Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Nance, W. A. 1881 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 5, 2009, 5:14 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  W. A. Nance, postor [sic] of the First Christian Church of Olathe, belongs to
that type of men who do things. He is a force in the ministry, who makes himself
felt and if you have never heard of W. A. Nance, you do not live in Olathe. He
is a self-made man and has won his way and reached his present position by his
own unaided efforts. Born in a log house in Webster county, Kentucky, he
conceived the idea in early boyhood that he wanted to be a minister. He was the
youngest of seven children and his parents were poor. All of the other children
remained at home until they were of age, and when they reached their majority
each received a horse, saddle and bridle from their father and started out in
the world to battle with life alone. That was the custom in some districts of
Kentucky then and perhaps is now. W. A. did not wait until he was of age, but
began to struggle with the great problems of life long before that time. When
eighteen years of age he bought his time from his father, and began to prepare
himself for his life work. He attended the district school and took a
correspondence course, and from the time he was eighteen until he was
twenty-four he was a student in the Johnson Bible College, of Kimberland
Heights, Tenn. He was a close student and worked hard, and in 1907 marticulated
in the College of the Bible at Lexington, Ky., and after completing the course
there entered the South Kentucky College at Hopkinsville, Ky., where he was
graduated in the class of 1911, and ordained at Hopkinsville, the same year. His
first charge consisted of two country churches, one at Sinking Fork and the
other at Old Liberty, Christian county, Kentucky. He preached there for three
years and on December 1, 1913, came to Olathe and took charge of the First
Christian Church there. Mr. Nance was born October 1, 1881, and is a son of Isom
and Linna (Jones) Nance. They were both natives of North Carolina and settled in
Kentucky after the close of the war. The father was a soldier in the Confederate
army and served with the troops of his native State, North Carolina. After
removing to Kentucky he followed farming. He died in July, 1908, and his wife
passed away November 21, 1907. W. A. Nance was united in marriage March 14,
1901, to Miss Lizzie, daughter of Gen. Thomas W. Trice, of Webster county,
Kentucky. General Trice now resides with his eldest son at Dixon, Ky. To Mr. and
Mrs. Nance have been born two children: Isom and Stella. Mr. Nance enters into
his work with the spirit that gets results; it is of the modern day kind of
preaching. His sermons smack of the harvest field, the shop and the factory. He
believes that the man in overalls has a soul to save as well as the silk
stocking variety of Christians. Mr. Nance is an organizer, and has promoted
several live organizations within his congregation since coming to Olathe that
have given the work new life there. He organized the "Timothy Club," which has a
membership of about 100. He has the largest young men's Bible class in the State
of Kansas, and he has a normal or teachers' training class composed of
thirty-seven young men and women. All the organizations of his church get the
Nance spirit and do something. His work never ceases: he works in the church, in
the home and on the street. Mr. Nance is a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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