WILLIAM N. BUCKLES

1834-1908

Carter County, which touches North Carolina, and is one of the extreme eastern counties of Tennessee, was the birthplace, of William N. Buckles. Here he was born September 24, 1834. Just one month, to a day, after he had reached his majority he was baptized into the fellowship of the Old Holston Baptist Church, Tennessee. Two years later his mother church licensed him to preach, and in 1862 he was ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry. At the very beginning of the Civil War he enlisted, belonging to First Company K, Third Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers, being under Colonel John C. Vaughan. To the end of the War, either as chaplain or as colporteur or as private soldier, Mr. Buckles served, filling the place to which duty seemed to point. When the War was over, realizing that he needed better preparation for the work of the ministry, he entered, although he was now over thirty years of age, the Academy at Bluntville, Tenn., and remained there as a student for three sessions. In 1868 he was married to Miss Seraphine Pyle, of Sullivan County, Tennessee. This proved a blessed union, marked by happiness and love. Four children were born, three of whom, with their mother, survived the husband and father.

For some time Mr. Buckles wrought as pastor and colporteur in East Tennessee, serving a number of churches and organizing the Holston Valley Church, which body he led in the building of a house of worship. In 1876 he came to Virginia, where the rest of his life

was spent. He located in Russell County and became pastor of the Lebanon, Bethel, and Honaker Churches. On to the end of his life his service was in the New Lebanon Association, his residence being part of the time at or near Bristol. Before the close of his work came, the other churches to which he had ministered were Lewis Creek, Oak Grove, Castlewood, Pleasant Hill, Green Valley, Liberty Hill, and Cedar Grove. "For a number of years he was the moderator of the New Lebanon Association, and wisely led his brethren in the work." In the gloaming of Sunday, February 2, 1908, he fell on sleep. The following Tuesday afternoon, in the presence of a multitude of friends, the funeral services were conducted by Rev. T. A. Hall. The body was laid to rest in the Bethel Cemetery (Russell County), a great company of people being present. Concerning this servant of God, Rev. C. E. Stuart, in his obituary, says: "In this day of glorious harvest we can never thank God too much for these pioneer missionaries of the cross."

MORTON BRYAN WHARTON

1839-1908

Although the larger part of the ministry of Morton Bryan Wharton was given to other sections of the country, it must not be forgotten that he was born and educated in Virginia, and that here he held, for some eight years, an important pastorate. No one could look upon the picture of Dr. Wharton, in the Minutes of the Southern Baptist Convention for 1909, without being impressed by the signs of intellectual power in his face; the brow was high and broad, the mouth well formed and clear cut, and the flash of the eyes brilliant and strong. At this same meeting of the Convention, which was held in Louisville, Ky., an address on his life and work was delivered by Rev. Dr. J. A. French. The official relationship that he bore to the Convention was that, in 1873, at Mobile, Ala., he was one of the secretaries. This son of Virginia, who was most gifted and versatile, was born in Culpeper County, April 5, 1839, being the son of Malcom Hart Wharton and Susan Roberts Colvin. At the age of eighteen he was con verted, at Alexandria, Va., and united with the Baptist Church of that city. In October, 1858, he entered Richmond College, where he remained through the session of 1860-61. His first pastorate was at Bristol, Tenn., where he labored for two years. During the other years of the War he was evangelist in the army, under Rev. A. E. Dickinson, and, later, agent in Georgia to collect funds for the Virginia Army Colportage Board. At this period of his life he was also, for a time, the agent of the Domestic and Indian Mission Board, of the Southern Baptist Convention.

After the War he became pastor of Eufaula, a church he was destined to serve a second time at the end of his life. Here in his two pastorates he erected two handsome meeting-houses, and here has been set up, since his death, in front of the building in which he preached, a monument of him. His other pastorates were Walnut Street, Louisville, Ky.; First Church (Green Street). Augusta, Ga.; First Church, Montgomery, Ala.; Freemason Street, Norfolk, Va. In this period, however, there were several seasons when other work than that of the pastor and the preacher engaged his powers.

He

himself for some years to an agency for the gave Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his field being Georgia. Gifted as a speaker, with eloquence, humor, and pathos, he must have been well-nigh irresistible in his appeals for this school of the prophets. Although of compact build, and apparently vigorous physically, more than once he turned aside from the heavy pressure of the pastorate because of broken health. Once, having purchased the Christian Inder, he filled the editor's chair. Another break in his pastoral career was when he spent several years in Germany as United States Consul at Sonneberg.

On August 6, 1881, he reached Sonneberg and began his work as consul. He described the duties of a consul, at an interior town, as consisting "chiefly in the certification of invoices, notarial acts, issuing passports, extending protection to American citizens, looking after property of American citizens who die abroad, and writing monthly reports, to the Secretary of State at Washington, on agricultural and commercial and other interests. designed for publication by the State Department." The shipments from Sonneberg, at that time, ran up to the Sum of nearly two millions of dollars, and consisted mainly of dolls, toys, musical instruments, china, glass

ware, hosiery, paints, and drugs. There were in the town and the surrounding villages over two hundred factories. While the consul's office was at Sonneberg, his residence was at Coburg. This city, with its castle, palaces, parks, mausoleum, and schools and private homes, Dr. Wharton described as the "most beautiful place I have ever seen." While here, he had services every Sunday in his own residence and instructed the children in the Sunday school. His purpose in accepting this position as consul was not to abandon the ministry but to secure a season of rest, to educate his children, and to see Europe under favorable circumstances.

In his brief pastorate of less than a year at Augusta he succeeded Dr. James Dixon. During these ten months some seventy were received into the church, the meetinghouse was renovated and enlarged, and two new churches were constituted. At the rededication of the improved church-house Dr. J. A. Broadus was the preacher, his subject being "The Woman of Samaria, or Worship.' While pastor at Augusta he baptized Rev. J. Q. Adams. When he went to Augusta the understanding was that, as his health was not good, he was not to preach but once a day. As a matter of fact, however, he preached twice every Sunday while there. His health did not improve in Augusta, so he resigned to go to Germany. An idea of the great energy of the man is secured when it is seen that, though far from at his best, he did so much.

Dr. Wharton was an author, and had the poet's vision and power of expression. When the Southern Baptist Convention met in Norfolk, Va., and was holding its sessions at the Freemason Street Church, where Dr. Wharton was pastor, he made the address of welcome. This address was an original poem, and its delivery, what with Dr. Wharton's musical voice and magnetic presence, charmed the audience. One of his books, "Pictures from