GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION FROM
THE WESTERN METHODIST 1833-1834
Compiled by Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2003

OCTOBER 1834

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October 3, 1834

Married. Reverend ABSALOM ADAMS, Nashville, Tennessee married Mrs. MARY C. RICHARDSON, Rutherford County, nnessee, September 23, 1834.

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DIED

In this vicinity [Nashville, Tennessee], early on Friday morning [October 3, 1834] WILLIAM, infant son of Major and Mrs. John BOYD. This promising child was but just 19 months and 26 days old when a wise providence thought proper thus to take him from his parents, to plant him in a more congenial soil.

In this city on Friday last [October 3, 1834], Mrs. SARAH, wife of Maj. Henry R. CARTMELL.

Mr. E. M. EGGLESTON, late of Mississippi and formerly of Virginia. [no date given]

Departed this life, on the 22d Sept. at his residence near Lebanon, Tenn., in the 32d year of his age, JAMES ALLCORN, only son of the late col. John Allcorn.

In Clarksville, on the 18th Sept. at the residence of Dr. Lewis W. King, Miss CELESTINA MARBLE, a pupil of the female institute and a citizen of Mississippi.

In Lawrence county, on Thursday the 16th Sept., Mr. JOHN SATTERLY, for many years favorably known to this community as agent for the stage lines passing through this place. Mr. Satterly was highly esteemed by those who knew him as an upright and efficient man.

In Maury county, on the 22d Sept. Mrs. GRACY THOMAS consort of Col. Caleb Thomas.

At the farm of Dr. G. T. Greenfield, on the 11th Sept. (near Williamsport), Capt. WALTER T. WHITE, in his 63d year, after a severe illness which he bore with patience and resignation; he was a member of the Presbyterian church for many years.

In Columbia [Tennessee], on the 22d Sept., Mrs. LUCRETIA VAUGHT, consort of Mr. Nathaniel Vaught.

In the vicinity of Columbia, Mr. JAMES FOXALL. [no date given]

In Tuscumbia [Alabama], on the 15th Sept., Mrs. SUSAN MESSENGER, consort of A. Messenger, esq., Editor of the North Alabamian.

Died, at Toronto, in Canada, on Sunday, the 24th august, of cholera, ROBERT HERON, printer, aged 24. On his being taken to the hospital, an interesting young woman, to whom he was about to be married, applied for permission to see him, declaring she was his sister. She was admitted and kissed the dying youth, showing much affection for him. Three hours afterwards she was brought into the same hospital, for gone of cholera, and her pillow was the pillow of the cold grave.

In Murfreesboro, at the residence of M. Spence, on Wednesday the 24th Sept., Mrs. MARGARET WASSON aged 95 years. For the last 50 years she has been an exemplary member of the Methodist church, having received the sacrament from the hands of both the Rev. John Wesley and Dr. Coke. She died in full anticipation of heaven and her last word was Jesus.

 

DEATHS FROM CHOLERA         On the evening of the 17th Sept. some travelers or drovers stopped at the residence of Dr. Green, four miles from Florence on the Nashville road and on the following evening two of them, Warren Hodges and George Coffman died of cholera. They were from Logan county, Kentucky; had premonitory symptoms of cholera while on their way through Tennessee but being anxious to proceed on their journey to the south, they came on to Dr. Green's; were unwell when they arrived and not long afterwards fell into the collapsed stage of the disease. Two other individuals of the same company were taken after their arrival at Dr. Green's but we are

 

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Happy to hear from the attending physicians, that the two last named are convalescent. The disease has not broken out elsewhere in that neighborhood and it is to be hoped that the malady will not spread further. In addition to these cases, we have to record the death of ____ [John] Satterly of cholera, who died at Dr. Turner's about 19 miles from town on the same road. He was an agent for the mail contractors that line.

 

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MRS. SARAH JONES         Departed this life at her father's residence in Hardin county, Ten., near her own, on the 15th of Sept. 1834, of billious fever, sister Sarah Jones, was born in 1783, in North Carolina, Northampton county, and was the daughter of John and Ann Cone. Her parents emigrated from there to Georgia where Sarah became serious in reference to the salvation of her soul; encouraged by her friends, she laid hold on Jesus the friend of sinners, to the comfort of her soul and attached herself to the Methodist E. Church. She moved with her parents to Alabama and from there to middle Tennessee where she married Mr. Jones and moved then to Hardin county, where she ended her peregrination on earth.         Though sister Jones, in the providence of God, has emigrated from point to point, we are happy to say, that she carried holy fire in her soul which shone in all her actions. When she was taken sick she was visited by a local preacher (W. B. Duncan) and interrogated on the subject of death; she appeared a little reluctant to die but only in consequence of her aged parents who are laboring under the ages of 83 and 68 years but being again asked if the lord, whom she had served for thirty-two years was with her she exclaimed, "Yes, the Lord is good, praise be unto his holy name," and continued to exult in triumph over the thoughts of death. Soon after her speech failed her and she was requested by brother Duncan to lift her hand in testimony of God's being with her (if this was the case) and with a smiling countenance she lifted both hands and continued so to do until the vital spark, as the wasting paper, was extinct and her happy spirit took its flight in triumph to the heaven of heavens. Thus she lived beloved and died regretted by all who knew her. J. S. Claunch

 

MISS ELIZABETH DRANE         Died. At the residence of her father, on Friday the 23d of may, after a lingering and painful illness, Miss Elizabeth Drane.         It has never before fallen to my lot to have so painful, yet so pleasing, so melancholy, and yet as interesting a duty devolve upon me, as the sketching of this obituary notice of a departed friend. Surely if the rarest combination of virtues, conjoined with the most engaging sweetness of disposition, had been an argument for longevity, society had not thus early been robbed of one of its brightest ornaments. As a sister she was ever kind and affectionate, as a daughter dutiful and obedient. But the character in which she shone with pre-eminent lustre was that of an humble follower of Christ. Several years ago Miss Drane possessed a lively hope of an inheritance in that "house built without hands eternal in the heavens," and subsequently lived piously up to the dictates of the Christian religion. Towards the close of her late illness it pleased God to favor her with the most thrilling renewed evidences of her regeneration, evidences that disrobed death of all its terrors and made her hail its approximation as a messenger of peace that was to conduct her to the mansions of glory and eternal happiness. Her life was a practical commentary upon the beauties of the Christian religion, her death a triumphant refutation of the doctrine of infidelity.         She is gone but while memory retains its integrity she will live in the recollection of all who knew her. The cold clay pillows her lowly head, The rank grass waves above her; And warm are the tears that o'er are shed, By the friends that used to love her.

 

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Sweetly and tranquilly she sleeps now, Without a dream of to-morrow; A breath passes not her lip – and her brow Is no longer moved by sorrow. Close to her grave are the forest trees, With their keen taper branches waving; Softly above her fans the breeze, And bright are the streams there laving. Sweetly the birds of the wild-wood weave, Their soft and enchanting numbers, As they sport in the shade above the grave, Where lowly our lov'd one slumbers. Softly the drops of the dewy night, Distil o'er her lowly pillow, And glitter like gems in the clear moon-light, On the bows of the weeping willow. The notes of the village bell in the morn, The sound of the shell when day closes; Sweet music upon the night breeze borne, Comes thrilling where she reposes. And silently, darkly she sleeps beneath, While all is enchanting around her; Yet nothing can break that spell of death, Which, in fetters of clay, has bound her. Let her slumber there where lowly she lies, 'Neath the shade of death's dark even; Till the trump of God shall bid her rise, To the fadeless rays of Heaven.

 

October 10, 1834

Married

ANDERSON BUFFINGTON, planter, married PAROLEE C. CABLER, both of Nashville, Tennessee there, October 1, 1834.

Dr. M. W. ARMSTRONG married Mrs. M. M. ARMSTRONG, Rutherford County, Tenn., Sept. 24, 1834.

Dr. JOHN T. RHOTON, Dandridge, Tennessee married JULIET N., daughter of Judge JACOB PECK, at Oakland, Jefferson County, Tennessee, September 16, 1834.

 

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GEORGE WASHINGTON ALFORD         Died, in Davidson county, Tennessee, on the 18th of Aug. 1834, Mr. George Washington Alford, son of Mr. John Alford, aged 40 years. Mr. Alford was born in Amherst county, Virginia. He was a man of virtuous life, strict morality and endeared himself not only to those who slept in his bosom, a beloved wife and six children, but to all who knew him. But yet he was without the one thing needful. At the first campmeeting at Smyrna, the last of July, he was a seeker of religion and went away from that meeting with his mind deeply interested for the salvation of the gospel. He was soon after taken sick with a billious fever which, in thirteen days laid his manly form in the embraces of death. During his sickness his mind earnestly struggled to obtain the forgiveness of his sins and be at peace with his maker and through the wonderful condescension of god, on Sunday, the day before his death, he obtained perfect redemption through the blood of Christ. As he was now on the confines of that eternal world, he was a solemn preacher to those who gathered around his bed side. Well did he fill up the few hours that remained to him below the skies with the most thrilling exhortations and triumphant expressions of praise.         Taking a tender leave of his wife, children and friends, he died in the arms of victory, having come in as an eleventh hour laborer, but receiving the same immortal reward as those who had borne the heat and burden of the day. Forbes

 

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WILLIAM HARRISON READ        Departed this life on Friday, 19th September, at the residence of his mother, near Jefferson, Rutherford county, Tennessee, William Harrison Read; son of the late Capt. John Nash Read of Charlotte county, Va., aged 20 years, 5 months and 17 days [April 2, 1812]. He was sorely afflicted about two months before his death; first with congestive fever, then a disease of the head which terminated his earthly existence. He bore his affliction with Christian fortitude and patience. Although much debilitated and worn down with disease, yet he was humble and penitent and seemed perfectly resigned to the will of his lord and master.         He, with a truly Christian spirit, acknowledged himself to have been a sinner but rejoiced that he had reason to believe that god had pardoned his sins. The night before his departure, he said to his mother that he was not afraid to die, that he thought the lord had been precious to his soul. He had given him a hope beyond the grave that would support him to the hour of death. He was delirious at times through that night, but, nowithstanding, words of prayer were constantly uttered from his lips. His physician and others heard him through the night engaged in the most fervent prayer. The day of his death he became speechless but his lips seemed to move as in prayer to almighty god but the words mercy and heaven were frequently uttered so as to be understood. He died almost without a struggle or a groan.         He is gone to try the realities of another world after having made peace with god and after having lived almost in perfect harmony with all on earth. Although he did not make an open profession of religion previous to his sickness, yet he was always remarkable for his morality, uprightness and virtue; he supported an unblemished character and was beloved and respected by all who knew him.         He has left a widowed mother; numerous brothers and sisters and a large circle of relatives and friends to mourn his irreparable loss. M. R. September 29th, 1834

 

ABSALOM T. MACE         Departed this life on the 6th of September, in Smith county [Tennessee], Mr. Absalom T. Mace aged 27 years.         In the death of this truly amiable young man society has lost one of its brightest ornaments, a finished scholar and perfect gentleman. It pleased almighty god to lay his afflicting hand upon him and take him to himself just at the commencement of a life that gave strong proofs of his being honorable to himself and useful to the rising generation and to the society in which he lived.         During an illness of nine days and while his body was excruciating with burning fevers and pains almost intolerable to be borne, he was never heard to express any terror at death. But when the grim monster had laid his cold and icy hands upon him and his eyes fast closing in death, he observed his brother's weeping by his side; he calmly replied to him, "hold up your head like a man and be firm; I see the monster staring me in the face but I fear him not; I stand firm to death and have no doubt but I shall stand so in judgment." Thus in him we have a plain specimen of the death of the Christian; of one who with an eye of faith could look through "the valley and shadow of death" and view close at hand "the land of rest, the saint is delight," and lay hold of the promised reward that is reserved for the pure in heart and dwell forever with our blessed savior and the "spirits of the just man make perfect"; his last words were, "May I die the death of the righteous and may my last end be like his."

 

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WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD         Death of William H. Crawford. The last Georgia Constitutionalist of the 19th inst. Brings us intelligence of the death of the Hon. Wm. H. Crawford. He died a short time previous to the above date while he was proceeding to preside at the Superior Court of Elbert county. The death of this old and distinguished member of the republican ranks, will, doubtless, inspire a deep sensation of regret throughout our country. Mr. Crawford was one of those individuals who rose from humble origin to some of the most eminent stations in our government and filled them all with an ability which has been seldom surpassed and with an integrity which has never been seriously questioned. In his public life there were blended the simplicity of a virtuous citizen, the dignity of a patriot and the talent and learning of an able statesman. He enjoyed to his last hour the confidence of his native state and but for the feebleness of his health, he would at one time have been elevated to the highest office in the gift of the American people. — Southern Advocate.

 

From APPLETON'S CYCLOPAEDIA, edited by James G. Wilson and John Fiske, New York, 189l volume 2, page 6:

CRAWFORD, William Harris, statesman, b. in. Amherst county, Va., 24 Feb. 1772; d. in Elbert county, Ga., 15 Sept., 1834. His father, who was in reduced circumstances, removed first to South Carolina and then to Columbia county, Ga. After teaching school at Augusta the boy studied law, began practice at Lexington in 1799, and was one of the compilers of the first digest of the laws of Georgia. He became a member of the state senate in 1802, and in 1807 was chosen U. S. senator to fill a vacancy. The political excitement of the period led him to engage in two duels, in one of which his opponent fell, and in the second of which he was himself wounded. He was re-elected in 1811, acquiesced in the policy of a U. S. bank, and in 1812 was chosen president pro tem. of the senate. He was at first opposed to the war with Great Britain, but eventually gave it his support; and in 1813, having declined the place of secretary of war, accepted that of minister to France, where he formed a personal intimacy with Lafayette. In 1816, on the retirement of Mr. Dallas, he was appointed secretary of the treasury. He was prominently urged as a candidate for the presidency, but remained at the head of the treasury department, where he adhered to the views of Mr. Jefferson, and opposed the federal policy in regard to internal improvements, then supported by a considerable section of his own party. This position on the great question of the time subjected him to virulent hostility from opponents of his own party; and Mr. Calhoun, who was one of these opponents, became a dangerous rival for the democratic nomination for the presidency, to succeed Monroe. Crawford, however, as the choice of the Virginia party, and the representative of the views of Jefferson, secured the nomination of a congressional caucus in February, 1824; and in the election that followed he received the electoral votes of Virginia and Georgia, with scattering votes from New York, Maryland, and Delaware — in all, 41. No choice having been made by the electoral college, the election reverted to the house of representatives, where John Quincy Adams was elected over Jackson and Crawford, through the influence of Henry Clay, the fourth candidate before the people, who brought his friends to the support of Adams. The result was also due, in a measure, to the confirmed ill health of Mr. Crawford, and perhaps to imputations brought against his conduct of the treasury department. These charges he promptly refuted, and a committee that included Daniel Webster and John Randolph unanimously declared them to be unfounded. But his health rendered it impossible for him to continue in public life; and, although he recovered his strength partially, he took no part after this date in politics. Returning to Georgia, he became circuit judge, which office he continued to fill with great efficiency, by successive elections in 1828 and 1831, until nearly the end of his life. He had no connection with the nullification movement, to which he was opposed; and his last days were spent in retirement. Personally he was a man of conspicuous social gifts, an admirable conversationalist, religious in his views and feelings, and a supporter of Baptist convictions. At his home he dispensed a hearty republican hospitality, and his name is eminent among the illustrious citizens of Georgia.

 

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October 10, 1834 (cont.)

Died

Oct. 2d, in this vicinity [Nashville, Tennessee], Alphonso Gibbs, eldest son of Gen. George Gibbs in the 22d year of his age.         The deceased was a young gentleman who had made a very favorable impression on his acquaintances by the urbanity of his manners and the purity of his morals. He had just finished his collegiate and professional studies and was about to embark in life with the usual bright hopes of youth and with more than its usual intelligence and ambition, when he was thus early called on to pay the last debt of humanity to nature.         We sincerely sympathize with the affectionate absent parents who have to add the loss of this their favorite child to another recent affliction.

In Davidson county [Tennessee], on the 20th Sept. after a protracted illness of three weeks, Miss Sarah F. Stratton, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Stratton.

In Montgomery county [Tennessee], Mr. Kindall Davie [no date furnished].

At Knoxville, Margaret Naomi Park daughter of Mr. William Park.

Mrs. Eveline Formwalt aged 93 years.

On the 12th Aug. 1831, Col. James Terrill in Cooper county, Missouri. Col. Terrill was lately a citizen of this state, distinguished for every virtue that adorns the gentleman, the soldier, the patriot and the Christian.

 

October 17, 1834

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ELIJAH STEVENS         Dear brethren. We send you an account of the triumphant death of our beloved brother, Elijah Stevens who departed this life about eleven o'clock in the evening, on the first day of September, 1834. Brother Stevens was born in the State of South Carolina in the year 1766 of respectable parentage; his mother having died when he was young, he was placed in the care of his grandmother who was a worthy member of the first Presbyterian church and who was very careful to impress his youthful mind with the necessity of praying and early embracing the religion of Jesus. It seems that those instructions he received from his grandmother were not easily erased from his mind; that he felt it not only a privilege and a blessing but a delight to be religious; and while he lived in the neglect of it, he felt himself exposed to the wrath of God. It was frequently the case in his youthful days that he felt deeply concerned for the salvation of his soul. At the age of 21 he married and shortly afterwards emigrated to Kentucky and located his family in Caldwell county where he soon had the privilege of hearing old father ward of Kentucky conference, preach, and under his ministry joined the Methodist Episcopal Church as a seeker of religion and shortly afterwards embraced the pearl of great price. From that time to the day of his death he lived an acceptable member of the church which was upwards of thirty years. He was class leader about fifteen years of that time and served the church with great acceptability. The path of duty in public and in private he pursued with an uncompromising, real and evidenced the fact, that the hand of hope was fastened on the skies, while he was patiently waiting to enter into a land where sickness and sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more. His trials indeed were many but he never expected to be wafted on the rolling waves of bliss into heaven; no, the path in which the saints of god travel, he conceived as one bathed in tears, but in his last moments he gave gratitude to God for the unspeakable privilege of shouting victory through Jesus Christ; and he fully experienced in his last moments that the religion of Jesus could make the path of death with a thousand glories, death to him was no terror. While the curtains were

 

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falling to obstruct the organs of vision and articulation the exultation of his soul seemed to float on every breath; he rather looked on death as an angel to introduce him into the temple not built with hands, eternal in the heavens. Brother Stevens is gone but our loss is his infinite gain; he has left a wife and eleven children, two of whom are preachers, to mourn their loss. Buford Farris Livingston circuit, Ky. Con. [Kentucky Conference] Oct. 2d 1834.

 

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MRS. JULIET RHOTON         Departed this transitory life, on Saturday evening, the 27th ultimo [September 27 1834], at her residence in this town [Newmarket, Tennessee], Mrs. Juliet Rhoton, consort of Dr. Josiah Rhoton, a practicing physician and a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In early life the deceased became a subject of the renovating influence of divine grace and attached herself to the Church of Christ; in which she lived a faithful member until her master summoned her to the church triumphant in heaven; to that city which hath foundation, whose maker and builder is god.         She was the daughter of the Rev. William Garrett, now residing in Giles county, Ten. and was early instructed in the principles of that religion that sustained her in affliction and death.         To say anything of Mrs. Rhoton by way of delineation of character would be to give the pecular characteristics of an agreeable wife, an affectionate mother and a Christian. Naturally mild and agreeable in her temperament, the grace of god with its refining touches rendered her amiable and caused her to be strongly endeared to her relatives and acquaintances who sensibly feel the loss they have sustained. The disease which brought her to sink into the cold embrace of death was that of a pulmonary kind. Although she had been the subject of much bodily affliction, she was not heard to murmur or complain.         She has left an affectionate husband, two interesting little sons and other relatives to lament their irreparable loss but their loss is her infinite gain. Readers, death is an honest hour and one too from which nature shrinks with fear and trembling. The grave and the worm are appalling to the heart and fill it with fearful apprehensions. Through fear of death thousands are all their life-time subject to bondage. From this undue degree of fear a person in the enjoyment of religion is delivered. A man, however, is not brought to this sense of the endless duration of his soul by the light of nature nor by a long train of reasoning. These may satisfy a merely speculative enquirer but they can never satisfy the man who is alive to the importance of eternity and makes it the subject of his hopes and fears. Death and the grave laugh to scorn what man calls natural religion. There corruption performs her work in triumph and he who rejects the bible, must look on and despair. It is the gospel only which brings life and immortality to light and it is by an honest belief in the gospel that a man first learns to regard himself as the heir of eternity. Respectfully, &c., W. B. Brownlow New-market, Ten. Oct. 2d, 1834

 

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SARAH FRANCES STRATTON         Departed this life on the 30th of September last, at her father's residence near this place, Sarah Frances Stratton, in the 17th year of her age, after a long and severe illness. A short time before her departure she called on her parents to prayer for her; she said she was going to die and was afraid, unless she could obtain religion; they told her they would do so but that she must pray for herself, to which she replied, I have prayed and cannot secure pardon; but they told her not to cease praying, that the lord would answer. The family continued to pray for and encourage her and at about the hour of midnight, her feeble voice was heard, saying, glory, glory to god. She thus continued praising god for some time; at length she said, O how I love him! and raised her feeble hands and clasped them together and continued praising the lord louder and louder until she had waked up all that were in the house. After her friends came around her she gave her hand to everyone of them and exclaimed, I am happy, I have got religion and am ready to die and want to die. She was then asked if she wished to go and leave all her friends; O yes, but you must all be religious and meet me in heaven. She then wished brother White, a local preacher, and the class leader, sent for, that she might join the church. When brother White came she requested him to set her name on the class book and to sing and pray for her and he did accordingly. When asked if she wanted to die she said she did. She continued in a very happy frame of mind till she died; at one time sang aloud, "Jesus my all to heaven is gone," and sung the hymn through. A few moments before her death she took an affectionate farewell of all her friends and charged them to meet her in heaven and with perfect composure, with the words, "I am going," upon her lips, she breathed her last and entered into her rest. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.

 

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JOHN B. NELSON         Our dearly beloved and much lamented brother, John B. Nelson, the subject of the following brief sketch, was a citizen of Jackson county, Aalabama, and became the happy participant of justification by faith in the blood of Christ in the year of our lord, 1822, at which time he attached himself to the Methodist Episcopal Church and until he was removed to the church triumphant he lived a happy and useful member of the same. He was a respectable citizen, an affectionate husband, and kind father. He closed the scene of his sufferings September the 1st. I saw and conversed with him a few days previous to his departure and while singing the songs of zion, his soul caught the hallowed flame. He exclaimed, giving his hand, I am going to rest with the people of god.         He has left behind him a desolate widow and ten orphan children to mourn the absence of their affectionate head. May the god of Israel remember his ancient promise, by being a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless and may he at last bring them to enjoy his presence and reign with him world without end, amen! Lorenzo D. Mullins Bellfonte, Ala., Sept. 29th, 1834.

 

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MRS. MARY CAGE         It devolves upon me to give you an account of the death of sister Mary Cage, consort of Mr. Wilson Cage of Sumner county, Ten., who lived a practical Christian for twelve or thirteen years and who died in perfect peace on the morning of the 30th September in the 57th year of her natural life. It is with pleasure that I now say I have no doubt of sister Cage's happiness and I predicate my hopes on the known fact of her having been a practical Christian "who not only could speak of the comforts of religion and seemed to enjoy them in public" but who was constantly engaged in works of charity and labors of love; and let it be said in honor to her whose spirit is hid with saints above that while living and acting in her domestic circle, she was the affectionate wife and stepmother; and that the last duties she discharged were to administer night and day to some of her poor and afflicted servants who were faithfully nursed by her.         Some hours before her death she called me to her and said, "you have been administering to my body, you must now administer to my soul." She asked me to pray with her. I think it was then I asked her if she was resigned to her fate, to which she replied, entirely, and gave every assurance that she would be happy; and I hope her dear children and friends will remember her exhortation at that time which was, to meet her in heaven. Arch' d. B. Duval Cairo, Ten. Oct. 8, 1834

 

[Cairo was located on the north bank of the Cumberland River in Sumner County, Tennessee.]

 

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