In Memory of Mike Hinton

I paused and waited for some more appropriate person to write this memorial, to not rush ahead of someone better suited for the task. But like Elihu of old, “the spirit within me constraineth me.” About 4:30 a.m. one morning I had to get up and set down some thoughts in writing.

Samuel Michael “Mike” Hinton was born May 8, 1943, in Washington, DC, to Grover L. Hinton and Violet Denson. He was a grandson of the legendary Sacred Harp singer, teacher, and composer Thomas Jackson Denson. The Denson family created the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, and revised the 1911 James Edition of The Sacred Harp. Outliving his cousins Amanda Brady and Richard Mauldin, Mike was the last Denson family member serving the publishing company. He passed from the walks of this life at age 82, on Friday, July 18, 2025.

Mike had a long-term military career (retired from the U. S. Army Medical Service Corps, with the rank of Colonel), and became very active in the Sacred Harp Community after his retirement. Mike traveled widely and became a great and much-loved ambassador of good will for the Sacred Harp tradition. I believe that the addition of the words “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound” to No. 146 in the 2012 Cooper Edition of The Sacred Harp rose as a good-will response to that kind of good will displayed by Mike. He liked add those words to the song when he led Hallelujah.

Among other things, Mike Hinton served as Chair of the Texas State Convention (1996, 2015), the Southwest Texas Convention (2008), Rusk County Convention (2016), and Coker Singing Convention (2008-2011). Around 2012 the Coker Singing held at Mike’s church was “consolidated” into the Texas State Convention, which singing’s location was moved to the Coker Church in San Antonio, Texas. Mike was treasurer of the Texas State Convention at least for 2020-2024 (according to minutes where I found it mentioned, but possibly longer). In 2002 Mike Hinton was elected President of the Board of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, and served in that capacity until his passing in July of 2025. In 2018, during Mike’s tenure as president, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company Board of Directors unanimously approved a revision of their 1991 Edition of The Sacred Harp (which will become available in September 2025).

I admired (even envied) Mike’s ability to prepare and present a moving memorial lesson. We asked him a number of times to conduct the memorial lesson at the East Texas Convention. Now he becomes a subject in rather than a presenter of our lessons. Surely some lessons will include that song he so loved:

And let this feeble body fail,
And let it faint and die;
My soul shall quit this mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high.

Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again,
In that eternal day.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

And I’ll sing hallelujah,
And you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah,
When we arrive at home.

Friend, you have arrived at home. We’ll keep singing “Hallelujah” down here, knowing you are singing “Hallelujah” up there – where you may now say with experience rather than hope, “My Father’s house on high, Is my eternal home.”

Please remember Mike’s family in your prayers, and remember him when you sing.

Hallelujah

My Eternal Home

Additional information: Mike will be buried with military honors at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery on Wednesday, August 6th at 11:00 a.m. A Celebration of Life Service will take place at Coker Global Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday, October 4th at 10:00 a.m. A reception at Coker will follow this service. See Obituary.

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Note: In 2016 Mike served as Chair of the Rusk County Singing Convention, a combined Christian Harmony-Cooper Sacred Harp Convention. I also remember Mike serving as Chair of the Smith Memorial Convention, but did not find the records to show what year or years.

Setting up stones

Joshua 4:6 … What mean ye by these stones? (Read Joshua Chapter 4.)

Joshua chapters 3 and 4 recount the Israelites passing over the Jordan River into the promised land. A momentous and meaningful lesson flows from the account of a simple act of removing twelve stones from the Jordan River. God opened up the Jordan River as he had done with the Red Sea (4:23; 3:16). The water coming down the river stood up in a heap. The waters flowing downstream separated from the standing water and passed on to the Salt Sea. The Israelites passed over Jordan into Canaan on dry ground (3:17). Joshua, as commanded by the LORD, chose one man from each of the twelve tribes to bring twelve stones out of Jordan (4:2-5, 8).[i]

These stones abided as a memorial of testimony (4:7). Joshua “pitched” the stones where they “pitched” for the night, at Gilgal (4:19-20).[ii] The memorial magnified Joshua’s leadership (4:14). Moses is dead (1:2). The power of God rests on Joshua (1:9). The people following God must follow Joshua (1:16-17).

The memorial marked the site of their first encampment (4:19). In Gilgal they set up these stones.[iii] In Gilgal they camped; they observed the Passover (5:10), they ate the old corn of the land (5:11), and they saw the disappearance of the manna (5:12). Joshua continued to camp there.[iv]

The memorial marked God’s marvelous miracle (4:22). They arrived in the land by means of God’s sovereign might (4:24). What the Canaanites have heard (and will hear) strikes fear in their hearts (2:11; 5:1; 9:24; 10:2). Now they will hear more! “…when all the kings … heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan … their heart melted…”

These stones provided a motivation to testify. The “oddly placed” stones would incite questions (4:6, 21).[v] Later, children, grandchildren, and descendants would arrive on the scene who had not experienced the crossing of Jordan – had not seen the stones being placed. They would see the stones and ask, “What mean these stones?” The “oddly placed” stones would invite answers (4:7, 22). “I’m glad you asked…Let me tell you…Those stones came out of the Jordan River when God dried it up!” “Oh, by the way, that was not the first time God did something like that. Let me tell you about when Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt…God revealed his power then, too!”

These stones suggest the value of providing means of testimony. When our children do not remember or know an experience in which the Lord worked in a marvelous way, some “stones” we have set up might cause them to ask, “What does that mean?” When we forget to keep narrating the wonderful experiences God has brought up through, some “stones” we have set up might cause us to need to relate it again. What tangible reminders do we have around the house, in our yards, in our lives?

Are we “setting up stones” that will generate curiosity in our children, our grandchildren, our churches, our communities? Or are we forgetting to provide a lasting testimony?[vi] Are we providing answers to those who ask up about “the stones” we have set up? May God help us.

• Joel 1:3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
• 2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

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[i] There seems to have been stones set up in Jordan as well, 4:9. “…there was a double monument to perpetually commemorate Israel’s passing through the place of judgment: the one in the midst of the Jordan, the other in their new camping-ground at Gilgal. What anointed eye can fail to see in them the two signs and memorials which Christ has instituted to symbolize that, as the result of their faith in His atoning death, His people have not only passed through death and judgment, but are now united to a risen Christ and are ‘alive unto God’! .... ‘Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death’ ... Christian baptism is designed to symbolize the believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, as well as being his personal profession that he is dead to the world and has resolved to walk in newness of life. … The Lord’s Supper also, while it celebrates our passage with Christ through death, yet it is with the added blessedness and triumph of being now on the resurrection side of judgment.” (Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings in Joshua, 1945).
[ii] To erect or set up (a tent or camp, for example); to set in a fixed or definite place or position.
[iii] Gilgal means a rolling or rolling away. “And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.” Joshua 5:9
[iv] For example, Joshua 9:6; 10:6, 43; 14:6.
[v] By “oddly placed” I mean something that is different and far enough from what they generally expect so as to raise the level of curiosity. “Well-placed” might be a better term. The stones were in an advantageous position. They made the descendants of Israel wonder.

[vi] Some of the testimonies can outlive us! Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

In memory

Funeral services will be held today (Friday, December 13, 2024) for Phillip Jason Chapman, at 12 noon at the South Union Missionary Baptist Church (159 FM 997, Daingerfield, Texas). Interment will follow at the Holleman Cemetery in the Oak Flat Community of Rusk County, Texas. He was born September 4, 1970 and passed away on December 9, 2024, at the age of 54.

Phillip is a Holleman family descendant, and served on the board of the Holleman Cemetery Association. He is survived by the wife and two children, his parents, and a host of friends and relatives.

Christian’s Death Desirable

“Christian’s Death Desirable.”

“A Sermon preached by Rev. W. Franklin Kone, on Sunday March 10th, 1878, at the 1st Baptist Church, Huntsville, Ala. In memory of the late James B. Strode.”

From The Huntsville Independent, Thursday, March 14, 1878, page 2.

Text.—I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Phil., I,23.

“No instinct is more universal than the love of life…But life has its period as well as its obligation. These over, our love of it should no longer attach us to this world, or render death repulsive. It is our privilege to be prepared, and by divine grace, able then, cheerfully to welcome the pale messenger which calls us from this to a better world.”

Kone gave the text as quoted “by the deceased a few days before his death.” He made four main points about “death to the Christian” in the memorial sermon.

1. Death to the Christian will soon become desirable on a mere physical account.
2. Death to the Christian is desirable because knowledge to a greater extent than possible is necessary to the perfection of our being.
3. Death to the Christian is desirable because in this life his happiness is incomplete.
4. Death to the Christian is desirable because in this life he is morally and spiritually imperfect, and must look to another for full deliverance.

“Death will sever the last of chains, and give us perfect freedom.”

Then who would live alway away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,
Where rivers of pleasure upon the bright plains
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns.
There saints of all ages in harmony meet,
There Saviour and brethren transported to greet,
And the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll
And the smiles of the Lord are the feast of its soul.

Mutual Encouragement

Baptist preacher Joseph Swain wrote “Mutual Encouragement.” It first appeared in his Walworth Hymns (London: J. Matthews, 1792), Hymn XLVII, beginning on page 56. It consists of three stanzas in 7s. meter (8 lines). The last two lines of each stanza encourages the believer to look beyond the sins, snares, fears, and foes, to hear the joyful news, “Child, your Father calls—Come home!” The hymn has passed down relativity intact, appearing in such American Baptist hymnals as The Psalmist (Supplement, 62), and The Primitive Hymns (397).[i]  Walworth Hymns suggests it be sung with Bath Abbey Tune.[ii] Bath Abbey was composed by Benjamin Milgrove (1731-1808) and published in 1781 as “Hymn X” in Twelve Hymns and a Favourite Lyric-Poem written by Dr. Watts. Milgrove served as precentor and organist at Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel in Bath, England. The tune was perhaps first called Bath Abbey in John Rippon’s A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (147). Apparently the suggested tunes in Swain’s hymn book were those used in the Walworth Chapel.

1. Brethren, while we sojourn here,
Fight we must, but should not fear;
Foes we have, but we’ve a Friend,
One that loves us to the end;
Forward, then, with courage go;
Long we shall not dwell below;
Soon the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”

2. In the way a thousand snares
Lie, to take us unawares;
Satan, with malicious art,
Watches each unguarded part:
But, from Satan’s malice free,
Saints shall soon victorious be;
Soon the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”

3. But of all the foes we meet,
None so oft mislead our feet,
None betray us into sin,
Like the foes that dwell within.
Yet let nothing spoil our peace,
Christ will also conquer these;
Then the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”

Joseph Swain was born at Birmingham, England in 1761. His parents died while he was very young, and here he was apprenticed to an engraver. He later removed to London to work with his brother. He was convicted of sin and converted in 1782. John Rippon baptized Swain on May 11, 1783. A newly-formed Baptist congregation at Walworth called Swain to pastor in December 1791, and he was ordained to the ministry February 8, 1792. His pastorate here was barely over four years, ended by his death April 14, 1796. He was survived by his widow and four children. It was while pastor here at Walworth that Swain compiled and published Walworth Hymns. He also published these works:

• A Collection of Poems on Several Occasions, London, 1781
• Redemption, a Poem in Five Books, London, 1789
• Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, London, 1791
• Walworth Hymns, with a supplement, London, 1794
• A Pocket Companion and Directory, London, 1794
• Redemption, a Poem in Eight Books, London, 1797 (published posthumously)[iii]

Joseph Swain is buried at the Bunhill Fields Burying Ground. His gravestone, dislodged by a bomb during World War II, now resides between markers for Daniel Defoe and William Blake.

Other hymns by Joseph Swain include: “How sweet, how heavenly is the sight” (XXV, Walworth), “Love is the sweetest bud that blows” (VI, Walworth), “O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight” (Redemption, in Five Books), “On earth the song begins” (XXXVII, Walworth), and “Pilgrims we are, to Canaan bound” (LII, Walworth).

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[i] Primitive Hymns maintains Swain’s title (Mutual Encouragement), and had one typographical error (“conrage” for “courage”). The Psalmist changes the title to” The Christian Soldier Encouraged.”
[ii] Bath Abbey was recommended in the Baptist collections of Swain, Benjamin Beddome, and John Rippon, and probably others. Matthew Spring wrote about Milgrove in “Benjamin Milgrove, the musical ‘Toy man’, and the ‘guittar’ in Bath 1757–1790,” Early Music, Volume 41, Issue 2, May 2013, pp. 317–329. This tune is presented in shaped notes in A Compilation of Genuine Church Music (208). [Thanks to Ethan Hardy and Wade Kotter for information about this tune.]
[iii] This book contains a memoir of Joseph Swain’s life.

In memory of Wiley Palmer Jones

The writing below is an excerpt from the funeral discourse for Wiley Palmer Jones (1844-1912), by Methodist minister George S. Wyatt. Wiley Jones’s brother Milton Henry Jones, Jr. was a Baptist preacher here in Rusk County, Texas. When I was a child I went to church with Ophelia Jones Woolverton, and as an adult Eugene Lorenzo Jones was once my pastor – niece and nephew of Wiley Jones, respectively. Wiley Jones’s singing “and as I pass along, I’ll sing a Christian song, I hope to live forever” became the impetus and inspiration leading to my tune Wiley, which I named in honor of him. I want to preserve the discourse information and make it easy to find. All below is from Wyatt’s discourse.

A FUNERAL DISCOURSE

ON THE DEATH OF

WILEY PALMER JONES

DELIVERED BY

REV. G. S. WYATT

Childress, Texas, March 12, 1912

TEXT: And he was a good man and just – Luke 23:50

Other scriptures read – Psalm XC. I Cor. XV.20-58

SONGS SUNG

Asleep in Jesus

Oh, Come Angel Band

I Saw a Wayworn Traveler

The one whose memory we come to honor today, Bro. Wiley P. Jones, was born in Houston County, near Crockett, September 12, 1844. He was raised in Rusk County and moved with his father to Johnson County in 1860. He enlisted in the Confederate army in the company of Capt. W. G. Veal, Parson’s regiment, in 1861 and was discharged in 1862 and shortly hereafter re-enlisted in Capt. Samuel Carruthers’ company, Gurley’s regiment. He embraced religion in the army in 1863 and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Auburn, Texas, in 1865, soon after the close of the war.  He was married to Miss Harriet Anderson Gilmore of Ellis County, Texas, on January 28th, 1866. From this union there were three children, two of whom, our highly esteemed and respected townsmen, J. H. P. and Will P. Jones, survive.

While living at Cleburne with his father-in-law, John P. Gilmore, they made a trip together to dispose of some horses, taking cattle in return, and had some very thrilling experiences in imagining that they were being attacked by Indians, all of which proved to be “False Alarms.” He gave his experiences of this trip in a write-up under the caption “False Alarms,” years later. I quote just one paragraph from this entertaining paper: “I want to remark right here that we had recently passed through the four year’s struggle between the states, during which time we had often stood face to face with the enemy where every inch of the ground was strongly contested: had often stood as a lone sentinel by the roadside where we counted the enemy on the march when they numbered up into the thousands; had also lain in line of battle in fair view of the enemy as the balls and shells played their part in keeping us interested, but during all these four years of war, we don’t remember ever to have felt so lonesome and nervous as we did at times while we were standing guard around our stock, with the constant expectation of an attack by the Red-Skins. We, somehow, had learned to regard them with a holy horror.”

From Johnson County he moved to Acton in Hood County, and was in business there for a number years, where he lead in the work of a Sunday School, and was also a leader in church music, using the old “Sacred Harp,” the songs of which moved with wonderful power the souls of the people and often in his last sickness, when his mind would wander, he would whistle, when he could no longer talk, some of these old tunes especially this,

“and as I pass along, I’ll sing a Christian song, I hope to live forever.”

He repeated the first verse of “Asleep In Jesus,” and asked his wife to repeat for him the other verses, as he could not speak them.

He moved from Acton to Young County when it was a wild unsettled country and engaged in the stock business. He also taught school in order that his boys might have advantages in their young days, and organized the first Sunday school that was organized in old Eliasville. He moved from there to Stephens County, where he remained for only a short time, moving to Hall County in 1888 and to Childress County in 1889, which would make him a citizen of Childress County for twenty years, save the eight years he had made his temporary home in Matador. In Childress he was a County Judge for two terms, was also in business – running a general merchandise and exchange business, in which our fellow townsman, J. H. P. Jones, received his training for the banking business. It was here that a great sorrow came into his life, the death of his first wife, who died January 19th, 1901. He was married again to Mrs. Lou Humes on August 11th, 1901, with whom he lived most happy till the day of his death. He also organized, and was the first Superintendent of the first Methodist Sunday school in Childress. These are but the salient points in the history of this great life, the details of which would make a very remarkable record. He died about 12:35 P.M., March 11, 1912.

He went out as a child falling to sleep in the arms of its mother, without a struggle, just a perceptible shortening of the breath, then on long breath, and all was over here; no, not over here. We say he is dead, and yet he lives. I have no doubt should some inhabitant from another world drop down to ours just as the sun was hiding himself behind the western hills, as he looked upon him disappearing from view, he would say “Gone, gone forever.”  But not so.  He shines on the myriad of stars in the heavens above, and still more beautifully in the moon, the queen of the night.  So with our dear brother, he is dead but lives, lives in the lives of his children, of his wife, and of his friends, and will live on till the end of time, gathering in influence and power until the might river created by his blessed life shall empty itself in the fathomless ocean of eternity.

John Harvey Grime, obituary

 

Baptist and Reflector, September 25, 1941, page 5

(you should be able to click on and enlarge this image)

Memorial Day

It is my understanding that Memorial Day is specifically a day for American soldiers who died while serving in the U.S. military services. Nevertheless, for Memorial Day we put flags on graves of all Veterans buried at Holleman Cemetery. Find-A-Grave lists 423 burials. (However, there are a number of unmarked/unknown burials.) Approximately 10% of the known burials are Veterans. We placed flags at the tombs of 44 Veterans. The oldest veteran is Josiah John Holleman who served in the War of 1812. I believe the youngest might be those who served in the Vietnam era, thought there may be some who served after that.

• W. M. “Punkin” Bane
• Hubbard Columbus Barlow
• Harold B. Blanton
• Al Leon “Goose” Chapman
• Clifford Lee Chapman
• William Maderson Chapman
• Colquitt “Buss” Clark
• Leon Clark
• James “Ernie” Forson
• Charles Elmer Fuller
• William M. Gardner
• Daniel Clyde Garrett
• Robert O. Goeth
• Gustave Hubbert “Gus” Ham
• Houston Edward Ham
• Oscar Lee Ham
• Audie Holleman
• Homer Leander Holleman
• Josiah John Holleman
• Josiah John “Joe” Holleman Jr.
• Moody Valentine Holleman
• William Benjamin “Ben” Holleman
• Michael Jerry “Mike” Johnson
• Lacy Allen Koonce
• Daniel Demp Mashburn
• Odis Mashburn
• Ray McGehee
• Herbert Parsons
• Elisha Byrd “Shaw” Pruitt
• Fritz Seligman
• Elmer James Shepard
• L. Beryl Shepard
• Victor Dewitt “Buster” Stephenson
• Calvin Coolidge Vaughn
• Charlie Leroy Vaughn
• John Junior Vaughn
• Thomas Steven Vaughn
• William Lewis Vaughn
• Jonathan E. Whitten
• Wesley Williams
• William Fred Woods
• Bill Moses Woolverton
• Jim David Woolverton

James Knox Polk “Jim” Scruggs is known to be buried somewhere in this cemetery, is a veteran, but his grave location is unknown. Elisha Pruitt does not have a marker, but is believed buried in the space beside his wife, where we place his flag.

Men from the community I know died in the War between the Northern and Southern states and are buried elsewhere are Jasper Edge, John Alexander Koonce, and maybe others. 

Many believe that his being gassed in World War I was a contributing factor in the death of Homer L. Holleman.

William H. Brackney, 1948 - 2022

On Tuesday I received an announcement from the American Baptist Historical Society about the death of William Henry “Bill” Brackney. He died in November, but prior to this e-mail I had seen no death announcement.

The ABHS e-mail mentions:

As the first person to hold the title of “Executive Director” of the American Baptist Historical Society, Rev. Dr. William H. Brackney left his indelible mark on the Society. (Earlier administrators bore the title of “Curator.”) During his tenure as Executive Director, ABHS became the permanent custodian of the records of the national boards of American Baptist Churches, USA, the Philadelphia Baptist Association, and the Freewill Baptist movement in North America. We can credit Bill Brackney with initiating the Archives Center at the ABCUSA headquarters at Valley Forge, PA. With the addition of ongoing exhibits at Green Lake, WI, ABHS expanded to three sites.

and

Bill’s numerable publications, projects that he spearheaded, and research were unmatched among Baptist historians.  His knowledge of Baptist history and the historians who study it was immense! Bill was very involved in the 2018 Rauschenbusch Conference that ABHS co-hosted with Mercer University and the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies. This jointly-sponsored conference was an example of collaborative work that Bill liked to organize.

William H. Brackney was the son of Samuel Harp Brackney, Jr. and Mildred Pointer. His brother, Kennard Samuel Brackney, was also a minister. William H. Brackney served as a pastor of both Baptist and United Methodist Churches, and was the author of over 40 books. He was also a long-time educator.

William Brackney’s academic career includes:

• Assistant Professor at Houghton College in Houghton, NY, USA
• Associate Professor of Church History at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, NY, USA
• Vice President, Dean, and Professor of History of Christianity at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Principal and Dean of Theology at McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University, in Hamilton, ON, Canada (1989-2000)
• Chair of the Department of Religion and Professor of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, TX, USA (2000-2006)
• Distinguished Professor and Chair in Christian Theology and Ethics at Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University, in Wolfville, NS, Canada (2006-2017)
• MacDonald Professor of Baptist Theology and Ethics at Carey Theological College, University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, BC, Canada (2017-2019)

His writings include:

• (1982) A Traveler’s Guide to American Baptist Historical Sites
• (1994) The Baptists
• (1998) Baptist Life and Thought: a Source Book
• (2006) Baptists in North America: an Historical Perspective
• (2008) Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education
• (2009) Historical Dictionary of the Baptists
• (2009) The A to Z of the Baptists
• (2012) Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity

Brackney obtained his higher education at the University of Maryland, College Park (BA), the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (MA), and the Temple University in Philadelphia (MA, PhD).

In 1986, William Bill Brackney was born January 13, 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia. He died on November 13, 2022 in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada.

In Memory of Albert Wardin

In July of 2016, I posted 3 tributes for 3 historians. At the time, one of the three was still living, Albert Wardin.

Albert William Wardin Jr. died November 14, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee, at 94 years of age. He was born in Portland, Oregon March 11, 1928, the son of Albert W. Wardin, Sr., and Anna Klemm. He spent a career in religious education at Western Baptist Seminary, Judson Baptist College, and Belmont College. He married Dorothy Lucile Peak in 1969.

Albert W. Wardin was an experienced and important Baptist historian, and a prolific writer in the field. Of all the Baptist historians I knew, he had the best understanding of the different groups of Baptists in the U.S.A, who they were, where they came from, and how they were related. He contributed several books in this field alone, and others in the broader field of Baptist history.

From the 1960s into the 2000s, Wardin produced many articles and books, including:

• A History of Judson Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, 1911-1986 (1986)
• A Sixty-Fifth Anniversary History of the Oregon North American Baptist Association (1961)
• Baptists Around The World: a Comprehensive Handbook (1995)
• Baptist Atlas (1980)
• Baptists in Oregon (1969)
• Belmont Mansion: the Home of Joseph and Adelicia Acklen (1981)
• Conservative Baptists of Oregon: a Twenty-Fifth Anniversary History (1973)
• Evangelical Sectarianism in the Russian Empire and the USSR: a Bibliographic Guide (1995)
• God’s Chosen Path: the Life of H. Franklin Paschall (2001)
• Gottfried F. Alf: Pioneer of the Baptist Movement in Poland (2003)
• On the Edge: Baptists and Other Free Church Evangelicals in Tsarist Russia, 1855-1917 (2013)
• Tennessee Baptists: a Comprehensive History, 1779-1999 (1999)
• The Heritage of the Wardin Family of Oregon (1986)

Dr. Wardin was a very gracious and helpful teacher who shared his knowledge with those who were interested. Beginning in the mid-1980s we corresponded by mail (the old-fashioned “snail mail”) and talked on the phone, as he tried to lead me along to understanding the taxonomy of the Baptists in the United States. I owe most of what I know about the subject to him.

Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due...

These little ones

Oh, the heartbreak to view these little faces.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

9 Things You May Not Know About Memorial Day

9 Things You May Not Know About Memorial Day, from History.com.

In May 1868, General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War. On Decoration Day, as Logan dubbed it, Americans should lay flowers and decorate the graves of the war dead “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

And since 2000, when the U.S. Congress passed legislation, all Americans are encouraged to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. local time.

In memory, Elder Pat Windham

Charles Patrick “Pat” Windham was born in Shelby County, Texas, November 1, 1934 to Laurie W. and Zelma Windham. He died February 6, 2022, at age 87, at his home in the Campti community of Shelby County.

For over fifty years, Brother Pat Windham followed his calling from Christ to be a preacher of the Gospel, including over 30 years spent as pastor of Center Missionary Baptist Church in Center, Texas. He spent 67 years married to his lovely wife Janice Ware Windham – who predeceased him by one week. 

Brother Pat was a great blessing, encouragement, and help to me when I, a young wet-behind-the-ears preacher, met him in the mid-1980s. I preached several times at Center, and he preached for us many times at Old Prospect. We did not spend as much time together in our later years, as God’s Providence would have it. I did have the opportunity to hold a weeks’ meeting with them at Center in the late 2010s. The last time Brother Pat preached at Old Prospect was in October 2014, when he was the main speaker at our 40th anniversary service. At that time, he was already having some issues that racked his body with pain. All at Old Prospect gladly testify that the Lord made Brother Pat a blessing to them.

May the Lord bless this family, who has suffered two losses within a week, with much love and comfort.

Charles Patrick Windham | 1934 - 2022 | Obituary

In memory, Janice Windham

In memory of Sister Janice Windham, 1938-2022

Lela Janice Ware Windham passed away on the Lord’s Day, January 30, 2022. Her funeral services were held at the Watson Funeral Home, Friday, February 4, 2022. She will be greatly missed by her family and a host of friends. May the Lord bless the family.

Watson Funeral Home Obituary

Happy Memorial Day

...with special honor to those who had to study the art of war.

I could fill Volumes with Descriptions of Temples and Palaces, Paintings, Sculptures, Tapestry, Porcelaine, &c. &c. &c. -- if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The Science of Government it is my Duty to study, more than all other Sciences: the Art of Legislation and Administration and Negotiation, ought to take Place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other Arts. I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.

Excerpt from a letter from then ambassador (later president) John Adams in Paris, France to his wife Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780

In memory, Burl Russell (1923-2020)

Funeral services for Burl Russell were held today at the Callaway-Allee Funeral Home in Crockett, Texas, at 10:00 a.m. His body was committed to the ground in graveside services at the cemetery in Huntington, Texas at 2:00 p.m. Burl’s son Mike preached the memorial. Sacred Harp singers sung 507b The Glory of The Cross, 341 The Lone Pilgrim, and 282 I’m Going Home.[i] Other special songs I associate with Burl are 164 Duane Street and 75 I Would See Jesus. This latter tune is the one he used to sing the text “Dressed uniform his soldiers are” – The gospel uniform, Hymn No. 184 in Benjamin Lloyd’s Primitive Hymns. I learned several songs from Burl that were traditionally used with Lloyd’s hymn texts.

Burl served for many years as the chairman of the annual Nancy Amelia “Granny” Russell Sacred Harp Singing at Little Hope Primitive Baptist Church near Huntington, Texas. If I remember correctly, he has been chairman since the death of his cousin, Louie Smith, in 1998. This singing began many years ago as a celebration of his grandmother’s birthday. At the singing last November Burl was present (all day, at age 95) – though he left his son in charge – along with four generations of his family. I remember one of Burl’s singing school teachers that he mentioned – Mr. C. A. Bond. He also felt greatly indebted Mr. R. J. Behannon, and all the singers in his family, of course.

At the time of his passing, Burl Russell was age 96 and had lived in Austonio, Texas for many years. He was born December 7, 1923 in Huntington Angelina County, and passed away Friday, January 24, 2020 in Community Care Nursing Home in Crockett, Houston County. Joshua Russell and Jennie Clark were his parents. He served in World War II in the United States Air Force as a member of the 51st Air Corp. Burl owned and operated the White Rock Nursery for 55 years, which he purchased from fellow Sacred Harp singer George Jeffus. He was a member of the Nurserymen Convention, and served on the Farm Bureau Board of Directors for 40 years.

Burl is survived by three children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a great host of friends and relatives.  His wife, Margie Beth Hayes Russell, preceded him in death in 2009.

Online condolences may be made at www.callawayallee.com.

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[i] Burl is the gentleman seated in the lower left of this The Glory of the Cross video. I hope to find online a video of Burl leading, but have not as of yet.

Have a Blessed Memorial Day

Yon marble minstrel’s voiceless stone

In deathless song shall tell,

When many a vanquished ago has flown,

The story how ye fell;

Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter’s blight,

Nor Time’s remorseless doom,

Shall dim one ray of glory’s light

That gilds your deathless tomb.

From Bivouac of the Dead, by Theodore O’Hara

“On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”

Goodbye, friend of many, friend of mine

About this time yesterday at lot of folks gathered at the Autry Funeral Home in Jacksonville, Texas to say good-bye to an old friend, Campbell Barnwell Anderson III. Many did not know his first name was Campbell, or that he was the third. (And I guess I only knew because of the genealogist in me.) He was better known as Barnwell, C. B., Elder C. B. Anderson, or Rev. C. B. Anderson. To me he was usually “Brother Anderson,” unless I was addressing a letter to him in which I used “Elder” (which he preferred over “Reverend”). Brother Anderson was someone I knew most of my life – in early life because he was a shape note singer and we attended lots of those singings! I really came to know him, though, as an adult who not only had singing, but also preaching and history in common as well. We would compare notes when able, and he graciously agreed to read and write the Foreword for my book Materials Toward a History of Feet Washing among the Baptists. 

Brother Anderson was a Christian gentleman, a powerful preacher, a scholar, and a lover & teacher of history (at Jacksonville College). He was a man of gargantuan labour under difficult physical adversity. He was afflicted with polio at the age of four. He attributed this to God’s Providence to make him who he was to be. In 1957 he and his wife left their native land to move some 450-500 miles to attend the BMAA Seminary in Jacksonville – doubtless unknowing that they would spend the rest of their lives there.

Three of his co-labourers – Edwin Crank, David Moore, and Wayne Thomspon – spoke at the service. We sang five of his favorite songs (though he had many more favorites). We began with Amazing Grace and concluded with How Firm a Foundation. In between, we sang We’re Marching to Zion (Robert Lowry), Someone to Meet Me (Marty Phillips), and I Can Hear Them Singing Over There (Albert E. Brumley).

His body was laid to rest in the Resthaven Cemetery, to await its resurrection. One former student wrote on his celebration wall – “While we plod through this world discovering how the cow ate the cabbage, Brother Anderson has shed those braces and is walking freely down the streets of gold.”

Remember his wife, Sister Annabelle Anderson, as she finishes life’s journey without her constant companion of the past 63 years.

A note from his obituary: “Rather than customary condolences, gifts may be made to Texas Southern Gospel School of Music, 305 Trailwood Drive, Crockett, TX 75835; Jacksonville Baptist College 105 B.J. Albritton Drive Jacksonville, Texas 75766; or a charity of your choice.”

In memory

My wife’s oldest brother passed away this morning at 8:15 a.m. at the UT Health Center in Tyler, Texas. He possibly suffered a heart attack on Sunday. His obituary (with a few mistakes not yet corrected at 4:50 p.m. but may be by the time you read this) can be seen here:

Rickey Hunt (1957-2019)

Pearly White City

The words and music of The Pearly White City were written in 1902 by Arthur Forrest Ingler (1873-1935).[i] The hymn paints a wonderful picture of heaven from the book of Revelation – a “holy and beautiful” place for which the God’s people long. Biblical references or allusions include Revelation 1:9; 5:8-10; 14:13; 21:2; 21:4; 21:18; 22:3-5; and 22:15. According to some sources, this song was first introduced at the Metropolitan Church Association in Chicago, Illinois. The Metropolitan Church Association was a Holiness reaction within the Methodist Church against the move toward the Social Gospel.  The hymn looks to heaven, the holy city that John saw—the city of God, rather than the cities of the earth.  The rich and satisfied may find their delights in the cities of this earth, but the poor and afflicted saints of God find their joy in “watching, waiting, and longing, for the white city that’s soon coming down.”

1. There’s a holy and beautiful city

Whose builder and ruler is God;

John saw it descending from heaven,

When Patmos, in exile, he trod;

Its high, massive wall is of jasper,

The city itself is pure gold;

And when my frail tent here is folded,

Mine eyes shall its glory behold.

Chorus:

In that bright city, pearly white city,

I have a mansion, an harp, and a crown;

Now I am watching, waiting, and longing,

For the white city that’s soon coming down.

2. No sin is allowed in that city

And nothing defiling nor mean;

No pain and no sickness can enter,

No crepe on the doorknob is seen;

Earth’s sorrows and cares are forgotten,

No tempter is there to annoy;

No parting words ever are spoken,

There’s nothing to hurt or destroy.

3. No heartaches are known in that city,

No tears ever moisten the eye;

There’s no disappointment in heaven,

No envy and strife in the sky;

The saints are all sanctified wholly,

They live in sweet harmony there;

My heart is now set on that city,

And some day its blessings I’ll share.

4. My loved ones are gathering yonder,

My friends too are passing away,

And soon I shall join their bright number,

And dwell in eternity’s day;

They’re safe now in glory with Jesus,

Their trials and battles are past.

They overcame sin and the devil,[ii]

They’ve reached that fair city at last.

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[i] The Pearly White City appeared as No. 14 in Burning Bush Songs, No. 1 (Chicago, IL: Metropolitan Church Association, 1902), under the title The City That’s Coming Down. “Rev. 21:2” was referenced under the title. Ingler was the musical editor of this book, and had other songs in it. The Joy-Bells of Canaan: or, Burning Bush Songs, No. 2 (Waukesha, WI: Metropolitan Church Association, 1905) contains at least nine songs written or arranged by Ingler.

[ii] Usually “tempter” in most modern printings.