Sloan with his family tmited with the Southern Presbyterian Church in April, 1866, removed to Corinth in 1892, and there he died suddenly May 31, 1894. He was a good Greek and Hebrew scholar, and a strong theological debater. For many years was As- sociate Editor of the "Due JVest Telescope," and wdiile he lived often contributed to the religious press. Two sons and three daughters survive him. Mr. Sloan was the author of a book entitled, "Is Slavery a Sin in Itself." Sloan, Rev. T. JJ\ — The subject of this sketch is a native of Lincoln Co.. Tenn. His father was Rev. A. S. Sloan, for manv \ears an honored minister of our church. 350 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Bro. T. W. Sloan attended the schools of his neigh- borhood and in due time was fitted for Erskine College, which he entered in 1884. He graduated with the class of 1886, entered Erskine Theological Seminary, finish- ing his course at Princeton. In May, 1890, he was settled as pastor over Troy congregation and served as pastor about five years. He was called to Charlotte, and served this church for a short time, returning to Troy, he remained until 1900, when he took charge of the mission at Abbeville and served that church for about two vears. Receiving a call to the First Presbyterian Church in Greenville, he received a certificate to connect with the Presbytery of Ennoree and is now a promin- ent minister of that body in South Carolina. Sloan. Henry Thomp- son, D. D. — In the bounds of Cannon Creek congrega- tion, Newberry Co., S. C, Rev. H. T. Sloan, D. D., first saw the light, on the 25th of May, 1823. His parents were James Sloan and Jane Thompson. The father was an elder in Cannon Creek church, and his son Thompson was carefully and piously rear- ed. His early education was obtained in the schools near his home, and when seventeen years of age he en- tered Erskine, along with Rev. D. W. Reid. His father furnished him provisions from home, and for a time he boarded himself, hiring a servant to do his cooking. He completed his course in 1846. He then entered Erskine Seminary, graduating in 1848, and was licensed in Sep- tember of the same year by the Second Presbvtery, at Generostec, Anderson Co., S. C. H. T. SLOAN, D. D. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 351 His missionary labors were extensive throughout the Western churches and lasted for two years. He received a call from Cedar Springs and Long Cane and was installed as pastor over these congregations October 29th, 1850. His pastorate was a long and fruitful one. He never had but one charge and for forty years he labored among his people, loving them and being loved in return. What a tribute to a pastor's faithfulness and to a congregation's loyahy is a forty-years work among the same people. As one has said of Dr. Sloan : "He tenderly bore in his arms the lambs of the flock placing upon their young brows the seal of the covenant of bap- tism, and when these had grown to the estate of man- hood and womanhood he united them in the holy bonds of wedlock with pious admonition, and when later on the Reaper, came as he so often did. with sickle keen and reaped the bearded grain, in melting tones and more meltino- words he consigned them to their last resting place." Dr. Sloan was a most earnest and eloquent minister of the Gospel. He had a commanding presence, and a voice clear and musical, most pleasant to the ear, his sermons were very full of the Scriptures and he was especially strong in his appeals to the sinner, being apt to present the Gospel with great persuasiveness and tenderness. His preaching was essentially evangelistic, and he excelled in special meeting designed to reach the unconverted. It was the writer's privilege to hear him frequentl}- at Due West in Communion meetings, when he would assist the pastor. Dr. W. L. Pressly, and often have we been stirred ])y his powerful and affectionate calls to those out of Christ. His ministry was eminently successful, both in his own churches and also when con- ducting meetings for others. For a time during the Civil War Dr. Sloan was chap- lain of Orr's Regiment. He was most popular among the men. Init on account of failing heallh, he was forced to leave his regiment before the close of the struggle. 352 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Dr. Sloan was one of the pioneers in city mission work. In 1854 he was sent to Nashvihe, Tenn., to open up work, and succeeded in organizing a church, which, however, only had a temporary existence. In 1874 he was sent to Charlotte and organized a church in that city, and our present flourishing work there is due in part to his beginnings, a day, indeed, of small things, but one full of promise and success to the faith and hope of Dr. Sloan. He was one who planned great things for the Church, and had great confidence in her future. One of the marked features in the life of Dr. Sloan was his faithful attendance upon the meetings of Presby- tery and Synod. He missed possibly only one meeting of each court in a ministry of forty years. He was also very punctual in attendance upon the sessions of the Board of Trustees of Erskine College, and the com- mencement of the two colleges. He received his degree of D. D. from Erskine College. On account of failing health he gave up his charge in the year 1890, but con- tinued to preach till about a month before his death, which resulted from paralysis of the brain at his home near Cedar Springs, Feb. 13th, 1894. His monument in marble stands in front of the church. ^ Dr. Sloan's family life was very happy, although he had no children. He was married to Miss Josephine E. Kerr, daughter of Jennings B. Kerr and Jane Walkup, in Charlotte, N. C, Jan. 2nd, 185 1. She shared with him the joys and trials of his ministry, and was a most in- telligent helpmeet. She frequently attended with the Dr. church meetings and commencements, and was al- ways much interested in ecclesiastical and educational matters. Her home is still at Cedar Springs, where she enjoys a green old age with her nephew, Mr. Kerr. Dr. Sloan at his death left a considerable bequest to the Church. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 353 Smith, Nat Erskine.—Rey. X. E. Smith is the son of G. L. Smith and Margaret E. Jamison, and was born at Coddle Creek, N. C, Aug 22nd, 1878. He was pre- pared for college at the Coddle Creek Academy, and graduated at Erskine College. He entered the Seminary at Erskine in Sept., 1902, and was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Charlotte, N. C, May, 1903, and is pursuing his studies at Erskine Semi- nary. Smith, Rev. John An- drezv. — Son of O. N. and E. A. Smith, was born June 23, 1865, in Alexan- der Co., N. C, but was reared in Iredell Co. In Elk Shoals Academy he came under the influence of Rev. \\\ B. Pressly, who tirst excited in him a desire to preach the gospel. He received his education at Huntersville, N. C, and in Erskine College. In J. A. SMITH. ° June, 1893, he graduated from Erskine Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the First Presbytery in Charlotte, N. C, April 5, 1893. He spent three months the same year, by direc- tion of the Board of Home Missions, preaching in Little Rock and Russellville, Ark. He was ordained by the First Presbytery and installed pastor of White Oak, S. C, Nov. 24, 1893. He labored here six years; was in- stalled pastor of Ebenezer and Wrens, Ga., Dec. 6, 1899. This relation was dissolved April 12, 1902, and he was 'nstalled pastor of Russellville, Ark., church, April 21. He was married August 21, 1895, to Miss Sallie E. Patrick, youngest daughter of J. R. and S. N. Patrick 23 354 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. of White Oak, S. C. She graduated from the Due West Female College in 1886. Mr. Smith has marked gifts as a pastor, preacher and evangelist. Spruce, William Wilson. — Son of John Spruce and Jane Wilson, was born in Newberry, S. C, in 1827. His father died in South Carolina, and when but a child, his mother, two brothers and three sisters emigrated to Tennessee and settled in Bedford County in 1830. He was the youngest of seven children. He obtained a common school education at the coun- try schools, and also went to Viney Grove, Lincoln Co., Tenn., in 1846, and joined the Church at Bethel, Tenn., while at school there. He graduated from Erskine Col- lege about 1853. He married Miss Eveline McNease in Wilcox Co., Ala., and nine children were born to them. After the Civil War he moved to Louisiana, on the Red River. There his wife and three children died. He then went up into Arkansas. Here he appears to have joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was also married here the second time. Where he studied theology, when, where, by what Presbytery licensed and ordained is not stated, and the only record of his preaching we have is while teaching at Orrville, Ala., sometime in the fifties. He is said to have preached occasionally. Ste-wart, Rev. Eheneaer Pressly. — Son of Samuel and Rebecca Stewart was born in the bounds of Generostee congregation, S. C, the 27th of Sept., 1838. When he was five years old, the family moved to Tippah Co., Miss. In early life he became a cripple from "white swelling." Educated in Ebenezer Academy, under Rev. J. L, McDaniel and Mr. J. C. Irwin, he chose the profession of school teaching. He married Miss Mary Frances Owen, of Tippah Co., Miss., Dec. 2, 1858. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 355 STEWART. He taught school in Union Co., Miss., until 1870, then at Ebenezer j^/SjH/^ Academy in Tippah Co., ^^^^^ - ten years. He then taught in Milam and other coun- ties in Texas. In 1854 he joined Ebenezer church in Mississippi, and in the ear- ly '6o's his thoughts began to turn to the ministry. In 1884 the Texas Presby- tery received him as a student of divinity. He studied privately under members of the Presbytery and was licensed May 22, 1886. He was ordained, sine titnio, by the same Presby- tery, May II. 1889. He preached two years and taught school at Lamar. With the consent of his Presbytery he located in Greer Co., Okla., and the ist Sabbath in May, 1890, he began preaching once a month in Pleas- ant Point school house. The 25th of the following De- cember he organized Hermon Church. He supplied this church till January, 1902. Sfczcorf, Thomas Bonner. — Was born Aug. 20th, 1857, near Mofifattsville, in Anderson Co., S. C. His father was John Wylie Stewart, his mother's maiden name was Miss Eleanor Black.* He received his early education from the common schools near his home. He graduated from Erskine College in 1884. He joined the Church at Generostee in Anderson Co., S. C. He was received as a student of theology by Second Presbytery in 1884, at Due West. Studied theology in Erskine Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the same Presbytery April, 1886, at Ora, S. C. He was ordained in Xovembcr, 1887, at Coddle Creek by the 356 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. First Presbytery. He began his ministerial labors at Mooresville and Coddle Creek. He served these churches from 1887 until 1891. From then until 1893 he labored under the direction of the Flome Board in the Kentucky and other Presbyteries. In 1893 he went to Arkansas, where he labored until 1899. In that year he became stated supply at Doraville, Antioch and New Hope in De Kalb Co., Ga., and continued there until 1902. In January, 1903, he began work at Back Creek and Prosperity in Mecklenburg Co., N. C. He was installed as pastor of Perth, Coddle Creek and Mooresville in November, 1887. And over Shady Grove and Hickory Springs, Arkansas, in October, 1899, and was called at Back Creek and Prosperity in January, 1903. He married Miss Annie I. Lathan at Due West Oct. 27th, 1887. Her parents were Dr. Robert and Mrs. Fannie B. Lathan. She was born in Yorkville, S. C. May 23rd, 1865, and died March 15th, 1903. They had four children. Ste-vcnson, Miss Made Pennelia. — The lot of the subject of this sketch has been cast at Tampico, on the Gulf Coast of the Mexican Republic. and notwithstanding the ex- cessive heat, the length of the season and the treach- ery of the climate, she is prosecuting her work with skill and vigor, and the fruit will be far-reaching and we trust abundant. Miss Macie Permelia Stevenson is the youngest child of the late Robert Mur- dock Stevenson and the late AFargaret Rel)ccca Hartin, MISS STEVENSON. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 357 and is at this writing in the fuhiess of her womanhood, having come upon the stage of hfe at Albion, Fairfield County, South Carolina, near New Hope Church, on Nov. loth, 1872. She is a decendant of the Scotch- Irish, of which South Carolina is noted. In disposition she was cheery, gentle, affectionate and notably pious. She made a public profession of her faith about the age of twelve years, and was re(^eived as a member at New Hope church, under the pastorate of Dr. R. G. Miller. Her earlier education was obtained in the country schools of her section, and, being studious, her progress in her school duties was above the average. She received her later training at Due West Female College and graduated with the class of 1890. At an early age the missionar}- spirit seems to have found a lodgment in her heart, and from a child she would say that she expected to be a missionary. On the first Sabbath of November, 1878, a few days before completing her sixth birthday, the first missionary to Mexico visited New Hope, and presented the cause of the Mexican Mission. Her contribution to this new work of the Church was a silver dollar, which she per- sonally handed the missionary in childlike simplicity and modesty. It may have been the planting of the mis- sionary seed then that has developed into her beautiful ly devoted, missionar}' life. After graduating, she taught school for a short while, and in December, 1890, was appointed to the Mexican field. Several months were spent in special study at Due West, S. C, and in November, 1891, she left home and native country to teach in a girl's school at Tampico, Mex. She arrived in Mexico in December, 1891, and about one year was spent in the study of the Spanish language, in which she made rajMd i)rogress. Some years previous Dr. Pressly had bought for The Depart- ment of Woman's Work suitable ])roperty for a school. The house was made read}- and e(iuipped for a school and 358 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. on the i6th of Jan., 1893, the Juarez Seminary for girls was formally opened with Dr. Neill E. Pressly as Prin- cipal and Misses Boyce and Stevenson co-teachers. Af- ter the first few months the school grew in favor, and Miss Stevenson has given her energies for the past ten years to the intellectual, moral and spiritual training of the girls that have come under her direction and in- fluence. As a teacher she is thorough in her work, she is firm in discipline yet affectionate, and is beloved by her pupils. Neither pleasure nor comforts, nor friends nor anything else, can detract from her school duties and Christian work. Through the school and the pupils, she has an entrance into families that are not easily reached by the preacher, and a part of every week is spent in the from house to house work for which work she has peculiar adaptation. Being a good musician, she has been prominent in the congregational singing of Christ's Church at Tam- pico. She is an active worker in the Sabbath School, having charge of the large class of little children. In the Juvenile Endeavor Society she has almost the entire direction of this branch of Christian work. In the day school and Sabbath School and in all the Church's work she takes a lively interest. Miss Stevenson is a young woman of thirty years of age, with consecrated zeal in her work, possessing superior qualifications for the work, blessed with ex- traordinary opportunities for exercising her gifts, and the prayer is that God will preserve her as a useful instrument for His Church, crown her earnest efforts with success, and, at last, her soul with the radiance of eternal glory at God's right hand. Amen. Stevensoi, Robert Milton. — Rev. R. M. Stevenson was born in the bounds of New Hope congregation, Fair- field Co., S. C, Nov. 20th, i860, and is the son of Rob- ert Murdock Stevenson and Rebecca Margaret Hartin. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 359 STKVENSON. He, together with nine other young men of New Hope, was prepared for college by Rev. H. M. Henry, D. D., who was then a recent graduate of Erskine College. Mr. Stevenson graduated from Erskine College in 1877, and spent a year in teach- ing in Edgefield Co., S. C. In Oct., 1878, he entered Erskine Seminary, and w^as received as a student of theology by the Second Presbytery at Head Springs, Newberry Co , S. C, in April, 1879. After graduating in the Seminary, he was licensed Sept. 6th, 1880, by the First Presbytery, at Beth- any, York Co., S. C. After preaching for a few months at Winnsboro, and Brick Church in South Carolina, he went to Virginia, and was ordained by the Virginia Presbytery April 22nd, 1882. For several years he was stated supply at Ebenezer and Bethel, and Broad Creek, Va., and was pastor of Ebenezer and Bethel from April, 1884, until April, 1886. At this time he demitted his Virginia charge and returned to South Carolina and was stated supply at Bethany and Kings Mountain during the sum- mer and winter of 1886, until the spring of 1887. At this time he was called to Bethany, and was installed pastor at Bethany, May 13th, 1887, for one half his time. On November 5th, 1892, he was installed pastor of Crowder's Creek for one fourth his time, and on No- vember 3rd, 1893, he was installed pastor of Clover for one fourth his time. Mr. Stevenson still continues pas- tor of these churches, and under his care they are pros- pering. He was the Moderator of the Synod at its 360 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. meeting at Rosemark, Tenn., November, 1901, and was for a time the Associate Editor of "Our Young People," the organ of the Young Peoples Societies, and since January, 1903, he has been the Editor of the "A. R. P. Quarterly," . Mr. Stevenson was married Oct. 26th, 1881, to Miss Emma L. Christian of Due West, S. C. Mrs. Stevenson is the daughter of Thomas M. Christian and Mary A. Padgett, and was born in Abbeville Co., S. C, April ist, 1859. Six children have blessed the home of these ser- vants of the Lord. Strong, Rev. Edgar El- lis.— Rev. E.Ji. Strong, the present pastor of the Dora- ville group of churches, was born at Atoka, Tip- ton Co., Tennessee, Feb- ruary 1 6th, 1876. His father was Rev. James Hemphill Strong, the pas- tor of Salem church, and his mother was Hibernia Ellis Strong. The Salem E E STRONG commuuitv has enjoyed the advantage for a num- ber of years of a good school conducted by Prof. R. E. Robinson. Mr. Strong attended this school and was here prepared for Erskine College. He graduated in 1900 and received his A. M. degree after a course of study, in 1902. While only twelve years of age he connected with the Church, his mind was directed to the ministry, and in the fall after his graduation from college he entered Erskine Seminary. He was received as a student of theology by the Second Presbytery April 12, 1901, at Iva, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 361 Anderson Co., S. C, and was licensed at Wrens, Ga., April 15th, 1902. Was ordained at Doraville, Ga., Sept. 18, 1902, and installed over the DeKalb Co. churches, having previously been called. Mr. Strong spent three months in the fall of 1902 in Allegheny Theological Seminary by leave of his congregations. The work at Doraville has taken on new life since his settlement, and the prospects in his field of labor are now ^nost promising. Stro)ig, James HeinpJiill. — Was a son of John and Martha Strong, and was born in Chester Co., S. C, May 14, 1827. When about ten years of age he re- moved with his father's family to Tipton Co., Tenn., and settled in the bounds of Salem church. Though at this early pe- riod good schools were not numerous, this com- munity was fortunate in having some: excellent teachers. Mrs. John Wilson taught in the neighborhood, and Prof. James Holmes at the IMountain Academy. Rev. E. E. Boyce also taught in this section, and it was Mr. Strong's privilege to attend school under each of these instructors. He entered Erskine College, and graduated from that institution in August, 1854. Ten years before, July 17, 1844, he joined the church at Sa- lem, Tenn. He was received as a student of Theology, at Salem, Tenn.. hv the Mempliis Presbvtcrv, Mav 4, 1855- He entered Erskine Theological Seminary in the fall of 1855, having previously prosecuted his studies under I. H. STRONG. 362 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. the Rev. John Wilson. He was Hcensed by the Memphis Presbytery October 7, 1856, at Hopewell, Union Co., Miss., and by the same Presbytery was ordained Nov. 21, 1857. During the winter of 1856 he labored in Drew and Hempstead Counties, Arkansas, and the following sum- mer in Lafayette Co., Miss., where he was called to the pastorate of Shiloh church in 1857, and continued as pastor there four years. In response to the call of Salem congregation as co-pastor (Rev. John Wilson being pastor) he demitted Shiloh, and came to Tipton Co., Tenn., in February, 1862. In the fall of 1865 the Rev. John Wilson tendered his resignation of Salem, which was reluctantly accepted by the congregation, and in May, 1866, a call was extended Mr. Strong and he was installed pastor of Salem in September, 1866. This was the beginning of a long and useful pastorate — continu- ing until his death in '91, nearly 30 years. The congre- gation grew in numbers and prospered. In 1885, toward the close of his life, it is recorded that more than 40 persons united with the church during a single meet- ing. "He had the pen of a ready writer and the faculty of expressing his ideas perspicuously. In 1886 he pub- lished in a pamphlet a history of Salem church, and since that a sermon on the 'Law of the Tithe' preached before the Memphis Presbytery and published by request of the Presbytery." His sermons were carefully pre- pared, and written in full and preached from manuscript. His words were weighty and earnest, for he was "mighty in the Scriptures." He was a safe, judicious counsellor, a faithful and devoted pastor, a worthy citizen, and a noble type of Christian manhood. He died August 18, 1891, and his body sleeps in the grave- yard at Salem within a few feet of the pulpit where for nearly 30 years he preached the "unsearchable riches of Christ." He was married near Due West, S. C, August 14, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 363 1854, to Hibernia Agnes Ellis, daughter of John Lindsay- Ellis and Mahala Ellis. She was born near Due West, S. C, Sept. 18, 1833, and is still living at the old home near Salem. Eight children were born to them, four of whom are living. John L., who died recently, became a practicing physician, and Edgar E., is the present pastor of the Doraville, Ga.. A. R. P. Church. Miss Addie is a Peabody graduate, and a teacher in the public schools of the county, C. Grier is a graduate in pharmacy, and ^^'m. J. is a farmer and efficient elder of Salem church. Strojig, Charles. — Son of James and Letitia Strong, born in Chester Co., S. C, Aug. 4, 1788. His mother was a sister of Christopher Strong, of Tennessee, a lib- eral benefactor of Erskine College. Piously trained, of a bright mind, his parents resolved to fit him for higher service in the church. He entered Monticello xA.cademy, Fairfield Co., S. C. under Rev. James Rogers. Then he entered S. C. University, Jan. 10, 1805, her opening day, and graduated 1808, in a class of 31. Straitened in means, he and two classmates, Revs. Joseph and Jas. Lowry, boarded themselves, furnishing their own provis- ion and doing their own cooking. This did not deter them from arduous study and honorable graduation. Three years were now spent in Newberry Academy, in a very successful school where many were prepared for honorable positions on the Bench and at the Bar. He repaired in the autumn of 181 1 to the Associate Reformed Seminary in Xew York City, under Rev. J. M. Mason, D. D., and spent four years. On his return the First Presbytery licensed him July 13. 181 5. Having labored in the vacancies a short time, the same court or- dained and installed him pastor over the united con- gregations of Cannon Creek, Kings Creek and Pros- perity, Xewberry County, South Carolina. In the pulpit he was free from anything like pharisaic aus- terity on the one hand, and levity on the other, his 364 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. appearance was solemn and impressive. Possessing a voice clear, soft and harmonious, he was always heard with interest. Deeply impressed with a sense of the great importance of holding fast the truth as it is in Jesus, he determined in the exercise of his ministry not to know anything save Jesus Christ and hi,m crucified, — hence his preaching was not of that character which is adapted to amuse the curious ; but which is suited rather to alarm the careless, to encourage the anxious inquirer, to comfort the mourner in Zion, and to build up the believer in faith and holiness. As a preacher he never pretended to the highest claims of eloquence. Although possessing great learning himself, he never sought to array his sermon with its pedantry. He sought to save men not by terror but by love. But well qualified as this godly servant was, the Mas- ter called him, after eight years service, to exchange the earthly for the heavenly court. The messenger came to his home six miles from Newberry C. H., July 20, 1824, and his remains lie covered with a marble slab, the loving tribute of devoted parishioners. He was distin- guished for his vigorous intellect and amiable manners, his unassuming and dignified deportment, his solid and extensive learning, his firm attachment to evangelical truth, his fervent and consistent piety. Feb. 13, 1817, he was happily married to Nancy, daughter of Capt. John and Martha (Hunter) Harris, of York Co., S. C. She was a granddaughter of John Harris and Eleanor Reynolds, wdiom Dr. Thomas Clark married while he was unjustly in Monaghan jail, 1754. She was of singular excellence, distinguished for piety and prudence, and one admirably qualified for the im- portant station to which she w^as called. After Rev. Strong's death, she returned to Steele Creek, where her father provided her a home. Here she reared and edu- cated her son, the late J. Mason Strong. AT. D., and her SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 365 three daughters, and here, Xov. 8, 1842, she left them motherless. Taylor, Robert Fleming. — Was born in Laurens Co., S. C, Xov. 20th, 1822. His father was John Taylor, his mother Sarah Bryson. He enjoyed good educational opportunities. He graduated from Erskine College in 1842. Immediately after he began the study of Theol- ogy at Due West. He was received as a student at Due West by the Second Presbytery. He w^as licensed Nov., 1845. -^6 ^^'^s ordained in 1849, by First Presby- tery. His first ministerial work was done in the vacant churches in South Carolina, North Carolina and Mrginia. In 1849 he was called by Neely's Creek, York Co., S. C. Also by Gilead and Prosperity, N. C. He accepted the former, and was installed pastor the same year. He was married May 6th, 1846, in York Co., S. C, to Miss Isa- bella X'irginia Pressly. Her father was Richard M. Pressly. Her mother's maiden name was ^lary H. Bar- ron. She was born in York Co., S. C, Nov. 26th, 1826. They had three children She is still living. There were five ministers in her father's family. Rev. R. F. Taylor was a chaplain in the Confederate army three years. He died June i6th, 1896. Thomas, Andrew. — Was received in 1854 by the Asso- ciate Church, served in that body and the U. P. Church in various pastorates in N^. Y. ; joined the First Ohio A. R. P. Presbytery, Oct. 1867; supplied her vacancies until 1869, when he joined the Presbyterian church. Thompson, Horatio, D. D. — Near the banks of the beautiful Hudson, Washington Co., N. Y., there was born, April i, 1799, an only son of Samuel and Alary (Howe) Thompson. With scant opportunities for pre- paratory education, though diligently improved, he grad- uated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., 1823, un- 366 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. REV. HORATIO THOMPSON, D. D. der the celebrated Dr. Nott. Having- about finished a course qf law, his mind undergoing a change, the study of a higher science was begun under his pas- tor. Dr. Alexander Bul- lions, of Cambridge Asso- ciate church, and finished under Dr. Banks, of Phila- delphia. He became a probationer of the Cam- bridge Presbytery, July lo, 1828. Mission work from Vermont to South Caro- lina was performed, his first tour through A^irginia be- ing in Dec, 1828, when Old Providence first heard his voice. Other calls declined, he began stated labors at Old Providence, Augusta Co., and Ebenezer and Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co., Va., Sept. i, 1833. A call was made Oct. 2nd and his ordination and installation oc- curred March, 1834. About the first of November, 1846, Ebenezer was demitted that another pastoral charge might be formed with Broad Creek. Two-thirds time was then given to Old Providence and one-third to Tim- ber Ridge. During the early part of his ministry the unhappy de- liverances of his Synod depleted his Presbytery. About 1840, he and Rev. John Patrick, Rev. Archibald Whyte declining, found it impossible to execute the law on slavery. Either they must leave these people in their so- called sins or fraternize with the First Presbytery. They chose the. latter and formed this union at New Perth, N. C, April 16, 1844. This closed the history of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas. On the 15th of May, 1832, he chose as his life companion Miss Eliza SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 367 Kinnear, of Timber Ridge Congregation. "She proved a gift indeed from the Lord. In her were verified the words of Solomon : 'Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.' She was a jewel— a jewel of rare value; an af- fectionate wife and a loving mother.' " Though born, educated and licensed in N. Y., he was patriotic to his section and loyal to the land of his adoption. Himself highly cultured, he was a bright light and an admired companion among distinguished men. It is a high compliment to be elected a Trustee of Washington College, now W. & L. University, Lexington, Va. Yet for fortv-one years, and to the day of his death he served in this capacity. He served also for a time as Prof, of Belles Lettres and Rhetoric. During the Presidency of Gen. R. E. Lee, it was his privilege to be on intimate terms with him, and often to dine at his table. Recog- nizing his ability, Erskine College conferred the title of D. D. in 1856. His Synod commissioned him to carry her greetings to the General Assembly Southern Presbyterian Church, 1872, in Richmond, Va. In the fall of 1880, "the infirmities of age" compelled him to ask for an assistant pastor. Rev. S. W. Haddon began stated labors as assistant pastor Feb. 6th, 1881. After two days illness, the blaster called him higher. The disease was pleuro-pneumonia. By mutual agreement, Rev. D. C. Irwin preached his funeral sermon. Revs. S. W. Haddon, R. M. Steven- son and Alfred Jones assisted, while Gen. Custiss Lee, Pres. W. & L. University, Profs. Nelson and Harris, with Elders Callison and Brown of Old Providence, were pall bearers. Dr. Thompson was cultured in literature, a Chester- field in manners and address, eloquent and commanding in the pulpit and had few equals in descriptive powers and brilliant imagination. Among the cultured and elo- 368 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. quent ministers in the far famed valley of Virginia and classic Lexington, Dr. Thompson was the peer of any. He could approach a delicate subject with much tact, grace, dignity and power. His name is indelibly linked with the Virginia Presbytery. For 50 years he served his church, his day and his generation, with rare talent and eloquence. Thompson, John Andrczv. — Son of Dr. H Thomp- son was bom at historic Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co., Va., July 10, 1837. Having spent some time in Wash- ington College, Lexington, Va., he graduated at Er- skine College, 1858. On the 22nd of Oct., 1867, he was happily married to Miss Eliza Ida Davenport, of Abing- don, Va. Later in life, after a course in divinity at Er- skine Seminary, he was licensed by the Second Presby- tery, April 8, 1893. That svimmer and fall he did mis- sion work in the First Presbytery, but later retired from active work and now resides at the old Thompson home- stead and is serving officially and devotedly Timber Ridge church. Todd, Rcr. John McClintock, D. £>.— Rev. Dr. Todd was a native of Laurens County, South Carolina, his birthplace near to the present station of Langford on the Charleston and Western Carolina R. R. He was bom August 3rd, 1849, ^^'^ was the son of James Rogers and Jane McClintock Todd. His early educational advantages were good for his day; he attended the schools of his community and was prepared for Erskine, which he entered in due time, grad- uating in 1869. He joined the church early in life, under the ministry of Rev. D. F. Haddon, and turned his thoughts to the ministry upon his graduation. He entered Erskine Sem- inary in 1870, having previously connected with the Sec- ond Presbytery at Providence church ; finishing his course, he was licensed at Newberry in 1872. He was SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 369 soon called as pastor to W'innsboro, S. C, where he was ordained and installed soon after his licensure. For seven years he labored in this field, doing most acceptable and faithful work, when his health gave way and he was forced to resign. After leaving the pastorate, he did some missionary work for a time in Louisville, Ky. ; he then removed to Due West, and was assistant editor of the A. R. Pres- byterian. In the summer of 1883, he was elected to the chair of Latin and French in Erskine College. He brought to his professorship in the college the same en- ergy and zeal wdiich he had shown in the work of the ministry. His scholarship was unquestioned and he was able to impart readily his knowledge to others. He soon won the admiration and respect of the students, and it is safe to say that there was never more thorough and suc- cessful work done in the Latin department than during the term of Dr. Todd's professorship. After serving the college about ten years, he was forced again to give up work on account of failing health, and on August 25th, 1893, in the 45th year of his life, he was called from his earthly labors to his reward. As a preacher. Dr. Todd ranked among the first. His discourses were scriptural, logical and full of unction. He had a splendid grasp of the Calvinistic system of theology and could enforce the doctrines of our holy religion with great power. In his delivery, he was full of earnestness, his prayers and his preaching were pervaded by a tone of deep spirituality, and no one could listen to him without being impressed with him, as a man of God. From what has been said, it is easy to see that his work was blessed wherever he labored. Dr. Todd was twice married, first to Miss Alice Brice, of New Hope, S. C, daughter of Mr. John A. Brice. There were seven children born to her, of which only two daughters survive. She departed this life in 1885. His second was Miss Belle McClung, of Timber Ridsfc. Virginia, by whom he had no issue. 24 ' 370 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. C. E. TODD. Todd, Rev. Charles Ed- ward.— Rev. Charles E. Todd's birthplace was near to the present site of Lang-ford, in Laurens Co., S. C, within the bounds of Bethel congregation. He was the son of James Rogers Todd and Jane Law McClintock, and was born October 23rd, 1862. In childhood he attended the common schools near him, but on his father's re- moval to Due West, he entered Erskine College, graduating from that institution in the year 1881. He entered Erskine Seminary in the fall of that year, having previously joined the Second Presbytery. He was licensed April 6th, 1883, at Due West, S. C, sent to Doraville, Ga., was called by that congregation, and set- tled as pastor, May 17, 1884. His work was greatly blessed in this field. The congregation had been in a dormant condition for some time, but took on new life under Bro. Todd's energetic and consecrated labors. He remained in this field until November, 1887, when the Board of Missions called upon him to take up the w^ork in Charlotte, N. C. If his work at Doraville had been eminently successful, much more was it blessed in Char- lotte. This field at the time was recognized as one of the most difficult in Synod. For about fourteen years we had been trying to establish a church in Charlotte, but the enterprise was still regarded an experiment. A new building must be had, if the cause was to succeed. Bro. Todd took up the work, brimfull of energy and zeal. He made the matter a subject of earnest prayer, and it was not lone until the church in Charlotte was SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 371 growing and was self sustaining. An elegant house of worship was built on a very desirable lot, a parsonage was erected near by, and when Bro. Todd laid down the work in May, 1895, every one was ready to call him "a workman that needcth not to be ashamed." His health failed and he resigned his charge, having been elected to the Presidency of the Due West Female College. Taking up the work here, he continued his connection with the College vmtil 1899. His health became very much broken, and he was compelled to give up teaching, but he had in his term of office put new life into the col- lege, increased the number of pupils, and brought it pos- sibly to its period of greatest usefulness. After a brief rest, in which he was connected with the Due West bank as cashier, and which institution he helped to establish, he again supplied the pulpit of the Charlotte Church, dur- ing Dr. J. T. Chalmers' absence in search of health in Mexico. After about a year's work in Charlotte, Bro. Todd was appointed agent of the Twentieth Century Fund. The object of this fund was to raise $60,000 in five years for the two colleges, the educational work in ]\Iexico, and for the Home Mission work in the towns and cities. Bro. Todd had been largely instrumental in starting the movement to raise this money at the meeting of Synod in Richland, Tenn.. in 1901. He was compelled to give up his canvass, in the midst of promising encour- agement, on account of returning ill health. Fie suffered much at his home in Due West for a number of months, was taken to Baltimore to the hospital, and died from the result of an operation, Sept. 3rd, 1902. Cut off while yet a young man, he had yet done a great work for the cause of Christ and his Church. Torres, Rev. Simon S. — Home missionar}- of the Tam- pico Presbytery and located at Tantoyuca, State of A'era Cruz, is the son of Estanislao S. Torres and Maria Tru- jillo. and was born in the village of Somorelia, State of 372 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. San Luis Potosi, Republic of Mexico, on the 28th of September, 1867. He was baptized in the Presbyterian church at \'illa de Cos, State of Zacatecas, at the age of seven years. His father was of a nomadic disposition, and he never enjo3'^ed any school advantages until he was eighteen years old. After his eighteenth year, he lived with several min- isters of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at dif- ferent places, and they taught him, as opportunity of- fered. He received a scholarship at The Laurens Insti- tute of the M. E. Church South, in Monterey, Mexico, and spent about two years under the direction of Rev. B. G. Marsh. He was early impressed by the gospel in his wanderings, and, when young, was received as a member of the Methodist Church at Mesquiz in the State of Coahuila. After leaving the school in Monterey, he drifted down into the State of Vera Cruz and at his own expense began evangelistic work in Tantoyuca. From this place he appealed to the missionary at Tam- pico for moral support and in 1896, he was received as a member of the Tampico Presbytery, and licensed and sent out as the first domestic missionary of the A. R. P. Church in the foreign field and is supported by the Tam- pico Presbytery. He was ordained at El Maiz, State of San Luis Potosi in May, 1897. He is a very plain, unpretending preacher of the gospel of salvation and is loyal to his adopted church, but, like Jeremiah, his mes- sage is misunderstood and unheeded by those whom he longs to bring to Christ. He was married to one of his converts in Tantoyuca, Srita Marcelina Echavarri, on the 22nd of May, 1896. They have three children : Samuel, Ester and Elias. The second was translated in infancy. Tnijillo, Rev. Pedro. — The first native preacher of the A. R. P. Church in Mexico, the Rev. Pedro Trujillo is the son of Cipriano Trujillo and Micaela Brito, and was SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 373 born on the 29th of April, 1846, in the city of Mexico. He received his training in the pubHc schools of the city of his birth. He took a commercial course and received the honor of his class, being awarded a premium given by the President of the Republic, Hon. Benito Juarez. In 1868, when the Protestant movement began in Mexico, Sr. P. Trujillo was among the first to identify himself with the cause and became a member of the Epis- copal Church, San Jose de Gracia. He soon severed his communion with the Episcopal Church and transferred his membership to the Presbyterian Church, then under the superintendence of Rev. M. N. Hutchinson. In 1875, he and several others began a Bible study, directed by Mr. Hutchinson, having in view the work of an evangel- ist. In December, 1875, Sr. Trujillo was sent to Tam- pico to prepare the field there for gospel work. He la- bored in Tampico without much visible results until that post was transferred to the Mission of the A. R. P. Church. In 1880, he was given a certificate to the mis- sion work in Tampico, and he took up with the mission- ary a regular course of study covering about two years, and was given a Missionary's certificate to preach. By order of Synod, at a meeting, at Chester, So. Ca., in 1883, the missionary at Tampico, Mex., was authorized to ordain elders, and then he called a meeting of delegates from the eldership ordained and "ordain Sr. Trujillo to the full work of the ministry." The delegation 'met in Tampico, and was composed of the missionary and Elders Zenon Zaleta and Acadia Gallardo, who ordained Sr. Trujillo on the 27th of ]\Iarch, 1884. Plis work has been in Tampico and points around. He is an earnest and good preacher, and enjoys the confidence of the people among whom he has labored. He was married in Tam- pico to Sra. Placida Pizanya \^.da de Ambros. on the 7th of March, 1878. He has no children. 374 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Turner, Thomas. — Was born April 7th, 1808, at Pen- dleton, Anderson Co., S. C. His father was James Turner, and his mother Miss Martha Dickey. He had very limited educational opportunities. His parents were poor and he had to work on the farm. He at- tended, when he had the opportunity, an old field school, and was assisted some by John S. Pressly and Rev. Henry Bryson. He graduated in 1832 from Miami Uni- versity. He studied Theology at Allegheny, Pa., and was licensed by the Second Presbytery in 1835. He was or- dained by the same Presbytery in 1836. He was installed pastor of Hopewell Church, Newton Co., Ga., in 1836, and continued pastor of this church until 1852. He then removed to Dalton, laboring there and in other vacancies for four years. In 1856 he re- moved with his family to Carmi, Illinois, took charge of West Union Church. He remained here until 1861, when, on account of the war, he returned South. Liv- ing at Dalton, Ga., he traveled during the war and acted as chaplain in the Confederate Army. On Oct. 13th 1836, he was married in Green Co., Ohio, to Miss Martha B. Crane, by whom he had eleven children. After the war he returned North and lived on a farm near Trum- bull, Illinois. On account of age and infirmity, he was never able to preach regularly again. His wife died Sept. 20th, 1879. He died April 26th, 1890, aged 82. He was, especially in his early ministerial life, an able and successful preacher. He organized in Georgia a number of churches. He was a man of remarkable faith, did a vast amount of missionating over many States, and endured great hardness as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wallace, Miss Fannie Lynn. — Missionary to Mexico. The subject of this sketch was the only daughter of Mr. William Wallace and Mary Susan Higgins, and was born on the 31st of March, 1873, in the bounds of New SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 375 MISS WALLACE. Hope congregation, Gar- rard Co., Ky. The advan- tages which she enjoyed in the parental home were blessed for good. As a child, she was remarkable for her quiet, studious dis- position. She imbibed in her early years the teach- ings of the gospel, and at the age of twelve years made a public profession of her faith at Kirksville, Ky. Careful attention was given to her instruc- tion and seeds were sown that bore blessed fruit. She received her collegiate education at the Due West Female College, Abbeville Co.. S. C, and was graduated from that institution in June, 1890, with the first honors of her class. She took a post graduate course in one of the schools of Ohio, was for awhile a teacher in the public schools, and afterwards took position as teacher in one of the schools of Corsicana, Texas. Her activity and zeal in the work of the Master was made prominent during her stay in Corsicana. She resigned her school and church work there to give herself to the Foreign ^Missionary work in Mexico. She took a special course at the Moody Institute, Chicago, preparatory to entering on her work, and in Nov., 1900, was sent to Mexico, to take the place made vacant in Juarez Seminary for girls at Tampico, State of Tamaulipas. She arrived at the mission home in Tampico Dec. 28th, 1900, and immediately gave herself to the study of the Spanish language under the direction of Dr. Pressly. She was a ready and diligent pupil, and her progress was beyond the average. After four months of study, 376 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. she began to take work in the school, and at the beginning of the session of 1901, she took a full share of the school work, and was beginning to take an active part in Chris- tian work. Her labors as a herald in the mission field were finished in the short space of twenty-three and a half months, and the Reaper claimed her as one of his sheaves, when she had scarcely entered upon the thres- hold of her chosen work. After an illness of eight days, she fell a victim of yellow fever, at the mission home, in Tampico, on Sab- bath day, the i6th of Nov., 1902. Her's was the death of a Christian whose hope is stayed on God. About the last words uttered before her reason began to fail, were, "I am resigned to God's will. My heart is at peace with God." As the Sabbath morning dawned, her soul was wafted to the land of eternal Sabbaths, and late that evening she was laid to rest in the burying ground at Tampico, under a mound of flowers, in the presence of all her co-workers, the pupils of the school, all the members of the congregation, and a large concourse of friends. The funeral services were conducted by Dr. N. E. Pressly and Rev. P. Trujillo, at the ^mission home, and at the grave, both in Spanish and English, God called, "so she took "The one grand step beyond the stars of God, Into the splendor, shadowless and broad, Into the everlasting joy and light, The zenith of the earthlv life was come." Wallace, JoJui. — Standing on the banks of the Delaware River, in the city of Philadelphia, in the summer of 1823, might be seen a vessel coming in. A young Irishman gladly steps on American soil. Equipped with license from the Presbytery of Ahoghill, Ireland, he presents it and himself, Aug. 20th, 1823, to the Associate Presbytery of Philadelphia. June 28th, 1824 was a red letter day for New Lebanon. West Va. She was arraved in her SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 377 bridal dress. The bridegroom was the ordained and in- stalled John Wallace, born in County Antrim, Ireland, Nov., 1799, his literary training at Belfast, his divinity at Edinburg. Dr. A. Heron and others of the Carolina Presbytery ofificiated. Some time afterward there was another marriage, the groom being the pastor and the bride Miss Nancy Ann Crawford, aunt of the late John Hampden Crawford, of Greenbrier Co., West Va. She was born January 2nd, 1804, and died Oct. 23rd, 1829. This pastoral relation was dissolved March 23, 1832, and he preached in Illinois till 1858, when he retired from active ministerial duty and died on his farm near Little York, Warren Co., 111., Dec. 20, 1875. His minis- try is well remembered in West Virginia and his faithful preaching and persistent catechizing are bearing fruit. Walker, James McCullongh. — Rev. James M. Walker was the son of Hon. John W^alker, and was born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, Nov. ist, 1829 . He graduated at Davidson College, N. C, in 1847, and soon afterwards entered! Erskine Seminary, graduating in 1849, ^^^^ "^^'^^ licensed by the First Presbytery in September of the same year. He supplied Cedar Springs, in Abbeville Co., S. C, for awhile, and spent a year at Millersburg, Ky. He was called to Sardis Church in Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and was installed May 9th, 1851. Some time after being called to Sardis, he was sent to supply the mission at Nashville, Tenn., for awhile, but did not give up his pastorate at Sardis, where he continued pastor until 1858, when he resigned, and entered the Southern Pres- byterian Church. In 1859, ^^'^ took charge of Philadel- phia Church, in N. C, but died of typhoid fever, April 15th, i860, and is buried in Sardis graveyard. Mr. Walker was married May 13th, 185 1, to Elizabeth Jane Harris, of Mecklenburg Co., N. C. The fruit of this marriage was four children, two of whom died in 378 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. infancy. Edgar H. Walker, of Charlotte, N. C, and Mrs. Walter S. Pharr, of Sardis, N. C, are those who are living. Mrs. Walker afterwards married Mr. R. M. White, of Charlotte, N. C, by whom she had two chil- dren. It is a rather unusual thing, but it is true in this case, that Mrs. White, and Rev. Jas. M. Walker's children, Mr. E. H. Walker and Mrs. W. S. Pharr, are all useful and active members of the Associate Reformed Church. Waller, William Tozviis. — Son of Nathaniel Waller and Anna Amelia Bender, was born in Selma, Ala., Nov. i8, 1854. His father was for 65 years an honored citizen of Selma, Ala., and for 60 years an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was very successful in busi- ness and died full of years and honor and enjoying the love of all who knew him. He gave most liberally to the support of the gospel while he lived and left a leg- acy to the same at his death. Mr. Waller had good advantages in the way of early educational training. He was reared in part under the ministry of Dr. W. J Lowry, and by his influence he was sent to Erskine College, where he graduated in 1875. While at college, he joined the church at Due West, in 1872 or 1873. He was received as a student of Theol- ogy by the Second Presbytery and took the course in Er- skine Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Second Presbytery in 1878, at Kings Creek, Newberry Co., S. C, and was ordained by this Presbytery at Due West, S. C, Nov., 1877. He labored one year as Synod's missionary at Lebanon and Camden and six years at Charlotte, N. C. He mar- ried, March 4, 1874. at Due West, S. C, Miss Kittie L. Bonner, a daughter of Rev. Dr. J. L Bonner and Mrs. A. A. (Lindsay) Bonner. She was born Sept. 13, 1853, and has borne him ten children. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 379 In 1884, Rev. Waller connected with the A. S. Pres- byterian Church, identifying with the Tuscaloosa Pres- bytery of the Synod of Alabama. He was recently pastor of the Camden, Ala., Presbyterian Church. iraft. James Bell. — Rev. James Bell Watt was born in Fairfield Co., S. C, April 4th, 1820, and was the son of James Watt and Margaret Bell. After attending the common schools of the country, he entered Erskine Col- lege, but did not complete the full collegiate course. Soon after leaving college, he married ^liss Xancy Bell, of Fairfield Co., S. C, and when he connected with the church and gave his life to the ministry, he entered the Associate Reformed Church, and pursued his Theolog- ical studies under Rev. James Boyce, D. D., and was li- censed by the First Presbytery in 1843. In 1844 he was ordained and installed pastor of Steele Creek and Sardis churches, in Mecklenburg Co., N. C. After laboring in this wide field for five or six years, he was released from Sardis, and for seven or eight years longer he continued pastor of Steele Creek. In 1858 he severed his connection with the Associate Reformed Church, and connected with the Presbyterian Church and was soon called to Steele Creek and Pleas- ant II ill churches in that denomination. In i860 he was attacked by typhoid fever and died Sept. i6th of that year. \\'hilc pastor of Steele Creek A. R. Church, his first wife died, leaving three children, and he was subse- quently married to IMiss Louisa A. Neel, daughter of Gen. Wm. Xeel. of Mecklenburg Co., X. C, who with three children still survive. IVeed, James Penny. — Son of Xathaniel \\"eed and Polly Wiseman, was bom in South Carolina, in Abbeville (or Laurens) County, April 6, 1820. In his childhood a severe case of sickness made him an invalid for life. He graduated in Erskine College, September 20, 1843. 380 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. He studied Theology at Due West, in Erskine Seminary. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Second Presbytery, at Long Cane, S. C, October 7, 1845. For a year or two he engaged in missionary work, but having been called to the pastorate of the Troy, Tenn., church, he was ordained and installed pastor of that congregation April 17, 1847, by the Tennessee Presbytery, which re- lation continued for a number of years. He was married to Mary Moffatt, a daughter of James Moffatt, of Troy, Tenn. She bore him three children. He was married the second time to Miss Eliza Terrell, who died without issue. He enjoyed the heritage of a godly ancestry, a people of decided religious convictions. Mr. Weed was much afflicted physically, — an intense suf- ferer. He was a nervous wreck, yet his mental quali- ties were of a high order. He was a student from youth to old age — possessed of a retentive memory and a pow- erful, chaste imagination. He was an eloquent, impress- ive preacher, and a man of extensive information. It was refreshing to hear the word of the Lord by his mouth. Weed, John Young. — Son of Nathaniel Weed, of Starkville, Miss., graduated at Erskine College, 1854. Brother of Rev. J. P. Weed. Studied at Erskine Theo- logical Seminary ; licensed by Second Presbytery in the fall of 1855 ; died July 11, 1856. In the mysterious prov- idence of God, about one year after his licensure, he was called away. He lies buried at Starkville, Miss. White, George Rufns, D. D.—Rev. G. R. White, D. D. was born at Elk Shoals, Alexander Co., N. C, April 20th, 1846, and is the son of James Parks White and Jane Amanda Moore. His academic education was received at Elk Shoals Academy, and he graduated at Erskine Col- lege in 1 87 1. He was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Back Creek, N. C, Sept. 4th, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 381 KE V. G. K. ^\Hn^, U. D. 1 87 1, prosecuted his theo- logical studies at Erskine Seminary, and was li- censed by the First Pres- bytery, at Ebenezer, N. C, July i8th, 1873. He was ordained at a special meeting of the First Presbytery, October 14th, 1874. For some time after his licensure he supplied vacancies in the First and Second Pres- byteries, and also in the Kentucky Presbytery, and was called as pastor of Ebenezer Church in Mecklen- burg Co., N. C, and installed Oct. 29th, 1876, and has continued pastor there ever since. Dr. White was mar- ried at Due West, S. C, Sept. i8th, 1873, to Miss Laura Elizabeth Grier, the daughter of the Rev. Dr. R. C. Grier and Barbara Brown Moffatt. Mrs. White was born at Due West, S. C, Oct. 12th, 1849- The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Mr. White by the Trustees of Erskine College. In his youth. Dr. White served one year in the Confederate Army, and rose to the rank of Captain in the Junior Reserves. Dr. White is an able preacher and a successful pastor, and has long been looked upon as one of the leaders of the Synod. He has frequently served on various Boards of the church, and has been the Treasurer of the Board of Home IMissions ever since its organization. IVhite, John Alexander.— Re\. J. A. White is the son of Matthew White and Mary Torbit, and was born near Chester, S. C, Nov. 22nd, 1852. His early education was received in the schools of the neighb(M-hood until 38-- SKETCHES OF ^IINISTERS. J. A. WHITE. he entered Erskine College m Oct., 1869, graduating in 1872. On Aug. 5th, 1070, he united with the church of Hopewell, Ches- ter Co., S. C, of which church his parents and grandparents, both pa- ternal and maternal were members, and of which he himself was destined to become pastor. He joined the First Presbytery, at King's Mountain, N. C, in March, 1879, and studied Theology in Erskine Sem- inary, being licensed by the First Presb\i:ery at Neely's Creek, York Co., S. C, July 30th, 1878. He supplied the churches of Winnsboro and Hopewell for several months, and was called to Hopewell in March, 1879, 3.nd was ordained and installed May 23rd of the same year, and still continues pastor of Hopewell. In 1881, Mr. White was called to the pastorate of White Oak church, in Fairfield Co., S. C, in connection with Hopewell, and this relation continued for eleven years, when he resigned, in order that White Oak might call a pastor for all his time. He was married, in Mecklen- burg Co., N. C, Dec. 14th, 1881, to Miss Susan Grier Lewis, who was born at Lewis Turn Out, in Chester Co., S. C, June 29th, 1854, and is the mother of two sons. Mrs. White is the daughter of John B. Lewis and Mar- garet J. Wliyte, and is the granddaughter of the Rev. Archibald Whyte of the Associate Church. Mr. White is the fifth ])astor that Hopewell has had in a history of one hundred and thirteen years. All his predecessors lie buried in the cemeterv hard bv the church where thev SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 383 all served so well, and the indications are that ]\Ir. White will spend his life as the pastor of this old, historic church, and sleep at last w^ith the fathers near the scene of his life's labors. White, James Meek. — Rev. J. ^I. White is the son of Closes W'hite and JMartha Shaw McGill, and was born near Hickory Grove, in York Co., S. C, Sept. nth, 1864. He graduated from Er- skine College, June, 1890, and in September of the same year was received as a student of theology by the First Presbytery at Welford, S. C. studied theology at Erskine Sem- inar}-, and was licensed b}' the First I'resbytcry, at Char- lotte, X. C, April 6th, 1892. Mr. White was stated supply at New Hope and Mt. Olivet, Ky.. from Jul\-, 1892, until Oct., 1893, and was ordained at Charlotte, N. C, Xov. 6th, 1893, by the First Presbytery. He supplied the churches at Russellville, Little Rock and Zion, Ark., from Nov., 1893, ^^"itil Oct., 1894. and then went to Hopewell and Head Springs, Tenn. In the fall of 1895 he was installed over Hopewell and Head Springs, Tenn. He remained pastor here for several years, demitting Head Springs in ]\Iay, 1898, and Hope- well in Sept., 1899. In Oct.. 1900. he was called to the united charge of Unity, Gills Creek, and Pleasant Hill, in Lancaster Co., S. C, and was installed over the united charge at LTnity. on April 9th. 1901. He still continues pastor of these churches. 384 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. jNIr. White was married July 6th, 1892, to Miss Mary Eliza Scott, of York Co., S. C, and they have four chil- dren. Mrs. White is the daughter of Samuel Martin Scott, and Isabella Gilfillan, of Sharon, S. C, and was born Dec. 13th, 1868. Whyte, Archibald. — Son of Rev. Archibald and Mar- garet (Kerr), born in Argyle, New York, Aug. 3rd, 1800; was graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1822; spent four terms in the Associate Seminary, Philadelphia, and received license from the Cambridge Presbytery June 19th, 1826. Early in Nov., 1826, he preached in the Carolinas, spending most of 1827. Dur- ing this year he received calls from New Stirling, Cam- bridge and Gilead, N. C, and from Putnam, Washing- ton Co., N. Y. These declined, his ordination and in- stallation, Dec. 5th, 1827, took place over the infant con- gregation of Associate Presbyterians in Baltimore, Md. In the summer of 1833, he demitted Baltimore and accepted a call to the united charge of Steel Creek and Bethany (Back Creek) Mecklenburg Co., N. C. These were seven years of lonely work and special trial, yet his congregation increased from 55 families and 128 members to 65 families and 153 members. During most of the period till 1840 his Presbytery consisted of him- self and Dr. Thompson of Virginia. He, with his Pres- bytery, declined the authority of the Associate Synod because of her stringent and impracticable act on slavery and "were suspended, in June, 1840, until they acknowl- edged their sin, and returned to their duty." At this crisis, Rev. Thomas S. Kendall "was dispatched with a letter to explain and enforce the views of Synod and to warn th^m against countenancing the ministry of their for- mer pastors." It was on this mission, the second Sab- bath of Aug., 1840, after a public worship at Smyrna, Chester Co., S. C, that Rev. Kendall was humiliated by SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 385 some of the baser sort — a deed deplored by all good peo- ple. His personal reflections on Rev. Whyte during that occasion were groundless and unnecessary. About this tin\e, Mr. Whyte demitted his charge, and being under suspension and out of sympathy with his Presbytery, and declining to enter the union, April 15th, 1844, he turned planter and politician. While in Baltimore, he married Miss Susan Grier, sister of the late Col. Wm. Grier, a prominent citizen and elder in Steele Creek Associate Church. This estimable lady died in the fall of 1834. One daughter survived, who became by marriage Mrs. Margaret J. Lewis. A second marriage was contracted with Mrs. Campbell, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Hart. She died in 1850. He lived near Nation Ford, in the bounds of Xeely's Creek, York Co., S. C, with which some time before his death he connected. He served one or two terms in the S. C. Legislature, and many times in State and Congressional conventions. It was on one of these occasions doubtless the Speaker asked : "Who is that gentleman that has just addressed me?"' On being told it was Mr. Whyte, of York District, replied : "In all my life I have never been addressed with so much grace and dignity." "Rev. A. W'hyte w^as regarded as having the brightest mind in his day. He was a smooth, fine speaker, using the best language, never uttering an unchaste word, very attractive in person and demeanor, and liked by all. He was also very useful in his community, understood law, and was a magistrate many years." As the great civil struggle, '61 -'65, was closing, the struggle of his old self, his better nature, his godly train- ing, drove away the clouds. He yearned to put on the harness, and was taking steps to be admitted a minister in the First Presbytery when death claimed him Aug. the 8th, 1865. 25 386 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. JOHN WILSON. Wilson, Rev. John. — Was bora July 13, 1805, in Chester Co., S. C, on the western frontier of Hopewcllf. His father, Archibald Wilson, when a young- man came from Ire- land in the same ship with Ivev. William Blackstocks. lie married Miss Martha McQuiston, and died in 1826. The subject of this sketch joined Hopewell church early in life. When 21 years old, though pos- sessed of only an English education and $150, he re- solved to fit himself for the gospel ministry. He studied at Chester and Edgefield, S. C, and took a course in Miami University, Oxford, O., receiving the A. B. and A. M. degrees in 1833. He studied theology in Alle- gheny Seminary, graduating in 1835. He taught school at times during these years of study. Along with Thomas Turner and others, he was licensed by the First Associate Reformed Presbytery of Ohio, 'April 24, 1835. He and Mr. Turner took their journey toward the South, traveling on horseback, through Indi- ana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Geor- gia and South Carolina. On this trip they preached on Sabbaths. They sometimes spent two or more Sabbaths at a place, but often rode from four to six days from one appointment to another. They reached South Caro- lina during the summer, and supplied vacancies until the meeting of Synod. He was directed to spend two months in Tipton Co., Tenn., and the remainder of the year in the First Presbytery. The Synod of 1836 returned him to Tennessee, and authorized the organization of the Presbytery of Tennessee. This was done at Salem, SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 387 Tenn., April 24, 1837. During this meeting he was or- dained and installed pastor of Salem and Sardis. Ten years later, he demitted the pastoral charge of Sardis, and gave his entire time to Salem. In Oct., 1837, he married Miss Eliza, daughter of Rev. John Hemphill, D. D., pastor of Hopewell, S. C, and a sister of Rev. W. R. Hemphill, D. D. She died in August, 1841. He was married again to ^liss Arpasia H. Butler, Oxford, O., in Oct., 1844. This was just before the meeting of Synod at Ebenezer, Ky. After the meeting adjourned, he and his bride, in com- pany with other members of Synod, took passage for the home trip on the Lucy Walker, a steamer bound for New Orleans. About 38 years after, in writing an ac- count of what occurred, he said, "when we were about five miles below Xew Albany, Ind., we felt a sudden shock, and a trembling of the boat, and soon found that the boilers had burst. Those in the front part of the boat were scattered in every direction, many maimed, some killed and others thrown into the river." About 50 lives were lost. Rev. Joseph McCreary, and Mr. Wm. Watt, an elder from Starkville, Miss., were killed. Revs. J. M. Young and David Pressly, and elder W. R. McCain, of Salem, Tenn., were wounded. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson escaped injury, and were picked up by a snag boat that happened to be near by. His pastorate at Sa- lem was a faithful one. The congregation increased to more than 100 families. The work became so heavy that at his request the congregation called an assistant pastor in 1862. Besides the oversight of this church, he visited other counties in Tennessee, also IMississippi and Arkan- sas. Thus he was called on to look after destitute com- munities. He organized or assisted in organizing most of the churches under the care of the Memphis Presby- tery. About the close of the civil war, at his urgent and repeated request, the congregation agreed to release him from his pastoral charge. The relation was dissolved the 388 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 31st of Dec, 1865. He had planned to move immediately to jMonticello, Ark., but was delayed a year. He took up the work in Arkansas early in 1867. His going into that field just then meant a great deal to the Associate Reformed Church. He became stated supply at Monti- cello, Saline and Hickory Spring, and in a few years at Ebenezer. Others came to his assistance from time to time, but the burden of the work was on him for some years. He gave up regular work in 1881. His wife died in 1875, at his home near JMonticello, Ark., and he died Jan. 26, 1883. Two children survived him : Mrs. W. S. Mofifatt and Mrs. John B. \\'ilson. His youngest child. Rev. W. A. Wilson, died Nov. i, 1881. Wilson, Rev. IVilUain Archibald. — Youngest child of Rev. John and Mrs. Ar- pasia H. Wilson, was born m Tipton Co., Tenn., Aug- ust 15, 1852. He attended Miami University, Oxford, O., a short while, and grad- uated from Erskine Col- lege in 1872. He studied theology in Erskine Theo- logical Seminary, graduat- ing in 1874. His mind was deeply impressed by the importance of the Foreign JNIissionary work, and during his course in the Seminary offered his services for that field to Synod's Committee on Foreign Missions. The offer was promptly accepted. But the severe aiid continued ill health of his mother for many months constrained him to withdraw the offer. The Arkansas Presbytery licensed him in July, 1874, and ordained him sine titulo the following- year. He was stated supply from Oct., '74, to Oct., '76, at Saline and \V. A. WILSOX. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 389 Hickory Sprin<,^ At the meeting of Synod in 1876, he again offered himself for the Foreign ^lission work and was accepted by the Synod with the understanding that he should go to Egypt. He was directed to spend the year visiting the churches of Synod to arouse a mission- ary spirit among the people. This he did and organized many missionary societies. In 1877 the Synod, not see- ing the way clear to send him out, released him from the appointment. He was assigned to the X'irginia Presby- tery for the year, where he supplied Ebenezer, Bethel and Broad Creek. The next year he was stated supply of Mt. Zion, Mo. He connected with Wheeling Pres- bytery of the United Presbyterian Church in April, 1880. He was installed pastor of Buchanan Hill, W. Va., Dec. I, 1880. He died Nov. i, 1881. His last message to his father was, "Tell him I am waiting at the river with my lamp trimmed and burning." He was happily mar- ried to Miss Laura B. Fulton, at Warnock's, O., August 28, 1877. He left one child, John Fulton Wilson. Wiseman, David Williaws.— Eldest son of John ^l. and M. Catherine (McBryde) Wiseman, was born in Tippah Co., Miss., April 6, 1853. His ancestry, both paternal and maternal, were identified with the Associ- ate Reformed church from its first organization, and were noted for their attachment to its principles and practices. Thus was David W. blessed with a worthy ancestry, and it is but truth to say he was a worthy son. He was a quiet, steady boy. obedient and faithful in every rela- tion. He came near dying frohi typhoid fever at about ten years of age, but God graciously spared his life. In 1863 he accidently fell from a platform at his father's ginhouse. and his thigh was broken, causing him to limp for life. He joined Ebenezer church August 13, 1870, and lived a devoted. Christian life. He enjoyed the instruction of some excellent teachers 390 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. in the public schools of the neighborhood, among whom mention is made of Rev. J. Lord, a Cumberland Presby- terian minister, E. P. Stewart, Thomas P. Pressly. About this time, 1873, Mr. Wiseman determined on a college course. He entered the Freshman class in Er- skine College in 1874, and continued his studies unin- terruptedly, except one year spent in teaching, and grad- uated July 4, 1879. Having at this time decided to de- vote his life to the gospel ministry, he accordingly was received as a student of Theology by Memphis Presby- tery at Bloomington, Tenn., Sept. 12, 1879, and. soon after entered Erskine Theological Seminary. In con- nection with his Seminary work he took charge of the Mess Hall kept by some of the students of Erskine Col- lege. At this time also, on January 14, 1880, he married Ella M. H. Robison, eldest daughter of Rev. H. H. Rob- ison. The second year he was allowed for "peculiar" rea- sons to prosecute his studies privately under direction of Rev. H. H. Robison, and the following- year, April 30, 1 88 1, at Salem, Tenn., he was licensed. Soon after his return home occurred the tragic death of Rev. H. H. Robison, Ad!ay 19, 1881, and Ebenezer was left without a shepherd. They at once looked to Mr. Wiseman in their time of need, and he preached for them as he had opportunity. His tender and faithful ministrations among them soon ripened into a desire for closer bonds, and on November 12, 1881, a call in which there was not a dissenting voice, was moderated for his pastoral services. But God's ways are not man's ways. ( )n the follow- ing Tuesday, Nov. 15, he was taken with typhoid fever, and after an illness of five weeks, he breathed his last at his home in Union Co., Miss, Dec. 22, 1881. He left a wife and one daughter, Ada, then a little babe, to weep over his remains. His sermons were abcnT the average and acceptable to all who heard him. There was a kind- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 391 ness in his tone, a pleasantness in his manner, and gen- tleness in his demeanor which won the hearts of old and young. Witherspoon, John Graham. — Son of John and Jane (Black) Witherspoon, born 181 1, four miles east of Charlotte, X. C. His preparatory studies were at Sugar Creek, N. C, and Ebenezer, York Co., S. C, under Rev. E. Harris. Spending two years in Jefferson College. Pa, he graduated in 1831. He spent the winter of "3 1 -"32 in Allegheny Seminary under John T Pressly, and finished in the hands of Dr. Isaac Grier. The First Presbytery commissioned him as a probationer in the spring of 1833. Serving the vacancies for one year, three calls were presented to him, April 7, 1834. These were Tirzah, Union Co., X. C, Cedar Spring and Long Cane, Abbeville Co., S. C, Coddle Creek, Xew Perth and Gilead, X. C. The latter three he accepted and was ordained and installed pastor Aug. 20th, 1834. This field being too large and laborious, Gilead was demitted Sept. 23rd, 1840. The moderatorship of his Synod in 1842 was his honor. The only daughter of Dr. Isaac Grier, ]^Iiss ]\Iartha Harris, became his wife in 1832. She was a helpmeet indeed, a mother in Israel, a woman of devotion to her church, wdiom to know was to love and appreciate for her Christian sympathy and solid worth. With this extensive parish, he yielded to the crying need of education and spent some time in the school room, INIrs. Witherspoon assisting, and helped prepare among others Dr. R. A. Ross for college. Sabbath evening he took his bed, and pneumonia at- tacking his brain soon after, became unconscious and gave back his spirit the following Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1846. He was a strong, robust man, eeutle in his manners and ever ready to lend a helping hand in every good cause. Punctuality to his appointments characterized him. 392 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. "Upon the ecclesiastical judicatories of which he was a member, he was a regular attendant. Whether they were near at hand, or at a distance, whether they had to be reached through the sunshine or the storm, Wither- spoon zvas there." During his ministry he missed but one meeting of Synod, and two meetings of Presbytery. He was a successful and acceptable pastor. "Being of a popular turn and faithful in his ministerial duties, he was instrumental in bringing in considerable acces- sions to his flock." He was highly esteemed by the brethren and the con- gregations throughout the church and wherever known. It was not his privilege to serve in the ministry of the gospel long — nearly thirteen years — but he served well, and it was in the prime of life and strength of manhood that he exchanged the ministry of the gospel for the ministrv of glorv. Young, Rev. Charles Strong. — The subject of this sketch was born July 5th, 1847, at Due West, S. C. He was the son of Prof. John N. Young and Eleanor Euphemia Strong. He began school at seven years of age under Rev. J. I. Bonner. Afterwards he attended school in the Academy taught by Mrs. E. McLuems, then he went to the Female col- lege, and attended the pre- paratory department. In due time he entered Erskine College, graduating in Class of 1869. He was received by the Second Presbytery the same year as a student of theology, and tinished his course in Seminarv in 1871. C. S. YOUNG. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 3^3 Immediately after licensure, Aug. 11, 1871, he was sent to Tennessee and labored in the vacancies in Marshall and Lincoln counties. Was installed as pastor of Head Spring in Marshall Co., May 3rd, 1873, and remained there until Sept. 5th, 1884, except the year 1882, which was spent in Mission work in Louisville, Ky. When Synod met (1881), he was asked to leave his charge in the Tennessee Presbytery and come to Louisville, which he did at once, and put forth all his ability in the work, and as a result the roll of members grew more rapidly than ever before. At the close of the year nine new names had been added. On the dissolution of the pas- toral relation with Head Spring, Tenn., Sept. 5, 1884, the following resolution was adopted : "Resolved that while we deeply regret that Bro. Young has deemed it necessary to remove from his present field of labor and from among a people to whom he and his family have become greatly endeared, yet we hear with pleasure of the prospect of his forming a colony and organizing a church in Florida." He located at Orleans, Hernando Co., Fla. Some time was spent in mission work. Li 1888, he organized a church at Arlington road (Hernando P. O.) and in 1889 0"6 at Orleans, both in Citrus Co. In 1890 he or- ganized one at Bartow in Polk Co., 80 miles south of the other churches. His home was at Orleans, Fla., and he continued to supply those churches (though the two were afterwards united in one congregation) until Jan. 17th, 1901, when he removed to Paint Lick. Garrard Co., Ky. Disastrous freezes in the'90's injured the orange groves to such an extent that most of the A. R. people either removed further south or went ofT to other States, mostly the latter. In 1900 the congregation at Orleans was dis- solved. Since Jaimary. 1001, he has been in charge of New LTope and Ebenezer, one-half time at each place. The 394 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. centennial of these churches was observed May nth, 1 90 1, at New Hope, in which he took an active part. He still continues in this field of labor. In connection with his pastoral work, he also engaged in teaching and was Principal for some time of the County High School at Lewisburg, Tenn. In Florida he was engaged in the same work as teacher and for four years as Superintendent of the Public Schools of Citrus County, Fla. The degree of A. M. was conferred by the Trustees of Erskine College in 1874. Mr. Young spent one year in the Confederate service. In 1864 he was with the signal corps in Charleston. His wife was Miss May B. Chalmers, daughter of William S. Chalmers, of Newberry, S. C, to wdiom he was mar- ried September 26th, 1871. Five children survive as the fruit of this marriage ; one is dead. His oldest son, John M. Young, is now one of the In- structors in Sibley College, the college of engineering in Cornell University, of which institution he is a graduate. Youug, John. — Was born Sept. 4th, 1763, in York Co., Pa. His father, William, was of Covenanter stock, and his mother was of remarkable intellectual endowments. About 1780 he suffered the loss of both his parents, and their farm being soon thereafter sold for Continental money, made him dependent on his own exertions. For awhile his time was employed in teaching and in writing in the clerk's office at Annapolis, Md. An uncle became a father to these five orphans and John soon passed to Dickinson College, where he graduated in 1788, delivering the valedictory. Taking a course of Theology under Dr. Nisbet, President of his alma mater, and also under Rev. Alexander Dobbin, of Gettysburg, Pa., the A. R. P. Presbytery of Pa. granted him license April 13, 1 79 1, and ordained and installed him pastor SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 395 of Old Providence, Augusta Co., and Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co., \'a.., Aug. 20, 1792. "These duties he discharged with great acceptance." He was honored with the moderatorship of his Synod at Philadelphia, Pa., 1798. Soon after his settlement in the valley of X'irginia, he married ]\Iiss Mary Clarke, of Greencastle, Pa., two sons and two daughters being the fruit of this marriage. One daughter became the wife of Rev. John Lind and one son, Dr. John C, an eloquent and useful minister in the Presbyterian church, and President of Centre College, Kentucky. In 1799 he demitted this charge and, while he received calls from Lexington. Ky., and Xew York, settled in Greencastle. Pa., being installed Sept. 3rd. 1799. Having preached three times a very hot day in open air, he took fever from which he died July 24th. 1803. As a preacher, "His enunciation was distinct and de- liberate, but without hesitancy ; his language clear and forcible, but not florid; the subject matter of his dis- courses doctrinal and instructive, but having a decidedly practical bearing. He had but little gesture, but that little was natural and appropriate. His whole manner was dignified, solemn and impressive. He was a man of good abilities, of fine mental culture and affable manners, and was always heard with gladness. As an earnest and instructive preacher he had no superior in his church." — Dr. J. B. Scouller. Vouug, Rev. Thomas Lcroy, col. — The above named minister was for a time the only colored preacher in the Associate Reformed Church. He was a slave of the estate of Rev. Charles Strong of Xcwberry. and by lot fell to his daughter, Miss E. E. Strong, who married Rev. J. X. Young. Professor in Erskine College. He was born Xovember 30th. 1833, and was thirteen vcars old when he came to Due West. He was a remark- 396 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. ably good boy, honest and trustworthy as a servant. He was taught by Rev. J. N. Young and family, his religious training also being carefully guarded as was the rule with the slaves in the families of Associate Reformed people. He learned the shorter catechism and was re- quired to attend family worship. In due time he con- nected with the church and entered upon the study of theology under Prof. Young. A congregation of ne- groes was organized at Due West, and he was chosen pastor, after having been licensed by Second Presbytery. He was accordingly ordained and installed over this, the only negro congregation at that time in the Synod. The congregation did very well for a while after the war, but feeling its isolation and separation socially, as the only colored church, sought connection with the Northern Presbyterian Church, its pastor also connecting with that body. About this time, however, the subject of our sketch ceased actively to exercise his ministry, as his church de- sired a younger and more active man from the North. Rev. T. L. Young was a tanner by trade, and also had a small farm. His wife was Amanda Callaham, and eleven children were born to her. One of the sons was educated in Biddle Institute for the ministry, but died before entering upon his work. After giving up his church, Rev. Young devoted himself to his farm until his death. Young, James Little, Jr. — Son of John Norris Young and Eleanor Euphemia Strong, was born in Due West, S. C, January 19, 1852. The Civil War seriously inter- rupted his grammar-school education. He graduated with A. B. degree from Erskine College July 12, 1871. He joined the Due West, S. C, A. R. P. Church in the spring of 1870, was received as a student of theology by the Second Presbytery at its spring meeting in 1872, at Bethel, Laurens Co., S. C, and prosecuted his theologi- SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 397 cal studies in Erskine Theolog'ical S e m i n a r y. Was licensed by Second Presbytery Sept. 6, 1873, at Generostee, S. C, and spent following winter in the Seminary. He was or- dained at Due West, S. C, by the Second Presbytery, Oct. 30, 1875. In 1874 he supplied Dr. Sloan's pulpit while he was in Charlotte, N.C., and sup- plied the Charlotte Mission J. I-. vnrNG. -t^ for about two months dur- ing the summer. The Synod of 1874 sent him to Texas. During that year he rode a pony from Freestone Co., the home of Rev. T. J. Bonner, to Hardin Co., in the south- east corner of the State, to Milam Co., on the Brazos, and to Lamar Co., on the Red River. In these trips he preached in school houses to scattering families of A. R. Ps. By order of Synod of 1875, he labored in Arkansas, preaching for three months in Little River Co., in the S. W. corner of the State, and the remainder of the year he supplied Shady Grove and Camp Creek churches. The next two years he served the Mt. Zion, Mo., church, but on account of failing health in 1878, he declined the in- vitation of the people to return. He was directed by Synod to the Texas field, but not feeling able for the work, he accepted the invitation of Bloomington, Tenn., to supply that pulpit one-half time, Feb., to Oct., 1879. In 1879, he was sent to Arkansas, and began work at Sa- line, Nov., '79, and Monticello, March, '80. He was called to the pastorate of these congregations in spring of 188 r, and was installed at Monticello, April 23, and at Saline. May 3. 1881. Li Sept., 1895, he demitted the 398 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Saline branch of his charge, and was installed for one- fourth of his time over Ebenezer, Ark., June 20, 1896. He was married Oct. 17, 1883, near Harrels, Dallas Co., Ala., by Rev. J. A. Lowry, to Miss Jennie Young, daughter of James Mathews Young and Elizabeth Jennie Craig. She was born in Dallas Co., Ala., Oct. 13, 1858. Five children have been born to them, all of them yet in school. Rev. John N 0 r r i s Young, L. L. D., was born Feb. 17th, 1813, in the bounds of Rocky Springs A. R. Church, in what is known as the Flatwoods of Abbeville, S. C. He was the son of Francis Young and Nancy Little Young. "His paternal grandfather came from the region of Raleigh, N. C, and set- tled in Abbeville Co., S. C. His maternal grandfather seems to have been a na- tive of Abbeville Co., and was shot and killed by Tories during the Revolutionary War in his own door. Francis Young afterwards moved to Little Generostee, then un- der the pastoral care of Rev. Robt. Irwin, and was elected a Ruling Elder in that congregation." His early education was obtained in the common schools, but his classical course was begun under the care of his elder brother, Rev. Jas. L. Young. In this course as well as his subsequent college course he was associated with G. and N. M. Gordon and Laughlin McDonald, all of whom became ministers of the A. R. Church. He entered Miami University in the Fall of 1833. He graduated Aug. 10, 1837, under the Presidency of Rev. # SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 399 Robt. H. Bishop. He remained in Ohio the entire four years of his course, spending his vacations in Hopewell congregation, not far from Oxford, the seat of the Uni- versity. Returning South, he was at once elected temporary Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the Academy at Due West, S. C. He began the study of Divinity at the same time under Dr. E. E. Pressly, and was licensed by the 2nd. A. R. Presbytery at Bethel, Lin- coln Co., Tenn., Oct. 8th, 1840. In 1839 he was elected by the Synod of the South permanent Professor to the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Er- skine College, then just organized. This position he held until Oct., 1881, when he resigned. He, however, continued to discharge the duties of this position for an- other year, or until his successor. Prof. J. H. Miller, one of his own students, was prepared to take his place. In- cluding his service in the Academy, he taught forty-five years in this Institution. During all of this period, he was also Treasurer of the College, and continued to hold this position for several years after he resigned as Pro- fessor. Though he was fully ordained to the work of the min- istry, he was never pastor of any church, but preached in the vacancies in his own Presbytery convenient to his work, for he loved to preach. "His preaching was prac- tical in its character, and alwavs instructive and edify- ing." The Board of Trustees of Erskine College conferred upon him the degree of L. L. D. in January, i8()i. He was twice married. In 1842 he married Elizabeth Jane Irwin, of Oxford, O. The fruits of this union were two children, neither of whom survived the period of early childhood, nor did the mother long survive. He was married the second time, Oct. 21st, 1845. to Euphemia Eleanor Strong, daughter of Rev. Charles Strong, of Newberrv, S. C. She was the fourth child of Rev. 400 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. Charles and Nancy Strong, was born in Newberry, S. C, Jan. 19, 1823, and died Oct. 28th, 1862, in her thirty- ninth year. The fruits of this union were ten children, eight of whom still survive (two daughters having died in years of childhood). Those still living are Elizabeth Jane, wife of Rev. E. P. McClintock; Rev. Charles Strong Young, of Ivy. ; Henry Martin Young, merchant. Due West, S. C. ; John Moran Young, lawyer in Fla. ; Rev. James Little Young, of Ark. ; Mary Evelyn, wife of Rev. H. M. Henry, of Ala. ; Martha Anna, wife of Rev. J. E. Johnson, of Col., and Harriet, wife of Hon. James E. Todd, of S. C. Dr Young died Oct. 31st, 1891. Two weeks previous to his death he sustained a serious injury from a fall. He was thought to be recovering, but he was suddenly stricken with paralysis, and passed away without a strug- gle. He was buried in the cemetery at Due West. Dr. W. L. Pressly has this to say of Dr. Young in a sketch after his death : "Besides being a man of extended and varied information, Dr. Young was a man of great public spirit, fine practical sense, and of sterling integ- rity. These qualities were perceived and recognized by the church and for nearly forty years he was entrusted with the management of the finances of the college, with- out bond or security of any kind. It need not be said that the confidence thus reposed was never abused. These qualities were recognized by the community as well as by the church. And hence his counsel was often sought and appreciated by those who knew him best, but the crowning- glory of the character of this good man was his piety, — his unassuming, unaffected, unosten- tatious piety. In him was illustrated those more quiet and retiring and unobtrusive graces of the spirit — such as meekness, humility, gentleness and patience, which more than any other assimilate to the character of Him, who "was meek and lowlv of heart." The church has SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 401 no more precious les?ac>- than the memory of such a man as Rev. John Xorris Young-, L. L. D. Young. James Matthei^'S, son of Samuel Young and EHzabeth Bonner, was born in Abbeville Co., S. C, Oc- tober 29, 1815. He was one of triplets, the other brothers were named John Clark and Lewis. He enjoyed fine educational advantages and graduated in Miami Univer- sity, Ohio, August, 1839. He joined the Church in Wilcox Co., Ala. was received as a student of Theology by the Second Presbytery and took his theological course in Erskine Seminary. He was licensed to preach about 1842 — the date of his ordination is not known. He mis- sionated in Texas two years and was pastor of Prosper- ity and Orrville, Ala., for about 25 years. He was called to the pastorate of Prosperity the latter part of 1843, and was installed soon thereafter. He was married, March 10, 1853, in Perry Co., Ala., to Elizabeth Jane Craig, daughter of Robert G. and Mary E. Craig. She was born October. 1830, in Perry Co., Ala. Six children were born to them, two sons and four daughters. One son, John E. Young, is living with his mother, Mrs. Brice of Dallas Co., Ala. Robert G. Craig raised eight children. Jennie, the oldest, married Rev. J. M. Young. Sallie married Rev. H. Ouigg, of Covington, Ga. Kittie married Rev. J. A. Lowry, of Harrell's, Dallas Co., Ala. Mary married Dr. J. M. Boyd, of Wilcox Co., Ala., and Julia married A. P. Young, attorney at law, Selma. Ala. He was a splendid preacher and a good man, much loved by all who knew him, both members and non- members of his church. Young, James Little, was born in Abbeville District, S. C, December 8. 1808, and was a son of Francis and Nancy Little Young, .\fter attending the Church Hill Academy in .\bbcville, S. C, and the \'iney Grove Aca- 26 402 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. demy in Lincoln Co., Tenn., he entered Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, and graduated in 1832. He. studied theology in the Associate Reformed Theo- logical Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, under Rev. John T. Pressly, D. D., and was li- censed to preach by the Second Presbytery of the Carolinas in the spring of 1835. In 1836 he was ordained and J. 1.. YOUNG. installed pastor of the united congregations of Bethel, Laurens, Providence and Head Springs. Here he labored for 15 years and demit- ting his charge he removed to Pontotoc Co., Miss., in 1851, and was called to the pastorate of Bethany and Hopewell churches in April, 1854. His Bethany church was organized June 5, 1852, and was mostly made up of families who were members of his charge in South Caro- lina. He demitted the Hopewell branch of his charge in 1856 and devoted his whole time to Bethany. He was married in May, 1836, to Miss Margaret Isabella Todd, a daughter of Andrew Todd and Mary Simpson of Laurens C. H., S. C. She died October 22, 1861, in Pontotoc Co., Miss. She was born in County Monaghan, Ireland. Mr. Young married the second time Mrs. Martha Jane Pressly, of Due West, S. C, January 8, 1867. She was a daughter of Rev. Charles Strong and x\gnes Har- ris, and was born in Newberry Co., S. C, January 18, 181820. She was the widow of the Rev. John S. Pressly, to whom she was married Sept. 29, 1842, and who died June I, 1863. There were no children by that marriage. He died at his home in Lee Co., Miss., on the morning of January 31, 1867. He was moderator of the Synod at Hopewell, Newton Co., Ga., in 1845. was for a time SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 403 stated clerk of the Second Presbytery. He was also stated clerk of the ^Memphis Presbytery from its or- ganization, April 15, 1853. until 1856. He was an able and faithful minister. He left at his death a wife and four children to cherish his memory. Hon. James L. Young, of Plout City, Florida, and Wil- liam A. Young, i\I. D., of Tipton County, Tenn., are his children. Zalcta, Zcnon J. — Sr. Zenon J. Zaleta was the son of Francisco Zaleta and Dionisia !Mar, and was born in Ozuluama, State of A'era Cruz, ]\Iex., on the 12th of April, 1855. Until about the age of twenty-six years, his life was spent in the primitive agricultural life near the place of his birth. As a boy and young man, he was noted for his positive excellencies : integrity, uprightness, indus- try, temperance and economy. He probably never went to school a year in all his life. In 1881, he went from his home in Chiconcillo to Tampico, to learn the black- smith trade, and shortly after arriving in Tampico, he was induced by the missionary there to attend the ser- vice in the chapel. From the first powerfully moved by the truth, he was soon converted and was a happy, work- ing Christian. All of his unoccupied time was spent in spelling out word by word the Scriptures, for he could not read well. The Book was his daily study and he sought the missionary to explain and help him in his duty to God and fellow-men. He was the first man to be baptized in the ]^Iission of the A. R. P. Church in Mexico, on the 26th of June, 1881. From the day of his baptism, which was his first communion day. deadness to the world and zeal for the glory of God were conspic- uous traits in his character. In 1882, he gave up his chosen calling and began a course of study under the missionary at Tampico with a view to the ministry. He was a diligent ]iupil and his progress most satisfactory. 404 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. In 1885, he was given a license by the missionary and sent by him to Panuco, State of Vera Cruz, to estabhsh Christian work in that place. In his work he was sin- cere, humble, uniform and intensely persevering, and his preaching was good and from a burning heart of love to Christ and souls. In 1887 the dreaded disease, consumption, developed, and he was rapidly consumed. He realized the end and seemed to give up the world and all its concerns, but he was none the less active in his Master's work. The end of an earnest, useful life came on the 27th of August, 1888, in Tampico. He spoke much of his assured hope, and no one came to his bed that was not pointed to Christ as the Saviour. His last words to his wife were : "Dc- jaiue ir," "Let jiic go." . He was the first fruits of our preachers in Mexico for heavenly rest. Sr. Zaleta was married to Srita Celsa Gomez, in 1886. He was a tender-hearted and affectionate husband. They had no children. The man that walks with God and has his service at heart, is a good man, and few, it is believed, who knew Zenon Zaleta will deny him this honor. > MISS M.VTTIE BOYCE. Boycc, Miss M attic A. — was the youngest child of Mr. Samuel and Mrs. Louisa Nesbit Boyce of Sardis, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, and was born the first of May, 1868, and died June 22, 1903, at the age of thirty-five. She ob- tained her training for col- lege in Sardis Academy and s|)ent two years in Due West Female College, graduating in 1891. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. 405 The missionary spirit had been good in the college that year but she had not felt called to that work. One night in the year following she made it a matter of special prayer that God would show her what she should do and how He would have her serve Him. The next day she received a letter from the Board of Foreign Missions asking if she would. consider the matter of going to ]\Iexi- co as a missionary. The result was she and ]\Iiss Steven- son came to Due West and studied Spanish under Dr. Todd and otherwise prepared themselves, and in the fall went to Mexico as missionaries of our church. She continued in that work for five years and rendered val- uable service to our Mexican mission in Tampico. Against her will but by the imperative advice of her phy- sician she had had to give up her work and return to this country. We knew ]\Iiss Boyce intimately and we believe it is correct to say that there has not been a day since that she did not long to return to the Foreign field. Her heart was in the work. She kept herself thor- oughlv informed on missionary matters and her in- terest did not lag because she was not in the thick of the battle. \Miile she could not return she was not by any means incapacitated for work. Under the direction of the Board she went all over the Church stirring up in- terest in the department of woman's work and our ladies' societies owe much to her. For several years she has been the Superintendant of Woman's \\'ork in our Church. There she has served the Church efifectively. l"^or three years she was identified with the Due West Female College. As Lady principal of that institution she had a wide field of usefulness. She realized the priv- ileges and the responsibility that came with the position. ]\Iany will testify that she deepened their spiritual life, placed before them high ideals and showed them as they had never seen it before their duty to those in darkness. The religious life of the college was delightful during these vears. and to her much of the credit is due. Her 4o6 SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. death was a great loss to the Due \\'est Female College. A good woman who has known Miss Mattie from infancy said to us this morning, "She was indeed a child of the Covenant and was always a devoted Christian." All who knew her would bear testimony to her high Christian character. She was one of the most conscien- tious women we have ever known, a woman of faith, of prayer and of great zeal. She served her God and her church faithfully. She lived for God's glory. PART III. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The Abbeville A. R. P. Church. — This Church was organized Nov. 25th, 1889, with fourteen members. The following persons were elected Elders : J. C. McClain, W. O. Bradley and T. P. Thomson ; and Deacons : C. D. Haddon and J. Hayne McDill. The congregation worshipped in the Court House until the church was built in 1893. It was supplied by various ministers ap- pointed by the Presbytery until June, 1891, when Rev. F. Y. Pressly was sent as stated supply. He continued to give his time to the work until his removal to Due West to take a chair in Erskine College. The new church was completed in 1893, and was dedicated July 2nd, 1893. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. J. S. Moffatt of Chester, S. C, and the prayer was offered by Rev. H. T. Sloan, D. D., of Cedar Springs. Rev. J. J. Grier was installed as pastor July 9th, 1894. He served for one year and four months. The church was again supplied for two years by the Presbytery. Mr. W. B. Lindsay, a student in the Seminary, supplied it for three months during his vacation in 1896, and INIr. W. A. Blakely spent his vacation here during 1897. Rev. H. Rabb came as stated supply for the year 1898, and Rev. R. C. Davidson was stated supply for 1899. Rev. T. W. Sloan was installed pastor Jan. 5th, 1900. He re- mained pastor for two years and six months. Rev. W. C. Ewart, the present pastor, was installed May 22nd, 1903. He is now serving the church faithfully and ac- ceptably, loved by every member and respected by the 4o8 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. whole community. Since the ororanization there have been 99 names on the church roll. There are 55 names on the roll, the other 44 having been lost by death and removal. The present officers are : Elders, John Lyon, F. L. Morrow, W. T. Bradley and R. N. Tiddy ; Deacons, J. H. McDill, W. P. Greene and W. W. Bradley. Italian Colony a)id Alcqiiincs. — The work in the Col- ony was begun in 1894. The Italians that formed the settlement have never been reached by the Gospel. The congregation of Mexicans is small. The congregation at Due West, S. C., U. S. A., contributed liberally, and a little chapel was built there, and a small school was taught by Sra. Gila de Cruz, the wife of Rev. G. Cruz. After the removal of Rev. G. Cruz to Alequines this place was supplied by Rev. Hunter and Cruz. At Ale- quines a house was rented and a part of it fitted up for a chapel. The family occupying the remainder of the house. With many difficulties and in the face of constant opposition a little congregation was organized. No rul- ing elders have been ordained in this church. A school was established and taught by Sra. G. de Cruz. Besides preaching at Alequines, Rev. G. Cruz makes extended visits through the surrounding country, selling Bibles and distributing tracts. Amity, Iredell Co., N. C— Dr. S. C. Millen began preaching about 1848 at Abner Feimsters. A house was built on the present site which in 1884 was remodeled and made to face a dififerent direction. Also a large stand about 1859. Dr. Millen gave this mission one fourth of his time till Sept. 9, 1853. Rev. W. B. Pressly was or- dained and installed Nov. 9, 1855, having with Rev. John Patrick organized 1854. The first elders were J. N. Morrison and Hiram Scroggs. The good and gentle Pressly died Nov. 25, 1883., giving every hour of his ordained ministerial life. Rev. W. M. Hunter was stated SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS' W supplv Apr,l. ,884, to Apr", .885, E. E. P--ly;886- ,890,' E. B. Anderson Kov., iScj.-Nov. 7, >892^ from thence pastor to his resignat.on Apnl 5. .898^ Revs R. E. Hough, R. C. Davidson and E. F. Gr.thth supplied till Rev. W. Y. Love was installed pastor Nov. 18, I9OI. Autiocl. CUurclu DekaW County, Ga. was organi^^^^^ October 14th, 180c;. It was clone by the Second Presby- te It ta supplied by Rev. H. Rabb, afterward by Sv. T. B. Steiart. Rev. E. E. Strong was .s firs pastor. He was installed September, 1902. He still Lrves them one fourth of his time. They 1-ve had on building erected in 1894. They enjoyed a revival m 1892 conducted by Rev. H. B. Blakely Antouics Creek, Greenbrier Co., W. Va.--VM <^n Associate Church coming April 1808, into the Big Spring A R Presbvterv as an organized congregation. It ^^as served bv Rev. Wm. Adair one fourth time from 1809 to ^lay 25. 1814- See Sinking Creek. Atlanta, Ga.-In May. 1890, Rev. R G. Miller was sent to Atlanta to explore the field. He found about 25 persons of A. R. P. faith in the city. A mission was opened in the heart of the city on ^.e ist of Juh 1890: preaching twice per month by different brethren whose services the Board could secure, the niission itself bearing the expenses of rents, lights, etc The congre- gation was partially organized in 1891 by Rev. D^ G. Caldwell at the request of the Board with 17 members, and supplied for three or four years by Rev. J. E^ John- son Rev IT. B. Blakelv was appointed to this field by the Board for five years, and did excellent ^vork-the church steadily growing under his ministrations. He be- o-an his work Sept. ist, 1894. A lot was purchased on Lloyd and Garnett streets at 4IO SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. a cost of $3,750.00, and a building erected at a cost of $4,200.00, which, with some street improvements, made a total cost of $8,000. Rev. H. B. Blakely made a canvass of Synod to secure funds for the building, the United Presbyterian Board of Church extension contributing $i„25o.oo. Mr. Blakely found a nominal membership of 32 when he came to Atlanta, but an available membership of only 22. Rev. D. G. Phillips succeeded Mr. Blakely as pastor, and has now been in charge of the work for several years. The work is still growing and enlarging, and the congre- gation is well organized. The membership now numbers about 90. JACK CREEK, N. C. Back Creek, Meckleiihurg Co., N. C, was organized near 1802, when the first deed was made. The congre- gation has occupied four church buildings or places of worship. South Bethany, Stand, North Bethany and Back Creek. The first was some little distance from and the second a little south of the present site. The stand SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 411 gave place to a log church south of present brick build- ing ; then a framed structure was supplanted, on the same situation by their commodious brick church. It is said the colored men who raised the corners of the log church named it Back Creek from a small stream a short distance south — a name not welcomed but which stuck fast. The present brick building was erected about 1868. The earliest elders and prominent members were John, Joseph, James and Robert Cochrane, J. McGinnis, Rogers, Bane and Samuel Wilson. They were doubtless supplied by Revs. Wm. Dixon and other Associate ministers, then 1812-1818 by Rev. James Pringle. Dr. A. Heron, Revs. Peter Campbell and Thomas Ketchen also supplied. Dr. Abraham Anderson was pastor from Oct. 3rd, 1822- 1833. Early in 1833 Rev. Archibald Whyte was installed and remained till 1840. Rev. John Patrick gave them the bread of life till the ordination and installation of Rev. John Hunter, July 24, 1844. This relation ceased Sept. 5, 1855. Rev. I. G. McLaughlin was installed Oct. 24, 1856, and demitted Sept. 22, 1896, though he continued S. S. till July I, 1899,, when Rev. R. E. Hough was installed, demitting August 25, 1902. Rev. T. B. Stewart began stated labors in the fall of 1902 and continues their minister. Back Creek has been blessed with several gracious re- vivals, furnished some of the most useful citizens of Mecklenburg County. Two ruling elders at least for long service and devotion stand out prominent — E. P. and Col Brice Cochrane. The loveliest and longest lived minister in the Synod — Rev. L G. McLaughlin — still holds their unwearied affections, greatly to their credit. Revs. A\'. W. Orr, D. D., D. G. Caldwell, W. O. and J. B. Cochrane were reared in her bounds. William L. Caldwell, Thomas N. Johnson, Jas. R. LItley and Samuel W. Caldwell are the present bench of ruling elders. 412 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Bartoiv, F!a. — A transcript from the sessional books of this church will give a clear understanding of its origin. We, therefore, quote as follows : "We, the under- signed persons, being members of different evangelical Christian churches in various places, gathered to- gether at Bartow, homes, and believing Fla., our present that it would be for the advancement of the^ cause of religion, and our own spiritual edification, d o re- spectfully petition the Second Presbytery of the Associ- ate Reformed Presbyterian Church of the South, through your representative. Rev. C. S. Young, to organize us into a congregation under the care of your Presbytery." In response to this petition. Presbytery directed Rev. C. S. Young to visit Bartow and organize a congrega- tion, if conditions appeared favorable. Accordingly on the 1 2th of January, 1890, he organized the petition- ers into a congregation of fifteen members, with S. J. C. Dunlap and P. W. Daniel as elders, and Geo. F. Adams and W. L. McDowell as deacons. The Board of Plome Missions took charge of the mat- ter, and sent a succession of ministers to preach to the congregation until November, 1892. .-Xt this time Rev. D. G. Phillips. Jr., was installed as its pastor, and re- BARTOW, FL.\. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 413 tained this relation to it until December, 1896. He then demitted his charge. Again this work of supplies de- volved on the Board of Home Missions. As before, the Board promptly, and almost without the loss of a day, supplied the pulpit until the summer of 1898. In July of that year Rev. E. B. Kennedy, having accepted a call to the pastorate, arrived in Bartow, and on the loth of that month preached his first sermon as pastor. By appoint- ments of Presbytery, he was installed on the 20th of August, Revs. C. S. Young and S. W. Reid conducting the installation services. The former addressed the can- didate and the latter the congregation. In the spring of 1892 the church building was so far completed that Presbytery held its meeting in it. In the summer of that year it was finished. It is a substantial building, with a seating capacity of 350. in the center of the town, within easy reach of the members. Including the new pews added in 1896, it cost about $4,500.00. The present membership is 70, with seven elders and one deacon. In addition to two sermons every Sabbath, the congre- gation has a weekly prayer meeting, a Sabbath School and an active Ladies" Mission and Aid Society. Beaver Creek, Lancaster Co., S. C. — Beaver Creek, in Lancaster Co., S. C, appears in the INIinutes of the Gen- eral Synod in 1806 and 1807, and nothing more can be learned of it. Bessemer, Gaston Co., X. C, supplied as a mission for four or five years by Rev. I. M. Garrison till organized Feb. 13, 1898. He continued his welcome ministrations till Rev. A. T. Lindsay was ordained and installed pas- tor Sept. 2"/, 190 1. It has about 30 members, and Messrs. John T. Oates and Zachariah Payne are elders. Bethany, S. C— Bethany Church, in York Co.. S. C. owes its origin to the introduction of h\-mns ir.to the 414 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. worship of the Presbyterian Churches in the vicinity of Kings Mountain. This innovation caused the withdrawal of a number of famihes from the Presbyterian Churches. These sent Andrew Ferguson and John Miller to a meet- ing of the Associate Reformed Synod of the Carolinas, held at Black River, in Sumter Co., S. C, asking for supplies. Rev. James Rogers preached for them for awhile at least. Sometime afterwards they petitioned for the stated labors of Rev. Wm. Dixon, a licentiate of the Associate Reformed body. For eighteen months or more they worshipped in a log cabin on the head of Crowder's Creek on the skirts of Kings Mountain. The people worshiping at this point, and the people at Sha- ron and Carmel, united and called Rev. Wm. Dixon, who was ordained and installed at Sharon in the year 1797. Bethany proper was organized at a stand near the place where the present church now is, in 1797. Bethany en- joyed the services of Mr. Dixon for about thirty-three years. For the most of this time it was in connection with the Associate Synod. After Mr. Dixon's death, the church was supplied for a few }-ears by Rev. Mr. Banks, but his abolition sentiments made him unpopular, and he returned to the North. The next pastor of Bethany was Rev. R. C. Grier, D. D., who was ordained and installed in June, 1841, and this pleasant and profitable relation continued for seven years. At which time Dr. Grier was called to the Presi- dency of Erskine College. In 1849 ^^v. E. E. Boyce, D. D., became pastor and this continued until 1885. During the long pastorate of Dr. Boyce, the church grew and prospered, and continued to be a great force for good in the communit_v. After Dr. Bo)^ce resigned the church remained vacant for about two years, being regularly supplied with preaching by the Presbytery. In 1887 Rev. R. M. Stev- enson, the present pastor, took charge of the church, SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 415 and under his pastorate Bethany has continued to be one of the best churches of the i^resbytery. Bethany, Lee Co., Miss., is located at "Brice's Cross Roads," six miles from Guntown and about the same distance from Baldwyn., Among the early settlers in the community mention is made of James Turner, who came in 1845, followed two years later by John Watt, both of Anderson Co., S. C. Others came in 185 1, several of whom accompanied Rev. J. L. Young from Providence, Laurens Co., S. C. It is thought that Rev. D. P. Robinson was the first Associate Reformed minister, who, in 1846, preached here. Rev. S. P. Davis also preached here in 1849. The house used was a small log cabin not far from the cross roads, called Providence, belonging to the Methodists. In this house Rev. J. L. Young in 1851 preached twice a month to the Associate Reformed people ; now be- come a considerable body. And here the Associate Re- formed Church, named Bethany, was organized June 5, 1852, by a commission of the x\labama Presbytery, com- posed of Revs. H. H. Robison and J. L. Young, and Elders McBryde, Foster and Wisunon. Twenty-five names were enrolled, 4 of whom were colored persons. Thomas Bryson, Samuel Bryson and John K. Crocket were elected elders. Steps were at once taken to build a house of wor- ship. Maj. Humphreys donated a lot containing three and three-fourth acres lying near Providence, and the church occupied for public worship on Sabbath July 31, 1853, Rev. J. L. Young preaching from Isaiah 56: 6. 7. By order of Synod, Bethany became a charter member of the Presbytery of Memphis, which was organized at Ebenezer, Miss.. April 15, 1853. In August a call was extended Rev. J. L. Young, and on \])ril 15, 1854, he was installed pastor, Rev. H. H. Robison preaching the sermon. Rev. J. A. Sloan propounding questions and addressing pastor and people. 4i6 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The church grew rapidly. At the installation of Mr. Young-, two years from the organization, 52 members are reported, and a year later 92 names were enrolled. In the fall of 1856 Rev. J. L. Young, who was pastor also of Hopewell, was, upon petition to Presbytery, released from that field that he might "give the whole of his time to the work at Bethany." The following year, 1857, is a memorable one in that congregation, owing to the prevalance of a fatal scourge of dysentery. In an obitu- ary notice Mr. Young mentioned 20 persons who "have died in mv congregation this summer." Those were sad days, but sadder were to come. During 1858 and '59 troubles began which greatly disturbed the peace and prosperity of Bethany. In 1861 they report to Pres- bytery, after alluding to the partial adjustment of the troubles, "Our church has been materially decreased in numbers by death, disafifections and removals." But an- other shadow overfell just here: The war between the States. Many went to the front nevermore to return, the church itself on account of the proximity of the armies and the distraction of the lines was closed for a period. Immediately around Bethany was fought the Battle of Brices' Cross Roads, or Tishomingo Creek. The church battled scarred, became a hospital where the wounded Federal Soldiers were nursed for weeks. "On the 22nd of July, 1864, the good women met and cleansed the sanc- tuary and public worship was again resumed July 31,, 1864. During these years of war and desolation the pastor faithfully ministered to the flock, and when peace came was doing what he could to repair the breaches, when suddenly on the 31st of January, 1867, he passed away. Rev. S. A. Agnew, on request of congregation, was sent as stated supply in April, 1867, was called and in- stalled pastor July 31, 1868. This pastorate happily continued until his death. July 15, 1902. In 1872 a new church was built and occupied for the first time Dec. 15, Rev. D. A. Todd of Presbyterian SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 417 Church preaching- from Luke 14; 16, 17. It is on a lot of two and one-half acres, donated by William Brice. Rev. J. L. Boyd is at present serving the congregation. Bethel, U'ilco.v Co., Ala., is in the eastern section of the county, and a few miles west of the Louisville and Nashville R. R., on what is known as Oak Hill. It was organized about the year 1856 by the Alabama Presby- tery. Thirty-two members entered the organization, 15 male and 17 female, representing 14 families and 7 unmarried persons. Four elders were elected at this time, but names are not given. There were no deacons chosen. The Rev. John Miller, D. D., was the first pas- tor and began his labors in 1857 and continued until 1867, a period of ten years. Lie was succeeded by Dr. William Moffatt Grier, who was installed that year, 1867, and continued until 1871, when he was called by the Synod to the Presidency of Erskine College. Dr. Miller immediately resumed the pastorate of Bethel and served the congregation till the spring of 1878. In the fall of 1879 Rev. H. M. Henry, D. D., was installed pastor and is at present their faithful shepherd, labor- ing among them with great acceptance and efficiency. Bethel has erected tw^o houses of worship. The first church building was dedicated July 5, 1857, and Rev. John Miller, D. D., preached the sermon. This date is given in Thomas Clark McBryde's old book. The second house and the one now occupied by the congregation was built and dedicated Nov. 10, 1895, the Rev. E. P. Mc- Clintock, D. D., preaching the sermon. It is a commo- dious frame structure, "beautiful for situation" and well adapted to the needs of the congregation. This is one of the strong, active congregations of the Synod. The membership are many of them well-to-do and prosperous. They are liberal with their means and interested in every good work of the church. This church has given some strong men to the world, 27 41! SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. who have become prominent in their spheres of activity. Among" them mention is made of J. X. and B. M. Miller, of Camden, Ala., in the legal profession, also Judge John H. Miller, for awhile professor of mathematics in Ers- kine College, now a lawyer of prominence in Birming- ham, Ala. These are sons of the first pastor of the church. One minister was reared in this congregation, the Rev. James G. Dale, now a missionary of the A. R. Church in Mexico. BETHEt., GA. Bethel, Burke County, Georgia, is among the very oldest churches in the Synod. It is known that the Psalms of David were sung in this vicinity earlv in the eighteenth century. But there is no record of an organ- ized church prior to 1770. At that time a church was built on Buckhead Creek. Their first pastor was Rev. Thomas Beattie. He died soon after he began to serve the church. Rev. Wm. Donaldson was the next pastor. He was a man of wealth and influence. When the strug- gle for American independence began he stood by the King, while luost of his people were on the side of the Colonies. He left in 1776, and died of ship fever in Charleston. The church was now vacant for manv vears. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIOXS. 419 Rev. Josiah Lewis and others preaching for them occa- sionally. The next regular supply was Rev. William McCamah. He began his work in 1784, remaining until 1788. They were then supplied by Thomas Clark, Air. Caddy and Peter McMullen. During this time (1789) a call was presented to the Presbytery of Moneghan, Ireland. In response Rev. David Bothwell came. He was installed in 1790. He died June ist, 1801. At this time the Ikickhead Church having been moved a time or two. was finally located where Bethel now stands. There was also a church in the town of Louisville during this pastorate. The ruling elders were Governor Jared Ir- vine, Gov. James Jackson, Gov. David Imanuel and others, .\fter the death of David IJothwell the church was vacant again for some time. Rev. Alexander Por- ter and Rev. David Kerr preaching for thchi a part of this time. Rev. Joseph Lowry was installed pastor in 1814. He was their pastor until his death, July 20. 1840. Rev. J. S. Pressly was installed pastor in 1842. He de- mitted the charge in 1845. Rev. D. G. Phillips was in- stalled on Aug. iith, i84mpelled him to give up work. The church was then vacant for a numljcr of years, but was supplied by Dr. John T. Pressly and Rev. Henry Bryson for several years. About the time that father Bryson was supply- ing the church, as i)n)l)ati()ner, John McClintock and SKETCHES OF COXGREGATIOXS. 421 James Taylor were elected to the eldership. Drs. E. E. and James P. Pressly preached frequently at Bethel during this period of its history, while it was without a pastor. In the year 1836 Rev. J. L. Young was called and settled as pastor. He had four churches under his care — Bethel, Laurens C. H., Providence and Head Springs. In 185 1 the pastoral relationship was dissolved, Mr. Young moving to Bethany, Aliss., taking a good part of his Providence congregation with him. Rev. J. L. Young is spoken of as an earnest and instructive preach- er, a man of meek and patient spirit, much beloved by his people. Rev. D. F. Haddon had been associated with Mr. Young as an assistant a number of years before his re- moval to ^Mississippi. After the pastoral relation at Bethel with ]\Ir. Young was dissolved Mr. Haddon con- tinued to supply the church, and in 1854 was settled as pastor. His charge was Bethel, Head Springs and Providence. For fifty years he preached for the people of Bethel, for more than forty he was pastor. . He had given up the church two of three years before his death which occurred in December, 1896. The session of Bethel, John !McClintock, John Fleming, James R. Todd, and F. R. ^IcCowan, who were living when he entered upon the work, were all gone. Father Haddon's name is still in great honor among his people. After Father Haddon demitted his church, the people were supplied for some time by Rev. J. J. Grier, also by Rev. J. A. Smith, and perhaps others. Rev. H. Rabb was finally called and settled as pastor in 1896. After he demitted his charge Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco was stated supply from 1897 to 1899. Then Rev. B. H. Grier was called in 190 1, and was settled as pastor August, 1901, and still continues in this pleasant relation. The con- gregation now numbers nearly a hundred. It is not so large as it once was. having given oflf many of its mem- bers to neiirhborine: conirresfations. But it still has a 422 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. good membership. A tiourishing Sabbath School with many children coming in as good material. An interest- ing Young' Peoples' Christian Union meets twice a month with about 25 members. There is a good Ladies' Mission- ary Society meeting once a month, and a Bible Class with weekly meetings. The present session consists of W. A. McClintock, D. Y. Thompson, Dr. A. F. Blakely, W. M. Bryson and S. H. Fleming; Deacons, W. T. Blakely, R. H. Fleming and W. B. Blakely. Three church buildings have been erected at Bethel. The first was a log house with board seats set upon pegs or stick legs, without backs. The second church was a union building erected jointly with the Presbyterians in the year 1882. In 1896 the congregation sold its interest in the union church to their brethren of the Presbyterian Church and erected the present convenient and attrac- tive building a few hundred yards north of the old church. Bethel, Lincoln Co., Tenn. — It is not known when it was organized, but Rev. Henry Bryson was its first pas- tor. Rev. Thomas Parkinson was installed pastor over Bethel in 1851, and demitted the pastorate Jan. 8, 1857. Rev. A. S. Sloan became pastor during that same year. Rev. W. S. Castles became pastor Nov. 2, 1893, ^"d demitted it Sept. 29, 1894. The following year, 1895, Bethel was consolidated with New Hope and formed Elk A'alley.. Bethcsda, Ca. — This church, located in Cobb Co., Ga., was organized March 24th, 1842, by order of Presbytery, Rev. T. T. Turner acting as Moderator. It had 12 .mem- bers at the time of organization, and Messrs. Cornelius Gordon and David Boyd were chosen ruling elders. In 1849 Wm. R. Chesnut was added to the bench of elders, and in 1850 D. W. Henderson, and in 1862 John Mc- Donald also. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 423 From 1842 to 1844 the Rev. T. T. Turner was pastor, and in 1844 Synod sent Rev. D. C. Haslet to this field, and he began work in 1845. He was succeeded by Rev. John T. Pressly in 1848. In the fall of 1848 Rev. A. E. Ellis was called for one-fourth time, and on Friday before the 4th Sabbath of April, 1849, was installed. He demitted the charge in 1855, and died the same year. From 1856 to 1862 several ministers served them for very brief periods, viz., Revs. Jos. McDaniel, Henry Ouigg, Thomas Turner. By appointment of Synod Rev. Thomas Turner was sent as stated supply in 1862. How long this arrangement continued we do not know. In 1855 there were 17 families represented in the congregation, and in all 70 persons w^ere members of the organization from first to last. In 1873 the congregation dissolved, part joining the Presbyterian Church and part the A. R. Church at Pros- perity, now Doraville, Ga. Bcfhlchciii, S. C. — Probably for three-fourths of a century there has been preaching at this point, though recently organized into a church. Many will recall "Groggy Spring" ; a misnomer, however, as P>ethlehem has always l^een its proper name, so sti])ulated by party who gave the land for church purposes. A number of ministers of A. R. P. Church living in Due West preached here, .\mong whom were Drs. Hemphill, Bonner and Young. The church was organized May 4th, 1889, by Dr. R. Lathan and elders \Ym. Lowry, Wm. Kennedy and R. S. Galloway, of Due \\'est. with 7 members ; S. P. Pressly and ^^^ T. Ellis, who. with Mr. Sloan Ellis, constitute the session at present. Rev. Dr. Lathan served the congregation from ]\lay, 1889, until Oct., 1892. Rev. Wm. Grier, D. D., frojn Nov., 1892, until his death, Sept., 1899. Rev. F. Y. Pressly from Oct., 1899 — May, 1900. At present the church has about ;^y members and has been served by Rev. D. G. Caldwell since Sept.. 1900. 424 SKETCHES OP CONGREGATIONS. Bculali, Shelby Co., Teiiii., was presumably a charter member of the Memphis Presbytery. It was originally known as Union, more commonly, "Log Union," prob- abl}' suggested by the building in which services were first held. It is located 20 miles Northeast of Memphis and about 12 miles South of Rosemark. At the first meeting of the Memphis Presbytery, 1853, a petition was presented by Union for a reorganization of that congre- gation, and it is supposed that the name was then changed to Beulah. It was regularly supplied, generally with a monthly appointment. In 1872 it united with Mt. Carmel in calling Rev. R. L. Grier, who was regularly installed over both congregations in 1873. He demitted the Mt. Carmel branch of his charge in 1879, but continued as pastor of Beulah until his death in January of 1881. Since that time Beulah has been supplied generally in connection with some pastorate, but it has not had a pas- tor since 1881. Revs. D. W. Reid and H. Rabb occa- sionally supplied the pulpit from Richland, and Rev. David Pressly, D. D., while pastor of Bloomington, 1 886- 1 89 1, preached for them regularly- Since then Rev. J. P. Erwin and several other brethren ministered to this congregation for longer or shorter periods. The growth of this church has been greatly hindered by internal conditions which have prevailed for a long period of time. A want of harmony and a neglect of Christian forbearance in love have crippled the peace, purity and power of the church. A work of grace and the recognition of the divine order — "peace within thy walls — prosperity within thy palaces" — will doubtless yet cause that field to blossom as the rose. Big Creek, Burke Co., N. C, was an Associate vacancy near Morganton, and organized some time before 1819. The name was at one time Morgan, then Bridge Creek, and later McGiliards, believed to be the same or succes- sors. In 1822 there were 4 families and 7 members, in SKETCHES OF COXGREGATIOXS. 425 1840 there were 7 families and 12 members. After this no records in our possession show what became of this vacancy. Big Spring, Chester Co., S. C, appears on the roll of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas from 181 1 until 1820. In 181 1 it united with Xeely's Creek, and Shiloh in a call to Rev. John Mushat, which he declined. This is all the information that can be obtained of this church. Blanche, Lincoln Co., Tenn., is about 7 miles from Prosperity church and the two form the present pastorate of the Rev. J. B. Hood. It was organized about the year 1870 by the Tennessee Presbytery. It was first supplied by the Rev. A. S. Sloan, to whom the organization was largely due. Rev. J. B. Muse was the first pastor, installed in 1873 or 1874. He was succeeded by Rev. O. Y. Bonner, who was installed perhaps in 1887. Rev. A. Ranson followed him in the pastorate, being installed in the fall of 1895. The present incumbent, the Rev. J. B. Hood, was in- stalled pastor July 5, 1902. Each of these pastors gave this church about one-third time. Blanche has had but one church building, erected in the winter of 1870 and "71, and jointly owned with the IMethodists. They each occupy the church for worship day about, and have worked together in peace and harmony. Bloomington, Tipton Co., Tenn., was named from a small town (now extinct) by that name about 3 miles east of Brighton and about same distance north of Salem church. The exact date of its organization, the number composing it. etc., are unknown to us. "The Rev. (John) Wilson reported that the order for the organiza- tion of a church at Bloomington had been obeyed." This from minutes of Presbytery (Memphis) April 22, 426 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 1864. For some time Rev. Jas. H. Strong was directed by Presbytery to supply "Salem and connections." April 7, 1866, Rev. Strong was installed pastor of Salem and Bloomington, but this pastoral relation with the lat- ter continued but little over a year, being dissolved by request of pastor and people Sept. 7, 1867. On the 29th of August, 1868, the Rev. H. L. Murphy was installed over Bloomington and Richland. He continued pastor of Bloomington until his death, November 24, 1878. Mr. Murphy was a fluent and impressive speaker and a faithful pastor and the church grew under his ministry. Rev. W. Y. Love was installed pastor of Bloomington June 19, 1881, for three-fourths time. This relation continued for a year and three months, being dissolved by mutual consent Sept. i, 1882. The pulpit was sup- plied by Rev. Horace Rabb during 1883 and 1884. Rev. David Pressly was installed pastor October 30, 1886, and continued in this relation until his death, July 29, 1891. During the next five years various persons supplied the pulpit. In the mean time steps were taken looking to- ward the removal of the church building to Brighton on the Illinois Central R. R., and uniting with the Mt. Pa- ran church in forming one organization. This seemed a necessity to both congregations. The old town of Bloci'mington had disappeared, both churches were weak, and a promise of growth and strength was held out at Brighton as a central point for each that has been fully realized. The year 1896 will be remembered as an event- ful one in the history of these churches. On the 25th of April of that year Bloomington and Mt. Paran were consolidated and named Brighton, and the succeeding history of these churches will be found under the sketch of Brighton. It is also proper to state here that on Oct. 19, 1896, Rev. W. H. Millen was installed over Brigh- ton, and this relation still continues. The Sessions and Boards of Deacons of Bloomington and Mt. Paran by order of Prcsbvterv were consolidated in the united church. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 427 Bottcfoiit, Bottctout Co.. ]'a. — Rev. \\m. P.aldrige was by the A. R. Presbytery of Pa. "admitted to the pastoral charge of the united conoregations of James River and Bottetout in X'irginia August. 1793." It is very possible the congregation emigrated to ( )hio. Boycc Memorial, King's Mouuiain, Cleveland Co., N. C. — Contemporaneous in her organization, 1876, with the town. Rev. J. M. ^IcLain was first stated, and resident supply, and became pastor June I, 1877, resigning April 5, 1881. Rev. W. Y. Love served as regular supply from Dec, 1882, to March, 1885, and Rev. R. ^I. Steven- son one year begin- ning April, 1886. Having supplied for some time previous. Rev. J. M. drier was installed pas- tor Aug. 17, 1888, and demitted his charge Sept. 3rd, 1891. Rev. J. M. Garrison began stated labors January 21. 1892, being- ordained and installed ])ast()r April 27th following. The tirst building was erected in 1876. a comftM-table frame structure, at a cost of $700.00. The second is brick, of modern style, more centrally Icx'atcd, costing $4,000.00. and dedicated ( )ct. 30th, 1898. by an eloquent sermon from Rev. J. T. Chalmers, O. 1)., Ex. 28:34. At the same time a large and comfortable ])arsonage BOVCE MEMOKIAI.. KlX(i S MT., N. C. 428 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. was provided, costing $1,500.00 She was refreshed with a revival in April, 1892. W. O. Ware, I. B. Falls, W. B. \\'eir, J. F. McGill, and Capt. F. Billing are ruling elders. Bradley, S. C. — This church is a branch of Cedar Springs — a part of the same congregation. There are two places of worship, but one organization. The build- ing at Bradley was erected largely by General P. H. Bradley. It was put up in 1886 and '87. This devoted man wanted a house of worship near his home. Dr. Sloan preached the dedication sermon in July, 1887. Not long after the church was completed. General Brad- ley was called to rest, August 14th, 1887. Dr. Sloan continued to preach for the people here as well as at Cedar Springs until his death. Dr. Robt. Lathan was called and settled at Bradley, Septepiber 28th, 1894. He labored most faithfully and acceptably here until called to his reward by death, June 15th, 1896. Rev. D. G. Phillips was chosen pastor and did most excellent work until December ist, 1901, when he took up the work in Atlanta, Ga. The church is vacant at this time, receiving supplies of preaching- from Rev. J. W. Good, Rev. H. B. Blakely and others. Brick CJiiirch. — The Brick Church is situated in the western part of Fairfield County, South Carolina, about twelve miles from Winnsboro. It sits in a beautiful grove on the banks of Little River. It was here that the Synod of the CaroHnas, which is now the Associate Reformed Synod of the South, was organized on May 9th, 1803. For this, as well as other reasons, the history of this church is full of interest to all the people of the A. R. P. churches. The church was first called Little River, and afterwards Fbenezer, but for many years it has 1)ecn known as the Brick Church. When it was organized, we are unal)le to say. Before SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 429 BRICK CHURCH, S. C. the Revolutionary War, a log church was situated two miles west of the present church, and when the present church -vas built in 1788, the location was changed to the present site, in order to accommodate the people who lived on the east side of Little River. The deed to the land on which the Brick Church stands shows that it was conveyed on June 2nd, 1793, by Henry Crumpton, to the following persons designated in the deed as members of this church, viz: Benj. Boyd, John Martin, Jas. Gray, Chas. Montgomery, John Gray, James Kincaid, Aaron Hawthorne, Thomas Lewers, Wm. Bell, Andrew Gray,\\'m. McMorries, Sr., Wm. McMorries, Jr., Daniel Cochran, Callom Forbes, Hugh IMontgomery, Robt. Gray, Wm. Thompson, Wm. Richardson, Robt. Martin, Alexander Kincaid, James Montee, Robt. McGill, Wm. Holmes. Wm. Kearnaghan, H. Ronalds, R. Robertson. Hugh Robertson, Wm. Kennedy, Hy Harton, S. Richardson, Wm. Watt, J. Kennedy, Wm. Southwick, and Agnes Calhoun. In addition to these, wc find also that families of the following na^iies belonged to the church i)rior to 1791, viz: McKemie, Davidson, Turnijisced. and perhaps others. In later times, we find ^3= SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. the following additional names as members and some of them ofificers in the church : Nelson, Sloan, Robinson, McDowell, Watt, Martin, Player, Curry and Bell. Mrs. Hutchinson, a member of the church, who died a few years ago, said that she remembered hearing her mother and others tell, that after the crops were laid by, that their fathers and grandfathers would go to the brick- 3'ard, and tramp the mud into mortar with their bare feet, put it into moulds with their hands, carry it out in the sun to dry, then burning the kilns by night and day, and that to them it was a labor of love and pleasure. It took them a long time to get ready to build, but the build- ing was finally completed in 1788, and it stands to-day, as strong and solid as at the first, showing that these old men did their work well. Alexander and James Kincaid, and perhaps many oth- ers, did a great deal in building the church. The Kin- caids were large planters, and were officers in the Rev- olutionary War. Adam and John Hawthorne were el- ders in the church prior to 1791. Rev. James Rogers was the first pastor of the church, so far as we can learn. He was ordained and installed over the Brick Church, then called Little River, in connection with King's Creek, and Cannon's Creek, in Newberry Co., on Feb. 23rd, 1791. Mr. Rogers continued to be pastor until his death, Aug. 2 1st, 1830. He is buried at the Brick Church. Rev. James Boyce was the next pastor, and was installed in 1832, and continued until 1843. Rev. Thomas Ketchin was pastor from 1844 until 1852. Rev. C. B. Betts was pastor from 1855 until 1869. During the pastorates of Revs. Rogers, Boyce, Ketchin. and a part of the pastorate of Rev. Betts, the Brick Church was a large and flourishing congregation. The membership was composed of the wealthy and cul- tured planters of the community, and large crowds waited on the gos])el at the llrick Church. Mr. Rogers taught a large High School at Monticcllo, near by, which SKETCHES OF COXGREGATIONS. 431 was attended by pupils from many parts of the State. The Brick Church was made up of the noble men and women of the Old South. In 1852, the church and graveyard was inclosed with a granite stone wall. Mr. John Glazier Rabb and Mr. R. W. Sloan gave their personal supervision to the work, and much credit is due to them for its success. :\Irs. Xancv Rabb, also, ever showed a deep interest in the old church. For twenty-five years previous to her death in 1900, Mrs. Rabb gathered together a number of hands each year, and had the graveyard thoroughly cleaned. Through her efforts also the church was kept in repair during the years when it was dormant, and she now sleeps among her kindred and friends in the graveyard of the old Brick Church. The war of secession played havoc with the Brick Church. It was left in a state almost of disorganization. Its men were slain, the homes of many of its people were left in ashes by Sherman's army, and the church itself was dismantled and used as quarters by the invading army. Out of the great number of men from the Brick Church,who went to the war, only a few^ returned. There is one little incident, however, in connection with this old church, that throws a little light upon the blackness of war. When the Federal army came to Little River, just at the church, they found that the Confederates whom they were pursuing, had destroyed the bridge. So they tore up the flooring and sleepers of the church and rebuilt the bridge. Some one of the company was stirred in heart as he saw the desecration of the Lord's house, and he wrote in pencil on the door facing of the church, these WH^rds. which are legible to-day. after the lapse of thirty-eight years: "Citizens of this community: Please excuse us for defacing your house of worship so much. It was absolutely necessary to effect a crossing over the Creek, as the Rcbs destroyed the bridge.— A Yankee." 432 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. So great was the blow from the War and its results that the church declined, until it disappeared from the roll of the Presbytery without any formal act of disor- ganization. After Mr. Betts resigned in 1869, occasional supplies were sent by the Presbytery, but even this ceased about twenty years ago. The old Brick Church, however, was not to remain dead forever. About the year 1891, Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick, the pastor of New Hope, began to cultivate the field again, and under his active labors, and the fostering care of the Session of New Hope, it revived so rapidly that on Aug. 25th, 1.893, it was reorganized with twenty-one members. In 1896, Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick was installed over the Brick Church in connection with Prosperity, in Newberry Co., and this pastorate continued until 1899, when he re- signed on account of ill health. The history of this old church has been a noble one. Prof. McKemie, of Georgia, whose ancestors for three generations are in the cemetery around the old Brick Church, says : "That old Brick Church has been a seed bed from which transplants have gone throughout the South." After speaking of the names of the families already mentioned in this sketch, he says : "If I were in the cemeter}', I could recall many other names whose generations have carried Presbyterianism from South Carolina to the Pacific Coast. I recall two ministers, Revs. Joseph and John E. Davidson (who were baptized in the Brick Church by Dr. Rogers) who passed their ministerial lives in North Louisiana. For thirty-five years Joseph Davidson preached more sermons, married and buried more people, than any minister in North Lou- isiana. John E. Davidson was a graduate of Princeton, and in three years organized six or seven churches in Louisiana, but he 'went away' just as his star was mounting." In addition to these, four other ministers have come from the Brick Church, viz : Rev. J. B. Watt, Rev. J. A. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 433 Sloan, Rev. John E. Martin, and Rev. Horace Rabb. There are others perhaps, but we have not been able to eet their names. The old communion service, with its waiter, tankard, cups, and Irish linen, more than a century old, is still in possession of the congregation. Brightoii, Tipton Co., Tcnn. — Is on the Illinois Cen- tral R. R., about 30 miles northeast of Memphis and seven miles southwest from Covington, the county seat. It was formed April 25, 1896, by the consolidation of Bloomington and Mt. Paran, at this place, the church taking its name from the village in which it is located. The Sessions and Boards of Deacons of the two churches were consolidated in the united church, and the Rev. W. H. Millen was installed as the first pastor, Oct. 19, 1896, giving one-half time to this congregation. It is a live and growing church and seems to have entered an era of prosperity and usefulness. The church building is the old Bloomington church building, remodeled and nicely furnished, and is well located. The pastorate of Rev. Millen happily continues to the present time. Broad Creek, Rockbridge Ca., Va. — "Mr. Heron re- ported the following persons as admitted to our commu- nion at Broad Creek on the 23rd and 24th of April, 1824: Elizabeth Miller, Margaret Miller, Margaret Hamilton, Agnes Jackson, Nancy McDonald, Jane Leyburn,, for- merly of the Associate R. Church. Also the following persons not formerly in communion : John Shaver, Elea- nor Shaver, James Miller, Wm. Miller, Jr., Martha L. Miller, George Dial, Susannah Rebecca Ginger, Ann El- lison, Rebecca Ochiltree." A small portion of his time was given here and in 1824 a church was organized with 15 families, 28 members. Without a house of worship, preaching was conducted by occasional ministers to this struggling vacancy. About 1849, the present brick 28 434 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. church was completed, and July 26, 1850, Dr. W. M. jMcEhvee was ordained and installed pastor. He re- signed in i860. In 1861-1862 supplied by Presbyterian ministers, Revs. Ewing, Hart, Junkin and Bittenger. In Alay, 1868, Rev. John Hemphill began labors in the county and ministered in holy things till 1877. Rev. W. A. Wilson, Sept., 1877, to Sept. 1878; Rev. J. M. Todd, D. D., from May 22, 1879, to July 20th; Rev. R. M. Stevenson, Feb. 20, 1881, to May 24th, 1886; Revs. E. E. Pressly, O. Y. Bonner and T. W. Sloan each served dur- ing the summers of '86-'88. During the summer of 1889, Dr. W. W. Orr held a revival meeting and the congrega- tion was very much revived and in Jan., 1890, on a visit of Rev. W. M. Hunter, reorganized by the election and ordination of C. P. Nair, Thqmas Miller, John W. Ayers, and J. H. Harmon, ruling elders. Rev. J. P. Knox began stated labors March 29th, 1890, and concluded Oct. 18, 1891 ; Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco, Dec, 1891 to May, 1893; Rev. J. R. McCormick, July i, 1893, till Oct., 1897, full time; Rev. E. B. Anderson, Sept.. 1898, to Dec, 1902. The congregation has a fine opening for mission work, and their heroic struggles for the maintenance of an inspired Psalmody will be owned by the author. Buford Moiniiiuvit. — Buford Monument Church is in Lancaster Co., S. C, and was organized by the First Presbytery in 1893. It was through the efforts of Rev. H. B. Blakely that this church was organized, and it was supplied by him while he was pastor at Lancaster. It never had a settled pastor, and after a few years it de- clined, and was finally, about 1902, merged into the church at Pleasant Hill, and the church building was removed to that point, where it now stands. Btitler. — In Freestone Co., Texas, was organized with nine members in 1879. On account of removals, it was disorganized in a vear or two. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 435 Cambridge, Iredell Co., N. C. — An Associate Church, at Cook's Crossing, A. T. O. R. R., about two miles south of Troutman's, was organized before 181 1, when Rev. John Mushat became pastor, resigning Oct., 1822, but remaining as supply till Jan., 1825. They united with Stirling and Gilead in an unsuccessful call for Revs. W. M. McElwee in 1826, and Archibald Whyte in 1827. Also failed in calling Revs. Samuel Wilson in 1830, J. C. Bruce, 1831, and Horatio Thompson, 1832. These doubtless supplied there. There were 20 families and 43 members in 1840. Some time afterwards the con- gregation united with New Perth. Camp Creek in Bradley Co., Ark., was organized by Rev. J. P. Marion in 1875 with 20 members. All or near- ly all, of them had recently moved from York County, vS. C. Arthur and William Garrison were elected elders. Rev. J. P. Marion supplied them half time in 1875, Rev. J. L. Young in 1876. Rev. H. M. Henry in 1877 and '8. About that time some families moved away, others trans- ferred their membership to Hickory Springs, and the organization was discontinued in 1879. Camden, JJllcox Co., Ala., is located in the town of that name. It was organized in September, 1890, by Drs. W. ^^^ Orr and H. M. Henry with 12 members. W. C. Jones and J. N. Miller were elected elders and B. M. ]\Iiller and \\\ J. Bonner deacons. The church soon grew to sixty-five members. Immediately after organi- zation a church belonging originally to the U. Presby- terians was purchased and active work begun. "Within its walls happy marriages have been consum- mated and out of its doors have been borne the bodies of our ])recious dead; and now for thirteen years we have there worshipped God, sung the songs of David and lis- tened to profound and comforting declarations of God's will, wisdom and love." 436 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Oh the 2nd Sabbath of August, 1891, the Sabbath School was organized with J. N. ^liller, Esq., as Super- intendent. Rev. Jas. A. Lowry was the first pastor, serv- ing the congregation with a monthly appointment from his Dallas County home, until his death in 1898. During his pastorate there was a steady growth in numbers and spirit. In July, 1899, Rev. R. L. Robinson was called to this church and this pastoral relation still happily continues. Many and varied influences, covering many years, led up to the organization of the Camden church. The members originally belonged at Oak Hill, the mother church. For many years Dr. John Miller preached here and in the surrounding country. Dr. W. M. Grier while pastor at Oak Hill often preached here, and Dr. H. M. Henry followed in labors and prayers for this people. Here lived E. D. McDaniel, L. D. D., for half a century, and here, or near here, lived many graduates of Erskine College. For many years, about 1860-65, Rev. W. J. Lowry lived and preached here occasionally while pastor of Lebanon A. R. P. Church. Rev. W. T. Waller was sent here by Synod in 1878, and Rev. J. S. Mills also preached here several months. Thus was the way prepared for Rev. W. W. Orr when he came in 1890 and organized the church. The congregation has suffered nmch from deaths and removals to other fields, but it is still a strong church with much undeveloped material and spiritual power. It owns free of debt a large central lot with neat and comfortable house of worship valued at $2,500.00. The efficient pastor, Rev. R. L. Robinson, devotes his whole time to the work, which is w^ell organized with Sabbath School and missionary societies. The Young People's So- ciety was organized by the sainted Miss Fannie Wallace. Camden is one of the young churches of Synod, and .nmch credit in its development is due to the enterprise SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 437 of the Board of Home [Missions. It is growing in num- bers and in liberality, responding to the various calls of the Synod and promptly meeting all obligations when due. A bright prospect is before this church. Carmel, York Co., S. C, appears on the roll of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas before 181 1, Rev. Win. Dixon preached there from its organization proba- bly until near his death. In a sketch of Sharon congre- gation by the Rev. R. A. Ross, D. D., it is said that, in the latter part of 1796 or the beginning of 1797, Sharon united with Bethany in the northern part of York Co., and with Carmel in the South, in a call to Rev. Wm. Dixon then recently come from Scotland, which call he accepted. In the same sketch it is said that, in 1826, Sharon. Tirzah and Carmel Hill united in a call to Rev. W. M. ]\IcElwee which he accepted. It disappears from the roll some time in the '30's. Cedar Creek, Franklin Co., Ala., appears on the roll of 1842 as a vacancy of the Tennessee Presbytery. It remained in this Presbytery until its final disappearance. Cedar Creek, in Milam Co., Texas, was organized by Rev. J. M. Little in 1884 with 9 members. S. G. Little and A. B. Oliver were ordained elders. In 1892 Cedar Creek and Pine Oak united in building a church at Mi- lano. These two organizations were merged into one at Milano in 1893. Rev. J. ]\I. Little was the stated supply. Cedar Springs, Abheiille Co. — This historic and an- cient church dates from the year 1780. It was about this time that Rev. Thomas Clark. M. D., came from Salem, X. ^'., to preach to that part of his congrega- tion which had emigrated from Ballobay. Ireland, in 1764 and settled in .\bbeville District, S. C. 438 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The congregation was likely organized in the y^ar 1780, though it was not till the year 1786 that Dr. Clark settled as pastor permanently of Cedar Springs and Long Cane. This good and truly great man labored here for six years. It was his privilege to see the Pres- bytery of the Carolinas and Georgia organized on the 24th of February, 1790. No record can be found of his installation over Cedar Springs and Long Cane, though we find that the Presbytery ordered his settle- ment in 1 79 1. Dr. Clark died in 1792, and is buried at Cedar Springs. The first house erected by the con- gregation was built of logs, about two miles southeast of the present site. The name of the church was derived from a cedar tree near the spring where the first church was built. Some of the first members were Robert Foster, Eliza Sinclair, Mr. Patterson, McBryde, Mor- row, Gibson and Robinson. The two churches, Long Cane and Cedar Springs, paid Dr. Clark one hundred pounds, a liberal salary for the time. The next pastor of Cedar Springs and Long Cane was Rev. Alexander Porter. He was installed April 2, 1798. The congregations at this time were large. The membership was large in the year 1802 — 520 communi- cants were reported. At the communion occasions large ni;mbers attended from other churches — from Due West, Rocky Springs and Generostee. Tradition says that 760 observed the sacrament at one time. These communions were great spiritual feasts to the people. They covered five days. Thursday was fast day. Fri- day applicants for membership were received or kept back, Saturday and Sabbath's services were especially devoted to the sacrament, and Monday was thanks- giving. Many of the important transactions of the Second Presbytery are identified with Cedar Springs and Long Cane. Here the original Presbytery was organized, and here the Second Presbytery was con- stituted April 8th, 1801. On account of Mr. Porter's SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 439 health and the uncommon largeness of his pastoral charge he asked to be relieved of one of his churches, and accordingly gave up Long Cane Septem- ber 15th, 1803, and the next year was installed as pas- tor of Cedar Springs alone. Mr. Porter continued pastor of Cedar Springs until 1 81 3. The next year Mr. Porter moved with a number of his congregation to Ohio. For a number of years Cedar Springs was vacant and the church suffered just as her sister'' congregation of Long Cane, on account of a destitution of ordinances. In the vear 1817 Rev. John T. Pressly was ordained and installed pastor. This proved to be an excellent choice. Dr. Pressly's pastorate was abundantly blessed. He is described as being "a man untiring in labor, punc- tual to every engagement, and faithful in preaching the gospel and watching for souls." Cedar Springs under his ministry reached the zenith of her glory. She num- bered five hundred communicants without the help of Long Cane. It was at this period that the church gave three voung men to the ministr}'— Rev. Samuel P. Press- ly, D. D., Rev. E. E. Pressly, D. D., and Rev. James P. Pressly, D. D. Dr. John T. Pressly conducted the Theo- logical Seminary here at Cedar Springs. He was the sole professor. Among the numerous active and use- ful members were the Fosters, McBrydes, Devlins, Youngs, ^IcCrearys and Presslys. Later on came such men as the Kemiedy's Morris, Col. John Herst, Wm. Patton, Hamilton Hill and others. During this time Dr. Pressly supplied Long Cane occasionally, though he was not installed pastor over the united charge until the year 1828. The two congregations were then reunited and continued for a long time to constitute one pastorate. The church was much weakened during Dr. Pressly's pastorate, that is, the latter part of it. by emigration to the West and Southwest. It was her diminishing num- bers that reconciled Cedar Springs to the arrangement 440 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. of sharing her pastor with her sister church. Pohtical discussion also interfered very much with the progress of rehgion. It was the time of NulHfication and Abbe- ville County seemed to be the center of the fight for that principle. Dr. Jno. T. Pressly discouraged possibly by the constant emigration and by the high political ferment, accepted a call to Allegheny, Pa., in the year 1831. Af- ter him there was a vacant period for about six years. Rev. W. R. Hemphill was called and settled as pastor in 1837. For eleven years he labored diligently among this people. His pastorate was abundantly blessed — as many as thirty-five connecting in one year with the church. In 1848 Dr. Hemphill was chosen to a profes- sorship in Erskine College, and demitted his charge. His people gave him up with the greatest reluctance. During his pastorate three ministers went out from the church — Rev. W. W. Patton, Rev. Samuel Morris and Rev. D. P. Robinson. Revs. J. M. Young, David Press- ly, Joseph Pressly and J. E. Pressly were born and partly raised in Cedar Springs and Long Cane. Rev. H. T. Sloan was called and settled as pastor in Novem- ber, 1850. This was the beginning of one of the most fruit- ful pastorates in the Synod. Faithfully and earnestly did Dr. Sloan do his work as pastor for forty years. In 1890 he demitted his charge, but continued to preach un- til a short time before his death. He died February 13th, 1894. There were several seasons of revival dur- ing Dr. Sloan's ministry, and the church experienced great prosperity ; but there was a constant drain on the membership — a number going- ofT to Troy, a new congre- gation organized in 1882, some to Due West and other places. In September, 1894, Dr. Robt. Lathan was chosen pastor of Cedar Springs and P.radlcy, the latter being a part of the congregation but with a different house of worship. Dr. Lathan's ministry was terminated by his death, whicli occurred June T^th, iS,<)(^. His work in this field was short, but it left its impress upon the i->c(~)iile. SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. 441 After him Rev. D. G. Phillips, Jr., was chosen, Jan. 1897, and remained until December, 1901. The present church at Cedar Springs was built in 1853, during the pastorate of Dr. Sloan. Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N. C. — By order of Synod Dr. H. T. Sloan began preaching Nov. 26, 1873, in Miller's Hall, and March ist following organized with 14 members. Major S. W. Reid and I. X. Wallace provi- sional session. A lot on corner 5th and College was pur- chased for $2,800, and a chapel erected costing $1,234, and occupied early in June 1874. At this period Dr. Sloan retired. Revs. W. M. Hunter was stated supply three years, beginning Oct. 11, 1874, J. L. Hemphill one year, beginnig Nov., 1877, W. L. Waller six, beginning Sept., 1878, J. C. Galloway one from Oct.. 1884, C. E. McDonald six months from Oct., 1885, and J. S. Mofifatt one, beginning April, 1886. Rev. C. E. Todd began labor Nov. 13, 1887, and was installed x\ug. 24, 1888. During his ministry a most eligible lot corner Third and Tryon-— the most desirable in the city save one — was purchased at $6,000, and a handsome $10,000 church erected and dedicated Oct. 27, 1891, by the Synod body. A substantial, commodious manse was erected in 1893 on the same lot, costing $3,500. Rev. Todd demitted April 9, 1895, because of failing health. Rev. T. W. Sloan was his immediate successor, being installed May 8, but returned in October to his first pastorate, Troy, S. C. The following have served as elders : T. R. Magill, Prof. J. I. McCain, T. M. McConnell. J. B. T^IcLaughlin, J. H.'Ross. R. L. C. Cochrane, G. W. Pressly, M. D.. Joseph Davidson, S. W. Reed, W. B. McGinnis and J. Y. Orders. Present session : T. P. Ross. Prof. J. G. Baird. J. A. Russell. C. ^1. Strong. M. D.. R. G. Brice and T. S. Harris. Rev. J. T. Chalmers, D. D.. was installed .\pril 22, 1896. 442 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. His was a most fruitful ministry in enlarged growth and liberality. The manse debt, $1,700, was paid and both it and the church improved and beautified at a cost of $1,200. The membership was largely increased and a second church liberally projected. This brilliant and fruitful pastorate was closed March 6, 1902, by his la- mented death, the pulpit being supplied for nearly two years preceeding- his departure because of ill health. Rev. J. Knox Montgomery w^as installed Sept. 24, 1902. This relation continues and promises great use- fulness. In the early struggles a band of devoted women went forth weeping bearing precious seed. G. G. Nisbet and afterward T. R. Magill gave the cause their devotion when no man stood with them. Rev. C. E. Todd led the way in faith and enlargement and Dr. Chalmers wisely and liberally built. The ladies paid a deserved tribute when they placed in the church tablets to their memory. A single licentiate journeyed there, Oct., 1874, and greeted a little company in an humble chapel all covered with debt. Now under God's blessing they are two bands, with 414 members and 676 enrolled S. S. Pupils. Charlotte, Dixon Co., Tenn., was a mission of the Tennessee Presbytery. Rev. S. S. Ralston preached here on two occasions in 1843. ^^ never had a pastor and has long since ceased to exist. It probably was never more than a preaching point. Chester, S. C. — In the year 1859, an attempt was made to organize a church in Chester, but for some reason it was a failure. . Soon after the War, Rev. R. W. Brice, the pastor of Hopewell in Chester Co., began preaching occasionally at Old Purity Presbyterian Church, three miles east of Chester, for the convenience of the A. R. P. people in Chester, and some of the members of SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. CIIESTEK, S. I., 443 Hopewell living near that church. At a meeting of thie First Presby- tery at Prosperity, N. C, in April, 1869, Rev. R. W. Price was directed to organize a church at Chester. In the summer of i86<;, he obeyed the order and or- ganized £ church of eighteen members. The organization was effected at Old Purity, and Joseph W y 1 i e, Matthew^ White, W. J. Henry and John Simpson were the first Elders. It was a small band, but they w^ere faithful and true, and devotedly attached to the A. R. P. Church. In 1871 the congregation bought the old jNIethodist church on Centre St., and moved into town. In 1878 a new house of worship was erected on the same site, and was dedicated March 15th, 1879, the dedi- cation sermon being preached by Rev. \\'. M. Grier, D. D. Rev. R. W. Brice supplied the churcli with preaching one-fourth time until 1876, when Rev. J. P. Marion was called for three-fourths of bis time, and in the course of about three years Mr. Marion was called for the whole of his time, and continued pastor until he resigned m I^Iarch, 1882. In 1883, Rev. Mason W. Pressly was installed and continued until March 20th, 1886. In April. 1886, Rev. J. S. Moffatt became pastor, and con- tinues until the present time. 444 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. The church has had a continuous and steady growth, and it is now one of the best churches in the Synod. In 1887 Mr. Joseph Wyhe, one of the Elders of the church, presented the congregation with an elegant parsonage on York St. The present nice and commodious house of worship was erected in 1897, and was dedicated Feb. 6th, 1898, the dedication sermon being preached by Rev. C. E. McDonald. The Chester church has always been composed large- ly of the most substantial people of the city, and has always exerted a marked influence in the com^munity. There have been gracious revivals in the church at various times, and its membership is made up of intelli- gent and godly people. Three of the ministers of the Synod were members of this congregation, viz.. Revs. H. M. Henry, D. D., Rev. J. A. White and Rev. W. B. Lindsay, and at the present time more than thirty of its members have had a Collegiate education. It has been most liberal in the support of all the institutions and en- terprises of the church. One of its Elders, the late Joseph Wylie, was the most liberal supporter of these institu- tions and enterprises that the Synod has ever had. He was a very successful merchant and banker, and was blessed with large means, and a very large part of it he gave to the church, and all its membership has ever been noted for their zeal and liberality to the cause of the Master. Besides those named at the organization of the church the following persons have been Elders in this church : D. H. Duncan, David Moffatt, A. G. Brice, J. K. Henry, S. B. Lathan, J. T. Bigham, M. E. White, T. H. White and Dr. J. B. Bigham. Chicofa, Tex. — A church was organized in Chicota, in Lamar Co.. Texas, in the fall of 1883 with T2 members. They l)uilt a Ikuisc of worship in t886. Rev. E. E. Pat- terson was stated supply. He was installed pastor for SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 445 half time Xov. 3. 1888. They had 22 members at that time. They had accessions from churches in York Co., S. C, and from churches in other sections of Eastern States. A good school was established, and their num- bers increased to 65 by 1896. Mr. Patterson gave up the work and left that field in Jan., 1896. That year and the year following they were supplied by Revs. L. I. Echols and J. H. Simpson. Rev. T. W. Hayes was in- stalled pastor Jan. 15, 1898, for half time. Their num- ber had increased to 89, and their strength grown till in 1903 they asked for three-fourth of their pastor's time. In 1896 they entertained the Synod handsomely during its meeting in their midst. They purchased a convenient house for a parsonage about the time ^Nlr. Hayes became pastor. The school building- has been re- modeled, and a good high schol. They have an excel- lent S. S., L. B. S., and a Y. P. C. U. TAMPiCO, MEX. Christ's Church, Taiiipico, Republic of Mexico. — Tampico perhaps enjoys the remarkable deference of be- ing the spot where the European first set foot on the American Continent. "Americus \'espucius landed at 446 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. Tampico in 1497, and made a report of his visit, which is very interesting reading." It is situated in the extreme southern part of the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico, on the river Panuco, about six miles from the Gulf. The population nujiibers about 20,000. It is the terminus of two lines of railroad, a third being in process of construction direct to Mexico City. The port is rapidly increasing in importance, and on account of the immense river harbor, is destined to be the metropolis of the Gulf ports in the republic. It was at this point the A. R. P. Church established her first independent Foreign Mission in January, 1880. Evangelical work had been established here as early as 1876 by the G. A. P. Church, North, in the U. S., but was abandoned on account of the distance and its in- accessibility to the center of that Church's operation. Christ's Church in Tampico has the distinction of be- ing the first church organized in a foreign land by the Foreign Missionary Board of our Church. In the min- utes of Synod for 1879 the Committee on Foreign Mis- sions reported : "We have selected Tampico on the Gulf Coast as our mission station and have directed our missionary to repair to that place at an early period." The missionary, Neill E. Pressly, arrived at Tampico with his family on the 6th of December, 1879. A store-house centrally located was rented and fitted up for a chapel and plainly furnished, and in that building religious services were conducted three times a week un- til the close of 1889. Many were the difficulties and stubborn the opposition that the mission encountered in the l^eginning. The conflict was a daily struggle. For about a year an hired house with almost empty pews, the missionary family and that of the native assistant were the only evidence of evangelical vvork in the city. It was only the command of the Mastdr ,and His promises that encouraged the laborers. With the new vear i88t, the first ravs of light were seen, the grav SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 447 morn of a new day was breaking. One, then another, dared to declare their faith pubhcly, and the mission- ary was eager to effect an organization. By order of the Board of Foreign Missions, a church was organized in Tampico on June the 26th, 188 1, with fifteen members. The first person baptized was a bhnd woman, Jesus Gonzales, on the 29th of May, 1881, and the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time on July 3rd, 1881. In 1889 a lot in the center of the city was secured, a corner lot, on Muelle and Estado Streets, and a pretty little church erected 50x30 at a cost of $5,500.00. The church was dedicated on the 17th of January, 1890. It is substantially built of brick and faces the south. One hundred and seventy-three adults have been bap- tized and received into the membership of the church. Ninety-six youth and children have been baptized, whole number baptized 269. Collections since the organization of the church amount to $4,678.30. The work at this point has been directed from its be- ginning by the missionary, assisted by Rev. Pedro Tru- jillo. Only one ruling elder, Jose Melo, has been or- dained, and he died rejoicing in the hope of the gospel on Sept. 9th, 1898. Christ's Church is the young- mother church of the A. R. P. Mission. It has a membership of eighty odd, an active Sabbath School of over one hundred pupils, a live Christian Endeavor Society of ninety members, an encouraging auxiliary school for girls, four preaching stations, and the future grows brighter. Clarkshitri:;, Indiana. — Rev. G. Gordon began preach- ing here, and on Oct. ist, 1847, was authorized by Ky. Pres. to organize a church. Sept. 9th, 1848, he reported the organization effected with John Kincaid and James McCracken as elders. He continued to supply the church. Revs. T. S. Lcc, .\. Ranson, A. S. Montgomcrv, 448 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. T. T. Turner, J. A. Myers and probably others also preached here from this time up to 1870. After this date no mention is made of it in minutes of the Presbytery. Sept. 1st, 1849, the session referred the case of John Kincaid for marrying Mary E., his deceased wife's sis- ter to Presbytery for advice. The Presbytery referred it to Synod and for a number of years it was a subject of discussion and agitated the councils of Synod. Clover, S. C. — Clover is situated in York Co., S. C, about ten miles from Yorkville, the county seat, on the line of the Carolina and Northwestern Railway. The church was organized May 24th, 1893. For some time previous to the organization, Rev. R. M. Stevenson preached there one night in each month, and after the or- ganization, Mr. Stevenson was called as pastor for one- fourth his time, and was installed Nov. 23rd, 1893, and still continues as the pastor. Soon after the organization the people built a neat house of worship. Cochrane s Vale, Burke Co., N. C, appears upon the roll of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas in 1822 with 17 members and was near Old Fort. This with other mountain churches formed a kind of golden chain or via sacra for Associate ministers to the Carolinas. In 1840 there were 5 families and 9 members. Soon af- ter this for some reason it passed from our roll. Coddle Creek, Iredell Co., N. C— Emigrants from Western Pennsylvania settled this region soon after Brad- dock's defeat, 1755. It was a preaching station that year. The oldest legible tombstone is that of James Caruth, deceased Dec. 9th, 1757, aged 27 years. A society of Associates organized themselves possibly before 1760. In answer to petitions to the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania beginning 1762, Revs. James Proudfoot, Robert Annan, Thomas Clark, M. D., John SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 449 Rodgers, M. D., James Martin and Andrew Patton sup- plied them at long and hungry intervals till the organi- zation of the Associate Reformed Synod. Then Revs. Thomas Clark, M. D., and John Jamison visited this congregation in connection with the others in the South 1782 to 1784. Hopewell on the Catawba River, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, (probably Gilead) and Coddle Creek presented a call to Rev. John Jamison in 1787, which was declined. Rev. John Boyse came here soon after licensure in the summer of 1788, and being ordained July i, 1789, was installed a little later. His early and lamented death March i8th, 1793, left them again destitute. At the earnest request of Rev. Jas. Rogers Rev. John Hemphill came, preached and received a call 1795, which was declined. Rev. James McKnight licensed April 3rd, 1794, by the Second A. R. Presbytery of Pa., began his labors about Jan., 1795, and being ordained by the same Pres- bytery Sept., 1796, was the next year installed pastor. He weighed some 300 pounds, with a voice correspond- ing, regardless of terminal qualities, rode rapidly and drove like Jehu, was as faithful in pastoral visitations as he was persistent in preaching. Death terminated his labors Sept. 17, 1831. Rev. John Graham Witherspoon was ordained and installed pastor Aug. 20th, 1834. The Synod met here in 1 84 1. This useful and punctual pastor died lamented and devout men carried him to the tomb Jan, 6, 1846, Rev, J. E, Pressly, a licentiate of the Second Presby- tery, was called, and the call being accepted, he was or- dained and installed Feb, 12th, 1851. A large and com- modious house of worship was erected in 1839. This was destroyed by fire on Sabbath, Feb. 24th, 1884. The next day, 8:30 a. m., the congregation met, Dr. Pressly as chairman. Two fragments of leaves from the pulpit Bible had been gathered up. The first passage 29 450 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. that could be read was, "Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified saith the Lord." The people at once resolved to re-build. It was finished and dedi- cated by Rev. W. T. Waller June 29th following. Dr. Pressly ceased active duty Oct., 1885, and his offi- cial resignation occurred April 13th, 1886. The congre- gation then called Rev. L. B. Stewart, who was ordained and installed Nov. 19th, 1887, and served till April 7, 1891. The pastoral services of Rev. W. Y. Love were then obtained Jan., 1892. He served them till Oct. 30, 1900. Rev. R. C. Davidson now serves them, having been installed May 24th, 1901. , Rev. N. E. Pressly, D. D., our pioneer missionary to Mexico, Rev. M. W. Pressly, Revs. H. R. McAulay, N. E. Smith and G. L. Kerr are sons of this church James Carrigan was an elder during Rev. John Boyse's pastorate as was Robert Neel, Robert Neel, his son, Hugh Gillon and Adam Ross under father Mc- Knight. From 1847 to 1869 Neel McAulay, William Knox, Elam Neel, James Bradford and George G. Mc- Knight. In 1869 W. M. Bell, Dr. Edwin N. McAulay, William A. Kerr and W. G. Townsen. In 1875 G. L. Smith, J. K. Morrison, W. C. Patterson, J. C. Neel and John B. Wallace and T. D. Miller and later James Smith, W. P. Rogers, Thomas Keesler, W. M. Nelson and Dr. A. E. Bell. The first building was a rude log structure weather- boarded but not ceiled, the logs and rafters being inside ornaments. It stood east and west with a rude pulpit on the north side. A Mr. Parks generously donated about 220 acres of land. Two hundred were sold from the proceeds of which a splendid building was erected in 1839. About 15 years ago Mr. Nathaniel Johnston bequeathed $1,000 to Coddle Creek academy. This fund is invested and has increased in value to $1,300. The school is doing a good work. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 451 CENTEX NIALj COLUMBIA, S. C. Colniiibia, S. C. — The church at Columbia, the capital city of South Carohna, is called the Centennial Church, and was erected as a memorial of the one hundredth year of the existence of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. In the summer of 1896, Rev. J. G. Dale was sent to Columbia to open a mission. For a few weeks preaching services were held in the Y. M. C. A. Hall which was kindly tendered for their use, until other pro- vision could be made. In August the Hall of the Wood- men of the World was rented, and continued to house the mission until the present new building was erected. Rev. J. G. Dale did effective work, and soon there was a call for an organization. The church was organized by a commission of the First Presbytery consisting of Rev. G. R. White, D. D.,and Elders J. A. Brice and T. H. Ketchin, Feb. ist, 1897. At the meeting of Synod in 1898 in Chester, S. C, Rev. Dale felt constrained to give up the work in Colum- bia and go to Mexico as a missionary, and the church was left without a head until June, 1899, when Rev. J. P. Knox was sent by the Board of Home IMissions to take charge of the work, and he has continued the faith- 452 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. ful and efificient pastor ever since. In the winter of 1900 and the spring of 1901, Rev. J. P. Knox canvassed the Synod for funds to build the church, and he was success- ful in accomplishing the object of his mission. A suita- ble lot was bought on Laurel Street, and during the year 1902, a beautiful brick edifice was erected, and the congregation is growing and prospering-. Concord, Caharras Co., N. C, was organized by the First Presbytery Jan. 12, 1901, with 25 members. They have been supplied by the Back Creek pastor. The elders are D. C. Caldwell, E. B. Grayem and R. N. Har- ris. Licentiate J. W. Simpson is expected to begin work about the middle of June, 1903. Concord, S. C. — This organization is situated about three miles north of Anderson C. H., S. C. It is one of the oldest churches in the Second Presbytery. Its his- tory dating back as early as 1796, or even earlier. But the records are quite meager. It is known, however, that Rev. Peter McMullen began preaching in the open air near Rankins Springs, two miles from the present site. The church was supplied by many ministers at many different times, but mainly by ministers from De Witt's Corner (Due West). The first house of logs was built in 1797. Rev. Peter McMullen effected the or- ganization. The first elders were Robt. Rankm, John George and Benjamin Dixon. The cliurch has borne four names : Mt. Nebo, Six and Twenty, Moorehead's Meeting House and Concord. After 1798 the church was supplied by Revs. Jos. McCauley, Blackstock. Por- ter, McGill, Renwick, Dickson, Pinkerton and Dr. Henry Bryson. Concord's history has been a most checkered one, and her earliest days, her best days. Dissension divided the church, crippled its energies, scattered her members, and she is to this day small and weak, although over a century old. Rev. A. L. Patterson is at ])resent the stated sujiply. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 453 Comersville, Ten 11.. was a part of the pastoral charge of Rev. S. S. Ralston over which he was installed June 7, 1839. It has ceased to exist. Corsicaiia — The church in this city was organized Oct. 16, 1895, by Revs. W. L. Patterson and W. \\\ Orr, with 22 members. Most of them were from Rich- land and Harmony, J. L. Bonner, Wirt Robinson and A. W. IMcQuiston were elected elders. Two deacons were were also chosen. ^Ir. Orr returned to them the next February and supplied the mission three or four months. They worshipped in the City Hall. A lot for a church and parsonage was secured and a subscription started to raise money to build. Rev. T. W. Hayes was sent to supply them in July, 1896, and prosecuted the work successfully for sixteen months. In 1897 Synod appointed Rev. W. W. Orr to this mission for a period of five years. He entered upon this work with great zeal. The membership increased encouragingly, and the pros- pects of the mission grew brighter. The work of rais- ing money for the building was laid upon the missionary-. This being a co-operative mission, the U, P, Board of Church Extension appropriated $1500, The Board of Church Extension of the A, R, P. Synod appropriated $1,000. and he was asked to canvass the city, and the congregations of Synod for the balance needed. This he did. Their elegant and convenient church was dedi- cated free of debt Oct. 21, 1900. The entire cost of house and lot was $18,500. The congregation erected a parsonage on the same lot. Mr. Orr resigned the charge at the meeting of Synod in 1901. Rev. A. J, Ran son was appointed to have charge of the mission for a period of five years. He entered upon the work promptly. The mission continues to prosper. They re- ported 96 members in 1002. Thev have a promising S. S.. L. B, Soc. and a Y. P. C U. 454 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. Covington, Tipton Co., Tcnn. — Was organized June 27, 1903, by a commission of the Memphis Presbytery, composed of Revs. W. H. Millen, (acting on account of the unavoidable absence of Rev. T. G. Boyce), J. P. Er- win, J. W. Baird and Elder J. L. Baird. 22 charter members were enrolled, coming mainly from Salem, Brighton and Richland. R. S. Baird, formerly serving at Salem, T. R. Hanna, at Brighton, and Wm. R. Boyd were elected Elders, the latter being ordained at this time. Rev. T. P. Pressly conducted a few days meeting here in 1891, and Rev. T. G. Boyce, by request of Presbytery, supplied them with a monthly appointment during 1901 and 1902, and the Synod of 1902 appointed Rev. J. W. Baird missionary to this field. He began his labors here January i, 1903. By direction of the Board of Home Missions, he began at once the raisingr of funds for the erection of a church building. A lot of 140 feet x 150 feet, on the corner of South and West streets, was pur- chased at a cost of $835.00, and the church, which is to be of brick, will cost over $3,000.00. There have been three accessions to the membership since organization. J. C. McQuiston and W. P. Clark were ordained deacons at the organization. County Line, Texas. — County Line was the name of a school house near the line of Freestone and Navarro counties, Texas. Here Rev. T. J. Bonner had preached regularly for a number of years. Rev. H. Mosely, of the Southern Presbyterian Church, also preached here occasionally. Mr. Mosely, by order of his Presbytery, organized a church at this place, Oct. 11, 1865, with 14 members. John M. McGilvary and Andrew McMillen were elected elders. It was agreed to leave it to those entering the organization to decide by vote what denom- ination the church should be. The majority voted that it should be an Associate Reformed Presbyterian congre- gation. They agreed also that it be placed temporarily SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 455 under the care of the Presbytery of Central Texas of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. By re- quest of the congregation, Rev. T. J. Bonner suppHed them regularly. The song service was confined strictly to the Scotch version of the Psalms. A comfortable house as a union church was built. It continued to be A. R. P. church under the care of the Presbytery of Cen- tral Texas until the withdrawal of those members who went into the Harmony and Richland churches at their organization in September and October, 1876. Cross Plains, Ga. — Organized 1846. Supplied by Revs. L. Turner and A. McElroy. "A vacancy situated in an important point and deserving special attention." Crowder's Creek, N. C. — Crowder's Creek church is situated in Gaston Co., N. C, and is the outgrowth of a mission Sabbath School which was conducted at Pat- terson's school house, by Mr. W. A. Grier, an elder in Pisgah congregation. An organization was effected May 28th, 1892, and the membership was made up from mem- bers of Pisgah and Bethany residing in the commun- ity. Rev. R. M. Stevenson was installed pastor for one- fourth his time, Nov. 5th, 1892, and still continues to serve them. Daltou, Murray Co., Ga. — Was organized by Rev. Thomas Turner, 1846. J. P. Love, Sr., was an active member. The whole time of Rev. W. W. Patton was sought and declined in 1847. Revs. J. S. Pressly preached in 1847; ^- E. Ellis in 1848; W. M. Sharp and J. Patrick, 1849; H. H. Robinson, 1850, and A. Ran- som in 1852. "They manifested interest in attending on the means of grace." Rev. Turner moved there in 1853, and supplied at intervals till about '62. In 1853 there were nine fam- ilies, 15 members, and they paid $50 to Domestic Mis- 456 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. sions, with meagre supplies during and demoralized by the civil war, and forsaken by their under shepherds, they ceased to exist. Diamond Hill, Anderson Co. — This church was situ- ated not far from the present site of Antreville, S. C. It was about 12 miles from Due West, and about the same distance from Generostee. The congregation here was organized Feb. 24, 1790, and was regularly sup- plied by ministers of the Second Presbytery. Rev. Robt. Irwin was settled as pastor of Generostee in the year 1804, aiid about that time became pastor for one-fourth time of Diamond Hill. On Nov. 8th, 1814, he demitted his charge for lack of support. The con- gregation of Diamond Hill does not appear to have had another pastor, but was supplied by Rev. Irwin and oth- ers. After the establishment of the college and seminary at Due West, different ministers would go up and preach, such as Dr.Hemphill, Dr. R. C. Grier and others. There is a tradition that Dr. J. I. Bonner and Dr. J. O. Lindsay were licensed at Diamond Hill. The church became ex- tinct about the year 1850. The ancestors of Rev. S. W. Haddon were members of Diamond Hill. Doraville, Ga., Church. — Was organized Aug. nth, 1836, by Rev. Thomas Turner, under the direction of the Second Presbytery. The original name was Pros- perity, but when it was removed to the town of Dora- ville, the name was changed. Rev. Turner was installed pastor in 1836, and continued as such until March, 1841. Rev. Haslet and others supplied the pulpit for eight years. Rev. A. E. Ellis was installed pastor in 1849, ^^^^ continued to serve the church in this capacity until his death in 1855. The church was then vacant for many years, J. L. McDaniel, Andrew McElroy and others preaching for them occasionally. During the war they suffered for the want of a pastor or supply, and contin- SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 457 DORAVILLE, GA. ued so even after the war. For some time after 1870, the church was regularly supplied by Rev. John McEl- roy Thev had no pastor until 1883, when Rev. C. E. Todd was installed. In 1887 Rev. Todd demitted the charge. In the same vear Rev. R. E. Patterson was m- stalled pastor and served them until 1897. The church was again vacant, but was regularly supplied by Rev. T. B. Stewart and others. In 1902. Rev. E. E. Strong, the present pastor, was ordained and installed. Two other churches. New Hope and Antioch. have been added to this pastoral charge. Due [Fcf/.— Was a preaching place and probably an or- ganized congregation before the Revolution. Dr. Thomas Clark frequentlv supplied the pulpit, but the f^rst regular pastor was Rev. Peter ^IcMullen. during the first part of whose pastorate there was a large and flourishing congre- gation. He was installed in the spring of 1794, though he had probablv served as supply several years before that, and remained pastor until Oct. 13. 1801. For the next thirty years the church was a vacancy. The second pastor, Dr. E. E. Pressly. was not born for several years after Mr. 458 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. DUE WEST, S. C. McMullen gave up the pulpit. He was installed pastor Aug. 7, 1830, over a congregation reduced by removals and defection to twenty-five (25) members. After a pas- torate of thirty (30) years, Dr. Pressly died July 26, i860. During his entire time there was uninterrupted harmony between pastor and people. For almost the whole period of his pastorate, he was also the President of the Theological Seminary, and for nine years of the time he was President of Erskine College. Dr. Pressly was succeeded by Rev. R. C. Grier, D. D., who was installed pastor Nov. 10, i860, remaining as such until his death, March 30, 1871. During the greater part of his pastorate, Dr. Grier taught in the Seminary, and was President of Erskine College. On Jan. 6, 1872, Rev. W. L. Pressly, D. D., son of Due West's second pastor was installed, but in 1889 Dr Pressly was elected by Synod President of the Theological Seminary, and in the following year he gave up the pastorate for that work. While Dr. Grier and Dr. W. E. Pressly were in charge, large numbers were gathered into the church, though SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 459 many of them went into other congregations on reaching manhood and womanhood. Rev. O. Y. Bonner succeeded Dr. Pressly as pastor and was installed June 14, 1890. The fact that the Theological Seminary, Erskine Col- lege and the Due West Female College are located in this congregation has contributed not a little to its life and progress. The Due West congregation has had five church buildings in the course of its history. The following ministers and theological students were either born or reared in whole or in part in this con- gregation : Revs. D. F. Haddon, J. O. Lindsay, D. D., W. M. Sharp, J. E. Pressly, D. D., S. A. Agnew, D. D., W. L. Pressly," D. D., A. E. Ellis, J. L. Grier, W. W. Lindsay, W. M. Grier, D. D., L. L. D., J. Y. Fair, D. D., D. B. Pressly, J. C. Galloway, D. D., F. Y. Pressly, D. D., C. S. Young, J. L. Young, J. L. Brownlee, S. W. Haddon, H. D. Lindsay, D. D., C. E. Todd, B. H. Grier, O. Y. Bonner, J. R. Edwards, R. L. Grier, R. L. Bell, J. H. Pressly, Oliver Johnson, M. T. Ellis, R. A. Lee, M. B. Grier. E. B Kennedy, T. M. Kennedy, J. L. Pressly, B. J. Gififen, J. T. Young, P. A. Pressly. This congregation has been fortunate in all its history in its officers who have had a large part in the successful work of this church. The present officers are : Elders, R. S. Galloway, J. L McCain, J. L. Pressly, P. L. Grier, and J. H. Brooks; Deacons, A. R. Ellis, H. M. Young, A. S. Kennedy, R. C. Brownlee, W. C. Agnew, and E. L. Reid. Ehenezer, Crawford Co., Pa. — Organized May 27, 1865, by Lake U. P. Presbytery. Rev. James Burrows pastor from organization till his death, 1886. Both pas- tor and congregation formed a part of the First Ohio Presbytery and joined the A. R. Synod of the South, 46o SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Sept, 19th, 1867. Returned to U. P. Church and same Presbytery May 30th, 1881. Eheneser Cliurch, York Co., S. C. — Was situated about three miles west of the present city of Rock Hill, in the present village of Ebenezer. It was just across the road from the present Presbyterian Church by that name. It is probable that there w^as some sort of an or- ganization there in the way of an A. R. P. church during the Revolutionary War, as the Presbyterians date their organization from 1786, and the A. R. Church occupied the place first. It was made up originally of Burghers, Antiburghers, some Presbyterians, and some Covenant- ers, and was said to have been the only church in all the surrounding country. The wish to introduce the Watts Hymns by a part of the congregation caused trouble, which ended in the for- mation of a Presbyterian Church and some of the mem- bers also joined Tirzah Church. Dr. Thos. Clark preached there some time as stated supply. Rev. William Blackstocks was installed May 8th, 1794, in connection with Neely's Creek, and demitted his charge in 1804. The records also show that he was again pastor from 181 1 until July 12th, 1815. On April 3rd, 1820, Rev. Eleazer Harris was appointed stated supply at Neely's Creek and Ebenezer, and must have contin- ued to supply, the church for a good many years. Mr. Harris conducted a very successful High School at Ebenezer, which was largely patronized. This church appears on the minutes in 1822, as having twenty families and thirty-two members, and the record says it was disorganized about 1828. Ebenezer, Tippah Co., Miss. — Is located near the pres- ent site of Cotton Plant. The first settlers of this faith were Andrew Jones and family and William McBrvde, SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 461 who came from Lebanon, Wilcox Co., Ala., in 1838. In 1839, Rev. John Wilson of the Tennessee Presbytery- preached for them one week-day — the first sermon by an Associate Reformed minister in this country. In 1840, Rev. S. S. Ralston preached a week-day, the only sermon that year. Revs. Joseph McCreary and N. M. Gordon spent each a Sabbath with them in 1841, and the follow- year. Revs. S. S. Ralston, J. M. Young and D. Pressly preached for them one Sabbath each. Dec, 1839, Major Robert McBryde and family had arrived from Wilcox Co., Ala., — a man of devoted piety. He set to work to build up the church of his fathers in the neighborhood. On July 1 6th, 1842, a church was organized composed of 12 members. Major McBryde and Andrew Jones were elected Elders. The organization took place at a log school house near the present site, and Rev. John Wilson officiated. About this time a Sabbath-school was organ- ized by Major McBryde. x-\fter the organization in the following May, Rev. J. M. Young dispensed the Lord's Supper to them. A like service was held in August of that year by Rev. David Pressly. During 1845 and 1846 they were occasionallv supplied by Revs. D. P. Robinson, S. P. Davis, J. A. Sloan, J. P. Weed, Rev. Robinson coming in May, 1846, as stated supply. Rev. T. J. Bonner preached for them three Sabbaths in 1847, ^^^ Rev. Davis came as stated supply in May. In 1847, Rev. J. A. Sloan moderated a call for Rev. Davis and he was installed in September of that year. Shiloh, Lafayette Co., united with Ebenezer in this call, and Rev. Davis gave half time to the two churches. In 1848 the first church building w^as erected, the con- gregation up to this time having used a log school house During the next two years recruits settled in the con- gregation from Generostee, S. C, and Lebanon, Ala. In the spring of 1850, the pastoral rel-ation between Rev. Davis and his charge was dissolved by mutual con- sent. They were supplied for a time by Revs. A. F. 462 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Quay and H. H. Robison, and Rev. H. L. Murphy, of the Second Presbytery. Synod returned Mr. Robison here for the year 1 850-1 851. A call was made out for him, May 17, 1851, and the installation consummated July 24, 1852, Rev. J. L. Young officiating. This pastor- ate continued for 29 years, until his death. May 19, 1881. "For about ten years," says Bro. Robison, in his sketch of the church, "the congregation was blessed by a steady increase of their number," During 1852-1853, the second house of worship was erected, the former having become too small. This house was used by the Memphis Presbytery at its organization April 15, 1853, "at which time it was virtually dedicated by Rev. John Wilson in an appropriate sermon, 133 Psalm, Vs. I." In August, 1854, Rev. J. L. Young conducted revival services, resulting in the addition of 20 members. The congregation having now largely increased, more than one half time was desired, and this being also true of Shiloh, Rev. Robison demitted Shiloh in the fall of 1856, devoting his whole time to Ebenezer. During the winter of 1856-1857, Mr. Robison was laid aside on account of sickness, and his pulpit supplied by Rev. J. L. McDaniel of the Georgia Presbytery. A few years later the War came on, and the congrega- tion lost 20 men in full communion who died in battle or in hospital. But after peace, in the next 18 months 50 persons identified with the church. The growth was grad- ual and continued up to the untimely death of Bro. Robison. In July, 1 88 1, Rev. D. W. Wiseman began supplying the congregation and on the 12th of November was called and accepted, but owing to his death on December 22, 1881, he was never installed. During the year 1882 Revs. Agnew, David Pressly, T. P. Pressly and H. Rabb preached occasionally, and on Nov. 11 of this year Rev. W. H. Millcn began stated labors. The following year SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 463 he was called and installed August 11, 1883. This rela- tion continued until April 23, 1892, when he demitted to accept calls from Ebenezer and Hinkston, Ky. During the following summer, Rev. J. W. Baird preached for them, and was called, and on Dec. 3, 1892, was or- dained and installed. This relation was continued until January ist, 1903, when he demitted, that he might take work assigned by Synod, at Covington, Tenn. Ebene::er. — In Lincoln Co., Ark., was organized at Layelle Institute by Revs. John Wilson and J. P. Marion, in the fall of 1869. Seventeen members were enrolled. Most of them were members of the church in Monticello. A. J. Boyd and John Nelson were elected elders. Mr. Boyd and family had recently moved from Hopewell, Chester Co., S. C. Mr. Nelson, originally from Chester Co., S. C, also, had been connected with Mt. Zion while it was an A. R. P. church. Their first house of worship, a small box house without ceiling, was built in 1872. Ten years later a neat frame building was erected on the same site, at a cost of about $600. Rev. J. P. Marion contin- ued to supply them until the end of 1870. The next ten years Rev. John Wilson preached to them once a month, except a few months in 1874 and 5, when Rev. J. S. A. Hunter supplied them. Rev. W. L. Patterson supplied them, '82 to '84. They had only occasional supplies until Rev. J. P. Erwin began his labors among them, Nov., 1885. Pie was installed pastor for half time, Feb. 19, 1887. The church had then 27 members. A. J. Boyd, John Nelson and John C. Knox constituted the session. During this pastorate the church had a healthy growth, increasing in numbers and activity. But about the year 1891 it began to suffer heavily by removals. It has con- tinued to suffer from this cause. On account of failing health, Mr. Erwin resigned his pastoral charge and the relation was dissolved in Nov., 1892. Rev. J. A. Myers supplied them in 1893. Rev. J. L. Young was installed 464 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. pastor for one-fourth time, June 20, 1896. The church had then 34 members, and John Nelson, J. C. Knox, J. C. Boyd and J. F. Hunter composed the session. Ehenezer. — In the neighborhood of County Line, was organized in 1880 by Rev. W. L. Patterson. It was formed out of one wing of Harmony. A subscription was taken up for a building. But the house was never erected, and in 1882 the church was disorganized, and the members returned to Harmony. EBENEZER, GA. Ebene::er, Ga. — There is no record to show when Eb- enezer was organized. It was probably about 1770. It may have been much later. It was first known as Fleet- ing's meeting house, afterwards as Big Creek. So far as the records show, there never was a time when Ebenezer and Bethel were not of the same denomination. There is some tradition, however, going to show that they at one time belonged to different branches of the psalm singing churches. One was Burgher, the other Anti-Burgher. The history of the two churches since David Bothwell's time has been identical. And if you read the history of Bethel church, you have the history of Ebenezer up to SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 465 1874. At that time Dr. Phillips demitted all of his pas- toral charge except Ebenezer. He continued to be the pastor of this church until December, 1892, when, on account of the infirmities of age, he resigned the pastor- ate, after having served this church for forty-four years. In 1848, the Elders were William Little, I\I. G. Scruggs and W. D. Stone. At this time, 1903, James A. Flem- ming, J. H. Cain, A. S. Patterson. This church in recent vcars has suffered greatly from death and emigration, and by removals to near by towns. A short time before the resignation of Dr. Phillips, Wrens began to be a prosperous village, and a number of Ebenezer people had built homes there. July 22, 1893, Rev. J. S. Grier was installed pastor. It was during his pastorate that they began to have regular preaching at Wrens. He also preached at Ocalla, and other points in the congregation. A parsonage was built at Ebenezer, and a church at Wrens. He resigned in April, 1896. Rev. S. W. Reid was installed May 8th, 1897. But after a short pastorate, he resigned to accept work at Louisville, Ky. He demitted in Sept., 1898. Rev. J. A. Smith was called to this church in 1899, and installed Dec. 7, 1899. He demitted, Dec. 22, 1901, the charge to accept work in Russellville. Ark. Rev. R. E. Hough was installed pastor in 1902, and is still serving in that capacity. The Wrens Branch of this charge was organized by the election of the following officers : ^^^ J. Wren, C. J. Flemming, J. A. Stone, Elders ; J. E. Flemming, Aurtrey, Deacons. They have a good church building, a handsome parson- age, and the outlook is in every way encouraging. Ehcnczcr, Mecklenburg Co., X. C. — Was organized about January, 1870, with 49 members, principally from those living in the western wing of Sardis. The first building was erected in a beautiful grove, 1869. Rev. 30 466 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. EBENEZER, N. C. John Hunter was instrumental in organizing this mis- sion and supphed them till Dec, 1875. Prominent in this organization and erection of the church were A. H., J. W., and Capt. J. E. Griffith, C. E. Bell, J. R., J. M., and J. Watt Kirkpatrick, Dr. H. K. DeArmond and R. H. Abernethy. The first elders were A. H. Griffith, J. W. Griffith, J. R. Kirkpatrick and John Moore Kirkpatrick. Rev. G. R. White, D. D., was called in 1875, began la- bors Jan. I, 1876, and was installed Oct. 29 following, and continues to hold the affections of a grateful people. The following constitute the present session : J. C. Bell, J. H. Bigham, J. Watt Kirkpatrick, John H. Griffith, B. N. Griffith, and the venerable J. W. Griffith, a charter elder. F. O. Bell was ruling elder, but answered the higher summons among the four and twenty elders. Prominent in erecting the $2,000.00 building in 1899 were J. Watt Kirkpatrick, F. O. Bell, J. H. Griffith, J. H. Bigham. J. Walker Griffith, J. E. Weaver, J. B. Clan- ton, B. N. Griffith, etc. Special mention is made of the moral support, activity and lil)cralit}- of the ladies. Though beginning a feeble mission she has never asked help of Synod's fund, has paid liberally to all causes, SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. 467 carried her own burdens, and built two churches. Help- ing does not always help. Besides this, she has given four loyal sons to the ministry, E. F. and A. H. Griffith, A. G. Kirkpatrick and J. S. drier. EBEXEZEK, VA. Ehcnczcr, Rockbridge Co., Va. — Dates back to 1790, the first deed of one acre, costing 83^ cents, was made by Andrew Kinnear to Isaac Lawson, Jas. Harper and Lawrence Mealy, Trustees for House Mountain Meet- ing House, April 5th, 1796. Rev. David Summerville, a Scotchman, was pioneer from 1790 to 1793, the date of his death in Rockbridge. Rev. John Cree, of Perth, Scotland, became pastor here in 1796, and remained till 1803. Obtaining supplies from the Associate Synod, Dr. Andrew Heron was or- dained and installed April i, 18 15. James Lindsay, John McKenny. Thomas Lecky, Wm. Gilmore, Wm. McCamp- bell and Thomas Harper were his Aarons and LIurs, while James Lecky, Wm. Wilson and Wm. McCampbell were ordained deacons May 5th, 1815. About this time the old log church was either out of repair or abandoned and the congregation used Old Monmouth Presbyterian church for about ten vears. The name Ebenezer was given 468 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. in 1825, at which time it is inferred the brick church was built. Andrew Harper was, Aug. 19, 1825, ordained ruHng elder, and Thomas Wilson, deacon. Dr. Heron demitted Aug. i, 1832. Dr. H. Thompson was ordained and installed pastor March, 1834. By union with the First Presbytery, this church, April 16, 1844, first came into connection with the A. R. P. Synod South. The session was re-enforced, Oct. 28th. 1843, t>y the addition of Thomas Lecky, Moses McCown, and Jas. F. Harper. The latter filled many positions of trust in church and State, and died Aug. 19th, i860. Dr. Thompson re- signed, that another pastor might be introduced, Nov. i, 1846. His fatherly care held the fort till the eloquent and magnetic W. M. McElwee came, about May i, 1848, and was ordained and installed, "with flattering pros- pects of usefulness" July 26, 1850. John Anderson, Wm. P. Nelson and John McKemy were ordained ruling el- ders, June loth, 1853. The Virginia Presbytery was or- ganized here May 8th, 1854. Bethel, a mission, was built, 1859, and dedicated Jan. 15th, i860. It was never organized, but received a part of the labors of the Ebenezer pastor. On the 9th of Sept., 1859, xA.ndrew H. Lecky, Jas. G. Dixon, Wm. A. McKemy and Col. Robert H. Brown were set apart as elders. April 17, 1868, Dr. McElwee resigned the pastorate, and was succeeded by Rev. J. L. Hemphill. Rev. J. L. Hemphill began labors here May, 1868, and was ordained and installed May 14, 1870, and ceased his labors about Nov. 18, 1877. Revs. W. A. Wilson was stated supply from Sept., 1877, to Sept., 1878; H. R. ^TcAulay, Oct. 26, 1879. to Sept., 1880; S. W. Haddon, Nov. 14, 1880 to Feb. 10, 1881 ; R. M. Stevenson, Feb. 20, 1 88 1 to April 19th, 1884, when he became pastor, re- signing April 17, 1886. C. W. Kirkpatrick and Robert A. McKemy were ordained elders and W. Harvey Dixon and Finley Brown deacons, Sept. 12, 1884. Revs. E. E. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 469 Pressly, O. Y. Bonner and T. W. Sloan served from July 25, 1886, to Sept., 1888. After a protracted destitution. Rev. J. P. Knox came, April. 1890. from Allegheny Seminary, and labored enthusiastically till Oct. i8th, 1891. Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco began stated labors Dec. 1891. and remained till May, 1893. Rev. E. F. Griffith was ordained and installed July 25, 1893, and demitted Nov. i8th, 1896. Harvey Dixon ordained July 4, 1891, and Jas. G. Dixon constitute the session. Rev. D. P. Neill began labors first Sabbath. July, 1897, and was in- stalled July I, 1898, and remains pastor. Ebenezer has furnished one minister. Rev. Lewis Hick- man, of Arkansas, and wives for Dr. W. M. McElwee, Dr. J. C. Galloway, Revs. Monroe (Dates, J. L. Hemphill, J. R. McCormick, J. B. Hood and E. F. Griffith The lot and manse, which cost about $1,215.00, is a credit to the liberality .of this people It was begun in June, 1889, and completed in June, 1892. The present new and beautiful church, costing about $2,000.00, was dedicated Aug. 21st, 1902. It represents not only money, but much toil and patience. EBENEZER, KV. Ebenezer, Jessamine Co.. Ky. — Organized by Second Presbvterv of Pennsylvania and transferred to A. R. 470 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. Presbytery of Kentucky upon its organization Feb. ii, 1 80 1. Revs. John Steele and Adam Rankin preached there in 1802. In 1803 the congregation made out a call for Rev. Robt. H. Bishop, which he was willing to ac- cept, but the Presbytery refused to permit it, as he was Professor in the Transylvania University in Lexington, about 20 miles distant. He appealed to the General Synod, which, in 1807, sustained him, and ordered the Presbytery to install him. This was done Sept. 28th, 1808. The relation was dissolved Oct. 27th, 1814. It was supplied by members of Presbytery, viz., A. Craig, D. Reck, W. H. Rainey, John Steele, and perhaps others for several years. In 1830 it was supplied by Rev. James Walker in connection with New Hope. In 1833 was visited by Rev. Andrew Bower, who was followed by others up to 1840, when the congregation transferred its membership from the Synod of the West to the Synod of the South. Rev. N. M. Gordon began preaching here Dec. 5th, 1841, under appointment of the Synod of the South and was installed as pastor May 13th, 1843. The church prospered under his ministry, which continued until Oct. 13th, 1870. During his pastorate the wdiole number enrolled upon the church book was 185. The record shows 60 deaths, besides some removals, and also a num- ber of colored servants included in the membership. The membership was about 80 at this time. In 1870 he, with a majority of the congregation, changed his connection to the Southern Presbyterian Church. Rev. W. R. Hemphill, D. D., began preaching to those who remained in the A. R. P. Church on the 19th Dec, 1870. On Saturday before the first Sabbath of June, 1871. he reorganized the church with 20 members, with James Rennick, W. L. Guyn and R. N. Guyn as elders. Dr. Hemphill served them two years. He was followed by Revs. J C. Galloway, G. R. White, J. S. A. Hunter, J. S. Mills and perhaps others until 1881. Rev. W. O. Coch- SKETCHES OP CONGREGATIONS. 471 ran was installed pastor in September, 1881, and con- tinued until September, 1884. The church was sup- plied by the Board of Missions until 1892 — Rev. R. Y. Mills preaching here three years, 1885, 6, and 7. Oct. I St, 1892, Rev. W. H. Millen was installed pastor, which relation continued until June 15th, 1896. The church grew under his ministry, but never reached its former strength. It has since subsisted on the supply system un- der the control of the Board, but no one has remained long. The supply at present is Rev. C. S. Young, who began his work in Jan., 1901. The first church building was built of stone in Jessa- mine Co., about two miles from the present location. The present building is in Woodford Co. It is a hand- some brick building costing besides the lot and some material and work donated, about $2,000. It was built during the pastorate of Rev. W. O. Cochran and com- pleted Sept. 14, 1883. In a meeting held by Rev. R. Y. Mills in 1886, 13 members were added to the church. The session at present is composed of J. R. Guyn, T. D. Black, Geo. Jewell and W. L. Guyn, and Wm. Black and Ed. Haydon, deacons. The congregation entertained Synod in its annual ses- sion in 1844. The active membership is small at present, about 34 names. The church has always paid its ministers in full and generally paid the Assessments in full to Home and Foreign Missions. For several years, from 1892, it maintained an active Young Peoples' Society. At present it has a Ladies' Aid Society and a Sunday School. Ehcnezer, Loitrciis Co., S. C, organized by Rev. D. F. Haddon, Aug. 30, 1850, consisting of 5 members. 472 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. EDGE MOOR, S. C. Edgmoor, S. C. — The congregation of Edgmoor, Ches- ter Co., S. C, was organized by Rev. J. S. Moffatt by order of the First Presbytery, April 13th, 1889. It is situated midway between Union and Neely's Creek, and was made up in part by members of these churches. Its first pastor was Rev. W. C. Ewarts, who was ordained and installed in July, 1892. Mr. Ewarts continued pas- tor until the spring of 1896. Rev. E. F. Griffith was installed in Dec, 1896, and continued pastor until Dec, 1898. Rev. L. T. Pressly was installed Nov. 28th, 1899, and is pastor at the present time. The first church building was destroyed by a cyclone just as it was nearing completion. With the aid of friends all over the Synod, the congre- gation erected the present building- in 1890. The field of this congregation is limited, but it is steadily growing. Eighteen Mile Creek, Ga.. organized before 1789. Eiw, Gostoii Co., A\ C, with New Ho])c and Goshen, having official existence before 1790. formed a group in southeast Gaston Co. From Eno and New Hope in N. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 473 C. went. Oct. 28th, 1774, to the Associate Presbytery of Pa., a petition "craving supply." See New Hope. Elk Shoal, Alexander Co.. X. C. Aug. 22, 1836, David Alexander, an elder in Stirling, and Warren Pendergrass made a deed for a burying ground on which a church could be erected for all except Roman Catholics. A wall was built around the cemetery, a church begun but rotted, and another so far completed as to be used. Rev. W. R. Pressly organized it in 1875 with Leander Quinton and E. M. Alexander and Henry McLain elders. This being a union church not centrally located, soon after the installation of Rev. W. 'SI. Hunter, Sept. 20, 1878, the prevailing opinion was to go up to the mountain and get wood and build my house. It was first used at a meeting, beginning June 4, 1880. at which part of seven families were received and all the children of two families baptized. The name Elk Shoal was given in 1881. The house was completed Sept.. 1883. when the First Presbytery was entertained. Rev. W. B. Pressly was supply from '75 to '78. Rev. \\'. ^I. Hunter pas- tor Sept. 20. 1878 to Oct. 2. 1888. Revs. \V. C. Ewart, E. E. Pressly, E. B. Anderson supplied till Sept 17, 1893, the latter became pastor, resigning April 5, 1898. Rev. \V. Y. Love was installed Xov. 19. 1901. Leander, E. M.. Quinton and Baxter Alexander. J. W. Sherril. C. L. Drum and Franklin Johnson and Mrs. J. T. Hedrick were largely instrumental in founding Elk Shoals. Elk Valley, Eincoln Co., Tenn., was organized by Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery in 1895 by a consoli- dation of Xew Hope and Bethel. It is located on the Fayetteville road near the Elk River. A church building was erected in 1895. ^^y- I- ^^- Kennedy was ordained and installed pastor Xov. 10. 1895. and continues to labor there. 474 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Fairz'iew Church was organized about 1893 as a re- sult of work done in a destitute section of Henry County, Georgia. Rev. Bell preached at first in a school house, afterward under a brush arbor. A protracted meeting was held in the summer of 1894 and a number of persons made a profession of faith. A Sabbath School was or- ganized and steps were taken to erect a building, and the congregation was enrolled by the Second Presbytery. Rev. S. P. Davis moderated a call which was made out for Rev. R. L. Bell and by him accepted, and he was installed Dec. i8th, 1894. This relation continued until Sept. 1st, 1900, when the pastor resigned. In the mean time the church building had been completed, and the membership was sixty-eight. In Dec, 1900, Rev. L. I. Echols began to supply this church. They called him, asking for one-fourth of his time, and he was installed Jan. loth, 1902. Flcmiiigsbiirg Church, Ky., was probably organized by the Second A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania and came into the Kentucky Presbytery at its organization, Feb. nth, 1801. It was ministered to by Rev. John Steele in connection with Shiloh and Hinkston from 1800 up to 18 1 7. The next pastor was Rev. Hugh Mayne, from May 17th, 1826 to 1838. Sept. 5, 1845, it was received into the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky from the A. R. Pres- bytery of Chillicothe, Second Synod of the West. It was then served by Rev. G. Gordon in connection with Olivet, and it also received preaching from various min- isters serving A. R. P. churches in Central Kentucky. The work did not prosper, and was abandoned, Presby- tery appointed a committee to dispose of the property. The last report which was adopted, was submitted May 19th, 1888 by R. A. Thompson, J. T. Marshall and James Boyce. It was in effect that the property was very much depreciated, and worth only about $300.00, SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 475 conditions in the deed and heirs numerous, and law suits likely to be expensive. The report was adopted and Com. discharged and case dropped. French Broad, Biiiicoinbe Co., A'. C, was organized by the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas before 1819. Supplied by travelling Associate ^Missionaries and passed from the roll about 1822. Forks of the James was situated about one and a half miles northeast of Natural Bridge, \"a. It was built pos- sibly during the Revolution, constructed of hewn logs, with 12 corners, a pulpit in one end, a fire place in the side and the door was of pine, paneled, and long preserved after the church passed away. Henry Miller emigrated from Londonderry, Ireland, 1745, where his ancestors had shown much valor in the notable siege of London- derrw The Montgomeries, probably Lackeys and Leeches, came also from North Ireland. Henry Miller was largely instrumental in building this church on his own land. William Gilmore and Samuel Snodgrass were elders. Other worshipers and members, Jas. White- man, Billy Ramsey, John Crawford, the Paxtons, and Irwin. Rev. Wm. Baldridge, a North Carolinian, was ordained and installed pastor Aug., 1793, as also a church across the James River in Bottolout Co. The church was prosperous and thronged with worshippers far and near till a tide of emigration set in about 1800 to the cheap and fertile lands of Ohio. The pastor resigned Oct. 18. 1803, but continued as stated supply in connec- tion with Timber Ridge. (A. R.). till the summer of 1809. At this date with a large part of his flock he rejoined those who had preceded to the rich Ohio Valley. The remnant lived on occasional supplies and reappeared in Broad Creek 1824. The old graveyard marks the spot, with the Blue Ridge a grand background. Henry Alil- ler's remains lie there — born 1726, died 1798. 476 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. Frisco is a few miles north of Paris, Texas. Rev. E. E. Patterson opened a mission here and in 1891 organized a church with nine members. W. J. Sanderson and Samuel Pain w^ere ordained elders. A house was built in 1893 at a cost of $1,140.00. A few days after the house was received from the contractor a wind storm moved it from its foundation and otherwise damaged it. Soon after these damages were repaired it was visited by a second, and a week later by a third storm. These were not as severe as the first. It was supplied by Rev. L. L Echols in 1896 and Rev. J. H. Simpson in 1897 one- fourth time. In 1898 Frisco became a portion of Rev. T. W. Hayes' charge, taking one fourth of his time. On account of frequent removals its growth has been slow. Gastonia, N. C. — This church was inaugurated and organized by Rev. E. E. Boyce. For several years prior to this preaching was held in the Old White Church in West Gastonia. In 1886 a lot was bought for $145.00 and a house erected at a cost of $1,200.00. and this has been improved and beautified by the additional expendi- ture of $700.00. The house was dedicated in March, 1887, by Rev. C. E. McDonald. The congregation was organized in 1887. Dr. Boyce was never formally in- stalled as pastor. Messrs. Thomas Hanna, Dixon Hanna. Thomas Wilson, Lawson Jenkins, J. H. B. Jenkins, W. W. Boyce, J. T. Bigham and G. M. Neill were the first elders, and Thos. W. Wilson, Dr. W. H. Wilson, Thomas Pearson, Miles Hanna and J. P. Reid were the first Deacons. In Oct., 1893, Dr. Boyce felt constrained through the infirmities of age to demit the pastorate. Rev. J. C. Gal- loway was immediately called for one half time, and began work on the 4th Sabbath of December, 1893. This arrangement was continued until January, 1901, when he was called for the whole time, and this arrange- ment still continues. SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. 477 Since the organization Mr. M. H. Dwyer has served as elder and F. AI. Gallant as deacon. The present bench of elders consists of Messrs. Dixon Hanna, A. F. White- sides. J. T. McDill, S. T. Wilson and R. W. Carson. The following are the board of deacons : Thomas Rearson, J. F. McArver, J. P. Reid, S. N. Boyce and A. M. Whitesides. The church is well organized and has all the auxiliary societies. Geo. W. Hanna, a member of the congregation, is a student in the Seminary. The congregation has a neat and tasteful house of worship centrally located and a membership of 105. Gcitcrostcc. — This church is situated in Anderson Co., S. C, seventeen miles south of the city of Anderson. Like many other churches it gets its name from a stream that flows near by. As no records seem to have been kept little is known of its early history. The first house was built of logs a mile and ^ half west of the present location. The second also of logs — date of erection in either case vmknown. The third — a large frame building — was put up in 1828. The present building, a small, neat frame building, was erected in 1897. Rev. Robert Irwin was the first pastor. He was installed some time in the year 1800. His pastorate continued until his death, which occurred in 1823. Mr. Irwin owned a good farm of ])erhaps 250 acres. As he had no children he left this (on the death of his wife) as a home for pas- tors who should succeed him. After the death of Mr. Irwin the church was vacant imtil 1830, when Rev. E. E. Pressly was installed pastor of this church in connection with Due West, and labored here until 1838, when he was called to Due West for all his time. In 1840 Rev. J. C. Chalmers settled over this congregation and the relation continued until 1856. This was the most jirosperous ]>erio(l in the history of this contrregation. On everv Sabbath the house was 478 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. filled with devout worshippers — many of them coming on foot or horseback eight and even ten miles. The spirit of emigration, however, entered the congregation, and the removals were numerous — some going to Georgia, others to Mississippi and other places. In this way the ranks of this congregation were so thinned that the pas- tor was discouraged and sought and secured a dissolu- tion. In 1862 Rev. W. L. Pressly was sent as a supply. In 1863 he was called and installed and remained until 1871, when he was called to Due West. In 1873 Rev. R. F. Bradley was settled as pastor and remained until 1883. Rev. Calvin Pressly was pastor from 1884 until 1894. The congregation was then without a pastor until 1897, when Rev. J. V. Black was called and installed. Mr. Black was released at the fall meeting of Presbytery at Troy, S. C, 1903. x\t this writing, Dec, 1903, the con- gregation is vacant. Two other congregations, viz., Grove and Iva. have been organized out of this one. This, together with re- movals, has very much weakened it. Names of some of the families that have passed away : Boyds, Carlisles, Gordons, McDonald, Leslie, Robinson, Henderson, Wylie, Pressly, Lusk. McGill, Buchanan. This congregation has furnished the following minis- ters to the church : Revs. John S. Pressly, Laughlin McDonald, James L. Young, John N. Young, L. L. D., G. G. Gordon, N. M. Gordon, Thomas Turner, Wm. Turner, Alex. Ranson, D. D., E. E. Pressly, Jr. Little is now known of Gilder's Creek, Laurens County, S. C. The proceedings of the Presbytery of the Caro- linas, and Georgia contains a few, and only a few, facts in regard to this church. On March 10, 1812, Gilder's Creek united with W^arrior's Creek in petitioning for a part of Mr. Renwick's time, but two years later. March I, 1814, Mr. Renwick withdrew from his connection with SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 479 Gilder's Creek. This vacancy, together with Warren's Creek, was reported to Synod in 1 816 as being in a weak condition. There seems to have been some difference of opinion among the members on the question of Chris- tian communion, and this difference of opinion probably led to disorganization, some of the members going to other churches and other communions. Gilder's Creek, Nezvberry, S. C. — This church is the probable successor of Indian Creek, which was a Pres- byterian Church in Xewberry County, S. C. Rev. John Ren wick, Jr., was the first and only pastor so far as we have been able to learn. The original site of the church was quite near the stream after which it was named and a mile and a half from Indian Creek. Rev. John Ren- wdck, Jr., settled here as pastor about the year 1809, he also served Warrior Creek (Bethel) in Laurens at the same time. He was pastor five years, and for a number of years before his death was supeannuated. He died in 1836. The church seems to have gone into the Presby- terian Church sometime before the year 1820, for about this date Rev. John Kennedy of the Presbyterian body was its pastor. Just how the church came to leave the Associate Reformed Presbytery we do not know. Gilcad, Mecklenburg Co., N. C. — About 1765 Alexan- der Baldridge, his wife and son \Vm., wdio afterward became a distinguished minister, came from Lancaster Co., Pa., and settled mi Lincoln Co., N. C, not far fron- Cowan's Ford. A petition from Catawba River in Meck- lenburg Co., N. C, for supply of sermon went up to the Presbytery of Pennsylvania April 13th, 1764. Doubtless they were visited by Dr. Thomas Clark, Dr. John Rod- gers, Revs. James Martin, Andrew Patton. before, and Rev. John Jamieson after the Revolution in the winter of 1783 and 1784. ]\Iay 16, 1787, a call, which he de- clined, was presented to Rev. John Jamieson from Hope- 48o SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. "1 k •i t^^m I^^^^^^^Hh H: f iitflliRI RHHR^^IH wM 2~ i 1m 1 1 > ' '*" " 5 ^ GILEAD, N. C. well in X. C. in connection with Coddle Creek. This was either the present Hopewell Presbyterian Chnrch called Catawba River, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, or more probably the supporters of an inspired Psalmody who afterwards formed Gilead. Here in 1787 possibly marks the organization of this church. There is an old graveyard one mile northwest of Gilead existing as far back as 1753. "Many worthy characters, soldiers and godly church members found their last resting place here." This was used awhile as a preaching place. At that early day forts or stockades were built on van- tage ground. Thither the inhabitants could flee when the treacherous Indian approached. The present situation of Gilead was once such a fort. In the autumn of 1788 Rev. John Boyse was licensed and doubtless began his labors here soon afterward and was ordained and in- stalled pastor July i, I78(;. After a ministry of less than five years he died of consumption March 18, 1793. The earliest deed was made April 19, 1791, by Sam Blythe to Alexander P)aldridge, Wm. Henderson, David Smith, Hugh Lucas and others for two and a half acres. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 481 being a part of tract patented to Wm. Price 1755. Rev. James McKnight reached here early in 1795, probably, and served and being ordained Sept., 1796, was next year installed. Sept. 28, 1804, another deed of one acre was made by Wm. Conner to David Wilson and Michael Baldridge for Gilead congregation of the Reformed Synod. About this time a part of the congregation joined the newly formed Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas and was supplied by them. They most probably used the same building. The death of Rev Jas. McKnight Sept. 17, 1831, closed his long and continuous pastorate. Some three years afterwards both parties united and were fortunate in se- curing, Aug. 20, 1834, the pastoral services of Rev. John G. Witherspoon of the A. R. P. Church. His resignation, Sept. 23, 1840, opened the way for the pastorate of the enthusiastic and magnetic John Hunter, July 24, 1844 to April 14, 1851, and Rev. R. F. Taylor from Oct. 19, 1851, to April 20, 1857. A minister, wife and two children reached here in Oct., 1857, "^ ^ two horse carriage via Old Providence, Va. This is the great, good and patient Dr. A. Ranson. The installation is Dec. 11, 1857, and because of infirmity his resignation is registered Sept. 3, 1877. These were followed by Rev. D. G. Caldwell May 9, 1879 to April 6, 1885, Rev. W. Y. Love full time April, 1885, to Oct. 5, 1891. Rev. W. M. Hunter stated supply Feb. 15, 1892, to May 26, 1893, pastor from thence till Dec. II, 1898. Rev. E. F. Griffith, S. S., from Jan. to Oct., 1899. Rev. J. M. Bigham was ordained May 8, 1900, and became pastor Nov. 27, and so remains. The first building was of logs, afterwards weather-boarded and ceiled, standing between the present structure and the road. In 1882 a substantial and elegant brick church was erected at a cost of $2,000. Dr. J. B. Alexander, a Presbyterian, who practiced medicine among them for 30 years, says : "They were 31 482 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. the best people I ever knew," and also adds : "The first elders were Wm. Henderson, David Smith and Hugh Lucas. Later Patrick Johnson, Wm. Beard and Gilbreath McKnight. Still later Jas. Blakely, White Morrow, Ewart Bell, John Bell, Sr., and John Price, Jr." More recently Green Barnett, Benjamin Brown, Jesse N. Whit- low, Dixon Ewart, D. H. Fidler, Alex. Gibson and Sam- uel Black were elders." Present session is E. A. Mc- Aulay, Eli Alexander, J. E. M. Beard, W. T. Cashion, J. T. Cashion, W. A. Alexander and M. B. Alexander. Deacons are J. B. Alexander, J. A. Goodrum and Henry Eidler. A very efficient school of three teachers and 100 pupils in a commodious building near by is conducted by Prof. W. C. Crosby. Rev. J. A. Myers was reared in this church. Gill's Creek, in Lancaster Co., S. C, was organized by the Eirst Presbytery in 1859. It is thought that the first man who preached there was the Rev. Leroy Grier, who supplied the church for awhile. Rev. J. H. Peoples also preached there for a time when he was a young man. Rev. D. P. Robinson was the first pastor, and he was suc- ceeded by Rev. E. E. Pressly, who was installed in 1871, and continued for a number of years. Rev. R. Y. Mills succeeded Mr. Pressly in Nov., 1888, and was pastor until his death in March, 1889. Rev. H. B. Blakely was the next pastor, being installed in 1890. and continuing pastor until about 1805. Rev. J. L Oates was installed in Nov., 1897, and continued until 1900. Rev. J. Meek White was installed in .\pril, 1901, and still continues pastor at this time. In recent years Gill's Creek has been very much depleted in mem- bership, a number of its members having gone into the church at Lancaster and Pleasant Hill. Goshen, Gaston Co., N. C, an Associate congregation in the Revolutionary period, a short distance south of SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 483 Lincolnton, associated with, and receiving the same sup- pHes as New Hope. (See New Hope.) Had an organi- zation before 1790. Grove. — This churcli is an off-shoot of Generostee. It was organized to accommodate some of the members of that clnirch who were too far away to attend conveni- ently. It is situated about four miles northwest of Generostee. Rev. R. F. Bradley, while pastor of Gene- rostee. began preaching in a grove near the present site. In a short while a temporary building was erected. An organization was not effected until 1879, during the pas- torate of Rev. Calvin Pressly. In 1892 the present house was built. In 1897 or '98 Dr. Orr held a meeting at this church, at which there were numerous additions to the mem- bership. At present, however, the membership is very small. Rev. A. L. Patterson is their present supply. Hanging Rock, Lancaster Co., S. C. — Hanging Rock in Lancaster Co., S. C, appears in the minutes of the General Synod in 1806 and 1807, and nothing more can be learned of it. It was probably at or near a place of that name where a battle was fought in the Revolutionary War. Hardin, Tex. — 1 lardin is a sparsely settled section in the pine region of southeast Texas. In this county josie Jones and Capt. A. B. Mitchell from Covington Co., Ala., lo- cated about the year 1858 with their families. Rev. T. J. Bonner visited them a few times and preached for them a short while. Rev. W. L. Patterson came to them early in 1874 and preached a few months. Rev. J. L. Young s])ent some months with them in 1875. In the summer of that year Rev. W. L. Patterson organized a church with T2 or 15 members in a dilapidated union church building in I lardin. Josie Jones and .\. P.. Mit- 484 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. chell were chosen elders. This was the first church or- ganized in the State of Texas in connection with the As- sociate Reformed Synod. It was not in the bounds of any Presbytery. The congregation never built a house of worship. Being remote from any other A. R. P. church the Hardin church never enjoyed the advantages of regular ordinances long at a time. They received some supplies every year until 1891. The members be- gan to move away and the work was then abandoned. Harmony, Tex. — Harmony, in Freestone Co., was for many years one of Rev. T. J. Bonner's places of preaching. He and Rev. W.L. Patterson organized a church here Oct. 7, 1876. It was composed largely of the Bonners, Robin- sons, McCreary and others originally from Alabama. The people of the community had erected a neat house to be used by dififerent denominations on different days. This house is used by the Harmony people. Rev. T. J. Bonner supplied them one-fourth time until the fall of 1878. Rev. W. L. Patterson till Dec, '79, Rev. W. H. Millen half time till Oct., '82, Rev. David Pressly in '83 and '84. Rev. W. L. Patterson returned to them in Nov., '84, and was installed pastor of Harmony and Richland in Sept., 1885, each church taking half of his time. Harmony had 37 members at that time. This was a self-supporting charge, and the first pastoral settlement formed in the Presbytery. The church prospered and this happy relation continued till Nov., '97, when failing eyesight and other afflictions caused the pastor to resign. The church had 43 members at that time. Rev. J. R. McCormick took up the work and was installed pastor April 15, 1899. Harmony has lost many members by removal to railroad towns. Harmony, Edgefield Co., S. C, organized 1840. Rev. W. W. Patton supplied one-fourth time '45 and Rev. S. P. Davis most Synodical year '45-'46. By deaths and removals it became extinct in 1848. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 485 Head Springs, Latircns Co., S. C— When this church was organized is not known. It must have been an or-, ganization, however, in 1816, for we find that Rev. Henry Bryson, D. D., was a member of this church at this early date. The first pastor was Rev. J. L. Young, installed in 1836. He demitted his charge in 1850, and removed the following year to Pontotoc County, Miss. Rev. D. F. Haddon, who had been assistant pastor to Mr. Young, became pastor in full at this time, and con- tinued to preach for Head Springs, Providence and Bethel until the close of 1892, w^hen he was released from his pastoral charge, after nearly half a century of service. Head Spring was then supplied by Rev. Robt. Lathan, D. D., for sometime, and after him by Rev. H. Rabb, the latter becoming pastor of the three Laurens churches. After Bro. Rabb's pastorate. Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco was called and settled over Head Spring and Providence in 1900. Bethel separated and decided to call a man for his whole time. The church at Head Spring is not strong, but steps are now in progress looking to a removal to the town of Cross Hill; if these should be consummated, the church would likely grow. Head Spring, Nezvberry Co., S. C— This church, now without a congregation and with no preaching, was once a prosperous organization. Its existence dates from 1824, when with King's Creek. Cannon Creek and Pros- perity, it constituted one pastoral charge. The Rev. Wm. Blackstock preached the first sermon in the build- ing, in July. 1824, the first Sabbath after the death of Rev. Charles Strong, which occurred on the 20th of the month. The subject of ]\Ir. Blackstock's lecture in the morning was the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. In the even- ing he preached from Romans 8th chap., and 33rd v., "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" Rev. Samuel P. Prcssly was pastor from 1826 to 1833. 486 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. From 1835 to 1855, Rev. Jonathan Galloway was pas- tor. He resigned on account of ill health. In the year 1858, Rev. J. C. Boyd became pastor and faithfully preached until 1890. Rev. D. G. Phillips was chosen pastor in 1890; he resigned in 1892. For a number of years the church was vacant. In 1897, Rev. J. B. Hood became pastor, resigning in 1902. The church is at this writing ( 1904) well nigh extinct, there being only one or two families living near. The rest have moved away or died. Rev. J. C. Chalmers was reared in this con- gregation, having been brought up under the ministry of Rev. Samuel P. Pressly. Head Spring, Marshall Co., Ten 11. — Was organized by the Tennessee Presbytery, but the date is not given. Dr. Henry Bryson first supplied the pulpit. The first pastor was Rev. S. S. Ralston, wdio was ordained and installed June 7th, 1839. He demitted April 2t„ 1843. It w^as vacant for two years, wdien Rev. Jno. K. Boyce was in- stalled, April 18, 1845. He demitted Sept. 30, 1848. The church was again vacant for three years. z\t a meeting of Presbytery (Tennessee) at Salem, Tenn., May 2, 1 85 1, Rev. T. W. Parkinson accepted a call from Bethel, Zion and Head Spring, and Revs. H. Bryson and A. S. Sloan were directed to install him, and the order was complied with. This relation continued until the death of Mr. Parkinson, on Sept. 6, 1857. The next pastor. Rev. A. S. Montgomery, was installed Nov. 6th, 1858. This relation was disturbed by the civil war, Mr. Montgom- ery removing North. No records of Presbytery from 1866 to 1879, and exact dates can not be given ; but the next and fifth pastor was Rev. C. S. Young, called and settled about 1872. He was released from this pastorate Oct. 19, 1883. The congregation was vacant now for several years, during which it was supplied by Revs. J. FT. Peoples, E. B. Anderson, and others. Rev. W. B. Logan was the next pastor, and was installed April, 1893. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 487 This pastorate continued for about one year when Air. Logan withdrew and connected with the United Presby- terian Church. Rev. J. M. White was installed Dec. ist, 1895, and was released in the spring of 1898. Since that date, Head Spring has been a vacancy, having only oc- casional supplies. Each of her seven pastors gave one- half time to this work. Two houses of worship have been erected, but dates are unknown. She has given one minister to the world, Rev. A. S. Montgomery. (Proba- blv Rev. A. S. Ralston was born and raised in this church.) Hebron, S. C. — Hebron is situated in York Co., S. C, and was organized by the First Presbytery in Dec, 1900. For several years previous to the organization, Rev. J. S. Grier, pastor of Sharon Church had been preaching at this point occasionally for the convenience of some of his members living in that vicinity, and the result was the organization of the church there. Rev. J. S. Grier was called as pastor, and was installed for one-fourth of his time in July, 1901, and still continues as pastor. The elders at Hebron are : J. E. Gettys, E. B. Carnes, and J. J. Gaulden. Hebron, Tipton Co., Tenn., (originally called Mt. He- bron.)— Is about midway between Salem church and Atoka, on the Illinois Central R. R., on the old Randolph road. It has the distinction of being the only congre- gation in the Synod composed exclusively of colored peo- ple. The Rev. Peter Bryson, the only living colored min- ister of the Synod, organized the church and has contin- ued as its pastor to the present time. The Presbyterial order to organize the congregation was given in the fall of 1887, and Rev. Bryson reported in May of 1888 that the order had been obeyed, but the date is not given. About 20 members composed the organization, and Louis Foster was one of the elders chosen. Thcv own the 488 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. house and lot free of debt. Rev. Bryson has done faith- ful work among his people, but there has been but small numerical growth. Of late it has been very much weak- ened by removals. But its mission in the world has not been in vain in the Lord. HARMONY, OKLA. Herman. — In Greer Co., Okla., is the outcome of a colony located by Rev. E. P. Stewart in 1890. He began ]ireaching in Pleasant Point school house that year, the first Sabbath in May, and organized with ten members, Dec. 31, 1890. James and Samuel Turner, from Beth- any, Miss., were elected elders. Rev. E. P. Stewart supplied them most of the time for eleven years At times there was much restlessness and moving among the people. But the coming of the railroad and building of the church brought a brighter day. Their first church build- ing was dedicated in Sept., 1901. Revs W. W. Orr and T. W. Hayes conducted a meeting at the time in which 22 members were added to the church, and the church was named Herman. Rev. E. P. Stewart desiring to re- tire, the congregation petitioned for a man's whole time. Rev. J. R. Millen was sent in answer to this request. He began work here in Jan., 1902. In the spring he opened SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 489 work in Leeer, a railroad town about six miles from the church. He has secured a lot and is planning to build a church there in the near future. Herman re- ported 46 members in 1902. They maintain a S. S. and a L. B. Society. Head of Cataba, Burke Co., N. C. — A small vacancy of Associate Church, organized before 1819, and disap- peared in two or three years. Hickory Spri)ig. — In March, 1857, a colony settled in Bradley Co., Ark. Fifteen of them were members of Neely's Creek church in S. C. They left York Co., S. C, in Dec, 1856, and drove through the country in their wagons. It took three months to make the trip. Rev. T. D. Davis came to them in May, 1858, and preached a short while. Rev. J. M. Brown came to them in 1859, ^^^^ organized the church with 15 members during the sum- mer. Jonathan Davis and J. F. Leslie were elected el- ders. A log church was built in i860. Near by was a spring encased in a section of a hollow hickory tree. From this spring the church received its name. Rev. J. M. Brown supplied the church part of the time for two years. Rev. A. Mayne supplied them in 1862. For a few years they had very little preaching. Rev. D. Kerr sup- plied them in 1867. Then Rev. John Wilson once a month for three years. Rev. J. P. Marion was their sup- ply in 1870, and their pastor in 1871. During the next few years they had supplies from Revs. John \\''ilson, J. S. A. Hunter and W. A. Wilson. In the fall, 1877, Rev. J. S. A. Hunter returned to them, and gave them half his time. He w^as installed pastor Nov. 28, 1879. They had 56 members at that time. The same year they erected a commodious frame church. They had the lumber sawed in the neighborhood, and the people did the work. Mr. Hunter's pastorate terminated in Dec, 1887, when he went to Mexico to engage in Foreign Mission work. 490 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Rev. T. G. Boyce began work here in the summer of '88, and was installed pastor for half time, in Dec. of that year. The relation was dissolved in Feb., 1893, and he moved to Tennessee. The church prospered during these pastorates. It now numbered about 80 members, and was well organized for work. The session was com- posed of J. H. Davis, I. D. McFadden and J. W. Pierce. Rev. W. A. ]\I. Plaxco supplied in 1893. Rev. T. B. Stewart was pastor from 1894 to '99, one-half time. Rev. A. H. Griffith was supply in 1900. Rev. J. W. McCain was the supply half time until July, 1901, when he was installed pastor. The membership reported in 1 90 1 was 117. Hickory Grove, York Co., S. C. — For many years pre- vious to the organization of a church at this place, there had been occasional preaching by A. R. P. ministers at Unity, an undenominational chapel, one mile west of the place where the A. R. P. church now stands. With the building of a new railroad through York Co., a village sprang up, which was called Hickory Grove, and with the coming of this railroad came the organization of an A, R. P. church, on Dec. 6th, 1888. The church was organized by Rev. J. C. Galloway in the home of Mr. J. N. McDill, with twenty-nine members, all of them having been transferred from Sm}-rna. Within a year from this time a large and handsome church was built. The church was supplied with preaching by Revs. J. H. Peoples, J. B. Cochran and H. R. McAulay. In the fall of 1891, it united with Smyrna in a call for the pastoral services of Rev. J. P. Knox, and he was installed in Dec, 1891, continuing pastor until May, 1899. I" March, 1900, Rev. J. L. Oates was installed pastor of Hickory Grove and Smyrna and still continues as pastor. At this time it has grown to be a large and flourishing congregation. The elders of this church are : J. X. McDill, Moses White, J. W. Castles, J. C. Wylic, J. X. McGill and J. R. Mitchell. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 491 Hinkstoii, Bourbon Co., Ky. — The settlement on Hink- ston Creek by the Steele, Shaw, Marshall, ]\IcClintock and Thompson families dates back to 1775. The church was organized by the 2nd A. R. Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania. The first settled pastor was Rev. John Steele. He was ordained by the ist Presbytery of Pennsylvania, August 12, 1799, and soon afterwards installed as pastor of Shiloh, in Fleming Co., and Hinkston, in Bourbon Co. Ky. The relation was dissolved Sept. 7th, 1803. He, however, continued to supply Hinkston until 181 7, when he accepted a call to Xenia, O. Rev. W. H. Rainey then became stated supply, and was installed as pastor Thursday before the 2nd Sabbath of Dec, 1825. This relation was dissolved in April, 1832. Shortly after this, the church was taken under the care of the Chillicothe Presbytery — 2nd Synod of the West. It remained in this connection until Sept. 5th, 1845, when it returned to the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky. Rev. James Hannon served as pastor from 1832 to 1838. Rev. J. C. Steele of the ]\Ionongahela Presbytery supplied the pulpit, 1846. He was followed by W. W. Patton, J. O. Lindsay, T. S. Lee and perhaps others. Rev. T. S. Lee was installed as pastor on ^Monday after the 3rd Sabbath of April, 1852. This relation continued until Oct. 13th, 1870, when he. with a part of the congregation, changed his connection to the Southern Presbyterian church. Rev. W. R. Hemphill, D. D., gave occasional supplies for two years. Rev. D. B. Pressly began preaching here in the winter of 1871, and was installed as pastor in 1873. Tlie church grew under his ministry, but by reason of failing health, he demitted the charge Xov. 18, 1886. The congregation was now vacant for six years, but supplied with preaching by the Board of Missions. Sept. 28th, 1892, Rev. W. H. ]\lillen was installed pas- tor, which relation continued until June 15th. 1896. when it was dissolved at his request. It has been supplied since that time by the Board of Missions. The last supply 492 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. was Rev. J. L. Pressly, who preached there from July, 1901, to Nov., 1902. The first house of worship was in Millersburg. The one now in use is about four miles from the old location, and is built of stone and brick. It was repaired several years ago. The congregation has always paid the pas- tor's salary and assessments to church purposes promptly and in full. It has suffered greatly by removals to the North and West. Among her descendants are Rev. Potter and Rev. Wm. Lane and mother, missionaries in China, and the Gambles and Shaws in India, and Miss Mary Frazier and Miss Elizabeth Stewart Frazier, who went as missionaries to Egypt. The congregation maintains a Sunday School and Young People's Society. The membership is small, but composed of intelligent and generous people. Hiddenite, Alexander Co., N. C. — At the earnest re- quest of John A. Miller, Rev. W. M. Hunter began, Oct., 1878, preaching once a month at Salem, near present town of Hiddenite. By order of Presbytery, a church was organized, Dec, 1883. Junius Morrison and J. M. Matheson. elder. John A. Miller, a leading spirit, had died Nov. 28, 1882. When the depot was located a lot was bought at $25.00, another half acre in the rear being donated by the first supply, and a house was erected and first used Aug. 22, 1891. Rev. W. M. Hunter was supply, '78-'88. Rev. E. B. Anderson was S. S. for a while, and through his instru- mentality, in July, 1892, Dr. W. W. Orr held a meeting of great interest and largely attended, resulting in some 27 conversions. It has been supplied at irregular inter- vals. Bro Love now supplies this mission without offi- cers. Much credit is due J. M. Matheson, of Taylors- ville, N. C, for long and self denying service. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 493 Hopezccll, Maury Co., Tom. — Is located about seven miles south of Columbia. In the fall of 1820, by author- ity of I St Presbytery, by Dr. Isaac Grier, the congre- gation was organized, with Samuel Scott, M. Baldridge, James Leech and Robt. Mathews as Ruling Elders, and a membership of about 35. It was first supplied by Rev. Samuel Brown, of the A. R. Synod of the West. The first pastor, Rev. R. M. Galloway, was installed in 1824, by Dr. Isaac Grier and Rev. Mr. Blackstocks. On the 9th of October, 1840, Mr. Galloway died and the church was vacant for four years. "The next pastor was settled in 1844. He resigned in 1848." This was the pastorate of Rev. J. K. Boyce. The congregation was again va- cant for six years. Rev. J. H. Bryson was installed on the 29th of Dec, 1854. This relation was dissolved in April, 1866. Rev J. H. Peoples was the fourth pastor and was installed in the spring of 1867 and released in the fall of 1889, having served the congregation for 22 years. Rev. W. B. Logan was installed April, 1893, but withdrew from this field in 1894. On Nov. 30, 1895, Rev. J. ]\I. White, the sixth pastor, was installed pastor and continued until Sept. 23, 1899, when he was re- leased. Since then it has had occasional supplies, mainly by their former pastor, Rev. J- H. Peoples, from his home in Columbia. The first two pastors gave one-half time to this field, the second two, whole time, and the last two, one-half time. The present house of worship is the third building, though the dates of their erection are not known. Hopeivell, Union {formerly Pontotoc) Co., Miss. — Is located six miles southeast of New Albany and two miles north of Wallersville, Miss., on the Frisco Railroad. The first settlers were from Shiloh church, in Ander- son Co., S. C, and the name of Caldwell predominated. The first preaching there was by Rev. H. H. Robison, licentiate laboring under the direction of Synod, at the 494 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. house of William Caldwell, ■March 12, 1851. A few weeks later he also preached near Tardyville, at a place called "The Shelter." The Alabama Presbytery, complying with request of the people, sent Rev. David Pressly to organize the con- gregation, which was done May 24th, 1851, in a school house (near Mr. James Stephenson's), near where the church now^ stands. John Caldwell, Obadiah Buchanan and Hugh Caldwell were elected Elders, the former hav- ing served in S. C. Rev. H. H. Robison supplied the congregation in 185 1. In 1852 probably, an arbor and stand were erected near a fine spring on the premises of William Reid, Sr., and supplied by Rev. J. L. Young. A church was built and first used in 1853. Mr. Wil- liam Huston, a friend of the congregation, though not a church member, gave a lot of three acres on which to build, the timber as it stood on his land, and sawed the same into lumber free of charge when delivered at his mill. Rev. J. L. Young was installed over Hopewell and Bethany, April 15, 1854. This relation continued until 1856, when he demitted this branch of his charge in or- der to devote his whole time to Bethany. "This was a sore blow to Hopewell, and gave it quite a back set." Revs. H. H. Robison and J. L. McDaniel supplied it in 1857. Rev. S. A. Agnew began supplying it in 1858, and continued until he was installed July 23, 1870. This pastoral relation was demitted April 21, 1890- This long- pastorate was fruitful of much good and the pastor en- joyed the warm confidence and esteem of the church. Rev. R. S. Harris supplied the congregation during 1899, and was installed pastor "Slay 14th, 1900, giving one-lialf time to the work. Hopci'^'cU Church, Xcwfon Co., Co. — Was organized July 25th, 1830, by Rev. J. T. and E. E. Pressly. For several years they had worshipped God and had an oc- SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 495 casional sermon. Tliey held society meetings. This church was made up largely of people who had removed from Hopewell, S. C. For eight years after their or- ganization, they received supplies, and April 23rd, 1838, Rev. Thomas Turner was installed pastor. He held this office until 1855. Sept. 26th, 1856, Rev. Henry Quigg was ordained and installed pastor. This relation was dissolved Nov. i/th, 1866. Until 1869. the church was supplied by Rev. J. L. Hemphill and others. Rev. J. E. Martin began to preach for them in March, 1871, and was installed Sept. 7th. 1872. He was their pastor until Sept. 1st, 1890. when he resigned on account of ill health. Rev. H. R. McAulay preached for them for two years. Rev. R. L. Bell was installed pastor Dec. 8th, 1893 and resigned in IMarch, 1900. The church was then vacant until Jan. nth. 1902, when Rev. L. L Echols was in- stalled as pastor, which relation still exists. During the pastorate of Rev. R. L. Bell, the church of Fairview was organized and has become a part of the pastoral charge. Three ministers of the gospel have gone out from Hopewell, Rev. G. W. McClelland, Rev. J. T. McClelland, who entered the Southern Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Jack Cowan, of the Methodist Church. The first building was erected in 1830. Another later on, and this building was enlarged and improved while Rev. R. L. Bell was pastor. HopCK'cU, S. C. — The statements which follow con- cerning the church arc mostly gleaned from Lathan's "History of Hopewell and its Pastors." Hopewell is one of the oldest of the Associated Re- formed Churches of the South. Like most of the churches founded in the early history of the country, very little written history of this church has been pre- served, and the historian has to rely largely on tradition for his facts. The congregation was organized in the year 1787 or 496 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 1/88. The exact date is uncertain; but Dr. Lathan thinks that it was organized in 1787 by Rev. Matthew Lind. In 1788, Rev. John Boyse was sent South by the A. R. Presbytery of Pa., and labored first as stated supply, and afterwards as pastor of Hopewell, Gilead, Coddle Creek and Prosperity, the last three in N. C. Mr. Boyse's pas- torate was a short one, he having died March i8th, 1793. In February or March, 1795, Hopewell, Union and New Hope congregations united in extending a call to Rev. John Hemphill, who had been sent to preach among these churches by the First Presbytery of Pennsylvania. The pastoral labors of Mr. Hemphill began in the fall of 1795, but he was not installed until the 19th of Sept., 1796. The pastorate of Mr. Hemphill continued until his death, which took place May 30th, 1830, thus covering a period of nearly thirty-six years. From the death of Mr. Hemphill until Nov., 1832, the congregation was vacant. At this time Rev. Warren Flenniken was installed over Hopewell and Union. The pastorate of Mr. Flenniken extended over a period of seventeen years, ending in 1849, owing to the feeble health of Mr. Flenniken. On May 31st, 1850, Rev. R. W. Brice was ordained and installed as the fourth pastor of Hopewell. This pas- torate closed with the death of Mr. Brice, on the 14th of March, 1878. All the ministers spent their entire min- isterial lives as pastors of Hopewell, and their remains lie buried in the graveyard hard by the church they loved and served so faithfully. On May 23rd, 1879, Rev. John A. White was ordained and installed as the fifth pastor of Hopewell, and at this writing the relationship still ex- ists, and unless the current of Hopewell's history shall be changed, will continue until God shall dissolve it by the physical disability or death of the pastor. During the one hundred and fifteen years of Hope- well's existence, three church buildings have been erected. At first the congregation met for worship in the woods, but in 1789 the first house of worship was built. It was SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 497 a log house, and stood about one hundred yards north- west of the present house. This log church answered the purpose until the year 1800, when a brick building was erected. It was probably considered a handsome church in that day. It was forty by fifty feet in size, had a high pulpit with a sounding board over the preacher's head. This brick church stood until 1854, when it was replaced by the present large and commodious house of worship. The present building is fifty feet by seventy feet in size, and stands on the east side of the graveyard. It was none too large for the congregation when built, but a much smaller house would accommodate the congrega- tion at the present time. Hopewell is a fruitful mother of preachers. The following ministers were born and partly reared in Hopewell congregation : Joseph Lowry, D. D., James Lowry, David McGill, D. D., Robert Galloway, Jonathan Galloway, Wm. R. Hemphill, D. D., John Wil- son, David McCaw, James McDaniel, James H. Strong, James C. Boyd, Robert Lathan, D. D., Hugh Strong, Christopher Strong, R. Warren Boyd, Wm. S. Moffatt, J. Spencer Mills, H. M. Henry, D. D., John A. White, Robert Y. Mills, W. S Castles, John Mills Bigham. Huntersville, Mecklenburg Co., N. C. — For the benefit of those midway between Prosperity and Gilead, Dr. Ranson, not long after his installation, began preaching at Craighead stand, near David McCraven's, half a mile northwest of present site. First services were held Sat- urday afternoon, then on fifth Sabbaths, then on the af- ternoon of Gilead's day. This was continued till about 1872, when the stand was removed to the present site. Several meetings were held. A church or an academy to be used for worship, was the question. The former was wisely decided upon. There was pledged, Aug., 1873, the day the books were opened, $500. R. B. Hunter do- nated the beautiful plot of land about five acres and $100. Other liberal members that day were Milton Osborne and 32 498 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. HUNTERSVILLE, N. C. Richard Beard. A building was erected at a cost of $1,700, in 1874, and a church of 40 members organized March 25th, 1875. R. B. and A. Jones Hunter and Dixon Ewart, of Prosperity, and Richard Beard and R. R. Steele, Sr., of Gilead constituted the session. S. W. Knox and I. D. Irvin of latter church were added. Dr. Ranson continued stated supply till Sept. 3, 1877. Rev. W. W. Orr's pastorate, beginning officially Oct. i8th, 1878, was greatly blessed in increasing numbers and en- larged liberality. At least two precious seasons of grace were enjoyed, one under Dr. J. E. Pressly, 1883, and the other under Dr. R. G. Miller's preaching. Aug., 1893. R. ]\r. Ranson, J. P. Knox, J. J- Ranson, J. C. Ranson and R. R. Steele, Jr., were ruling elders. Rev. Orr began teaching in 1879, and organized the Huntersville High School. This academy did a good work for general education, but especially for the pulpit. Revs. J. P. Knox, W. C. Ewart. A. J. Ranson, E. A. Ranson and J. B. Cochrane were sons of this church. They were not only zealous in education but importunate in prayer, organizing the first Y. M. Home Missionary SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. 499 Society in the Presbytery, and maintained it for years, not only as a means of grace, but in liberally support- ing the Evangelistic movement, 'SS-'gS. They were one of the rare congregations which increased their first pastor's salary, $400, $600, $800. Their pastor. Rev. Orr, was often absent from '89 to '96 in revival work, yet the efficient elders and active members had the pulpit supplied and sustained the interest and work with marked success. Rev. W. \V. Orr, D. D., demitted Feb. 19, 1896. Rev. Jas Boyce's pastorate, Jan 29th, 1897, to April 4th, 1899, though faithful and able, was discouraging by a tide of removal that had set in. Rev. J. W. Bigham was installed pastor Nov. 27, 1900, and still remains. About this time the congregation determined to build a new church. Though greatly weakened, they erected a beau- tiful brick building which, with the handsome furnishing, cost $3,460.71, and was dedicated free of debt, Jan. 24th, 1903. It stands in the same oak grove, beautiful for sit- uation, an evidence of the faith of and a credit to its promoters. Present ruling elders : J. C. Beard, J. T. Beard, W. E. Alexander, W. W. Ranson, E. A. Love, J. T. Mayberry, J. G. Bell. Deacons: B. D. Brown, W A. Steele, J. L. Ramsey, J. i\I. Knox, \V. J. Ranson, J. C. ]\IcAulay and J. J. McRaven. Iva, S. C. — This congregation is an offshoot of Gener- ostee. After the building of the Savannah Valley Rail- road, a town sprang up at Iva Station. In the Spring of 1894, Rev. A. L. Patterson began preaching at this place. On the 8th of Nov., 1895, by the order of the 2nd Presbytery, a commission consisting of Revs. W. L. Pressly, D. I)., and A. L. Patterson, and elder James Stevenson, organized a church at Iva. Messrs. J. G. McDonald and J. W. Stevenson were transferred from Gencrostee and elected elders. Mr. T. A. Watt was the first deacon. At a later date Messrs. W. P. Gook, S. W. 500 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Watt, Robt. Stevenson and G. S. Burdett were added to the eldership. Mr. James McDonald and Mr. A. S. Townsend were added to the board of deacons. Rev. A. L. Patterson has been stated supply ever smce the organization and at this date still continues in this capacity. Jacksonville, Ark. — The church at this place is the out- come of a mission opened by Rev. G. G. Parkinson, in July, 1896, in connection with his work in Little Rock. It was organized Sept. 18, 1896, by Rev. T. B. Stewart, S. M. of the Arkansas Presbytery with 18 members. J. N. Ross and J. M. McNair were ordained elders. This church was not organized among people who were reared or trained under Associate Reformed influence. A nice church was erected the following j^ear, at a cost of about $900. Rev. G. G. Parkinson continued to supply them half time till Nov., 1900. At that time they reported 28 members. Rev. A. H. Griffith supplied them half time un- til Jan, 1903. The membership has grown to 50. Rev. E. B. Anderson supplied them in 1903. J op pa, Lincoln Co., Ga. — Organized before 1790. King's Creek and Cannon's Creek, Nctvhcrry, S. C. — From the years 1763 to 1775 the elements of Cannon's Creek and King's Creek churches, from which grew Prosperity and Head Spring, came from County Antrim, Ireland, and settled in the fertile region between Enoree and the Dutch Fork, centering near the creeks, from which the( churches took their names. In the year 1767, a portion of Rev. John Ren wick's congregation came from Ireland and settled in Newberry County. In 1770, a larger portion came over and settled near the others, and in 1772 there came a third colony. The first preacher and pastor was the Rev. John Renwick, Sr. The Lord's Supper was first admin- istered to these Christians in Patrick Carmichael's SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 501 barn, near what is now known as Boyd's Crossing, be- tween Xewberry and Prosperity. The churches of Can- non's Creek and King's Creek were founded at the same time, in 1772. Rev. John Renwick was the pastor. He died in 1775. There was httle preaching then until the year 1790, when Rev. James Rogers came to this country from Ireland, and took up the work. Mr. Rogers became pastor of King's Creek and Cannon's Creek, 23rd Feb- ruary, 1 791, and served in that capacity for twenty-four or twenty-five years. Rev. Charles Strong was installed pastor of King's Creek, Cannon's Creek and Prosperity in 1816. He was pastor for eight years. In ]\Iarch, 1826, Rev. Samuel P. Pressly was installed over Head Spring, King's Creek, Cannon's Creek and Prosperity. This pastorate lasted until 1833, when he was chosen professor in Franklin College, Athens, Ga. In the year 1835, Rev. Jonathan Galloway w^as chosen pastor and installed in 1836, and faithfully he labored in this larger field for 20 years. He resigned on account of ill health. In the year 1848, this extensive field was di- vided. King's Creek and Cannon's Creek going together were supplied by Rev. J. O. Lindsay for a year, though Mr. Galloway continued to labor at Cannon's Creek, Prosperity and Head Spring until October, 1855. In 1853, King's Creek church was united with Xew- berry, and Rev. H. L. Murphy became pastor. On No- vember 1st. 1858, Rev. J. C. Boyd was installed pastor of Cannon's Creek. Prosperity and Head Spring. and con- tinued in this relation until 1884, when he demitted the Cannon's Creek church, but continued to serve the other two churches until 1890. In September, 1884, Rev. W. W. AIcMorries became pastor of King's Creek and Can- non's Creek, the former church separating from New- berry, and continued in this relation until 1895. Can- non's Creek then iDccame a separate charge, adhering to Mr. McMorries, and King's Creek, in 1898, called Rev. T. B. Hood. Brother Hood continued 502 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. here until 1902, preaching: also at Head Spring. In 1902, Rev. C. M. Boyd was chosen pastor of King's Creek, and installed in ]\Iay, 1903. This old church has now taken on new life. The membership has recently increased 20 per cent, and the attendance is good. With the new church of Unity and with Prosper- ity and King's Creek, Bro. Boyd has a large and growing field. Lamar. — In Lamar Co., Texas, was organized in 1880. Thomas and W. B. Ware, formerly of Starkville, Miss., were elected elders. They never built a house, and the organization was disbanded in 1886. Lancaster, S. C. — The church at Lancaster, S. C, was organized by a commission of the First Presbytery in the year 1884. The commission consisted of Rev. ^Nlason W. Pressly and elders \\'. O. Caskey and X. T. Draffin. A neat brick building was begun in 1885, and completed in 1886. The first pastor of the church was Rev. R. Y. Mills, who was installed in Nov., 1888. Mr. Mills had charge of Lancaster in connection with Gill's Creek, preachino- half the time at each place. The death of iNIr. Mills in March 4th, 1889 left the congregation vacant. The next pastor was Rev. H. B. Blakely, who was in- stalled in 1890, and continued pastor until the fall of 1894, when he was called to take charge of the mission in At- lanta, Ga. The third pastor was Rev. W. C. Ewart, who was in- stalled in the fall of 1896, and who still continues pastor of Lancaster and Shiloh. Laurens, C. H. — When this church was organized we do not know, l)Ut it must have been al)out 1830. Dr. Sam- uel Todd erected the building. Rev. J. S. Young was the first pastor. He was installed over the united charge of Bethel, Laurens, Providence and Head Springs in 1836. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 503 In 185 1 Rev. J S. Young was succeeded by Rev. D. F. Haddon, who had ben assistant pastor for several years. The church decHned in Laurens and after the War the building was sold and the work discontinued. Laurel Springs, Ashe Co., A'. C. — A colony, mostly of Mecklenburg Co., N. C, in hope of renewed health re- moved about 1855 to Ashe, now Allegheny Co. Capt. Matthew Peoples, Henry F. Hunter and Mark Wilson and others constituted the party. Rev. John Hunter be- cause of failing health, sought this mountain retreat, preached to and organized in 1855 a little church. He continued to supply this point till 1858, and although it seemed a failure by the return of the entire colony yet Mr. Hunter said it gave him a new lease of life. Lebanon, Wilson Co., Ala., appears on the roll of the Alabama Presbytery in 1843. It is probably the original name of the Oak Hill, or Bethel, church. Rev. W. J. Lowry was ordained and installed over it in 1861. Noth- ing more is known of it. Lebanon, at Maysfield in Milam County, Texas, was organized by Revs. T. J. Bonner and W. L. Patter- son July 7, 'yy, with eleven members. W. "Si. Wood- son, M. D., and J. R. ]\IcLane were ordained qlders. Rev. J. M. Little became their stated sup- ply. The location proved to be unhealthy. Mr. Little lost several nieml)crs of his family, and moved away. Others moved away also and the church was dis- banded in about ten years. Little River, commonly called Sterling's Meeting House, was an Associate Church in Fairfield Co., S. C, about twelve miles north of Winnsboro. It originated from an cfifort to displace the Psalms in Concord Pres- bvterian Church. Tradition says that on one occasion 504 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. when the sacrament was being observed, the minister said that all who favored Psalms would take their seats at one table, while all who favored hymns would take their seats at another table. Whereupon John Sterling one of the elders, rose up and said, "I had thought that this was the house of the Lord, but you have made it a house of confusion;" and taking his hat he walked out of the church, and many others followed him. The re- sult was the organization of Little River, or Sterling's Meeting House. It is proper to state, however, that the hymns were not introduced into Concord Church until about twenty years ago. Little River appears on the roll of the Associate Presbytery as early as 1819. The church building was erected in 1824, and Rev. James Lyle was pastor of Little River, Smyrna and Winnsboro from May 4th, 1825 until 1834, when he demitted his charge. It was supplied by the Associate Presbytery after this. Rev. Archibald Whyte preached there as late as 1840, at which time there were eight fa- milies and sixteen members. Rev. Thos. Ketchin preached there also after this time. It is probable that soon after this time it ceased to exist. The old graveyard is the only thing now that marks the place of this church. Little River and Rocky Springs, Laurens Co., S. C, were small scattered congregations that never became a regular charge. They subsisted on the meager allowance of supplies sent them by Presbytery from time to time. In 1803, in response to a petition for supply. Rev. Irwin was sent for the last Sabbath in March. In the fall of the same year Rocky Springs asked for one-third of Mr. Irwin's time, while Little River petitioned for one-fourth of his time for one year. Theste petitions were not granted, but Rev. Porter was sent as supply. For many years after this all that is known of the history of these organizations is in the record of the petitions sent up to nearly every meeting SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 505 of Presbytery for supplies. Revs. Porter, Grier, M'Gill, Irwin, and Renwick labored among these congregations at different times as supplies. After a struggling exis- tence of many years their names were dropped from the roll of Presbytery. Little River and Rocky Springs, Abbeville Co., S. C. were among the very early organizations of the Presby- tery of the Carolinas and Georgia. In 1801 theunited con- gregations petitioned of Presbytery a Probationer as con- stant supply. At the fall meeting of Presbytery a call was made out to Rev. M'Gill. The call was sustained as regular by Presbytery and accepted by Mr. M'Gill at the next meeting of Presbytery. In 1802 his trial for ordination having been sustained, he was ordained at Little River on the second Thursday in May. The pas- torate, however, seems to have been but of short dura- tion, for a year or so later begins a petition for supplies from these two congregations. At different times Revs. Irwin, Grier and Porter were sent by Presbytery in an- swer to the petitions for supplies. These churches are not now in existence. Like many other small, scattered congregations in the early history of the Presbytery, the members doubtless scattered and became the nuclei of churches of a later period. Little Rock. — In the summer of 1893, under the direc- tion of the Board of Home Missions, Rev. J. A. Smith opened the work in Little Rock. Mr. John F. Oates and family were perhaps the only Associate Reformed Pres- byterians in the city. Mr. Smith held services two Sab- baths a month under a shed in the western part of the city and in a hall in the east end. He gave two Sabbaths a month to Russellville. This arrangement continued dur- ing the summer. The organization was affected by Rev. J. L. Young, S. M.. of the Arkansas Presbytery at the residence of J. M. Burnett in West Little Rock, Nov., 5o6 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 1893. Fifteen names were enrolled. J. F. Oates and J. j\I. Burnett were ordained elders. Two deacons were also ordained. Revs. J. M. White and O. Y. Bonner each supplied a few months during the next year and a half. Rev. G. G. Parkinson began work in Little Rock in July, 1895. He found 15 members in the mission. For one year he gave his entire time to it. After opening work at Jacksonville he gave Little Rock half time. He labored in this field faithfully until Synod called him to a chair in the Seminary in Nov., 1900. The mission grew notwithstanding frequent removals, and at that time they had 40 members. During this time C. C. Bell was added to the session. Rev. A. H. Griffith began work in the mission Dec, 1900. He was installed pastor for all his time Dec. 3, 1902. The membership had doubled. J. W. Miller, M. D., and J. Kerr Oates were added to the session. The mission church was built and furnished early in 1895 at a cost of about $1,000. It is located in West Little Rock. The money was raised mainly by voluntary contributions from persons and churches in answer to appeals in the church papers. It was dedicated by Rev. O. Y. Bonner in May, 1895. They have a S. S. and L. B. Society. Lodiuwnt, now known as Mt. Carmel A. R. P. Church, was organized in the spring of 1875 under the inspection of the Second Presbytery. For a short time it was sup- plied by Dr. W. ]\I. Grier and by Dr. J. C. Galloway. The year following the organization of the church Rev. A. L. Patterson was called to the pastorate. He accepted the call and was installed in the fall of 1876. He has served the church continuously from the date of his in- stallation until the present, 1903. During Mr. Patterson's pastorate this church has had ])reaching on two Sabbaths of each month. There have been two church buildings erected, one at Lodimont and one in the village of Mt. Carmel, to which SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 507 place the ori^anization was moved in 1885. The church has the confidence of the conmnmity and is in a healthy condition. LONG CANE, S. C. Long Cane, Abbeville Co.. S. C, is the historic church of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. About the year 1779 or 1780 Rev. Thomas Clark of the Presby- tery'of Pennsylvania paid a visit to those of his old charge who had settled on the "Long Canes" in the Carolinas, and organized the congregation of Long Cane, so-called from the Creek on the west bank of which the house of worship was built. On Alarch 7. 1786, the congregations of Cedar Springs and Long Cane united and subscribed a call for Mr. Clark, and on May 15, same year, the call was sustained by Synod. In 1791, when the Associate Reformed Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia met at Long Cane, a petition was presented praying that Rev. Thomas Clark be installed pastor of Long Cane, Imt it is not known whether the installation ever took place, probablv ncH. as he died at the close of the follow- ing year. For four vears after his death the church was without a pastor. Rev. Peter Mc^Tullen was appointed to supply 5o8 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. as much as possible during the first year of vacancy. On April lo, 1797, a call was moderated for Rev. Alex. Por- ter. He was ordained and installed under the inspection of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, April 2, 1798. On account of "his weak state of health, and the un- common largeness of his charge, making it impossible for him to do his duty, Mr. Porter asked to be released in the fall of 1803. His request was granted. In Jan., 1804, he accepted a call to Cedar Springs. Long Cane remained vacant for more than twenty (20) years, although re- peated efforts were made to secure a pastor. On Feb. 28, 1828, the two congregations, long sepa- rated, again united under one pastor. Rev. John T. Press- ly, and for a number of years constituted one pastoral charge. Dr. Pressly was elected to a Professorship in the Associate Reformed Theological Seminary of the West at Allegheny, Pa., and on Nov. 10, 183 1, gave up this "charge very dear" to him. The church then remained vacant until 1837, when Rev. W. R. Hemphill accepted a call, and was ordained and installed. His pastorate, productive of much good, continued for eleven years, until, the congregation seem- ing to droop, the pastor became more or less discouraged, and in 1848 went to fill a Professorship in Erskine Col- lege. In September, 1850, a call was presented to Rev. H. T. Sloan and by him accepted. He was ordained and installed at Long Cane Nov. i, 1850. The original house of worship at Long Cane was built of rude logs. Another house was erected during the ministry of Dr. Clark. In 1856 the present church building was erected. It is of wood, 44x64 feet, with a 10 foot porch and gallery around three sides. The following ministers were born in Long Cane and Cedar Springs, which was one pastorate : Dr. John T. Pressly, and his son. Dr. Joseph Pressly of Erie, Penn., Dr. E. E. I^rcsslv, Dr. Tames P. Presslv, Dr. David SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 509 Pressly, Dr. J. E. Pressly, Rev. Joseph M'Creary, Rev. Wm. Patton, Rev. E. L. Patton, L. L. D., Rev. W. W. Patton, Rev. Samuel Morris, Rev. John Hemphill, Rev. James Weed, Rev. S. P. Robin- son, Rev. J. C. McDonald, Rev. R. F. Bradley, Rev. E. B. Kennedy, Rev. I. N. Kennedy. David M'Creary commenced to study theology, but was com- pelled to desist on account of ill health. Wm. Morrow and Augustus Ansley were theological students, but when the Civil War came on they entered the service and did not return to the Seminary after the War. Long Cane has also produced a number of laymen emi- nent in various walks of life, legislators, journalists, and statesmen. The First Associate Reformed Presbytery of the South was organized at Long Cane Feb. 24, 1790, as the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, and the Second Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia was or- ganized at Cedar Springs April 8, 1801, when Cedar Springs and Long Cane were one charge. The descendants of the members of the congregations of Long Cane and Cedar Springs are to be found to-day in the churches of the North, West, Middle West, South \\>st. and South as far as Florida. Louisville, /vA'.— Work was begun in this city by Rev. G. Gordon, Sept. loth, 1852, under the direction of the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky. The next year he was au- thorized to solicit funds and erect a chapel to cost one thousand dollars. The lot purchased was on the corner of 8th and Magazine Sts. The deed was made to Shan- non Reid as Trustee for the Presbytery and was dated July 13th. 1853. This lot was sold in 1858 and another purchased on corner of 7th and Chestnut Sts., where the present church now stands, and deed made to new Trus- tees. A chapel was erected on this lot in 1858. A memo- rial was presented from ]\Tt. Olivet church which had contributed a large part of the funds for this work, al- 5IO SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. LOUISVILLE, KY. leging the rights of Presbytery were not sufficiently guarded in title to the new property. This matter was before the Presbytery for three years. It was finally set- tled by having an Act of Corporation by the State Legis- lature to protect the title to the A. R. P. Church. The church was organized Jan. 6th, 1854. Rev. G. Gordon, who had charge of the work from its beginning, was installed pastor Dec. i6th, 1859. This relation con- tinued until 1 87 1. Oct. 13th, 1870 the congregation and pastor connected themselves with the Southern Presbyte- rian Church, the membership being at that time 75 or 80. A portion of the First Presbyterian Church, by a reason of a division in that Church, now united with the 7th and Chestnut Street church. The distinctive princi- ples of the church seem now to have been lost. Rev. W. J. Lowry became pastor of the church in 1875. A few of the members being dissatisfied with the change, asked for certificates, and began to take measures to re-establish the A. R. P. Church. They were Mrs. Ann A. Walker, Jas, D. and Mrs. Maclay, Alex. Young, Mrs. Mary Ncill, Mrs. Mary Henry and John S. Henry, seven in all. The A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky had instituted a suit in 1872 to recover the church i)ro]icrty. but had SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 51 1 failed. Dr. J. T. Bonner visited them and becoming inter- ested in the work, urged the Synod to attempt to re-estab- Hsh the church. Rev. J. C. Galloway was sent to preach to them for two months, May and June, in 1876. The first services were held in the Methodist church on 12th St., and it was here that the first communion service was held in July, 1876. Revs. J. T. Bonner and D. B. Pressly officiating. Oct. 1 8th, 1876, the reorganization took place by order of the Kentucky Presbytery with fifteen members, by Commision of Presbytery, consisting of Rev. J. G. Miller and elders O. T. ^^^'dlace and A. R. Guyn. the services being held in the Third Presbyterian Church, corner of 1 6th and Chestnut Sts. Rev. F. Y. Pressly took charge of the work as Synod's Missionary, Nov. ist, 1876, and continued until Sept., 1880. He effected a compromise with the Presbyterians by which the congregation regained possession of their old church, corner of 7th and Chestmit Sts., on condi- tion that they were to have the refusal of the property at $3,500.00 if it was ever offered for sale, or the Synod abandoned its work at that place. Rev. T. M. Todd was appointed by Synod to this church for the next year, 1881. His work was very ac- ceptable, but his health failed the following spring, and the church was left without supply until the next meeting of Synod. Rev. C. S. Young was appointed for the next year, 1882, being at that time pastor of a church in the Tenn. Pres. Pie returned at the end of the year to his pastoral charge in Tennessee. Rev. James Boyce was appointed for 1883. May 23, 1884, a call was presented to him to become pastor. He accepted the call and continued the work until Oct. i6th, 1896, when the pastoral relation was dissolved. He began canvassing the churches for money to build a new church and had almost completed this work when he resigned. Tn 1895 Synod appointed a committee con- 512 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. sisting of Drs. W. M. Grier and G. R. White to confer with the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church and secure, if possible, a release of their claim on the church property. During- the year 1896 they visited Louisville and were met in a very friendly and liberal, Christian spirit by the representatives of that church, who gene- rously gave up all claims on the property and gave the Trustees of the Synod a clear title to the property. The A. R. Presbyterian congregation now proceeded to erect a new and handsome, modern church building. The church was dedicated Jan. ist, 1899, Dr. Grier preaching the sermon from Is. 43, 10. The cost was $10,200.00, which with the lot is worth $15,000.00, and is entirely free from debt. The church was vacant for two years, receiving sup- plies from Synod's Board of Missions. Rev. S. W. Reid received a call to become pastor, which he accepted, and was installed Dec. 31st, 1898. He still continues his work under the divine blessing. The session is composed of elders R. A. Gordon, J. S. Walker, John S. Henry and Thomas Huxley. Louisville, Ga. — This church was organized perhaps in the latter part of 1874 or beginning of 1875 by Dr. D. G. Phillips. For many years at intervals Dr. Phillips preached to them. The first systematic work was done by Rev. A. L. Patterson during the years of 1874 and '75. He was followed by Rev. J. C. Galloway, who came to Bethel and Louisville churches in Dec, 1875, and contin- ued in this field for eight years. R. J. Boyd and J. J. Keith were the first elders, there being no deacons until about 1878 or '79, when Mr. J. C. Little became deacon by removal from Ebenezer. There were 18 members at the time of organization. These members came largely from Ebenezer and Bethel. Rev. J. C. Galloway was the first pastor, being installed on Saturday before the second Sabbath of May, 1877, in SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 513 the old Methodist church, which at that time was used in common by both the Methodists and A. R. congregations, inasmuch the A. R. congregation had no house of worship. Through the energetic efforts of Mr. J. C. Little, W. L. Phillips and others a handsome church edifice was erected in 1880, and dedicated on Saturday before the Second Sabbath of Nov., the sermon being preached by Rev. W. M. Grier. In 1884 Synod assigned Rev. J. C. Galloway to the Charlotte Mission and he demitted the charge in April, 1885. When the work was taken up by Rev. J. S. Mills, who was installed in 1885, and still continues in this field. The elders at this time are J. C. Little, Wm. Little, W. L. Phillips, J. W. White and J. F. Brown. ' The deacons are W. A. Stone, Wm. Whigam and J. F. Hudson. Lovelady is a railroad station in Houston Co., Texas, where some families from Ebenezer, Miss., — Snells, Em- ersons and others — located about the year 1878. Rev. R. E. Patterson ministered to them and a church was organ- ized in 1879. In a year or two they had erected a comfor- table house of worship. Mr. Patterson supplied them and became their pastor in 1884. The prospects seemed encouraging, but discord arose, and he gave up the charge in 1886. A number of the members moved to other places and the Presbytery, on account of scarcity of laborers, was unable to supply the pulpit. The church was dis- organized and the house sold in 1892. Madolcs Old Field, Laurens County, S. C, was organ- ized soon after the organization of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. Of its history little is known. Presbytery met there Feb. 29, 1828. In the preceding year a call was made for Rev. Bryson. This call was sustained by the fall meeting of Presbytery. At the fol- lowing meeting Mr. Bryson declined the call. Z2> ^ 514 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. From time to time the following were sent as supplies : Revs. S. P. Pressly, John Renwick, Bryson and John T. Pressly. Alarlozv, Texas. — Marlow is about four miles south of Cameron in Milam Co., Tex. The church at this place is the result of the union of Prairie View and Milano. The union took place in 1896. They built a nice frame church at Marlow, which they occupied in 1900. Rev. Calvin Pressly, their supply in 1896, and pastor in the spring of 1897, labored to effect this union and establish a church at a central point. He demitted the charge Dec. i, 1902. At that time Marlow reported 60 members. McMalion's Creek, Belmont Co., Ohio, was organized as an Associate Church in 1827. Being in sympathy with the South they entreated Rev. W. M. McElwee to visit and preach for them early after the war between the States. A call was extended him but declined. Rev. W. S. Moffatt began stated labors in June, 1868, and was installed pastor in the spring of 1869 by the Ohio Pres- bytery, having become a connection with the A. R. Synod Sept. 19, 1867. Pastor and congregation joined the United Presbyterian Church May 30, 1881. Mhoon Valley, Clay Co., Miss., was organized Dec. 7, 1889, by Rev. F. Y." Pressly. A. W. M^iller and J. T. Boyd were elected elders and Joseph Cooper, deacon. The members had formerly belonged at Starkville, and they were supplied with preaching monthly from Stark- ville. On the 2nd of May, 1891, the parent church peti- tioned the Memphis Presbytery to be allowed to with- draw with a view to connecting with the United Presby- terian Church. This was granted and Mhoon Valley, being virtually included, was allowed to withdraw and has since been United Presbyterian. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 515 Miscanopy, Alachua Co., fla. — Rev. A. S. Sloan, by Synod's order, labored nine days in winter '53-'54, and also Rev. E. E. Boyce three days, the former received $63.00, the latter $18.50. A church was organized 1854 asking "for a man's time and promising to sustain him." Five hundred is promised and Rev. J. G. Miller supplies Oct., '55, Oct., '57. At this stage it seems for some cause the work ceased and the havoc of war swept away a once promising mission. Milano, Tex. — Milano is a railroad junction in Milan Co. The Cedar Creek and Pine Oak people united in an effort to build a house and concentrate their strength here as a central point in 1893. I. N. Burnett and W. J. Boyd were added to the session. But the building was never completed. It was sold in 1899. The members united with those of Prairie \'iew in establishing the church at IMarlow in 1896. MonticcUo, Ark. — In 1853 and '4 ome A. R. P. families moved from Tipton Co., Tenn., to Drew Co., Ark, set- tling near Monticello, the county seat. Rev. J. K. Boyce visited them during the summer of 1854. During the following winter Rev. John Wilson spent several weeks with them and organized the church in Feb., 1855. W. N. Fee, Thomas Lyle and R. B. Harper, M. D., were elected elders. A house of worship was soon erected, but not finished until 1869. They were visited by several ministers during the next three years, but none of them remained longer than a few months. In Nov., 1858, Rev. J. M. Brown came and was installed pastor in June of the next year^IMt. Zion taking part of his time. In i860 he gave up the ?iIonticello church and Rev. J. A. Dickson became stated supply. He was installed pastor in 1861. The church then had about 60 members. Mr. Dickson continued pastor until 1866, when with about half of the conirreiration he went into the Presbvterian 510 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Church. Three elders, viz., Samuel Allen, R. B. Harper, M. D., and A. J. McQuiston, with about 30 members, continued the organization. Rev. John Wilson took up the work in the spring of 1867 ^s supply, giving half time tmtil 1880. Rev. J. L. Young began work here in March, 1880, dividing his time equally between Monti- cello and Saline. He was installed pastor April 23, 1881. The church had 31 members; its elders were A. J. Mc- Quiston, Hugh \\'ilson, W. H. McQuiston, D. P. Craig and J. B. Wilson. The congregation has suffered heavy losses in members. It sent out colonies in the organiza- tion of Mt. Zion in 1858. Saline in 1861, Ebenezer in 1869. The division of 1866 carried away about half the members and made the work more difficult afterward. It has lost heavily also by removals. But it is well organized and has continued to grow. It had about 80 members in 1903. A beautiful church was erected in 1889 costing about $1500. A parsonage was built on the church lot in 1895 costing $1100. Rev. W. A. Wilson was a mem- ber of this church when he was licensed to preach. A. J. McQuiston, who was an elder from 1859 till his death in 1900, was an important factor in the life and growth of the church. A graduate of Erskine College and identified with the educational work of his community and county, either as teacher or as examiner of teachers, he was eminently qualified for the life of usefulness he lived. He was a recognized leader in the church, and often took a prom- inent part in the work of the Presbytery. They have a flourishing S. S., a L. B. S., a Y. P. C. U. and a Junior Union. Mooresvillc, Iredell Co., N. C. — Early in Sept., 1885, some 18 persons asked to be organized in Moorcsville. Presbytery granted the request and very soon afterward the congregation began official existence, and used the Methodist High School Iniilding. Dr. I'ressh- and cithers SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 517 gave them supplies until Rev. T. B. Stewart was or- dained and installed Nov. 19, 1887, and continued pas- tor till 1889, when the congregation was disorganized b}- removals. Rev. W. Y. Love began in March, 1896, monthly services, the Methodist church being generously tendered. Thirty-one names were sent to Presbytery September, and 28 members went into the organization Nov. 12, 1896. R. J. Willis and W. C. Patterson elders, and Walter Willis deacon. Rev. W. Y. Love, with characteristic promptness, set to work, raised $1,893.00, a comfortable and convenient church was completed and used first, Jan. 2nd, 1898, and dedicated Saturday night, March 19th following. On the 15th of May, 1898, Y. B. Smith and S. J. Brawley were ordained ruling elders, and S. J. Pressly, Robert M. Knox and Dr. James Young deacons. The congregation worshipped before organization in the Methodist church, and then in the Academy until the present handsome building was erected at a cost of $2,000.00. Rev. E. F. Grifiith labored as stated supply for about two years, beginning in Dec, 1898. Rev. R. C. Davidson is the present pastor, having been installed May 23, 1 90 1. .1/^. Bethel, Abbeville Co., S. C, organized 1847, There were seven members in 1853. It passed soon af- terward from the roll. Mt Caniiel, Marshall Co., Miss, is about eight miles south of Collierville, Tenn., on the Southern RR. and the same distance north of Victoria on the Frisco System. The first settlement was made in 1839 by emigrants from different parts of the country. It is thought they had a little preaching during the next two years by different ministers. An organization was effected August 2, 1842, by Rev. John Wilson of twenty-two (22) members. lohn Brown and Abner Carroll were elected elders. 5i8 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. During the years 1843-44-45 the congregation was vis- ited by a number of ministers from the Tennessee and the Second Presbyteries, and several famihes were re- ceived from Lincohi Co., Tenn., and from Alabama. Rev. James A. Sloan, probationer of the First Pres- bytery, visited them in the summer of 1845, and by re- quest was sent back in the fall, and was ordained and installed pastor during a meeting oi the Alabama Pres- bytery at this place, April 18, 1846. A new church was occupied first in May, 1848. 1852 was a year of dissension among the members and the church was seriously injured thereby. Rev. Sloan con- tinued as pastor until August, 1866, though it seems that for five years previous to that time he did not attend the meetings of Presbytery, and for four years he preached but little, and that for a number of years he engaged in no pastoral work. The church was supplied until Rev. R. L. Grier went there. He supplied the pulpit during 1870, was installed pastor latter part of 187 1, and demitted the charge in 1879. Rev. W. Y. Love served as supply during 1881 and 1882. The third church building, that which is now standing, was opened for service September, 1881. This building was remarkably preserved during a cyclone in the spring of 1899 which passed over it. Many of the large forest trees in the grove in which the church is situated were torn off or uprooted, but not so much as a glass was broken or shingle removed from the church building ! Rev. J- W. Baird ministered to this congregation in 189T-92, and Rev. R. S. Harris has been serving them for several years and is still in charge of the work there. Mount Ncho, Tcnn., organized l)y Rev. Thomas Turner, 1852, with six families and 13 members, paid that year to Missions $35, received occasional supplies from Revs. L. Turner. R. F. Ta\'lor and others of the SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 519 Georgia Presbytery, but passed from the roll durinq,- the wreck of reconstruction. Mt. Olivet, Bath Co., Ky., was probably organized by the Second A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania about 1796 or 7. Its first pastor was Rev. John Steele, who was in- stalled about 1799. Mt. Olivet was at that time a branch of Shiloh congregation and was so regarded by Presby- tery in 1803. The pastoral relation was dissolved Sept. 9th, 1803. A call was made out for Rev. Robt. H. Bishop and declined by him March 2y, 1804. It was supplied by Revs. David Risk, W. H. Rainey, Adam Rankin and Abraham Craig until Dec. 17th, 1824, when Rev. Hugh Mayne began preaching there. He was installed as pas- tor over Shiloh and Mt. Olivet and Flemingsburg, May 17th, 1826. The pastoral relation was dissolved in 1838. In 1841, Rev. Gilbert Gordon began preaching there. Dec. 16, 1842, the church formally connected with the Synod of the South, renouncing all connection with the Synod of the West. He was installed as pastor in the fall of 1843. The pastoral relation was dissolved Sept. loth, 1852. The Synod met here in 1853. It was now supplied by the Synod by J. H. Bryson, S. C. Boyce, J. G. Miller, W. J. and J. A. Lowry, A. S. Montgomery, J. A. Myers and probably others. The church was greatly weakened by prominent mem- bers leaving at the time of the Gordon defection in 1870. In 1 87 1 Rev. D. B. Pressly began preaching here, and was installed as pastor of Olivet and Hinkston May 12th, 1873. This relation was dissolved on account of Mr. Pressly 's failing health, Nov. i8th, 1886. Since that time it has had no pastor. For some years it was associated with Xcw Hope, but in 1901 was associated with Hinks- ton, and was supplied for one and a half years by Rev. J. L. Pressly up to Noveijiber, 1902. 520 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Among' the first elders were John Cunningham, Sr., and James Berry, Sr., and afterwards Wm. Marshall, Sr. At present J. B. Spratt is the only elder. The church has been much weakened by removals to other States and to other counties in this State. From 1830 to 1855 this was much the strongest A. R. P. Church in Kentucky, but now it is very much reduced, being the smallest numerically in the Presbytery. The first church building was a log house, about three- fourths of a mile south of the present building, and was built about 1800. The present building is a large well-built and neatly furnished brick building erected in 1829. It was re- paired in 1871, and again in 1902. It is about two miles southeast of Sharpsburg Post Office on the Sharpsburg & Owensville turnpike, and is in a good state of pres- ervation. The Berry family and others contributed liberally to the erection of a church in Louisville, Ky., in 1854 or 5. Mt. Paran, Tipton Co., Tcnn., was located about four miles west of Brighton, and probably more than seven miles northwest of Salem. It was organized by Rev. J. H. Strong Nov. 26, 1881, with 23 members, the most of whom perhaps were formerly members of Salem A. R. P. Church. J. M. McClerkin, John Craig and Tur- ner H. Sweat were chosen elders, and J. C. Moore and R. C. McClerkin deacons. It was generally supplied by the Rev. J. G. Miller until it united with Bloomington in forming the Brighton congregation, April 25, 1896. Mt. Vernon, SJiclby Co., Teiin., is supposed to have been a preaching place, but its location is now imknown. Mt. Zion, .Irk. — This church was an offshoot from the church in Monticcllo, being about 13 miles north of it. It was organized during the summer of 18^8 bv Rev. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 521 John Wilson, and at first called Providence. Imniigra- gants came in, mainly from Tipton Co., Tenn., and Chester Co., S. C, and the number of members in- creased rapidly. Rev. W. S. Moffatt supplied them a few months and an effort was made to secure his settlement as pastor. Rev. J- M. Brown bcg-an work here early in 1859, and was installed pastor in June of that year. He went into the Confederate Army in 1862 in company with quite a number of his members. Many of these never returned. During the pastor's absence the church was supplied, at least part of the time, by Revs. D. Kerr and A. Mayne. In 1867 Mr. Brown and almost the entire congregation connected with the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Mt. Zion, Mo.- — This was the first A. R. Presbyterian Church organized west of the Mississippi River. It was organized by Rev. Alexander Bowers of the Synod of the West August ist, 1834. The nucleus from which it had its beginning was formed by "Peter Galloway, a ruling elder in the Asso- ciate congregation of York District, S. C, in 1818, and Samuel Gladney and David Wilson, a ruling elder of the Associate Reformed congregation of Little River (Ebenezer.) Fairfield Dist., S. C, in 1820. James Finley, James Alexander and Alexander Reid, elders of the A. R. Pres. Church in Shelby Co., Ky., afterwards joined them." The first preaching they had was from the As- sociate Presbyterians, viz.. Revs. Adams, Carson, Ken- dell, Eagles, McLane, McCarroll and probably others. The elders in 1834, at its organization, were Alexander Reid, Sr.. James Alexander, Sr.. and James Finley. There were seven members received by certificate, and four by profession, making 1 1 at the organization. The first church building was near Auburn, and that fact gave it that name, until 1843, when the name was changed to Mt. Zion. 522 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. For six years they had no regular preacher, but only such temporary supplies of preaching as Synod sent them. Among these were Revs. David Blair, John McLane, Hugh Pooks, Turner, McNeil, Thompson and Samuel Finley. The subject of slavery was agitated so strongly that they became dissatisfied with a Northern connection and sought connection with the Synod of the South. The correspondence was conducted by James Finley. He secured the services of Rev. Robert McCoy, who preached for them two years, from June 26th, 1841. The name of this congregation appears on the roll of the A. R. Presbytery of Kentucky at its organization Dec. i6th, 1842, under the A. R. P. Synod of the South. At this meeting they petitioned for the moderation of a call. The petition was granted, and call was presented to the Presbytery Aug. 19th, 1843, fo^ the services of Rev. S. S. Ralston of the Tennessee Pres- bytery. Mr. Ralston began his labors as pastor on the last Sabbath of Nov., 1843. He preached for them one half time, the other half being taken by Buffalo, Mo., and Concord in Calaway Co., Mo. He demitted the Buffalo branch of his charge Nov. 26th, 185 1, and it is presumed Concord also at the same date, though he con- tinued as stated supply for several years longer at Buf- falo. His installation as pastor at Mt. Zion took place on May 30th, 1845. He asked for dissolution of this relation Sept. loth, 1859. It was granted Sept. 8th, i860, when he joined the U. P. Church. The brick church building now used by this congrega- tion was built in 185 1. The dedication sermon was preached bv Rev. S. S. Ralston on 3rd Sabbath of May, 1851. Rev. J. G. Miller immediately took charge of the church and continued as stated supply for fifteen years. From 1875 to 1882 it was supplied by Synod by Rev. F. Y. Prcssly. ]. L. Young, Wm. A. ^^'i]son and T- S. Mills. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 523 Rev. F. Y. Pressly was installed as pastor May 20th, 1882. He resigned the charge Sept. 13th, 1886. The church was now supplied by Rev. D. B. Pressly for two years to Sept. 24th, 1888, the date of his death. He was followed by Rev. B. H. Grier, who accepted a call from the congregation June 15th, 1889. This relation was dis- solved May 22nd, 1894. Rev. S. A. George was the next supply. He was followed by Rev. W. S. Castles, who was installed as pastor May i6th, 1896. He died Feb. i6th, 1897. He was followed by Rev. R. L. Grier as supply, who continued until Sept. 21st, 1899. He was immediately followed by Rev. H. Rabb, who continued as supply until May ist, 1903. The remainder of the year it was supplied by Rev. J. L. Pressly, who is the supply at present. Four ministers have been reared in this congregation, viz.. Revs. John \\\ Finley, Gilbert G. Wilson, Wm. B. Logan and P. B. Logan. The three last named are in connection with the U. P. Church. The most noted revival in the history of the congrega- tion was conducted by Rev. W. W. Orr in Nov., 1896, when 40 persons united with the church. The congregation has always been liberal and pays its assessments to the Mission Funds promptly. It main- tains a good Sunday School, Woman's Society and Young Peoples' Society. The congregation has a good parsonage well located. The membership of the church is 140. Monroe, Union Co., K. C. organizefl 1855 and sup- plied by the First Presbytery. A lot was bought and a small church built. Fithcr by some defect in the title or advantage taken the property passed into other hands and could not be recovered. Nashville. Davidson Co., Tenn., was a mission of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. The church 524 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. was organized there in 1855 by Rev. H. T. Sloan. Vari- ous brethren ministered to the flock there at different times. Among them is mentioned Revs. H. T. Sloan. H. Quigg, W. R. Hemphill, D. D., J. C. Chalmers, R. C. Gri^, D. D., J. A. Lowry. J. G. Miller, C. B. Betts and others probably. But the war came on and the church finally disintegrated and is now defunct. Neho, Cleveland Co., N. C, organized March 17, 1856, by division of Old Pisgah and located something over a mile to the northwest of Kings Mountain. Received sup- plies from Dr. E. E. Boyce till his resignation, Sept. 23, 1875. Again divided and disorganized to form Kings Mountain and Bethel, 1876. Wm. Weir, Thomas McGill, A. V. Falls, Samuel Har- mon, Alfred Ware and N. Kiser were ruling elders. A comfortable frame building was erected in 1856. This was sold and converted into a store in Kings Mountain and Ijurned in 1889. The land was sold. Keely's Creek, S. C. — The congregation of Neely's Creek was organized about 1790. On the 8tli of June. 1794, Rev. William Blackstock was settled as pastor of Steel Creek, Ebenezer and Neely's Creek. This relationship continued until 1804. The churches constituting the charge of Rev. Blackstock were rent by the McMullan-Dixon difficulty and Neely's Creek, ac- cording to Rev. R. Lathan, left the Associate Reformed Church and went into the Associate Presbytery. During its connection with the Associate Church, Neely's Creek was ministered to by Revs. William Dick- son, Abraham Anderson, D. D., Thomas Ketchin, John Mushat, A. Whyte, and supplies sent occasionally from the North. In August, 1847, Neely's Creek was organized as an Associate Reformed Church. On the 26th of July, 1849, Rev. R. F. Taylor was ordained and installed pastor of SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 525 Xeely's Creek. He served until 1851. In the fall of 1853 Rev. L. McDonald was installed as pastor for half time. Rev. McDonald continued as pastor until the fall of 1870. At a meeting of First Presbytery on 4th Sept., 1871, the united congregations of Neely's Creek and Union presented a call to Rev. C. B. Betts. H was installed on 3rd of Nov., 1 87 1. This pastorate ended in the fall of 1889. After a vacancy of three years Rev. D. G. Caldwell was installed as pastor. Rev. Caldwell resigned in 1894 and Rev. Oliver Johnson was ordained and installed Oct. 18, 1894. The first elders of Xeely's Creek were, Alex- ander Harberson, Sanuiel Lusk and Thos. Spencer. They were succeeded by Thomas W'ylie, John Campbell, William Campbell and Jackson Spencer. Since the or- ganization in 1847 the following persons have been in- ducted into the office of ruling elders in Xeely's Creek congregation : In 1847, Thos. Boyd, John Roddy, Wil- liam W)-lie and Samuel Wylie. In 1849, '"^- Templeton Black, David Roddy and Jonathan ]\IcFadden. In 1857, Matthew S. Lynn. In 1861, David C. Roddy. In 1868, D. T. Leslie and John T. Boyd. In 1874, J. R. Patton, \\\ W. White and A. J. Walker. The following constitute the eldership at the writing, 1903 : Rev. Oliver Johnson, pastor. Elders, D. T. Les- lie, W. Wliite, A. J. Walker, J. T. Ferguson, T. M. Allen, A\'. S. Leslie, G. A. Cjettys, W. S. Boyd, D. F. Leslie. A^ezv Hope, Lincoln Co., Tcini., was organized in 1850 by the Tennessee Presbytery. "One church building has been erected and it has given three ministers (known) to the world," but nothing else is known of its history till Nov. 2, 1893, when Rev. W. S. Castles was installed pastor over Xew Hope and Bethel. He demitted the united charge Sept. 29, 1894, and the next year New Hope and Bethel were consolidated in one church called Elk Vallev. 526 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. NEW HOPE, KY. Neiv Hope, Madison Co., Ky. — The organization was doubtless made under the auspices of the Second A. R. Presbytery of Pennsylvania. The Kentucky Presbytery was the result of a division of this Presbytery, and was organized Feb. nth, 1801. In the minutes of the first meeting of the Kentucky Presbytery on date named, it is said, "Petition was read praying supply of sermon from Madison." Rev. Adam Rankin was appointed to preach there. The written congregational records begin Oct. 30th, 1805, which was the date of the installation of the first pastor. Rev. Wm. H. Rainey. He continued as pastor twelve years, demitting his charge April i6th, 1817, Rev. Adam Rankin supplied the church from 1818 to 1826. From 1828 to 1831 Rev. James Walker was the stated supply. He was followed by Revs. A. Craig, Samuel Brown, Andrew Bower, Fulton, Finley, Colly, Hannon and others up to 1842. In Dec, 1842, the church changed its connection from the Synod of the West to the Synod of the South, with wliich it has ever since remained. In June, 1843, ^t was reorganized by Rev. G. Gordon, who continued as stated SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 527 supply to 1847. It was supplied for twelve years by Revs. N. M. Gordon, Lee, Patrick, Ranson, Bryson, Sloan, Robinson, Pressly, Miller and Boyce. Sept 10, 1859, Rev. S. C. Boyce was installed as pas- tor, which relation continued until May 12th, 1864. It was supplied by members of the Presbytery for three years. Then by Revs. J. L. Hemphill and J. A. i\Iyers up to 1870. Then Rev. W. R. Hemphill, D. D., for two years. Then Revs. G. R. White, J. S. A. Hunter and J. S. Mills up to 1881. Rev. W. O. Cochran was installed pastor Sept. i6th, 1881, and continued to Sept. 12th, 1884. From that date to the present time it has been sup- plied by the Board of Home Missions as follows : Revs. J. H. Peoples, R. M. Stevenson, R. Y. Mills, B. H. Grier, R. H. McAuley, D. G. Phillips, T. B. Stewart, W. S. Castles, J. M. White, W. A. M. Plaxco, J. H. Simpson, L. I. Echols and C. S. Young. Of these Revs. McAuley, Phillips, Stewart and White remained one year, and Mills and Plaxco two years and Echols and Young three years each. The last named, Rev. C. S. Young, began his work here in Jan., 1901. and still continues. This church has never had a minister for his full time, hav- ing always been associated with some other congregation. The elders in 1805 were Michael and Wm. Wallace, Alex. Mackey, Jacob Patton and James Cochran. In 1842 they were Robt. Cochran, Salem Wallace and John Moran. At present they are A. R. Guyn, W. A. Ander- son, O. T. and H. L. Wallace. The first church was built at Round Top previous to 1800. The second was completed in 1845 in the village of Point Lick, five miles from the former location, and the name was changed from "Point Lick and Silver Creek" to New Hope. It is a good brick building, nicely furnished inside. It was repaired, new roof, etc., in 1899 at a cost of $510.00. The parsonage was built in 1870 mainly by the contri- butions of Mrs. Ann I. Wallace and John Campbell. 528 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The former also gave 20 acres of land to it in addition to two thousand dollars to keep up repairs and for "pas- tor's salary." She also gave $15,000 to the permanent Endowment Fund of Erskine College, and $3,000 to the temporary endowment. This church has furnished two clerks to the Presbytery, viz., W. A. Anderson from 1870 to 1896 and O. T. Wallace from 1896 to the present. It has also furnished one missionary to Mexico, Miss Fannie L. Wallace, who went out in Dec, 1900, and fell at the post of duty in Tampico, Mexico, from yellow fever, Nov. 16, 1902. There is a successful Ladies' Missionary Society, a Sun- day School and weekly prayer meetings kept up. Rev. W. W. Orr conducted a successful meeting here in April, 1897, from which there were 26 additions to the church. The Synod met here in 1890. vY^zy Hope, Georgia, was organized by Rev. C. E. Todd during his pastorate at Doraville. It was organ- ized by the Second Presbytery. It has been regularly supplied by the following pastors or stated supplies : Rev. C. E. Todd, Rev. R. E. Patterson, Rev. H. Rabb, Rev. J. A'. Black and Rev. T. B. Stewart and Rev. E. E. Strong. The last named was installed pastor August 22nd, 1902. They still occupy their first church building. Rev. L. I. Echols conducted a very interesting revival meeting there in 1903. Seventeen persons made a pro- fession of faith. Nezv Hope, S. C- — New Hope church is situated in the northern part of Fairfield County, S. C, and is one of the oldest and best churches. It was origin- ally a part of Hopewell church, in Chester County. For many years before its organization, there was a preaching stand in the community called "Kerney- ham's," after the name of an individual at or near whose house preaching was held. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATION'S 529 It was formally organized on Sept. 19th, 1796, and was supplied by Revs. Blackstocks, Aiushat and Hemphill. Rev. John Hemphill was the first pastor, and was in- stalled Sept. 19th, 1796, in connection with Hopewell and Union. Air. Hemphill preached at New Hope one-third of his time, and continued pastor until his death, May 20th, 1832. He was succeeded by Rev. James Boyce, who was installed in connection with the Brick Church in Dec, 1832. Dr. Boyce preached one-half time at New Hope until he demitted his charge of the Brick Church in 1843, ^"^ thereafter he gave all his time to New Hope until he was called, in 1870, to the Presidency of Erskine Semi- nary, at Due West, S. C. For thirty-seven years Dr. Boyce was the pastor of this church. Rev. L. McDonald was installed pastor in May, 1871, and continued pastor until his death, March 26th, 1874. Rev. R. G. Aliller was installed in 1874, and continued until 1886. Rev. H. B. Blakely was installed Oct. 19th, 1887, and continued until 1890. Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick was installed Aug. 14th, 1891, and continued until 1896. Rev. J. E. Johnston was installed Alay 8th, 1897, and continued until Jan., 1900. The congregation has erected three church buildings. The first about 1790, the second about 1830, and the present large and handsome church was built in 1886. This congregation has given to the church seven min- isters, and one female missionary to Mexico. In all its history it has been known as one of the most liberal and progressive churches of the Synod. Its membership has been composed of pious and cultured people, and people who have always taken a great interest in education. Many of its men and women have received a collegiate education and are now filling many high places in the professional world. In recent years the congregation has been very much 34 ' ' 530 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. weakened by deaths and removals, and since 1900, it has not had a pastor. Nezv Hope. — This church is situated near the N. E. corner of Izard Co., Ark. Some of the members of Prosperity Hved here, 10 miles or more from the church. Among these were the Gaults, Montgomerys, Vaughans, and others. Rev. S. P. Davis, by order of Synod of 1870, came to labor in this field. He organized New Hope, April 8, 1871, with 30 members. W. A. Gault, J. R. Vaughan and J. F. Wilson were elected elders. Mr. Davis supplied this church in 1872 also. About this time they put up their first house of worship — a log struc- ture. Rev. J. C. McDonald began his labors here, Nov. 10, 1872, and was installed pastor of New Hope and Prosperity, Oct. 10, 1874. He made his home in New Hope congregation, having- "homesteaded" a piece of land and built a house on it, not far from the church. He was their pastor until 1881, and stated supply much of the time until 1888, also 189 1-5. Revs. W. L. and R. E. Patterson, S. P. Davis, D. W. Reid and E. E. Pressly supplied New Hope and Prosperity a few months each during these years. Rev. W. S. Mofifatt supplied, 1888- 90. During this time they erected a neat frame church, costing $500 or $600, a mile or more from where the old church stood. Rev. M. P. Ellis came to them in August, 1895, and Feb. i, 1896, was installed pastor of New Hope and Prosperity, each getting half of his time. New Hope had 45 members at that time. This has been a happy set- tlement, and the church has prospered notwithstanding the fact that they have lost some prominent members by death. Among these may be mentioned Mr. W. A. Gault, who was conspicuous both in piety and zeal, and an ac- knowledged leader and efficient worker. They report about 70 members. They maintain a fine S. S., a L. B. S. and Y. P. C. U. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 531 A>w Hope, Gaston Co., N. C. — Dr. Lathan says:* "The first settlers of the region of country in which Pis- gah is situated were Scotch-Irish, who first settled near Gettysburg-, Pa. From that point they came to what was then Tryon County. Aug. i, 1775, people from this county petitioned the Associate Presbytery of Pa., and Rev. James Martin, just arrived from Ireland, was sent. He was followed by Rev. Andrew Patton and Dr. Thomas Clark and doubtless others. After the victory of King's Mountain, in which some of them doubtless participated. Rev. John Jamieson, Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D., and others visited here in connection with the other forty societies of Covenanters and A. R. Presbyte- rians from Virginia to Georgia, numbering some two thousand. These, or many of them, without compromise changed the name of its congregation and location and now reappear in the fruitful mother — Pisgah, and her fair daughters. Her organization was j^rior to i7<)o. NEW LEB.\NU.\', W . VA. i\'c7c Lebanon. Monroe Co.. JFesf I'a. — Manv Asso- ciate Presbyterians settled the fertile and beautiful val- ley of \irginia before the Revolution. They sought supplies from the Presl)vterv of Pennsvlvania and Char- 53^ SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. tiers. Rev. John Cree most probably preached here oc- casionally from 1 795- 1 803, as that year he was called, but declined. A log church was early constructed on the grounds now enclosed by Old Lebanon cemetery. The Presbytery of Big Spring, A. R. P., in the spring of 1806, received a society at the Sinks, in jNIonroe Co., \'a. Dr. Scouller says, "The petition was signed by two ruling- eldrrs and other members accompanied by a liberal subscription signed by sevent3^-five heads of families and thirty other persons. These came from an old organized church, which had trustees and elders and more than a 100 members." Rev. Wm. Adair, having supplied for some time, ac- cepted a call, April 7, 1807, but was never installed. This relation ceased Nov. 22, 1813. Robt. Patton, grand- father of Gov. R. M. Patton, of Alabama, a Mr. Nickell, Andrew Ballentine, Andrew Miller, Jas. Miller, Jas. Alexander, John Cattle, Thomas Boyd were elders. The building of the Brick Church and their return to the Associate Church occurred about 1819. About the time they are craving Synod for a pastor, Rev. John Wallace, a young Irish licentiate, embarks, walks the gang plank at Philadelphia, journeys here and is ordained and in- stalled June 28, 1824. He resigned March 23, 1832. Early after licensure in Oct., 1835, Rev. James Dickson began preaching here and remained two years, declining a call Jan. 9, 1837, at a salary of $300 for three-fourths time. The next six years was a dark period. Occasional supplies were given by Dr. Jas. Patterson, Rev. Samuel McLean, Dr. H. Thompson, Rev. John Patrick and oth- ers. Rev. L G. McLaughlin preached his first sermon here July 21, 1844, ^"d was ordained and installed pastor Aug. 4, 1845. Richard Dickson, Michael Beamer, G. W. Nickell w^ere elders. In May or June, 1849, there was an accession of some 57. Rev. McLaughlin demitted May, 1856. Rev. A. B. Beamer, Dr. R. Lathan, Rev. M. Oates and Rev. John SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 533 Simpson ministered in holy things till the fall of Fort Sumter, April, 1861. Rev. J. H. Peoples escaped through the lines of the war in Aug., 1863, and spent three Sab- baths. After the war clouds, Dr. W. ]\1. McElwee spent two Sabbaths here, Aug., 1865, and he and Dr. H. Thompson held a meeting of Presbytery, June, 1866, and ordained R. A. Patton elder. Rev. J. H. Peoples spent t\\^ Sabbaths, beginning July 22, 1866, and closely fol- lowing. Rev. L. ]\IcDonald three. Rev. J. H. Simpson resumed work June 2, 1867, and continued supplying till his installation, Aug. 28, 1869, at Salem Presbyterian Church, Lebanon being torn down with the purpose of being built at the present site. The last sermon was preached at the brick church, Aug. 15th, 1869; the new church was dedicated Nov. 6, 1870. E. F. Patton, J. H. Crawford, B. F. Beamer, J. H. Bal- lentine, R. A. Boyd, J. F. Cook have served as elders while Newton Dickson, B. F. Hogshead, J. E. Hogs- head, R. O. Patton and J. E. Crawford and G. R. Wil- liams constitute the present session. Rev. Simpson re- signed Oct. 3, 1891. Fie was followed by Rev. J. H. ]\Ioffatt about Dec. i, 1891. whose bright prospects were suddenly clouded by his renouncing the Protestant re- ligion in the summer of 1895. Rev. E. E. Patterson be- gan labors in the early summer of 1896, and closed his work Dec. 15, 1897. From July, 1898, to Nov., Revs. R. C. Davidson and J. W. McCain supplied and Dec. 18, 1898, Rev. W. M. Hunter began his ministry as stated supply and still continues The Auxiliaries, especially the Ladies' Society, Young Ladies' organization and Ju- nior Christian Union, bear liberally the financial obliga- tions of the congregation. It also has a handsome manse near the church. Nezc Perth. Iredell Co., A". C. — Organized before 1790, possibly as a result of the labors of Dr. Thomas Clark, 534 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Rev. John Jamieson and others. From organization to 1811, she was Hnked with and made the same effort for supphes and pastoral relation as Rocky Springs and New Stirling". In 1803 there were 32 families. Rev. Wm. Blackstocks was stated supply from 1804 to 181 1. The organization of Cambridge, Associate, out of her membership, weakened her awhile, but she being supplied, grew stronger as the Associate Presbytery was bereft of her ministry by removal, and saw her teacher in the young and faithful Rev. J. G. Witherspoon ordained and installed Aug. 20, 1834. His early and lamented death, Jan. 6, 1846, terminated this pastorate. During his min- istry, the happy union between the Associate and the As- sociate Reformed Church occurred here April 16, 1844. Some four years after this vacancy, there came a brainy South Carolina licentiate, nervy, fiery and eloquent, but fine goods put up in a small package. "Jury, look upon the preacher." "Preacher, look upon the jury." "Like him" "Yes." Feb. 12, 185 1, began a thirty-five years' ministry, laborious and long, faithful and fertile. In i860, R. White, J. Young, J. H. Cavin, Geo. White, John A. White and W. S. Brown were elders. In 1863, John Davidson, R. S. Brown, S. F. Jones and Ephraim Scroggs. Dr. J. E. Pressly's able pastorate, ending April 13, 1886, Rev. T. B. Stewart was ordained and installed Nov. 19, 1887, and his pastorate closed April 7, 1801. During this the third building was erected, a large and commodi- ous house. Rev. W. Y. Love was installed Jan., 1802, and demitted Oct. 30, 1900. Rev. E. F. Griffith began labor Nov. 25, 1900, and was installed May 27 following. He continues with this teachable and minister-reverenc- ing people. Present ruling elders : Alexander Clark, W. A. Suther, J. M. Hethcox, N. W. Johnson. AvTC Stirliiiij!;, Iredell Co., A^ C. — About 1775. in Octo- ber, when the messengers of war were ravasjino-, a min- SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 535 NEW STIRLING, N. C. ister of peace was riding- into that section known as Fourth Creek. For something Hke a year this ambassa- dor, Jas. Martin, itinerated in Mecklenburg, Gaston and Iredell Counties, N. C. At a meeting of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, Oct. i6th, 1776, there came "two petitions from 4th Creek in N. Carolina, craving the settlement of Mr. Martin among them." This call Pres- bytery did not sustain, because of inadequate support. May 7th, 1777, they renewed their request, and Rev. Andrew Patton was sent that summer. For a year or two, during the ravages of the Revolution, now trans- ferred South, there was great destitution. Rev. John Hemphill was licensed May 27, 1794, and soon after- ward started on a tour South ; visited and preached here, as he was called May 27, 1795. but declined. New Stirl- ing was organized before Feb. 24, 1790. Rev. \\m. Blackstocks was stated sup])ly from 1804 to 181 1. Some time before the close of his ministry, a portion of the congregation joined the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas. and organizing at the present site. Rev. John Mushat, late in 181 1. was installed. This brilliant ministrv that i^-omised so nmch became entangled with the affairs of this world, and ended far from exjKCtation, Tan.. i82v 536 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The present house was built in 1834; Hiram Morrison was arehitect. It was ceiled in Dr. JMillen's ministry, lengthened 16 feet in 1862, and overhauled and painted in 1887. Robt. Hogstan, Wm. Morrison, Colin Camp- bell, Jas. and David Alexander, Wm. McLeod, Forgus and Jas. Milligan, Michael Flack, John Scott, Geo. Gor- don, John McLean, Alex. Matheson, Jas. McDaniel, Thomas Morrison, Jas. McKay, John Moore and Wm. Miller were elders. Rev. Thomas Wilson and Jas. P. Ramsay were sent south in the winter of '33 and summer of "34, and doubtless preached here. This was a dark period. The Presbytery was greatly reduced by the re- moval of her ministry North. Notwithstanding this, in 1835, "Cambridge and New Stirling, N. C, have made arrangements for taking the whole time of a special mis- sionary from Synod." The Associate Synod, May 30, 1840, suspended Revs. H. Thompson and Archibald Whyte because they declined their authority, and sent Rev. T. S. Kendall to all the Associate churches South, in order to reconcile them to their resolutions on slavery. He visited this church in 1840. After sermon at Smyrna, Chester Co., S. C, he was taken to White Oak, Fairfield Co., and humiliated. This unrighteous act severed al! connection with the Associate Synod. Rev. John Patrick was licensed 1841. and frequently preached here. Dr. S. C. Millen, this church becoming a part of the First Presbytery, April 16, 1844, was in- stalled pastor Nov. 8th, 1847, preaching his first sermon as S. S. first Sabbath of November, 1846, and resigned Sept. 9, 1853. PTenry McLain, John Scroggs, Robert McKay, John Reynolds, A. M. AA'alkcr, Leander Alex- ander, Hiram Scroggs and Col. J. ?>. White ruling elders, 1847. Rev. W. B. Pressly was ordained and installed Nov. 9, 1855, and dcmitted .\pril 8th, 1878. J. Alston Davidson, Henry F. Hunter, J. M. Lewis, D. M. Moore and Milas Bradv, elders. Rev. W. M. Hunter was installed Sept. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 537 20, 1878, and demitted Oct 2nd, 1888. I. A. Johnson and John Miller were added to session. Rev. J. C. Boyd was pastor, June, '91-Xov. i, '99. In the early fall of '91, there was a gracious revival under Dr. W. W. Orr, with 99 additions. Rev. E. F. Griffith, now residing in their comfortable parsonage, was installed May 27, 1901, hav- ing begun labor Nov. 25th preceding. J. F. Moore, J. F. Stewart, W. F. Pressly, J. A. Pope, J. S. Moore and E. A. Morrison, present session. A. M. White, H. G. Mor- rison, J. M. Miller and R. L. Bradford are deacons. John McLean, about 1876, left a legacy for pastors' salary of $1,800.00. New Stirling is the mother of churches — Amity, Elk Shoal, Statesville, Hiddenite and Taylorsville. Elk Shoal Academy from '66-'76 did a good work for the cause of education, and in preparing young men for the ministry. Ruling elder. Col. J. P. White, was hospitable in his home, wise in counsel, guarded in speech, a prince in prayer, a loyal lover of his church, and a frequent, influential member of her judica- tories. Drs. G. R. White and R. G. Miller, and Revs. J. M. McEain and Leon T. Pressly are sons of this church. Nob Creek, Cleveland Co., N. C. — Appears on the roll of the Second Presbytery at her organization, April 8tli, 1801, asking supply. Revs. Wm. Dixon and James Ma- gill were sent that year, and Revs. Peter IMcAIullen and Robert Irwin also gave them a few Sabbaths the next year. Rev. Isaac Grier visited them in Sept. About this time Nob Creek, in connection with the stations of Little Britain and Duncan's Creek, were attached to and sup- plied by the First Presbytery. Doubtless Rev. ^^'m. Dixon ministered at long and hungry intervals, as this vacancv came into the Associate Presbytery. Rev. Thomas Kctchen's first sermon in the Carolinas was preached here possibly in the spring of 1821, as was his last, and for a time his burial place. 538 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Rev. Joseph Banks, possibly about 1829, began preach- ing here. He was subsequently called, in connection with Pisgah, N. C, and Bethany and Sardis, S. C, and though ordained with the view of a pastoral settlement he was never installed. He continued as stated supply till early in the fall of 1833. In 1840, there were 11 fam- ilies and 20 members. The Boggs family were loyal and strong supporters. Dr. E. E. Boyce and other members of the First Presbytery, administered there the word of life. The congregation has long been without officers, but remained a preaching station till about 1876. OLD PKOVIDENCE, VA. Old Providence, Augusta Co., Va. — Very early after the organization of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsyl- vania, many in this valley sought of her supplies. A peti- tion was sent Oct. 12, 1762, from Augusta, Va. Revs. Wm. Marshall and James Martin visited them in 1775 and 1776; Revs. John Murray in the winter and Andrew Pat- ton in the summer of 1777; Revs. John Smith, Aug., 1778, and Jas. Clarkson, summer 1780. A petition, Oct. 10, 1780, from Tinkling Spring, Augusta Co., Va.. "crav- ing supply and the ordination of elders." Delayed for the next two years, as were all the \'irginia petitions, be- SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 539 cause of the war raging in those parts. Rev. John Smith is to write "directing them to a suitable exercise in their present state of trial." The congregation entered the union of 1782, and united with Timber Ridge, 1783, in calling Rev. John Rodgers, M. D. "These churches had evidently existed for some time as they had acquired per- manence and strength sufficient for the support of a min- ister."— Dr. Scouller. This antedated the introduction of Watt's Psalms and Hymns, 1789, which could not have occasioned her organization. Doubtless there was secession at that marked and far-reaching innovation, but the defenders of the inspired Psalmody found a congenial home in old Providence. New^ Providence built their first church near a fort, to protect them from the Indians, and at, or near, present site of Old Providence. This or some other shelter was used by the congregation under review. Patrick Hall, the grandfather of Cyrus McCor- mick, of reaper fame, deeded the land, Oct. 15th, 1793, to Trustees Jas. McChesney, Geo. Campbell and others, on which was built, 1793, the Stone Church, and was very zealous and liberal in erecting the house. About this time, Aug. 20, 1792, there was ordained and installed their second pastor. Rev. John Young. Dr. John Rodgers having been suspended in 1790, his pastoral relation ceased. Among the oldest elders were James !McClung, Hugh Brownlee, Samuel Carson, Elijah Carson, James Rowan, Robt. ^IcCormick. Robert Harris, Jno. Harris, John McCutcheon, Jas. ]\IcChesney. Rev. John Young, an able and learned minister, resigned in the summer of 1799. ^^^ the organization of the General Synod this congregation was attached to the Big Spring Presby- tery. There were then 158 members. Rev. Wm. Adair, of Irish Rebellion Romance, was ordained and accepted a call April 7, 1807, but not installed. He ceased his labors here .April 19, 1809. "because of the hundred miles, three mountains and six rivers" that intervened lietwcen 540 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. this and Lebanon, West Va. Occasional supplies were sent for a number of years. Rev. Jas Brown, of Tyrone, Ireland, was stated supply about two years, ending in 1822. In 1827, Old Providence joined the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas. Wm. McCormick and Rob- ert Carson were in 1826 ordained ruling elders. There came South a New Yorker and faced a people in Dec, 1828, destined to be his life long pastorate. He was called Aug. 3rd, 1833, and ordained and installed March, 1834, for one-third time, Ebenezer and Timber Ridge taking the remainder. During Rev. H. Thompson's min- istry, April 16, 1844, this church, together with all the Associate Presbyterians of Virginia, came into connec- tion with the First Presbytery A. R. P. Synod of the South. In the first cemetery stands a marble monument to the memory of Robert McCormick, who died July 4th, 1846. He and wife were for a time members and all their chil- dren were baptized in the stone church, including Cyrus H. McCormick.] The coping on the stone wall of the cemetery was donated by this family at an expense of some $1,300. The present brick building was completed in 1859, at a cost of $2,754.00. Elder J. H. Callison was specially zealous and active in the work, and Elijah Carson gave the largest contribution, $500.00, and the largest propor- tion of the site. Dr. Thompson's semi-centennial of his first sermon was celebrated May 17, 1880. Very soon afterward he began to ask for an assistant. Feb. 6, 1881, Rev. S. W. Haddon, a young licentiate, began his minis- try in this capacity. Dr. Thompson's death at a full age, like "as a shock of corn cometh in in his season," May 6th, 1882, opened the way for the young brother to be installed April 19th, 1883. He is still pastor and the church is growing under his administration. Old Providence is noted for her generous and enter- prising people. Among them was James Carson, who SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 541 willed $1,000 to Erskine College, Jas. H. Callison and Wm. Lusk. Two of the oldest active elders are N. D. McCormick and A. G. Brown. The former gave two sons to the ministry, Revs. J. C. and C. D. McCormick. Times of refreshing came, 1889, under Dr. W. W. Orr, when 59, and in 1892 under Revs. E. F. Griffith and W. A. ]\I. Plaxco, when 29, and 1898 under Rev. J. S. Moffatt, when 17 professed conversion. The X'alley High School, using the old Stone Church, was organized under the auspices of Old Providence in 1887. The school has done a good work. A large and comfortable parsonage was erected in 1886, at a cost of $2,000. Olivet, S. C. — Olivet church was situated in York Co., S. C, near where the town of [NlcConnellsville now is. It was organized by the First Presbytery in 1843, although there was preaching there before that time. Rev. R. A. Ross, D. D., was installed pastor in 1843. Dr. Ross had charge of Olivet in connection with Sharon and Smyrna, and the joint service of installation was held at Sharon on Dec. 6th, 1843. It seems that the church building there was for the con- venience of the different denominations living in the vicinity, and many of the friends and supporters of the congregation, and who attended on Dr. Ross' ministry were not members of the A. R. Church. Dr. Ross con- tinued to preach there until after the Civil War. The w-ar and its results fell very heavily on that community, and after the war the few remaining told Dr. Ross that they were obliged to let him discontinue preaching there. The members were absorbed in the surrounding churches, and it ceased to be an A. R. church. , Oothcaloga, (Cass) nozi' Bartozc Co., Ga. — Rev. D. C. Haslet, pastor Jan. 27, '44- April 10, '46, was visited oc- casionally by Revs. A. McElroy and Thomas Turner, 542 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. and passed from the roll in the early stages of the Civil War. Orleans. Citrus Co., Fla. — This church was organized by Rev. C. S. Young, Jan. 27, 1886, with twelve mem- bers, in a school building at Arlington, five miles north of Orleans. Another branch of the same congregation was organized May, 1888, at Orleans, with 14 members. The elders were M. B. Van Ness and M. D. Bell and I. W. Ogle. Rev. C. S. Young was the only preacher the congrega- tion ever had He continued the work with more or less interruption until Jan., 1901, when he removed to Ken- tucky. The school building at Arlington was used for preach- ing until 1895, when it changed to Hernando, a new R. R. town, two miles further North. The entire member- ship never exceeded 22 in this branch of the work . x-\t Orleans the school building was used until 1890, when the new church began to be used. The first sermon was preached in it by Rev. J. N. Young-, April 6th, 1890. The church, however, was not completed until the fol- lowing year. The dedication sermon was preached by Rev. E. P. McClintock, April 17th, 1892. The entire membership in this branch of the work never exceeded 25, making a total of 45 members. The purpose in the organization in Florida, was to collect in one place and form an A. R. Presbyterian con- gregation of people of that faith and practice who desired to locate in that State. But it was found to be impracti- cable, if not impossible, to concentrate them at any one point, and make a permanent location. The changes in the climate, by which their orange groves were killed, and the discovery of Phosphate de- posits, which brought in large numbers of undesirable laborers, caused the people to seek other locations, — most of them movine to other States. The work was aban- SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 543 doned and the church property sold in 1900, by order of Second Presbytery. The church furniture was shipped to CHnton, S. C, to be used in the new church there. The church building was sold and the money paid to Church Extension Fund. Orrvillc, Ala. — Was organized by Rev. J. A. Lowry, in August, 1889, by the authority of the Tennessee and Ala- bama Presbytery. Its membership was originally made up from Prosperity, Ala. It has had but two pastors, Rev. J. A. Lowry, who was installed, it is supposed, soon after the organization and continued up to the time of his death, April 6, 1898 ; he was succeeded by Rev. W. A. Blakely. who was installed May 21, 1900, and this rela- tion still exists. About one-fourth of his time is given to this field. Orrville has had but one church building, erected, prob- ably, soon after the organization. Patton's Vale, Buncombe Co., N. C. — Was organized prior to 18 19, by Associate Presbytery Carolinas, and disappeared about 1822. This with French Broad and Head of Catawba, had in 1819, 50 families. 74 members and 103 catecumens. Patterson's Mills, JVashington Co., Pa. — There were some in this section who were opposed to the policy of the government in the prosecution of the war. Feeling grieved by their treatment, they applied to Rev. W. M. McElwee, pastor of Ebenezer A. R. church. Rockbridge Co., Va.. He visited and organized this congregation a short time after the close of the Civil War. Mr. Wm. J. Patterson was a prominent elder and a delegate to Synod in 1868. Rev. J. A. Myers began labors in the summer of 1870, and was installed pastor in the spring of 1871. He resigned in 1881. in anticipation of this congregation returning to the United Presbyterian church, which it did May 30, 1881. 544 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Piedmont, Macon Co., N. C. — It was situated near Franklin, the county seat, and was organized about 1825, by the Associate Presbytery of the CaroHnas, and sup- pHed by this body. In 1840, there were seven famihes and 15 members. Rev. John Patrick visited them in 1846 but found them disorganized. Perry's Church, Lancaster Co., S. C. — -Perry's Church, in Lancaster Co., S. C, ws supplied by Rev. Thos. Ketchin as early as 1840, and appears on the roll as a vacancy in 1843. The minutes of the First Presbytery show that it was supplied with preaching with some regularity until about 186 1, when it disappears from the roll. Philadelphia, Fla. — When Rev. J. C. Chalmers reor- ganized Pleasant Grove, Decatur Co., Ga., "thirteen of those who entered this organization were formerly in communion at the Old Philadelphia church, Fla." Some time before '2,7 organized. Rev. J. McCreary found ten families in area 25 miles, and preached Dec, '38. Rev. J. C. Chalmers in '39. Pine Barren, Wilcox Co., Ala. — Appears on the roll of 1830 as a vacancy of the Second Presbytery. When it ceased to exist we do not know. Pine Log, (Cass) nozv Bartozv Co., Ga. — On the roll, '43, a small vacancy, supplied by Georgia Presbytery. Pin Oak, in Milam Co., Te.vas. — Was organized by R V. J. M. Little, July 8, 1889, with ten members. They united with Cedar Creek in 1893 in forming the church at Milano. Pisgah, Gaston Co., N. C. — "The people who first set- tled this region came from near Gettysburg, Pa. They were all Scotch-Irish, who had left Scotland that they SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 545 PISGAH, N. C. might enjoy the privilege of worshippjng God in accord- ance with the teachings of the Scriptures. From Ireland they came, or rather fled, to x\merica. They had been but a short time in America until they incurred the last- ing resentment of the red man. From the savage at- tacks of the red man they fled from Pennsylvania to the hills of Gaston and Cleveland counties, N. C. The set- tlement in the region of Pisgah Church was begun about 1750. These early settlers were joined previous to the Revolutionary War by other families, some direct from Ireland, and some from Ireland, by way of Pennsylvania. It was not, perhaps, until after the close of the Revolu- tionary War that these early pioneers organized them- selves into a church." In the regions of King's Moun- tain, where patriotism so successfully contested for civil liberty in 1780, religious liberty too had her triumphs. Prior to 1793, all the Presbyterians in that section wor- shipped either at Bcersheba, York Co., S. C, or at Long Creek, Lincoln Co., N. C. The introduction of human composition in the worship of God was such a marked innovation that a respectable minority sought as their only hope connection with the Associate Reformed Pres- bvterv. Andrew Furgeson and John Miller arc therefore 35 546 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. commissioned to a meeting of this body on Black River, S. C. In response, Rev. James Rogers first visited the Psahii-singing members at Beersheba. The following were active in attempting to keep God's word sung in God's house : Francis Henry, William McElwee, Sr., his sons, John and William, William Hen- ry, Alexander Henry, James Henry, James Crawford, Wm. Crawford, Francis Rea, James Dunn and Joseph Carroll. These worshipped for some two years at the head of Crowder's Creek, on the south base of the pin- nacle of King's Mountain in N. C, on the Furgeson place. A small log house was erected. This church united with Sharon and Carmel, York Co., S. C, and called Rev. William Dixon, who was ordained and in- stalled June 5th, 1797. This log church about that time became the mother of two daughters, named Bethany and Pisgah, the mother giving up her life at their birth. Bethany, about 1796, erected a stand on the present lo- cation. Pisgah, a twin daughter, selected a spot about four miles east of the town of King's Mountain. The first burial was Jean Blackwood, who died March 11, 1797. The deed was made Feb. 2, 1801, and signed in the presence of John Kennedy, Jr., John Venables, Rob- ert Adams and Gilbreath Falls. Trustees : James Black- wood, Thomas Blackwood, John Falls, James Falls, John Oates, James Furgeson, Samuel Blackwood and Thomas Dickson. Ten acres were deeded for $28.50, while they or any part of them adhered to the Westminster Confes- sion of Faith. About 1803, this congregation, with the pastor. Rev. William Dixon, left the A. R. Presbytery and helped or- ganize the Associate Presbytery of the CaroHnas. In 1819 his whole charge had 150 families and 350 mem- bers. After a long and useful ministry, he resigned Pis- gah with the other churches March 26th, 1828. About this time, Sharon, being detached to f(^rm a part of Dr. W. M. McElwee's charge, Rev. Joseph Banks was SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 547 called March 20, 1830, to Bethany and Sardis, S. C, and Xob Creek and Pisgah, X. C, four churches in four counties and two States. Ordained by Carolinas Presby- tery, Oct. 15th. 1 83 1, with a view to installation, which for some reason did not occur, and removed in the early fall of 1833, having served as stated supply some three years. Soon afterwards this congregation, with a num- ber of others in that region, returned to the Associate Re- formed Church. They were supplied by the First Pres- bytery till Rev. R. C. Grier was ordained and installed pastor June i, 1841, and remained till Dec. 2nd, 1847, when his Synod called him to preside over Erskine Col- lege. Rev. E. E. Boyce was ordained and installed pas- tor June 28th, 1849. Increasing in ability and numbers, two congregations were formed Sept. 6, 1855, one taking the name of X^ebo, some distance X'. ^^^ of King's Moun- tain, the other retaining the name and locating at the present site. Dr. E. E. Boyce demitted Sept. 25th, 1893, to take effect last Sabbath of the year. It was happily ar- ranged that the eloquent and earnest Dr. J. C. Galloway had been secured to succeed the first Sabbath of the next year, his installation taking place March 17, 1894. and his demission Jan. i, 1901. Rev. A. T. Lindsay, the present pastor, was ordained and installed Sept. 27, 1901. Pis- gah has handsomely entertained Synod twice, 1872 and 1902, a privilege rarely accorded in these latter times. Pleasant Groz'c, Decatur Co , Za. — Southwestern Geor- gia and Xorthwestem Florida was visited about 1830 by Rev. J. L. Pressly. Revs. J. M. McCreary spent two Sabbaths in May. "37 ; J. C. Chalmers a while, '39 ; J. S. Pressly, three Sabbaths. Jan.. "42. A church was organ- ized by one of these or some other. Rev. J. C. Chalmers reorganized it, Dec, '44, and spent 1 1 weeks in that re- gion. Revs. D. F. TIaddon, D. P. Robinson, J. S. Pressly and J. T Bonner supplied for a short time each. Rev. A. 548 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. ]\IcElroy was pastor May i, 1847, fall — 1858. Rev. M. Oates was supply Oct., '60, -Oct., "61, and received $372. J. Gibson, D. McGinnis and Geo. Boyce were ruling el- ders, Thomas Wighams a prominent member. Passed into the Southern Presbyterian Church after the Civil War, with the distinct understanding that the inspired Psalmody should not be disturbed while one member de- sired it. Mrs. R. G. Chestnut remains that one. Pleasant Hill, Obion Co., Tenii. — Located six miles east of Troy, and two miles west of Rives, has been a place of preaching from an early day in the history of this country. A union church was built here, and for many years a monthly appointment was filled by the pastor of the Associate Reformed church at Troy. The organization of an Associate Reformed Presbyte- rian church was formed there by Rev. T. P. Pressly, November i8th, 1882, with 13 members. E. A. McCaw, T. B. MofTatt and J. H. McCaw were elected Elders. Reg- ular services were continued at this place until the con- gregation decided to build at Rives, and to move the organization to that place. This was consummated, the church at Rives being dedicated in January, 1888, and services discontinued at Pleasant Hill. (See sketch of Rives, Tenn., for further history.) Pleasant Hill. — Pleasant Hill church is situated in Lan- caster Co., S. C, and is on the Southern Railway, be- tween Lancaster and Camden. It was organized by the First Presbytery in Dec, 1899. Previous to its organiza- tion. Revs. W. C. Ewart and J. L. Oates preached there \ occasionally and through their efforts the church was organized. The church building at Buford Monument was taken down and removed to this place. Rev. J. L. Oates supplied the church from its organiza- tion until March, 1900. Rev. J. M. White supplied the church from May, 1900, SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 549 until he was installed pastor in October of the same year. Mr. White is still pastor. The elders of the church are S. Beckham, W. A. Marshall, and R. M. Kirk, and the deacons are J- M- Caskey. John K. Beckham, and W. S. Kirk. Pleasant Plains, Lincoln Co., Tenn. — Is the original name of Blanche, to which the reader is referred. Pleasant ]^ alley. — Nothing is known of this place. Nothing in the records of Presbytery to indicate that it was an organization. It is presumed it was for a period of time a preaching point, but who preached there, and when, and even its location is unknown. Point Pleasant. — West Virginia became under the pas- toral charge of Rev. J. A. Myers, from about 1872 to 1 88 1, when she returned to the United Presbyterian Church. Polk A. R. Church. — Is a station on the Illinois Cen- tral in Obion Co.. Tenn., and derived its name from the fact that two families of this name lived there and owned 550 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. the land near. For a number of years Rev. T. P. Pressly of Troy, four miles distant, preached here once a month, on Sabbath afternoons, in a school house. During the year 1900, a church was built at a cost of $1,300.00, which was dedicated Sept. 30tli, 1900. Those who went into the organization were enrolled March the 31st, 1900, and the following officers were elected. Elder: J. B. Bu- chanan and W. J. Erwin. Deacons : Samuel G. Erwin and W. J. Caskey. These officers were installed April 14th, 1 90 1. In order to secure more preaching and another laborer in the fields, the sessions of Troy, Rives and Polk met in joint session and agreed that the last two be allowed to form a pastoral charge, if suitable arrangements could be made. The services of Rev. E. P. Lindsay were se- cured and he began work here January ist, 1902. He was very acceptable to the people and he was installed pastor Dec. 6th, 1903, by Revs. J. W. Baird and T. P. Pressly, at Rives in the morning and at Polk that night. There has been steady growth since the organization. Ross Brown and Wm. R. Lancaster were ordained el- ders, and David Guy and W. S. Smith, deacons in 1904. A flourishing Sabbath school is kept up and a Ladies' Society numbering fourteen. Poplar Spring, Go. — Organized before 1790. Prairie J\illcy, in Jolnisfon Co., Texas. — Was organ- ized by Rev. W. L. Patterson in 1879, with nine members, James and Samuel Turner and Henry Wilbanks being elected elders. Rev. W. L. Patterson supplied them once a month, until Oct., 1880. The church was then disor- ganized by the removal of most of the members. Prairie Jl'ew, near Buekliolf. in Milam Co., Te.vas. — Was organized by Rev. J. M. Little, July 29, 1894, with T5 members. Most of the members came from Long SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. OD' Cane, S. C, among whom were Bickets, Burnets and Ethridges. They were suppHed by Rev. J. L. Pressly, in 1895. and Rev. Calvin Pressly, in 1896. That year they united with Milano in formin": the church at Mar- \o\x. Pottsvillc. — In October, 1851, nine or ten families emigrated from the A. R. P. churches about King's Mountain, N. C, to the west. They travelled in their wagons many weeks, but located as a colony in the south- ern part of Pope Co., Ark., in the beautiful and fertile valley of the Arkansas River. They soon began to send 1)ack appeals for preaching-. Rev. John Patrick came to them in Nov.. 1852. and spent 13 w'eeks among them. He organized a church Jan. 29, 1853, and they named it Pisgah. Thirty members were enrolled. John Oates, John Falls, and James Quinn were elected elders. They had been elders in North Carolina. Rev. J. K. Boyce preached to them in the summer of 1853 and '04. Rev. John Patrick settled in the bounds of Pisgah in the sum- mer of 1855. and was stated supply until 1859, when Rev. J. L. McDaniel took up the work for some months. Others had come out from North Carolina and the mem- bership increased to about 125. Rev. David Kerr came to them in i860, and supplied the church till May, 1863. Sectional feeling ran high during the Civil War, and the peace of the community was nuich disturbed by it. These were not years of religious growth. Rev. John Patrick supplied the church until the arrival of Rev. M. Oates. in Dec, '67. Mr. Oates was installed pastor the 5th Monday in -Aug., '68. The Session was composed of the following: A. N. Falls, Jas. McElwee, Alex. Dickey, S. B. Dickey. R. 11. Dickey. 'V . M. Oates and Thomas Oates. These were trying times in the history of the church. Frequent cases of discipline called for tact and patience. But the faithful and diligent dis- charge of duly |)n)\-ed a blessing to the church. The con- 552 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. gregation having drifted toward the river, another place of preaching- was estabhshed. This resulted in the build- ing of a new church, which was occupied in 1877, '^''^^ called Bethany. The strength of the congregation was concentrated about Bethany and a point on the L. R. & Ft. S. R. R. called Potts' Station, and later Pottsville. It was agreed to erect a church at this place. The building cost $1,000. The first services in the new church at Pottsville was held the first Sabbath in March, 1884. Af- ter this, preaching at Pisgah was discontinued and the pastor divided his time equally between Bethany and Pottsville, which are about three miles apart. There has been a heavy drain on the congregation by frequent re- movals, principally to Zion, Russellville, Little Rock and Texas. In 1893 the congregation purchased a property for a parsonage, conveniently located in Pottsville, at the cost of $600. This was the first parsonage owned by any congregation in the Presbytery. On account of failing health Mr. Oates resigned his pastoral charge in 1899 to take effect at the end of the year. The church had 125 members and was in good working condition. Thomas Oates, C. G. Oates, W. P. Ferguson, C. S. Bell and J. H. Oates composed the Session. About a year later J. D. Oates, S. E. Oates and J. G. Ferguson were elected and ordained elders. Rev. J. W. Carson begun his labors here in July, 1900, and was installed pastor Nov. 6 following. This has been a happy settlement. The church has prospered, growing in numbers and in activity in the work of Sabbath Schools, Ladies' and Young Peoples' Societies, and Junior LTnions. Prosperity, Lincoln Co., Tenn., is about 11 miles south of Fayetteville. The first settlement of Associate Re- formed Presbyterians was about the year 1827, and they came from Abbeville, Chester and Fairfield Counties, S. C. The organization was effected in the fall of 1827 or spring of 1828 by Revs. John Renwick and TIenry Bry- son bv order of the Tennessee Presbvterv. SKETCHES OF COxXGREGATIOXS. 553 Rev. Henry Bryson was installed pastor May 17, 1828, and served the congregation until, on account of failing health, he was forced to resign, April, 1847. Rev. A. S. Sloan became pastor in 1847, very soon after the resig- nation of Rev. Dr. Bryson. Just when this pastorate terminated is not stated. Rev. J. B. Muse became pas- tor Oct. 31, 1874. In May, 1889, Rev. O. Y. Bonner became pastor, resigning June ist, 1891, to accept call to Due West, S. C. Rev. A. J. Ranson was installed Nov. 10, 1895, and resigned Nov., 1901. Rev. J. B. Hood was sent immediately after this as supply, and on July 5, 1902, was installed pastor and continues to serve. Between the pastorate of Revs. ^luse and Bonner a vacancy of one and a half years occurred, during which time the pulpit was supplied by Revs. J. A. Myers and H. B. Blakely. After Rev. Bonner resigned the congre- gation was vacant for a year or two, and was supplied by Revs. J. M. Garrison. W. B. Logan and W. S. Castles. Prosperity has had three houses of worship. The first was a log house built in 1828 and used for some time with only the dirt floor. During a protracted meeting one summer this log house was too small for the accom- modation of the congregation, and they went to a grove in the graveyard. While they were preaching in the grave- yard some young people got together and danced in the log church without floor. When they got through danc- ing the boys decided to have some fun at Dr. Bryson's expense, and sent for him to come in the church to talk with a young man (pretending to be) under conviction of sin and seeking for light. Dr. Bryson came and found the young man crying and feigning deep penitence. At once divining the situation he ordered the boys all to their knees and to prayer. Having done this Dr. Bry- son began the prayer by asking God to convert the young man if his penitence was sincere, but if not sincere to strike him dead at once. The young man jumped up in great fright and got away. A few days later he came to 554 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Dr. Brvson, saying in earnest he was converted and joined the church. In 1 84 1 and 1842 a new church was built 52 ft. square. This was burnt by an incendiary. He evidently had some regard for the pulpit Bible, as it was removed from the pulpit and laid on the fence at a safe distance. The third house was erected in 1881 and 1882. It is a good frame building 40x60 feet. In this latter house Rev. W. W. Orr conducted a re- vival in which 67 souls were added to the church. The following ministers have gone out from Pros- perity : James M. Brown, to the G. A. P. Church. To the A. R. P. Church, Thomas Parkinson, G. G. Parkin- son, of Erskine Seminary, and J W. Good. Prosperity, Dallas Co., Ala., is located at Harrell's Station on S. R. R. It was organized some time during the year 1822 by the Alabama Presbytery. In the early history of the church it was supplied by Dr. Henry Bry- son. It enjoyed also the services of Dr. Isaac Grier. There were also other supplies for short periods. Rev. J. P. Pressly was the first pastor, and was called and presumably installed over the church in 1831. About the year 1838 or 1839 1^^ was elected a professor in Ers- kine College and was released from his pastoral charge to enter upon his new work. He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph McCreary, who was installed sometime in the fall of 1839, and continued until the fall of 1843. This same year Rev. J. M. Young was installed and this relation continued until his death in May, 1867. Rev. J. A. Lowry was installed about August of that year and con- tinued to labor until his death, April 6, 1898, a period of nearly 31 years — - a long and useful pastorate. The pres- ent pastor. Rev. W. A. Blakely, was installed Dec. 9, 1899, and labors with great efficiency and acceptance. He preaches three-fourths time here, the other pastorate receiving the remainder. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 3:)0 Prosperity has had three houses of worship. The first was a log house, erected soon after organization and oc- cupied for 20 years. The second house was buih in 1844, and the third was erected in 1871. Prosperity has given two ministers to the world, Revs. J. W. Moore and J. H. Moore, the former being a great uncle of the latter. Rev. J- H. Moore is now pastor of the United Presbyterian Church, West Aliddletown, Pennsylvania. While none of her members have attained special prominence in the world, yet quite a number have been successful and useful in church and commimity as physicians, merchants, farmers and teachers. Prosperity is near the center of Fulton Co., in north Arkansas. Its first members came from Tennessee and Georgia. They were visited by Rev. M. Oates in 1858, and by Rev. John Patrick, perhaps at an earlier date. The church was organized by Rev. W. S. Aloffatt Au- gust 12, 1859, with 32 members. W. R. Chesnut and W. A. Gault were elected elders. Mr. Mofifatt was in- stalled pastor the following December. The growth of the church was rapid and full of promise. But the peace- ful pursuits of religion were much interrupted during the turbulent period of civil strife from 1861 to '65. The community was repeatedly overrun by the contending factions and impoverished by foraging parties. The pas- tor, because of these discouragements, left this field in 1865. He returned in 1867, but the pastoral relation was dissolved in May, 1868. They were without preaching the two years following except during short visits of Revs. M. Oates and J- P- -Marion. Rev. S. P. Davis supplied them in 1871 and '2. His labors were greatly blessed in encouraging and l)uilding up the church. Rev. J. C. McDonald came to them in Xov., 1872, and was installed pastor for half time in Oct., 1874. This relation was dissolved in 1876. For several vears thev were almost entirelv without 556 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. preaching, and the cause languished. Revs. W. L. Pat- terson, S. P. Davis and D. W. Reid each spent a short while among them in '8i to '84. Rev. E. E. Pressly sup- plied them in 1885, and Rev. R. E. Patterson in 1886 and '7. Rev. W. S. Moffatt began his labors among them again in 1888, and continued to supply them half time with a few short interruptions until the summer of 1895. In 1890 they erected a neat frame house of worship, in- stead of the log building they had occupied since the church was organized. Rev. M. T. Ellis came to them in August, 1895, and the 25th of the following January was installed pastor for half time. They had 47 mem- bers at that time. Rev. J. S. Moffatt was born in the bomids of Prosperity. Rev. S. B. Caughran, a distin- guished minister of the M. E. Church South, was a child of this congregation. They have S. S. and L. B. Society. Prosperity A. R. P. Church, Prosperity, S. C, was organized in 1802 with Rev. James Rogers as pastor, and James Young, Samuel McQueens and Robert Dren- nan elders, and in the same year a suitable house of wor- ship was built by James Young and others. In 1816 Rev. Charles Strong became pastor and served until his death, eight years later, when Rev. S. P. Pressly succeeded him. In 1832 Rev. S. P. Pressly, being elected to a pro- fessorship in Franklin University at Athens, Ga., — now the University of Georgia — the church was without a pastor until 1835, when Rev. J. Galloway was called, in- stalled and served as pastor for twenty (20) years. In the early years of his pastorate a new church building was erected. On the fourth Sabbath of February, 1858, Rev. J. C. Boyd preached his first sermon at Prosperity church, and was ordained at Head Springs, S. C, on the first Sabbath of November following. His pastorate in- cluded Prosperity^ Head Springs and Cannon's Creek, and he continued pastor of Prosperity until 1889. During his pastorate Abram Moore, James Fair, SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 557 Robert Carmichael, George Brown, Dr. Thompson Young, Col. William Lester, John B. Fellows. J. R. P. Crosson, H. C. Mosely, J. H. Hunter and C. F. Boyd were at various times elders. Of these Hunttr, Fellows and Mosely only remain, and with A. P. Harris constitute the bench of elders. Capt. Mat- thew 1 [all, D. A. A. Kibler and A. P. Dominick were made deacons in 1867; of these three only the last men- tioned survives. The present diaconate consists of S. S. Bcrge, G. D. Brown and A. P. Dominick. In 1889 a new and commodious church building was erected near the center of town. The old church still standing half a mile distant on the outskirts of town. On the second Sabbath of July, 189 1, Rev. D. G. Phillips was installed as pastor and continued to serve until Sept. 5, 1892. For the next four years the church was supplied as follows: Dr. T. W. Sloan. 1893-1894, second and fourth Sabbaths; Rev. H. R. McAulay in part 1895- 1896; Rev. J. B. Hood during the summer of 1896. In 1896 Rev. A. G. Kirkpatrick accepted a call to the pas- torate of the church and remained until Nov. i, 1900. By the request of the congregation Rev. Charles M. Boyd preached two and one half months. On April i, 1902, a call was made for one half his time. The call was accepted and he began his work in November, 1902. Prosperity, Mccklcnhiirg Co., N. C, owes her origin, about 1788, to the introduction of Watt's Psalms and Hymns. Adam Meek, Robt. and James, sons of Henry Hunter, James Steele and others had been in connection with Poplar Tent, but withdrew because of the aforesaid innovation. About this time a godly licentiate journeyed this way as the leaves were falling in 1788. Having ministered acceptably he was ordained and installed pas- tor July I, 1789. His early and lamented death left them destitute. Ten acres at seven and a half cents per acre by Gov. 558 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Dobbs Spaigbt granted, January 7, 1795, warrant entered April 10, 1794, was crowned by a log house about 35 by 25 feet. Near this tmie came Rev. Jas. McKnight, ministering so acceptably that in 1797 he was installed pastor. This mission of a third of a century was a happy one. He kept Martha Hunter one hour and five minutes at the bridal altar with Mr. Porter. His two sermons a day, each two hours, besides explain- ing the Psalms sent home by star light families two miles distant. Wm. Wallace, David Galloway, Thomas Hun- ter and John Wallace, elders. Rev. McKnight's death, Sept. 17, 183 1, left a vacancy till 1844, when Revs. J. G. Witherspoon, Warren Flenniken, Jas. Walker, David Pressly, Dr. Isaac Grier, R. M. Galloway, J. B. Watt, J. K. Boyce preached. A frame church was erected in 1842 and fell under weight of snow storm, Jan. 5, 1877. Their next pastor was being licensed at the very meeting, April 17, 1843, in which they petitioned for supplies. "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet speaking I will hear." Rev. John Hunter was ordained and installed July 24, 1844. A year of Sabbaths this relation continued, a blessing to the church, and was dissolved that Prosperity might have more preaching. Elders : Abner Hunter, Robt. Hunter, Sr., John Mc- Cornel, Jas. Bigham, W. Lee Galloway, Wm. Black, Henry Wallace and Gen. Wm. Allen. Rev. R. F. Tay- lor succeeded Oct. 19, 1857, and resigned April 20, 1857. R. B. Hunter and Daniel McAulay elders. Dr. Alexan- der Ranson began a 20 years' pastorate Dec. 11, 1857, and added to his session Barnett Dewese, Samuel Garri- son, Joseph Hunter, Dixon Ewart, J. C. Bell, J. Mc- Knight Hunter and A. J. Hunter. Rev. D. G. Caldwell began an official pastorate May 9, 1879, which ended April 6, 1885. The present building was begun in 1877 and completed in 1889. Rev. I. G. McLaughlin and Dr. G. R. White supplied till Rev. W. M. Hunter began stated SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 559 labors Oct. 7, 1888, was installed Nov. 16, 1889, and de- mitted Feb. 19, 1896. J. Watson Hunter, R. E. Beard, J. G. Mc. Hunter and Silas Garrison elders. Revs. D. P. Neill, Jas. Soyce, R. E. Hough have supplied since and Rev. T. B. Stewart is present supply. Revs. John Hunter, W. M. Hunter and J. M. Garrison are sons of Prosperity. Jonathan Reid has been lately added to the session. Providence, Campbell Co., Go., on the roll '43. Rev. D. C. Haslet pastor April 12, 1844, April 10. 1846. Providence, S. C. — Was organized in 1838 by Rev. Tas. L. Youno-, actinQ" under the direction of the Second Presbytery. He was the first pastor, but when he Avas called and how^ long he served is not known. In Nov., 1 85 1, certificates were given to 13 white-, and three colored communicants who were removing to Mississippi. Tradition says Rev. Jas. L. Young went with them. On ]\Iay 15th, 1854, Rev. D. F. Haddon became pastor over Bethel, Providence and Head Springs, and contin- ued for many }-ears. Rev. H. Rabb was installed in ^lay, 1896, and demitted in 1897. About this time Providence and Head Springs withdrew from Bethel and formed a separate pastoral charge. On May 19th, 1900, Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco was installed pastor, Rev. E. E. McClintock presiding over installation exercises. Revs. D. F. Haddon and H. Rabb gave one-fourth time each to Providence. Rev. Plaxco, present pastor, gives one half time. Providence has had three houses of worship, but it is not known when first two were erected. The present building was put up in 1902. Rev. ^^^ A. Rlakely was born and baptized in this congregation. Providence, Mecklenburg Co., S. C, organized near Presbyterian Church of same name prior to Feb. 24th, 560 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 1790. The introduction of Watt's version of the Psalms, confessedly an imitation and fragmentary, and soon after Hymns of human composition was an innovation in the Presbyterian Church. Many could not see their way "clear to have the uninspired supplant the inspired." This new departure strengthened if it did not originate the above congregation. They received occasional supplies from Revs. James Rogers, John Boyse, Peter McMullen. Their first pastor was Rev. Isaac Grier, ordained and installed Oct. 19, 1804. He retained this pastorate till 181 5. Some time after this they passed under the super- vision of the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas and were supplied till about 1827. At that time or soon after it is supposed the remaining members became a part of Sardis. Providence, Laurens Co.-, S. C, organized about 1836. Rev. J. L. Young was installed in the fall of 1836, and remained till the fall of 1851. In 1853 there were 31 members. Rev. D. F. Haddon was installed May 15, 1854, and continued till end of 1892, though he supplied a short time both before and after installation, rounding out some 42 years. Messrs. David Blakely, J. C. Todd, H. J. Bryson and Boozer were elders, also Robt. Sloan. Rev. Horace Rabb was installed pastor March 20, 1896, and demitted Sept. 18, 1897. In 1899 Head Springs and Providence , Laurens Co., were severed from Bethel and called Rev. W. A. M. Plaxco, 1900. About this time, having long worshipped near Clinton, a lot was bought and a house was built in the city. Quincy, Gadsden Co., Fla., organized by Georgia Pres- bytery, 1853, Rev. Wm. Blackstock in 1828, by order of Synod, made a tour in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. This place was visited May and June, '37, by Rev. Joseph McCreary and by Rev. J. S. Pressly, first Sabbath, Jan., SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 561 '42. Doubtless supplied in the fifties by Rev. A. McElroy and for want of an under shepherd passed from our roll with a number of small vacancies which the zeal of our fathers had planted in that section. Rehohoth, Fayette Co., Tenn., was cultivated for a number of years as a preaching point, chiefly by Rev.J.L. McDaniel, and was by him organized into a congregation of ten (10) members, Mr. Stafford being elected and ordained an elder. This action, presumably taken during the summer of 1885, was reported to Presbytery the fol- lowing Sept. 4th. Occasional supplies were sent there during the years following, but on May 2, 1901, Rehoboth was dropped from the Roll of Presbytery, it having been informed that the members had gone into the Presbyte- rian Church. Richland, in Navarro Co., Texas, was one of Rev. T. J. Bonner's places of preaching previous to 1875. That year Rev. W. L. Patterson began preaching here half his time. These two brethren organized Richland church Sept. i, 1876, with 13 members. R. S. Davidson, Wirt Robinson and D. J. Johnston were or- dained elders. They built a house of worship in 1877, Rev. W. L. Patterson supplied them half time till October, 1880. Rev. W. H. Millen till October, 1882. Rev. D. Pressly and others till October, 1884. Rev. W. L. Patterson then took up the work again and was installed pastor of Harmony and Richland in Sept., 1885. They had 61 members at that time. This was a prosperous period in the history of the church. Valuable additions were received from Arkansas, South Carolina and elsewhere and the spirit of harmony pre- vailed. In 1897 they reported 79 members. That year the pastor, on account of afflictions, deemed it necessary to give up the charge, and the relation was dissolved in Nov. Rev. J. R. McCormick came very soon to take up 36 562 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. the work and was installed for half time April 15, 1899. Richland has suffered heavy losses from removals — 14 members having moved to Hermon, and 14 to Corsicana, including several elders and deacons. But there has been a steady gain in members, there being 88 in 1902. Rev. L. I. Echols was a member of this congregation when he was licensed. They maintain a S. S., a L. B. Soc, and a Y. P. C. U. . .Richland, Shelby Co, Tciui., is located about twenty- five miles northeast of Memphis, and about six miles from Brunswick, on the L. & N., and Tipton on the I. C. R. R. The little village of Rosemark, gathered about the church, is of very recent growth. The name, Rich- land, was no doubt given to the church from the charac- ter of the soil in that section, it being one of the finest farming sections of west Tennessee. The country is level, the people thrifty and withal it is a desirable com- munity in which to live. The date of organization cannot be positively ascer- tained. It seems that Rev. J. H. Strong was directed by the Memphis Presbytery in the fall of 1866 to effect the organization, and that in September, 1867, Bro. Strong reports the order obeyed. It is supposed the organiza- tion was accomplished in 1867, previous to September of that year, though the exact date is not known. There had been preaching in this community for ten years or more previous to this time, first by Rev. John Wilson, and then by Rev. J. H. Strong, each of whom was at the time of his service the pastor of Salem church in Tipton Co., about seven miles away. Rev. J. L. McDaniel also preached some here about this time. The preaching was held first in the house of Robt. McCalla, and then in the school house at the crossing of the roads, where the church was afterwards erected. The Rev. J. H. Strong continued as chief supply to the organization for about one year. r)n August 29, 1868, the Rev. H. L. Murphy SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 563 was installed as their first pastor and this relation con- tinued until Sept. 9th, 187 1, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. For nearly three years the pulpit was vacant, and was supplied by various persons. On Satur- day before the second Sabbath of June, 1874, Rev. D. \\\ Reid was installed pastor and this relation was con- tinued until April 29th, 1874, when it was dissolved. The congrejiii'ation remained a vacancy for eii^ht years. Rev. H. Rabb was installed pastor December 8th, 1882, and for 13 years served faithfully and acceptably. He demitted this pastorate in December, 1895. It is proper to state that during- this period the church took on new life and j^rew in numbers and efficiency. At first only a part of the pastor's time was taken, but later he devoted his whole time to this field. Xot a little is due under God to his untiring zeal to build up the kingdom in that community. Within less than a year a ]>astoral settle- ment was effected and the Rev. \\\ H. Millen was in- stalled October 17th, 1896. This relation happily con- tinues to the present day. The congregation is in excel- lent condition and contmues to grow and develop. It now numbers 171 members, active and zealous in every good work. Under the efficient leadership of the devoted pastor God has greatly blessed the church, and its work in that community. This congregation has had but one house of worship, presumably erected not long after the organization. But in 1900 and 1901 this house was remodeled at considera- ble cost, and is now a neat and attractive building, well adapted to the needs of the congregation. Rii'cs. Tcmi., located in the town of that name, is in the eastern part of ( )bion Co.. at the junction of the Mobile & Ohio, and the 111. Cent. Railroads. The organization of this congregation took place at Pleasant I Till, two miles west. Xov. 18. 1882, with i; members. In 1887 the congregation built a church ii 564 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Rives and the organization was removed to this place. The church at Rives was dedicated Jan. 8, 1888, Rev. J. P. Weed preaching the sermon. Rev. T. P. Pressly, who organized the church, continued in charge, preaching monthly until Rives and Polk were united in a pastoral charge, and Rev. E. P. Lindsay of Tennessee and Alaba- ma Presbytery was sent by Synod as stated supply. He began his labors Jan. ist, 1902, was returned again for the year 1903, and accepted a call to the pastorate of Rives and Polk June 30, 1903. The following elders have served the congregation since organization in addition to those elected at the time of organization : Joseph F. Harper, E. B. Chester, Robert Hamilton, Luther G. I^Ioffatt. During the present year, 1903, the congregation has been remodeling and repairing their church building. Roacli's, West Virginia. — Rev. J. A. Myers began preaching here in the summer of 1870 and was installed pastor in the spring of 1871. Rock Hill, S. C— In July, 1895, Mr. A. S. Rogers, then a student in Erskine Seminary, was sent to Rock Hill, S. C, by the Board of Home Missions, to open a mission in that city. He found sixteen members of the A. R. P. Church there, and commenced work. Armory Hall was rented and the first service was held July 7th. The attendance and outlook was encouraging from the beginning, and at a meeting of the First Presbytery, held at Clover, S. C, Sept. 30th of the same year, the Presbytery appointed a commission to organize a church there, and also appointed a committee consisting of Revs. Oliver Johnson, C. E. McDonald and Hon. D. E. Finley to co-operate with a committee of the congregation in raising funds and in building a house of worship. On Nov. 19th, 1895, Revs. J. S. Moffatt, J. T. Chalmers and elders Joseph Wylie and Matthew White organized a SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 565 I ROCK HILL, S. C. church of twenty-six members with W. F. Strait, M. D., R. T. Wright and J. '\\. Lauridge, elders, and L. Black and J. L. White deacons. At the close of the Seminary in June, 1896, Rev. A. S. Rogers, who had completed the course, and been licensed at the spring meeting, was returned to Rock Hill, and appointed to the field for a term of live years. Mr. Rogers canvassed the church for funds to erect a building, and was successful in raising them. The present beautiful and commodious building was begun in 1897, and completed in 1898. The build- ing is of pressed brick, with granite trimmings, and fine architectural effects. It has had a steady and rapid growth, and now has about one hundred and fifty mem- bers, and bids fair to become one of our strongest churches. On Dec. 19th. 1901, Rev. A. S. Rogers was installed as pastor, and continues until the present time. Rocky Springs, Alexander Co., N. C. — Revs. Jas. Mar- tin, Andrew Patton, Wm. Marshall and Dr. Clark visited the Associates in this region 1776- 1779. Later Dr. Clark 566 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. and Rev. John Jamieson and others doubtless preached on journeys South. The Second Presbytery at Sharon, S. C, April 15, 1802, was petitioned for supplies and a moderation with a view to call Rev. Jas. McAulay. While he supplied awhile this relation was not formed. The church was organized before Feb., 1790, Jas. White and John Elliot of New Stirling- emigrated from Ireland with Rev. Wm. Blackstock in the "Irish J'ohintccr'^ and landed at Qharleston, S. C, 1792. a Christmas gift to A. R. Church. He became stated supply here and New Stir- ling and New Perth 1804-1811, thus joining his sea- mates in the spiritual voyage. There were 40 families in 1803. The church was located near the Methodist Campground of the same name. About the time Rev. Blackstock retired the Associate Presbytery, under the once magnetic Mushat, gathered all the Psalm-singers in that region under her fold, and a part at least of her membership reappeared in Virgin Spring. Russell's J\illcy, Franklin Co., Ala., appears as a va- cancy of the Second Presbytery in 1830. On fourth Sabbath of May, 1837, Rev. J. N. Pressly preached and catechised at John Hamilton's, and on Friday and the next Sabbath at Mr. Ray's. "A respectable, destitute vacancy, abundantly able for half support and anxious for the Word." Rev. Ralston preached two Sabbaths and three week-days in the winter of 1837, and reports "some have left their first love and some holding fast the crown." Rev. Jas. P. Pressly preached third and fourth Sabbaths, June, 1838, Rev. R. C. Grier third Sabbath, June, 1840, and Rev. David Pressly two Sab- baths in 1842. It has long since disappeared from roll. Riisscll-c'iUc. Ark. — The church at this place was or- ganized A])ril 21, 1893, by Rev. W. W. Orr, assisted by Rev. M. ( )ates and the Pottsville Session. Seventeen SKETCHES OF COXGREGATIOXS. 567 members were enrolled, 13 of whom were from Potts- ville and two from Old Providence, Va. C. D. Rowan and R. M. Oates were elected and ordained elders. Three deacons were also elected and ordained. Immediate steps were taken to secure a lot and build a house. A convenient and attractive church was completed and oc- cupied in July. 1894. Up to this time they occupied a rented room in the ]\Iasonic Hall. The new church cost $2500. Rev. J. A. Smith supplied them half time during the summer of 1893. They were supplied by Rev. J. M. White in 1894, by Rev. O. Y. Bonner the first six months of 1895 and Rev. yi. T. Ellis two months the following winter. Rev. J. C. Douglass came in July. 1896, and was installed pastor for three-fourths time in November fol- lowing. There were 2t, members at this time. The church prospered during this pastorate, which continued until the death of Mr. Douglass, June 14, 1900. There were 40 members at that time. They were without reg- ular preaching then until the arrival of Rev. J. A. Smith, who came and was installed pastor in April, 1902. About that time they completed a parsonage at a cost of $1,250. The session ^ consisted of the same members as when first organized with the addition of J. X. Ross. The church still continues to prosper, having now 60 mem- bers, a good S. S. and Ladies' Society, and Y. P. C. U. Salciii, Covington Co., Ala., appears as a vacancy of the Second Presbytery in 1830. Three years before, in 1827, it was organized under the inspiration of Wm. J. jMitchell, "a burning and shining light." So far as known it never had a pastor. Rev. Thomas Turner preached there in Dec, 1835, and reported nine members, and $14.00 con- tributed. Rev. Jas. McCreary gave them first and second Sabbath of January, 1838, and the following year dis- pensed the sacraments, and ordained two ruling elders. Rev. J. M. Young gave two Sabbaths in spring of 1842, Rev. J no. Miller two Sabbaths in 1846 and same year 568 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Rev. J. I. Bonner one Sabbath. It is now supplied by the Tennessee and Alabama Presbytery. Salem, Knox Co., Tenn. — A considerable number of Associate Presbyterians settled in Bount and Knox Coun- ties, Tenn., and were visited by Rev. Robt. Armstrong 1799. Rev. James Kennedy came from Ireland, 1796, and after laboring mostly in east Tennessee awhile was ordained by the x-\ssociate Presbytery of Kentucky and installed pastor of Salem and connections, 1807, and re- mained to April 24, 1826. Organized 1800 there was need in some 50 years of a change of location. The widow of Rev. Kennedy gave $200, and his son James, a pillar, and an elder $200, and the present house was built in 1854. From Rev. Kennedy's death it was vacant and supplied by the Miami Presbytery, possibly by Rev. David Carson, a pastor in Blount Co., '24-'34, and Rev. Thomas S. Kendall, his successor, '34-'42. In '40 they, with the Blount churches, for a year's sup- ply Revs. Wm. Smith, John Bryan and D. H. A. Mc- Lean were sent. During this period they averaged about 40 members, and half that number of families. In 1844 the Associate churches in the South came into our Synod. Rev. John Patrick found some 20 or 30 families. Rev. A. Ranson preached with great encouragement '52. Rev. R. F. Taylor went there under contract to teach and preach early in '57 to spring of '59, when he joined the Presbyterian Church. After the war they received oc- casional visits. Rev. J. S. Mills spent the larger part Synodical years '75- '77. Passed from roll about '79. Salem, Tipton Co., Tenn., is 11 miles southwest of Covington, and about 32 miles northeast of Memphis. About 1830 Mr. Gardiner Miller and family of Fair- field Co., S. C, came to Tipton Co., the first Associate Reformed family, so far as known, to settle in this part of the State. Probal:)!}- in 1831 Mr. William Simonton, an SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 569 elder of Hopewell, Chester Co., S. C, came to Tipton Co., and located, adjoining Mr. Miller. He was a man "of sterling character, strong in the faith and devotedly attached to the doctrines and prin- ciples of his church." These pious parents reared a large family, all of whom became identified with the church. One son, Hon. Chas. B. Simonton, is a member of the Session, was a gallant Confederate sol- dier, is a successful lawyer, and worthily served in both the State and National Legislatures. This was in the early days of the country, there being but few settlements and an almost unbroken forest. ^Tiller and Simonton settled a few miles south of the site of old Poterville, and not far from where the church now is. The}' were followed in 1832 and 1833 by other pious families of the Associate Reformed faith, mainly from South Carolina. Among them Abner Mathews, Lusk Davis, H. J. McCain, Dr. John Cooper, John Irwin and Alexander Moore. On Jan. 28, 1835, a meeting was held at Mr. Mathews and steps were taken to secure preaching and the organi- zation of a church. Accordingly in the following sum- mer a "commodious log house" was built on a lot of four acres of land donated by Mr. Mathews and deeded to "Salem congregation." In the early summer Mr. J. Galloway preached the first sermon b}- an A. R. P. min- ister in this section in a school house. He also preached in a grove near where the church was built. In June of this year Rev. John Wilson preached here for awhile, and was returned by the Synod in the fall of 1835. On the 19th of June, 1836, the congregation of Salem was organized by Rev. Henry Bryson, D. D., 53 names were enrolled, William Simonton and John Erwin chosen elders, the latter from Sardis, N. C. W. R. Mc- Cain was ordained to this ofifice at this time. Rev. John Wilson was installed pastor April 19. 1837, of Salem and Sardis in Fayette Co., Tenn. The latter was probably demitted in 1842. He continued as pastor 570 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. of Salem until the fall of 1865, when he demitted. "On the last Wednesday of 1861," at the suggestion of Mr. Wilson, the congregation agreed to call a co-pastor. In obedience to this call Rev. J. H. Strong, then pastor of Shiloh, Lafayette Co., Miss., came to Salem in February, 1862. After the dissolution of the pastoral relation be- tween Rev. Wilson and the congregation, Mr. Strong was unanimously called to the pastorate and was installed September. 1866, Rev. J. L. Young preached the sermon and Rev. Wilson propounded the questions and addressed pastor and people. This pastorate happily continued un- til his death, August 18, 1891. During these pastorates the congregation grew rapidly. In i860 it reported 325 members and 125 families. At the time Rev. Strong became pastor 350 members are reported. Preaching points had been established at Bloomington, at Richland, and in the "Flat Woods." Bloomington was organized in 1861, and remained in connection with Salem till 1868, becoming- a separate organization with Rev. H. L. Mur- phy as pastor. Richland was organized in 1867. Mt. Paran, another off-shoot of Salem, was organized in 188 1. In 1855 a number of families removed from Salem to Drew Co., Ark., and were organized into a congregation at Monti- cello. Recently a church building was erected by W. H. Dunlap in the southeastern part of the congregation and called Sharon. Though not a separate organization, the pastor preaches here regularly Sabbath afternoons. It may be added that the larger portion of those entering the organization of the Covington Chiuxh were from Salem. Thus she is entitled to be called the "mother of churches." The year 1885 is noted as a "remarkable" one. A re- vival lasting two weeks resulted in 40 accessions, mostly from "the ranks of the youth." About 1891 there was another revival resulting, we believe, in a larger addition to the church. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 571 Salem is not noted for changes. It has had but three pastors and two church buildings. The present building replaced the log house in 1845. It has not been materially changed since its erection, save the addition of a primary Sabbath School and Session Room. It is a wide-awake, progressive and active congregation. The present pastor, the Rev. T. G. ]5o}ce, D. D., was installed ]\Iarch 3, 1893. The membership is now about 350, and the congregation is well organized and doing eft'ective service. Salem has furnished the following ministers to the A. R. P. Church: T. D. Davis. J. X. McCain, H. L. Mur- phy, J. G. Millen, W. A. \\'ilson, J. H. Strong, J. P. Er- win, J. W. Baird, J. W. ^IcCain, E. E. Strong, R. W. McDaniel. Saline, Ark. — Some members of Monticello church, seven to eleven miles to the west in Saline Township, petitioned the Arkansas Presbytery for a separate organi- zation August 31, 1 86 1. The petition was granted, and Rev. J. ]\I. Brown appointed to carry out the order. This he did Saturda}- before the third Sabbath in October, the same year. Twenty-three members were enrolled, and J. W. McKinstry, W. A. Nelson and R. G. Davis elected elders. A log house was built which served as a place of worship until the latter part of 1873, when they occupied a neat, new frame building completed at a cost of about $1200. They formed part of Rev. J. A. Dickson's charg-e until 1866. Rev. J. M. Brown supplied them in 1867. Rev. John Wilson from 1868 to '"/t,. Rev. J. S. A. Hun- ter in 1874. Rev. W. A. Wilson in 1875 and 6. Rev. H. M. Henry in 1877 and "8. Rev. J. L. Young in 1879 and '80. He was installed pastor May i, 1881, for half time. They had 50 members at that time. This was a period of healthy growth in the church. This pastoral relation was dissolved in i8t)5. The cliurch had then 91 members. Revs. '1'. !'). Stewart and S. I. Patterson supplied them 572 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. during the next three years. Rev. J. W. McCain began his labors at Sahne in 1899 and was installed pastor for half time in June, 1901. The church is well organized and occupies an important position for aggressive work. Beauvoir College is in its bounds and is controlled by one of its members, Prof. J. L. Spence. The church has 96 members. The first deacons were ordained in 1875. Sardis, Benton Co., Ala., was organized by the Geor- gia Presbytery August 25, 1838. Rev. David C. Haslet was pastor from 1838 to 1842. Rev. J. N. Pressly in vi- cinity of Jacksonville, Benton, now Calhoun, Co., visited a small vacancy of five or six families early in summer of 1837. They were able and anxious to support the Gospel. Rev. Turner gave two Sabbaths in 1838. On April I, he dispensed the sacrament to seven members and ordained Wm. Moflr'att and Michael Baker as ruling elders, August 25, 1838. Rev. L. McDonald preached two days in Jan., 1837, and also '39. Dr. R. C. Grier preached in 1840. Rev. D. C. Haslet six Sabbaths in 1841. Rev. Turner preached in '41 and Rev. Haslet also the same year. Sardis, C. Del Mais, Mexico — Rev. J. S. A. Hunter, under appointment reached here April 6, 1889, and rent- ed dwellings in which both to live and preach. The Lord's supper was dispensed the first June 22, 1890. Only five communed. Revs. Hunter, Pedro Trujillo and Mrs. Hunter of blessed memory and their two daughters, Misses Ximena and Katrina. Feb. 22, 1891, twelve Mexicans were baptised — first fruits — two of these be- came ministers. On the 25th two ruling elders were elected and ordained. March i a house and lot was bought on Independencia St., No. 13, in the year 1893, which, after repairs, served as a home for the missionary and also a church. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 573 A handsome church on another lot was dedicated Dec. 12, 1896, now vahied at $7,- 000. School prop- erty valued at $1,- 000 was bought next year, while the parsonage is estimated at $1,- 000. Eighty-thred have been received as members and baptized, as also twenty-three chil- dren. During the past six years this cong-regation has Cll'DAl) DEL MAIZ, MEX. contributed $1,167.40. There are now 15 families and 15 communicants. Miss Lavinia Neel is the faithful teacher in the school and helper in the work. The mission sus- tained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Hunter. The Lord has blessed this work as a light in a dark place. Sardis, Mecklenburg Co., N. C, was on the roll Feb. 24, 1790. The families composing the congregation at this early day were the Boyces, Blacks, Kirpatricks, Ir- wins. Wallaces and others. They were supplied with preaching occasionally by Messrs Blackstocks, McAulay, Hemphill, McGill, McKnight, John Boyse, Porter and Grier. Rev. Isaac Grier was ordained and installed pastor by the Second Presbytery Oct. 19th, 1804. "Mr. Magill preached the sermon and Mr. Irwin laid on the obligations." Some of the earliest elders were John Black, Sen., James Boyce, Jr., Thomas Kirkpatrick and James Irwin. In 1809 W. Wallace and John Black, Jr., 574 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. SARDIS, N. C. were ordained. Later on John Wilson, John Grier, Hugh Kirkpatrick, Sen., Wm. Black, John Boyce, John Witherspoon, Samuel Boyce, Alex. Nesbit, John Walker and John Irwin. Dr. Grier after a long and faithful pastorate through the most trying period of our history demitted because of age and infirmity Oct. 5th, 1842. By his untiring energy and liberality Union Academy was founded and maintained. A successful school was taught there for a number of years by Rev. James Walker of Pennsylvania and Rev. R. C. Grier. Many young men thereby had the only facilities possible for culture brought to their doors and quite a number encouraged to enter the holy ministry. Their next pastor was the brilliant and magnetic J. B. Watt, ordained and installed Nov. 6, 1844. During this pastorate Messrs. Richard Peoples, Lorenzo Hunter and Hugh Kirkpatrick, Matthew !>. Wallace, James Hood and Arthur Cirier were ordained ruling elders and Samuel Wallace and James Wallace fleacons. He demitted ( )ct. ()th, 1850. Another young Timothy licensed the preceding year, Rev. J. M. Walker, a son of this congregation, was ordained and installed pastor May (jth, 1851. for whole time. His ministr\- that was abun\lLl,t, .\. Statcsz'illc. Iredell Co., X. C. — A few families having removed from Stirling, among them the Millers and the Pattersons, the missionary Pressly began, about 1868, to preach here once a month. A small congregation was organized in a hall, Aug. 7, 1869. The court house being used a short time, the Presbvterians courteouslv 586 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. tendered the use of their building one Sabbath each month. A most centrally located lot was donated by Col. J. S. Miller, and a neat and handsome brick building was erected largely by the liberality of the donator of the lot, and Col. A. S. Sharpe. Early in 1875, this church was dedicated by Rev. W. B. Pressly. The Presbyterian congregation whose building had been used for some six years, and Dr. W. A. Wood, the pastor, adjourned to rejoice with Bro. Pressly and his people on this happy occasion. There was considerable debt on the church, but it was held by the big hearted Col. J. S. Miller, who said to the writer, "A church never prospers under a debt. I will just burn it out." Rev. W. B. Pressly con- tinued to supply one-fourth time till May 17, 1878, when he was installed pastor. This affectionate relation was dissolved by his sudden and lamented death. Sabbath night, Nov. 25, 1883. Rev. Dallas Grier Caldwell was installed May 30, 1885, and resigned Oct. 22, 1891. Rev. James Hearst Pressly was ordained and installed Aug. 4, 1892. He still continues the popular and successful pas- tor, the congregation having grown from 1 1 1 members to over 300 in about 1 1 years. The first elders were R. R. and George White, Col. A. M. Walker and John Patterson. Present bench of elders : J. K. Morrison, W. W. White. J. W. White, L. M. C. Davidson, A. D. Kistler, Y. D. Miller and W. P. McLain. A cyclone partially wrecked the building June 10, 1899. While they were rebuilding, enlarging and re- pairing to the extent of $6,000, the Jewish Synagogue was kindly tendered and thankfully accepted as a place of worship. Steele Creek. N. C. — As early as ^77S^ ^ few families of Burghers and Anti-Burghers from Antrim Co., Ire- land, settled on the waters of Steele Creek, in Mecklen- burg Co., N. C. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIOXS. 587 These families formed themselves into a Society for religious worship. The names of the earliest preachers who supplied them were Revs. Martin, Miller, Renwick, Clark, Boyce, and others. Some time in 1792 or 1793, Rev. William Blackstocks arrived from Ireland, and in 1794, organized a church at Lower Steele Creek, and which was commonly known as Blackstock's church. This church was situated just over the State line, in York Co., S. C. Rev. Blackstocks served the church as pastor until 1806. In the first part of his pastorate, an unhappy division occurred among the people on the sub- ject of fasting in connection with the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This resulted in the separation of some families and their organization into the society of Little Steele Creek. They placed themselves under the care of the Associate Synod of North America. They were supplied by the following ministers : Dr. Anderson, Revs. Crie, White, Henderson and others. A call was made out for Rev. Henderson, but he died before the call reached him, while he was on his return to the North. Revs. Mushat and Herron supplied them until 1814, when a call was made out for and accepted by Rev. Thomas Pringle. He served them until his death in 1 81 8. Rev. A. Anderson was installed in 1821, and served until 1833. Rev. Archibald Whyte succeeded him, and remained until the spring of 1840. During Mr. Whyte's pastorate, the Associate Presbytery of the Car- olinas separated from the Associate Synod, and in 1844, the church was received into the Associate Reformed church, and united with Lower Steele Creek, and called Rev. James B. Watt. We now go back to Lower Steele Creek. Rev. Blackstocks served as pastor until t8o6, and was succeeded by Rev. Isaac Grier, D. D., who faith- fully served them as pastor until 1843. I" the following year, 1844, the union between the Associate Presbytery and the A. R. Synod of the South occurred, and the two congregations again became one, and called Rev. J- B. 588 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. \\'att. Mr. Watt continued as pastor until 1858, and was succeeded by Rev. J. C. Chalmers, who was installed Oct. 29th, 1858, and continued pastor until Dec, 1881. Mr. Chalmers was succeeded by Rev. C. E., McDonald, who was installed Nov. 3rd, 1882, and served until March 27th, 1892. During Mr. McDonald's pastorate,, the present church building was erected in 1883. While there was only one congregation after the union in 1844, yet there were two places of preaching, Little Steele , Creek, and Lower Steele Creek, and the pastor divided his time between the two. The churches were eight miles apart, and were situated at opposite edges of(the congregation, and it had long been felt that one church in the centre of the con- gregation would be better for all, and so, in the year 1883,, a new church about midway between the two was built, and was dedicated in Jan., 1884, Rev. W. T. Wal- ler preaching the dedicatory sermon. During the pastorate also of Mr. McDonald,: the pres- ent elegant and commodious parsonage was built, and was first occupied in June, 1888. Rev. R. L. Grier was the next pastor, .serving from Aug. 12th, 1893, until March 31st, 1897. Rev. S. J. Patterson succeeded Mr. Grier and was installed Nov. 19th, 1898, and remained pastor until Feb. loth, 1902, when he resigned to accept the appointment of the Board of Home Missions to the Mission in Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Patterson was com- pelled, on account of his health, to give up his work in Memphis, and as the congregation was still vacant, they made out a call for him, which he accepted and was re- installed Dec. I2th, 1902, and still continues pastor at this time. StarkviUe, OkfibbeJia Co., Miss. — Was organized in 1840, with David INTontgomery and Nathaniel Weed, Esq., as elders. During the next two years the congre- gation was supplied with pre^aching occasionally by an SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 589 appointment of Synod, but in 1842 a call was made out for the Rev. David Pressly, and he was installed April 7th, 1843. This pastorate continued for over 42 years, when it was dcmitted, September 5, 1885. During this long- and useful pastorate the church witnessed many changes. There were periods of growth, when her bor- ders were enlarged and many sons and daughters were gathered by her into the fold of the Good Shepherd. Men of large means and influence were numbered among her members, and from day to day the faithful gathered about her altars to worship God. But periods of darkness and adversity were also ex- perienced. The ravages of the War left many homes desolate and in poverty. Emigration to the farther West in search of better and cheaper lands depleted their ranks, and greatly reduced their strength. Rev. J. S. Mills preached there during 1885, and Rev. F. Y. Pressly was stated supply from 1887- 1890. About this time effort was made to induce the immigration of Psalm-singers from the north and north- west, but with only partial success. The purpose of this was two-fold, — to build up the local church and to con- tribute what it might toward inducing general immigra- tion from the more crowded sections of the country to the rich but cheaper lands of the South, believing that the bringing of representatives of the Psalm-singing churches into living contact with each other the day of the organic union of these bodies would be hastened. Prompted by the same desire for union, a petition was presented to the Memphis Presbytery, May 2, 1891, re- questing to be allowed to withdraw in order to connect with the United Presbyterian church and the same was granted. Sugar Grove, Mercer Co., Pa. — Was organized by the First A. R. P. Presbytery of Ohio, June. 1870. Rev. James Borrows then became pastor and died in this offi- 590 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. cial relation, May 13th, 1886. When the Ohio Presby- tery resolved, May 30, 1881, to return to the United Presbyterian body, this congregation passed from our roll. Talcraiif, Lancaster Co., S. C. — Talerant church, in Lancaster Co., S. C, appears upon the roll of the Pres- bytery of the Carolinas in 1824, and lived about four years, and then disappears. , Tallahassee, (Gadsden) nozv probably Leon Co., Fla. ■ — On the roll 1830. Doubtless visited by Revs. Wm. Blackstock, '28, and J. T. Pressly, '30, and organized by one of them. Taylorsvillc, Alexander Co., N. C. — Was organized June 13, 1896. The members of Hiddenite in and near town were increased by revivals conducted by Rev. J. H. Pressly, assisted by Revs. J. C. Boyd and E. B. Ander- son. The 18 members elected as elders D. M. Moore and J. M. Matheson. As deacons, G. W. Patterson and W. J. Allen were chosen. Though small in numbers and weak in finance, this Spartan band completed a neat and comfortable church, 1898. Revs. W. M. Hunter, R. E. Hough, E. F. Griffith, and others preached as supply. Rev. W. Y. Love, installed pastor, Nov. i8th, 1901, still continues their watchful undershepherd. Thyatira, Mecklenburg Co., X. C. — The land was do- nated by J. R. Hood and the church erected 1886. Rev. John Hunter's first sermon in the new church and his last public efi'ort to preach was here, March, i88v), when he was stricken with paralysis. Rev. R. G. Miller, D. D., continued to supply this mission of Sardis from the origin of his i)astorate till an organization was effected. J. R. and J. W. Hood and R. W. Irwin constituted the session. They continue to enjoy the ministrations of Dr. Miller, pastor of Sardis. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 591 Thyafira, Obion Co., Tcini. — Is supposed to have been only a preaching point, and nothing' is now known of its location. TIMBER RIDGE. V.\. Timber Ridge, Rockbridge Co.. J 'a. — Petitioned the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, Oct. 21, 1778, for ordination of elders and moderation of call. Rev. Wm. Logan was instructed to preach Dec, 1778, and ordain elders, with assistance of W'm. Finley, John and Sam Agnew, ruling elders. They petitioned, Alay 26th, 1779, for celebration of the sacrament, and Rev. Jas. Proudfoot was directed to administer the Lord's Supper, Oct., 1779, and moderate a call. Rev. Jas. Clarkson was sent, Oct., 1780. They continued to petition, but as the war was raging, the Presbytery wrote a letter of encour- agement and sympathy. John McCullock, commis- sioner from Timber Ridge, appeared before Presbytery, Oct. 31, 1781, at Pi(|ua. Pa., and insisted on supply and moderation of a call. Supplies were promised next spring, and diligent in(|uiry was made as to Timber Ridge's (and ( )1(1 I'rovivlence's) ability to support a min- ister, with this result, "That the support proposed, if punctually paid, might be a sufificient salary." This re- 592 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. suited in Rev. Jno. Rodgers" installation, 1783. This pastorate closed by his suspension, May 25th, 1790. , Tradition says Joseph Little and Wm. McClung, join- ing lands, each gave a lot near Timber Ridge station. Joseph Little arrived from Ireland early in 1773, and be- tween that and 1778, the congregation was organized. A change in the Psalmody of the Presbyterian church was not the occasion, as that was about 1789. A log church was erected on the aforesaid lot. Some of the elders who served were Wm. McClung, John McCullock, James Young, Jno. Finley, John McBride, Jas. Dick- son, John Murphy, Robt. Cooper. Rev. John Young was ordained and installed pastor, Aug. 20, 1792, and de- mitted in summer, 1799. Rev. James Harper, lately from Ireland, supplied a while in 1800. Rev. Wm. Baldridge was stated supply, 1803- 1809. For eleven years Timber Ridge was occasionally sup- plied by Big Spring Presbytery. Rev. Jas. Brown, while declining a call, served two years, beginning 1820. James McClung, Andrew Scott and David Taylor were elders about this date. , There were two causes that led to a change in name and ecclesiastical relation. First, under the influence largely of Dr. John Anderson and Rev. Wm. Dixon, there was a considerable accession to the Associate Pres- bytery of the Carolinas. Some time after this, the Asso- ciate Presbyterians began preaching on the Ridge and were, in 181 5, enabled with Ebenezer to settle a minister. Second, There was a forced tmion. May, 1822, between a part of the General Synod A. R. P. and the Presbyte- rians. This caused many divisions and as usual left many congregations without a pastor. The record shows that the growing Associate church on the Ridge absorbed the declining Associate Reformed. Rev. Andrew Heron, D. D., was ordained and installed pastor, April i, 1815. Dr. Heron demitted after a faithful ministry, Aug. i, 1832. Andrew Kinnear, Jas. Harper, Jas. Taylor and Aniel Rogers, ordained Aug. 4, 1826, served as elders. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 593 Rev. H. Thompson began labors Sept. i, 1833, and was ordained and installed Alarch, 1834. This congre- gation went cordially into the union, April 16, 1844, with the First Presbytery (A. R. P.). Difference of opinion having arisen about 1854, as to the joint use of the stone church, it was thought best for the A. R. Presbyterians to build. Dr. Thompson deeded a lot and a beautiful brick church was erected and dedicated in May, 1857. Dr. Thompson's long ministry and residence was a precious privilege that but few congregations enjoy, and ceased at his death, May 6, 1882. Rev. S. W. Haddon began as assistant, Feb. 6, 1881, and served as state sup- ply till 1892. The elders who served during Dr. Thomp- son's ministry were Joseph Kirkpatrick, Alexander Pat- ton, Wm. A. McClung, Wm. B. Dixon and John Nelson, and J. A. Thompson in 1890. Rev. E. F. Griffith was in- stalled Oct. 14th, 1893, and resigned Nov. i8th, 1896. Rev. D. P. Neill began stated labors first Sabbath, July, 1897, and installed July i, 1898. W. B. Douglass and F. L. McClung were, in 1898, ordained elders. Timber Ridge, with Old Providence, is the oldest pastorate in Synod. She has also another distinction. Wm. M. McClung, Jas. B. McClung, Wm. A. McClung and Frank L. McClung, father, son, grandson and great-grandson rul- ing elders in the same congregation in regular succes- sion. Tirzah, (Waxhazv), Union Co., N. C. — Preaching in this section, the birthplace of President Jackson, began early, as a church called Waxhaw was organized before 1790. They were doubtless supplied at long intervals by Revs. Thomas Clark, Jas. Martin, Wm. Blackstocks, Jas. Rogers and others. April 8, 1801, the Second Presbytery was requested to send Rev. Jas. McAulay, with a view to settlement on $400.00 salary. This plan miscarried, yet he supplied awhile. Revs. Peter McMullen. Robt. Ir- 38 594 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. win, Jas. Magill and Alexander Porter dispensed at in- tervals the word. Dr. Isaac Grier was pastor, Oct. 19, 1804-1808. Pos- sibly as early as 1803, a part of the congregation joined the recently formed Associate Presbytery, and were known as Waxhaw, and now Shiloh, Lancaster Co., S. C. Rev. Wm. Blackstock became pastor of Tirzah, 181 1, and resigned Nov. 9, 1827. There were 54 families and III members in 1822 and 69 families and 174 members, 1830. Supplied by First Presbytery, Dr. S. C. Millen was ordained and installed Nov. 17, 1841, and resigned Oct. 4, 1845. Rev. D. P. Robinson was ordained and installed Nov. 3, 1848, and resigned April 17, 1871. The majority of the congregation joined the General Assem- ly Presbyterians Dec. i8th, 1871. Tirzah, York Co., S. C. — Some time previous to 1800, there was a preaching station at Joseph Miller's, several miles west of where Tirzah church now stands, and there was also an A. R. church at Ebenezer. The attempt to introduce Watts Hymns into the Ebenezer church caused trouble, and those members in Ebenezer who would have nothing but the Psalms, united with these Associ- ates who worshipped at Joseph Miller's, and organized Tirzah congregation, and located it seven miles south- east of Yorkville, on the Yorkville and Landsford road. The organization was effected about 1803. Rev. Peter McMullen is said to have presided at the organization, and the first elders were : Joseph IMiller, Thos. Barron, Samuel Barron and Charles McElwain. The first church was built of logs. Revs. Wm. Dixon, Eleazer Harris, John Cree, and Isaac Grier, preached as supplies at Tirzah. In 1827, Rev. Wm. M. McElwee was installed pastor of Tirzah and Sharon, and continued until 1832, when he demitted his charge and went North on account of the slavery question. A new house of wor- ship was erected in 1827. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 595 Rev. Thos. Ketchin preached there after Air. McEhvee left. It continued to be an Associate Church until 1834, at which time it came into the A. R. Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. Rev. Laughlin McDonald was pastor from Dec, 1839, until Oct., 185 1. Rev. S. C. Millen was pastor from 1852 until 1855. In 1857, the church was moved to a more central location, two miles north of where it stood, and was located where the present church now stands. In 1859, R^"^- Robert Lathan, D. D., was installed over Tirzah and Yorkville, and continued until 1884, when he was called to a chair in Erskine Seminary. Rev. J. C. Galloway, D. D., was installed in 1884, and demitted his charge in 1893. Rev. B. H. Grier was installed in 1894, and resigned in 1901. A few years ago, a beautiful and modern church building was erected, which is an ornament to the com- munity. Tirzah, like many of our country congrega- tions, has been very much weakened by the removal of many of its members to the towns and cities, but it is still a hale and vigorous congregation. Since Rev. B. H. Grier left, in 1 901, this church has been vacant. Thompson Street A. R. P. Church, Xczcberry. S. C. — Was organized in 1850. The church was erected on a lot donated by Dr. Thomas W. Thompson. At the organi- zation of the churcJi, Drs. William ]\Ic]\Iorries and Thomas W. Thompson were elected and ordained as Ruling Elders. Prof. William Mood also soon after be- came a Ruline Elder. Thompson Street and King's Creek churches united in a call to Rev. H. L. Muri)hy. He was installed in 1853. and labored very successfully until the close of the war in 1865. At that time the conditions were such as to discourage him. Hence he resigned his charge and moved to ^^'est Temiessee. Eor several years following the resignation of Mr. Murphy the church was very ir- 596 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. regularly supplied. Dr. W. M. Grier labored there one year as stated supply. In 1870, Rev. E. P. McClintock began preaching at Thompson Street and King's Creek. In 1871, he re- ceived a call to the joint pastorate and was installed the same year. This pastorate continued for twelve years. In 1883, Dr. McClintock moved to the town of New- berry. He then demitted his charge of King's Creek and devoted his whole time to Thompson Street. The present officers are : Rev. E. P. McClintock, pas- tor; M. A. Carlisle, George S. Mower, John C. Wilson and James F. Todd, Ruling Elders, and E. C. Jones, S. B. Jones, F. M. Martin, and Edwin Carlisle, deacons. The membership at organization was nine and at the present time it is one hundred and twenty. The church is well organized, having the usual number of auxiliary societies. Thompson Street church has been a liberal supporter of the institutions and missions of the A. R. P. church, and has had a marked influence on the moral and spirit- ual life of the town of Newberry. , Troy, S. C. — A. R. P. church was organized June 4, 1882, by a commission of the Second Presbytery. Prior to the organization, Dr. H. T. Sloan had occasionally preached in the village of Troy. The organization fol- lowed as an immediate result of his preaching. Dr. Sloan continued to supply this congregation, and in 1883, he was called to the pastorate of the church. On his de- clining, a call was made out for Dr. J. C. Galloway, who also declined. In 1884, Rev. R. F. Bradley having ac- cepted a call, he was installed soon after, the spring meeting of Presbytery of the same year. Five years later, in April, 1889, he demitted the charge. Dr. Rob- ert Lathan was the principal supply until Rev. T. W. Sloan accepted a call in 1890, and labored in this field until 1895, when he demitted the charge. Rev. D. G. Caldwell supplied the church bi-monthly until the fall SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 597 TROV, s. c. meeting of Presbytery, when Rev. Mr. Sloan returned to Troy and was again installed pastor, remaining until 1900, when he again demitted the charge. Rev. D. G. Phillips supplied the church until Rev. H. B. Blakely accepted a call to the pastorate, in 190 1. The church building was erected in 1882, and remod- eled in 1886. Two of our missionaries, ]\Iiss Lavinia Xeel. and ]\Irs. Dr. Kate Neel Dale, are daughters of Dr. J. D. Xeel, an elder of the Troy church. , The church was organized with 34 members, and now, 1903, numbers 115 members. The future of the church seems bright. Troy. Ohion Co., Tcun. — Is located in the town of Troy, until recently the county site, and about three and one-half miles northwest of Polk, a small station on the I. C. railroad. 598 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. The membership of the church at this place was formed by the Harpers and Hutchinson's, a company of about 50 persons, white and black, that left the banks of the Catawba River in York county, S. C, Dec. 24, 1824, and arrived in this locality, Feb., 1825. This set- tlement was in the wild woods, the county having been organized in 1823. Rev. Wm. Blackstocks visited this community about 1826, and again in 1829, and preached a number of times and baptized some children. Rev. Robert Galloway visited these people during 1831 and 1832. Rev. Eleazer Harris began laboring here in 1832, and organized a church with 12 or 13 members. James Har- per and Samuel Hutchinson were made Elders. Rev. Robert McCoy visited the congregation in the autumn of 1838. His services as stated supply were secured, and he took charge January, 1839, and continued until Sep- tember, 1845. Rev. James Penny Weed came in 1846, and was in- -stalled pastor, April, 1847. This relation continued until Sept., 1858. He also had charge during 1870-75. Rev. Robert Leroy Grier was pastor from Nov. 19th, i860, to 1870. Rev. Thomas Peden Pressly was sent as supply in 1875, and was installed pastor Oct. 14th, 1876, and this pastorate happily continues to this day. In Oct. of 1901, the cjuarter centennial was observed with appropriate ex- ercises. The following is the roll of Elders who have served the congregation since its organization, most of whom have been gathered unto their fathers : James Harper, Samuel Hutchinson, Samuel Baker, Benjamin Garrison, Wm. McDaniel Hood, Augustus Peden Moffatt, David W. Stewart, Robert M. Nisbet, Walter Brice, M. D., Samuel Curry, John Erwin, Adam Dunbar, J. G. Smith, Esq., L. S. Lancaster, J. C. McCaw, William Joseph Er- win. William Currv, S. B. Hall. SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 599 The first church building; was erected about four and one-half (4>4) miles east of Troy. The second was erected in Troy about 1839, on the lot that is occupied by the present church, which is in the third structure, and which was dedicated June 13th, 1874, by Rev. Jas. A. Lowry. Troy is the mother of two churches, Rives (orig-inally Pleasant Hill ) . and Polk, a recent organization, on the Illinois Central railroad. Tzcciify-si.r Mile Creek, Pendleton Co., S. C— Was one of the earliest ori^anizations of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia. The meagre information con- cerning it is found in the Records of that Presbytery and of the Second Presbytery. From 1801 to 1829 a petition went up to nearly every meeting of Presbytery for supplies. At different times the following supplies were sent : Revs. M'Gill, Porter, Renwick, Irwin and Bryson. In 1804, a call was made for a part of Mr. Ir- vin's time, but Presbytery granted them instead only a regular supply. This church was never strong numerically, and after the year 1828 its name does not appear in the Proceed- ings of the Presbytery. Union, Chester Co., S. C— Union church is situated very near Richburg, in Chester Co., S. C. It was originally one of the Societies of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and was probably organized as ar^ Associate Reformed Church in 1795. as it appears on the minutes of the .\. R. Church in 1796, when it united with Hopewell and Xew I lope in a call to Rev. John Hemphill. Rev. John Hemphill was installed over this pastoral charge on Sept. 19th, 1796, and was, therefore, the first pastor of Union. This pastorate continued until the death of Dr. Hemphill, on May 30th. 1832. 6oo SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. UNIONj S. C. The first house of worship was a log building, and stood near where the present house stands. It was erected in 1794 or 1795, and was afterwards remodeled and enlarged, and served the church until the present building was erected in 1848. After the death of Mr. Hemphill, Hopewell and Union united in a call to Rev. Warren Flenniken, who was or- dained and installed in Nov., 1832. This pastorate con- tinued until Mr. Flenniken demitted Union in April, 1839. Until this time Union had received preaching only once a month. In April, 1839, Rev. L. McDonald was called to Union for one-half time, the other half being given to Tirzah, in York Co., S. C. Mr. McDonald was installed over the united charge, at Tirzah, on Dec. loth, 1839. He lived in the bounds of Union, and continued pastor of Tirzah until Oct. 4th, 185 1, when he demitted this part of his charge, and on Sept. loth, 1853, he accepted a call to Neely's Creek, in York Co., S. C, and continued pastor of Union and Neely's Creek, until Sept. 5th, 1870, when he demitted both congregations, and became pastor of New Hope, in Fairfield Co. The united charge of Union and Neely's SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 6oi Creek called Rev. C. B. Betts, in April, 1871, and he was installed in May, 1871. In 1890, Mr. Betts gave up the Xeely's Creek branch of this charge, because it had grown strong enough to take a pastor all the time. He has since continued pastor of Union. Union has been one of the strong and solid" churches of the Synod, and has done a noble work for the ^Master. It has given the following ministers to the church : Revs. S. C. iMillen, J. H. Simpson, Josiah Moffatt, J. P. Marion, \\'. H. Millen, H. C. Fennell, J. H Mofifatt, and R. C. Betts. In recent years the congregation has made extensive repairs on their church, and it is now one of the most convenient and handsome churches in the country. Union, Maury Co., Tciin. — It is not known when or by whom this congregation was organized. Presumably it was by the Tennessee Presbytery. Rev. R. M. Gallo- way was pastor from 1824 to 1840, giving probably one- half time to it. After Mr. Galloway's death, it had only occasional supplies. The first house of worship was de- stroyed by a storm in 1835, and the second was erected in 1836. "At one time Union was a fairly strong and flourishing congregation, as much so as Hopewell, but by removals and deaths became broken up. The storm that destroyed the church building in 1835, killed three members of one of the families, by the name of Lusk." The date of its dissolution is not given. Union, Marion Co., Ga. — Organized by Rev. Thomas Turner, Feb. 3, 1841, Robt. Bell and Thomas Wigham ruling elders ordained at organization. Rev. James \\''alker was called early in 1841. but while he was hold- ing the call a Higher Call took him away, Sept. 18. 1841. Owing to removals, it was, June, 1843, consolidated with and named Smvrna, with four elders and one deacon. 6o2 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. Unity, A'czvberry Co., S. C. — This church is one of the youngest organizations in the Synod. Its ecclesiasti- cal life dates from April 30th, 1902. At this time a commission of the Second Presbytery, consisting of Rev. T. W. Sloan, and elders R. S. Gal- *'loway and C. F. Boyd, effected the formal organization of the church. Rev. J. B. Hood deserves the credit of starting the v^ork at Unity. It was while he was pastor of King's Creek that he began preaching at Garmany school house, a small building situated near the church. It was found necessary to have a better and more commodious build- ing. This was erected by the contributions of but a handful of people, Messrs. A. J. Gibson and B. F. Can- non taking the lead in the work. The church was first occupied in January, 1903. The elders elected were B. F. Cannon and J. Y. Thompson. The first pastor chosen was Rev. Chas M. Boyd. His installation took place May 30th, 1903. The church has now 40 members, hav- ing grown from a beginning of 15. It has a promising future before it. Unify. — Unity Church is situated in the eastern part of Lancaster County, S. C, and its origin is due to a divis- ion in Tirzah, A. R. church, in Union County, N. C. About 1875, a large part of Tirzah congregation went into the Southern Presbyterian church, and those who re- mained in the A. R. church were organized by the First Presbytery into a congregation, and was called Unity. The organization was effected by Rev. A. Ranson, in the yard of Mr. John W. McCain, in 1875. Mr. McCain gave five acres of land for a church lot, and the first building was erected in 1875. and was dedicated in April, 1876, Rev. R. W. Brice preaching the dedicatory ser- mon. The church was supplied by Rev. J. S. Mills and others for some time. In 1876, Rev. E. E. Pressly com- menced to supply the church regularly, and in 1879 was SKETCHES OF COXGREGATTONS. 603 UNITY, S. C. called as pastor, being installed May 23rd, 1879. Mr. Presslv demitted this charge, Oct. 25th, 1885. Rev W A M. Plaxco was stated supply from ^ov., 1885, until the spring of 1890. During this time Mr. Plaxco was called to the pastorate, but declmed. Rev H B Blakelv was pastor from 1890 until 1894, and Rev J. L. Gates from 1897 ^"^til the spring of 1900. Rev J Meek White was stated supply from May 1000. until he was installed April 9th, KjOL and he stdl continues as pastor. At its organization. John ^e son and J. Millen Stewart were ordained elders, and they both continue in office until the present tune. The fol- lowino- persons have since been added as elders, Jas. \\ . McCain S. P. Walkup, W. G. Sistare. and Elam Boyce, and perhaps others. In 1902. a beautiful and elegant church was erected, which is a credit to the congregation and an ornament to the community. They also have a nice parsonage for the pastor. Unity is well named and is one of the most live and prosperous churches of the Presbytery. ■ UnionUncn. Bcbnont Co., O/no.-Was organized as an A. R. church. 1805; became U. P. in 1858: formed part 6o4 SKETCHES OE CONGREGATIONS. of the Ohio Presbytery in connection with A. R. Synod of the South. Dr. W. M. McElwee, of Rockbridge Co., \'a., visited, preached to, and received a call early after Civil War. Having joined the Southern Synod, Sept. ig, 1867, Rev. W. S. Moffatt began stated labors June, 1868, and was installed pastor, spring, 1869. He re- mained here until May 30, 1881, when both pastor and congregation connected with the United Presbyterian Church. Sketch of the JJ'ork in Valles, State of S. L. P. — • Evangelical work was begun at Valles in 1899. Valles is a part of the mission of which El Maiz is the center. The town has a population of some 2,000 souls ; it is, however, the center of a large and populous territory. Rev. C. Cruz was located at this point, and has gath- ered a small congregation. One of the most serious draw- backs to the work at this point is the lack of a suitable house of worship, centrally located and respectably fur- nished. The congregation is composed of four families, nine communicants, and a good number of adherents. No formal church organization has yet been effected and no ruling elders have been elected. A day school, which is growing in favor and in number of pupils, is taught by Mr. Cruz and his wife. Valles is a strategic point, and is growing every day in importance. It is located on the Mexican Central Ry., and is the gate way to the large, fertile and populous ter- ritory of the Tamasunchale valley. Viro^in Sf^riiiij;, Alexander Co., N. C. — Organized 1824; land donated by (Mason) John McLclland. John Patterson, a Revolutionary soldier named it after a spring on his land. "Tt was a log structure, built after the rules of the country meeting houses of that day ; the cracks are all open, no windows, or door shutters; rude seats of SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. 605 plank slabs or split logs, as were most convenient to ob- tain." Among the first ruling elders were Daniel Mathe- son, and Robert Carson, Sr. They received supplies from Rev. John iNIushat until his active ministry ceased, 1827, and then from Associate ministers. In 1840, there were 12 families and 22 members. Rev. John Patrick often dispensed the means of grace here, '4i-'44. Jas. McDonald, Robt. Carson, Jr., Aryel Sharp, David Miller and Henry McLain, elders. Rev. S. C. Millen, D. D., began supply, Nov. i, 1846. Salem Presbyterian Church was organized, 1833. When both needed repair, the property of Virgin Spring was used to better furnish Salem and a joint use agreed. It con- tinued agreeably as long as needed, under the administra- tion of Dr. Alillen, Revs. W. B. Pressly and W. M. Hun- ter. For a few years in the '70's, she declined and be- came disorganized. The faithful remnant were recol- lected and merged into Hiddenite. Warrior's Creek. — The earliest mention to be found of Warrior's Creek, Laurens Co., S. C, is in the Pro- ceedings of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, in the year 1804, when it is recorded that Warrior's Creek petitioned Presbytery for a sermon. A similar request was made at each successive meeting of Presbytery, un- til 1807, when a definite call was made out for one-fourth of Mr. Renwick's time. Presbytery appointed Mr. Ren- wack to preach at Warrior's Creek on the fourth Sabbath of April, also on the first and second Sabbath of May. At the next spring meeting of Presbytery they begged for one-fourth of Mr. Renwick's time to be continued among them. Mr. Ren wick labored there as stated sup- ply from 1809 until 1816. On March the tenth, 18 12, Warrior's Creek vacancy was united with Gilder's Creek as a part of Mr. Ren- wick's charge, but on IMarch i, 1814, his connection with Gilder's Creek was dissolved. 6o6 SKETCHES OF CONGREGATIONS. In 1816, these vacancies were reported to Synod, as in a languishing condition, there being much lukewarmness on account of different views on Christian communion. On November 6, 1816, Presbytery held a meeting at Warrior's Creek. In 1 827- 1 828, Rev. S. P. Pressly and Rev. H. Bryson served as stated supply for one-fourth time. WHITE OAK, GA. White Oak Church, Ga. — Was organized in 1848, by Rev. Thomas Turner, under direction of the Georgia Presbytery (or 2nd). They were supplied until 1854, wdien Rev. James McDaniel was installed pastor. He de- mitted the charge in 1857. Rev. Andrew McElroy was installed. 1859, and demitted the charge in 1866. From that date until 1879, they were supplied by Rev. S. P. Davis and a number of other ministers. In that year. Rev. J. L. Hemphill began his labors among them. In 188 1, he was installed pastor, and continued to be until his death in 1899. Rev. J. M. Bigham was with them for a few months. In Dec, 1900. Rev. I. S. Caldwell was ordained and installed as their pastor, and is still with them. They have had two church buildings. The last one was erected in t8y order of the A. R. Synod (the body of which we have just spoken as having been organized in Philadel- phia in 1782) the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia CENTEXXIAL ADDRESSES. 617 was organized at Long Cane, S. C, Feb. 24th, 1790. It was composed of four ministers and 44 congregations. In twenty years from its organization the A. R. Synod (organized as we have just said in Philadelphia and representing all the Associate Reformed people in the United States) had grown to such an extent that it was deemed wise to divide the Synod into four co-ordinate Synods, and organize a general Synod having the powers of a general Assembly. This was done and the result was four Synods — the Synod of Xew York, the Synod of Pennsylvania, the Synod of Scioto, and the Synod of the Carolinas. It is with respect to the organization of this last body that we are especially concerned today. It is true this is not the name which the A. R. Synod of the South bears to-da}-. but it is the same body. This Synod took its present name, the A. R. Synod of the South. 19 years after the Synod of the Carolinas was or- ganized at the Brick Church. The members of the Synod of the Carolinas were so dissatisfied with the tyrannical and over-bearing conduct of some of the members of the General Synod of Pennsylvania, their centralization of power, as the Synod never met except in Philadelphia and the growing corruption of doctrine and practice, that the Synod of the Carolinas withdrew and became independent in 1822, and assumed its present name. By order of the A. R. Synod of Pennsylvania the Synod of the Carolinas was to have been organized at Ebenezer or P)rick Church. Fairfield county. S. C. the fourth Wednesday of April, 1803. But for some reason which is not revealed in the minutes, the meeting was not held at that date. But a few weeks later the ministers and elders of the First and Second Presbyteries of thfe Carolinas and Georgia did meet at the Brick Church and the Synod of the Carolinas was organized. The territory under the jurisdiction of the Synod thus organized was Xorth and South Carolina and Georgia. Bv order of the Associate Reformed Svnod of Pennsvl- 6i8 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. vania, the Presbytery of the CaroHnas and Georgia was organized at Long Cane, S. C, Feb. 24th, 1790, with four ministers and forty-four congregations. Ten years later, in Oct., 1800, this Presbytery was by order of the same Synod, the Synod of Pennsylvania, divided into the First and Second Presbyteries of the Carolinas and Georgia, the line of separation being Broad River, all the territory lying west of this river being assigned to the Second Presbytery, and all east to the First Presbytery. Tlfe Synod of the Carolinas as organized at the Brick Church was therefore composed of delegates from the First and Second Presbyteries of the Carolinas and Georgia. ' As to the causes and motives which led to the organi- zation of the Synod the records have little to say. Some causes are briefly stated, others are matters of inference. One reason was the great distance between the A. R. churches in the Carolinas and those in Pennsylvania and New York. To attend a meeting of the A. R. Synod of Pennsylvania required a long, fatiguing and expensive trip on horseback through a wild and mountainous coun- try in A'irginia and West Virginia. The churches in the Sf^nth were therefore nearly always without representa- tion in the Synod which always met in the North. To illustrate this difficulty. A few years ago when I re- turned from the meeting of Synod at Chicota, Dr. E. E. Boyce said to me, "When did you leave Memphis?" I said, "Yesterday morning." "You made the trip in twenty-four hours, then?" "Yes," I answered. "Well," he said, "that reminds me. When I was a missionary in the West in my early ministry in 1840, I left Memphis on horseback with my saddle bags and it took me 31 days and you have come in twenty-four hours." Dr. D. G. Phillips used to tell it on my father, that once on a long trip on horseback to a Synod in the far West, when they had been absent from home a month, as they were riding along in the mountains of Tennessee, father drew a long breath and said, "Well, I would like CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 619 to know how Martha and the children are getting along." These long wilderness journeys, the absence of all postal facilities, for all letters went by hand in those days, and the consequent isolation of the A. R. churches in the South was one reason for the organization of the Synod of the Carolinas. Another reason was the rapid growth of the A. R. churches, both at the North and the South just at this time. Dr. Lathan in his history of the A. R. church says of this period, "The number of congregations rapidly increased, new Presbyteries were organized, and the field occu]Med by the A. R. church became very ex- tensive, embracing the territory included by nearly all the original thirteen States, forming the American gov- ernment." Our fathers, therefore, felt that this organi- zation in the South would be an additional stake of strength to the entire A. R. church and cause in the United States. Especially was this felt to be true so far as the South was concerned. It would stimulate the faith and enterprise of the churches in the Carolinas and Georgia, and open the way for larger and better things in the future. It would throw the churches in the South on their own resources, and develop a spirit of self-help, ])oth as to money and a supply of ministers — which was the great burning question in the churches at the South at the time. , Ry way of correcting what I think is a very common misapprehension, I will say, that the question of slavery and the estrangements which grew out of it between the North and South had nothing at all to do with the organization of the Synod of the Carolinas at the Brick Church in 1803, or the movement which led to the pres- ent independent A. R. Synod of the South 19 years later. The popular idea is that it grew out of our differences in regard to slavery. This is entirely incorrect. True in the early history of the church the A. R. people were largely and strongly opposed to slavery, and the wing of 520 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. the church in the North took strong ground against it. And first and last, perhaps, the larger part of our church left the South and emigrated to the Northwest on ac- count of their opposition to slaverv. Many of the congre- gations of the U. P. church in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana were built up by these Southern emigrants. Nearly the entire body of Covenanters in the South removed to the free States of the West for this reason. This was one of the chief reasons for the slow growth of the A. R. church in the beginning of the past centur}-. I have tried to sketch the causes which led to the or- ganization of the Synod of the Carolinas. Let us for a moment imagine it is the 9th of May, 1803. and let us imagine we are on the ground at the Brick Church the morning the Synod is to be organized. First of all we see a neat brick building standing in the midst of a beautiful oak grove on the banks of Little River. That house has a history. It was built in 1788 and still stands. Rev. C. E. McDonald, in his sketch of the Brick Church, says that Mrs. Hutchinson, a member of the church who died a few years ago, remembers hear- ing her mother and others tell that after the crops were laid by their fathers and grandfathers would go to the brickyard and tramp the mud into mortar with their bare feet, put it into mould with their hands, carry it out into the sun to dry and then burn the kilns by night and day. It took them a long time to get ready to build but the building was completed in 1788. And it stands to-day as strong and solid as at the first, showing that these old men did their work well." This is the house where Synod has come to meet presently. And now the congregation begins to gather from all quarters. They are either all on horseback or on foot, and are all dressed either in homespun or buckskin. It is a large congre- gation that assembles, for the Brick church is prosperous and has many members. The ministers and elders have all come on horseback, are dustv and travel worn from CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 62 1 their long journey. After cordial greetings (for these men are as David and Jonathan) with their saddle bags over their arms they enter the church. The Rev. Jas. Rogers, pastor of the Brick church, ascends the pulpit ladder, for by order of the A. R. Synod of Pennsylvania, he has been appointed Moderator. He gives out the opening Psalms, reads the Scripture and announces the text. It is this. Jer. 3:15, 'T will give you pastors ac- cording to mine heart which shall feed you with knowl- edge and understanding." After sermon the Synod of the Carolinas was by him constituted by prayer, and entered on a century of labor for the Master and His cause. Is it too much to hope that when the great angel shall stand on sea and land and declare "time shall be no more" that there shall be a General Assembly of the A. R. church in session and doing business for the ^Master? "^A'hen the roll of this first Synod was called seven min- istf^rs. two probationers and six elders answered to their names. After a century I will call this roll once again. Jas. Rogers, William Blackstock, John Plemphill, Jas. AIcKnight, Alexander Porter, Jas. ]\IcGill, and Robt. Erwin, ministers. Isaac Grier, Jas. McAuley, probationers. Elders, Chas. ^Montgomery, Alexander Stewart, An- drew ^IcOuiston, Henry Hunter, Arthur ^Morrow, Duke Bell. All absent to-day. Gone to join the "General As- sembly and church of the first born whose names are written in heaven." I am sure you would like to know something of what was done on that day. I have the minute. I will read it. But don't be alarmed brethren, this minute is not as long as the minute of the present Synod. "Whereas, the Associate Reformed Synod at their meeting held in Xew York City, Oct. 21st, iut under his Irish wit and his Scotch "dourness" there was a tender heart. The wife of his youth died in earlv life under circumstances touchingly painful to him, and he carried a lonely heart to his grave. His principal work was done in Steele Creek, Neely's Creek and Tirzah in Union County. X. C. (now in con- nection with the Southern Presbyterian church) of which last he was pastor at the time of his death. His last sermon was preached at Sardis. X. C, he died at the home of Richard Peoples, father of Rev. J. IT. Peoples, and was buried at Tirzah. I have stood by his grave there, near the grave of my mother's father, and have thought that while he left no children to bear his name on earth his children in the gospel were not few. 528 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. The next name on the roll is John Hemphill,, a name that belongs to the present as well as to the past, a name the very sound of which makes us think of mental power and sterling worth. He, too, was of Irish birth but obtained his education in this country. He graduated at Dickinson College, Pa., in 1792 at the age of thirty-one, having been depen- dent it seems on his own labor for means to obtain his education. The tuition of his theological course he paid, in part at least, by marrying the daughter of his teacher. Rev. ]\Iatthew Linn, of Greencastle, Pa. His pastoral charge was Hopewell, Union and New Hope ; these last two being organized under his ministry. Here he lived and labored ; here he left impressions deep and lasting; and from this field of labor he sent forth influences for good. Wherever the children of these old churches have gone — and they have scattered far and wide — there the power of Dr. Hemphill's ministry has been felt. It becomes me to bear personal testimony here. In my own charge — people staunch and true — are a number whose ancestors were brought up under his ministry, and tl*: worthy wife of Salem's first pastor was a daughter of Dr. Hemphill. , In those qualities that make a man of influence and a minister of power he seemed to be prominent among his brethren — a Paul among the Apostles. He was the only one of the seven to whose name I have found D. D. attached — and they do say that capital D's meant more then than they do in these days. A word as to his descendants. One of them, a grand- son. (J. C. Hemphill, Editor of the Charleston A'ezvs and Courier,) we shall hear this afternoon — a man who occupies a position of influence second, in my judgment, to none in this State to-day. Another ( Ccn. R. R. Hemp- hill ) is now and has been for years one of your prom- inent legislators. Another (Hon. J. J. Hemphill) was CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 629 for years one of the leading men in the national Con- gress. Still another (Dr. C. R. Hemphill, of Louisville, Kv.,) is engaged in training young men for the univer- sity in the Preshyterian church. These and others bear the name Hemphill. It is a matter of regret that that name after being on our ministerial roll for nearly a hundred years, is not there now. But under the name of Moffatt and Grier the Hemphill blood is in our ministry still. James AIcKnight was born near Coddle Creek, X. C, and graduated at Dickinson College, Pa., a classmate of Dr. Hemphill. In 1797 he became pastor of Coddle Creek, Gilead and Prosperity where he preached the gospel until his death in 1831. In size he was like the children of Anak — weighing over 300 pounds ; in voice he w^as a Boanerges ; in rid- ing, like the son of Ximshi. I have heard my father say that he generally rode at a gallop and frequently with a loose horse galloping along behind. I suppose this was to have a change of horses in case the one he was riding should give out. Those were the days of long sermons, and two of them at that; and Father McKnight lived up to the full measure of his privileges. Little of the Sabbath was spent in the private exercises of worship by those who attended his preaching. On one occasion it is said that he preached so long that his hearers all left him on ac- coinit of approaching night ; and when last of all the sex- ton left, he requested him to shut the door when he got through. Whether he preached much longer or not there was no one left to tell. It is also said that his marriage ceremony was some- times an hour long, at the end of which it is believed that the couple as well as the ceremony was suitably solemnized. How our grandmothers endured it we do not know, but we liave reason to think that some of them did survive. 630 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. But notwithstanding the length of his sermons, which would have rendered him unacceptable in our day, he was an able and devoted minister of the gospel, and his labors brought forth fruit. Alexander Porter was born in Abbeville County, S. C, graduated at Dickinson College, Pa., and was pastor of Cedar Springs and Long Cane from 1798 until 18 14 when he moved North. From some incidental references we judge that he went North on account of ill health. His work was prospering, but it was more than he was able to do. After his removal his health improved and he continued to preach the gospel for a number of years. He left five children, three daughters and two sons — a minister and a physician. Of James McGill we know but little. He was born in Pennsylvania, graduated at Dickinson College and about a year before the Synod was organized he was installed pastor of Little River and Rocky Springs in Abbeville County, S. C. This charge he demitted in 1805 and two years later he moved to Ohio where he lived a very se- cluded life. He seemed to be partially unbalanced in his mind. The last of the seven, Robert Irwin, was a native of Ireland and obtained his education in Scotland. He taught school for awhile near Bethel, Ga., where he married a Miss Little. After her death he studied the- ology under Rev. Alexander Porter and was elected pastor of Generostee in Anderson and Diamond Hill in Abbeville County, not long before the Synod was organ- ized. This pastorate continued until his death in 1833. He was an earnest preacher of the gospel and a zeal- ous worker. He made it a point never to make a call or visit without giving if possible some religious instruc- tion. He was twice married, first to a Miss Little, and af- terwards to a Miss Gordon, aunt of Revs. N. M. and Gilbert Gordon, but left no children. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 63 1 This exhausts the Hsts of ordained ministers. There were two probationers, James McAuley and Isaac Grier. ( )f James AIcAuley I have not been able to learn any- thing, not knowing where to inquire for information. Of Isaac Grier it would be easy to say more than time will i)ermit. lie was born in Georgia in 1776 — the first Presbyterian minister born in that State. He graduated at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and was installed pastor of Waxhaw, or Tirzah, Providence and Sardis in 1S04. The last he held until near his death, which occurred in 1843. To say that he did a good and lasting work there and throughout the Synod is but a feeble expression of the truth. Not only did he leave the stamp of his strong and devoted life on his own people, but he was the chief stay of the church in her darkest hour. When he saw the fathers, Rogers, Blackstock, McKnight and Hemp- hill follow each other in quick succession to the grave and he left alone of that original band — if he ever fal- tered in his principles or weakened in his faith we do not know it. His was the strength that was able to stand in the day of trial. But he lived to see brighter days. He saw the college and the seminary organized and young men coming into their father's places. We have no wish to bestow undue praise, but if it had not been for Dr. Isaac Grier we might possibly not have celebrated our centennial to-day. His work in a very real sense has covered the whole century. On our roll to-day is the name of one still living who was reared under his ministry — Rev. Isaac Grier McLaughlin. As to his descendants little need be said. They are too A'ell known. .\ son, (Dr. R. C. Grier) and a grandson (Dr. W. l\r. Grier) were Presidents of Erskine College. On the camjius of the College there stands a marble likeness of that grandson, who added honor to an hon- ored name. Another grandson (Rev. B. H. Grier) bears the name. 632 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. and bears it worthily, on our roll to-day. Another (Paul L. Grier) is a Professor in Erskine College. Still an- other (Rev. Mark B. Grier) is a missionary of the Presbyterian church in China. While a great grandson (Rev. R. L. Grier) is also preaching the gospel in con- nection with the Presbyterian church. This ends the list of ministers. One thing has been a mystery to me, why was there no Pressly on that list? How the Synod ever managed to organize without them we cannot tell. Our U. P. brethren couldn't do it. They had to send South for one (Dr. John T. Pressly) nearly thirty years beforehand to have him for Moderator of their first General Assembly. We can hardl>- run a Pres- bytery to-day (to say nothing of the College and Semi- nary) without a Pressly. And when our next Centennial comes no name will be so honored as the name of Pressly. As to the Ruling Elders in that first meeting of Synod — six names are given. Charles Montgomery, Alex- ander Stewart, Duke Bell, Andrew McQuiston, Arthur Morrow, and Henry Hunter. Of the first two I have been able to learn nothing — not even the churches they represented. I knew not where to seek for information. Of the others I knew but little more. Arthur Morrow was from Cedar Spring and is spoken of as an able, useful elder. He was probably the ances- tor of the Morrows in that community now. Duke Bell was from the Brick Church. Whether or not he has any living descendants we do not know. He was an uncle of Dr. James Boyce's first wife, and of the late C. E. Bell, whose wife and children now live in and near Charlotte. N. C. Andrew McQuiston was from Ho]:)ewell. vS. C. and his great grandchildren are now officers and members of Salem, my own pastoral charge, where the name Mc- Quiston stands for strict integrity and solid worth. Henry Htmter was from Coddle Creek. N. C. Strong CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 633 and true himself, his descendants bear that character to this day. A grandson (Rev. John Hunter) was the only pastor I ever had. Two of his great grandsons (Rev. J. S .A. and W. M. Hunter) are here to-day, and also three others who bear other names (Revs. J. M. Garrison, A. J. Ranson and J. B. Hood.) It is a matter of regret that we know so little about these ruling elders. Doubtless they were not prominent in the organization and business of the Synod But they, and men like them were the real foundation on which that organization rested and on which it rests to-day. Had it not been for them there would been nothing here to organize. Like the foundation, not seen ; but. like it. they gave strength and permanence to the structure. Strong, noble men ! As to the churches which composed the Synod — we at- tempt only a very brief mention. The pastoral charge of Rev. James Rogers was Can- non's Creek and King's Creek in Newberry County, and Ebenezer — the old Brick Church. The names of these churches have not been blotted out, but they are not strong. The old Brick Church through removals has almost become a memory of the past. Rev. ^^'illiam Blackstock's charge at the time of the organization was Steele Creek, Neely's Creek, and Ebe- nezer, near where the town (or city) of Rock Hill now stands. The last named exists no longer. The other two are still alive and vigorous with strong active pas- tors— S. J. Patterson and Oliver Johnson. Dr. Hemphill's charge was Hopewell, where Rev. John A. ^\'hiu■. the present pastor, was born and reared, and where he has preached the gospel for a (|uarter or half a century ; Union, the pastoral charge of our honored Moderator (Dr. C. B. Betts) and Ebenezer, now New Hope, in this county ( Fairfield ). He, too, had his Ebene- zer— "stone of help," — a monument of gratitude to God for his help in the i)ast. and a testimony of his faith in the help of Ciod in the future. 634 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Two of these churches, Hopewell and New Hope, are weak compared with what they once were, but their strength has not been lost to the kingdom. Far and wide their children have gone to build up other churches. The pastoral charge of James INIcKnight was Coddle Creek, the church of his birth and childhood, Gilead and Prosperity. These churches still stand after the lapse of a hundred years and are ministered to by R. C. Davidson, J. M. Bigham and T. B. Stewart who are all present at this meeting. It was in Coddle Creek that our Senior Missionary in Mexico, Dr. Neill E. Pressly, was born and reared. Cedar Spring and Long Cane constituted the pastoral charge of Rev. Alexander Porter, the former a very strong congregation with over five hundred members, now weak because its strength has gone to other churches near at hand and far away. Both are still on our roll, Cedar Spring at present without a pastor, Long Cane under the oversight of Rev. R. F. Bradley. Rocky Springs and Little River, in Abbeville county, were the pastoral charge of Rev. James McGill. Of these we have been unable to learn anything. Their names disappeared from the roll we know not how long ago. Old Generostee, a part of the pastoral charge of Rev. Robert Irwin, still lives, with her daughters. Concord, Grove, and Iva, around her. Diamond Hill, his other church, is a name that belongs to the past. Rev. Isaac Grier's charge, over which he was installed soon after the organization of the Synod, was Sardis — a name dear to some of us — at present the pastoral charge of Dr. R. G. Miller ; Providence, which belongs to the past ; and Waxhaw, or Tirzah, now in the Southern Presbyterian church. Of the vacant congregations at the time of the organ- ization, some are living and growing; some have passed away. New Perth and New Sterling, in North Carolina, CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 635 constitute the pastoral charge of Rev. E. F. Griffith. Prosperity, S. C, is a part of the field and force of Rev. C. M. Boyd. Due West Corner is no longer a "Corner," but a city of some five or six hundred inhabitants, with two colleges, a seminary and a church paper, and so large to its size that a western man thought from reading the Presbyterian that it contained a a population of about twenty thousand. (That was before the present editors had charge of the paper.) I'.uck 1 lead, Ga., has changed its name to Bethel, and is now watched over by the longest minister of the Synod (Rev. J. S. Mills) "the right man in the right place." Big Creek, now Ebenezer, was for a long time the charge of the venerable Dr. D. G. Phillips and is now ministered to by Rev. R. E. Hough. Warrior's Creek, in Laurens County, S. C, is now known by the name of Ora — the pastoral charge of Rev. B. H. Grier. (It is near the old site of "Scuffletown," the home of Bro. H. B. Blakely in his youthful days.) Some other vacancies are no longer on our roll. At that time, history states that we had a church in the city of Charleston. Perhaps we might claim one now in the j)crson of Maj. J. C. Hemphill, but we believe he doesn't make regular reports to Synod. Then we find such names as Crystal Springs, Raburns Creek, Rocky Springs,, Twenty-Six Mile Creek, in South Carolina, and Joppa and Eighteen Mile Creek, in Geor- gia. But these "Springs" and "Creeks" have all run dry. ]\Tost likely they were but weak organizations then. Besides these, there were some others which sought connection with other denominations or were disorgan- ized about the time of the organization of the Synod. From this brief outline it can be seen that there was no proportion between the field and the laborers. Thirty- five churches, besides other preaching stations, scattered over three States, and only eight or nine minsters to look after this wide field! Trulv the harvest was great and 636 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. the laborers few. If only there had been laborers equal to the work how different our Centennial mio-ht have been to-day ! What a call to us to pray now for bborers, and to work with untiring energy to gather in the harvest ripe around us into the garner of the Lord ! CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 637 A. R. P. Ministers' Wives. Address by Rev. W. M. Hunter. (At llic Centennial Celebration of A. R. P. Synod, Winnsboro, S. C.) Htimanly speaking; the niiiiistry get the credit for the growth of our Zion. Bttt the wife, too, is an important factor, a potential influence, a positive power. Our ministers' wives deserve more than a passing no- tice. Would that my feeble pen and stammering tongue were equal to the task ! They have crossed the threshold of affluence and ease and turned from society delightful and in harmony with birth and education. Not knowing whither they went, risked new scenes and new fields, Arkansas fever, Texas cyclones, Georgia malaria, Kentucky and West Virginia pneumonia and Mexican yellow fever. Did the minister have something- to risk? She more. Not only has she gone from the tiowcrs i)lanted and home provided in faith, trusting her master to pro- vide a comfortable one, a hearty welcome, wise and judi- cious friends to fill the void, but she has been the first, the very first, to lay herself on the altar of self-denial. The minister must travel, it is usually for his wife's health, must expend generally at her charge. If any one nnist stav at home, nurse the sick child, see after the endless details of home and farm, wait longest for the new bonnet and comfortable cloak, it is the wife in the par- sonage who is happy to relieve the situation. Then she sacrifices her precious time. It is often frittered away in endless calls, numl)erless little details., doleful wrongs, misgivings and misunderstanding poured from both sides into her sym]xithetic ear. Some of these get no farther 638 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. than the parsonage sitting-room, save she chooses to tell her hege upstairs. The demands on her time are simply enormous, yet the full tale of the brick is expected in tidy housekeeping and generous hospitality. She is expected to give up her opinion. Sister Smith is kin to the most wealthy and influential members and has been running things and having her own way. Though the measure proposed by Sister Smith is ex- tremely doubtful, uncertain and unwise, }'et the pastor's wife must graciously surrender or risk doing worse. Our wives are first class managers. They can make a little go so far, cause the oil and the meal to be indefi- nite, multiply in division and add in subtraction. This suggests to me ravens' visits while we are in study or at Synod. She is fertile of resources, can cut two coats from a pattern and a half, make 60 cents pay a dollar debt, and from a slender pantry set a substantial meal. She is a diplomat of no ordinary ability. Eternity alone will reveal how often she has corrected the blun- ders and self-will of her less half. In oiling the machin- ery of the church, many have been the difficulties healed, the estranged won, the careless warned. She has wrought in private while he worshipped in public, she has toiled in lonesome hours, while he so- journed in lonely homes, she has kept vigil over their sick boy while he kneels with a fevered child far away; she has kept the altar at their home while he was kind- ling it in another. All honor to the uncrowned queens, the unordained missionaries, the loyal, devoted consecrated wives of A. R.P. ministers! She has won the tired and discour- aged pastor back to hope by her gentle nianner, womanly tact and consummate skill. Half ])ersuaded to enter a lucrative office and crush the demon of debt, she, like an CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 639 ang-eL, stands between him and the precipice, and inspires new service by renewed sacrifice. We honor the 287 ministers of this Synod who have turned their backs on gain and for love of Christ and devotion to principle, have gone tip and down this South- land. But shall that weaker vessel, though bearing the heavier load, who follows his field and fortune, "who tarrieth by the stuff," not part alike? (i Sam. 30:24). Another volume ought to be printed. How would Mrs. James Boyce, Mrs. Jane Young, Mrs. J. C. Chalmers, Mrs. Torbit, and hundreds of others of whom the world is not worthy, how would they adorn such a book? The A. R. P. church is not true to herself to leave out the better, to omit the power behind the throne. I would not discourage any who may be solicited to join this noble band of martyrs. With all her trials, if I was a woman. I would rather be a preacher's wife than the President's, especially an A. R. P. 540 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Introductory Remarks. By Hon. J. N, Miller. I appreciate the honor of presiding on this historic occasion, and I regret that the intentional or uninten- tional association of two centennial names on the program this evening will be broken by the absence of Rev. B H. Grier, whose place I have been unexpectedly called upon to take. It was historic and suggestive that a Grier should introduce a Hemphill. I have been considering why I was selected to do some of the honors of the evening; and while thinking, learned that one hundred years ago, when our Synod was organized, our fathers resolved that no vacant church should be represented on the floor of Synod by elders. In according me the honor of presiding this afternoon, it is made manifest that something in these days is ac- corded to the eldership. While we Associate Reformed Presbyterians are cele- brating our first centennial, and while one hundred years at this stage of the world's history is not a long period in some regards, we glory, not only in the centennial of our church organization, but glory more in the more ancient doctrines on which our church is founded. We have now a church complete in all its functions. We have our colleges, male and female, our seminary, our domestic and foreign missions, our orphanage and litera- ture and periodicals and our ladies' and young people's societies. Our fathers started without any of these great arms of the church. Thus after one hundred years we present to the Christian world an organization equipped for God's work at home and abroad. And in commemoration in part of the work that has been accom- CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 64I plished, it is my honor this afternoon to present to you as one of the orators of this occasion, a distinguished citizen of the State of South Carohna, a worthy son of Erskine College and a college mate of whom I have most pleasant memories, the Hon. J. C. Hemphill, of Charles- ton, S. C. Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism in History. ADDRESS BY HON. J. C. HEMPHILL. Mr. Moderator, Ladies and Gentlemen : Scotch-Irish Presbyteranism in History is, indeed, a very large part of history, and particularly of the history of English- speaking people for more than three hundred years. There has not been a great achievement in arms, literature, science, government or legislation with which it has not been associated in some influential degree. The uncom- promising enemy of superstition and priestcraft, the pa- tron of letters, the teacher of a saving faith in the eter- nal verities, the very sanctuary of Truth, it has been a dominating force in the elevation of the world of thought and impulse and feeling above the miasma of ecclesias- tical ignorance into the perfect light of intellectual free- dom. Call the roll of the most illustrious martyrs for conscience-sake and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians will an- swer. The faces of the dead on every battlefield of three centuries, where the contest was waged between Right and Wrong, Truth and Falsehood, Freedom and Op- pression, testify the devotion of these people to their faith and duty. In the cold of winter, the heat of sum- mer, hiding in caves and dens of earth, starving in the wilderness, languishing in prison, burning at the stake, it must have been such as they that St. John saw in his Apocalyptic vision coming up out of great tribulation into the inheritance of the saints in light. 41 642 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Presbvterianisni is a system of pure representative government, says the Rev. Dr. Breed in his work on "Presbyterianism and the Revolution;" has always been particularly odious to tyrants, was the first to raise its voice in favor of breaking away from British control, and was largely instrumental in influencing the American col- onies to form the Confederation of States, and then the American Union. It is not true that the Federal Con- stitution was fashioned after the Presbyterian form of Church government — it is true,, however, that while strong, earnest and courageous men of other communions aided in the work of forming the Union and contributed each in some degree to the most perfect system of hu- man government that was ever devised, the makers of the Declaration and the Constitution were affected deeply in their deliberations and conclusions by the Presbyterian spirit, then as now exercising a powerful influence upon the leaders of public sentiment in this land. "The American form of civil government," says Dr. Briggs, "was a happy combination of some of the best features presented in Presbyterianism and in Congrega- tionalism. There is no reason to doubt," Dr. Briggs con- tinues, "that Presbyterianism influenced the framers of the Constitution in their efforts to erect a national organ- ization— a constitutional republic ;" but it was not the only factor in the making of the Republic. It vaunted not it- self upon its achievements, it was not puft'ed up ; but it was one of the chief factors in planning the deliverance of the colonies from the oppression of absentee landlord- ism and foreign domination, and in finally winning vic- tory. The hands that cleared the wilderness and subdued the savage were strong enough to build out of varied masses of differing peoples a government that, in spite of its many disappointments and failures, is still the wonder of the world. It was the Presbyterians of ^Tecklenburg and West- moreland who sounded the notes of defiance to King CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 643 George and his counsellors. As the Rev. Dr. Quigg said in a notable address at the dedication of a Presbyterian church in Lexington,. Georgia, "Presbyterianism stands for a free church polity, simple worship, spiritual life, in- tellectual vigor, the nursery of schools and fountain of civil and religious liberty." The first contest for lib- erty of speech and freedom of conscience was made in this country by the Scottish Attorney General of Penn- sylvania, Andrew Hamilton, aided by two Presbyterian lawyers of New York, James Alexander and William Smith. The casus belli was John Peter Zenger, the pub- lisher of the New York Journal, in which were printed some criticisms of William Cosby, the Royal Governor of the Province. His defence was undertaken by the Presbyterian Junta of New York, and in spite of the adverse rulings of the Court,, and its determination to convict, so powerful was the presentation of the case that Zenger was acquitted by the jury, without division or hesitation. So great was this Presbyterian triumph that Gouverneur ^Morris declared that "the trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American freedom — the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America." There can be no question that liberty of conscience and freedom of speech were established in the New World by men of Scottish blood. In 1754 the formal protest against taxation without representation was made by Benjamin Franklin, a Presbyterian, who attended the ministry of Samuel Hemphill in Philadelphia and sus- tained him when he was charged with plagiarizing his sermons, on the ground that he would rather sit under the preaching of a minister who could steal a good ser- mon than under the preaching of one who could not write a good sermon. In 1760, more than ten years before the battle of Lexington, the Scotch-Irish of Pennsylva- nia rose up in arms against the principle of taxation without representation or protection. No provision was 644 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. made by the Government to guard the settlements in Western Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia against the atrocities of savage warfare, and the Scotch-Irish in Lancaster and Cumberland counties, Pennsylvania, pro- vided for their own defence by the organization of sev- eral companies of Rangers,, which inflicted terrible pun- ishment upon the savage foe and restored peace to a desolated region. It is noted by Hanna that probably the first instance of the operation of lynch law in America occurred when the Paxtang Rangers forced the jail at Lancaster and massacred every Indian confined there, fourteen in number. Twenty years later the Scotch- Irish of Washington County, Pennsylvania, murdered in cold blood ninety men, women and children of the Moravian Indians. These bloody reprisals were defended on the ground that the law was not strong enough for the protection of the people. The Captain of the Paxtang Rangers was the Rev. John Elder, minister of Paxtang and Derry congregations, who tried to restrain the bloodthirstiness of his people without avail, and who afterwards defended their course as "one of those youth- ful ebulitions of wrath caused by momentary excite- ment, to which human infirmity is subjected." It is of personal interest to me that the Rev. John Elder was succeeded in the pastorate of the Paxtang congregation by the Rev. Matthew Lind, my great-grandfather. The spirit of resistance to foreign oppression which was first manifested by the Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania and New York, was the spirit which animated these lib- erty-loving people in the Carolinas and in the colonies, wherever they had established communities. They ac- knowledged final allegiance only to the King of Kings ; and remembering their own deliverance from bondage and desiring that the freedom which they possessed should be extended in larger measure to their posterity, and preserved forever, they were the first to declare themselves free from British dominion, pledging to the CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 645 maintenance of this solemn covenant their hves, their fortunes and their sacred honor. This declaration was made at Charlotte, North Carolina, in May, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration at Philadelphia. It was drafted by Ephriam Brevard, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and of the convention which adopted the Declaration one-third of the members were rulino- elders. In the seven years war which followed, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were faithful unto death and in every battle of the Revolution fought with unsur- passed devotion for the freedom of the Colonies. ■'Driven from their adopted home in the Xorth of Ire- land by English persecution,"' says Douglass Campbell in "The Puritan in Holland, England and America," "there was burned into their very souls the bitter recol- lection of English ingratitude and English broken faith. They were un-English in their origin, and they came to America, which they have always looked upon as their own country — hating England, her Church and her form of government with the intensest hatred." "They were fitted to be Americans from the very start," says Theo- dore Roosevelt in "The Winning of the West," "they were kinsfolk of the Covenanters; they deemed it a re- ligious duty to interpret their own Bible and held for a divine right the election of their own clergy. For gen- erations their whole ecclesiastic and scholastic system had been fundamentally democratic." "Kinsfolk of the Covenanters?" They were the Covenanters themselves, many of them at least, all of them, in fact, in spirit, if not in name, were of that uncompromising stock who "drew the blood from their arms to furnish ink for their pens to sign the solemn league and covenant." In his history of Hopewell Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Rev Dr. Lathan says : "John Hemphill, the father of the second pastor of Hopewell, was a Cove- nanter, and in the Covenanter faith and practices he educated his children. . . . John Hemphill in common 646 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. with the Covenanters, regarded the crown of England as stained with the blood of the "Reforming Fathers." AMien John Hemphill (the second pastor of Hopewell,) left Ireland he was a member of the Covenanter Church, but on coming to America he connected himself with the Associate Reformed Synod. He modelled his sermons in accordance with the system of sermonizing common with the old Covenanter preachers and Secession fathers. The people in that day were not raised on chalk water and skim milk. The revival machinery of modern up-to- date religion, the hand primary, so to speak, the "Resto- ration Host" had not been invented then. The people were not flooded with the cheap literature of the present time. Says Dr. Lathan : "They had treatises on Justifi- cation, on Adoption, on Sanctification, on Original Sin, on the Attributes of God, on Predestination, in a word, on all the cardinal doctrines of the Christian religion. They were read and reread in the societies. When one individual became tired reading, another took his place. Not unfrequently some old man would stop reading by asking a question, to which some other old man would give an answer. This often gave rise to the most pro- found discussion of some important Bible doctrine." Old folks and young were grounded in the Scriptures and in the Catechism of the Church, which contain its testimony to the truths, the understanding of which is essential to salvation. In his book on "Presbyterianism, the Revolution, the Declaration and the Constitution," the Rev. Dr. Smyth reviews the active part taken by Presbyterian elders in the Province of South Carolina. The battles of the Cow- pens, King's Mountain and Pluck's defeat turned the tide of victory to the Patriot arms. Gen. Morgan, who com- manded at Cowpens. was a Presbyterian elder, and near- ly all the men under his command were Presbyterians. Tn the battle of King's Mountain, Col. Campbell, Col. James Williams, Col. CleavelancI, Col. Shelbv and Col. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 647 Sevier were all Presbyterian elders, and the body of their troops were gathered from Presbyterian settlements. At Huck's defeat in York Co., Col. Bratton and Major Dick- son were both elders in the Presbyterian Church." ]\Iajor Samuel Morrow, who served under Sumter, was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church for fifty years. "Concerning the patriotism of the Scotch-Irish," says Hanna, "the general testimony of contemporary and later writers is to the effect that there were no Tories among them, and that they were uniformly arrayed against the British." The exceptions only proved the rule that these people were faithful in their allegiance to the cause of civil and religious freedom which they espoused and for which they were ready to die. It was the Presbyterian elders who fought the decisive battles of the War for Independence ; and to the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians this country and the world are indebted for the great leaders in American politics who laid the foundations of our in- stitutions so firmly and have ever contended valiantly for the faith of their fathers. What a galaxy is formed by the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in American history. Planna. to whom I am indebted for so much information upon the subject under consideration, says: "Of the State Governors from 1789 to 1885 the Scotch furnish to Pennsylvania nearly one-half her chief executives ; to \irginia nearly one-third ; to North Carolina, more than one- fourth ; to South Carolina,, nearly one-third ; to Geor- gia, more than one-half; to Alabama, more than one- fifth ; to ^Mississippi, about one-fifth ; to Louisiana, more than one-fifth ; to Texas, about one-third : to Tennessee, nearly one-half; to Kentucky, about one-third; to Ohio, one-half ; to Indiana, more than one-third ; to Illinois, nearly one-third : to Missouri,, nearly one-half." In statesmanship, in war and literature and business, the Scotch and Scotch-Irish have held first place in Amer- ican achievement. In politics and statesmanship, there arc John C. Callvmn, Alexander H. Stephens, James 648 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Buchanan. Alexander Hamilton, Jeremiah S. Black, Howell Cobb, James K. Polk, Stephen A. Douglas, Wil- liam McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Marcus A. Hanna, Arthur P. Gorman, and a host of others whose names are written imperishably in the records of the country. An- drew Jackson, Winfield Scott;, Zachary Taylor, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, James Longstreet, Nathan B. Forrest. John Paul Jones, Oliver Hazard Perry, Frank- lin Buchanan, and a glorious company of other great fighters and strategists have added lustre to the military prowess of this country on land and sea. Washington Irving. Edgar Allen Poe, Gilbert Stuart, J. Q. A. Ward, Joseph Henry, Thomas A. Edison, John Ericson, Robert Fulton, Alexander Graham Bell, Asa Gray, A. T. Stew- art. Peter Cooper, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rock- efeller,, all of Scotch birth or Scotch ancestry, have illus- trated in their achievements in business and literature and art and science and invention and in works of benevolence the strength of their stock and the mastery which has come to this masterful race because of the simplicity of its faith and its abiding trust in God. It will not be claimed for a moment that all Scotchmen and Scotch-Irishmen — and they are just the same with the slightest advantage possibh' with the Scotch-Irish blend — are Presbyterians ; but all of those named were either brought up in the nurture and admon- ition of the Lord according to Presbyterian standards or gained something of moral and spiritual strength from association with those who had been so fortunate. it is worth noting here, probably, that the Scotch-Irish are really Scotch. "The Scotch-Irish are the people who came through Ireland to America." Dr. Quigg has ex- plained. "The phrase 'Scotch-Irish' is unknown in Ire- lanrl, Canada or Australia and is peculiar to the United States." The Rev. Dr. Hall, of New York, bore this tes- timony upon the question of the identity of these people : "I have sometimes noticed a little confusion in relation to CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 649 the phrase 'Scotch-Irish,' as if it meant that Scotch peo- pl had come over and intermarried with the nat.ve Insh and that a combination of the two races, two places, two "a o ahties had taken place. That is by no means the state of the case. On the contrary, w.th kmdly good e Ing in various directions the Scotch peop e kept to the Scotch people, and thev are called ScoteWr.s^, frcnr pnrelv local, or geographical reasons, a.Kl <«' « °" ^"J union of the kind I have alluded to. I haven t the 1 as aoubt that their being in Ireland, and n, close conta t lith the native people of that land ami ' --' --'- stances there, had some influence m the developmg of the character, in the broadening of the sympathies, m the ex- n lins of the range of thought and action of the Scotch- ri.h people; but they are Scotch through and through hev are Scottish out and out, and they are Ir.sh because in the Providence of God they were sent for some ge„er ations to the land that I am pernntted to speak of as the land of my birth." "In the countrv districts." (of Ulster,) says Hama, "the peasant still'retains the Scotch 'bur' in his speech ; devoutly believes in the doctrines of John Calvin and John lOiox; is firmly committed against everythmg allied with Poperv or Prelacy, and usually emphatic m his claims to a' Scottish and his disavowal of an Insh de- ''Therc can be no question of what the Scotch-Irish achieved in the struggle for American Independence. Seven of the first Governors of the thirteen colonies were ;f Scotch-Irish blood, l-ight of the most conspicuous generals in the army of freedom were Scotch-Irish^ The Roval Government in London was informed by the Ro'val Governors in America that "the Presbyterian cler- gv were to blame for bringing about the Revolution. Pat- rick Henrv in \lrginia ; David Caldwell. Ephraim Bre- vard Alexander Craighead and others in \orth Caro- lina • the Rutledges and Tcnnanls in South C arolina ; Dut- 650 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. field, Wilson, Thomas Craighead in Pennsylvania ; Smith, Rodgers and Livingston, in New York; the Rev. Dr. W'itherspoon, in New Jersey, who challenged the Conti- nental Congress to do its duty by his declaration that he would infinitely rather that his grey hairs should de- scend to the sepulchre "by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country ;" all these illustrious men and many other of the same blood and faith arrayed themselves on the side of free- dom. "At that period," says the Rev. Dr. Bryson, "no single agency in the country had such tremendous power as the pulpit. The ministry were universally a highly educated class. They were Calvinists in their creed, and they had learned their prnciples of liberty from the Word of God." "He that will not honor the memory and re- spect the influence of Calvin,," says Bancroft, "knows but little of the origin of American independence." "Calvin was the founder of the greatest of republics," says Dau- bigne. At the time of the American Revolution the Scotch-Irish people must have formed near one-third of the entire population of the colonies ;" and to the end of the struggle they fought on the side of freedom, sus- tained by unfaltering trust in God and cheered on to even greater sacrifices by brave-hearted women who had brought with them to this country the recollection of ter- rible tragedies through which they had passed. To these quiet, patient sublime sufferers, Dr. Bryson pays this elo- quent tribute : "What shall be said of the women of the Scotch-Irish blood ? Glorious women are they. They suffered ; they endured ; they toiled ; they struggled ; they encouraged ; they prayed ; they comforted ; they were wounded ; they were sabered ; they were murdered ; they died like he- roes ; they were faithful to their sires, their husbands and their sons. They have made Scotch-Irishmen the best blood in the world." It was the custom among the old-time folk to attend CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 65 1 church for an intellectual, as well as a religious purpose, and it was expected that the attentive hearer would be able to give some account of the sermon. Ian ]\Iaclaren tells about a very good woman in the Church at Drum- tochty. "It was the birthright of every native of the parish to be a critic and certain ones were allowed to be experts in special departments — Lachlan Campbell in doctrine and Jamie Soutar in logic — but as an auld round prac- titioner Mrs. jMacfadyen had a solitary reputation. It rested on a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of description that passed into the lit- erary capital of the Glen. One felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances — an eye that took in the preacher from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot ; an almost uncanny insight into charac- ter ; the instinct to seize on every scrap of evidence ; a memory that was simply an automatic register ; an un- failing sense of fitness ; and an absolute impartiality re- garding subject. It goes without saying that Mrs. JMacfadyen did not take nervous little notes during the sermon — all writing on Sabbath, in kirk or outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty — or mark her Bible, or practice any other profane device of feeble-minded hearers. It did not matter how elaborate or how incoherent a sermon might be, it could not confuse our critic. \\'hcn John Peddie, of Muirtown, who always ap- ]iroachcd two hours, and usually had to leave out the last head, took time at Drumtochty Fast, and gave it full length, his famous discourse on the total depravity of the human race, from the text : "Arise, shine, for thy light is come," it may be admitted that the Glen wavered in its confidence. Human nature has limitations, and fail- ure would have been no discredit to Elspcth. " 'Thev were saying at the Presbytery," P>urnbrae re- ported. *that it hes mair than seventy heads, countin' pints, of coorse, and a' can weel believe it. Na. na. it's no tae be expeck it that Elspeth cud gie them a' aifter ac hearin'.' Jamie Soutar looked in to set his mind at rest, and El- speth went at once to work. 652 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. " 'Sit doon, Jamie, for it canna be dune in a meenut.' It took twenty-three minutes exactly, for Jamie watched the clock. "That's the laist, maikin' seeventy-four, and ye may depend on every ane but that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it was the 'beginnin' o' faith' or 'the ori- o-in,,' a' canna be sure, for he cleared his throat at the Time.' " Peter Bruce stood helplessly at the Junction next Fri- day— Drumtochty was celebrating Elspeth — and the achievement established her for life. Probationers, who preached in the vacancy had heard rumors, and tried to identify their judge, with the disconcerting result that they addressed their floweriest passages to Mistress Stir- ton, who was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the "chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy, motherly woman, two pews behind Donald Menzies, with her face of demure interest and general air of country simplicity. It was as well for the Probationers that they had not caught the glint of those black, beady eyes." Elspeth Macfadyen was a type of the women of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Some of us have known them, and how much this Church is indebted to them for all its glorious history. It is difficult to speak of the Scotch-Irish and their achievements in terms of moderation ; and it would be vain to attempt on such an occasion as this anything more than the briefest and most unsatisfactory mention of what they have done for the benefit of humanity and to the glory of God. They were strong and undismayed and unconquerable here because, here as there, they be- lieved that resistance to tyrants was obedience to God. They triumphed in America because they had suffered in Scotland and Ireland.,, suffered as few other people had ever suffered for Christ's sake, not from savage tribes, as they suffered in this country, but from two of the holy and Apostolic Churches which sought to make converts to Christianity by wheel and faggot and bloodshed and confiscation and outrage, rather than bv the ministry of CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 653 peace. We do not value the blessings we enjoy because they have come to us without privation or discomfort or struggle. We do not remember the martyrs, we forget that— "There blows no rose so red, As where some buried Caesar bled." and lest we should shock the susceptibilities of the moral invertebrates of this age, we pack away the old pictures in the attic and forget the testimony of the fathers. It is well that we should remember the way we have come into our present beatitude of sweetness and light ; through what dark caverns the road hither hath run, across what raging torrents, around what bloody angles, through what fierce flames, under the shadow of how many crosses and over the graves of how many of the slain for God's sake ! To no one of these countries — Holland, France, En- gland, Scotland and Ireland — was the Presbyterian Church in America so largely indebted as to the Xorth of Ireland, says Craighead, and it was here that under Henry \'III, and Edward Vl, and Mary, and Charles I, these devoted people were subjected to persecutions at the hands of the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, which chill the blood with horror even after the lapse of nearly three hundred years. The Presbyterians would not- conform to Prelacy or confess to Rome, and they were pursued with a fiendishness of cruelty of which we cannot now conceive. In the days of the Irish Rebel- lion and up to the death of Charles I, the Presbyterians passed through the very fires of hell. The principle ob- ject of this Rebellion, which was planned and encouraged by authority was the destruction of Protestantism. Or- ders were given to "spare neither man, woman nor child." An universal massacre followed. The murdered victims were not buried in many places and pestilence attended murder. In four months 6,000 died in Coleraine ; in 654 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Carrickfergus, 2,500; in Belfast and Alalone and Antrim about 6,000. The carnage rivalled that of St. Bartholo- mew. In a small part of Ulster thirty Protestant minis- ters were murdered and a large number died in wretched- ness and poverty." In this war of extermination the Episcopalians suffered more severely than the Presbyte- rians, and after this persecution was over the Presbyte- rians who survived united with the returning refugees from Scotland in re-establishing the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The two great enemies of the Church were Popery and Prelacy, and the persecutions by the Catholics were only equalled in atrocity by the persecutions by the Episcopalians — ■ But yet at length out of them all The Lord did set them free. It was because of their terrible experiences under ec- clesiastical domination that the Scotch-Irish settlers re- sisted every attempt at religious establishments in this country and maintained that the mental and moral free- dom of its people depended upon the complete separation of Church and State. "From their entrance into this country," says Dr. Craighead, "as may be seen by their conduct in Virgina and New York, they opposed every- thing that looked like a union of Church and State, or any dependence of the Church on the arm of civil power. In the long contest between these monarchical gov- ernments and their subjects, the natural and constant allies of despotism were Romish and Episcopal hier- archies. These were ever the most dangerous, as well as the most inveterate enemies of the Non-Conformists when they were resisting tyrants. Presbyterians, at least, had most to dread from Episcopal Prelates and from them they suffered most. The Episcopal Church was more frequently in the ascendant and had much the greater influence with civil rulers. Hiis influence it al- CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 655 most invariably used to oppress all outside of its com- munion." In South Carolina, as in Ireland and Scotland, the Es- tablished Church sought to dominate not only the poli- tical conduct of the settlers in the back districts, but to exact tithes from them for the support of the Establish- ment. "The parish was the basis of the civil as well as the religious organization of the government," under which the Scotch-Irish settlers in the up-country were expected to live. The liberty, which was permitted them, served only to emhpasize their real subjection to the Church; a condition which, it might have been expected, they would endure only so long as resistance was im- possible. To what extent the proscription of these peo- ple would have gone is somewhat a matter of opinion and conjecture, but the first steps that were taken in this colony to unite the civil and the ecclesiastical power were not reassuring to those who had sought freedom of worship in this New World. The spirit which controlled the Church people in the old country manifested itself here in a number of ways and in none more clearly than in the law declaring that all marriages performed by other ministers than those of the Established Church were null and void, and that the children born of such marriages were illegitimate. It is true that this manifes- tation of religious prejudice was speedily overcome, and that the obnoxious Act was repealed, but its passage showed to what extent the spirit of persecution existed in this colony in the beginning. In the "Ravencl Records." by Henry Edmund Ravcn- el of the Spartan1)urg Rar, it is said that within the space of ten years preceding December 31., 1775. something over £164,000 were advanced from the public treasury for the support of the Church in this colony. "The estate of the Episcopal Church, drawn more or less from all de- nominations by law. was computed in 1777 to amount to £330,000 ; and the sum paid by Dissenters to this 656 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Church in the ten years previous to 1775 was stated to be more than £82,013 10 shilHngs. The whole number of the Estabhshed Churches in 1777 was twenty, while those of the Dissenters were seventy-nine in number, and in general were much larger than the others." The Huguenots, we are told by Edward McCrady in his History of South Carolina Under the Royal Govern- ment, had no disposition to quarrel with the administra- tion of the Government, nor had the German settlers on the Edisto, or the Swiss on the Savannah. "But the case was very different with the Scotch-Irish Presby- terian who was now coming into the Province. The Church had held out no kindly hand to him. On the contrary, it had rewarded his zeal and heroism in the Protestant cause with oppression and wrong. It had not sheltered him as a refugee as it had the Huguenot in the crypt of Canterbury and in St. Mary's Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. On the contrary, it had driven him from his home. The Huguenot did not ob- ject to a liturgy ; he was accustomed to use one. But this the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian could not endure, for that had been one of the points upon which Knox had differed with the English Reformers. He had left Ire- land because he would not use it ; was he to do so now in the wild woods of Carolina? Then the system of gov- ernment was based here, as it had, been in the old country which he had left, upon the Church of England. He could only be represented in the Assembly by having the lands which he and his people had taken up made into a township and then into a parish. All this was the more distasteful to him because his own social and civil sys- tem was itself based upon an ecclesiastical idea — a church polity of its own. If the old St. Philip's Church was a part of the Constitution of South Carolina as Westmin- ster Abbey was of the British Constitution, so around the old 'Waxhaw Church' in Lancaster — the first church above Orangeburg — was formed the settlement which CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 657 gave tone and thought to the whole upper country of the State." Conditions have changed, and, thanks to the Scotch- Irish Presbyterians, and their rehgious congeners, it is hardly possible that the world will again be cursed with Popery and Prelacy as it was in the days of the martyrs. To the Presbyterians, as we believe, have been committed the oracles of God ; the Church which has come down in unbroken line from ]^Ioses to Christ, and from the Apostles to this day. Said Bishop Lightfoot, of Dur- ham, "the most learned of all the Bishops of the Church of England," in his essay on the Epistle to the Philip- pians that, "the early constitution of the Apostolic Churches of the first century was not that of a single Bishop, but of a body of pastors indifferently styled Bishops or Presbyters, and that it was not until the very end of the Apostolic age that the office which we now call Episcopacy gradually and slowly made its way into Asia Minor ; that Presbytery was not a later growth out of Episcopacy, but that Episcopacy was a later growth out of Presbytery. . . . These were, from the commence- ment of the Middle Ages down to the Reformation, large exceptions from the principles of Episcopal government, which can be called by no other name than Presbyterian." In essentials the great Presbyterian family are of one mind. There are differences among them on some minor points of doctrine or practice perhaps — on the question of Psalmody and as to the use of instru- mental music in the service of the Church, etc. ; but on the fundamentals of their faith, though many as the billows they are one as the sea. Un- der the Presbyterian system the Church is regarded as a spiritual commonwealth, not as a political power. Its theology is Augustinian, as elaborated by John Calvin. -All the Reformed Churches, as Dr. Ouigg has explained, were Calvinistic in creed. "Each movement of the Re- formation, though self-originated, was thoroughly Cal- 42 658 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. vinistic, simply as the result of Bible study. The Re- formed Church was Presbyterian. The French Church as much as the Kirk of Scotland. In 25 years after Cal- vin began his work there were 2,000 places of worship with nearly half a million of worshippers in France alone." Ambrose Willie preached to a congregation of 20,000 people in France in 1556. In the same year Peter Gabriel spoke to tens of thousands. 'Tn less than a half a century this system had gained nearly one-half of France, embracing every great mind in the land." White- field "was called the Calvinistic establisher of Method- ism." "Calvinism and Methodism were, for a time, sy- nonymous terms, and the Methodist was called an- other sect of Presbyterians." The theology of the Epis- copalians is Calvinistic in some measure, and before his recent death Pope Leo XIII. declared that the events of Providence were ordered and what had been ordained would come to pass. "John Calvin's emphasis upon God's holiness," says the Rev. Dr. McGiffert, "made his followers scrupulous- ly, even censoriously pure ; his emphasis upon God's will made them stern and unyielding in the performance of what they believed to be their duty ; his emphasis upon God's majesty, paradoxical though it may seem at first sight promoted in no small degree the growth of civil and religious liberty, for it dwarfed all mere human au- thority and made men bold to withstand the unlawful encroachments of their fellows. Thus Calvin became a mighty force in the world." Last month the two hundredth anniversary of Jona- than Edwards's birth was celebrated at Stockbridge, ]\Ias.sachiVsetts, with imposing services and in many churches throughout the country the most eloquent eu- logies were paid to the memory and achievements of this great man. "He borrowed the essential features of his theology from Calvin, as Calvin had borrowed them from Augustine and Augustine had borrowed them from the CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 659 Roman law. liui to their interpretation and defense," says Dr. Lyman Abbott, "he brought a mind of singular acuteness, a philosophical scholarship extraordinary for his time if not for any time, an intellectual courage rarely equalled and never surpassed by any religious teacher in the history of the Church."' In the opinion of- one of his commentators he that would understand the significance of later New England thought must make Edwards the first object of his study." There have been many and wide departures in New England from the stern and unyielding faith taught by Jonathan Edwards. Univer- salism, Unitarianism, Alormonism, Mary Baker G. Eddy- ism are possibly the protests of wicked and froward generations against the system of religion represented by this uncompromising interpreter of the justice and ma- jesty of the -Vlmighty. The meat was too strong for the so-called "Reform- ers" who had neither the understanding ear nor the applying conscience. It is claimed that the Edwards' system of theology "has now only an historical exis- tence ;" that "no minister preaches it ; no Church believes it ; no theological seminary teaches it, except with modi- fications which Edwards would have rejected with indig- nant disdain." However that may be, diligent search would fail to discover an}- improvement in the theologv or morals of present-day believers. If the preachers of this "outworn creed.," as it is called by the ungodly, would shock society and the clubs of our day and time by declaring the penalties of the law^ for its violation never- theless their preaching exercised a powerful inffuence in moulding the civilization of our country. The Calvinistic system was made for men of sound un- derstanding, not for the mentally infirm. The mastery of the text books of the Church — the Catechism, the Confession and the Scriptures — required a particularly alert intelligence. There is no modern method of mne- monics that compares wMth the svstem in which Presbv- 66o CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. terians of earlier generations were trained. "The first book of discipline drawn up b}^ John Knox provided that a school be erected in every parish for the instruction of youth in religion, grammar and the Latin tongue, and also that a college in every notable town should be estab- lished." In these schools and colleges the mental and moral faculties were thoroughly educated, and this in- struction was supplemented by the school of the family and the school of the Church. "God did from all eternity of His sovereign pleasure, and by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, unchangeably ordain all things that come to pass. God's decree fixes the eternal destiny of angels and men, but on principles strictly just and benevolent. Good angels are predestinated to life, evil angels to destruction. A part of our apostate race are, of the riches of God's grace , predestinated to obtain life eternal through the mediation of Christ ; while the rest are, for their sin, pre- destinated most justly, as all might have been, to ever- lasting death." That is the faith of the Associate Reformed Presby- terian Church. It is the faith in which the prophets and preachers and evangelists and martyrs believed, the faith which has sustained this venerable body since its organization one hundred years ago, through all the mu- tations of time and against all the enemies who have sought to sap its foundations and impeach its testimony. It is a glorious faith. What has it not accomplished for the elevation of the human race, for the inspiration of the living, for the comfort of the dying, for the consolation of the bereaved ! Surely we are compassed about by a great cloud of witnesses. Who are they that join in the singing of the Psalms, "Lift up your Heads, O, ye Gates, that the King of Glory may come in ?" Who are they, indeed,, but the holy men of God, by whose labors have we been brought into this goodly place? What a grand company it is ! The Boyces and Griers and Press- CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 66l lys and Hemphills and Youngs and Flennikens and Brices and Sloans and Bonners and Millers and Gallo- ways, and Hunters and McDonalds, and a host of those to whom they ministered faithfully here, now numbered together among the saints in glory everlasting. What an inheritance we have who live after them ! What an inspiration we should find in this holy place and in such spiritual company for loftier conceptions of duty, for deeper consecration to higher living! 662 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Associate Reformed Presbyterianisni and Education. By Rev. E. B. Kennedy. The history of education in the Associate Reformed Church is a familiar story. It has been told many times. It has been told with a love that was blind to defects and dififusive in praise. It has been told with well intended criticism that magnified imperfections and minified ex- cellencies. It has been told by the statistician who saw the small corps of teachers, the short roll of students, the buildings and endowments, but saw not the faith and love and hope that breathed and thrilled and throbbed in the body of the words and acts of the fathers and sons of the church. He is the wise man who knows his weakness as well as his strength. Let our history be faced with candor. Let it be told with frankness. We love our institutions and point with just pride to their successful sons, and say, "These are our products." But every country has produced its great men. Every institution may point to its illustrious names. I can conceive of no study which, sys- tematically and persistently pursued, will not result in an educated mind and a strengthened will. "Great men were trained in the schools of the Greek sophists and Arabian astrologers, of the Jesuits and the Jansenists. There were great men when nothing was taught but School Divinity on Canon Law ; and there would still be great men if nothing were taught but the fooleries of Spurzheim and Swedenborg." It has been justly ob- served that it is the general course of those who patron- ize an abuse to attribute to it every good which exists in spite of it, and to take it for granted that we are in- debted to them for all the talent which they have not been able to destroy. It does not comport ill with love CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 663 for our institutions to compare them with others. Let the comparison be made. Let us seek the truth. Let the pride we feel in reviewing our progress be tem- pered with modesty. It has been remarked that an in- dividual should not be more proud of his knowledge, because he participates in the universal improvement, than he is vain of his speed, because he is flying along with the earth and everything upon it, at the rate of seventy thousand miles an hour. It is only when we are going forward in comparison with others that we have ground for merited pride. But criticism, even that criticism which would rouse from lethargy and stimulate to action, sometimes docs scant justice and oftentimes much harm. Criticism is never creative itself, nor ever conducive to the creative spirit in others. It is one thing to find fault, it is another to remedy. Lulling down is not building up. Some things things ought to be pulled down. But the destructive s])irit is less noble, and is less in demand, than the spirit that is constructive. An institution must not be charged with the faults of the age or circum- stances not of its making. The college may say to the church give us more members with as much justness as the church can say to the college give us more students. Truth is, no college has been more ready to serve its church, no church has been more loyal to its college than Erskine College has been ready to serve the As- sociate Reformed Church, than the Associate Reformed Church has been loyal to Erskine College. Again,, if the histor\- of rulers and of battles is not the true history of a nation, no more is that the true his- tory of education in the Associate Reformed Church which gives facts and dates, but makes no mention of the discussions, debates and resolutions of the Synod relative to this work. That is not an adequate history of Erskine College, the center of the church's education- al work, which fails to give an account of the scholar- 664 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. ship and anecdotal side of the presidents and professors, of the students' troubles and festivals, of the junior exhibitions, society celebrations, and commencement days. Obviously then, I do not purpose to give a full history and it will be evident I have not given a justly propor- tioned history, of the educational work of our church. BEFORE 1803. One hundred years ago, scattered over the Carolinas and Georgia for the most part, were some nineteen hun- dred Associate Reformed Presbyterians. They had in- herited from Scotland and Ireland a high standard of re- quirement for the Christian ministry. A candidate for ordination to this office must have received a thorough classical training at some college and have pursued a theological course of study either at college, or under the direction of some minister. The Associate Reformed Church, of which these nineteen hundred were only a part, had established Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1783. Here most of the candidates for the ministry in the Associate Reformed Church, for the first fifteen years after its organization, received both their literary and theological training. As early as 1796 the Associate Re- formed Church discussed the founding of a theological seminary. In 1801 the Rev. John M. Mason was sent to Great Britain and Ireland to solicit donations for a sem- inary and authorized to purchase with the funds collected books for the library. After fifteen months he returned, having collected about five thousand dollars, the most of which was spent for the library. In 1804 the Rev. John Mason, one of the ablest men and foremost preacher of America, was chosen Professor of Divinity, and the city of New York fixed as the place for the seminary. This was the second theological seminary established in America. Twelve years before the Associate Presbytery had established the first in Beaver County, Pa. After the Svnods of Scioto and the Carolinas had CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 665 withdrawn from the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Chitrcli, a portion of the remaining part united with the Presbyterian Church, and managed to consoH- date the theological seminary at New York with that at Princeton and transfer the library from the former to the latter place. At the suggestion of the Associate Re- formed Synod of the South delegates from the Synod of the South, the West, and New York met in convention to take steps to recover this library and re-establish the seminary. After long years of litigation the library was restored to the Synod of New York. ORIGIN OF COLLEGE AND SEMINARY. But while it is interesting to note the active part our fathers took in the early educational work of the Asso- ciate Reformed Church, our chief interest lies in the work done among the people of our Synod since its organiza- tion in 1803. To meet the requirements for the ministry in the early days of the Synod, our young men were de- pendent on the old field schools, few, inefficient and of uncertain continuance, on the very few academies, and on the still fewer colleges. In a paper read before the State Teacher's Association, at Spartanburg in 1894, Prof. Morrison of Clemson Col- lege quotes from various sources showing that the educa- tional condition of the South in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth century was primitive and pathetic. General McCrady, who gives the most favorable account of colonial educa- tion in South Carolina, can enumerate only twenty-two scholars of all kinds in the entire State at the close of the Revolutionary War. An eye witness of a scene on Sul- livan's Island the day after the battle of Fort Sumter writes : "And indeed to see the looks of our poor sol- diers, when those great ladies, all glittering in silks and jewels, and powdered and perfumed so nice, would come up to them, in faces like angels, sparkling and smiling 666 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. so sweet, as if they would kiss them ; I say to see the looks of our poor fellows, their awkward bows and broad grins, and other droll capers they cut, no human being- could have refrained from laughing." When Gov. Rut- ledge presented his sword to Sergeant Jasper and offered him a commission, the gallant officer replied : "I am greatly obliged to you, Governor, but I had rather not have a commission. As I am, I pass very well with such company as a poor sergeant has any right to keep. If I were to get a commission, I would be forced to keep higher company ; and then, as I don't know how to read, I should only be throwing myself in a way to be laughed at." Ex-Governor Perry in an address delivered in 1878 said : "Thirty years ago I rode all through the counties of Oconee, Pickens, Anderson, Abbeville, and Greenville, taking the testimony of very aged witnesses in a great law suit then pending in the city of Mobile, involving several hundred thousand dollars and the legitimacy of a highly respectable family of young ladies. The wit- nesses who appeared before me were mostly born before or during the Revolutionary War. I was greatly sur- prised and not a little shocked to find that almost all of the old ladies examined were unable to write their names, and had to make their marks to their depositions. Thev were in good circumstances and mothers of prominent men in their counties." Such being the condition of education among the masses, the minister as a "finished classical scholar and thorough theologian" was not inappropriately called the parson, being easily chief person. At the beginning of the last century the public school system had not been established in the territory of the Associate Reformed Church, and we may believe that the first educational work done by the fathers of the church was d'onc in maintaining schools for elementary instruction. Among the very few academics of that time were those of Rev. James Rogers, at Monticello, Fairfield County, CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 667 S. C, and of Eleazer Harris in York County, S. C. While the former was not controlled by the church, it was presided over for more than a quarter of a century by an Associate Reformed minister and largely patron- ized by Associate Reformed people. The latter, known as Ebenezer Academy, was taken under the care of the Synod in 1825. Both of these were established in the early part of the century. Perhaps there were other schools which are justly entitled to be mentioned, but I have no record of them. Out of the need of education among all classes, and especially out of the need of those who expected to enter the ministry, was born the church's desire and purpose to establish educational work of its own. This need, al- ready deeply felt, was emphasized by two things, the growing political animosity between the North and the South, and the pronounced infidelity of Dr. Cooper, President of the South Carolina College. We had no college of our own. Our young men having the ministry in view had been attending Northern institutions, prin- cipally Jefferson College and Miami University. But bitterness had increased to such degree between the two sections of country that in 1834 the Synod declared in a resolution, " that in their opinion it is prejudicial to the Southern church to send our young men to the North or West, either to college or to a theological seminary." Thus shut off from the North many of our people looked to the South Carolina College. But here trouble of another kind existed. Thomas Cooper, whom Jeffer- son thought "the greatest man in America in the powers of jiis mind and in acquired information, and that with- out a single exception," but whom John Adams regarded as "a learned, ingenuous, scientific and talented mad- 'man," became Professor of Chemistry in the Stnith Caro- lina College in 1810. and a year later the President of this institution. Born in London, for a short time a resident of Paris and congenial associate of the Revolutionarv 668 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. spirits there, Cooper came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. For many acts of petty tyranny, brow- beating counsel, witnesses, and parties to a suit, he was impeached by the Senate of Pennsylvania and removed from the office of Judge. For a violent attack made on President Adams in the press he was fined four hun- dred dollars and imprisoned six months. This restless and disagreeable man, in private conversation, classroom lecture, and pamphlet, attacked the authenticity and genuineness of the Scriptures. He hated the clergy venomously, and in his report to the legislature in 1822 charged that "the most powerful obstacle to the prosper- ity of this institution is the systematic hostility of the clergy generally, to every seminary of education which is not placed under their government and control." The Associate Reformed Synod of the South at its next meet- ing prepared and ordered to be published in one of the papers of the State an address denying the charge and appealing from the "illiberal, unrighteous and sweeping charge of the learned president against the ministers of reconciliation, to the candor and good sense of the Christian commonwealth." Pres. Cooper continued covertly and openly to attack the Bible, and the Christian people did not cease to oppose President Cooper from the time of his installation. In 1831 John P. Pressly, a graduate of the South Carolina College, and afterwards an A. R. P. minister, introduced in the house of repre- sentatives the following: "Resolved, that in the opinion of this house it is expedient that the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina College do forthwith investigate the conduct of Dr. Cooper, as President of the South Carolina College, and if they find that his continuance in office defeats the ends and aims of the institution, that they be requested to remove him." The board found nothing against the presiflent. The historian of the col- lege says the board made the exculpating report through sympathy for the old gentleman. The cry of "reorgani- CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 669 zation! revolution!- which had been raised from the mountains to the seaboard was now heard louder than ever. Dr. Cooper gave up the presidency, but retauied a position as teacher. F3ut even this did not satisfy the people, and in 1834 he severed his connection with the college. The college suffered seriously in the loss of stu- dents' and of public favor on account of Dr. Cooper's m- fidclity. Ever since the college authorities have been careful to avoid any irreligious tendency, and have been stricter than most State institutions and man>- denomma- tional ones in having religious exercises and in requir- ing attendance on public worship. Dr. Lathan credits the Associate Reformed people for being among the f^rst, if not the first, to raise the alarm and start the opposition to Dr. Cooper. The need of education among our people, and the few facilities for supplying the need, offered the invitation and imposed the necessity for some kind of educational work by the church. The sectional difference made the church feel more than ever thrown upon its own re- sources. The trouble in the South Carolina College sug- gested the possibility and fear of a similar recurrence and Tmpressed the importance of a college which would pro- vide helpful religious influences as well as guard against harmful ones. Such were the causes which led to the founding of Erskine College in 1839. It was the first denominational college in the State, and perhaps the first in the whole South. It is interesting to note that the charter was at first refused by the legislature, and not granted until 1850. although active efforts were made to secure it. The opposition to the granting of a charter came from the friends of the South Carolina College, who wished that the latter institution might be paronized by all parts of the State and thus become the means of uniting the different sections. The friends of Erskine believed that the way to get right with men is to get right with God. 670 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. The Synod believed then and the Synod beheves now, that there is a vast difference between universities in which reho-ion is offered as an optional study, and col- leges in which it is the chief cornerstone and crown. SUCCESSIVE STEPS. If we except the classical schools established in the early part of the century, such as Ebenezer Academy in York County, and James Rogers' school in Fairfield County, the first step taken by the Synod in edu- cational work was at its meeting in 1825. Then the synod established a theblogical seminary by electing Rev. John Hemphill professor of didactic and polemic theology, and Rev. John T. Pressly professor of orien- tal languages, Biblical criticism, and church history. Without buildings, without library, without salary, these men, living one hundred miles apart and doing regular pastoral work, performed the duties of teachers assigned them until Mr Hemphill, burdened with age and infirm- ity, resigned in 1827, and Dr Pressly removed to Pitts- burg in 1 83 1. In the meatime, efforts were made to collect funds and a library for the seminary. While the seminary and the college as now constituted have sepa- rate funds, separate boards, and separate faculties, the two are one, one in purpose and one in history. It is not a change to a different subject when we note the next step of the Synod in 1834 as an effort to establish one or more schools on the manual labor system. At the next meeting of Synod in 1835 this purpose was abandoned as impracticable or undesirable. But in a series of resolu- tions adopted at the same time on the =ubject of educa- tion, agents were appointed to collect and treasurers to manage funds to assist in the education of young men having the ministry in view. It was resolved to establish a school at Due West Corner, Abbeville district, S. C, with John S. Pressly as teacher. Seven thousand and thirty-five dollars were collected, a building was erected, CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 67 1 and the school opened the first Monday in February. 1836, with twenty classical scholars. The school was called the Academy at Due West Corner. The next year it was incorporated as Clark and Erskine Seminary. Rev. Samuel P. IMcCracken of Miami University, having de- clined to accept the position of Professor of Divinity to which he was elected in i836,Dr.E.E.Pressly was elected to fill this place in 1837. In 1839 John S. Pressly resigned as teacher of Clark and Erskine Seminary. The Synod in this year changed the name to Erskine College and enlarged the list of faculty and the course of study. The first faculty was : Rev. E. E. Pressly, President and Professor of Moral Science; Neil M. Gordon, Pro- fessor of Languages, pro tern; and John N. Young, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, pro tern. By 1843 ^ "^^^' building had been erected at a cost of seven thousand and ninety dollars. FINANCES. For the first years of its history the college was sup- ported by tuition fees and occasional donations and be- quests. In 1853 a movement was begun to raise an en- dowment. A fund of $50,000 was raised which was afterward increased to $70,000. The flourishing college had closed its doors early in the war, but resumed work again in 1865. All but thirteen or fifteen thousand dol- lars of its endowment had been swept away. The young men had been scattered, impoverished, slain, the college had a struggle to live. In 1867 a successful effort was made to secure two hundred men who would give twentv dollars each for five years in return for a scholarship for each twenty dollars. Again in 1871 the Synod resolved to raise an endowment of $100,000. By tlie sale of sciiolarships. which were to expire in 1895. donations and bequests, about $80,000 were raised. , At the semi-centennial celebration of Erskine in 1889 an honored son of the college arose in the alumni meet- 6/2 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. ing and proposed that we give our mother a new dress. She had worn the old since 1843. The suggestion fell on an atmosphere already electric. The movement then started was accelerated by the burning of the old build- ing in 1892. At this time some advocated the removal of the college to another place, on the ground of better advertisement and larger patronage. Discussion and de- bate waxed warm. When it was settled that the insti- tution should remain at Due West, advocates and op- ponents united hearts and hands to build a bigger and better college. The present spacious college building, the College Home for boys, and Wylie Home for girls, stand as monuments to the zeal and liberality of some who were untiring in their efforts and generous in their gifts. At its meeting in 1902 the Synod resolved to raise a Twentieth Century educational fund of $50,000 in the next five years, one half for Erskine College, one fourth for educational work in connection with foreign missions, and one fourth for the Due West Female Col- lege, provided that this institution was placed under the control and became the property of the Synod. The canvass is being successfully prosecuted, and about one- half of the amount has been raised. At various times donations and bequests have been made to college and seminary by persons whose names are household words in the Synod. With the college endowment $88,803.13 the Theological Seminary endowment of $55,756.88, college buildings of not less value than $73,000, the Synod has for educational work a plant of about $220,- 000, besides adequate libraries and a fine laboratory. INNER GROWTH. The inner growth of the college has kept pace with its outer development. The improved exterior appear- ance is an index of a new spirit infused into it. In 1893 the Chair of English Literature and Language was added CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 673 to the curriculum. This was a tardy recognition of the value of the study of a Hterature "wider in its scope, sounder in its philosophy, purer in its morals, and im- measurably richer and more extensive than the frag- ments of all the dead tongues that remain in the world." Of a language, in force and copiousness, second to that of Greece alone. My partiality for this department of study and my consequent familiarity with the efficiency with which it is conducted in Erskine will permit me to say of it, without seeming to fail in the least to give due credit to the thoroughness of the work done in the other departments, that I would rather have the instruc- tion given the English course in Erskine than that given in the same course in any other college in the State. The establishment of the Chair of English was fol- lowed by an enlarged course in the natural science and the arrangement of studies leading to the B. S. degree. Education which had so long been hellenized and ro- manized was invigorated with new life. Some appre- hended a loss of patrician flavor in the plebian touch of the laboratory. It was the old and oft debated ques- tion of the classics as against science. The question has been wisely and satisfactorily settled by leaving it to each student to settle for himself. The studies changed were less significant than the spirit of the change. It was the triumph of a protest older than Milton, who two centuries ago contended for an educa- tion which should be natural in method and useful and noble in results. He advocated beginning" with things concrete and near and proceeding to those abstract and remote. He protested against debasing noble literatures to the making of grammarians and philogians. "Though a linguist should pride himself to have all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, yet, if he have not studied the solid things in them as w'ell as the words and lexicons, he were nothing so much to be esteemed a learned man as any yeoman or tradesman competently 43 674 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. wise in his mother (Halect only." While Milton's first two ideas of education condemned in a manner the study of the classics, his third idea of nobleness condemns no less what seems to have come in with the study of the sciences. In the opinion of Phillips Brooks, there "is a decay of nobleness, a certain prosaical minuteness, a certain sordidness, a certain dry economy in our day, when the highest culture is distrustful of enthusiasm, when eloquence is not in favor in our schools, when the average teacher is more afraid of exuberance than of dryness in his pupil." The classics have a higher value in ministering to this nobleness than science has. But higher than the clas- sics and science together is the value of what is called Christian education. Among the marked changes of re- cent years is the increased attention given to the study of the English Bible in both the College and the Sem- inary. The Scriptures either with regard to the prin- ciples they teach, the lives they record, the spirit they breathe, or the language in which all is clothed, stand alone amidst all literatures, sacred or profane, ancient or modern, for instruction in noble principles and inspira- tion to noble life. Chancellor MacCracken, of New York University, said recently : 'T wish we could require from every freshman a Sabbath School diploma that would certify he knew by heart the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, a church catechism of some kind, and a score of the Scripture Psalms and best classic hymns. This university will join any association of universities and colleges that will demand this as an entrance re- quirement. So much as in us lies, we will make the col- lege a place for preserving and strengthening reverence for things divine." Dr. Oilman, for twenty-five years President of Johns Hopkins University, now savs that "for literary, historical, rhetorical, and moral reasons the Bible ought to be useful in schools of every grade, CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 675 public and private." Greece had her temples, Rome had her tables, but Christian States, partly through unwar- ranted assumptions of students' previous familiarity, neglect the study of Christian literature and Christian institutions. Yet the church has its names as prominent and potent in shaping the destinies of nations and in- dividuals, its martyrs as numerous and true, its councils as eventful, its thoughts as original, its feelings as deep and pure, as any nation or any literature on earth. It rears its structure in every community. It perme- ates society and legislation. I believe its study is more profitable than knowledge of the details of a defunct and mummied civilization, too remote for idiosyncrasies to be distinguished from essentials. Rufus Choate advises his law students to study theology for the mental discipline, and those who have threaded their way through theological subtleties will not dispute the wisdom of the learned jurist's advice. OTHER SCHOOLS. \\'ilh the addition of another full professorship in the seminary, the reorganization of the Preparatory Depart- ment, the establishment of Presbyterial schools at White Oak, Ga., Troy and Bethany, S. C, IMission schools in Mexico, and a school at the orphanage, the church is more actively and largely engaged in educational work than ever before in its history. The purpose of the mis- sion schools reminds us of the purpose of the founders of Erskine College. If it is proper to make a record of James Rogers' school in the early ])art of the past century, it is proper to mention the lluntersville High School which for a number of years was in a flourishing condition under Rev. W. W. ( )rr, and gave to the college and the church some of our best men. Perhaps there are still other schools, as Jones' Seminary for young ladies at All Healing. X. C.. which ought to be mentioned. 676 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. DUE WEST FEMALE COLLEGE. One other school must be mentioned. It has stood for nearly half a century, side by side with Erskine College, under the shadow of one of the principal churches of the denomination, singing the church's songs, teaching the church's daughters. It does not receive the church's money, it is not controlled by the church's boards, it is called undenominational, but however labeled, in warp and woof, in fibre and in dye, it is Associate Reformed Presbyterian if Erskine College is Associate Reformed Presbyterian. Its presidents have been servants of the church, loyal and faithful, and the church would be poorer by far today if the Due West Female College had never existed. The Synod now has under considera- tion the purchase of the property and control of the in- stitution. The reason the church has never aided this college is not because of the Salic law which so long denied or ignored woman's right to knowledge, but be- cause the college has prospered so well without that aid. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. Let me recur to the principles in education for which the church has stood. We have all experienced the pur- pose and enthusiasm with which we have begun a day, or task, or profession. And we have all felt that purpose weaken and that enthusiasm subside in the progress of our work, as we have felt the throb of the engine when the ship starts but have not felt it when the ship was well under way at sea. Erskine has stood for a liberal and a Christian education. There never was more need than to-day for the church to stand for such educa- tion, and to stand firm. We pride ourselves on having never asked what was popular and expedient, but what is true and right. The spirit that animated the six hundred ministers in the cradle of our historv to CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 677 lose their living rather than their principles, the spirit that strengthened twenty thousand Preshvterians to lose their lives rather than violate their conscience, the spirit that fired the hearts of the Scottish soldiers to raise the bonny blue flag, bearing the legend, "For Christ's Crown and Covenant," the spirit that has prompted the Reform- ers, the Associates and the Associate Reformed people, to stand for the right even if they have to stand alone, is the spirit that has prevailed in all the history of edu- cation in our church. To-day it combats the error that a liberal education is unpractical, and the error that a Christian education is narrow. There is a widely prevalent feeling that college edu- cation is a luxury, wasting time, weakening energy, creat- ing a distaste for the practical affairs of life, filling with conceit that destroys sympathy and fellowship with the common people. It is claimed the college graduate emerges from a cloister and comes into a world where language is still to be learned and skill still to be ac- quired. This is not the opinion of educators like Presi- dent Eliott of Harvard, who advocated before the New York Chamber of Commerce a college education from a business standpoint, basing his judgment on observa- tion of the careers of thousands of college graduates. This is not the opinion of thoughtful business men who speak from an extended experience, like the managers of various large business enterprises who are quoted by President Thwing in the October North American Review as saying that while the college man will find himself behind the boy with whom he parted company on leaving the high school, he will in a few years over- take and pass the latter, through keener perception and hnore comprehensive grasp. Nevertheless college educa- tion is not valued by many as an aid to success in busi- ness, and in consequence of this opinion many are skip- ping the college and entering at once in to active busi- ness, or the technical and industrial, or professional 678 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. schools. But the main end of education is not to become rich. It may justly be demanded of education that it add to the material warmth and happiness of the world, but education is an end in itself. The ability to read has a commercial value, but who would sell his power to read for money? Manhood, not money, is the motto of Erskine. The college has been modernized and, with an unchanging purpose must have constantly changing methods to adjust itself to the changing conditions. But Erskine can never stoop from its high work to teach the tricks of finance and ^methods of business. Erskine has stood also for a thorough education. Wide reading is often at the sacrifice of deep thinking. Cul- tivators of the soil are now adopting the intensive system. Students are attracted to large universities by the many courses of study. But a university does not multiply one's faculties or increase his capacities. There is no magic process to impart the knowledge of a great li- brary. A university is only an aggregation of courses. Graduation does not mean that one has completed all the courses. It means one course has been completed and that course no better than is offered in a small col- lege. The university has advantages. So has the col- lege. In the college the various departments are better correlated, and the studies in the same department are more closely and logically related, than can well be the case in the university. But above all else Erskine stands for Christian educa- tion. Engraved in a marble slab above the college door was written in Hebrew : "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Below was inscribed in Latin : "Scicntia cum morlbns conjuncfa." . There is a polish acquired from the drawing room and pul)lic functions of state and great cities, a familiarity with things and a readiness of conversation, a certain versatility of intel- lect, which comes from contact with men and the glitter anrl glare of erreat universities and the o-rcat world. But CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 679 for depth of thought and emotion, for grasp and grip of opinion, for soberness and saneness of sentiment, for HveHness and purity of imagination, there is no influence so potent as the presence of the Spirit of God. whether felt near the ceaseless roar of the ocean, beneath the si- lent twinkling of the stars, or under roofs hallowed by the breath of prayer and the memory of the sainted dead and the pious living. When the Creator of life, of all life and of every life, who knows the value of life, came to this world. He came not as a great financier, teaching how to make money. That is important. He came not as a great political economist and statesman, teaching how to gov- ern men. That, too. is important. But He came saying, ''Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous- ness." He came asking, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul." The kingdom ^must be sought. The soul may be lost. The religious element, although as much a part of a man as the mind or body, may be dwarfed and starved by neglect. The bird has instinct to fly. yet the mother- bird teaches and coaxes her young to fly. The babe has the organs of speech, but if removed from the sound of the human voice, it will only chatter as the monkey. And the one method of growing, as well as of knowing, is doing the will of God. I know nothing of the boulder at the mountain's foot nor the rock on its top. but when the two are brought together I know they are parts of each other, because the indentations and prominences of one. fit to the i)rominences and indentations of the other. I know nothing of the law of o])tics. nor the mech- anism of the eye, but when light is brought to the eye, I know the eye was made for light. I know nothing of the ])roperties of acoustics and nothing of the anatomy of the ear. Ijut when sound is Ijrought to the ear I know the ear was made for sound. I know nothing of theology and nothing of psychology, but when the soul is brought 68o CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. to God I know the soul was made for God. Erskine teaches astronomy and teaches geology, but teaches also, "The fear of the Lord is the begmning of wisdom." Not by telescopic view of the worlds in the heavens, nor by microscopic inspection of the worlds on the earth, but by doing the will of God, shall we know the doctrine and enter into the kingdom. The Associate Refoniied Presbyterians have com- pleted a centurv' of educational work. This work has not been without errors. The results are not imposing, but of Erskine College and the Theological Seminary, the main products of the church's efforts, we are proud. The College has been true to the purpose of its founders in giving a thorough, a liberal, and a Christian educa- tion and in serving as an ally to the church. Since its establishment in 1839, Erskine has given to the world 674 graduates, of whom 174, or thirty-six per cent., have entered the Christian ministry. , In telling our history of labor and love, of sacrifice and faith, one may be pardoned for forgetting the ac- curacy of a judge in the veneration of a worshipper. Other institutions may be larger and wealthier. But to Associate Reformed people they are not dearer. For Associate Reformed people they are not better. Though the walls be not tapestried and wainscoated with rich and antique woods, nor adorned with mosaic and fres- coed with Raphaelite touches, yet the wife loves the home above the lordly mansions of the rich because it is the gift of the sacrifice and love of husband, to whom the food of her preparing tastes sweeter than the studied menus of Delmonico's hostelries, and the flowers of her planting bloom fairer than the gardens of the florist. The son who puts his weekly earnings into the family purse causes the parents a happiness which could know no appreciable increase, though his driblets were mines of Colorado silver or California gold. The daughter, whose little words of kindness and little deeds of love CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 68l lighten and brighten and sweeten and cheer is loveher than the princess be jeweled with pearls and diamonds and rubies and gold. Though parents be sometimes too forgetful and sometimes too cold, yet children like to come and be children still, and listen to the old stories told many times before. For we all soon learn, that though far we may wander, there is no place like home. Within this circle hearts are one. Wealth may wed misery. Poverty may wed peace. Hearts make home. The past is worthy and full of in- spiration. With united hearts and united hands the future will excel the past. For the church, beginning a second century of educational work, I pray, "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee." 682 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Associate Reformed Presbyterians and Missions. By Rev. S. W. Haddon. For the sake of convenience, Missions are usally di- vided into two parts, and designated by the terms Home and Foreign. But they are only two gigantic arms of one still more gigantic work — a world's evangelization. Not only in those distant lands that lie beyond the sea, but in the very neighborhood of our churches, do we find men and women living without God and without the gospel. "Till the field at your feet and send others to till the field you cannot reach." This is the duty of every Christian, for only thus will the world's field be sown with the seed of the Kingdom, and wave with harvests for God. "As the root sustains and supports the tree, both in the sunshine and in the storm, so does the Home Mission w^ork give life, vigor and size to our work in foreign lands." Therefore, no work is so important and so necessary as that in the home field, and nothing should so call forth the prayers and consecration of our people. If we would convert the world, America must first be laid at the feet of Christ, and if we would have the beautiful songs of inspiration reverberate throughout the world, they must first be sung around the firesides of our homeland. We must first devote our attention to Home Missions. It is only thus that we can sustain Foreign Missions. "One of the features," says Dr. Robert Lathan, "of the Associate Reformed church is that it has always been a missionary church." Missionary efiforts in the Home field began at an early period in the history of our Synod. In 1819 it ordered the Rev. John T. Pressly to CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 683 spend two months in laboring among the scattered va- cancies in Georgia and Alabama, during which time he rode more than 900 miles and preached on every alter- nate day. In 1822, the Rev. Isaac Grier spent three months and the Rev. William Blackstock three and one half months as missionaries in the West, the labors of the former being confined to the settlements in Georgia and Alabama, while those of the latter extended as far as Obion County, Tennessee. These missionary tours were repeated vearly by some member or members of the Synod. The Missionaries, Blackstock. Pressly, Strong, Grier and Harris traveled over all the territory now embraced in the States of Florida. Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. On one of these tours a mis- sionary would ride on horseback through a sparsely populated country, more than 2,000 miles, preaching twice every Sabbath and often on week days. These, and other pioneers of our church, endured hardships as good soldiers of Jesus Christ; they were instant in sea- son and out of season; they perilled their lives for the cause of the Master and the good of their fellowmen ; and, going about everywhere to preach the gospel, they have embalmed their names in the sweetest memories of the church. They shrank from no dangers, counted no costs, and were terrified by no privations, but went forth in the strength of the Master beseeching men to be rec- onciled to God. , Perhaps the longest and most arduous, as well as most dangerous missionary journeys, was made by the Rev. IT. Bryson. who was to Middle Tennessee what Doak was to east Tennessee or Blackburn to north Alabama. This tour was made by the order of his Presbytery. It occupied about twenty months, during which he nmst have traveled from three to four thousand miles on horseback through a country that was just opening to civilization, part of it being still in possession of the savages, over mountains infested with robbers, across 684 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. streams without bridges or ferriers, through countries destitute ahke of roads and postroads and without com- pany. He explored the whole land frottii middle Tennes- see down towards the Gulf of Mexico, passing through the canebrakes of south Alabama and going as far South as the Hammocks of Florida, preaching at almost every town from Huntsville and Athens on the north by way of Tuscaloosa as far as settlers were found. Then going back into south Alabama along the Indian trail and cross- ing the bridgeless streams, he preached to the people whom he had before gathered for a time, intending to go directly from there to South Carolina, but owing to the hostility of the Creek Indians, he tried a flank movement higher up the Alabama and Coosa Rivers. After undergoing many dangers and much fatigue he turned up into Tennessee and preached with his accus- tomed acceptance for awhile, and then went to South Carolina to attend the meeting of his Presbytery at Cedar Springs, where he was ordained to the full work of the (ministry Nov. 3, 1827. This good man never complained of the hardness of his lot, but went on in the prosecution of his chosen work. For months and months his dear old mother could hear nothing of her "mission boy," but ever and anon she was hearing of some unknown traveler in the. West found murdered by the roadside, and like many another praying mother, when she went to the throne of grace did not know how to pray for the beloved son, thinking it as probable that he was in heaven as in the wilds of the West. But her agony of suspense came at last to an end by the appearance of the tired mission- ary riding up to Cedar Springs church one Sabbath morning just as Dr. Pressly was going in to preach a sermon with reference to the supposed death of his be- loved Timothy, as he was accustomed to call him, and thought to have fallen by the hand of a highwayman awav in some coree of the mountains. CENTENxMIAL ADDRESSES. 685 jTliink iov a nionicnt of the joy of that good mother when she saw her darhng son return safe and sound to the old homestead. Think how she would listen and cry by turns as he would recount the many dangers safe- ly passed, of the hungry souls that he had fed, of the rivers he swam, of the hunger and cold he had endured and where is there a Christian mother that would not rather have borne such a son than to have given birth to Julius Caesar? Christian mothers, how many of you can loan a son to the Lord as long as he lives to preach the gospel to a perishing world? But the efforts of our church in the Home field were not confined to the States on this side of the Mississippi River. When our people began to join the mighty throng that crossed the father of waters in search of new homes in Arkansas and Texas the Synod sent them ministers to gather them together and preach to them the gospel. Consequently we have flourishing congre- gations in Arkansas and Texas, and the work is being pushed in (Jklahoma. ^^ hen the A. R. Synod of the Carolinas was organized May 9, 1803, there were seven ordained ministers and about 2,000 members, while to- day we have 104 ordained ministers and about 12,000 communicants. The Board of Home Missions has had much to do with the growth of our church at home, and strange to say, it is the youngest of the boards of the Synod, having been organized at Pott's Station, Ark., Oct. 25, 1888. The entire membership of the church at that time was 7,666, and in 1899, it was about 11,500, an increase of nearly 4,000 during this period of ten years. And this decade was also notable for the number of congregations organized and church buildings erect- ed,, the majority of which were under the auspices of the Board of Home Missions, the total number of congre- gations organized being 14, twelve of which erected houses of worshi]) at a total cost of $52,480. During this |)eriod several evangelists were a])pointed b\- the 586 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Board who did efficient work in different parts of the Synod. They preached i,6oo sermons, received 2,600 mtmbers into the church and obtained $9,000 in con- tributions. "Xo other Christian denomination in our land can show a larger proportionate gain, greater ac- tivity or richer liberality on the part of its membership during the same period. Truly the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad." But let us not be satisfied with what w^e have done in the past. Let us seek from heaven a fresh baptism of zeal, energy and enthusiasm, and redouble our efforts in the home field. Although our Synod from its organization, had given considerable attention to Home Missions, yet the work of Foreign Missions had been prosecuted in a somewhat desultory and haphazard fashion. Li spite of the com- mand of the great captain of our salvation, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," to which is annexed the inspiring promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," the fathers of our church were apparently indifferent to Foreign Missions, and many years passed away before any effort was made to systematize missionary operations in the Foreign field, or to provide funds for this purpose. But the fact that most excites our wonder is that more than a third of a century had passed away before there was a single mention of the subject of sending the gospel to the heathen. Individual contributions were made here and there amounting to a few hundred dollars, and in 1839 Synod created a Board of Foreign Missions and directed it to forward the money on hand to the Re- formed Presbyterian church as a contribution to their work in India. In 1840 overtures were made to the Covenanters to co- operate with them in the foreign field, but it seems that nothing came of the matter. Then in 1843 a commit- tee w^as appointed to consider the expediency of estab- lishing a mission in some foreign land. One year later CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 687 this committee recommended the Indian tribes located in the Southwest, and the West Coast of Africa, as suita- ble fields. While it seems that the mission to the Indians was never even seriously considered for soime unknown reason, in 1845 a committee was appointed to select a suitable location for a school for educatinpf negroes to do mission work in Africa. It was generally thought that white men could not endure the deadly miasmas of the West coast. And an additional committee was appointed to select two negro boys out of the number that might be offered who were to be placed at once under the care of the Rev. Neill E. Gordon of Kentucky, and trained for the work. Two negro boys were actually selected and placed under his care for this purpose ; but the whole scheme proved to be a wretched failure in the end. But in the meantime, while this experiment was being made at home, and before the final result was known, the Synod ordered the Board to open a training school in Liberia. Thos. W^are, a negro of imknown antece- dents, was placed in charge of it. He died in 1849, '^"'^^ the Rev. H. W. Erskine, a white 'missionary sent out to Liberia by the Board of the Presbyterian Church in this country, then took charge of our educational work in that land. The government of Liberia donated a lot of land to our Synod for education- al and religious purposes. The amount of this land is not recorded, nor is it known certainly whether Synod took steps to erect any buildings on it. At one time the Board accepted three negro men who were to be sent out to Liberia, and there educated side by side with the natives for missionary work ; but it is likely that they were never actually sent. After a trial of a few years the arrangement with the Rev. Erskine proved unsatifactory and was discontinued. Still the plan was no{ abandoned, though the ])rospect seemed gloomy. r.ut finally the whole scheme had to be given up. 588 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. We should be very grateful to God that this signal failure did not prove disastrous to the cause of missions. The church, while evidently discouraged, was not ut- terly disheartened. The congregations were ordered to make a special offering for Foreign Missions at each Spring communion. The Board of Foreign Missions was dissolved because there was no further need of its existence. But in 1859 it was reorganized, and ordered to look up a new field for missionary work. In 186 1 the Civil War broke out, and the needy condition of the heathen was for a time forgotten. After four years of unexampled bloodshed and courage, the war closed, but its dreadful efifects remained. The country was in a most deplorable condition, property had been great- ly destroyed, congregations had been greatly depleted, the college and seminary had both been closed, endow- ments had been swept away in common with private es- tates, and thousands of our young men slept in soldiers' graves. Nor was the era of reconstruction much less dreadful than the war itself. The church needed all her resources and energies to begin the work of gathering up the fragments and organizing her scattered and de- moralized forces. The ranks of the ministry had been thinned by age and death, and there were no others to take their places. The college and seminary must be reopened or the church will cease to exist. But we need not dwell longer on this dark and sombre picture. Suf- fice it to say that during those trying times, there was no place in the mind of the church for new enterprises. The great heathen world and its needs were almost entirely forgotten in the effort to meet the demands at home. This state of afifairs lasted about a decade. The Board of Foreign Missions still existed, but its existence was largely perfunctory. , In the fall of 1873 our Synod met at Mt. Zion, Mo., and then the United Presbyterian Church sent overtures for co-operation in the foreign field. The spirit of mis- CENTENXIAL ADDRESSES. 689 sions, which was not dead but only slumbering, awoke and manifested surprising life. From the Synod the in- terest and zeal spread over the entire church, ^h. W. A. Wilson, a student of theology, offered himself for the foreign field. He was promptly and eagerly accepted. Steps were at once taken to collect the needed funds, and the response of the church was prompt and gener- ous. Eg}pt was the field selected. But the church was doomed to another disappointment, for the newly ap- pointed missionary was compelled on account of family afflictions to decline the work. Still the purpose of en- gaging in foreign mission work was not abandoned by the church, nor was her enthusiasm abated. The at- tention of the Board was next unanimously centered on Miss ^^lary E. Galloway, whose qualifications for the work were pre-eminent and conspicuous. But they were more manifest to others than to herself, and so when the closed door stands open before her she hesitates, and waits to see if the call is really from God. Jwst at this juncture, not by coincidence, nor by accident, but by providence an earnest appeal came from the Board of the U. P. Church that we would add one missionary to the company that was soon to sail for Eg\-pt. The matter was quickly decided, and preparation for an early depar- ture was begun. This kindled an enthusiasm which spread over the entire church. Perhaps no event in our past denominational history had awakened and called forth so much feeling, or a more unanimous and hearty response than the sending out of our first missionary to the foreign field. It marked the beginning of a new era, and the infusion of new life and energy into every de- partment of the church's work. The number of minis- ters was increased, the membership was soon doubled, and the financial resources were multiplied manifold. Mrs. Mary Galloway Giffen fell on sleep in Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 16, 188 1, after six years of faithful service. A great wave of sorrow swept over the church when it 44 690 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. was known that our first representative in the foreign field had passed away. , Three years before this sad event, an independent mission had been estabHshed in Mexico, and the Rev. N. E. Pressly and wife sent out as missionaries. After spending a year in the City of Mexico, acquiring the language these missionaries planted our first mission in Tampico, which is the most important city in the terri- tory assigned to our church by the missionary forces in the Republic. From this mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds, there sprung up a tree which is increasing in size year by year. Time forbids us to dwell upon the details of the work which has developed so successfully in the land of the Aztecs ; but we will say that in 1887 our force was increased by the sending out of the Rev. J .S. A. Hunter and wife ; in 1891 Misses Stevenson and Boyce ; in 1883 the Rev. J. R. Edwards and wife; in 1899 Miss Lavinia Neel, Miss Kate Neel and the Rev. J. G. Dale ; and in 1901 Miss Fannie L. Wallace. , Every name in this goodly list that has just been men- tioned deserves a tribute of commendation and praise for faithful, earnest and self-denying labors in the service of the King and Head of the Church. Dr. A. T. Pier- son well says : "The missionary embodies the highest types of human excellence and his profession is of the noblest kind. He has the enterprise of the merchant, without the narrow desire of gain ; the dauntlessness of the soldier, without the shedding of blood ; the zeal of the geographical explorer, but for a higher motive than science." , As a church, we have great reason for gratitude to God for the manifest tokens of approval, and the mani- fold blessings of his grace and spirit on our mission in Mexico. There we have four foreign male missionaries, four female missionaries, six native pastors, five female native teachers and helpers, eighteen congregations CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 69 I and stations, and two hundred and ninety-five com- municants. Such an exhibit ought to strengthen our faith and increase our devotions to those whom God has called and honored in making them co- workers with Him in sending the gospel to the lost in Mexico. As a final word, let me say, in the language of Bishop J. ]\I. Thoburn, "The signs of the times, the lessons of the past, the indications of the future, the call of providence, and the voices which come borne to us by every breeze, and from every nation under heaven, all alike bid us lay our plans upon a scale worthy of men who expect to conquer a world." "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo T am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Amen. 692 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. What the Associate Reformed Church Stands For. Address by Rev. J. S. Mofkatt, D. D. By way of preface it may not be out of place to state first what the Associate Reformed Church does not stand for. It does not stand for any such doctrine as that its symbols of faith are inspired of the Holy Spirit ; that they embrace the truth, the whole truth and nothing- but the truth in every particular ; and that whosoever dares to propose any change in them is chargeable with sacrilege. It does not reverence the catechism more than the Scriptures. It does not substitute a creed for the Christ. It is a creed-holder, it is not a creed worshipper. It realizes that its creed is but the judgment of fallible men and it does not essay to put its creed in the Ark of Testimony along side of the Tables of Law. The Associate Reformed church does not stand for any such pretension as that it is the only true Church of God. It does not assume to stand off to itself in a holier-than-thou attitude. It proclaims the spiritual unity of an externally divided Church ; it preaches the brotherhood of all believers ; and rejoices in the communion of the Saints. It stands not for bigotry, narrowness, obstinacy or schism, but it pleads for the supremacy of truth, loyalty to conscience, and the holding of the truth in love. Coming to the positive aspects of the question, we may say that the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church stands for the vast body of truth held in a general way by all the evangelical churches in common. The exist- ence and three-fold character of dod ; Cod the Father, CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 693 God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit : all men lost in sin; Jesus Christ, the Saviour from sin; the Holy Spirit the applier of the redemption wrought out by Christ; the Bible a revelation from heaven to men, making known God's gracious purposes and holy will : the salvation provided by Christ available to the sinner through repentance and faith; whoso- ever believeth shall be saved and whosoever believeth not shall be condemned ; good works not the ground, but the evidence of salvation : these are some of the main doc- trines held by the Associate Reformed Church in com- mon with the evangelical branches of the Christian Church. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church stands for the whole body of truth held, or once held, by most of the families of the Presbyterian tribe. It stands for acceptance of and adherence to the Westminster Stan- dards ; not that it binds itself to accept and defend every single statement therein found as true beyond all ques- tion, but that these standards taken as a whole are the most systematic, comprehensive and exact summary of Bible truth to which expression has been given in and by the Church. It stands, accordingly, for the Calvinistic system of theology ; not that it stands for certain interpretations of this theology, or for certain declarations that are al- leged to be part and parcel of this theology, or for the extravagances of some who style themselves disciples of Calvin ; but for the fundamental principles of this the- ology beginning with the absolute sovereignty of God and embracing the remaining four ])oints logically springing therefrom unto the assured salvation of the elect. The Associate Reformed Church stands for the gov- ernment of the cliurcli l)y elders: — all l)ishops. pastors and rulers l)cing elders, and having authority in the house of the Lord to act for Jesus Christ, the King and Head of the Church. 694 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. There are several things that our church would make specially strong in her testimony- One is with respect to the Bible. The Associate Reformed Church stands stoutly for the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. Its testimony is that the inspiration extends not merely to some por- tions of the Bible but to the whole Bible ; not only to the words and sermons of Christ but to the Epistles of Paul and Peter as well. Its position is that not merely the contents, the body of truth found in the Scriptures is inspired of God but that the inspiration extends to the very words ; that not only does the Bible contain the word of God but the Bible is the Word of God. The Associate Reformed Church stands to witness that only an inspiration of this kind is sufficient to con- stitute the Bible an infallible rule of faith and practice. If only the sentiments and ideas of the Bible are inspired and the form left to human wisdom how shall we be assured that these divine communications have found correct expression. In such a case we must face the pos- sibility, yes, the probability, that the Bible is a book full of errors. It can no longer be a sure guide. It ceases to speak to us as the Word of God and weakly ad- dresses us as the words of men. The Associate Reformed Church does not contend that there are no errors in the Bible as we have it to- day. It would be strange indeed if having passed through so many hands, and so many casualities, and having been so often transcribed, some errors should not have cre])t in. But the contention is that as origin- ally given to the church there were no errors and that the originals have been so guarded by the Spirit, and so reverentl}- and carefully handled by godly and faithful men that whatever errors ma}- have crept in through human frailty are slight and have not corrupted or changed in any essential particular the originally inspired documents. Neither does the Associate Reformed CEXTENXIAL ADDRESSES. 695 Church maintain that God reckiced the holy writers to mere machines in inspiring their thouf^hts and in indit- in_cc their words while communicating' his will to men. On the contrary it helieves that God left each writer free to exhihit his own peculiar traits, to use his own vocabular\- and the learning of his times, and to utilize the store of illustrations drawn from his peculiar sur- roundings, occupations, or manner of life; but God so put the seal and superintendance of his inspiration upon all that the writer expressed in his unique way that his writing became the inerrant vehicle of God's truth. Adhering to this view of inspiration, the Associate Reformed Church accepts all the teachings of God's word though it may not be able to reconcile them with one another by the power of human reason. If the Bible teaches both the Sovereignty of God and the free agency of man. the Associate Reformed Church says that we must accept and believe both these truths without speculation, trimming or reservation, no matter how incompatible wath human reason or incomprehensi- ble to human understanding they may seem to be. Furthermore, the view of inspiration which it holds leads the Associate Reformed Church to stand for the sole, supreme, infallible authority of the Bible in all questions of manners, morals, religion, and duty. Its api^eal is ever "To the law and to the testimony." Taking such a stand, the Associate Reformed Church is a marked conservative force among the churches and in society. It asks for the old paths. It makes haste to go slow. It wastes little time upon what is known as "Higher Criticism." It stands for simplicity in life and worship as in the days of the fathers ; for truth and honesty in all dealings ; for sacred regard for the Sab- bath day ; and for opposition to worldly amusements. The standard sermon still has three heads, and the orthodox time for the second service is early candle- 696 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Another thing the Associate Reformed Church makes particularly strong in its testimony is in respect to the mode of divine worship. Our church gives pronounced and emphatic witness to the principle that God is to be worshipped only in the way appointed in his word. This proposition seems simple enough but it is deep and broad in its sweep. It might appear to be self evi- dent on its face but it does not command universal as- sent and application. Indeed, it is the application of this principle that forms the chief ground for the separate existence of the Associate Reformed Church. It will be readily granted by all Protestant Christians that what is expressly forbidden in the worship of God is not to be tolerated. In the Second Commandment God forbids the use of images in worship. Then away with images, say we all. It will also be readily granted that what is expressly enjoined in the worship of God is to be observed. God enjoins that prayer be made and for whom prayer should be made. Let this be done without deviation. But what of a large class of acts, rites, and ceremonies which are neither expressly commanded nor explicitly forbidden in the worship of God. Are we at liberty or not to introdluce these at our pleasure and judgment? It is at this point that the principle for which the Asso- ciate Reformed Church stands comes into play. Because God expressly forbids the use of images in worship, some would infer that only what is forbidden is prohibited in worship, and what is not forbidden is permissible in worship. They would maintain that what is expressly commanded in worship holds only as to the specific rite or ordinance commanded, and what is not expressly commanded if it is not explicitl}^ forbidden is proper and lawful in worship if it meets the approval of sanctified common sense and is deemed profitable to the church. Now the position of the Associate Reformed Chiuxh is CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 697 that nothing is to be used in the worship of God except what he has clearly authorized and sanctioned ; and that all that is not prescribed and sanctioned of God is as much excluded from his worship as if it were explicitly forbidden. The record of the sin of Nadab and Abihu is stated in these suggestive words: "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer and put fire therein and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not." Mark you, it does not read that they offered strange fire which He had for- bidden them to do, but they offered strange fire which He commanded them not. By not commanding, God had forbidden ; by prescribing what the incense was to be and how^ it was to be offered and wdiat kind of fire was to be used, he had prohibited all other incense and all other fire, and all other ways of offering incense. The expression just noticed leads Bishop Hall to ob- serve : "We have to do with a God who is wise to pre- scribe His own worship, just to require what He has prescribed, and powerful to revenge what He has not prescribed." It is not the silence of the Scriptures that sanctions how God is to be worshijipcd ; and we may not presume upon the silence of Holy \\'rit to attempt to make God's worship more impressive, interesting or attractive by our own devices Our sure and safe ground consists in worshipping God only in the way or ways that He has prescribed and ap- pointed in His word. To deny or to abandon this prin- ciple is to open the door wide to libertinism and latitudi- narianism. God's appointments for His worship are the expres- sion of the divine wisdom and will for that particular service. To deviate from these appointments, or to set them aside, or to modify them, or to attempt improvements. 698 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. upon them is to reflect upon the divine wisdom and to set up our will against the divine will. If we may thus challenge God's wisdom and will in worship, why not in other matters? Why not in respect to the Bible He has given us, and in respect to the Saviour He has provided, and the salvation He offers through this Saviour? As a matter of fact has not the divine wisdom been called in qtiestion in respect to these very things? And have not the critics and objectors in many instances at least come logically to their attitude? Did not the Church herself open the wa}' by her own example ? The Associate Reformed Church realizing its far reach- ing consequences stands by the principle announced in the 51 question of the Shorter Catechism that "The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images^ or any other ivay not appointed in his zvord." It is in the application of this principle that the Asso- ciate Reformed Church confines itself exclusively to the inspired songs of the Bible in God's worship. Wq know that these songs have the divine sanction. They were appointed for use under the former dispensa- tion. Why were they included in the inspired canon if they were not appointed and intended for use in the present dispensation ? Other songs may be good but where is their sanction for the sanctuary service? If God had intended other songs to be sung in His praise why did He not give them a place in the Scripture hymnologv ? , Is it credible that God would prepare and prescribe a psalmody for His worship in the former days and then leave His Church in these latter times to be guided by their own wisdom and to offer in praise to Him any kind of so-called sacred songs that may appeal to the fancy or emotions of the worshippers? Docs not the Church need the inspiration and super- CENTEX XI AL ADDRESSES. 699 intendance of the Spirit in the production of its hymn- ology in one age as much as in another? Are the Saints of this day any more able to prepare a suitable psalmody apart from the Spirit's inspiration than were Moses and David ? But God having given to the Church only this one book of praises, the Associate Reformed Church regards this fact as an indication that these songs alone are to be sung in I lis worship until the end of the world and docs not feel at liberty to use any other songs. It might be added that the Associate Reformed Church believes also that its application of this important prin- ciple in the matter of an inspired psalmody is re-enforced by other substantial considerations. The l)ook of Scripture praises is the most catholic liymn book. Indeed, it is the only unsectarian hymn- ology. The songs of uninspired men are naturally colored by the theological and denominational views of the various authors, so that it is not strange that we have Presby- terian hymns, and Methodist hymns, and Baptist hymns. I)Ut the Psalms of the Bible are neither Presbyterian, Methodist, nor Bajitist hymns; they are God's songs, as undenominational as the liible itself. This fact is much in their favor. These songs indited by the Spirit of (iod are the best that can be had. Will we not all agree that we ought to offer to God in praise, as well as in every thing else, tlie very l)est at our command? Surely it cannot be (lis])ut(.(l that tlie songs of inspiration are superior to any songs which men can indite as the Bible of inspira- tion is superior to any book that man can write. The Associate Reformed Church stands for giving God nothing but the best. Confinement to the use of the sacred songs in worship is not only a matter of sound principle but also of safe jiolicy. Bv adhering exclusively t(i the P.ible son<2S all doo-- 700 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. gerel poetry and sentimental trash and questionable stuff are ruled of solemn worship, and an adaman- tine barrier raided against all religious heresies and va- garies that are liable to insinuate themselves through the medium of song. Using only the songs which God has given us we are on safe ground and the Associate Re- formed Church stands for the policy of keeping on safe and solid ground. " O, World-God give me Power !" the Roman cried. His prayer was granted. The vast world was chained A Captive to the chariot of his pride. But now "A roofless ruin stands where once abode The imperial race of everlasting Rome.' " O, World-God, give me Beauty !" cried the Greek. His prayer was granted. All the earth became Plastic and vocal to his sense ; The lyre was his. and his the lireathing might Of the immortal marble, his the play Of diamond-pointed thought and golden tongue. Go seek the sunshine race. Ye find to-day A broken column and a lute unstrung. " O, God-head, give me Truth ! the Hebrew cried. His prayer was granted. He became the slave Of the Idea, a pilgrim far and wide. '■ Seek him today, and find in every land. No fire consumes him. neither floods devour ! Immortal through the lamp within his hand." And so if we are not mistaken the cry of the Asso- ciate Reformed Church is, "Give me Truth ! believing that the light of truth is the lamp imm()rtal within the Church. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 701 The Hand of God in our History. SERMON BV REV. W. L. PRESSLY, D. D. Text. — First Samuel: 7-12: "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shem, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." God is the Creator, so is He the Governor of the world. The one of these propositions would appear to involve the other. But we are not left to any impres- sions of our own, however satisfactory they may seem, with regard to this matter. This is a point on which the Scriptures are not only explicit. They are emphatic as well. The Psalmist says: "The Lord hath prepared His throne in the Heavens, and His Kingdom ruleth over all." The Prophet says: "He doeth according to His will in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabi- tants of the earth," and the ^Master himself says. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father, but the very hairs of your heads are all numbered." His provi- dence, then, has to do with the affairs of men great and small. It has to do with the affairs of individuals. "The steps of a good man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." It has to do with the affairs of nations or communities of men. The Most High rul- eth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever Pie will." "By Him kings reign and princes decree jus- tice, even all the judges of the earth." "The kingdom is the Lord's and Pie ruleth among nations." ''For God, the Lord, all Empire owns. And reigns above all earthly thrones." It has to do with the affairs of the cluuxh. Indeed the whole scheme of Divine Providence, from becinninir rjo2 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. to end, has respect, either directly or indirectly, either immediately or remotely, to the church ; and so we read that Jesus Christ was given to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Under the former dispensation the chiu'ch and State or commonwealth, were identical. The terms or condi- tions of admission into the one were the terms or condi- tions of admission into the other. A person could not be a member of one without being a member of the other as well. The ecclesiastical aspect of this complex body was, however, b}' far the more prominent and the more important. In this connection we have a signal instance or example, or illustration of God's Providential care for His people, that is, for His Church. As a chastisement for their unfaithfulness God left His people in the hands of their enemies, the Philistines. For twenty years, perhaps for a longer period, they were grievously oppressed. At length this chastise- ment bore its appropriate and blessed fruit, for we are told that "all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." Encouraged by this hopeful frame of mind, Samuel called a meeting of the people at Mizpeh. This was not a military gathering. Indeed it is more than doubtful if there was an armed man present in all that assembly. Their masters, the Philistines, had most ef- fectually disarmed them, and they had taken measures just as effectual that they should not arm themselves again. See ist Samuel, 13:19-21. At a later period and in an actual state of war we are told that only Samuel and Jonathan were armed. See 1st Samuel, 13:22. This, then, was a meeting for praver, for confes- sion, for supplication and for renewing their covenant with the God of their fathers. lUit the Philistines were suspicious of all ])ublic asseml)lics of the people and dis- patched an armed force to disperse this one. l^narmed as they were, it is not strange that the people were panic CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 703 stricken by the appearance of an armed force, with evi- dent hostile intent, and appealed to Samuel and Samuel appealed to God. and we read that the Lord thundered with great thunder that day against the Philistines and discomfited them. Their route was complete and it only remained for Israel to pursue and spoil. In grateful recognition of this gracious interposition in their behalf, and in commemoration of it as well, we are told that Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it "Ebenezer," that is. the stone of help. And we are told that he accompanied that pious act with this pious sentiment: "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." But as past experience of God's goodness is a promise and a pledge of continued favor, conditioned only on obedience, so this stone would be an inspiration for the future as well as a commemora- tion of the past. THE CHURCH IX RETROSPECT. It would be an inspiration for the future just because it was a commemoration of the past. In the good provi- dence of God, that branch of His church with which we are identified has reached a stage in its history which invites to retrospection. One hundred years ago what was then known as the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia was erected into a Synod and took the name of the Synod of the Carolinas. This Synod was an integral part of the General Synod, organized about the same time, and which consisted of the Synod of New York, the Synod of Pennsylvania, the Synod of Scioto, and the Synod of the Carolinas. In 1822, nineteen years later, for reasons which cannot be discussed now, the Synod of the Carolinas. with the full consent of the General Synod, withdrew from that body and was organized into an independent, co-ordinate Synod and took the name of the .Associate Reformed Synod of the South. In 1858 all the .\ssociate Rcforniefl churches, except the J04 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Associate Reformed Synod of the South, entered into a union with the Associate Church, and formed that noble body of Christians known to us as the United Presby- terian Church and whose honored representative has a seat on this floor to-day. As the Synod of the South was then the only Associate Reformed Church in existence its distinguishing title has been disregarded as no longer necessar}-, and is now commonly known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. It is proposed to-day to look back over the history of this church during the century of its existence, especial- ly with the view or purpose of discovering, if we can, the hand of God in our experience as a church ; that we may duly recognize our indebtedness to Him, as well as our continued dependence upon Him. Nothing less than this would excuse, much less justly, such an historical re- view as this must of necessity be on this day set apart to the worship of Almighty God. In attempting this we shall endeavor to bear in mind that, as Robert Ellis Thompson, in his work entitled, "The Hand of God in American History," has expressed it, "it is not per- mitted for any one to play privy counsellor to the Al- mighty and to trace all the operations of His guiding hand in any historical crisis. But a few things we may indicate as less recondite and more obvious than others." This Synod was, at its very organization, confronted with two or three serious difficulties. In the first place, it was very weak in point of numbers. It consisted of only seven ordained ministers, and two probationers, while its field was disproportionately wide. In his his- tory of this period Dr. Lathan says : "For thirty-five years, a few men, never more than seven, preached the Gospel, administered the sacrament and performed other pastoral work in not less than fifty societies or congre- gations, scattered over a tract of country longer than England and wider than Scotland. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 705 A DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE. In the second place, about the time of its organization, at the instance of two disaffected members of the Pres- bytery, an Associate Presbytery was organized in the same territory, and in fact dividing a number of the congregations. The dift'erence between these two bodies was not more than the difference between Shibboleth and Sibboleth, and yet instead of striving together, instead of standing shoulder to shoulder, instead of locking their shields and presenting an unbroken front to the common foe. they proved bitter rivals and threatened to bite and devour one and another. COMMUNION AND PSALMODY. In the third place, the distinctive features of this in- fant body were singularly unpopular. These related to the subject of Communion, (sacramental communion,) and Psalmody. As regards the first of these, looking at it from this distance, the practice of the church seems to have been stricter or more conservative than its stan- dards. In fact to one of the present generation it is not easy to see how our fathers got "close" or what they call "regulated" or "restricted," or "occasional" commun- ion out of the xxvi. chapter of the Westminster Con- fession of Faith." The position and the practice of the church on this subject have been materially mollified in recent years. As regards the second, while it is con- ceded that the design or purpose of this service does not call for a discussion of the subject of Psalmody, and while any discussion of it would be superfluous, or a work of supererrogation, after the splendid presentation, of it last evening, still, as bearing upon that which is the main object of this exercise, we may be permitted to mention briefly two or three things in relation to it. In the first place, then, the position of the Associate Re- formed Presbyterian Church as regards this matter, is 45 7o6 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. substantially the same as that of the Westminster As- sembly, whose standards it accepted. It is substantially the same as that of the church of Scotland, from which this in common with other Presbyterian churches, it de- rived its origin. It is substantially, if not identically, the same as that of all the Presbyterian churches of this country, up until about the middle of the eighteenth century. STANDING FOR THE SCRIPTURAL PSALMODY. About that time the question of incorporating the imitation of the Psalms by Dr. Isaac Watts in the autho- rized Psalmody of the Presbyterian Church was intro- duced into the General Assembly of that body; and after an agitation extending, according to Dr. Lathan, over a period of forty years, received the endorsement of that body. A little later, in 1802, the hymns of the same' author, received the sanction of the same body and very soon, (as was most natural and indeed inevitable,) the pious effusions of a great many other writers were accorded a place in their book of praise. The result of all was that the songs of inspiration were practically displaced, insomuch that now there is scarce- ly trace of them to be found in the books of praise used by that church, and to-day very many excellent Christian people in this Southern country do not so much as know that there is such a thing as a metrical version of the "Book of Psalms." If, then, it be true that this book was given of God to the church as a manuel of praise, as writers without distinction of name or sect afifirm, and if it be true that these songs are divinely adapted to the purpose, as is of necessity involved in the fact that they were given of God for this purpose ; and if it be true that they were designed to be used by the church in all ages, as is also conceded by the writers referred to. then the Associate Reformed Church is abundantly justified in declining all overtures, however tempting, from other CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 707 Christian bodies which involve a compromise (which in this case means a surrender) of the principle involved. And when we consider the pressure that has been brought to bear on this little church, (and we refer now only to the pressure of example) the example of the many, the example of the strong, the example of the influen- tial, of the pious and learned, can we fail to see the hand of God in the fact that this little body has, for the hundred years of its existence, stood firmly by the Scripture doctrine and practice, and so has preserved and still preserves from complete disuse and dishonor (in this Southern country) a Psalmody given of God, inspired by His spirit, sung by His Saints under the for- mer economy, used by our Saviour himself and His Apostles in what we may call the transition period, and has been the inspiration of confessors and martyrs of every age and country, and especially of the Covenanters of Scotland, whose children we are, whose blood flows in our veins and whose unfaltering defence of the faith once delivered to the saints we recognize as our most precious earthly heritage. THE FALSE CRY OF "BIGOTRY." It is not pleasant to be singular. It is not easy to en- dure the odium of even implied narrowness and illiberal- ity and exclusiveness, not to say bigotry. Indeed, not a few of our brethren have found the pressure too great to be resisted and they have sought in other communions a liberty which they could not find in their own. But of these brethren it is safe to say (and we say it in the spirit of utmost kindness) that whatever their principles may be, their practice is just as narrow and illiberal and exclusive as it was before. The only difference is that then they used, and used exclusively, an insjMred Psalm- ody in the worship of God, and now they use, and use just as exclusively, an uninspired. One thing more, it may be permitted us to say in this connection : To all 7o8 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. who love these songs of Zion, venerable for their antiq- uity, sacred from their association and bearing the seal of the Spirit, it is a matter of profound thanksgiving to God that in the last few years the attention of the church has been attracted to them as it had not been for more than a century before. Now, would it be rash to say, or at least to express the earnest hope, if not the confi- dent expectation, that the child is already born who shall see these songs of inspiration restored to their proper place in the worship of God, at least in the Pres- byterian churches in our country ? THE PATRON OF LEARNING. The Associate Reformed Church has always been the ardent friend and patron of learning. Insisting ripon an educated ministry, and unwilling to patronize any lite- rary institution then existing in the South, the church felt obliged to afford or provide the facilities for an education which it demanded, at least of those who would enter her ministry. And it is really pathetic to read the record of those early days and to see how their desires and plans and efforts were baffled at every step by their weakness and poverty. At length in 1834, it was resolved to establish a manual labor school as the best that could be done in existing circumstances. But while this was the action of the Synod it met with little favor at the hands of the people and nothing came of it. The next year, however, it was determined to establish an academy or high school at Due West, S. C., and steps wex^. at once taken vo carry this resolution into effect. On the first Mond.\y of February, 1836, the doors of thi":; school was opened. That ripe scholar and veteran teacher, the Rev. John S. Pressly, was placed at its head. So much was the church encouraged by the success of this exoerimcnt that, when three years later, Mr. Pressly resigned his position, it was determined to extend the curriculum and 'enlarge the facultv, and out CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 709 of the academy to erect a college. The result was Ers- kine College, certainly the first denominational insti- tution of its class in the State of South Carolina, and, as far as we know, or have been able to learn, with a single possible exception, the first south of the Potomac. Thus it remained for this little church, consisting at that time of only twenty-one ordained ministers and scat- tered over so wide a territory, to set the pace for other and older and far stronger denominations, in the great work of Christian education. And who can tell what influence the zeal and energy and devotion and success of this little denomination in this matter may have had in the establishment of Furman, and W'offord and New- berry and other denominational institutions that are now doing so noble a work in this most important line ? TO GOD BE THE GLORY. Now shall we take the credit of this to ourselves? Shall we ascribe it to our fathers? To their fidelity, their zeal, their self-denial, their self-sacrifice? Shall we not rather recognize in all this the hand of God whose Kingdom rules over all, without Whom a sparrow does not fall on the ground, and Who is so often pleased to choose the weak things of the world to confound the mighty,* and to get glory to His own great name from the weakness of the instrumentality employed ! We do not mean to say that no credit is due to our fathers. We should stand uncovered in the presence of their memories. But while they were the instruments. God alone was the agent and to Him be all the glory. THE ENDOWMENT OF THE COLLEGE. In 1853 the need of an endowment for the College was realized and recognized, and that prince of agents for such enterprises, the Rev. Dr. W. R. Hemphill, was sent out to solicit funds for this purpose. The result was that in a few years an endowment fund of $75,000 yio CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. was raised, and the College entered upon an era of in- creased prosperity and of enlarged usefulness. Here again, so far as we know or have been able to learn, this little denomination was a pioneer, led the way, at least in this Southern country. In 1861, only a few years later, the war, (we need not stop to characterize it as the War of the Secession, or as the War of the Rebellion. Or as the War between the States, or as the Civil War, etc., for this generation at least, it is sufficient to call it The War,) burst upon the country. With the history of that unprecedented struggle we are not at present concerned except in so far as it affected the enterprises of the church, and especial- ly that enterprise of which we are speaking now. Dr. Lathan writing of the College at the close of the war, with characteristic emphasis says "it was dead." If it was not dead it was at least dormant. Its doors were closed, its students were scattered, many of them dead, victims of the war, and its finances wrecked. Of the $75,000 little more than $13,000 re- mained. But no sooner had the smoke of the conflict cleared away than its doors were opened again and its exercises resumed. Just how it was sustained from 1865 to 1867 is not very clear. Only one thing is clear — that some one suffered. In 1857 a scheme was devised to raise a temporary endowment to run five years and to get the institution on its feet again. This scheme was successfully executed. THE DEVASTATION OF WAR. In 1871, at a meeting of the Synod, held at Long Cane, S. C, it was resolved to attempt a second perma- nent endowment, and the amount agreed on was $100,000. Here we may well pause for a moment. The action of that Synod, or rather of this Synod at that meeting, if not sublime, was surely not less than heroic. There are few now living who have any proper appreciation of CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 711 the condition of things in this whole Southern country at that time. The larger part of what had constituted the wealth of the country had been swept away by a stroke of the pen. Of the remainder a large per cent, had gone up in fire and smoke and blackened chimneys, and charred ruins, and dismantled homes, and abandoned farms, all over this Southern country were the mute but eloquent witnesses of the ruthlessness, not to say the savagery, of the war and of the poverty of the people. And as respects the people themselves what shall we say? The males from 16 to 60, upon whom would na- turally have devolved the arduous task upon which it was proposed to enter, were in large part, perhaps we might say in the larger part, in their graves, unmarked, nameless graves on far off battlefields. And our congre- gations were made up mainly of gray-haired men and widowed mothers and orphaned children. Besides this let it not be forgotten that w^hat was left of this little church was scattered from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and lacked therefore the stimulus which, in military par- lance, comes from the touch of the elbow. And while it is true that the war was over and had been for six years, it is also true that this was in the midst of what was then known and of what is still known, and of what will for generations be known, as the "Reconstruction" period — a period which in its eft"ects upon the morals and the finances of the country was scarcely less disastrous than war itself. And yet in the face of all this and more, (for so far from exaggerating we have given you only some faint hints of the situation) our fathers said : "Let us rise up and build!" And they did rise up and they did build, and while it is true that the $100,000 w'as not realized, a sufficient amount was secured to meet the cur- rent expenses of the institution, economically adminis- tered, and from that day to this it has gone forward without interruption in the prosecution of its benevolent and beneficent work. 712 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Now shall we take the credit of all this to ourselves? Shall we ascribe it to our fathers — to the men of'71 — to their Scotch-Irish blood — to which so eloquent a tribute was paid yesterday — to their tenacity of purpose — to their devotion to principle, or to their faith in God even? Shall we not rather recognize His hand in all this and render to Him the glory that is due? Who else but He could have suggested the thought in the circumstances ! Who else but He could have inspired the courage ? Who else but He could have sustained the effort and crowned it with such a measure of success? THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. The history of the Theological Seminary is intimately associated with that of the college. Its doors were opened in 1837, but from that date until 1869 the whole work of conducting that institution was devolved upon men who were otherwise fully employed — the church not being able to pay a separate salary for a separate professor. As an illustration of this, mention may be made of the fact that the first professor of theology was also president of the college and pastor of the church at Due West, and made his living largely on a farm. It is matter of devout gratitude to God that men were fovmd — let us express this a little differently, let the hand of God be more explicitly recognized — let us say it is matter of devout gratitude that God raised up men to meet this emergency — men who were willing, without complaint to do double work without additional compensation — without any adequate pecuniary compen- sation— men who, like Moses, had "respect unto the recompense of the reward." In 1869 the Rev. James Boyce, D. D., was made pro- fessor of theology and paid a salary to give his whole time to the work. His assistants, however, without an exception, were otherwise fully occupied. Notwithstand- ing the institution has been thus handicapped from the CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 713 beginning, it has, by the blessing of God, rendered ex- cellent service. The ministry of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the living and the dead, nine-tenths of whom received their theological training within its walls, are its witnesses. It is a matter of devout grati- tude to God that it has now an endowment of $42,000 and ought to be in position to do more and better work than was possible in the past. It may be thought and said that the Associate Re- formed Church was slow in entering upon the work of Foreign Missions. And as a matter of fact it is true that it was not until 1875 that this church had a foreign missionary of its own. But two or three things may be said and ought to be said in explanation, if not in justi- fication of this fact. In the first place the demands of the home field taxed the energies of the fathers of the church to the utmost. In his history of that period. Dr. Lathan says, "from 1803 to 1840 and even later, it might be said that every minister connected with the A. R. P. Synod of the South, no matter whether he were a settled pastor or not, was a missionary. With few exceptions, each made an annual missionary tour of from three to four months. It should be remembered in this connec- tion that the facilities for travel then w'ere not what they are now. There were no railroads, in much of the terri- tory traversed, few wagon roads. These missionary tours were made on horseback with wardrobe and library in a pair of saddle bags. In the second place, while, during this period, this church had no foreign missionary of its own, it does not therefore follow that it was indififerent to this work. In proof that it was not, reference may be made to the fol- lowing facts : ( a) That contributions were made bv Synod to the funds of other churches that were engaged in the work, (b) Repeated efforts were made to establish a mission in a foreign field, especially in Liberia, on the West coast of Africa. For a number of vears this was -14 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. a cherished scheme of the church. A school for training colored men for work in this tiekl was established and for a number of years operated in Kentucky and four boys were, for a like period, supported in a school in Li- beria, conducted first by Thomas Ware, himself a negro, and afterwards by a Mr. Erskine, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church. For some reason, however, the whole scheme failed. (c) As showing the interest of the church in this work and the earnest desire to enter upon it we may be permitted to mention an incident of which, so far as is known, there is no record anywhere, but of which there are still a few living witnesses. The incident referred to occurred at a meeting of Synod held at Hope- well, Maury County, Tennessee, in 1859. For some years the Board of Foreign Missions had been cal- ling for volunteers for the foreign field. These calls meeting with no responses at that meeting, after a conference on that subject, in which much interest was manifested, it was resolved to nominate men for that work and a committee was appointed for that purpose. At a subsequent session of that meeting the committee reported nominating Dr. H. T. Sloan, then pastor of Long Cane and Cedar Spring churches in Abbeville County, S. C, and Rev. D. F. Haddon, pastor of the A. R. P. Churches in Laurens County, S. C. These brethren did not feel called of God at their time of life to leave the field they had respectively occupied for so many years and to enter upon a work entirely new. But while nothing came of this measure it seems to show, and in fact to set in a striking light, the animus of the Synod in regard to this matter. That was in 1859. Soon the war intervened and interrupted this as it did so many other enterprises of the church. In 1874, Miss Mary E. Galloway, of Due West, S. C, offered herself for this work and was accepted. In Jan- uary, 1875, she went out, the first foreign missionary of CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 715 the A. R. P. Church. At the invitation of the Board of Foreign Missions of the U. P. Church, she was sent to Egypt and while she hved, bore a part in the noble work which that church was at that time carrying on in that field and which it is still prosecuting on an even grander scale. In 1879, it was determined to establish an inde- pendent mission. Mexico was selected as the field and Rev. N. E. Pressly as the first missionary. In 1880 he began work in Tampico on the gulf coast of the State of Tamaulipas. Since then the work has grown until now we have in that field, Foreign Missionaries, male, 4 ; female, 5 ; native ministers, 6 ; female teachers, native, 5 ; principal stations, 3 ; out stations, ii ; an orphanage, a medical mission ; a girl's school, a boy's training school, designed especially to prepare young men for the work of the ministry; families, 112; communicants, 292; church and school property,, $28,200. In the measure of success which has attended the efforts of the church in this direction and in the marked and happy effect of work in the foreign field upon the work at home we ought, to-day, gratefully to recognize the hand of God, the God of our fathers. We would be glad to speak of Home Missions and of other enterprises of the church, but this exercise is al- ready too long. Besides, surely enough has been said to justify the Synod in setting up a stone at this point in its history and in calling it Ebenezer in grateful recognition of His favor in the past and in the confident assurance of His blessing in the future and so with the Psalmist to sing. The Lord of us hath mindful been And He will bless us still. 7i6 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. The Heritage Our Fathers Left Us. ADDRESS BY REV. D. G. PHILLIPS. As an organization our Synod is only a hundred years old. But a century does not begin to imeasure the life of Associate Reformed Presbyterianism. Eighteen cen- turies are behind it, stretching away back to the time when the Apostle Paul rocked its cradle. Our sun rose not yesterday nor here. "Traced backward, its beams gladden the dull Holland marches, play on the Alpine range, shimmer over the Black Forest, transfigure the mists of Scotand," and, struggling through the smoke of the martyr fires, come to their rising in the land of the city of the great King. For the Apostles went up to Presbytery at Jerusalem. We are one of a large family. We are the children of Knox and Calvin and Augustine and Paul. We claim a child's part of all that Presbyterianism has clone for the world. "Our fathers fought beside Douglass and Cargill in the Upper Clydesdale." The Westminister Confes- sion of Faith, standing as it does for the sovereignty of Jehovah in the heavens and the kingship of Jesus Christ in his church, and the Declaration of Independence, standing for constitutional liberties — a free church, a free conscience, a free press — the most transforming deli- verances, the one in the religion, the other in the civil realm, that ever came from the brain of man — together with the vital relation, the principles for which they stand have sustained to all that's best in human progress, help to make up our patrimony. But, while we relin- quish our claim to no part of it, of necessity to-day we look at the heritage, not of the whole Presbyterian family^ but only of our own little household. In the providence of God the time came when our fathers had to part company CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 717 with their brethren. Family fusses are always deplora- ble, but God himself demands the disruption of that family in which there is infidelity. Christ sets a man at variance with his own father. The world calls us Sece- ders. But the name is not true to the facts. Our fathers did not secede. With all charity, yet in all" can- dor, let it be said, our brethren turned aside, they heard the seductive voice of expediency. They began to give up some things that were essential. ( )ur fathers remon- strated, then protested, and at last, rather than sacrifice essential truth,, rather than surrender the crown rights of King Jesus, they dared to stand alone. The facts are on our side, Scripturally and historically our position is unassailable. Dr. Taylor tells of a little church whose members went on excommunicating each other for any little thing till there was left as a renuiant only a man and his wife. "Well," said some one to her, "you must have got a pure church at last?" "Deed," was the an- swer, with inimitable self complacency, "deed, and I'm not so sure of John." With greater confidence than the old Scotch woman, we can take our brethren of the United Presbyterian Church by the hand, and with kind- liest charity, yet in truth claim to be the only link that binds the churches of this country back in all respects to the simple, sincere Scriptural worship of the days of the Apostle. A heritage is material or moral. Solomon say, "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children." That can't mean stocks and bonds only, for the Scripture is universal in its aj^plication, and many a good man dies and leaves no fortune behind him. His bequest is his goodness, his example, his influence, his fund of prayer laid up. his faith in God. In a material way our fathers left us but little — no stately church edifices, no mission- ary nor charitable foundations, no splendid institutions, no vested endowments of any sort. Rut morally they left us rich indeed. Thev laid the foundation wisely and well. If we are careful to build upon it, not wood or 7i8 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. hay or stubble, but gold and silver and precious stones, our ecclesiastical house will stand foursquare to every storm that blows till the church militant becomes the church triumphant. They set our course, and if we but hold it, we will lead our share of God's sacramental host into that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. I. They left us a record of missionary zeal that is truly apostolic. With a territory stretching from the gulf to the mountains and from the Atlantic to the Missis- sippi, two, three times as large as that traversed by Paul in his missionary journeys, and with only seven ordained ministers to cover it, they saddled their horses, and with wardrobe and library in their saddle bags, they rode out for God and humanity. Like Abraham, they went out not knowing whither they went, save only that God had called them to plant his gospel in the wilds of this South- land. They left their own congregations worshipping in log houses. They left home and family, swam rivers, slept with Indians, endured all sorts of hard- ships, preached day and night and came up to Synod after months of service and privation with a petty bill of a few dollars for expenses. And all the while they themselves were giving and teaching their congregations to give money through the boards of other churches for the evangelization of the heathen. It's a record worthy to go alongside that of Brainard among the Indians, or Paton in the New Hebrides. Are we the sons of our fathers? All over the South are places where once flourished A. R. P. congregations that are long since dead. We have not held the territory claimed by our fathers. It is for lack of zeal or fear of sacrifice. Of all men, where we relax in missionary effort at home or abroad, we are untrue to a noble example, we are recreant to a sacred trust, we are unworthy of a birthright bought with much sacrifice and prayer. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 719 2. They taught us the proper estimate of educa- tion. When at last the siege of Leyden was raised, the men who had held the city so nobly w^ere in a sad condi- tion. Their estates were wasted. Their fortunes were ruined. Their homes were battered dowai and burned ivith fire. Their fair city was sadly dismantled. The electors desired to help them. And when they asked, "what shall w^c do for you," with one voice the an- swer came "give us a university." That was the spirit of our fathers. Loyalty to truth as they saw it demanded a college of their own. ^Mountains of difficulty stood in their way. But they dared and they succeeded. Above the front door in the wall of the old building that was burned was a marble slab with the inscription in Hebrew^ "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." They would plant no garden with the tree of knowledge and leave out the tree of life. And on the sacred walls of that college the smile of God has gleamed like the light of the morning. "Stand fast Crag Ellochiel" O, Ers- kine, Erskine, in the name of thy grateful sons, "if we forget thee, may our right hands forget their cunning and may our tongues cleave to the roof of our mouth." 3. They left us a perfect Bible, not one line of it dis- credited. There were no higher critics among them. Not from want of scholarship. They who met them in the hall of debate had no cause to despise their attainments . Not from lack of progressiveness nor aggressiveness. In most things they were ahead of their age. They believed in the divine super- intendence of every word of both the Old and the New Testament, so that the Scriptures are preserved from all error. They knew that, there was no middle groimd be- tween complete vcrljal inspiration and a doubtful Scrip- ture. "If prophets mixed their thoughts with God's, if Apostles used false arguments, if Christ himself had a superstitious regard for Scripture through ignorance, then we can't tell whv Plato is not as good a teacher as 720 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Paul," and poor, needy man is left in the darkness of doubt. They saw that the maxim, much overworked to- day, that we must treat the Bible as we treat any other book was false because it denies the Bible's claim to reverence and obedience, and because that spirit is the very essence of proud unbelief. They did not handle lightly the sacred page. They did not "toss it into a crucible, nor mix it with acids, nor dissect it with knives. They felt that it had a holy character and must be examined with the eye of faith and not with the hand of skepticism. They took their stand by the side of their Divine Redeemer and declared that every jot and every tittle of the Scrip- tures is truth." And their stamp is on their church to- day. Our ministers make no new discoveries in theology. They write no theses on the recession of inspiration. They preach no doubts and half truths and negatives. Their telescopes sweep no fields beyond the limits of Divine Revelation. There has never been a heresy trial in the hundred years of our history. Thank God, none of us covet that grade of scholarship which proclaims the Bible a fraud, and declares that our Lord and his Apostles were deceived. We have no disposition to assume a flippant air in our treatment of the sacred page. We fling from us all such methods as vulgar and profane. And God grant that this "devout attitude, which is not worship of the Book, but worship of the Divine Author of the Book," may ever mark the church our fathers left us. 4. The}' taught us where to put the emphasis in church work. They insisted on an educated ministry. If ever a set of men had an excuse for laying hands on men unprepared or half prepared and thrusting them into the ministry, they had. But they kept the bars up. In their sorest need they stood out for preachers who could read the Scriptures in their original tongues and thus draw their pulpit teachings from the very fountain head of revelation. They shrunk from proclaiming a CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 721 loose gospel. They feared that even the honest efforts of ignorant men might lead to dangerous error in be- lief and practice. And they had at one time, I suppose, the broadest Theological Seminary the world ever saw. There were only two professors but they were 300 miles apart. It would have taken a student a week to go from one recitation to the next. They climbed over all bar- riers to educate their preachers. And that careful con- servatism preserved their church from human philosophy on the one side and human impulsive excitements on the other. They were called narrow and bigoted. But those who criticised have gradually come round to the same policy. In 1810, because they did not think a classical education essential to the ministry, a company of people went to themselves, taking the name Cumberland Pres- byterians. Now that people have two seminaries and five universities. The Methodists did not appreciate the importance of ministerial education. When that church was 44 years old in this country, they had no seminary and only two small colleges. But they learned better. And now they are everywhere the patrons of learning and have more colleges and more students in them than any other Christian denomination. Not only must their preachers be educated, but our fathers made much of the sermon— too much we think to-day. The}' put in nearly the whole Sabbath on two of them. They never seemed to believe that God could use a short sermon or hear a short prayer. They exalted the semion as the leading part of worship. They emphasized the teaching function of the preacher. Instruction and edification character- ized their pulpits. They gave no place to solos and quartettes and liturgies and spectacular forms. They indoctrinated the people. They gave them the funda- mental doctrines good and. strong and often. They ca- techised from house to house. They even dared to put off applicants for church membership, whose knowl- edge was defective. Their worship may have been 46 722 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. deticient in beautiful ceremonies and in the enthu- siasm which warms the feeHngs, but it steadily made its impression on the mind and appealed to the conviction rather than to the external causes. And it tells on their congregations to-day. These travel- ling tent preachers that set forth strange doctrines make but little headway in a distinctively A. R. P. community Our people do not run very much after these fads and issues. They may come short in artistic sensibility and the expression of passionate fervor, but as a class they are well developed in the substantial elements of intellect, judgment and conscience. They have been trained to think. They know the value of facts. They can general- ly give a reason for the hope that is in them. They can't go through a service according to the book of common prayer, but they can tell you in language, exact and plain, what is the chief end of man, and repentance unto life and saving faith in Jesus Christ. They are not much to shout, but they know how to do justly, show mercy and walk humbly with their God. With them the end of worship is not culture, but character. 5. They left us a pattern of the ideal Christian home. Since the days of Israel, outside the land of Scotland, there have never been purer, sweeter, more heaven-like homes than those of our fathers. They were plain and simple, with uncovered floors and bare walls and home-made furniture, many of them. But there was a wide hearth- stone and a general welcome and a Christian hospitality and an atmosphere of godliness. Their doors were as wide open to the stranger and wayfarer as the gate of heaven to a penitent sinner. Parents stood to their chil- dren in the place of God — lawgiver, lover, protector, pro- vider and controller. The father was prophet, priest and king. The mother reigned as queen in her own family circle and was content. Marital infidelity cast no shadows. Divorce was a thing unknown. Unholy social pleasures were barred out. Parents commanded reverence and CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. J'^l children learned subjection and yielded obedience. The children were taught how to get on in the world, but of- ten their little eyes of faith were lovingly pointed away to Salem's reigning king. They well knew that they had been solemnly dedicated to God, and that in an inner chamber they were daily taken in the arms of parents' faith and borne to the mercy seat in prayer. There was plain living and economy and toil and de- nial, but somehow the clouds that gathered didn't hide the sun, the sorrow that came only softened the soul, and the tears that flowed were always spanned by a rainbow of promise. The poet drew their picture when he wrote "The Cotter's Saturday Nights." (). They taught us how to keep the Sabbath. It is granted on all hands that they were more careful than any of the other churches about Sabbath observance. I'm not old, but I can recall distinctly the horror that came over me when one Sabbath morning as a boy I saw a man in the crowd at the door of old Ebenezer church whittling a stick with his knife. I half expected light- ning to strike him. And to this good day I'm afraid to whistle on Sabbath. The world calls that narrow. But our fathers were nearer right than wrong. You can't well be too strict in Sabbath keeping. When one is hurt by too rigid a Sabbath, a thousand are ruined by a loose one. A man's attitude toward the Sabbath is a fair test of his s])iritual character. If he is loose on the Sabbath. he is lacking in vital godliness, his convictions are shal- low, he is not rooted and grounded in love. If he honors the Sabbath he is still anchored to God. Letting down on the Sabbath is like the letting out of water. Once you begin there is no stopping jilace till the sacredness of the day is utterly gone. You hallow it in your heart as God's own hc^liday, on which we are not to do our own work nor find our own pleasures nor speak our own words nor think our own thoughts, or you lose reverence for it altoiiether. And the transition is not slow. Twentv ^24 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. years ago Christian people would have been horrified if some one had prophesied that the theaters would be in full blast and great crowds would flock to see baseball games in all our cities on Sabbath. But that is what has come to pass. If it had been prophesied twenty years ago that every Sabbath day the railroad trains would be crowded to the very doors with men and women and children going off to a picnic, Christians would have said "impossible." But it is going on to-day all over this coun- try. Our fathers were right. They saw the danger. They knew the tendency. They taught us to stand like a stone wall against even the slightest infringement of the spirit of the Sabbath. They so stood in their day, there- by leaving us a blessed Sabbath. And from their graves they call on us to follow their example. Only so can we transmit a holy Sabbath to our children. 7. They left us a splendid example of loyalty to con- viction. Henry Grady said in his Boston speech that the grandest thing in political life of this country since the civil war was those 7,000 Democrats of Vermont, who, year after year, went to the polls and cast their ballots, knowing when they did it that they were in a hopeless minority. The sublimest spectacle in the ecclesiastical life of the past century has been the little handful of Psalm singing Presbyterians in the South testifying to essential truth as they saw it. Even if the principle for which they have stood be wrong, their loyalty to convic- tion challenges the admiration of the world. But that principle is not wrong. It is as old as the second com- mandment. It is as clearly revealed in the Scriptures as the letters cut by God's own hand showed in the two tables of stone delivered to Moses on the Mount. It is as invincible and as imperishable as eternal truth it- self. The world don't think so. The crowd is going the other way. With the cumulative momentum of years and custom and numbers and wealth, the current sweeps on broader and stronger each year. For a hundred years CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 725 now the church of our fathers has stood alone in this Southland and lovingly but courageously protested. It has been at great personal cost. Would it be be wrong to say it has been at the cost of everything but honor? It is not a pleasant thing to be regarded as narrow and bigoted and little. It is very uncomfortable as you mingle with brethren of large denominations to feel that you are looked on as representing a very small old-fashioned concern and to be sized up accordingly. It is not an easy matter to see place and position and ease and afflu- ence easily within your grasp, and yet resolutely turn away from it because conscience says you must. It takes moral heroism of the grandest type to tie to a seemingly losing cause, and give your life, your best, your all to an apparently hopeless purpose. Our fathers did it all their days. Not of necessity, but of choice. Not for want of aml)iti()n nor lack of fitness, but from a sense of duty. They were offered good places in other commu- nions. They could have filled them. Now and then the temptation was more than he could bear, or new light come with the new call, and a brother left them. But for the most of them there was only one course. They did not, nor do their sons, sit in judgment on the con- science of other men. But the vision of God that came to them revealed certain truths as essential, and they were not disobedient to the vision. "To know God, to serve Him, to enjoy Him, was with them the great end of ex- istence. They recognized no title to superiority but His favor, and confident of that favor, they despised all tlie dignities of earth." They were not registered among the great here, but their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They had no retinue of servants here, but legions of angels ministered to them. Their houses here were humble and plain, but up yonder they had palaces not made with hands, eternal in the heavens W'hat mattered to them "the favor of the rich and the elo(|uent. the nobles and the priests of earth? They were 726 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. rich in a more precious treasure, eloquent in a sublime language, noble by right of an earlier creation and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand." The explanation of their stern loyalty to principles lay in what John Adams wrote to his son : "Your conscience is the minis- ter plenipotentiary of God Almighty in your breast. See to it that this minister never negotiates in vain. Attend to him in opposition to all the courts in the world." 8. They left us a worthy example of faith in God. Without prestige or money or influence or schools or railroads they set out on horseback, only seven strong, to witness for Christ in all that vast tract of country south of the Ohio River. What a vast undertaking I The worldling would call it folly in the exttreme. But it was faith. These men had seen God. They had heard his call. And, leaving results with him, they obeyed. The line has always been thin. At no time has there been nnich of that strength that comes from elbow touch with a marching comrade. The sentinels have rarely been in hailing distant of each other. It has been mostly a lone picket away ofif on some outpost ; coming up, some of them once each year, many of them not oftener than once in five years, to the church courts, by fellowship with brethren to warm the heart and strengthen the alTection, and quicken the enthusiasm, then going back cheerfully to their stations and with a love that hoped all things, bore all things and endured all things to live and labor and die at their post. To their eternal credit be it said, they were faithful. They uttered no uncertain sound. In the entire century of our history in the hands of only two or three has the banner of A. R. Presbyterianism touched the earth or gathered a stain. How well they succeeded eternity alone can reveal. Their record is on high. All we can say is they were faithful. If measured by visible results their work has been a comparative fail- ure. The large denominations have far outstrip])ed us. But numbers don't always count a majority. Judged by CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 727 that standard Christ was a faikire. Thank God, in the searching- Hght of the great white throne the faithful are the successful. "They only the victory win wlio liave fought the good fight and have vanquished the demon that tempts us within, Who have held to their faith, unseduced by the prize the world holds on high. Who liave (hired for a liigh cause to suffer, resist, fight, if need be to die. Speak, history, who are life's victors Unroll thy long annals and say — Are they those whom the world calls the victors? Who won the success of a day? The martyrs? or Nero? The Spartans who fell at Thermopylae's tryst? or the Persians and Xerxes? Pilate or Christ?" And now hrelliren, what means this retrospect? Why this taking- stock of the past? To the world this time of solemn, thrilling memories, of fraternal reunion, may mean little. To you and me it means much. "The far distant past is in it. The far distant future is in it. It is a chamber of echoes from years long agone and a niany varied prophecy of years yet to come." This is a day to lift our hallelujahs to heaven for that which is past, but it is also a day in which to gird our loins and tighten the grip upon our swords for that which is to come. Some- times recently the direct question has been put to me by some of our more thoughtful, progressive young men, "What is the future of our church?" I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, btit this much I know. The past, thank God, is worthy, and is safe. Under God, the future depends on you and me. The responsibility is on us to hand that past over to the future, not only unbctraycd, undamaged, uncrippled, but nerved up to a higher and holier tension, fervid, with a warmer zeal, purposes more vigorously girded, momentiun harder to 728 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. be resisted, and all baptized with tears of gratitude, en- veloped in clouds of prayer and sanctified by a consecra- tion higher and more entire. One brother who was work- ing one of our city missions said, "the little chapel around the corner has no chance against the pipe organ, the paid choir and the popular service of the large churches." What of it ? Are we seeking to please men or God ? Are we standing for truth or bidding for popular favor? Candidly, I never hope to see ours one of the large churches. You can't make the narrow way popular. But there will be a church governed b}^ elders and sing- ing David's Psalms as long as truth lives and the con- sciences of men obey it. On this day of retrospect and prospect we lower no flag, we suggest no compromise, we face the future nothing daunted. Why should we not? What church is better fitted to preach the gospel with the full power of God than our own ? That church, which in the first century of the Christian Era, carried the gospel in the face of fire and sword to the whole Grecian and Roman world, numbering its church organi- zations by thousands and its converts by millions, was a Psalm-singing Presbyterian Church. If we are not con- vinced in our souls that we are commissioned by God to stand for essential truth, then honesty compels us to dis- band, we have no right to separate existence. But if we believe that we stand for principles that are dear to Christ, it is craven cowardice to yield an inch. In the name of the fathers let us stand like men, and in the quaint words of Martin Luther, "tell our Lord God plain- ly that if He will have his church. He must look after it Himself. We cannot sustain it, and if we could, we should be the proudest asses under heaven." We are not out of date. Our church is not a back number. Hu- manly speaking, God needs us to-day worse than ever be- fore. He who looks out upon the world with only half an eye can see that we have a special call to gird up our loins for the conflict. The very things for which our CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 729 fathers stood are being impugned to-day as never before. This age "is irreverent of antiquity, impatient of dogma, intolerant of authority, incredulous of the supernatural, ready to call in question every article of religious faith and throw doubt on ever)^ item of historic fact in the Word of God. "Men are saying that evolution holds in Christianity as well as in nature. The church of the twentieth century has outgrown the standards of doc- trine and tests of orthodoxy of Scriptural times. The standards and tests fixed by Christ and his Apostles were all right in the age in which they lived. But Christianity has outgrown them. They belonged to the childhood of Christian experience. "Religion is an evolution and the- logy a growth. Inspiration is a constant factor in the life of the church. Prophets are ever arising with great thoughts born in their souls. The demand is for a re- statement of creeds, not to conform them more closely to the teachings of Scripture; but to adjust them to the newly evolved conceptions of the hour." The doctrine of the Trinity and vicarious sacrifice, and spiritual regen- eration and future punishment are all reckoned among the childish things the church must give up. Is there no call for the uncompromising fidelity to the Scriptures left us by our fathers? We need make no apology for saying that another menace of the time is the decline of Calvinism in this country. Xo matter what his religious convictions, "no candid student can deny that all that is most illustrous in tlic history of the church has been associated more or less closely with Calvinism. Call the roll of the great thinkers and writers before the Reformation,, Augustine, Ansem, A(|uinus. Basil, Ber- nard, Bede. With rarest exception they are Calvinists. Call the roll of the Reformers, Luther, Calvin. Zwingle, ITuss, Knox, Cranmer. all Calvinists. Call the roll of confessors and martyrs in Scotland, Belgium, Holland, France. Switzerland — a great host that we cannot num- ber— thev were all Calvinists. Call the roll of the creat 730 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. heretics who have disturbed the peace of the church and hindered her progress, Pelagius, Arius, Socinus, none of them were Calvinists. Time would fail us to tell of what Calvinism has done for the liberties and rights of man. Mr. Froude, who in his earlier works vents his spleen upon it, on mature acquaintance with the w^orkings of Calvinism in history says, "It has been able to inspire tliQ bravest efforts ever made by man to brave the yoke of unjust authority. Where all else has failed, where patriotism has covered its face, and human courage has broken down, when intellect has yielded with a smile or a sigh, content to philosophise in the closet, and observe worship with the vulgar; when emotion and sentiment and tender imaginative piety have become the handmaids of superstition, and have dreamt themselves into forget- fulness that there was any difference between truth and lies, the slavish form of belief, called Cavinism, has borne an inflexible front to illusion and mendacity, and has pre- ferred rather to be ground to powder like flint, than to bend before violence, or melt under enervating tempta- tion." That form of belief to which we owe so much is waning in this land to-day. The Congregational Church once thoroughly Calvinistic, is now the leader of the radical school. The Episcopal Church has Calvinism deeply imbedded in its 39 articles, but is leavened through and through with Armenianism. The Northern Presby- terians have practically repudiated it and are now seeking union with the Cumberland Presbyterians who never ac- cepted it. Even the Southern Presbyterians are dicker- ing with the Confession and hesitating to preach the five points in their full scope. Is there no call for our father's uncompromising attitude to the grand old doc- trine ? One thing more, the seaman asked Jonah, "What is thy country?" If that cfuestion be put to us, who can answer it? What imagination can compass the future of this land? The cliild is already born who will hear in this country the hum of 200 millions of people. They CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 731 are coming from every nation under heaven. They are bringing with them every shade of behef, poHtical and rehgious, known to man. Already our institutions are threatened. The Sabbath is fearfully imperiled. The "Sunday" papers, the "Sunday" train, and the "Sunday" amusement companies have well nigh walked away with it. Unless some force sets up a strong counter current, before many years the quiet, peaceful, worshipful Sab- bath of our fathers will be only a memory. The home is hanging in the balance. Easy divorce laws, the trend of population to the cities, easy, cheap, rapid facilities for travel, and hotel and boarding house life have well nigh broken it up. ^\'e are likely to lose out of the lives of the rising generation that tower in time of temptation and that strong influence for righteousness that comes from the memory of a godly home. Our nation has struck hands with Mormon and Bacchus. "While Alex- ander was thundering at the gate of Tyre, the terrified inhabitants, suspecting that Apollo, their god. was about to forsake them, assembled in the public square,, and with chains fastened his stature to the pedestal. The folly of the heathen may teach us wisdom. \\'e must se- cure the i)ermanent dwelling of Jesus among us. or as a nation we are lost. We must bind Him to our national life, not with chains of iron, but with the cords of love, with the bands of a man forever more." We are not a drop in the bucket. What can we do? "To the undying honor of one of the grand old warriors of King David's time, it is told that during a Philistine invasion he stood all day long in the midst of a little field of lentiles and defended it single handed against the whole Philistine host. It was not nuich in itself, only a little patch of herbs, l)ut it was j^art of the sacred soil, and he would not allow the foot of the uncircumcised to pollute it." Rrethren. that's the ideal for us. God help us to hold our own jiart of the field, and thus pass the banner en- trusted to us by the fathers on down to our children with not a star the less and not a stain upon its folds. ^2,2 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Introductory Remarks. BY REV. R. G. MILLER, D. D. I do not know why I am honored with a place on the program of this occasion, unless it is that I can some- times see a rainbow in a cloud, and, if I rise early enough, can see the first gray rays of the approaching morn. But who could not see the approach of a better day standing as we do, in the light of a century of illus- trious deeds by the fathers done. In looking towards the centur}'^ to comei, there are three things, which, if not spoken of at length ought not to be forgotten. 1. We have the same foundation that our fathers built upon. It is the truth of God. It is not decayed or worn away. It stands as firm and as secure as ever ; like its author, it abides forever. And we may build upon it even a more magnificent superstructure than they did. We have the same blood. If the Scotch-Irish blood was factor in the achievements of the century we cele- brate the same blood undiluted flows in the veins of the sons and grandsons of these brave sires, and we may ex- pect the future to develop sacrifices, endurance and noble deeds. 2. We have greater opportunities. What a privilege to live in the 20th century. A country pastor can any Sabbath morning speak to a dozen brethren, before breakfast and bid them God speed in their message. In a little more than forty-eight hours we can reach the most distant mission and shake hands with the missionary that stands on the frontiers and kisses the breezes which come from the Pacific. Let us seize these grand opportunities and do our best for our Master, advancing the interest of the A. R. P. Church. CENTEXXIAL ADDRESSES. 733 3. The world needs the principles of the A. R. P. Church. There never was a time when the conservative principles of our church which is proverbial for produ- cing solid character, Puritan religion and stable man- hood, were more needed than now. In this day of com- mercialism, of luxury, of pleasure loving, fashion fol- lowing, of restlessness and novel seeking, let the princi- ples, if not the name of the A. R. P. Church ever live to hold men close to the Word of God, and exert their con- servative and sanctifying influence far and wide. But it is my privilege to introduce the speaker of the evening,, Rev. W. W. Orr, who can speak more eloquent- ly and will speak more at length of the century to come. The Century Before Us. ADDRESS BY REV. W. W. ORR, D. D. "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are be- hind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 3: 13-14. This is most remarkable language to come from such a man as Paul. From a Jewish standpoint there w^ere many things in his life of which he might have been just- ly proud. For instance, his birthright privileges. He was not only of the stock of Israel, but he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, that is to say he was a full blooded, pure blooded Jew. Again, he was circumcised on the eighth day. He was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee and had lived the life of a Phari- see, he had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and was therefore well versed in all that pertained to Jewish laws anl customs. So far as the law was concerned he 734 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. had lead a blameless life— he had built for himself a pure, clean, upright, and well rounded moral character — as touching the law, he was blameless. In addition to all this, he had been exceedingly zealous in the cause of religion. He could not be content to live after the straightest sect of the Jews himself, but he was bent on making others see and believe as he did, hence you find him leading the persecutions against the saints. Looking at his life from a Jewish standpoint there was much that was calculated to give him satisfaction and fill him with pride. But Paul had another and better life. He had met the Christ and had been marvelously converted. Old things had passed away and all things had become new. He had laid aside his righteousness and counted it but dross and was now clothed in the righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ. Still, his great heart was not content nor his restless soul satisfied. He saw and realized there were greater things, grander things, more enduring things ahead. Heights in God's love he had never scaled, depths in Christian experience he had never fathomed and fields of Christian activity he had never touched. Hence, with his soul fired with a lofty and holy ambition, he exclaims, "Brethren, I count not my- self to have apprehended : but this one thing I do, for- getting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before,, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus." Now a conscious act of forgetfulness, is in the strict sense of the word, impossible, but there is a sense in which we purposely forget. We all remember best those things which interest us most. On the other hand, things of small importance we intentionally let slip out of our minds. Paul evidently meant to say, that he regarded his old life, his past experience and his present attain- ments as of very small moment — not worth thinking or talking about. He saw something so nuich higher, so much better, so much more satisfact(ir\- ahead. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 735 He had such enlarged and exaked views of the Christ and his glory, that in his eagerness to at- tain unto it, the past, however good and grand it may have been, faded out of his memory. Xot only does he tell us that he had forgotten the past, but he further em- phasizes his determnation to attain to higher things when he says, "This one thing I do." He seems to say, "I lay down all other work, I turn aside from every other vocation, I concentrate all my energies, all my efforts on this one thing. Not only so,, but he represents himself as reaching and pressing towards this end. He is not sitting quietly down, congratulating himself over the past, however glorious it might have been. But he is up, his eye turned toward the future, his soul fired with its possibilities, every nerve tingling, every muscle strained to its utmost, reaching, yea pressing over what to others would be unsurmountable difficulties toward something higher. A\'hat earnestness \ What oneness of purpose j What consecration I What strenuous living is this j How his life should fill and thrill us with holy aspirations and abounding zeal to realize them. L'])(in this interesting occasion we have heard many thoughtful, instructive and inspiring addresses. We have been told where and how and when we were organized, of the learning, loyalty, piety and self sacrificing zeal of those grand old men that constituted the organization. Then came the story, thrilling and inspiring, of how the grand old rock-ribljed doctrines of Scotch-Irish Presby- terianism, founded as they are upon the eternal truth of Ciod, had loosed bounds, broken fetters, lit the torch of liberty and led the world up to a higher, better, and ncibler da}-. This in turn was folknved by the faith, the wisdom and heroic struggles of our fathers in founding and maintaining our institutions of learning. Then came the story of our mission work, both at home and abroad and this was followed by a clear and forceful presen- tation of the prinei])les for which we as a church, stand — 736 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. the principles that differentiate us a church from all others and warrant our separate existence in the world. To-day we have seen the hand of God in our histor_v — how he has led us along the way and blessed us in the way. Then with pride mingled with fear we have lis- tened to the heritage our fathers have left us. Now it is ours in this last service to speak of the "Cen- tury before us." What shall the future be? I might spend the hour in building air castles, painting beautiful pictures and predicting wonderful achievements that we and our children shall accomplish. But the occasion is too important, this day too sacred and this position too responsible to deal in airy nothings and meaningless phrases. What the future will bring to our Zion, what part we shall perform in the salvation of the world, ought to be a solemn c[uestion to us. Shall a review of our past fill us with a spirit of self-sufficiency, self-satisfaction and ecclesiastical pride until we shall feel and say "we are the people"? or shall we as serious, sober, thoughtful men turn our eyes toward the future and say with Paul, "Brethren, we count not ourselves to have apprehended, but this one thing we do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those which are before, we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?" However wise and pious our fathers may have been, however much they may have planned and accomplished, however grand and glorious our heritage may be, none or all of these things can meet our responsibilities or determine the destiny of our beloved Zion. The fathers have done nobly and well with the light before them and the means at hand, and God, the righteous judge, has given them their reward. Now, the church with all its re- sponsibilities, its enterprises and possibilities, is upon our shoulders and should be upon our hearts. It is ours to prove to the world and to God that we are worthy of such parentage and of such an heritage. No CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. -jyj amount of reverence for the fathers, or glorying in their good deeds will meet our responsibilities. If we as a church would meet the expectations of the word of God, then we must do largely as Paul did, forget the things that are behind, reach forth unto those that are before and press toward the mark. In order to attain true progress five things are neces- sary. I. \\'e must not be satisfied with our present achieve- ments. There is nothing higher, better or grander for the man or the church that is satisfied with present progress. This is true in every sense. Financially, so- cially, politically, intellectually, physically and religiously. Complete satisfaction with present attainments or achievements means death to all ambition and therefore to all further eflfort. It is a painful fact that there are some men, some institutions and some churches so thor- oughly satisfied with themselves, with their glorious past, that all further progress is impossible. They boast of their ancestry, the blue blood in their veins, the great and good men they have been associated with, the free- dom from the sins that shock society and disgrace hu- manity. Like the Pharisee that stood and prayed thus with himself : "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are ; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican ; I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess." Here is a man thoroughly satisfied with his present attainments and hence there was no sort of de- sire to be or attain to any thing better. Institutions and churches often have the same spirit. They recount their good deeds, tell of their wonderful works, compare themselves with their more unfortunate neighbors, and thank God they are better than others. Some men in order to hide from view their own sins and shortcomings will take a vast amount of pains to hunt up and point out the sins of others, and declare themselves to be better than they. The same is true of institutions and 47 738 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. churches. They are ever ready to work out an example in proportion. No part of arithmetic is so fascinating to them as "ratio and proportion." If, on comparison with others, they find they are doing equally as well or better, they fold their hands and compose themselves and very complacently thank God for present attainments, and therefore neither God nor the world has any right to complain. How unlike Paul is this spirit of the Phari- see ! Although he had labored and suffered more than all the apostles, yet we find him forgetting, not boasting, of the past reaching forth and pressing on to some- thing higher and better. With him it was more and more. If we, as a church, are satisfied with our past progress and present attainments, then all future pro- gress will be impossible. All progress grows out of dis- satisfaction with present attainments. This is true along all material and scientific lines. The first public steam railroad in the world was formally inaugurated in En- gland Sept. 27, 1825. The road was 38 miles long, the train consisted of six loaded wagons, a passenger car- riage, 21 trucks filled with seats and six wagons filled with coal. It made such speed that frequently it skipped across the country at the rate of 12 miles per hour. Suppose General Stevenson and the world had been sat- isfied with his first attempt at railroading, where would have been the magnificent palace cars of to-day, with their kitchens, their dining rooms, their bed cham- bers, their drawing rooms, their library and parlor all complete? And all moving at the rate of from 40 to 60 miles per hour. Passengers are carried literally from one point to another on "flowery beds of ease" and trips of thousands of miles are as pleasure excursions I Street cars were first drawn by mules, then came the cable and now we have the trolley car that gives almost the speed, power and comfort of the steam cars. The first newspaper printed in the United States was at P)Oston, Sept. 25. 1690, with this (|uaint editorial an- CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 739 nouncemcnt : "It is desired that the country be fur- nished once per month (or if any glut of occurrences occur, oftener) with an account of such considerable things as have arrived under our notice." Compare this quaint little sheet with the magnificent dailies that flood our country and furnish the news of the world every morning for breakfast. And so I might go on for hour after hour and give case after case where dissatisfaction w^ith present progress has resulted in magnificent achieve- ments. The fact is, the world owes its present magnifi- cent civilization to this spirit of dissatisfaction with pres- ent attainments. Complete satisfaction with yourself or with your progress means stagnation, death. However great and grand our history may be, let us not be satisfied with it. The present should always be better than the past and the future should be better than the present. DESIRE PROGRESS. 2. There is such a thing as whining over and bewail- ing the past, when there is no real heartfelt desire to do any better. Vou sometimes see those who are thoroughly dissatisfied with themselves and yet they are content to be satisfied with their dissatisfaction. Their language is, "true, we are not what we ought to be, but we are about as good as we can l)c." Hence, they fold their hands and go to sleep in tears. There is no real heartfelt desire after better things. The fact is, they have been still so long,, that now to move is very painful. They have trod in the old way so long that they are afraid of everything that is new, afraid they will make bad matters worse. Xo man can make real progress in anything that does not really and truly desire it. David sj^eaking for him- self said. "As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." His dissatisfaction with jiresent attainments created within him a consuming desire for something better. No wonder he progressed 740 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. until God said of him, "he is the man after mine own heart." The church may bewail her past failures and present inefficiency, yet she may be so very conservative, so over orthodox, so averse to anything like an experiment, that no real desire will or can be born in her soul for progress. Standing, as we are,, at the open door of a new century, let us ask God to create within us a burning, consuming desire for greater, grander and better things than our fathers ever dreamed of. Not new doctrines or new prin- ciples, but better methods and more consuming zeal. Let it be said of us as it was said of the Christ, "the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 3. We should enter the new century with a distinct end in view. Paul said : "I press toward the mark." He had a mark set toward which he bent his efforts. He teaches this same lesson of definiteness in Christian work when he wrote, "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance pa- tience, to patience godliness. t6 godliness brotherly kind- ness and to brotherly kindness charity." Here is a well defined, definite end to which to work. Haphazard ef- forts, and consequently haphazard lives, never accom- plish anything lasting or permanent. The individual that has a definite purpose is more than likely to accomplish something. Just so with the church. If we would ac- complish much, we must aim at something definite. A haphazard existence is just as bad for the church as for the individual. Let us realize the purpose of the church in the world : 1. It is not here simply to exist. Many seem to have the idea that if the world will just let the church worship God under its own "vine and fig tree" without molesta- tion, that is all it has a right to demand or expect. 2. The church of Jesus Christ is not here for the sup- port of the ministry. They are the servants and not the CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 741 lords of the church — their support is contingent upon their service. 3. Neither is it here for the social anl intellectual en- joyment of its members. However important this may be, yet it is not the purpose of the church. 4- ^^^ either is it the purpose of the church to perpetu- ate party strife, sectional hate, or political dogma. But it is here as Christ's representative on the earth for the purpose of saving men. This is the mark at which we should aim. and towards which we should bend all our energies. We should realize the fact that the world is lost, lost to righteousness, to holiness, to God, lost in sin, in misery, in degradation, in death. Now, the one chief end of the church, its great business on earth is to save men from sin unto holiness. Whilst this is the great ultimate end of the church, yet in the accomplishment of this end several things are to be done. The truth as God has delivered it to us is to be maintained in its integrity, for it is the truth that saves. Institutions of learning, schools, colleges and seminaries are to be established and maintained, for they that would be most effectual work- ers must be skilled workmen. As we enter this century then, let us set before us this one definite purpose, the salvation of men. As I look out upon this new century, I am profoundly convinced that we should — I. Greatly enlarge our Home Mission work. Great and effectual doors are open to us in the South and West. ( )ur cities are multij^lying and fast becoming great polit- ical, social, financial, and religious storm centers. Social- ism, anarchy, and lawlessness are rampant in our land. There is no hope of redemption from any of our political parties. The fact is, they need to be redeemed. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of the living God. is the only permanent and satisfactory remedy for these evils. The gospel, and it alone, can take hold of men. re- deem, transform, and recreate them. Now. my brethren, it is no source of congratulation 74-' CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. that the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church con- tributed only $8,000 per annum to the great work of Home Missions. This means 66 2-3 cents per capita per annum. However much we may congratulate ourselves on our blood, our loyalty and firmness to principle, one thing is sure, there is no room for congratulations over our liberality. As the blood purchased children of God we should hang our heads in shame when we look at this fact. 66 2-3 cents per capita annually for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus in our home land- This is little more than the price an ordinary colored man pays for a ticket into the circus. If our gifts have been meager, the increase of our roll has been in the same ratio. We are now 100 years old and have an enrolled membership of less than 15,000. In the past 10 years we have gained 4„ooo members. Our minutes for the past year show this lamentable state of affairs. Forty-four churches aggre- gating a membership of more than 2,000, spent the entire year without a single accession on profession of faith. Twenty-one with an aggregate membership of more than 1,400, only had one accession apiece. In other words, 65 churches with an aggregate membership of more than 3,500 professing Christians, spent a whole year in service and received only 21 on profession of faith. Surely there is every cause here for humiliation, fasting and prayer. Some may say, the seed were sown,, time is required to germinate and produce the harvest. But, brethren, we have been sowing seed for 100 years, ought we not to reap now ? In some of these particular churches we have been sowing seed from 25 to 50 years, is it not time for a harvest? Does it ease a conscience or bring any com- fort to your soul that other denominations are doing no better than we? The failure of others brings no com- fort to my soul. As we enter the new century, let us lay ourselves anew on the altar, consecrate all the powers of body, mind and soul to the cause of saving men. God forbid that we should be satisfied with such meager re- turns. CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 743 2. We should j^reatly enlarge our foreis^n work. True we are comparatively youn,^- in the cause of Foreign Mis- sions, but we should be ashamed of that fact. The great commission,, "go ve into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," was given more than 1900 years ago, and it is not to our credit that we had an eccle- siastical existence for threescore years and ten before we made only a slight attempt to obedience. And even now when we are celebrating our one hundredth anni- versarv, we give less than $6,000 for this great work, a fraction less than fifty cents per capita per annum, for the conversion of the heathen world. Do we not need to be aroused to our duties to those who sit in darkness? Can we congratulate ourselves, fold our hands and sit down complacently, whilst as a church we are giving about $1.16 per capita per annum for Foreign and Home Mis- sions both? Ought we not to do some forgetting, some reaching and pressing along this line? It should be our prayer and our efifort to give at least twenty-five cents per month to the great cause of evangelizing the world. This would mean $36,000 annually for the cause of mis- sions. Is there a loyal child of Jesus Christ in all the church that will say that this is too much? Why, my brethren, this means only six cigars to the man that smokes. It is the price of one meal at a cheap restaurant. To the man that indulges in his "toddy," it means only the price of two drinks, per month. To the com- mon wage earner on the farm it means only 2 1-2 hours of work per month. Now, shall the child of God, who has been redeemed by blood, and washed in blood, the blood of Jesus, the Christian,, shall he consider it a sacrifice, when he is asked to give the pitiable sum of twenty-five cents per month ? Can we afford to give less and maintain the respect of our own conscience? How such giving would honor God and bless the work as rep- resented by our church. In one year's time we could double the work at home and abroad. \\'hat a blessing 744 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. this would be to the world. How it would react upon our church in spiritual life and energy. Who dares say it is a mark too high for our people? 3. We should also aim at greatly enlarged and im- proved college work in the coming century. Whilst this institution is not the main object of the church, yet it is vitally connected with its highest welfare. All honor to the men who founded it more than threescore years ago, and to the men who have maintained it at such tre- mendous sacrifice. What is our heritage here? Sixty- four years of honorable history. A plant and its endow- ment all told, worth practically $200,000. A great num- ber of alumni filling honorable professions scattered all over our southland and the western country. Not only so, but we live in an age in which the spirit of educa- tion has taken hold upon the masses of the people as never before in the world's history. There never was a time when education was so popular, so general, so much sought after, as the present. Parents are sacrificing, children striving, and thousands and millions of dollars are being poured into our college treasuries for this pur- pose. Now, let us take a clear and honest survey of our own institution. Has our progress here been commensu- rate with our advantages and opportunities? In the midst of our hilarity and self congratulations, let us look at some hard stubborn facts. It mav not be pleasant, but we hope it will be profitable. Here again, there are those who are fond of instituting a comparison between ourselves and others, and congratulate themselves that we are doing as well or better in proportion than some of our unfortunate neighbors. But will this satisfy God or even thoughtful men, for our failure to improve our talents ? But what are the facts? There are two ways to judge of the success of an institution, i. By the quality of its work. 2, By the number of its students. Applying these tests, what do we find? Has our college improved in CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 745 the quality of its work? With all due respect to the fathers, I shall answer this question in the affirmative. I believe the institution is better equipped, better manned and is doing a grade of work far superior to anything that was ever done by the fathers. But how about our numbers? Here we are forced by the facts to say that we have not progressed. The five years from 1856 to i860, inclusive, our roll of students ran from 117 to 130, and that, too, from a church membership of less than 5,000. Endowment small and insufficient. But how do matters stand with the college now? For the past five years our roll runs from 100 to 120 students, with 100 this year. Nearly fifty years ago Erskine Col- lege had more students than she has to-day. Account for it as you may, these are the facts. With an increased faculty, an endowment reaching nearly $ioa,occ. with a constituency of 12,000, scattered over thirteen States, with a wave of education rolling over the country, the like of which has never been seen, our roll is shorter to- day than some fifty years ago. Should there not be, ought there not be some reaching and pressing here to- ward a higher mark? We owe it to God, we owe it to the world, we owe it to ourselves, to press to a higher mark here. 4. Another mark we should aim at is union with our United Presbyterian brethren. For years we have been talking union, praying for union, hoping for union, and waiting for union. The century has closed and we enter upon a new century still separated. Thirty-eight long years have come and gone since the unfortunate collision between the North and South. The sections have united politically. The Dem- ocratic party North and the Democratic party South march under the .same banner, fight for the same poli- cies, and vote for the same men at the polls. The same is true of the Republican party. The business interests of the two sections have long: 746 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. since forgotten their differences and now they stand shoulder to shoulder and work hand in hand for their common good. The physicians of the two sections met together in a national conference in Washington some four years after the conflict and organzied a national medical association, and now for thirty-four years they have worked in harmony and neither side has scalped the other. But the church, the blood bought church of Jesus Christ, whose founder, leader, and Lord taught and practiced the spirit of forgiveness and prayed for a spirit of unity among his children and enjoined upon them to "love their neighbor as they love themselves," this church, strange to relate, marvelous to tell, is still divided. Shall every other interest be united and the interest of Jesus Christ alone be divided? Can we not, shall we not practice that peace, that forgiveness and that brotherly love which we preach to others? Shall the Kingdom of darkness be united and the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace divided? My brethren, here is a church, the United Presbyterian church, a body of Chris- tian people upon whose work God has set his seal, hold- ing the same doctrines, the same forms of worship, the same principles, with kindred blood in their veins and having the same end and aim, holding out their hands to us, offering, yea, begging us to clasp hands, to unite hearts and labor together in the common cause of our common Lord. Shall we, can we honestly before God, draw back and say to them, yea, say to God, "We will not yield, we will withdraw, secede and perpetuate di- visions and schisms, but we will never forgive, forget and unite !" God forbid that anyone in the Associate Re- formed Presbyterian church shall assume the fearful, awful responsibility of perpetuating divisions in the body of Christ. Would it not glorify God and bless the world for us to catch the spirit of the blessed Christ, forget the unpleasant past, turn our eyes in hope toward the future and in faith clasp hands with our brethren of CENTEXXIAL ADDRESSES. 747 the Xortli, with whom we are one in doctrine, one in mode of worship, and one as to our distinctive princi- ple? 4. Another requisite to genuine success is, putting forth effort. Paul says "I press." This means not only labor, but strenuous effort, the exertion of all your pow- ers, the letting out the last link. We must not only have definite ends in view, but we must put forth the most strenuous efforts to accomplish these ends. Our Christ labored, the apostles labored, our father labored, and if we attain, we, too, must labor. However good our de- sires, however well laid our plans, without well directed, strenuous eft'ort we will never realize these desires. Few of us know what it is to labor as Paul did, or as Luther did. or Whitfield, or even as our fathers did. And why not? Are we better than they, or is there less to be done? Xo man. no institution, no church has ever accomplished much, without hard, well directed, painstaking labor. It is the price of success in all undertakings. 5. We must hope to win. This is all important. Hope is the mains])ring of action. It is the very soul and heart of the secret of success. A discouraged man, or institu- tion, or church generally means defeat. Hope is not only the anchor of the soul, it is also the buoy, not only holds us in our place, but it keeps us above the waves. Hope of success fired the heart and nerved the arm of Xapoleon, so much so that he scorned the suggestion of the Aljis, "there shall be no Alps," he cried. It filled the hearts and enthused the souls of (^ur forefathers as they cleared the forests, tilled the soil, built cities and awoke to life a new continent. More than 1000 years ago a little band of disciples started out to revolutionize and convert a world by preaching the doctrines of the despised X^azarene. Faith in God and hope of success made them irresistible. , Let us go into the new century with plans commensu- rate with the needs about us. and worthv of our God. 748 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. Who says it is a wild dream to believe that in the com- ing century the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church will pay at least $3 per capita for the cause of Home and Foreign ]\Iissions? With our present membership this would mean nearly four times the amount of mission work we are now doing. Shall we, can we, be satisfied with anything less? For our beloved college, let us hope and labor for an enlarged plant, thoroughly equipped with all the modern appliances. A broader, higher, and more thorough course of instruction, with at least 250 students waiting eagerly upon her instruction.. An administration, wide awake, active, progressive and "up to date," commanding the respect and admiration of the world, the united and hearty support of the entire church and filling the stu- dent body with the keenest enthusiasm and the loftiest aspirations. In the face of the success of our fathers, success that was nothing short of marvelous, when we consider their number and means, shall we, can we, be content to live at the present dying rate and call ourselves the worthy sons of worthy sires ? But again, let us enter the new century with the blessed expectation of seeing the church of Christ baptized with the Holy Ghost for service. When every Christian man and woman shall be a soul winner, going forth wdth clean hands, a pure heart, and a soul all aglow with love for the Christ and love for the lost, bringing men not by the score, not by the hundreds, but by the thousands into the kingdom. God would only be too glad to give his Spirit to this end. Again, is it visionary to ho])e to see one grand united Psalm singing church, extending from the lakes on the North, to the gulf on the South, and spreading from ocean to ocean, marching, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder under the same banner and singing the grand old God-given songs of the ages? For more than a cen- turv thev, as well as we, have stood solid and firm for CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. 749 the inspired Psalms in the praise of God, have stood amid defection, under persecution and ridicule. Would not a real union of these Psalm singing churches, so glorify God and so hless the world as to warrant us in laying down any little prejudices or dififerences there may be among us and for the love of God, for the cause of truth, the truth for which we have stood separate from all other churches so long, unite hearts and clasp hands? We led the South in the building of a denominational college, in the raising of an endowment. We have led in the spirit of loyalty, sacririce and service. Why not lead in the spirit of forgiveness and union? Standing at the open- ing of a new century, under the shadow of the cross, we have a magnificent opportunity of leading our brethren of other churches in a grand movement toward the ful- fulment of our Lord's prayer, "That they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." The opportunity is ours now, have we the courage, the faith, the grace, to embrace it? God speed the nuptial day when we shall dwell under the same roof, gather round the same fireside and meet at the same table as one family in Christ. Let us, as we go into this new century, a century fra- grant with magnificent possibilities, a century that will be the grandest of all the centuries past, let us go into it with the spirit of self sacrifice, a spirit of loyalty to the truth, of loyalty to the living God. If the world needed a complete Bible in the past, it will need it in the future. Our fathers were loyal to God and to us, let us be loyal to God and the coming generations. They attained great things with small opportunities. If we ])rove their equal, we must do grander things, for we have grander oppor- tunities. We are here not for ornament, not to exist, but we are here for service. Some years ago I stood in the Atlanta Exposition and surveyed with pride and pleasure one of those magnificent Mogul engines that 750 CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES. was on exposition. It was perfect in all its parts. Every rod, piston and valve was at its proper place and all bright and shining. After look- ing at it for some time, I asked the keeper if I might sit down in its cab. Permission was granted on condi- tion that I did not scratch or soil the machiner}'. I mounted, took my seat, pulled wide open the throttle and closed my eyes. I could imagine that I was skipping across the country at the rate of sixty miles per hour. But when I opened my eyes, I found I was standing just where I was when I entered the cab. Although it was strong, beautiful, clean and perfect in all its parts, yet it was dead, no power, no service. There it stood help- less and lifeless. A few days afterwards I stood at the depot and saw a great big black engine, all covered with dust, soot, cinders, and grease, come thundering along down the track, pulling its train of more than forty loaded box cars. I said to myself that I would rather be that engine pulling that load of precious freight, al- though it is dusty and greasy, than to be that great, big, clean, bright, beautiful dead thing in the fair ground. Let this thought take full possession of our entire being, "We have been saved to serve." As we bid farewell to the old century with its great and grand and good men, let us thank God for what it has brought us, and let us step into the new century, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, our eyes upon the King, our hearts full of the loftiest aspirations, exclaiming, with the apostle, "Brethren, we count not ourselves to have apprehended. But this one thing we do, forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth imto those which are before, we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Pnncc.or Theok.Q.r.l 5e-.>n.i..-S(.ee, LibjJ 1 1012 01108 8509 Date Due (0/1. Z?-/;! I^rf nW 1 i i 1 (f