A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, Volume 5
By Will Thomas Hale, Dixon Lanier Merritt
The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York; 1913

Pages 1292-1293

Rev. James T. Bagby. No matter to what denomination ministers of the Gospel may belong, nor how much they may differ as to the fundamental principles and theories of theology, there is one point upon which they agree and one end for which they are working—and that is the elevation of the general moral tone of the whole people. The influence of their teaching is felt far beyond the immediate confines of their respective congregations. It is reflected in the probity of the citizen, the loyalty of the soldier, the sanctity of the home, the education of the young, and in many other ways in all walks of life, even upon those who never attend church and who claim to doubt many of the precepts taught by the followers of the Master. For the work of the pastor Rev. J. T. Bagby is well qualified by natural disposition, training and experience, and although one of the youngest ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in the state, he has made a reputation that for one of his years is rarely equaled.

Mr. Bagby was born in Decatur county, Tennessee, May 14, 1879, and is a descendant of one of the state’s pioneer families, his paternal grandfather and grandmother having come from North Carolina at an early date. He is the seventh in a family of ten children born to James L. and Martha (Rushing) Bagby, both natives of Tennessee. One of his brothers is also a Methodist minister. He was educated in the common schools while being brought up on his father’s farm in Henderson county, Tennessee, and afterward attended Scott’s Hill Normal Institute at Scott’s Hill, graduating with honors, and the McTyeire Institute at McKenzie, Tennessee, graduating with great honors as a debater and as a linguist with no superiors. In 1906 he was made a deacon in the church, at that time becoming a member, in full connection, of the Memphis conference, and in 1908 was ordained an elder. His first charge was Bethel and Selmer, a double station in the Lexington district, where he served his congregation with zeal and fidelity until he was called to Columbus, Kentucky, three years later, where he added to his reputation as a conscientious, intelligent and faithful worker in the vineyard. In 1911 he was assigned to his present pastorate at Obion, Tennessee, after a four-years’ pastorate at Columbus. Mr. Bagby is a diligent student of all questions relating to his profession. He has an extensive vocabulary and a faultless enunciation; his sentences are well rounded and complete, and his manner of presentation of a subject is both instructive and entertaining. Outside of his pulpit he is a genial gentleman and sympathetic pastor, and among his brother clergymen he has attained to a high position through his eloquent and scholarly sermons and his earnest work in behalf of the church along all lines. His church at Obion has over two hundred members and under his administration this number is constantly increasing. Those who know him best predict for him still greater charges and more onerous duties in the future.

In 1905 Mr. Bagby was united in marriage with Miss Daisy Steadman, daughter of John H. Steadman, and to this union has been born one son — Thomas S. Mrs. Bagby is well fitted for the duties of a pastor’s wife and co-operates with her husband in all his efforts for the advancement of the church and Sunday school.

It is worthy of more than passing mention in connection with the history of this family, that Levi Bagby, an uncle of Rev. J. T. Bagby, was a valiant soldier in the Federal army during the great Civil war and rose to the rank of brigadier general, thus giving the name a permanent place in history as belonging to a loyal citizen in the dark days when the Union was threatened with disruption.