xt78sf2m6g1c https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt78sf2m6g1c/data/mets.xml Wright, A. B. (Absalom B.), 1826-1893. 1896 books b92-140-29331597 English Cranston & Curts, : Cincinnati : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Wright, Absalom B. 1826-1893.Wright, J. C., b. 1851. Autobiography of Rev. A.B. Wright : of Holston Conference, M.E. Church / prepared by his son, Rev. J.C. Wright. text Autobiography of Rev. A.B. Wright : of Holston Conference, M.E. Church / prepared by his son, Rev. J.C. Wright. 1896 2002 true xt78sf2m6g1c section xt78sf2m6g1c

REV. A. B. WRIGHT.

This page in the original text is blank.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

REV. A. B. WRIGHT,
OF THE

HOLSTON CONF3EREiNCE, i. E. CHFiURCH.

PREPARED R Y HIS SON,

REV. J. C. WRIGHT, A. NI., D. D.,
OF THE HOLSTON CONFERENCE, M. E. CHURCH.

Mark the perfect man, and behold the Upright; for the
end of that man is peace.-DAVID.

CINCINNATI: CRANSTON CURTS.
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1896.

J. C. WRIGHT, W. D. WRIGHT, AND T. A. WRIGHT,
1896.

DEDIC9TIeN.

Ilto the many tniling ,N4ethanist pgoachegs
an hagi Fields ng lafinit.
1hat class na men whn age meagefly c rmpensatea
gar 0eNusegll wolq,
and yet age tlye Yegy salt ng tle eagtfi,
nO W1rum tl p wnlla is not wanitID,
and wxanse gecnai is on

Zts Potlume

is humfily dcdicated

BY TWHE fIUTIHOFR.

This page in the original text is blank.

MRS. CYNTHIA S. WRIGHT.

This page in the original text is blank.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

OuR ANCESTRY FOR MY CHILDREN, . . .

CHAPTER II.
BIRTH, CHILDHOOD, AND CONVERSION,

CHAPTER III.
EARLY MINISTRY AND MARRIAGE, . . .

CHAPTER IV.
A LOCAL PREACHER..... .. . . .

CHAPTER V.
ROUGH TIMES ............

CHAPTER VI.
GREAT EVENTS ............

CHAPTER VII.
JAMESTOWN CIRCUIT ... ... ...

CHAPTER VIll.
MONTGOMERY CIRCUIT ........

CHAPTER IX.
JAMESTOWN AND CUMBERLAND CITY, . .

CHAPTER X.
JAMESTOWN AND WARTBURG, .

CHAPTER XI.
CROSSVILLE CIRCUIT ..........

PAGE.
..1...... I

......... ... 8

....... .. 20

....... .. 31

....... . 41

.. .. .. .. 52

....... .. 63

.78...... .. 78

........ . 94

....... .. 112

. . 127
V

vi CONT4ENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

WARTBURG AND JAMESTOWN ........

CHAPTER XIII.
A COUNTY COURT CLERK ..........

CHAPTER Xl V.
WARTBURG AND SUNBRIGHT CIRCUITS,.

CHAPTER XV.
THE KINGSTON CIRCUIT ...........

CHAPTER XVI.
NEW RIVER, SUNBRIGHT, AND OLIVER SPRINGS,

CHAPTER XVII.
MT. VERNON....... .. . .. . . ..

CHAPTER XVIII.
NEw RIVER,.

CHAPTER XIX.
A SUPERANNUATE... . ... ..... . .

CHAPTER XX.
A GOLDEN SUNSET ... ..........

CHAPTER XXI.
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION ... . ........ .

CHAPTER XXII.
THoUGHTS ON REVIVAL WORK ......

CHAPTER XXIII.
TuiiX DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE .

CHAPTER XXIV.

TuHE FUTURE STATE, . . .

PAGE.
.15. .8.. . 18

...... 173

...... 208

.......227

.. . 253

.. ... ..283

..... 315

. . . 352

..... . 369

..... 376

..... 394

...... .... 406

APPENDIX . 4 2

. . 421

PREFACE.

IN young manhood my father began to keep a
journal of his life. His purpose was to leave it
for the benefit of his children. He had no idea that
it would ever be published to the world as a book.
Several years ago it became apparent to him that
its publication would be necessary, so that each of
his children might have a copy. Hundreds of oth-
ers, outside of our own family, who had a knowl-
edge of his purpose, urged him to publish his life,
in the belief that it would be beneficial to the world.
He finally consented to do so, and requested the
writer to edit and prepare his papers for publication
after his death. I have endeavored to do this hon-
estly and in the fear of God. I have tried, so far
as the rules of good language would at all tolerate,
to retain the mannerisms of my father. He was a
man of fine natural endowment, and had acquired
much by extensive reading, but was without any
literary training.
I anticipate two classes of critics. One class
will object to whatever changes I have made, and
the other will fault me for not making more. I
have in DO instance changed the thought of my
father, but only changed the language. I have done
this work amid other heavy labors. To me it has
been a sad but loving task. I prepared the chap-
ter containing his death. If; in it, there shall ap-
vAi

viii PREFACE.

pear to any one an unduly high eulogy of my father,
let me offer as my apology a strong filial love for a
loving, tender father.
I trust that this volume will be useful to his
many spiritual children who may read it, and to his
many thousands of true friends throughout all of
that mountain country where he toiled and spent
his life for the Master. Many of the companions
and friends of his early life have passed over, and
are with him on the other side of the river.
I have now redeemed the promise to my father,
and send forth this volume on its mission to
humanity.
J. C. WRIGHT.
MARYVILLE, TENN., October 2, 1895.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF

REV. A. B. WRIGHT.

CHAPTER I.
OUR ANCESTRY FOR MY CHILDREN.
MY grandfather's name on my father's side was
Ml Moses Wright. I am inclined to think he
was born and ever lived in North Carolina. His
father came from Ireland. Moses Wright married
Margaret Edmondson. I do not know where she
was raised, perhaps in North Carolina. Some time
after their marriage my grandfather became a local
preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
traveled some circuits as supply under Bishop As-
bury. He and grandmother reared nine children.
Some. may have died in infancy; I do not know. I
remember hearing my father call over the names of
his brothers and sisters. The names of the boys
were Jesse, James, John, Robert, Jeremiah, and
Aaron. The girls' names were Sarah, Zilphia, and
Martha-six boys and three girls.
Uncle Robert and Uncle Jerry Wvright died in
the War of 1812. They were both soldiers. Uncle
Jesse Wright married a Vaughn; Uncle James, a
Gravel; Uncle Robert married Nancy Dale; my
I

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

father married Peninah Dole. I do n't think Uncle
Jerry was ever married. Uncle Aaron married a
Pritchard; Aunt Sarah married a Pierce; Aunt
Martha married a Lynn; and Aunt Zilphia married
a Halbert.
My Grandfather Wright died before my father
was fully grown, leaving some small children on
grandmother's hands to rear. They lived by farm-
ing. Grandmother was a very devoted Christian
woman, praying in her family when grandfather
was not at home to pray. M1y father emigrated to
East Tennessee into what is now Anderson or
Union County, when quite a young man, my father's
name being John Wright.
And now, boys, I will trace up on my mother's
side of the house. On her side my grandfather
was named William Dale. Grandmother was a
Barden before she married William Dale. I do not
recollect her given name. After they were blessed
with five children, grandmother died. The five
children, three girls and two boys, were small. Not
a great while after her death, one of the boys,
named James, dlied. The girls' names were Peninah,
which was my mother, Nancy and Alsie. Aunt
Nancy married Uncle Robert Wright, and Aunt
Alsie married Timothy Carpenter, a brother of my
wife's mother. Grandfather Dale was born and
lived the early part of his life in North Carolina.
After the death of grandmother he moved and
lived near Augusta in Georgia. Mother's brother's
name was William Dale. He was younger than
either of the girls. Aster the children were pretty
well grown they emigrated to East Tennessee, near

REv. A. B. WRIGHT.

to where father, and - I should have said Uncle
Robert Wright, came for they came together-and
I think Grandmother Wright and the whole family
were soon in East Tennessee. It was there that
Uncle Robert Wright and Aunt Nancy Dale were
married. A short time afterwards father and
mother were married. Uncle Robert and fattier
soon, with their wives, emigrated to Wolf River,
into what was then Overton, but now Fentress
County, Tennessee. In a few years Grandfather
Dale married again, and emigrated to Fentress
County. Uncle William Dale remained in East
Tennessee.
And now I will confine myself to father's family.
Father and mother were blessed with fourteen chil-
dren, seven boys and seven girls. Two girls and
one boy died in infancy. They raised to full-grown
age six boys and five girls. The boys' names were
William D., James AI., Edmondson, John F., Ab-
salom B., and Calvin C. The girls' names were
Sarah, Nancy, Freely Ann, Peninah Jane, and
Eliza Emeline. There was but one that died in in-
fancy named. Its name was Margaret. Now I
have brought it down to your own recollection, I
trust, so that, if it is ever needed in a chain of fam-
ily history, you can come at it easily. Perhaps I
had better say something about marriages and
deaths. William D. married Elizabeth Hopkins,
James M. married Caroline Craft, Edmondson mar-
ried Naomi Spears, John F. died unmarried, A. B.
married C. S. Frogge, and Calvin C. married Nanev
Atkinson. Sarah married John Price, Nancy mar-
ried John W. Frogge, your mother's brother, Freely

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

Ann married Greenberry Brown, Peninah Jane
married John Carpenter, Eliza E. married George
Y. Carpenter, who was a Federal soldier, and was
killed during the civil wvar; she afterwards married
John Davis. The Carpenters, John and George Y.,
were cousins of your mother.
And now the deaths. Your Grandfather Wright
died of heart dropsy, April 21, 1844. Your Uncle
William D. Wright died in Arkansas of fever in
1853. Your Uncle John F. Wright died in Arkan-
sas in 18.5-5. Your Aunt Peninah Jane Carpenter
died of childbed fever in 1863. Your Grandma
Wright died in July 1867 of apoplexy and paral-
ysis. Edmondson Wright died of dropsy, August
16, 1879. James M. Wright died of congestion of the
heart and lungs, October 30, 1879. Nancy Frogge
died May, 1888. Your Uncle William D. Wright
was a licensed local Methodist preacher for five or
six years before his death. Your Uncle Edmond-
son Wright was a local elder iti the Southern
Methodist Church for years. He traveled in Ken-
tucky on circuits as a supply for seven or eight
years. Your Uncle C. C. Wright was a traveling
elder for years in the St. Louis and Pacific Con-
ferences of the Southern Methodist Church, and
was presiding elder for a time.
As to my own work, I leave it in my life jour-
nal. Father and mother died members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. William D., John
F., Nina Jane, Edmondson, and -Nancy died mem-
hers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
William D. and John F. are buried in the State of
Arkansas. Father, mother, three infants, James

RFV. A. B. WRI(rGHt.

Mt. and Nancy Frogge are buried at the Three Forks
of Wolf River, in Fentress County, Tennessee.
Peninah Jane is buried in the Poplar Cove in Fen-
tress County, Tennessee. Edniondson Wright was
buried in Cumberland County, Kentucky. 0 how
we are scattered!
And now I will tell you something of your
mother's ancestry. Her grandfather on her father's
side was named John Frogge, born and raised in
Virginia; do not know in what county. He mar-
ried Lucretia Miller. They raised eight children,
four boys and four girls. They emigrated froin
Virginia to Kentucky, into Cumberland County,
while their children were young. Your mother's
grandfather did not live a great while after coming
to Kentucky. He died from a relapse of measles.
Their children's names were Cornelius Mitchell,
William, Arthur, and John-boys. The girls'
names were Elizabeth, Cynthia, Rebecca, and MLary.
Her grandmother raised her children until they
were grown and married, and she emigrated with
her son-in-law, James Spearman, to Washington
Territory, and died there. Cornelius M. Frogge,
your grandfather, married Deborah Carpenter.
William Frogge married Mary Smith. Arthur
and John Frogge each married Williams girls, sis-
ters. Soon after they married-that is, Arthur and
John-they emigrated to the West. Your grand-
father Frogge was reared by his uncle, Arthur
Frogge, in Tennessee, on Wolf River. Your great-
grandfather, your mother's grandfather, John Frogge,
was a first cousin to James Madison, of Virginia,
twice President of the United States. Your grand-

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

father Frogge's early life, after marriage, was spent
on Wolf River. After they had six children, they
moved to Morgan County, Tennessee, on White
Oak Creek, where Curtis Stonecipher now lives,
and lived there six years; then went back to his
farm on Wolf River, where your cousins, the
Frogge boys, now live; only the houses were down
on the road, where your pa and ma were married.
Your Grandmother Frogge had fifteen children,
Five died in infancy, and one girl, named Lucretis,
died when nearly grown-three boys and twelve
girls. One boy and four girls died in infancy, and
two boys and seven girls were raised. The boys'
names that were raised were Timothy Carpenter
and John Wesley. The girls' names that were
raised were Hannah Brown, Elizabeth Turley, Lucy
Lane, Cynthia Ann Spearman, Deborah Jane, Re-
becca Bosley, and Mary Baskett. Two only that
died in infancy were named; one was named Nancy,
the other Miriam. And now the marriages: Han-
nah B. married Harrison Williams. After having
two children, she died triumphant. Timothy C.
married Harriet Wilson; Elizabeth T. married
Simon Shelley; Lucy L. married James Crouch;
your mother, Cynthia Ann S., married A. B.Wrigbt;
Deborah J. married Lewis Shelley; John W. mar-
ried Nancy Wright; Rebecca B. married T. C.
Peters, and Mary B. married James H. McGinnis.
Your uncle, T. C. Frogge has been a traveling
Methodist preacher from his early youthful days.
Your Grandfather Frogge was for years a Methodist
class-leader. Every one of his children were mem-
bers of the Methodist Church; so were all your

RFV. A. B. WRIGHT.

uncles and aunts on your father's side of the house,
except James M. Wright. Your uncle, T. C.
Peters, has been an itinerant Methodist preacher
from early youth. Your uncle, Lewis Shelley, is a
Methodist preacher. So you see, boys, you have
some President and a great deal of Methodist
preacher blood in you all. But wait till I come now
to your Grandmother Frogge's side of the house,
and you will find several more preachers.
Your mother's grandfather, on her mother's side,
was named Timothy Carpenter, a Yankee, born and
raised to manhood in the State of Connecticut.
When a young man lie wandered into the State of
Massachusetts, and was united in marriage to Han-
nah Brown, who was raised in the city of' Boston.
He early became an itinerant Methodist preacher.
He had a brother named Samuel Carpenter, who
was a missionary Baptist preacher Timothy Car-
penter, with his young wife, came as an itinerant to
Kentucky. After traveling in that State a few
years, he came to Tennessee, and purchased a good
farm on the head of AVolf River, and lived near
where William Pile now lives. He and wife raised
eight children, five boys and three girls. The boys'
names were Timothy, Consider, John, Dan, and
Cyril. The girls' names were Lucy, Deborah, your
grandmother, and Nancy. Your mother's Grand-
father Carpenter sold out on Wolf River, and
moved and settled on White Oak Creek, in Morgan
County, Tennessee, where Schenek now lives. That
is the old Carpenter place. Some of Rev. Timothy
Carpenter's family married while he lived on Wolf
River, and the others in Morgan County.

AAUTOBIOGRAPHY O0

And now their marriages: Timothy married Alsie
Dale, a sister of your grandmother Wright; Con-
sider married Susan Guthrie; John married Sarah
Guthrie; Dan married Jane Cisel; and Cyril mar-
ried Rhoda Cisel, a sister of Dan's wife. Lucy
married Middleton Holloway; Deborah, your grand-
mother, married Cornelius M. Frogge; Nancy mar-
ried William Potter. Your mother's uncle, Dan
Carpenter, has been from early youth a Methodist
minister. Your mother's uncle, Timothy Carpenter,
went to Texas early in life. We do not know any-
thing of his or John Carpenter's descendants. And
now this gives you a pretty good outline of your
ancestry. In our lineage may the stream of great-
ness continually rise!

CHAPTER II.
BIRTH, CHILDHOOD, AND CONVERSION.
IWAS born in Fentress County, Tennessee, No-
vember 3, 1826, six miles northwest of James-
town, the county-seat of said county, on a pike
road, at the foot of Cumberland Mountain, on the
headwaters of Wolf River. I was the sixth son
and ninth child of my parents. I had two brothers
quite chums with me, Brothers John F. and Calvin
C. Wright; John being not two years older, and
Calvin between three and four years younger, than
I was. We were all naturally of quite a mischievous
disposition of mind. Doubtless I possessed as
large, if not the largest, share of that disposition,
though of innocent design. I was brought up to

REv. A. B. WRIGHT.

labor in the fields from my earliest recollection,
my father being a farmer and stockraiser. When
quite young, I took pleasure in feeding hogs, calves,
sheep, and other stock, thinking it the only way to
live in this life.
I was early taught not to tell a lie, nor swear
profanely, nor use blackguardish language in any
way. I was taught the evils of using ardent
spirits or tobacco. However, when quite a boy I
ventured to take one chew of tobacco, which made me
so sick that I never tried it again. My early home
was very unhandy to school and church, having to
walk three miles to school and back every day, to
get what little education I obtained from the school-
room. I have secured more education outside the
school-room than in it, for I have been very fond
of books. The nearest church-house was four miles
off. I learned to spell and read when very young.
I can remember when the first free-school law was
enacted by the Legislature of Tennessee.
I was of school age-that is, six or more years
old-when the first free school was taught in the dis-
trict where I was raised. The qualifications re-
quired of teachers then were very low as compared
with what they are now. Teachers were then em-
ployed at from ten to fifteen dollars per month.
They sat a great portion of their time, and that
even while hearing recitations, with a long beech or
hickory switch in their hands, for the purpose of
keeping the students under good rule. If one vio-
lated the school rules, he received the lash on his
back in the presence of the school. The severity
of the lash, or the number, was according to the

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

magnitude of the offense committed. School terms
were generally from one and a half to three months
of length in the year. They generally commenced
about the first of August, and always had a vacation
of two weeks for fodder-pulling.
I had an ambition early in life to obtain a good
education, and under the very meager school facil-
ities I had, I would take my school-books in the
clearing and fields with me, and while sitting down
to rest, or to rest a horse in the plow, I would be
studying my books. 0 bow I do sympathize with
a poor boy struggling after an education! So soon
as I learned to read, and to commit to memory
from the New Testament the Lord's Prayer, my
father enjoined it on me to repeat the Lord's Prayer
before lying down at night to sleep. I bless God
for this, and to my latest breath, I trust, I shall
never fail to comply with that rule, adopted so early
in life. I can scarcely remember so far back as
when I first learned to sing songs and hymns of
praise to God. Frequently in singing, my heart
would be so touched and moved that I would shed
tears freely under a conscious sense of my unsaved
state by nature. Often I would make the fields
vocal with my singing, having a strong voice.
My father gave to me, when a boy, the fictitious
nickname of General DeKalb. When quite a boy, I
would walk barefoot four miles to attend Sunday-
school. Facilities, as to Sunday-school literature,
were not then what they are now. Then we
studied the spelling-book, readers, and the New
Testament, and there was no catechising done. We
would take our dinner, and the Sunday-school would

REV. A. B. WRIGHT.

hold all day, unless there was Preaching, prayer, or
class meeting. Class-meetings were more frequent
then than now. I ever felt great reverence fir
prayer or class meeting, as well as for preaching.
My father and mother strictly enjoined it on me
never to stir about or leave the house in time of
Divine service, but to treat the house of God with
great reverence and respect. My mother was a
professed Christian long before my existence, my
father afterwards.
Having to work so constantly in the fields
through the week, it seemed Sunday was a long
time in coming. When not attending Sunday-
school or religious services, myself and brothers,
and sometimes sisters, would stroll about the garden-
walks, the orchards, and fields, and listen to na-
ture's sweet songsters of the feathered tribes, espe-
cially in the early spring, when their notes seemed
sweetest. Sometimes we would amuse ourselves in
innocent plays, until I would be as tired on Sun-
day night, if not more so, than if I had worked in
the field. At. our earnest entreaty, my parents
would sometimes allow mvself and brothers to visit
neighboring boys, and we would play base, run
foot-races, wrestle, or play Antony over, until I was
so tired that I could scarcely walk a mile or two
home, and yet I took great delight in these plays.
Sometimes neighboring boys would visit us, and
that would save me the walk home. I must think
that children were governed about as well then as
at any time since, and yet I think that it was a sad
mistake on the part of their parents to allow them
to exert so much physical strength on Sunday.

At1TORIOGRAPHY OP

As I began to move up in age, into my teens, I
became more anxious about my education, and to
possess some property of my own. I also began to
feel a warm attachment to the feminine sex, and to
love the girls some; but now began my school days.
At the age of sixteen, in November, the next spring
in April, I was bitten by a large serpent, supposed
to be a copperhead. Its teeth-boles were fully an
inch from each other. Myself and brother John,
taking our horses out of the plow one evening,
started for home, being at an old place, on which
father and mother had first lived, before purchasing
a more desirable site, on the road one-half mile
from the old. We hitched our horses and went into
an old house partly filled with sheaf oats, to carry
some home with us. I had great fears of snakes, as
they were numerous in those mountains, especially
at that season of the year. Brother John went in, as
though talking to the snakes, telling them not to bite
him. It was becoming rather dark in the old house,
and, on putting my hand down to take up a sheaf of
oats, the serpent bit me on the wrist near the pulse
of my right arm. Being frightened, I did not move
until the serpent had released its hold. I then spoke
to my brother and told him I was snakebitten.
He said he reckoned not, but I told him I was. I
left the house at once, without taking any oats, got
on my horse, and started hurriedly for home.
When about halfway, I turned very sick, but
sucked my wrist where bitten, and spit out the
poison until I was somewhat relieved.
On coming opposite the house, I did not go to
the barn as usual with my horse, but lighted off,

Rev. A. B. WRIGHT.

went in, and told father I was snake-bitten. My
father kept some medical books, and usually did his
own doctoring. He bandaged my arm to prevent
the swelling from running to my body, while he
resorted to everything of which he could think or
read, but all seemed to avail nothing. The bandage
had to be changed more than once, and finally taken
off entirely, my shoulders, neck, and head becoming
so swollen as to almost prevent my breathing, until
my friends had alarming fears that I would die from
suffocation.
No one that has not experienced it, knows the
amount of suffering there is from a bad serpent-
bite. As a last resort, I was put to drinking strong
whisky to counteract the snake poison, drinking a
glass tumblerful at a time, which would for a few
minutes relieve me from my intense suffering.
When the serpent poison would overcome the
whisky, and my suffering would return, again I
would drink off another glass tumblerful of strong
whisky, until I drank three tumblersful, drinking
the last about midnight. After this, I was uncon-
scious until next day about ten o'clock, during
which time I was in a swooning condition, strug-
gling for breath, the strong fight between serpent
poison and whisky poison going on in my system.
When I returned to consciousness I was about easy,
but could hardly recognize myself. My right arm,
lying by my side, was swollen almost as large as
my body, and somewhat crooked, from which I
could not straighten it for more than two weeks.
() how near I came to death ! After recovering a
little, I felt as though I would rather die than to go

13S

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

through a like suffering again. For three spring
seasons that arm changed to the color of a serpent
and shed off the outside skin. My friends had se-
rious fears that my arm would have to betaken off;
but I was young, and outgrew it.
At that time I was an unsaved boy, and I knew
it, and it made me shudder to think how near I
was to the gate of death in an unsaved state. I
took great delight in singing, and in studying the
rudiments of music in the old four-note system. I
purchased a cheap little hymn-book called Vedder's
Hymns, and would take it in my side-pocket often,
when attending church. Sometimes, when at class-
meetings, I would take out my book and sing like a
good fellow, unless the Christians should get happy
and begin to shout, when my own unsaved condi-
tion would so impress me that tears would chase
each other down my cheeks. If I could retreat
and get on a back seat without being observed, I
would do so; for I always had a great aversion to
being called a coward. My convictions for sin grew
heavier all the while, and from early boyhood I
had a strong impression of mind that I should do
considerable work for the Lord before I died.
My third living brother, Edmondson Wright,
became a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. In his preaching, his very earnest appeals
to the sinner often so impressed me that I would
weep bitterly. I would think, if some one would
only come and take me by the hand, how readily I
would go to the anxious-seat and seek salvation; but
I was young, and small of my age, and so was over-
looked. I very well remember, in the summer of

REv. A. B. WRIGHT.

1843, while attending on Three Forks of Wolf
River, at old Pleasant Hill Church-the nearest
Church to us-that I was so powerfully convicted
for sin that I returned home that evening in great
agony of mind.
Next day being Monday, and not having much
work to do, I walked the woods all day long, wring-
ing my hands in grief, and it seemed my heart would
break because of sin. It has ever been since that
time a mystery to me why I did not fall on my
knees in that grove and surrender my heart in
prayer to God for pardon; but I was afraid to make
such a surrender of myself to the good Lord. In a
few weeks from that time, in the month of August,
a camp-meeting was coming on, to be held by the
Cumberland Presbyterians, in the Poplar Cove five
miles from my father's. I vowed to the Lord that
I would go to that meeting and seek my soul's
salvation.
By the time the meeting came on, I had about
overcome all my serious impressions, and went to
the meeting full of life and mischievous fun. I was
a leader in such, if I could have a train of boys to
follow me. On this occasion I would especially
point out one poor old man, and make many funny
and unbecoming remarks about him when he would
get happy and shout aloud God's praise. I went to
the meeting on Friday, I think, and on Saturday
night was sitting in the congregation beside a play-
mate, Washington Campbell. His father, William
Campbell, was a camper on the ground, and an elder
in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. James
Campbell, an uncle of my companion, who was a

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Cumberland Presbyterian minister, rose up to exhort,
after some one had preached. He made earnest
appeals to the Christians to pray, which they did;
and soon shouts of praise to God began to go up.
The hearts of myself and companion were melted
in deep penitence. We were sitting not far from
the altar, and when penitents were called, James
Campbell came to us and urged us to go forward
for prayers, which we did. We prostrated our-
selves in the altar, on a carpet of straw; and 0
how I did pray, for I had achieved a great victory
over self!
There was a large number of young men and
young ladies at the altar, and still they came in
crowds. The Christian people sang, talked, and
prayed for us until a late hour, but I got no relief.
After awhile it was suggested to take the mourners
to the camps for sleep; but there was no sleep for
me. Next day there was eloquent preaching; but
the mourners were not called until night. Again I
was at my place at the altar when the mourners
were called, and 0 how humbly and earnestly I
prayed to the Lord! At a late hour some lady asked
me if I had any friends on the ground whom I would
like to have come and pray for me. I answered by
saying, " If I have any friends in the world, I would
like to have them pray for me;" for I really felt that
I was lost, world without end. It seemed so hard
for me to appropriate the precious promises of Christ
to my own personal good. Again, at a late hour,
together with others, I was taken to the camps for
rest; but not much sleep for me. The next day
(Monday) the people gathered, as usual, under their

RgV. A. B. WRIGHT.

brush arbor; for that was the kind under which we
had been worshiping.
Just after the preacher took his text and began
to preach, there came up a heavy rain, which caused
the congregation to retreat to the surrounding camps.
Religious services now began in every camp, some
one serving as public speaker. A very good man
by the name of Tyndall began exhorting in Bow-
den's, Solomon's, and Owen's camp, where I was.
Directly he called mourners to come forward. I stood
where I was for a short time, when Brother David
Guinn, then a Methodist exhorter, afterward a Meth-
odist preacher, came to me, took me by the hand,
and said: "Young man, make one more effort." I
started, and went about halfway across the camp,
when I fell prostrate, crying: " 0 Lord, here let me
die or be saved !" I cried from the very top of my
voice: " 0 Lord, save or I perish !" I was there in
that condition for some time; I hardly know just
how long. After awhile, the very same old man,
old Brother Simms, that I had made fun of for
shouting, came and kind of rolled over me, and
told me I could get up from there. He laughed,
and talked so kindly that my faith laid hold on
Christ, and instantly I arose, shouting: "Glory!
glory, hallelujah ! glory to God in the highest!"
My father and oldest brother, hearing of my dis-
tress, had come to the meeting that morning with-
out my knowledge. My oldest brother had been
praying for me just before I arose, as he prayed
in public.
When I arose he was happy; and in my rejoic-
ing over the camp, I came to my father, took him
2

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by the hand, and tried to tell him how happy I was.
He was sitting in a chair in the camp. He threw
himself back in his chair,