Unknown County GaArchives Biographies.....Screven, James O. 1804 - 1864
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 4, 2005, 10:14 pm

Author: J. H. Campbell

JAMES 0. SCREVEN.

  This excellent man was born in Savannah, Georgia, February 4th, 1804. He was
the oldest son of Rev. Charles 0. Screven, D. D., and a half brother of Rev.
Charles B. Jones, of Florida. He was brought up mostly in Sunbury, Liberty
county, where he was baptized by his father, in the spring of 1828, the year
after he graduated at Franklin College, now the State University. While in
college, and for a few months after his return home, he was quite wild, and his
condition was a source of unspeakable distress to his devoutly pious father, and
other pious relatives. Their prayers prevailed, and he was soon found at the
feet of his Redeemer, "clothed and in his right mind." The precise date of his
licensure and ordination has not been ascertained, but it was not long after his
baptism. He was married in 1882, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to Miss
Eleanor S. Talbird, daughter of Captain Henry Talbird. During the next ensuing
seven years, he resided on his patrimonial estate, known as "the Retreat," Bryan
county, and employed his time preaching to the negroes on St. Catharine's and
Ossabaw Islands, and also to the destitute in the upper part of Bryan. In 1844
he was employed by the Baptist church in Savannah to preach to the colored
people on the plantations contiguous to the city, and during 1845 he labored as
co-pastor of Rev. R. Fuller, D. D., at Beaufort, South Carolina, preaching to
the branches, or out-stations, of the Beaufort church. As several young men of
that church were just entering upon the work of the ministry, Mr. Screven felt
at liberty to retire from that field, the more especially, as he, about that
time, received a call from the Baptist church at Waynesville, Georgia, newly
constituted, in a section of the State where great destitution existed. He
devoted four years to this inviting and fruitful field, where his labors were
abundant, and where his name is still held in sweet remembrance, and was only
compelled to retire from it by the failure of his health.

   In the year 1850, he removed to LaGrange, Troup county. After his health had
become somewhat restored, he labored as an agent for the Domestic Mission Board,
Marion, Alabama, several years. During a portion of the late war, he was
sustained by the same board as a missionary to the soldiers in and around that
place. For such a work, especially among the sick and wounded in the hospitals,
few men were as well qualified as Mr. Screven. Like Huckins, of Charleston,
South Carolina, he became a martyr to his zeal and self-sacrificing devotion. He
taxed his constitution, which was naturally feeble, beyond its capacity for
endurance. His health gradually failed, and, on the 15th of May, 1864, the
Master, whom he had served so long and so faithfully, called him to his reward
in heaven. Says the partner of his joys and sorrows: "During his last sickness,
he was uniformly cheerful, and greatly enjoyed the visits of his friends, whom
he conversed with so pleasantly that they could not realize that he was so near
his end. There was no gloom around his deathbed. He frequently spoke of the joys
of heaven, and expressed a longing desire to be with his Saviour. On Saturday,
previous to his death, he said: 'How delightful would it be if I could be
tomorrow in heaven!'" He left a wife, one son and three daughters.

  Having given this brief outline of his life and labors, the writer confesses
his entire incompetency for the correct delineation of the character of Mr.
Screven. Who can describe goodness, meekness, holiness? Who can, to his own
satisfaction, or to that of others, delineate a character in which all the
Christian graces were concentered and shone so conspicuously? From a report,
recorded in the minutes of the LaGrange church, of which he had been a member
about fourteen years, the following sentences are extracted: "His marked
religious characteristics were, unusual love for the word of God and prayer, and
unwavering confidence in the promise of God to make suitable temporal and
spiritual provision for all his children, and a humility and sweetness of
Christian temper, preserved through all vicissitudes, which subdued into
reverence and love all with whom he came in contact. The most indifferent and
irreligious took knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus, and imbibed
largely of his meek and lowly and laborious spirit. He lived and labored in an
atmosphere of prayer, and died in holy triumph. The church take a mournful
pleasure in cherishing his memory."

  Verily, was James 0. Screven a good man.


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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