Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1911-02-23
A GOOD MAN GONE.
Rev. VIM. J. Smith, Faithful Pastor,
Enters Into Rest-0ther Deaths.


Rev. VIM. J. Smith, Faithful Pastor,
Enters Into Rest-0ther Deaths.
II Is with profound regret that we re-
cord the death of Rev. William ]. Smith,
pastor Of the Gravel Springs group of
Lutheran churches, which occurred last
Sunday morning at his home at Bloom,
Frederick county, Va. The cause of his
death was paralysis, he having been
stricken the previous Wednesday.
Rev. Mr.. Smith was born at Boonsboro,
Nd. April /, l845. and was in the Goth
year Of his age. His parents were Jacob
and Fritta Smith, prominent residents OF
that town. When the Civil War broke
out he was only lad, but he was an ar
dent Southern sYmpathizer, and soon
after the battle of Antietam, of which he
was an eyewitness, he joined the Con-
federate army, enlisting in Company X,
First Maryland Regiment, commanded by
Col. Bradley T. Johnson. After the war
was over, Mr.. Smith came to Shepherds
town, where he found employment in the
Register printing office, then conducted
by his brother-in-law, the late John II.
little. Saving sufficient money by work.
ing at the printers trade to educate him.
self, he went to Roanoke College at Sa-
lem, Va, where he graduated in 1875,
and three years later graduated from the
Lutheran Theological Seminary there.
His first charge as a minister of the Luth-
eran Church was at Salisbury, N. C., and
after several years there he was called to
Roanoke, Va, where he became pastor
of the first Lutheran church to be estab-
lished in that town. In April. 1886, he
accepted call to the Gravel Springs pas
torate, composed of Gravel Springs,
Bethel, st. Johns, st. James and FIRE.
mont congregations. Here the man OF
God found his life's work laid out for
him, and for more than quarter OF a
century he was the faithful pastor of these
flocks. His people grew to love him as
the ideal shepherd, for he not only min
istered to their spiritual needs, but was
the sympathetic, helpful friend and wise
counsellor and advisor in every circum-
stance of life. Rev. Mr.. Smith was a
truly pious man. In him the elements OF
exalted faith, Christian humility, moral
courage and personal righteousness were
tremendously blended, and his genuine
religious life gave him an influence that
few men attain. He was sort of bishop
in his neighborhood, and was loved and
respected by all the people, who trusted
him so implicitly and found in him such
a true friend and pastor. II is forty miles,
it is said, from one end of his pastorate
to the other, and he seldom missed any
regular appointment. He travelled on
horseback and by buggy an average OF
hundred miles week in going from
church to church and making pastoral
visits. During his long paStorate he re-
ceived numerous calls to other churches,
some of them most prosperous and de-
sirable, but he felt that his work was
among these people, and he remained
with them until the end.
His last visit to Shepherdstown was
when Synod met here last August. The
friends of forty years ago greeted HIM
with the greatest affection, and to the old
boys and girls who were his companions
when he lived here he was still the same
lovable "Will" Smith. He was the guest
while here of Mr.. and Mrs. B. S. Pendle-
ton, friends for many years. An eSpec-
ial pleasure to him was visit to Antietam
Battlefield NEAR here. He remembered
the battle we'll. and told many interesting
incidents of the great fight.
Mr.. Smith is survived by his wife, who
was Miss Alice Kiger, -of Salem, Va, to
whom he was married soon after he fin
ished his theological course; two sons,
Rev. Frisby Smith, missionary OF the
Lutheran Church now stationed at Toxic,
Japan, and Edwin Smith, student at
Roanoke College. Salem; three daughters,
Mrs. REV. James Richards and Miss Han
nah Smith, of McCooal, Nebraska, and
Mrs. Charles Rosenberger, of Frederick
county, Va. The funeral takes place to-
day in St. Johns Church, at Bloom, in
terment in Mount Hebron Cemetery,
Winchester.