The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-24
THE LATE THOMAS II. PRITCH
ARD, ID. ID.


tegrity; one of our most loyable and
nrecious men. Great, not as hewn
obelisk; but as an Alpine mountain
so simple, honest, spontaneous, not
setting up to be great at all; there for
quite another purose than being
great! All, yes, unsubduable granite,
piercing far and wide into the Heavens
vet in the clefts of it fountains,
green beautiful valleys with flowers"
Thus wrote Carlyle of Martin Luther,
and there was much in DIR. Pritch-
ards life that recalled Carlyle's words
when the news came that this venera-
BILE man of God was dead.
Rev. Thomas II. Pritchard, ID. D., was
born in Charlotte, February Sth, 1852.
His father was Joseph Price Pritch-
ard and his mother Eliza Hunter Hen
derson, of the family of which Judge
Leonard Henderson was the most dis
tinguished member. He was prepared
for college in Mocksyille, Davie coun-
ty, by Rev. Baxter Clegg, and grad
uated at Wake Forest. During his
college course he was baptized
by DR.. w. r. Brooks, and gave up his
ambition to become a lawyer, and
consecrated his talents to the gospel
ministry. Among his classmates at
Wake Forest were Chef Justice Fair
cloth and Mr.. J. II. Mills. His first
pastorate was at Hartford, Perqui-
mans county. In 1858 he studied theo-
logv with DIR. John A. Broadus at Char
lottesville, Va, and pursued other stu
dies in the University of Virginia. In
1859 he supplied the pulpit of the
church at Fredericksburg, Va, for DR..
Broadus, and in 1860 became pastor at
Baltimore, Md, where he remained
until July, 1868, when, in an attempt
to come South, he was captured on
the Potomac and imprisoned in Balti-
more for five weeks, when he was sent
through the lines with his wife and
children. During the last two years
of the war he was one of the most
eloquent of the divines whe conduct
ed the great revival in the army of
Northern Virginia. He was sub-pastor
in Raleigh until June, 1865 when he
became pastor at Petersburg, Va, re-
naming there two years and half
when he was called to the pastorate
of the First Baptist church in Raleigh,
where he remained until September,
1879, a period of thirteen years. I'm
der his ministry the membership in
creased from 240 to SIS.
After resigning his pastorate at Raj
eigh, DIR. Pritchard became President
of Wake Forest College, and breathed
into it the breath of new life. He took
the field, going into every section max
ing popular and enthusiastic speeches
that quickened the educational zeal
of the people of the whole State. n
Weakening the dormant and putting
an educational zeal into his denomina-
ton that increased the students of
Wake Forest from 1T to ISL, and lay
ing the foundations for the growth and
enlargement of that institution. It's
prosperity was always dear to his
heart, and he never failed to be pre-
sent with his cheering word and help
full smile on commencement occasions.
When the Trustees and friends of the
college meet this week, his chair will
he vacant and there will be sorrow
in every heart. DIR. Pritchard was
not only Trustee of Wake Forest for
nearly thirty years, but was a Trustee
also of the University from which he
received the degree of d. d., when he
was thirty six years of age. He was
a strong advocate of education Of all
kinds.
In 1882, DIR. Pritchard accepted the
pastorate Of the leading BAPTIST
church in Louisville, KY, the seat OF
the General Theological Seminary of
his church. of which he was a Trustee
for twenty years. The climate proved
too severe for his family, and he soon
returned TO North Carolina to become
pastor of the First Baptist church, Will
mington, and later accepted call to
Charlotte, which passionate he held at
the time of his death. He grew in
usefulness as he grew old, and his
preaching in Wilmington and Char
lotte have been most fruitful. lie was
abundant in labors," not only filing
his own pulpit but carrying on meet
ings III the suburbs in tents. building
chapels, and doing more work than
any man of his church in the State.
DIR. Pritchard was easily the first
man in the Baptist church in North
| Carolina; the most many sided, the
| broadcast, the widest known; and his