The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-10-13
For the Central Presbyterian.
Montgomery Presbytery


TENDER 15th-19th, at Jacksonville the
county seat of Floyd county. This coun-
tty OF Southwest Virginia, is so little
known to your readers that you must
allow me to say word about it before
coming to the Presbytery and its work.
Floyd county, which is named after Gov
ernor Floyd, has for its neighbors round
about, the counties of Montgomery, Roam
oke, Franklin, Patrick, Carroll, and Pu-
iaskl. 1t is an elevated region, billy and
healthy-full of springs and streams of
pure freestone water. Its most marked
physical feature is Buffalo Knob, an ir-
regularly shaped peak which rises to
great height and stands silent, solitary
sentinel over an extended reach of coun
try on every hand. Together with
large tract of land around It's base, it was
once the property. of General R. E. Lee
and his brother, Mr.. Charles Carter Lee.
Floyd is rather tauntingly called the
" Buckwheat State, but in spite of the
large quantity of that cereal which it
raises, it is not to be laughed at as an
agricultural region. With much poor
land it has great deal that is produc-
1--WE; and the thrift of its industrious
population is proof enough of its capacity.
The whistle Of the locomotive is not heard
in the land, and.if primitive manners are
to be found so also is primitive hospital
lty OF the true Virginia type. If you
would go to Floyd of course you must
travel by private conveyance, or by the
best of all modes, on horseback, By one
or other of these modes some of the breth-
rem who attended Presbytery, came long
distances: One good elder came in a
buggy all the way from Covington in AL
leghany county A goodly company
came by rail to Christiansburg. Reach
ing there late in the evening, they found
ample preparations made for their enter
tainment by Christiansburg friends who
esteemed it privilege to have them at
their homes. Next morning they started
IN conveyances sent from Jacksonville.
The day which marked the first frost of
the season was delicious one-clear and
tresh-neither cold nor hot-a very
model OF an early autumn day. The road
led over mountain after mountain, though
the mountains were not large Eight
miles from Christiansburg, after crossing
Pilot mountain, we found ourselves in
the valley Of Brush Greek. This is the
newly discovered gold region, but we did
not go aside to the washings where quite
a number of diggers are now engaged,
and doing very well it is said. At Jack
sonville we found brother Harris and his
good people ready to greet us with a
warm welcome The village is well-built.
and beautiful for situation among the
hills. The lone Buffalo Knob looks down
upon it from a distance of fifteen miles,
and the attitude of the village is made
apparent by the view of Salt Pond Noun
tain from its hills. 1t is not less than
forty-fve miles distant, and numerous
mountains lie between it and Jacksonville.
The Presbyterian church building at
Jacksonville is very pretty brick build
ing, indicating the present prosperity of
the congregation. The church was or
ganized in 1852, and is a branch of the
Christiansburg church The early pas
tors at Christiansburg, Rev. William G.
Campbell, Rev. j. III. Wallace, and Rev.
N. Chevalier, preached first to little
handful of Presbyterians on Little River,
near the original site of the Court House,
but several miles from its present site.
The Rev. James M. Wilson, who after
wards died in Arkansas was the first
pastor. He secured the erection of
manse, and we may as we'll say that this
manse has been the salvation of the
church. After Mr.. Wilson went away
the Rev. George T. Lyle served the
church for short time, but it had gone
down, and continued to languish. About
eight years ago, when Mr.. Harris, the
present efficient supply, took charge Of it,
scarcely half dozen members could be
found, and only two or three of these in
the village. Now through the blessing
of God upon his abundant labors, the
church has about seventy-fve members,
and Presbyterianism is looking up in
other parts of the county.
We had large audiences during Pres
bytery, and the
Preaching
was marked feature of the meeting
We keep up the good old custom of hay
ing as much preaching as possible during
our meetings, so as not in the least to
hinder attention to the business we came
to transact. Twice we took the hour for
preaching for
Missionary Meetings.
The subject of Home Missions occu-
pied our attention at one of these meet