The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-05-04

| Ell CnlS lIC WIFI HtJGCl IlOuIS Aioii
the. hand of the Great Creator, aged 63 years
and months. The church of Augusta in ex
preston of their gratitude to the memory o.
their late beloved pastor (havlng obtained lib
erty of G.. C.) paid the expense OF this monu
ment 1898.
This grave yard has been full for severa
years, and is now no longer used. The new
one lying adjacent to the church grounds. or
the north east side Is destined some day, Judg
ing from the Improvements recently made, tt
be a very Greenwood.
From the foundation of this church to the
present day it has never had but six pastors
and for the first 100 years it had only four
Rev. John Craig continued its pastor from
the time of his installation in September 174o
until the time OF his death in 1774. He was
also pastor of the church at Thinking Spring
which was built one year after Stone Church,
until November 1854, when he resigned on ac-
count of the great distance of one church from
the other, and besides in those troublous times,
/, When the proposition to build the church at
Thinking Spring was made it is said OF Him
that being violently opposed to it, he declared
| that none of the water should ever tinkle
down his throat, and though he continued to
preach there for so long time, preaching two
sermons a day on communion days, and TAX
| ing his dinner OH the ground, he kept his
word to the last.
| His farewell sermon to the Thinking Spring
congregation was printed in 1910 in the ''Bal-
timore Literary and Religious Magazine" a
copy OF which is now in the library Of 1. w.
K. Handy, D. D. In the great schisn of the
| Presbyterian Church he sympathzed strongly
with the ''Old Side.'
| His great personal courage and humble pie
! ty were characteristics that exactly suited
him for the part he had to play, and greatly
endeared him to his people. lie was an
Irishman by birth, born i'll Ulster, Ireland
and was educated and graduated, Master of
Arts at the University Of Edinburgh. Scot
land, in 1892, and came to America in 1774.
Soon after his death Rev. VIM. Wilson be-
came the pastor, and filled the pulpit with
marked ability until he died, in 1873 The
call presented to him in 1898 and signed by
more than two hundred persons, is now in
GHG pOoCoSiOu VI Ii. AIio uoSuuioLV
in style and manner is exceedingly interest
ing. Mr.. Thomas P. Wilson the venerable
son of Ults honored sire, still lives close by.
During a part Of his ministry, James Waddell,
Wirt's famous Blind Preacher, was in charge of
the church at Thinking Springs.
Rev. Conrad Specie was installed in Octo-
Der 1913. He was born in New London, Bed
ford county, Virginia, and was of German ex-
traction, of fine size and proportion, six feet
and two inches high. He was educated at
Liberty Hall, now Washington 81 Lee Univer-
sity, and though in some respects great man
and wonderfully gifted, was exceedingly &C.
centric. During his early life, about the time
he was preparing for licensure, he was greatly
troubled on the subject of Baptism. and was, in
1900, immersed by Baptist clergyman and
commenced preaching at once, without any
preliminary formality. Shortly after this, DR..
Alexander, having found relief from his doubts
on the same subject which embarrassed him al
so, convinced Rev. Mr.. Specie of the necessity
of re examining the argument, which at once
settled him in favor of infant baptism, and
on the 9th of April. 1901, he was licensed to
preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Hano-
yer. He was a man of great determination and
persistence, but did not combine all the ele-
ments of an orator. He was possessed of far
more than ordinary sense, and had All exceed
ingy clear and comprehensive mind and very
fluent, but awkward in his manner and gawky.
He was bold and independent thinker. of
the keenest perception, and very forcible in
his arguments, but had nothing of that easy
grace and responsiveness of style and language
| which we sometimes meet with. He stood
much better as speaker than a writer. lie was
| rather voluminons as writer, but while his
writings did not sink to the lowest rank in
literature, they by no means attained to the
highest. His work the ''Mountaineer." proba-
bly, his best, met with some popularity and
reached the third or fourth edition. A beau
tiful hymn, 372 Of the Assemblys Collection
was written by him at the age of "a years
lie was five times Moderator of the Synod of
Virginia, oftener than any one else has ever
been. One of his greatest drawbacks was his
oddities, which were so much a part OF him
that he could never overcome them. Though Il
great temperance man, he had an inordinate
taste for tobacco which he always spoke of as
''the weed" He died in February 1886, and
is buried in the old grave yard.
Rev. William Brown, D. D., succeeded as
pastor and continued in that relation until in
1861. He then resigned to take editorial charge
Of the Central Presbyterian, where he now is.
The pastoral relation Of the Rev. Francis H..
Bowman, then commenced and continued I'M
til 1868. He then accepted call to the min
istry of the First Presbyterian Church of Men,
phis, Tennessee. OF the history OF this tall
ented Divine, little can be said that is not al
ready known and familiar to most of us. He
was profound scholar, courteous and warm
hearted gentleman, a kind and genial friend,
beloved in his private character and admired
in the pulpit. He won great reputation in his
new field as pulpit orator, and died there OF
yellow fever in 1873. He was a brother OF
Rev. John Rice Bowman Of Harrsonburg, so
favorably known to the Virginia Synod us 81
man of rare attachments.
In 1869, Rev. I. w. X. Handy, D. D.. the
present pastor, accept ed a unanimous call, and
has ever since been its faithful minister.
though compelled during much Of the past
year to stop preaching, owing to a temporary
disorder of the THROAT. No man has ever had
stronger hold upon the affections of the COLI
gregaton, or more .endeared himself to the
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