Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-12-24

Forest" one mile from the place Of his
birth. When the boy was thirteen
years old. the family moved to "Er-
nesdyl," near Walterboro.
TIL he was thirteen years old, young
Stokes was under the tuition Of his
aunt, Miss Elizabeth A. Lemacks. At
that age he had Mr.. Peter J. Malone,
the gifted journalist and poet as his
teacher. To these two teachers and
Mr.. ]. M. Caldwell, who taught him for
while at st. George, s. c., is due the
educational direction of his young life.
His honored aunt laid the foundation
and cultivated his love for reading.
Mr.. Malone. an elegant writer and ex-
act critic, was for two years con-
stsnt inspiration to young Stokes life
and was largely instrumental in the
exact and precise style characteristic
Of Mr.. Stokes even at this day. The
father being unable to send the boy to
college. his only chance was to use all
his time In personal application to OBJ
tain that intellectual development for
which his soul yearned. So he zeal
ously applied himself for two years,
pursuing to advanced stages the stu
dies Of mathematics, Latin and Greek.
He was naturally inclined to a liter
ary lie. so his peculiar literary tastes
and abilities began early to express
themselves in the composition Of verses
AS the years have gone by, he has
found both recreation and delight in
keeping up this literary habit In 1885.
Mr.. Stokes published "Eldon Drayton,"
an interesting little book in which
many Of his early struggles have a
place. Soon after he also wrote "Claire
de Veaux." an excellent study in "Tem-
perance Reform" It was published as
serial in the Southern Christian Ad-
vocate. For nearly year, in 1883, Mr..
Stokes edited "The Temperance Work
err" the organ Of the temperance So
cieties Of this state, doing for the time
most excellent service. His connection
with the paper was severed by his re-
moval from Columbia. During DR.. W.
D. Kirkland's editorial management Of
The Advocate, Mr.. Stokes did editorial
work on the paper for sometime. He
has been similarly employed for part
Of the time during DR.. Jno. o. Wilson's
management Of the paper. His work
in that capacity has been efficient and
acceptable.
Reared in the country, his early
church opportunities were meagre. But
the Christian home in which he was
trained largely made up for the de-
fciency in church privileges. His pre-
cious mother regularly gave the chill
dren instruction in the Bible and cat
echism. In October, 1871, the young
man joined the church at Indian Fields
Camp Meeting. Mr.. Stokes was IL
censed to preach June 6, 1874, and join
ed the Conference the following De-
cember. He was ordained deacon by
Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh, and elder
by Bishop w. M. Wightman. He has
served as follows: Junior preacher on
circuit, 1875; Sumter cir
cult, 1876; Fort Mill circuit, 1878;
Ward circuit, 1879 Marion Street, Co.
lumbia, 1SS0-3; Orangeburg, 1884; Ben
nettsville Station, 1856; Newberry,
1879; Bamberg and Buford's Bridge,
18S9-91; Spring Street, Charleston, 1892
5; Bennettsville Station, 1868; George
town, 1S99-1900; Camden, 1902.
On December 27, 1876, Mr.. Stokes was
married to Miss Loretta P. Barentine,
Of Marlboro county, S. C. They have
four children; Glare Malone, Elsie
Marion Boyd and Grace
Walter.
In the space allotted we can give only
1 bare outline of the interesting, happy
and successful life Of our friend. He
8 an excellent preacher, a laborious
pastor, diligent student, versatile wri-
re, true friend, and, above all, Chris
ian gentleman.