PENICK, William S., D. D., Halifax, VA., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000



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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 651-652.  Edited by Alcée
Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914,by Century Historical Association.

Penick, William Sydnor, D. D., was born at Oak Plain, the plantation home of 
his father in Halifax county, Va.; 3rd of 6 children of William and Elizabeth
Armistead (Sydnor) Penick.  He was brought up, until the age of 15, in the
glad freedom of plantation life before the war, under the care of a well
chosen tutor.  This cultivated, Christian gentleman, Berryman Green,
became an honored friend in the Penick household, living in the "office" with
the boys; teaching them not only books but "manners and dancing."  In 1851,
Sydnor, being well grounded in English, Latin, Greek and mathematics, was
given the choice of a profession.  He promptly chose the law. His father,
believing a practical knowledge of business methods a necessary preparation to
any profession, "bound" him to a general merchandise firm in the county for a
term of 3 years, "the boy to spend one Sunday of each month at home.''  At the
end of this rather trying experience he matriculated at Richmond college,
Richmond, Va.  While pursuing his studies there he boarded in the home of the
Rev. A. M. Poindexter, a minister of the Baptist denomination and a life
friend of the Sydnor family.  Handsome, brilliant and possessed of ample
means, he became a favorite in college and also in the social life of
Richmond.  He founded and was made first president of the Philologian literary
society in the college.  This society is still in active existence.  In 1876
the request came for a life sized portrait of the first president to be
placed above the rostrum in the Philologian hall.  The portrait was made by a
Virginia artist, John J. Porter.  At the end of the second year he was
graduated from the college with the degree of B. A., which was a few years
later changed to the more honorable one of M. A. and after a decade of
successful work again was honored by the still more-to-be-coveted one of D.
D.  During the months spent in the home of Dr. Poindexter, yielding to the
religious influence of the beloved counsellor, the young student renounced the
idea of the law and determined to give his life to the gospel ministry.  His
father, anxious that there should be no mistake, pleaded for a longer course
of study at the University of Virginia, but with the sanguinness of youth and
the sureness of conviction, he entered at once into the life work chosen and
in the autumn of 1858 was ordained into the Baptist ministry. Naturally, to
his father and much loved tutor, who were of the Church of England, this
change of plans was a disappointment, they believing a brilliant political
career was in store for the talented boy.  The first pastorate of the young
preacher was in Chatham, Pittsylvania county, Va., one of the smaller Virginia
towns that were, in ante-bellum years, most pleasant places of habitation
--leisure, culture and the boasted colonial ancestry made a class distinct and
notable.  There he met and married, Nov. 2, 1859, Miss Betty Tarpley Martin,
daughter of Dr. Chesley Martin, and granddaughter of the famous Virginia
surgeon, Dr. Rawley White, a union which lasted in uninterrupted happiness
for 48 years.  In Aug., 1861, he was made captain of a volunteer company from
Pittsylvania county, the "Davy Logan Guards," which was financed by a
patriotic kinsman of the Sydnors, Mr. David Logan, a bachelor of Halifax
county, and entered the army under Armistead in the brave 53rd Virginia
regiment.  At the close of the war, his patrimony gone, negroes freed, a big
roll of Confederate money (bills), with only a splendid courage, good health,
a brave wife and three small children, he accepted an urgent call to go to
West Virginia as State Missionary--locating at Charlestown, in the valley,
torn by the disasters of war.  After 2 years of residence there, it was
decided by the State Board of Missions that Martinsburg, 40 miles farther up
the valley, would be a more advantageous location for its work, and it was
there he felt in later years that much of the best work of his ministry was
accomplished over seemingly insurmountable difficulties.  In 1874 having
brought the church at Martinsburg from a membership of two ladies to a
self-supporting church of more than 300 communicants, he took charge of the
first church of Alexandria, Va.  Here he spent 7 years of happy, contented
service; winning, not only many into the faith he so earnestly believed, but a
recognition of his talents throughout the North and South.  Four years were
given in Baltimore with the Hight Street church, supplying during the summer
months various prominent pulpits in Brooklyn, Yonkers and other places.  A
strong man being needed in north Louisiana earnest persuasion was brought to
bear upon the Baltimore divine who was known to have brought strength in weak
places.  Against the advice, and almost tearful pleading of friends in the
east, the man of God was loyal to the promptings of duty. Declining
flattering calls to several prominent churches in the northeast he came to
serve the Master he had chosen in an humble service.  He came south in May,
1885, immediately taking charge of a struggling church in Shreveport.  Endowed
with unusual charm of heart, mind and person, he here, as everywhere, became
the friend, counsellor and beloved leader, not only in the city but in
protestant affairs throughout the state, ably aiding his old and valued
friend, Dr. Landrum, of New Orleans, in the Baptist cause, especially.  His
commanding presence and Chesterfieldian manners, combined with a heart as
simple and a mind as guileless as a babe's won for him unusual love
and confidence.  His sermons, characterized by simplicity and beauty of
diction, sound theology, eloquence and rhetorical perfection, delivered in a
strong, musical voice and with grace of gesture, brought into his audiences
all classes and creeds.  His sympathy for suffering humanity was Christ-given. 
Finding no provision for orphan children in north Louisiana he founded the
Genevieve Orphanage in Shreveport, now grown into a large and lasting memorial
of the sweet child whose tragic death made the tenderness of love more tender. 
Also this Godly man, with the aid of Christians and Hebrews, founded 
associations for charity's sake that are yet broadening in usefulness.  For 20
years he served the people of Louisiana, when, believing he should give the
work into other hands, he removed to Elizabeth City, N. C., hoping a smaller
pastorate might be less taxing in his declining years; but at the end of the
3rd year his beloved people recalled him and he returned to Shreveport and for
three more years ministered to them, surrounded by children, grandchildren and
the friends he cherished.  At that time his voice failed him and resigning the
care of the old church, he consented to speak once each Sunday morning at the
Ardis Memorial, a mission built by Col. C. H. Ardis immediately across the
river from Shreveport.  In spite of a splendid resistance and the recuperating
power given by a life of temperate habits, in 1905 failing health obliged the
strong spirit to relinquish the fight.  The bitter sorrow of disappointment
was not allowed to dim the glory of a splendid optimism, although his desire
to work to the end was not to be granted.  The brightness of reflected glory
shone through all the months of pain and surrounded by loved ones, at mid-day
of June 30, 1907, the noble spirit came into the light of a new day and the
"Dream of Beauty was Beauty."