HENDERSON COUNTY, NC - OBITUARIES - Rev. Samuel Edney, 19 Sep 1844 --------------¤¤¤¤¤¤-------------- Obituary of Reverend Samuel Edney, 19 September 1844, transcription by Marshall L. Styles, marshallstyles@yahoo.com (a lineal descendant of Reverend Samuel Edney's brother, Rev. Asa Edney. Together, they were the founders of Edneyville, Henderson County, NC. _____ Obituary: "Reverend Samuel Edney, aged 79 years, 6 months, 14 days, born in Pasquotank County March 5, 1765, a resident of Buncombe, later Henderson County, since 1795 and a Methodist Minister for 53 years. He was married to Eleanor Mills, daughter of William Mills. Died September 19, 1844 at Edneyville, Henderson County." Hendersonville newspaper, September 27 & October 4, 1844. [His tombstone inscription records birth as 17 March, and death as 17 September, conflicting with the obituary; however, his son James also lists the date of death as 19 September, and the birth as 5 March; as the tombstone for Samuel was not erected until 102 years his death, the dates furnished by his son James M. Edney are used.] In the personal papers of Mrs. Mary Alice Roberson Rice (1877 - 1967), now in possession of Frank D. Roberson, Jr., [a copy of which has been obtained by Marshall Styles] there is an undated memoriam to Reverend Edney, written between 1844 and 1860. The document can be dated based upon statements as to the number of his children who survived him, and were still living at the time of the writing. Quoting from the memoriam: "At an early age he became a convert to Christianity, under the preaching of the then despised and persecuted Methodists. His first serious impressions were from a dream, in which he found himself and all his brothers exposed to a raging fire, from which he alone escaped. This led him to serious reflections on his future state, and to flee the wrath to come. In 1790 he received license to exhort and preach. In 1791 and 1792 he traveled and preached. In the latter year, he and Jonathan Bird were sent to Wilmington, and from thence to the far west, or what was called the "Black Mountain Circuit," where he formed the acquaintance of Eleanor, daughter of William Mills, to whom he was married in 1793. He located in 1794, but continued to preach up to the last week of his life. He was ordained elder by Bishop Asbury, in 1813. He was the father of twelve children, eleven of whom grew up to maturity, and eight are still living. His eldest son, John Morriss, enlisted in the war of 1812, leaving one daughter, who now resides in Alabama, the head of a family. William W. Edney died July 22, 1822. Alson Mills Edney died Sept. 12, 1842 -- both of whom, with father and mother, "sleep their last sleep" at Edneyville, NC, their old homestead." _____ One of Reverend Samuel's sons, Dr. James M. Edney, a resident of New York at that time, submitted his obituary to the Asheville paper, "The Highland Messenger" in 1844. It is rather lengthy, but worthy of presentation here in its full text, with traditional spelling left intact: "Died, of apoplexy, at Edneyville, Henderson County, NC, on Thursday morning, Sept. 19th, 1844, Rev. Samuel Edney, aged seventy-nine years, six months and fourteen days, in the 53rd year of his ministry. "The subject of this memorial was born in Pasquotank County, NC on the 5th of March, 1765, of respectable parents, and lived till he was nearly twenty-five 'without God and without hope in the world.' About this time, through the instrumentality of Methodist travelling preachers, he was brought to see his fallen condition by nature, and the enormity of willful and repeated transgressions of the divine law. He sought with many prayers and tears the forgiveness of his sins, and through the Blood of the atoning Lamb found that 'peace that the world cannot give nor take away.' The call soon pressed itself upon him 'woe be unto me if I preach not the gospel', and seemed so clear that after much prayer and consultation, he went through the ordinary course of study, received orders, and commenced preaching in 1791. After travelling four years he was married to Eleanor, daughter of William Mills, and located. He traveled what was then called 'the Black Mountain Circuit', including western Carolina, Virginia, and a part of Tennessee, over a circuit of something like three hundred miles, a great portion of which was almost destitute of inhabitants, and infested in many places with the 'red men of the forest', who at that time were totally unacquainted with Christianity or civilized life; and consequently, the itinerant of those days literally 'took his life in his hand', and suffered nearly every privation for the sake of 'winning souls' by preaching - 'Christ and His crucified'. From that time till death he was a citizen of Buncombe (now Henderson) County during which he acted in many capacities, kind offices, etc., with perhaps as much acceptance as any man in the community. The Law of kindness, forgiveness, peace, humility, and love was engraven in every ligament of his nature. "He was neither blessed nor cursed with a classical education, but his mind was naturally good, and by close application, much prayer, and extensive reading, he was at all times enabled to bring forth things new and old out of the words of eternal truth. To what extent his humble labors reached in the conversion of souls the Judge of quick and dead only knoweth, but many now living can testify of his instrumentality in their salvation. But he is gone, carrying his sheaves with him, and we trust he has many 'crowns of rejoicing'. He was the father of twelve children, grandfather of thirty, and great- grandfather of four, all of whom may be justly proud of such an ancestor, a Christian, and an honest man. In early life he read much and delighted in controversy, but as he ripened in years and grew in grace he lost all taste or relish for it, and for many years he has been a man of one book, and that book the Bible, accompanied with Clarke's Commentaries, Wesley's notes, Watson's Theological Institutes and the various reference accompanying the cottage Bible, etc. These were his counsellors, and well were they heeded. True, he read the news of the day, and religious papers, but they were always secondary. A more studious and constant reader I have never known. He preached almost without a fortnight's interval through life. The latter part of his life he preached setting in his chair. Far and near in churches, court, school, and log houses, and as the gospel was free so was his preaching; and I never heard him preach a sermon during life that did not tell in his countenance and tears that he believed and felt what he said, and that did not show an extensive and practical knowledge of the sacred oracles of eternal truth. His sermons were always marked by solemnity and earnestness. He had two maxims from which he never departed: they were that he was obliged to take time to die, and therefore he would take time to serve God daily while living; and that if he lived well, he knew he should die well, and consequently he always tried to 'obey God rather than man'. He was once asked by a rich and intelligent man, what he would take for heaven? He replied, 'I will take nothing for heaven but heaven.' He related this incident in the last sermon he ever preached, which was from these words, 'But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.' In the love feast, sacrament, class meeting and the private circle he was always ready to testify to the goodness and mercy of God, stating that he had trusted Him in his young days, in middle life, and now in old age; and in all ages, times and conditions, he was the 'chief among ten thousand', the 'one altogether lovely' and as he grew weak in the body he grew strong in the Lord. His faith never wavered. "His constitution was strong and vigorous, and the greatest portion of his life was spent in hard labor on the farm. He held, or got by marriage, a family of Negroes, but being unable to live in peace with them without chastisement, and the laws not allowing their liberation, he sold them and supplied their place by greater industry on his own part, believing it better to have but little with peace than much with contention. His companion shared his toils. In 1842 she went from the sacrament table & quarterly meeting, and in 1844 he from the sacrament and camp meeting to fairer worlds on high, both happy in God. Over twelve months since he fell from a horse, fractured his thigh bone, and received injuries otherwise, to such an extent that he never recovered, but continually suffered bodily pain; and the loss of his bosom friend, a dear son, and the absence of nearly all his children, together with constant confinement, only when carried or moved on crutches well nigh weighed down his spirits, and caused him often to desire to 'depart and be with Christ' and his friends who were gone before. There was not a cloud over the moral horizon of his silvery age to darken his prospects or bind him to earth except the unconverted state of his children. These were the burdens of his prayers for nearly fifty years. But his tongue is hushed, and he now sleeps the sleep of death, and their case and his prayers are with God, who doeth right. "Up to the moment of attack he appeared and expressed himself as feeling better and happier than he had for months. He felt and knew his dissolution was near for some time previous to his death, and often declared he was willing, ready, and waiting to go. So that to him death had no terrors and the grave no victory.. He never spoke nor showed any signs of sensibility after he was taken till death released him. The attack lasted 36 hours, during which he never opened his eyes but once, and as he had lived a peaceable and quiet life so he died a peaceable and quiet death, apparently without the least suffering. Out of about 30 who commenced the ministry with him, only one or two are now living. He was, for 50 years, a strictly temperate man, having never tasted a drop of ardent spirits during that time. The large number who stood around his grave with weeping eyes, told too plainly that a father, brother, a friend, a neighbor, and a good man, had 'fallen to Israel', and that his death had 'left an aching void the world can never fill.' Reader, be thou the relative, friend, acquaintance, or a stranger to the deceased, 'prepare to meet thy God'.. "Samuel Edney lived and died a plain, whole-souled, cross bearing Methodist, but he extended the right hand of fellowship to all evangelical denominations, and often officiated in their altars and invited them to his. He chose the text for his funeral long before his death. A discourse may be expected on the occasion of his death during conference at Reem's [Reams] Creek. Signed J.M.E., September 4, 1844." _____ The obituary was also published in these newspapers: The Jonesboro Whig, Rutherford Republican, Raleigh Register and Hamburg Journal. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Marshall Styles ___________________________________________________________________