Unknown County GaArchives Biographies.....Swanson, James F. 1825 - 1869
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 5, 2005, 12:02 pm

Author: J. H. Campbell

JAMES F. SWANSON.

  The subject of this sketch was born in Morgan county, Georgia, January 27th,
1825; was "born again " in the town of Madison, in the same county, in the fall
of 1848; and still had another birth into the heavenly world, departing this
life on the 28th of October, 1869, near Cedar Town, Polk county, Georgia.

  A short review of his life and character may bring honor to the grace of God,
which was so signally manifested in him. Let us view him

IN THE WORLD.

  He was born as would be said of a good family. He would have said,

      " But higher far my fond pretensions rise.
        The son of parents passed into the skies."

  Nothing special is noted of his boyhood, beyond the fact that it displayed the
manliness, modesty, generosity and thrift which characterized him when grown.
When about twenty years of age, he left the parental roof, and out on the
journey of life held his anxious way. Belying upon his own resources, he entered
the town of Madison. In 1848, after several years of excessive toil, he raised
himself to a partnership in a prosperous mercantile business, which was
conducted for eight years under the firm name of Fears & Swanson. His failing
health compelled its abandonment. By his request, that firm was never, by
"public advertisement," legally dissolved. Death only dissolved the unions which
he decreed. Subsequently, he was engaged in teaching. In the later years of his
life, when his physical infirmities demanded, his time was partly employed in
the cultivation of land, in teaching, arid as agent for an incorporated society.
In all these dealings with men, he impressed them with his scrupulous honesty,
his unswerving fidelity, his high-toned candor, and his practical good sense.
His partner says of him: "He never, in all his life, was known, in his business
contracts, to give an undue coloring to his side." Accordingly, the deepest
affection or respect of his pupils or patrons, his employers and employees, his
associates and his neighbors, was constantly excited towards him.

IN THE CHURCH.

  In the fall of 1848, during the first year of the pastorate at Madison of Rev.
C. M. Irwin, a gracious revival of religion occurred, and brother Swanson was
led into the faith and obedience of Christ. He was baptized in October of that
year.

  With the heartiness and promptitude of an earnest man, he entered upon his
duties as a Christian. His voice was consecrated in song, in prayer, in
exhortation, in instruction, and in conversation. Many remember the influence
sent out from the choir, of which he was the leader, and from the
Sabbath-school, of which he was successively teacher and superintendent. The
true, pure fragrance, even of this germinal period of his life, was hallowed to
the benefit of old and young, of white and black. He never lost sight of the
necessities of his own soul, though immersed in the most anxious labors for
others. Very well known and appreciated was the truth: to do good to others, we
must first be good. He felt that wherever he was directed^ to set his foot, Gfod
gave him the land. Every movement revealed his deep sense of personal
responsibility to the truth as it is in Jesus, and to all with whom he came in
contact; and hence, he approached men with greater success through private or
personal, than through public or professional channels. What a revenue of
strength does character bring! Bacon says, "Knowledge is power;" but, in a truer
sense, Character is power.

IN THE FAMILY.

  In December, 1854, he was married to Miss A. C. Stone, a highly accomplished
Christian woman, who conferred on him the heritage of great happiness. This
union was never marred by a misunderstanding, never chilled by neglect, never
threatened by a collision. No union could be more pure, more congenial or more
productive of spirituality and usefulness. No children blessed it, but he was to
her husband, brother, lover; she was to him wife, sister, comforter. Each was
the complement of the other. Called into the fellowship of protracted suffering,
while death ever and anon flapped his dark wings over the couch—now of one, now
of the other—they were alternately watching, nursing, strengthening each other.
And yet there was a painful interim when others were appointed to do these
things. How sore the trial of their faith, how deep the anguish of their hearts
when, the wife having been carried to New York for her health, they were
separated, through unavoidable circumstances, from December, 1860, till the
summer of 1865!

  During most of this time, we find him in the family of brother Marcus H. Bunn,
near Cedar Town. In the family is furnished the test and the quality of a man's
religion. His true character is revealed at home. As the Lord blessed the house
of Obed-Edom because of the ark of God; as Potiphar and Pharaoh were prospered
because of Joseph, so brother Bunn's family was blessed because of brother
Swanson. In the language of Laban to Jacob, brother Bunn could say to brother
Swanson, "I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy
sake." For months and years he moved before them, a sacred incarnation of the
power of grace. Every one of brother Bunn's children was lead to Christ. Dear
ones, how he loved you! How you loved him! On the shining shore he is singing
Jesus just as he did around your hearthstone—singing, while he is waiting for you.

IN THE MINISTRY.

  Many Southern men have been led into the ministiy through their labors for the
colored people. Many preachers, ordained by no ecclesiastical court, but
anointed from on high, did for years, and do now, break to these the bread of
life. Every agency which the genius of Christianity anywhere recognizes or
employs in the elevation of the menial class, was subsidized in the proclamation
of the gospel to that race; and where the statistics of labor can be collected
and calmly compared, there will be found as great—in some instances
greater—success here as in other localities. Previous to the war, while
preaching exclusively to this class, one of the most distinguished theologians
received his doctorate, and a lawyer of the highest culture, in the midst of an
onerous practice, found his chief delight. The writer's first impressions to
preach were produced in this way.

  Very early after his conversion, brother Swanson began work for the salvation
of the negroes, and continued it with so great ardor that an unquenchable desire
to preach the gospel to all men was developed. His brethren, confirming the
conviction of his heart, suggested that he identify himself with the fall work
of the ministry. He was accordingly ordained on the 13th of March, 1859, at
Madison. Brethren H. H. Tucker, A. T. Spalding, N. G. Foster and George T.
Browne constituted the presbytery. While teaching at this place, in the Georgia
Female College, he preached to country churches and in destitute neighborhoods.
During a visit to the North in the spring of 1860, he received and declined a
call to the pastorate of two churches near the city of New York. He next
supplied the Second Baptist church in Augusta, Georgia, for twelve months,
preaching frequently to the First church. A long and severe illness compelling
him to decline the charge of the Second church, he settled, with a view of
securing health, in northwestern Georgia, near Cedar Town. In March, 1862, he
became pastor of the church in that place, and the one in Cave Spring, giving
two Sabbaths a mouth to each. In January, 1863, he resigned the Cave Spring
church, because the tax was too great upon his constitution. He remained pastor
at Cedar Town till the close of 1865.

I. AS A PREACHER.

  If required to give, concisely, an accurate description of our brother, Cowper
supplying the words,

    "I would express him simple, grave, sincere;
     In doctrine incorrupt; in language plain,
     And plain in manner, decent, solemn, chaste,
     And natural in gesture; much impressed
     Himself, as conscious of his awful charge.
     And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
     May feel it too; affectionate in look,
     And tender in address, as well becomes
     A messenger of grace to guilty men."

   The essential qualification of every minister of Jesus is PIETY. How can a
man utter spiritual truths eifectively unless he realizes them in his own
experience? No one doubted the regeneration of brother Swanson. None failed to
discover in him a heart-whole consecration to Jesus. True character and sound
theology are not only evoked by prayer, but are revealed in it. Who that
listened frequently to his devotions was not convinced that his presence was a
power, and was felt, and then his countenance was elevating, inspiring,
consoling. The features displayed in his ministry were piety, benevolence,
prudence, firmness, common sense, and crucifixion of self and the world. Few had
so vigorous faith, few such wealth of practical holiness. His faith, not his
works, brought this to him. He loved the doctrines of grace, the dear Pauline
faith, unfolded more particularly in Romans and Galatians. He was unusually
clear in the statement of his propositions, and they were fortified by sound,
judicious argument. He had a great aversion to clap-trap, no relish for
sensation, for novelty, for eccentricity, but a genuine regard for tender,
earnest, true emotion. His style was plain, but strong; his delivery full of
solemnity and unction; his manner quiet and self-possessed—his great soul
bounding through all.

  He was eminently catholic and evangelical. In his intercourse with others, he
never offensively thrust his opinions forward. He loved doctrine, but not
because held by a sect. He was no dogmatist, no partisan. No social,
denominational or geographical bauds girded the affinities of his soul. So truly
honest, he would not rashly assail the tenets of sincere christians, nor offer
to others what his own faith had not appropriated, nor urge to a course of
conduct which his own life had not illustrated.

II. AS A PASTOR.

  Though his labors as a pastor were brief and frequently intermitted, they were
very useful. He felt that his ministry had been especially blessed to
Christians, notwithstanding there may not have been many conversions. But, in
truth, we know very little about results at present. The love, and not the
reward, of the work was his stimulus to action.

  In the pastorate, his influence was wide-spread and abiding. He moved from
house to house as a godly man, warmly welcomed, greatly beloved, and gladly
leaving his benediction upon all. Such benedictions were never drudgery to him,
who looked upon them as a part of his service to Christ, It is impossible to
calculate their influence.

  In matters of discipline, he was firm and faithful, candid and loving, rigid,
yet not vapid. Nothing was allowed to barricade his path of duty. He loved a
small but pure church with more fervor than a large worldly one.

  Many tears will fall on the cheeks of dear saints of God as they recall his
cheerful face, his practical talks, his unctious prayers and his timely advice,
all combined in hours of mellowed communion. How gentle, how appropriate, how
satisfying was the warmth of his faith, the depth of his sympathy, the counsel
of his heart. A successor in the pastoral office says: "He was a model Christian
and a model preacher." The worthy treasurer of the Georgia Baptist Convention
says: "In the course of my religious life, of thirty-six years, I have known but
few Christians more devoted and consistent than brother Swanson."

IN THE RIVER OF DEATH.

  For years he suffered with a pulmonary affection, often brought to the very
brink of the grave, yet ever calm, ever trusting. When weak and languid because
of hemorrhage from his lungs, he lay on his bed, half on earth, half in heaven,
while beloved Christians gathered around, how eloquent, how direct, how real was
his preaching! With what patience he yielded to his heavenly Father's treatment.
How submission gilded the crown of faith! Into his room the smallest child would
glide with confidence, and, greeted by his smile, would honor him with the gift
of sweet flowers, as symbolic of his spirit. Into that room—during the war it
was an " upper room"—it is remembered well, so well, how often have loved-ones
gathered and voiced in melting music the sustained harmonies of his own soul!
Oh, the pathos, the power of a scene like that!

  In July, 1869, he had a severe illness, from which he never fully recovered,
though by September he was able to take exercise, to sit up most of the day, and
to visit some. "But before he had gained much strength, he was attacked with
inflammation of the glands of the throat, terminating in a series of abcesses,
which drained his life away and made him a prey to many ills. He had a cough,
too, which troubled his rest at night." During this time his usual cheerfulness
blossomed in rich fullness.

  "On Saturday morning, October 23d, he had a slight hemorrhage, but felt it a
great relief, and all day was very happy, saying afterwards that it was one of
the happiest days of his life." There were slight attacks of the same on that
and the next night, but he was comparatively comfortable until Wednesday, when,
having lain all the morning weak and still, he felt his purse and said to his
wife, "If this prostration is not the effect of an anodyne, I am very near to
death." This was their first premonition.

  "After a sinking spell in the afternoon, his physician and friends were sent
for, only to find that a severe pneumonia was upon him." All that night his
frail, patient, loving wife sat by him to help him, to refresh him, to comfort
him, and to pray for him.

  During Thursday, October 28th, he frequently said, "It is all right—right and
wise. My Father knows what is best, and his will be done! Through Jesus I have
the victory, even in his righteousness. Not in myself, but in him is all my
hope." Again: "I leave it all with him. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "I have
not one pain too many." "If I have no ecstacies, I have great peace." Late in
the afternoon of that day some friends fulfilled the idea.of Addison, as he
said, "Come, see a Christian die." He welcomed them, and said presently, ‘Open
the door!" and that instant the angels opened the door of paradise, and calmly,
trustfully, peacefully he went over the tide to dwell "I!N THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME
IN GLORY! * * * .By the banks of the Coosa, in the beautiful cemetery on the
hill that overlooks the city of Rome, Georgia, his body sleeps. His soul, whose
triumph is a legacy to believers, a witness to infidels, and a joy to angels, is
'hid with Christ in God.' "

  Thus much by brother Gwin. The author knew "Frank Swanson," as he was
familiarly called, from his early childhood. His parents were excellent persons,
his father (John Swanson,) having been for many years a deacon of Antioch
church, Morgan county, when it was one of the most flourishing churches in
Georgia. His mother was a most exemplary Christian, and several of his brothers
and sisters were devoted followers of the Lamb.



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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