Hannah BOARDMAN

Family 1: David HIGBEE
  1. +Hannah HIGBEE 
    __
 __|
|  |__
|
|--Hannah BOARDMAN 
|
|   __
|__|
   |__
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

CARRIE

Family 1: Homer HAYES
  1. +Edith M HAYES 
    __
 __|
|  |__
|
|-- CARRIE 
|
|   __
|__|
   |__
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Moses COX

Father: Morris COX 

               __
 _Morris COX _|
|             |__
|
|--Moses COX 
|
|              __
|_____________|
              |__
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Donald Lee GIFFORD

Father: Donald GIFFORD
Mother: Barbara Ann HURLBUT 

                        _______________
 _Donald GIFFORD ______|
|                      |_______________
|
|--Donald Lee GIFFORD 
|
|                       _Leon HURLBUT _
|_Barbara Ann HURLBUT _|
                       |_Myrtle ALDEN _
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Valentine GOODRICH

Father: Ezekiel GOODRICH
Mother: Eunice RATHBUN 

                     __
 _Ezekiel GOODRICH _|
|                   |__
|
|--Valentine GOODRICH 
|
|                    __
|_Eunice RATHBUN ___|
                    |__
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Betsy Lee HURLBUT

Father: Alden Bronson HURLBUT
Mother: Eliner Marie PETERSON

Family 1: Anthony ANTONUCCI
  1.  Ethan Jared ANTONUCCI
  2.  Daniel Anthony ANTONUCCI 
                          _Norman Henry HURLBUT _
 _Alden Bronson HURLBUT _|
|                        |_Clara E BRONSON ______
|
|--Betsy Lee HURLBUT 
|
|                         _______________________
|_Eliner Marie PETERSON _|
                         |_______________________
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

William PHOEBUS

Father: John PHEBUS
Mother: Ann

Family 1: Ann
  1.  Hannah Eliza C. PHOEBUS
  2. +Abiel Francis Asbury PHOEBUS 
                _George PHEBUS _
 _John PHEBUS _|
|              |_Mary JONES ____
|
|--William PHOEBUS 
|
|               ________________
|_Ann _________|
               |________________
INDEX

Notes

A medical doctor as well as a Methodist Minister.
Greenbrier County, West Virginia - 160th Anniversary Booklet - Part 6

***********************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent.
***********************************************************************


Historical Booklet - Greenbrier County
160th Anniversary - 1778-1938
Published 1938
Transcribed by Lori Samples

EARLY METHODISM IN THE COUNTY

Methodism in Greenbrier County can be said to have started with Methodis m in America. As a matter of fact Methodist families were in Greenbrier , a
Methodist church was organized, and a Methodist preacher was appointed t o the Greenbrier circuit before the first General Conference of the Metho dist
Church was held or before American Methodists had ever elected a Bishop .

By the year 1784 Methodist families had come into this area. In this ye ar a group of these families organized themselves into a "Society" in cha rge of three local preachers J. Hemphill, James Christie and John Wiseman . Among these families were the Blantons, Warrens, Christies, and McMull ens. Edward
Keenan who was a sturdy and substantial citizen, a steward and a class l eader in the early society wrote Mr. Asbury early in 1784 asking him to s end a preacher to Greenbrier. William Phoebus was sent and arrived thi s same year. Thus, a Methodist preacher was in Greenbrier under appointm ent, before the "First General Conference" was held. This Conference kno wn as ""The Christmas Conference" was held in Baltimore on December 25, 1 784. It was at the General Conference that Mr. Asbury was elected Bishop , the first Bishop ever elected in America.

When William Phoebus came to "Greenbrier," the rude log homes were bein g used for preaching services. Plans were made immediately for buildin g churches. Near Union, West Virginia, in what was then Greenbrier, bu t now Monroe County, a church was built which was called Rehobeth. Nea r that same
time another church was built near Frankford called Gilbo. Both these c hurches were dedicated by Bishop Asbury. It is claimed that the celebrat ed Evangelist Lorenzo Dow, when visiting this part of the county, preach ed several of his best sermons in this house. Gilbo crumbled as a conseq uence of another log house having been built in Frankford, which in tur n was torn down in 1826 to make room for the brick building now owned b y the Methodists in that place.

"Among the first preachers among the Methodists in Greenbrier was John S mith. Coming in 1787 he traveled the Greenbrier Circuit from Pendleton t o Giles and 'never dreamed of getting more than a suit of clothes and $64 .00 a year.' Frances Poythress came in 1783 and William McKendree in 179 7. Both of these men removed to Kentucky. McKendree was a young man liv ing in Pocahontas, when sent by Asbury to Kentucky. Fifteen years late r he was elected bishop."

In addition to the preaching services held in the homes of the people th ere was at least one Annual conference held in the home of Edward Keenan . It is
said that because of dry weather there was no feed for the horses. Taki ng care of the delegates was no burden but the question of feed for the h orses
was. Without hesitation the devout host of the conference turned the ho rses of his guests into his rye field. During the deliberations of the C onference the rye was cropped close to the ground. Nevertheless, there w as at harvest time a better crop of grain in his field than in the field s of his neighbors.

By 1787 the Greenbrier Circuit appears in the written minutes. The nam e of the circuit was changed many times and its relation to the district s and
conferences likewise varied. For a time the circuit was in the Richmon d District. For years the Greenbrier circuit was in the Greenbrier distr ict. Then for a while it was connected with the Kentucky Conference in t he Kanawha District and Rockingham District. Since 1832 it has been iden tified with the Lewisburg District.

"Old Rehobeth" enjoys the distinction of being the oldest church west o f the Alleghenies still standing. It was largely through the industry an d liberality of Edward Keenan that this church was built. This old churc h furnishes an excellent primitive example of the pioneers' place of wors hip. Two years after American Independence was declared a county was gran ted to the people of Greenbrier under the commonwealth, in May 1778. Sev en years later, in 1785 "Rehobeth" was "raised".

A HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, By Nathan Bangs, Volum e IV -- Book V, CHAPTER 12
From the close of the General Conference of 1832 to the beginning of th e General Conference of 1836

William Phoebus was also a native of Maryland, and was born in Somerse t county, in the month of August, 1754. Though the exact time and mean s of his conversion are unknown to us, yet it appears from the record tha t he was brought to the knowledge of the truth in the early days of Metho dism, became a member of its society and in 1783 he was admitted on tria l in the traveling ministry. His first appointment was on Frederick circu it and in 1784 he attended the Christmas conference, when the Church wa s organized under the superintendence of Coke and Asbury, and the directi on of Wesley.

After this he traveled in various places, sometimes contending with th e hardships and difficulties of the new settlements in Green Briar, and o ther places no less rugged and destitute, where he accredited himself a s a "good soldier of Jesus Christ," fighting the battles of the Lord, an d conquering souls by the power of gospel truth. In this good work he con tinued until the year 1798, when he located, and entered upon the practic e of physic, in the city of New York, preaching, in the mean time, genera lly every sabbath, in the pulpits, with good effect.

He continued in this local sphere of action until 1806, when he was read mitted into the New York conference, and was stationed in the city of Alb any. Thence he was removed in 1808 to Charleston South Carolina, and in 1 811 was returned to the city of New York. From that time he continued t o fill various stations until the year 1821, when he was returned a super numerary, and in 1824 a superannuated preacher, in which relation he cont inued until his death, which occurred at his residence, in the city of Ne w York, November 9, 1831.

Though a man of great integrity of character, and strongly attached to t he Church of his choice, and a lover of the itinerancy, he pleaded the ne cessity of the circumstances in which he was placed for his partial locat ions. Having entered into the marriage state about the year 1791, while t raveling on Long Island, he soon found, as he thought, such difficultie s besetting his path as an itinerant minister, as to justify him in restr icting the sphere of his ministerial labors, that he might more effectual ly provide for himself and his own household." These difficulties arose o ut of a want of adequate means of support, the lack of parsonages to acco mmodate his family, and the being dissatisfied, whether with or without r eason, as he frequently affirmed with the office of presiding elder. Thou gh it is believed that most of those who took this step did it unadvisedl y, yet it is manifest that they had many arguments in its justification , arising out of the causes already enumerated; and the Church by this ne glect toward her servants, incurred a fearful responsibility from which , however, she has been for some time endeavoring to relieve herself b y a more liberal course in this respect.

Dr. Phoebus, for so he was called from his having been in the practice o f physic, had acquired a large stock of useful information from his vario us studies and general intercourse with mankind. He lacked, however, tha t systematic arrangement of knowledge, which characterizes a mind that ha s been more early imbued with classical studies, and was therefore distin guished by certain eccentricities in his public administrations, conveyin g instruction more by detached sentences than by a chain of consecutive r easoning, or discoursing in a regular didactic manner. His style, however , was plain and perspicuous, his manner
solemn and impressive, and he evinced on all occasions a mind familiar w ith the holy Scriptures, and deeply devoted to his work. He delighted muc h in the study of old authors, in examining the primitive records of th e church, in analyzing the different modern systems of church order and g overnment, and comparing them one with another, and with the primitive mo del. Having formed some acquaintance with the original languages in whic h the Scriptures of truth were written, he was extremely fond of decipher ing the radical import of the sacred text, and thence sifting out the exa ct scope and design of the writer.

His veneration for antiquity led him, we think, into the error of underv aluing the discoveries of modern days and of treating with too much negle ct the improvements in the various departments of science and of theologi cal knowledge. Hence a criticism by Clarke, or Benson, or even Wesley, wh om he venerated as the greatest of modern divines, was not treated by Dr . Phoebus with half the deference as if it were made by some of the olde r divines, such as Poole, Henry, or Gill and the reasoning of a Reid o r a Stewart would be rejected if contradicted by Locke. He never could pa rdon Dr. Adam Clarke for his ingenious speculations on the character of t he serpent, or for his rejection of the eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ a nd the antipathy he imbibed against this learned, pious, and useful comme ntator, seemed to unfit him for a due appreciation of his merits in othe r respects, as one of the most profound expositors of God's sacred word . He, indeed, claimed the liberty of thinking for himself on all subjects , and perhaps in the exercise of this noble independence of mind, the bir thright of every intelligent being, he sometimes manifested too little de ference to others for his own benefit. Hence an air of dogmatism obtrude d itself in the social circle which wounded the feelings of others, witho ut exalting, in their estimation, the value of his own aphorisms and opin ions.

He was a great admirer of Baxter. From his voluminous and pious writing s he had treasured up many sayings, with which he endeavored to fortify h is own positions, whenever assailed by an opponent; while Wesley and Flet cher furnished him with argument, in time of need, to defend experimental , practical, and polemical divinity. Being thus furnished with knowledg e from various sources, and having a fund of anecdote at command, which h e had treasured up from various reading and extensive intercourse with ma nkind, his conversation was always instructive and lively, and his judgme nt on topics of importance was
listened to with becoming deference, by his friends in the ministry, a s well as by others who sought his instructions. And those who were intim ate with him were generally careful how they provoked a controversy on th ose subjects with which he was familiar, lest they might be reduced t o a mortifying defeat in entering the lists with one who well understoo d how to foil an adversary, or who could not easily brook a contradiction .

He held in suitable contempt those artificial decorations with which som e young men were wont to adorn themselves, and all those tricks of orator y by which they attempted to gain a momentary and popular applause. Bein g asked by a friend "how it was that some preachers who seemed to have no t much weight of character, and but a slender title to the merits ascribe d to them by their fond admirers, gained so much attention," he replied w ith an air of contempt not easily forgotten or imitated, "Pugh! If I wer e to pull off my old boot, and throw it up into the air, and cry, hurra h hurrah! I should soon collect around me a more numerous crowd than an y man in the city.''

He had a deep insight into the human character, and hence was not easil y imposed upon by the artful and designing. This enabled him to manage di fficulties which occurred between brethren in the Church to great advanta ge, and to bring them to an amicable adjustment. In regard to all such th ings he was "the wise man who keepeth the matter till afterward," never u ttering his opinions to the disparagement of either party before the subj ect of dispute had been fully investigated.

It cannot be said that he was a popular preacher, in the common acceptat ion of that term, though he certainly commanded the respectful attentio n of the more weighty part of the community. A reason for his want of gen eral popularity may be found rather in the dry and monotonous manner of h is preaching than in the want of the depth and solidity of his matter. H e often dealt, both in his private conversation and public addresses, i n pointed apothegms [a terse saying or maxim] and short enigmas, not easi ly comprehended by the mass and often perplexing even those who were amon g the more thoughtful and deeply read.

As an instance of his enigmatical manner of speaking, the following ma y be mentioned: -- At the conference of 1823, when addressing his brethre n on the improbability of his being able to serve the Church much longer , he remarked, that the lease of his house had expired, and therefore h e could not tell how soon he might be called to remove, as he was not cer tain that he could procure a renewal of his lease for any particular leng th of time; hence he could not pledge himself for any special service i n the ministry."

On hearing this, an aged minister, and one by no means deficient in ment al sagacity, said to the writer of this, I thought the doctor owned the h ouse in which he lives but it seems he was under a mistake, as he says th at the time of his lease is run out." To this it was replied, "You do no t understand him. He speaks in parables. He is now threescore years and t en, the common age God has allotted to man, and, therefore, cannot calcul ate on living much longer at most, and even that little time must be cons idered as an act of God's grace, over and above what he usually grants t o men." This, indeed, was his meaning from his
own subsequent explanation.

These remarks apply to him more appropriately at an advanced stage of hi s ministry than in his younger days, as it is asserted by those who hear d him at that period that he was ardent, vigorous and often very fluent i n his addresses to the multitude, deep and searching in his appeals to th e conscience. He was certainly successful in those days in enlarging th e kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He always manifested the deepest reverence whenever the name of the Supr eme Being was introduced in conversation. At all times, when he had occas ion to mention the name of the Saviour of the world, he would do it b y a gentle inclination of the head, and if covered, by lifting the hat, a nd coupling with it the qualifying term, adorable thus, "the adorable" Sa viour, or, "The adorable" Jesus -- thereby acknowledging the divinity o f his character, and his profound reverence for his supreme Godhead. Inde ed, all his discourses were richly interlarded with the names, the office s, the atoning merits, and the interceding work of Jesus Christ making hi m, as he justly ought, the alpha and omega of all his sermons, and as th e only foundation of man's hope, and medium of access and reconciliatio n to God. He thus very properly considered the "adorable" Jesus as " th e light of the world," the divine "Sun" whose effulgence reflected ligh t upon the types and shadows, the sacrifices and prophecies of the Old di spensation, and whose rays penetrated the gloom of moral darkness, and op ened up to the sinner the only sure path to immortality and eternal life .

Though this certainly was not a peculiarity of Dr. Phoebus, as every tru e minister of the gospel must make "Jesus Christ and him crucified," th e beginning and ending of his discourses, and the only medium of reconcil iation to God, yet in the doctor it seemed ever to be his peculiar deligh t and his studied aim to hold up Christ most prominently before his heare rs, in all the glories of his character, and in all the endearing relatio ns he held to God and man as the REDEEMER OF THE WORLD.

The position which he occupied sometimes exposed him to the shafts of en emies. His apparent eccentricities provoked the ridicule of some, while h is good sense, varied knowledge, and equanimity of temper, enabled him t o repel their assaults with good effect, and to bear the sneering scoff s of fools with exemplary patience. And though on some occasions he may h ave returned the repartee with an air of severity calculated to provoke t he feeling of hostility, yet he knew well how to disarm an adversary by t he gentler rebukes of love, and the blandishments of fraternal regards. I n all these respects the fear and love of God were eminently exemplified , and the dignity of the Christian minister generally maintained.

Dr. Phoebus lived to a good old age. After having served the Church a s a minister for about forty-eight years, eight of which as a located pre acher, he fell asleep in Jesus, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, i n the midst of his friends, and in the full hope of eternal life. He reta ined his mental faculties to the last, and on his dying bed discoursed i n an edifying manner upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and the prospect h e had, through him, of everlasting life. Patience in suffering, and submi ssion to the divine will, were remarkably exemplified in the midst of hi s bodily pains, while he gradually and peacefully sunk into the arms of d eath. A short time before he died, he quoted the words of St. James, "Le t patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lack ing nothing," and commented upon them with much apparent pleasure, and wi th great clearness of apprehension, exhibiting, at the same time, a livel y exposition of the meaning of those expressive words in his struggles wi th his last enemy.

Having thus filled up the measure of his days, "as a ripe shock of corn, " he was gathered into the garner of God, to enjoy the rewards of his lab ors and sufferings in the world above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------
PHOEBUS, William, clergyman, born in Somerset county, Maryland, in Augus t, 1754: died in New York city, 9 November, 1831. He early united with t he
Methodist church, and in 1753 was admitted on trial into the travellin g ministry, with an appointment to the Frederick circuit. In 1784 he wa s appointed to. East
Jersey, and was a member of the Christmas conference of that year, whe n the church was organized under the superintendence of Thomas Coke and F rancis Asbury. Thereafter he had various circuits in New Jersey, New York , and Long Island, but in 1798 he located in New York city and engaged i n the practice of medicine, still preaching on Sunday. In 1806 he was rea dmitted to the New York conference and stationed in Albany, whence in 18 08 he was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, but returned to New York c ity in 1811. He then filled several stations in New York and its vicinity , except during 1816, when he was in Albany. In 1821 he was returned a s a supernumerary, and in 1824 placed on the list of retired clergy. He a t one time published a magazine, and wrote a defence of Methodist ordina tion and the "Memoirs of Bishop Whatcoat."

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Tryphena SHERMAN

Father: Stiles SHERMAN
Mother: Mary 

                   _Samuel SHERMAN ________
 _Stiles SHERMAN _|
|                 |_Rachel (poss.) STILES _
|
|--Tryphena SHERMAN 
|
|                  ________________________
|_Mary ___________|
                  |________________________
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.

Edward WHITE

Family 1: Hannah PELLETREAU 

    __
 __|
|  |__
|
|--Edward WHITE 
|
|   __
|__|
   |__
INDEX

EMAIL   HOME

HTML created by GED2HTML v3.1a (8/20/97) on Sat Apr 26 08:30:31 2008.