The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-06-04
BISHOPS CALLED TO LAST RE-
WARD IN RECENT YEARS

Five bishops of the Methodist
Episcopal Church,F South, have been
oyertaken by the Grim Reaper since
the last general conference, which met
in Birmingham, in May, 1906, and
there are now living only nine digni-
taries. one of whom, Bishop Oscar
Penn Fitzgerald, of Nashville, has
been retired, says the Nashville
American. OF the others, BIsnop Jo-
seph Staunton Key of Sherman, Tex
as. who is so years of age, and Bishop
AIpheus Waters Wilson, of Baltimore,
"a wears of age, will probably be SUI
perannuated at the next general con-
ference, which will be held in May,
1910.
Four bishops will have to be elect
ed to place the college of bishops
where it stood when the election IN
1906 took place, and as the church has
grown considerably, it is confidently
believed there will be no less than six
bishops elected at the next conference
with strong probabilities of eight. At
ter the election of 1906 it was con-
tended that not enough bishops had
been elected, and two of them, Bish-
OBS Smith and Duncan, were at that
time in a state of i'll health. Bishop
Tigert died shortly after his eleva-
ton to the Office, November 81, 1906,
and was soon followed by Bishop
Smith, who died December q, of the
same year.
Bishop Tigert
Bishop Tigert, the first to cross the
Great Divide, was buried in Nash
vile. in beautiful Mt Olive. He was
born in Louisville, KY, November %,
1856. and died in Tulsa, Indian Terri
tory, November q, 1906. His parents
were John and Mary Van Veghton I'll
CERT. He completed his studies in the
municipal schools of Louisville and
then attended Vanderbilt University
for a course of theological training at
the opening of that institution in 1875.
Two years later he was graduated. He
labored in the Louisville conference
for brief time as pastor. In 1880 he
returned to Vanderbilt for a more
thorough training in the usual cours-
es of study, supporting himself and
family by teaching some of the sub
college classes that were conducted
by the university at that time. He
was made instructor in the depart
ment of church history in that insti-
tuition in 1882, and in 1884 was trans
ferred to the chair of philosophy. He
prepared and published book. The
Handbook of Logic" He resigned
his chair in 1890 and was appointed
to a pastoral charge in Kansas City,
Mo. During the ensuing four years
he wrote one of the ableSt books, "A
Constitutional History of American
Methodism." He was made editor of
books and of the Quarterly Review of
his church in 1894 at the Memphis
conference. He was elected bishop in
1906, but presided at only two con-
lferences, in the new state of OklahO-
ma.
He married Miss Amelia McTyeire,
daughter of Bishop H. McTyeire, in
1873. He was survived by his wife,
three daughters and three sons.
Bishop Smith
Bishop Alexander Coke Smith, D.
D., died in Asheville, n. c., December
! %, 1906, at the age of 81 years, of
pulmonary tuberculosis. He was
! born in South Carolina, September
16. 1S49, and was elected to the epis.
copacy at Dallas, in 1902. He was
laid to rest at Norfolk, Va, on Decem.
Der so.
/ In 1891 he was a member of the
Ecumenical conference that met in
= Washington and discussed christian
Cooperation" his discussion being
: followed by the most remarkable de-
bate of the conference. Again, in
1901, he went to London as a member
of the Ecumenical conference held
that year. In 1898 he received large
vote for the episcopacy, and that fall
he was sent as our fraternal delegate
to the Methodist church of Canada. He
married Miss Kate Kinard, December
%, 1873.
Bishop Cranberry
/ John Cooper Cranberry was born in
: Norfolk, Va, December 5, 1889. He
was graduated from Randolph-MacOn
college in lS4S, and Joined the Virgin
la conference the same year, having
received his license 20 preach while
still in college. He filled various ap-
pointments in that conference for the
next twelve years, the last three
: years previous to the breaking out of