Unknown County GaArchives Biographies.....Posey, Humphrey 1780 - 1846
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 3, 2005, 4:18 pm

Author: J. H. Campbell

HUMPHREY POSEY.

  This eminent servant of God was born in Henry county, Virginia, January 12th,
1780. While he was yet a child, his father removed to Burke county, North
Carolina, where young Posey spent his youth. His parents were pious, and
maintained an excellent character. His mother, especially, seems to have been a
person of superior natural endowments, of great decision of character, and of
indomitable perseverance, which traits of character were inherited by her son.
He was above the ordinary size, of powerful frame, of fine head and face, and
possessed great vivacity and activity both of body and mind. The books from
which his mother taught him to read, were the Psalter and New Testament, the
latter of which he had read through several times before he was seven years old.
He was enabled to acquire the merest rudiments of an English education, but this
small stock (to his credit be it recorded,) was greatly improved in after years,
so that he wrote and spoke more correctly than many who enjoyed superior
advantages. "Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and
intermeddleth with all wisdom." Proverbs, xvii. 1. The fact that he was brought
up on a farm, and had to "work for a living," contributed, no doubt, much to the
development of his body and mind.

  His first marriage occurred when be was quite young, being-only a little
upwards of twenty. Dr. Franklin would have commended him for wisdom. He was at
least wise in the fact that he selected a pious woman for a wife, of whom
Solomon declares, "she will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her
life." Proverbs xxxi. 12. Her maiden name was Lettice Jolly. He left a written
account of his religious experience, which, differs but little from that of many
others we have heard or read. The Holy Spirit seems to have striven with him
nearly two years before he was enabled to exercise saving faith, and even then
he “rejoiced with trembling." He was baptized into the fellowship of a Baptist
church in Union District, South Carolina, (where he had been teaching "little
old-field schools," as he expressed it,) on the llth of June, 1802. On coming up
out of the water, he had a strong desire to address the people, but the enemy of
his soul suggested, "you have gone too far already; for in a short time you will
turn out as bad as ever," and so he yielded, and said nothing. Yet the day of
his baptism he ever after regarded as one of the happiest days of his life. He
felt that he was inexpressibly honored in being permitted to follow his Saviour.
His first attempt at public exhortation and prayer, was during a camp-meeting at
the church where his membership was. (Such meetings were not uncommon among the
Baptists in those times.) He was licensed to preach in 1803, and in 1804 he
removed to Buncombe county, North Carolina, where he received ordination in
1805. He says, "I commenced preaching, of evenings, in a destitute settlement
near where I was teaching a school, on Cane creek. Brother James Whitaker and
myself drew up Articles of Faith, as we could not find any in the country; and
we collected all the members intending to be in the constitution, and examined
them on the articles. All being agreed, a Presbytery was invited to attend. The
Presbytery was pleased with our Articles of Faith, and so the church was
organized. Two of the members were, at the same time, ordained to the deacon's
office, and I was ordained to the work of the ministry. At the next meeting I
baptized four professed believers, and the work of the Lord continued for a
length of time. Some were received for baptism at almost every meeting."

  The Cherokee Indians were quite numerous in that "hill country," and it is
understood that Posey preached the gospel to them, as he had opportunity, while
Judson, Rice, and others, who subsequently became missionaries in the East, were
yet students at Williams' College. After Rice returned to America, he became
acquainted with Posey, and in the winter of 1817 he opened a correspondence with
him in regard to the practicability of missionary operations among those
Indians, which, resulted in Posey's appointment as missionary to the Cherokees.
The correspondence between them, and also that between Posey and Dr. Staughton,
then Corresponding Secretary of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, is highly
interesting, and does credit to all parties, but we have not room for it in this
brief sketch. A wide and effectual door was thus opened to him, and the long
cherished desire of his heart attained—to preach the gospel to the poor
Cherokees. All the energies of his great soul were forthwith enlisted in the
work, and in the two following years he formed a very general acquaintance with
the tribe, and also with the poor whites on the frontier. At a grand council of
the chiefs at New Town, in October, 1819, he obtained their hearty consent to
establish a school for their benefit at Valley Town. Soon thereafter, he visited
Washington City and secured an annual appropriation for said school, by which
its efficiency was greatly promoted. He received every encouragement and
attention from John C. Calhoun, and other distinguished men of that day. Such
was his presence and bearing that he invariably commanded respect from men who
were capable of appreciating true nobility. From Washington City he proceeded,
on horseback to Philadelphia, (railroads and steamboats were unknown in those
days,) where the churches and pastors received him with the utmost cordiality,
and where he awakened the most profound interest for "the poor Chorokees," as he
almost invariably styled them. The Saviour said, "As ye go, preach, saying the
kingdom of heaven is at hand." Posey followed this rule returning from
Philadelphia, as well as on his journey thither, and, indeed, on all the
journeys he made. As he went, he preached, and thus extended his acquaintance
and influence, at, the same time that he engaged the hearts and prayers of
increasing thousands in behalf of his "poor Cherokees." He renewed his visit to
Philadelphia in 1821, to consult with the Mission Board, and to obtain, supplies
and assistance for his Valley Town school, He succeeded in obtaining the needed
supplies, and engaged several missionaries and assistants to come to his aid:
Rev. Thomas Roberts and wife, Rev. Evan Jones and wife, Isaac Cleaver, a
blacksmith, John Farrier, a farmer, besides Miss Cleaver and Miss Lewis, who all
sailed from that city, laden with clothing for the poor Indian children, and all
other things necessary for a large missionary establishment. He continued his
connection with this mission until 1824. As some false rumors were circulated in
regard to the "waste of money and means” at this school, the French Broad
Association, at the request of Mr. Posey, appointed a committee to visit the
place and report the true state of the case. Only two of that committee acted,
but they reported: “That they had done as they were requested, and found the
school in a very flourishing condition, fully up to their highest expectations.
That, notwithstanding large sums of money had been expended for the
establishment, yet not unnecessarily; and that they, therefore, do heartily
recommend its promotion." The venerable deacon, James Whitaker, corroborates
this testimony, and says of Posey: "A more attentive and faithful man could not
be found, and the Cherokees universally esteem him as a good man. At the mention
of his name, those who still remain in the country will brighten up with a smile
on their countenances." In 1836, this school is reported in Allen's Register as
being in a flourishing condition, "and to this day the Cherokees have more
confidence in Humphrey Posey than they have in any other man living." And it can
be recorded, in truth, that Posey carried the Cherokees in his heart to the day
of his death. Those who heard him preach towards the close of his life, know
that Ins allusions to them were frequent and touching. No doubt, many of the red
men will be "stars in his crown of rejoicing in that day." How much better to
save them by the gospel than to destroy them by the sword.

  While on an agency for Valley Town school, in June, 1822, he visited Georgia,
and was present at the organization of the General Association of the State, now
denominated the Baptist State Convention. Upon leaving Valley Town, in 1824, he
resided temporarily in some one of the old counties in upper Georgia, and
finally located in what was then termed the Cherokee region of the State, where
he designed spending the balance of his life. Here he accepted an agency for
Hearn school, an important institution, but then deeply in debt, and likely to
be sold out by the sheriff. He was successful in this agency; relieved the
institution of its embarrassments, and it has since enjoyed much prosperity. His
first wife lived forty-two years, and was the mother of ten children. She died
in Walker county, in 1842. All her children gave evidence of genuine piety. This
was, of course, matter of fervent gratitude to God on the part of the parents.
He frequently mentioned it as such towards the close of his life. Two years, or
thereabouts, after the death of his first wife, he was married to Mrs. Jane
Stokes, of Newnan, Georgia, to which place he removed, and where he terminated
his earthly course. He served several churches in the vicinity as pastoral
supply, to acceptance and profit. Having been appointed at the preceding session
of the Western Association to preach the missionary sermon before that body, in
September, 1846, he came forward on the Lord's day and, with great liberty and
power, performed that service. It was the dying effort of a giant mind, and on a
subject that lay nearest his heart. Many, now living, cherish the remembrance of
that sermon, and will till their latest day. The effort, however, was too much
for his failing strength, for that afternoon he was attacked with a chill, which
was followed by high fever. From that attack he only partially recovered; his
health continued feeble, and after preaching his last sermon at Ebenezer church,
Coweta county, on the second Lord's day in December following, he was again
prostrated by disease, and fell asleep in Jesus on the 28th of that month. Death
had no terrors for him, but was welcomed as God's messenger, sent to release him
from the labors of earth and introduce him to the rest and refreshment of
heaven. The writer visited the good man's tomb, (which is covered by a neat
marble slab, with an appropriate inscription,) in company with several others,
some years ago. It is seven miles east of Newnan, in a retired spot. At the
request of his son, Rev. Otis Smith delivered a discourse in memory of him in
May following, at Newnan, and at the next session of the Western Association,
Rev. J. E. Dawson preached a similar sermon. "The memory of the just is blessed."

  The writer records it as his deliberate conviction that Humphrey Posey was,
naturally, one of the greatest men and, for his limited opportunities, one of
the greatest preachers he has ever known. His person, his countenance, his
voice, the throes of his gigantic mind, the conceptions of his great Christian
soul—all proclaimed him great. The first time the writer ever saw him was at the
Georgia Baptist Convention, at Shiloh church, near Penfield, in 1835. Such men
as Mercer, Sanders, Dawson, Thornton, Mallary, Brooks, and others, were there;
but Posey was a giant among them all. Who, that was present, does not remember
his sermon on that occasion? And who, that heard him preach the education sermon
at Monroe, Walton county, in 1838, will ever forget it? Yet his great talents
were all consecrated to the glory of God and the good of his fellow-men. Even
though our abilities may be far inferior to his, with such as we have, let us
"go and do likewise."


Additional Comments:
From:

GEORGIA BAPTISTS: HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
BY
J. H. CAMPBELL,
PERRY, GEORGIA.


MACON, GA.: J. W. BURKE & COMPANY. 1874.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
J. H. CAMPBELL,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


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