John Berry McFerrin
| John Berry McFerrin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 15, 1807 Rutherford County, Tennessee |
| Died |
1887 Davidson County, Tennessee |
Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Preacher |
| Religion | Methodist Episcopal Church, South |
| Spouse(s) |
A. A. Probart Cynthia T. McGavock |
| Children |
Sarah Jane McFerrin James William McFerrin John A. McFerrin Elizabeth Johnston McFerrin Almira Probart McFerrin Kitty Lou McFerrin Mary McGinty McFerrin Elizabeth McGavock McFerrin |
| Parent(s) | James McFerrin |
| Relatives |
James Henderson Berry (second nephew) Campbell Polson Berry (second nephew) |
John Berry McFerrin (1807-1887) was an American Methodist preacher and editor. He served as a chaplain in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Biography
Early life
John Berry McFerrin was born on July 15, 1807 in Rutherford County, Tennessee.[1][2] His paternal great-grandfather, William McFerrin, Sr., emigrated to York County, Pennsylvania from Ireland in 1730.[2] His paternal grandfather, William McFerrin, Jr., served in the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783, including at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780.[2] His maternal great-grandfather, James Laughlin, emigrated to the United States from Belfast.[2] His father, James McFerrin, was born in Washington County, Virginia and served as a Methodist pastor in Bellefonte, Alabama.[3] His mother, Jane Campbell Berry, was also born in Washington County, Virginia.[2]
He grew up on a farm.[2]
Career
He started preaching in 1825 and became an ordained Methodist preacher in 1829.[1][3] He delivered his first sermon in Tuscumbia, Alabama[2] His other sermons were delivered in Franklin County, Alabama, Lawrence County, Alabama and Limestone County, Alabama.[2] He then served as a missionary, converting Native Americans to Christianity.[2][4] Later, he preached in Huntsville, Alabama, Pulaski, Tennessee, and in Nashville, Tennessee.[2] He then became a presiding elder in Florence, Alabama and in Cumberland County, Tennessee.[2] He became the pastor at McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville.[1][5] In the 1830s, he was one of the leaders of the temperance movement in Tennessee.[6] When President James K. Polk (1795-1849) became ill, he converted him from Presbyterian to Methodist.[1][6][7] He later conducted his funeral service.[1] He also converted John Ross (1790–1866), who served as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866.[8]
He was one of the early founders of La Grange College in Alabama, later known as the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama.[2] As a result, he was honored by La Grange College with an honorary Doctorate in 1847.[2] He also received an honorary Doctorate from Randolph–Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, also in 1847.[2]
During the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, he served as a Methodist chaplain in the Confederate States Army, converting soldiers to the Methodist Church.[4][9] Specifically, he served in the Second Corps of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Joseph E. Johnston (1807–1891).[1][2][10] Indeed, he was a proponent of the slavery of African-Americans in the United States.[11] However, his religious service during the war was not without controversy. In a letter to Governor Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) on April 22, 1862, Presbyterian lawyer Adrian Van Sinderen Lindsley (1814-1885) blamed him for encouraging secessionist activities in Nashville, as opposed to more moderate Methodists like Reverend Holland Nimmons McTyeire (1824–1889), Reverend John B. Somers (1801-1876), Reverend James L. Houston (1806-1888) and Alexander Little Page Green (1806-1874).[12] He was also accused of trying to kidnap freed slaves, in an attempt to retrieve his lost slaves.[9] He eventually surrendered, as the Confederate cause was lost.[10] His estate was ruined by 1865.[9]
He was also a prolific editor of Methodist publications.[1] He served as the editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate from 1840 to 1844 and the Christian Advocate from 1855 to 1858.[1][2][10] Shortly after the war, from 1869 to 1873, he edited the three-volume History of Methodism in Tennessee.[1][2] He went on to serve as the manager of the Methodist Publishing House from 1878 to 1887.[1][13]
In September 1881, he attended an Ecumenical Conference in London, England as a delegate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.[2] During that trip, he conducted services not only in London, but also in Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris and Newcastle.[2]
Personal life
He was married twice.[2]
He married A. A. Probart of Nashville, daughter of William Y. Probart and Sarah Probart, on September 18, 1833.[2] They had five children:
- Sarah Jane McFerrin.[2]
- James William McFerrin.[2]
- John A. McFerrin.[2]
- Elizabeth Johnston McFerrin.[2]
- Almira Probart McFerrin.[2]
She died in May 1854.[2]
He remarried, to Cynthia T. McGavock of Nashville, daughter of John McGavock and Elizabeth McGavock.[2] They had three children:
He was also a second cousin of James McFerrin Berry, father of James Henderson Berry (1841-1913), the 14th Governor of Arkansas, and to B.H. Berry, father of Campbell Polson Berry (1834-1901), a Congressman from California.[2]
Death
He died in 1887 in Davidson County, Tennessee.[1] He was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery.[1]
Legacy
- The neighborhood of McFerrin Park, together with the public park called McFerrin Park, both located in Northeastern Nashville, are named in his honor.[14] It was developed on the farmland formerly owned by him.[14]
Bibliography
Primary source
- John Berry McFerrin (ed.), History of Methodism in Tennessee (Nashville, Tennessee: Publishing House of the M.E. South, 1888).[15]
Secondary source
- Oscar Penn Fitzgerald, John B. McFerrin: A Biography (Nashville, Tennessee: Publishing House of the M.E. South, 1888).[16]
- William McFerrin Stowe, John B. McFerrin, Editorial Contraversialist, 1840-1858 (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1935).[17]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 FindAGrave: John Berry McFerrin
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 William S. Speer, Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans: Containing Biographies and Records of Many of the Families who Have Attained Prominence in Tennessee, Genealogical Publishing Com, 2010, pp. 359-361
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Anson West, A History of Methodism in Alabama, Nashville, Tennessee: Publishing House of the M.E. South, 1803, pp. 195-196
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Christopher H. Owen, The Sacred Flame of Love: Methodism and Society in Nineteenth-century Georgia, Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1998, p. 109
- ↑ Henry Thurston Tipps, A History of McKendree Church, Nashville, Tennessee: Parthenon Press, 1984 p. 140
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Joe Coker, Liquor in the Land of the Lost Cause: Southern White Evangelicals and the Prohibition Movement, Louisville, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2007, p. 26
- ↑ John McCollister, God and the Oval Office: The Religious Faith of Our 43 Presidents, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2005
- ↑ Gary E. Moulton, John Ross, Cherokee Chief, Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1978, p. 107
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kidnapping Slaves
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 John Wesley Brinsfield, The Spirit Divided: Memoirs of Civil War Chaplains: the Confederacy, Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2006, pp. 245-246
- ↑ Larry E. Tise, Proslavery: A History of the Defense of Slavery in America, 1701-1840, Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1990, p. 415
- ↑ Andrew Johnson, The Papers: 1822-1851, Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, Volume 5, p. 320
- ↑ John E. Fisher, They Rode with Forrest and Wheeler: A Chronicle of Five Tennessee Brothers' Service in the Confederate Western Cavalry, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1995, p. 83
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Christine Kreyling, Nashville and Its Neighborhood: Fanning the Flames of Place
- ↑ Google Books
- ↑ Google Books
- ↑ Google Books