Unknown County GaArchives Biographies.....Polhill, Joseph 1798 - 1858
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 4, 2005, 2:14 pm

Author: J. H. Campbell

JOSEPH POLHILL.

  Rev. Thomas Polhill, the father of the subject of this notice, was born in
Chatham county, Georgia, January 12th, 1760, and died in Burke county, in 1814.
His mother was a native of Savannah, whose maiden name was Mary Anderson, and
who died in Effingham county, in 1804. Joseph Polhill was born at Newington,
Effingham county, April 2d, 1798. Though somewhat wild and dissipated in early
life, he was a chosen vessel of the Lord, and, having obtained a good hope
through grace, he was baptized into Hopeful church, Burke county, in November,
1829, by Rev. Joseph Huff. Very soon after his baptism, he began to proclaim the
glad tidings, to the astonishment of many who had known his previous manner of
life, and even of some of his own kindred, who it seems could not have faith in
the great change which had been so suddenly wrought in him. Yet so mightily did
the Word prevail in his hands, that his ordination was soon called for, and he
was set apart to this work by a presbytery, consisting of Revs. Joseph Key and
Joseph Huff, at Friendship church, Richmond county, in November, 1832. He was
married to Miss Julia J. Guion, at New Rochelle, New York, in 1819.

  His labors were confined, in the main, to the bounds of the Hephzibah
Association, of which, body he was clerk for nineteen years in succession, and
was its moderator at the time of his death. From a book of memoranda, kept by
himself, the following facts are gathered: That he performed nine hundred and
twenty-seven baptisms, assisted in the constitution of five churches, and in the
ordination of six ministers, and of nineteen deacons; that he pronounced the
marriage ceremony fifty-three times; that the first person he baptized was his
wife, and that he subsequently baptized four of his children, one brother, one
sister, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and several nephews and nieces. He
drove his favorite old horse, Buck, twelve years, and his estimate of the number
of miles traveled was eighty thousand.

  He had two sons and four daughters, all of whom are living, and are consistent
members of the Baptist church. Both his own sons are deacons. His wife, a most
excellent and intelligent lady, died in Burke county, in 1863. The following
letter from her to her son, Dr. John G. Polhill,* will give some insight into
her character, and is an affecting description of the manner of his death:

*Now a preacher.

                      " BURKE COUNTY, December, 4th, 1858. 

"My Dear Son:

  " What can I say to you? My heart is full almost to bursting. Your father —
your precious father, is gone! and if I did not feel the blessed assurance that
he is now reaping the reward of his labors, I should sink under the weight of
this bitter stroke. Oh, how blind I was that I did not see that he had a
premonition of this! He told me on Monday night that he felt as if he had
preached his last sermon, and when I asked why, he said that when he was
preaching on Sunday night he had such an overwhelming sense of the goodness of
God, he was completely lost in the immensity of his fullness. 'Oh, mother, said
he, it was all God, nothing but God! 'On Tuesday morning about five o'clock, he
asked me if I was awake, I told him that I had been for some time, but,
supposing him asleep, I had kept quiet. He requested me to arise, and we kneeled
on the bed, when he prayed for me that I might be sustained in every trial; then
for each of our children by name; then prayed for his churches and friends, and
offered a most fervent petition for sinners. He staid in the house most of the
morning, but, when he was out (about the premises,) the negroes say he was
singing all the time, which was an unusual thing for him. At dinner I mentioned
a sermon I had been reading, which, at his request, I handed to him. He read it,
making comments on it as he proceeded. He had promised to preach for the
Baptists in your brother's neighborhood on the 26th of November, which made it
necessary he should leave home on the day previous. I remarked I regreted his
having to travel on thanksgiving day. He answered, 'never mind, mother, I ,can
keep thanksgiving in my heart on the road.' Your brother told me the
congregation was so large they had to repair to the campground for
accommodation. And they were so much pleased they made him promise to preach for
them again on Christmas day. Saturday he preached twice in Louisville, and was
again unanimously called to the care of the church for next year. Sunday
forenoon a licentiate preached for him, and he followed in an exhortation which
sister Batty (who came 'hoping to see his dear face once more,') told me was the
best she ever heard. In the afternoon he lectured the colored congregation, and
at night he preached to a crowded house, from II. Corinthians, v. 20: 'Now,
then, we are ambassadors for Christ.' etc.

  "The foregoing circumstances cause me to think that he had a premonition that
his course was about to end. When he had finished reading the sermon above
alluded to, he took up a religious paper, when I left the room. He soon went to
the gin-house where the negroes were at work, and in fifteen minutes I heard
them screaming, ' Master is killed!' (He had fallen from the scaffold, causing a
laceration of the spinal marrow, which resulted in death.) When I reached him he
said, 'I know you, my darling; be composed, my back is broken, and my intestines
are loose.' We placed him on a couch and brought him to the house. After he was
laid on the bed, he said he did not suffer any pain except in his left arm. We
rubbed it several times with liniment, and he complained of it no more. His
physicians (among whom was Dr. Miller, his son-in-law,) were convinced, from the
first, that his injuries would prove fatal. When we were around his bed, he said
to me, 'Mother, let us hold one another's hands to the last.' He looked at the
children and said, 'All here except our first-born. Tell my dear John that I
have fought the good fight.' He retained his reason and speech to the last, and
said to a good brother that his hopes were so bright as almost to alarm him.
When brother Tom Key took leave of him, he said, 'Farewell, brother Tom; I hope
to meet you on the banks of deliverance.' Old brother Key came to see him, and
prayed with him. Your father asked him if he thought it possible he could be
deceived, seeing he felt the presence of his Saviour so gloriously, and had such
evidences of his acceptance. Brother Key assured him he had confidence that he
was not deceived, which seemed to gratify him much. Frank Carswell staid with
him the last night he lived. He knew him as soon as he spoke. Said to him, 'I am
going home, Frank; there is not a cloud between me and my Saviour.' He asked how
late it was, and being informed it was past eight, he raised his clasped hands
and exclaimed, 'Oh! my gracious Master, when will the hour come!' Then closed
his eyes and lay two or three minutes, opened them again, and looking at me,
said, 'Be composed, they are making preparations;' closed them for the last
time, and was gone, without a groan or a contortion. A most angelic smile rested
on his dear face till it was hid from mortal gaze. His body lies in the field in
front of the house. His old horse, Buck, and his gray drew him to his last
resting place. His friends from far and near, old and young, came to his burial.
Old brother Key performed appropriate services in the house, and brother Palmer
prayed at the grave.

  "But, 0, my son, when our married children and their families left me, then
did I feel my loneliness. And when the hour came to surround the family altar,
and he who had always offered the sacrifice was gone, it was almost more than I
could do to read the scriptures, and kneel in his accustomed place to implore
God's blessing and protection."

  This excellent woman kept up family worship as long as she lived, unless
confined to her bed by sickness, proving herself, as she had ever done, worthy
to have been the wife of this most devoted and useful minister of Christ. With
the influence of his example upon her, she could hardly have done otherwise.

  It had been his custom not only to attend family worship, morning and evening,
but also whenever he was leaving his family for any length of time, they were
assembled for special prayer, and were thus left under G-od's immediate protection.

  Mr. Polhill was a strong and consistent advocate of the temperance cause. From
the hour of his conversion, he abstained altogether from intoxicating drinks. In
his last illness, one of his physicians offered him brandy. He looked him
steadily in the face and said, "Doctor, will you, as a physician, say this is
necessary to save my life?" The doctor replied that, as an honest man, he could
not say so. "Then," said he, "doctor, take it back; I cannot violate the promise
I made to my God many years ago, when he converted my soul."

  He was of a stout, heavy build, somewhat bordering on corpulence; of a
pleasant, open, honest countenance, and of a kind, fraternal, benevolent spirit.
He loved his friends, and no man in turn was more beloved than he. They ever
found a cordial welcome in his hospitable mansion, and with his intelligent
family, and he knew how to make himself at home with them. His mind, though not
of the first order, was of sufficient clearness, depth and power to render him a
forcible and successful preacher of the Word. His education, though neither
thorough nor extensive, was sufficient to qualify him for the business of life,
and for great usefulness in the church. He belonged to the class of medium
men—far the most useful class, whether in the church or in the world.


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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