History of the American Negro and His Institutions (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...till the present. By dint of hard work he was soon able to secure a teacher's license and began teaching in Elbert county. The next year he went to Penfield in Greene county where he built up a good school and taught for fourteen years. Even after moving to Crawford, he was again pressed into educational work temporarily. Such was the character of his work in the schoolroom, however, that the patrons of the school kept him teaching till the pressing duties of his growing pastorates made it absolutely necessary for him to abandon the educational work. He was converted at the age of twenty-one and two years later felt called to the work of the ministry. He was licensed by the church at Penfield and ordained to the full work of the ministry by the church at Penfield in 1885. Called to the church at Crawford in 1886, since that time he has come into a place of prominence and leadership in his denomination and his ministry has been marked by long pastorates. He accepted a call to the Springfield Baptist church, Crawford, Ga., in 1886 and has served it continuously for thirty years. He preached at Penfield for two years, leaving there because he could not give the church as much time as was required. He has pastored the. church at Crawfordville since 1887 and Lexington and Morton's Chapel since 1892. Since taking up the work he has baptized between three and four thousand converts. Elder Smith is active in the work of his denomination and is a regular attendant at the State and National Conventions. He is secretary of the Jeruel Association and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jeruel Academy at Athens. He is also on the Executive Board of the State Convention and of the Reformatory. While placing the Bible first in his reading, he finds history helpful an...