-= Old Soule's Methodist Church, Lumpkin County, Georgia =-

... What is "Soule"?

There are ten slot&tab tombs located in the cemetery of Word of Faith Tabernacle, formerly Old Soule's Methodist Church cemetery, Lumpkin County, NE Georgia. This cemetery site is unique given that it is the only Methodist cemetery with a large number of slot&tab tombs, and only one of two Methodist churches with such tombs (the other is Mossy Creek Methodist Church).

A person assumes on seeing the old name of the church, "Old Soules Methodist Church" or "Old Soule's Methodist Church", that the 'e' in "Soule" is an old Middle Englsh spelling of the word 'soul', and that the adjective "old" either refers to the antiquity of the church building or a reference to the advanced age of a human spirit. In either case, old "Soul's Methodist Church" or "Old Soul's Methodist Church" would be rather unusual names for Methodist Churches, there being no others called such. So i went off in search of other similarly-named Methodist Churches which could justify the name of this one, or some other explanation for the use of the word "Soule".

Bishop Joshua Soule, Methodist Episcopal Church, SouthThe "Soule" referred to, however, in the name of the church (which is now called "Word of Faith Tabernacle") is Rev. Joshua Soule (1781-1867), a greatly esteemed leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church -- primary author of its founding constitution (1808), a bishop (1824), and original bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1846), which separated from the northern denomination over the issue of slavery. There are at least fifteen other Southern Methodist Churches - in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas - that use Soule's name for their church or chapel, and one other (Old Soule's Chapel, MS) that uses the word "Old".

Life of Joshua Soule, by Horace M. Du Bose, D.D. (M.E. Church, South, Nashville, Tenn. 1916)

1781 - born in Bristol, Maine
1797 - became a member of the Methodist Church
1798 - licensed to preach, Maine District
1803 - ordained an elder
1824 - ordained a bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States of America; residence: Lebanon, Ohio
1846 - bishop of the new Methodist Episcopal Church, South; residence: Nashville, Tennessee
1867 - died. Gallatin Pike, City Road Chapel, now Madison TN, buried in the old City Cemetery
1876 - reinterred at Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Now to find the date of the church's beginning ...

Always interested in learning more.

- tom kunesh
3 may 2002 Chattanooga TN

http://www.darkfiber.com/tomb/
http://www.darkfiber.com/tomb/cemeteries/oldsoules/

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Soules Chapel [AL] http://www.stroxel.com/gcom/research/nalabama/ch_list.htm

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28/3 Soule's Chapel Methodist Church; 1951 [GA]

CITATION: United Methodist Church (U.S.) North Georgia Conference Local church histories, MSS 028, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.

Historical Note
The Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, originally part of the South Carolina Conference, was formed in 1830. In that same year the Methodist Protestant Church was formed as the result of a disagreement over the issue of lay participation in church government. In 1844 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church over the issue of slavery. In 1866 the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South divided to form separate conferences for North and South Georgia. With this division, the North Georgia Conference underwent a period of rapid growth. Its membership was estimated at 38,211 in 1866 and had grown to 58,520 by 1875. I

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Soules Chapel United Methodist, Campbellsville, KY

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Soules Chapel, Ebo MO
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/surnames.huckstep/37

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Old Soule's Chapel [MS]
(Methodist church between Macon and Brooksville) in Noxubee County, MS

Soules Chapel, Clarke County, MS
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msclarke/place.html

Soules Chapel Methodist Church, Marshall Co., MS

Soules Chapel,Trebloc,Chickasaw,MS

Soules Chapel Cemetery, JONES CO., MS

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Soule Methodist Church [NC]

Soule Church, one of the oldest established Methodist congregations in Hyde County [north coastal North Carolina], got its name from Bishop Joshua Soule. In the early days Soule Church was the center of worship for a large portion of aristocracy at the time. Soule Church had its beginning on August 11, 1858, when John R. Donnell deeded the church site to Riley Murray, James R. Fisher, Edward Jones, Samuel G. Watson, Sr., James W. Swindell, Milton Sadler, Gideon S. Sermons, James Weston, and Leroy M. Swindell, who served as the first trustees of the church.

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~jmack/photos/soulech.htm

Soules Chapel United Methodist Church, Dickson County, NC
http://www.nostalgiaville.com/hills/dickson/dcounty/dctychurches.htm

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Soules Chapel, Cross Hill, SC

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Soules Chapel [TN]
http://www.stroxel.com/gcom/research/tennesse/ch_list.htm

SOULES CHAPEL ROAD, CUNNINGHAM, TN, DICKSON County

First Methodist Church of LaFollette, TN.
Church now known as "Soules Chapel".

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Marker Title: Soules Chapel Methodist Church [TX]
Address:
City: Gilmer
County: Upshur
Year Marker Erected: 1977
Designations: na
Marker Location: 10 mi. NW of Gilmer on FM 556
Marker Text: The Rev. Joshua Soule (1781-1867), original bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, visited East Texas in 1846. Worshiping in a log cabin across the road from this site as early as the 1850s, settlers gave his name to their church.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txupshur/HistoricalMarkers.html

Soules Chapel Cemetery, Franklin Co. TX

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Soule University, 1856: Yellow Fever & Mood's Arrival
In 1854, the state changed the charter of the non- denominational Chappell Hill Male and Female College near Brenham, allowing its trustees to transfer control "to any denomination of Christians they may think proper." Having lost interest in Rutersville College, the Texas Conference of the Methodist Church was seeking such an enterprise when it met and decided to found a new Methodist institution. The school would be named "Soule University" after Bishop Joshua Soule of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Chappell Hill was selected as the site.
http://www.southwestern.edu/about/history.html

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Who is buried in the fenced square near the [Vanderbilt] Divinity Library? Bishops William McKendree, Joshua Soule, and Holland McTyeire and Chancellor Landon Garland. Bishops William McKendree and Joshua Soule were reburied on the campus in 1876 by order of Bishop McTyeire, because their graves were being neglected.

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Soule

"Life of Joshua Soule." Horace M. Du Bose, D.D. Nashville, Tenn. Dallas, Tx.; Richard, Va. Publishing House of the M.E. Church, South; Smith & Lamar, Agents, 1916. Decendents of George Soule, Captain Joshua Soule, the father of Bishop Johua Soule. He married and established a home at Bristol on the coast of Maine where his fifth son, the future bishop was born on August 1, 1781. This is the story and background of Bishop Joshua Soule. CSM
http://www.rootsweb.com/~bwo/surs.html#Soule

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SOULE, JOSHUA, 1781-1867 (#40)
Papers, 1816-1865; 3 folders
Consists of approximately 50 letters to and from Bishop Joshua Soule as well as certificates and articles by him. These primarily concern business of the denomination, particularly the split of the church. and mission work. Finding aids: descriptive inventory, NUCMC
http://info.library.emory.edu/Special/guides-methodist.html

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BISHOPS OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.

NAME. Residence. Ent'd Itinerancy. Ordained Bishop at JOSHUA SOULE, D. D. Nashville, Tenn. N. E. Con, 1799. Balt., Md., May, 1824
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/almanac/almanac.html

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State Street United Methodist Church, Bowling Green, KY
Two giants in the history of the Methodist Church in the nineteenth century, Bishops William McKendree and Joshua Soule, preached in this building.
http://www.statestreetumc.org/history.htm

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The New England Conference had been so difficult for several years that the bishops called on senior Bishop Joshua Soule to help preside over the sessions in June 1838. Soule, primary author of the Methodist constitution of 1808, was the most ardent defender of the authority of the bishops. Although the General Conference of 1836 had released him, because of ill health, from any duties except those he chose, he responded to his colleagues' wishes.41

Hedding was also on hand to continue his war against the abolitionists. With Soule in the chair, Hedding personally charged Scott with not abiding by their agreement of 1837. He further charged that Scott had spoken of the bishops in an unbrotherly and disrespectful manner which was not proper for a Methodist preacher. The conference cleared Scott on both counts. Having failed with Scott, Hedding then brought five charges against La Roy Sunderland. All Hedding's charges were concerned with Sunderland's activities as editor of the abolitionist Zion's Watchman. As in the case of Scott, the conference acquitted Sunderland of every charge.42

The primary function of Bishop Soule at the 1838 conference was to support a so-called "Plan of Pacification," which had been devised by G. F. Cox, editor of the Maine Wesleyan Journal. This plan, actually harmful to the work of the abolitionists, would have required the abolitionists never to attack an officer of the church, never to leave their own area to give abolitionist speeches, and never to establish an abolitionist newspaper. They would not be allowed to form or participate in Methodist antislavery societies, and they could join other antislavery societies only if they did not violate any other article in the agreement. They would be allowed to offer public prayer for abolition, but only if they used apostolic language, and they would be allowed to explain to their congregations the teaching of the Discipline on slavery only once a year. Finally, they would be allowed to petition the General Conference only on subjects which directly concerned the conference doing the petitioning. Most of the statement were phrased positively, and the hour-long plea by Soule, who presented the plan as a great compromise, led some of the delegation to favor its adoption. The indomitable Scott, however, believed that the plan would support the position already taken by Hedding and Waugh. On the basis of Scott's arguments, the New England Conference rejected the plan.43

...
The decisive concern of the bishops, however, seems to have come from the rampant growth of pro-slavery feeling in the South. This is best illustrated by Hedding's response to the Georgia resolution declaring that slavery was not a moral evil. In a letter to Fisk he wrote, "I did hope we should get along better 'til I saw those wretched Resolutions from the Georgia Conference. I had no idea that any conference could pass such Resolutions; I see not how they can be justified." He added, "If the southern conferences can be restrained and corrected, we may yet live after (perhaps) losing a part of New England."58 Hedding had come to believe that the pro-slavery southerners posed the greatest threat to the peace of the church. But just as it was too late to heal the wounds of six years of bitter strife and prevent the leading abolitionists from leaving the denomination in 1842, it was too late to halt the growing aggressiveness of the South. The South was too powerful and could not be "restrained." When the General Conference met in 1844 the southern delegates were far more aggressive than they had been in 1840 and the northern delegates were in no mood for compromise. In this tense situation, Bishop Soule read the episcopal address. "According to our ecclesiastical organization you are, under God, the constitutional body in which the conservative elements of the peace and unity of the Church repose; and consequently. . . all your acts should be the result of calm deliberation, and calm analysis, guided by enlarged and enlightened views, and accompanied with much prayer."59 The bishops would have done well to heed their own advice ten years earlier; the denomination was now split into two factions too large to coerce and the bishops had helped create an atmosphere in which communication and compromise were impossible.
http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/border/bs1/hood.htm

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Smith, Joshua Soule
Papers, 1865-1903
Collection Number: 52M1 (1.6 cubic ft., 12 volumes)
News clippings, essays, and short stories by Smith, a Florida native and journalist, attorney and Confederate Civil War veteran. Smith developed the recipe for the Mint Julep while living in Lexington, Kentucky. An unpublished inventory is available.
http://digilib.uky.edu/dynaweb/oak/kukead/kukmead/gsmans/@Generic__BookTextView/5015

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1819
Organization of Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church from John Stewart's work with the Wyandot Indian Nation, by Joshua Soule and Nathan Bangs. The Women's Foreign Missionary Society was the genesis of the work started at the Missionary school there.

Joshua Soule was received 1799. Nathan Bangs was received 1802.

Sept. 1824
Ohio Conference at Zanesville with Bishops McKendree, Roberts and Soule.

Joshua Soule was elected Bishop in 1824.

1840
The Methodist church was built at "Upper North Street (now Third & North Streets) The brick walls were made, burned and put up by John Everhart of Mt. Holly, and Reeve Holland did the carpenter work at the cost of $1400. At the dedication Thomas Collett, Sr. preached with Bishop Joshua Soule and Joseph J. Hill performing the dedication service.

Samuel W. Rogers was a member of the church and instrumental in helping raise money for the building of the church. His mother was the first Methodist living in Waynesville in 1817-1818. William Retallick, who was a member of the church was converted to Methodism in England by Thomas Collett, Sr. William Retallick (1807-1898) is buried in Section C, Miami Cemetery.

Bishop Joshua Soule (1781-1867) was living in Lebanon, Ohio. In 1845 he left the Methodist Episcopal for the Methodist Episcopal South and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to become one of the first Bishops.

1859-1860
Joseph Jefferson Hill (1805-1885); David Reed, P.E. (1811-1867)

"This was a year of revival." J. J. Hill was in charge of the Highland circuit and Waynesville station.

He married 1st to Ernestine Soule, Bishop Soule's daughter. He married 2nd to Mary L. (Van Harlingen) Drake, widow of Dr. Lewis Drake, of Lebanon, Ohio.
http://www.mlcook.lib.oh.us/ timeline_of_the_history_of_the_w.htm

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Soule, Joshua, Bp., 1781-1867.
Letter to Epaphras Kibby, dated Livermore, Nov. 21, 1800. 3 p.
Letter to Jeremiah Wardwell, dated Boston, MA, Nov. 12, 1802. 2 p.
http://www.bu.edu/sth/archives/cah/cahletters3.htm

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In the month of August, 1833, Bishop Soule had, on his way to the Missouri conference, held at Cane Hill, Ark., visited our Indian missions among the Delawares and Shawnees. The bishop spent a few days with Thomas and William Johnson in surveying the ground, with a view of extending the mission work, and as a result he determined to establish two additional stations, one among the Peorias and the other among the Kickapoos. The conference report for the year 1834 shows a total of eleven white and 380 Indian church members, in the four Indian missions in Kansas -- the Shawnee, Delaware, Peoria and Kickapoo. The report of the missionary society for 1834 has this to say of the Shawnees: ...

"The presiding officer (Soule), in alluding to the call for the present meeting, gave his views fully in favor of the establishment of a central school in the Indian country. The bishop had himself been in this country and was intimately acquainted with the tribes over whom Brother Johnson has the superintendence.

In 1845 the Methodist Episcopal church was rent asunder, as the result of differences of opinion on the slavery question. At a convention which met May 1, 1845, in the city of Louisville, Ky., the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized. The Kansas missions, which at this time were embraced in the Indian Mission conferences,

37
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS

fell into the Church, South. The Indian Mission conference for the year 1845 was held at the Shawnee Mission, Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. Bishop Soule was one of the two bishops who adhered to the Church, South. The other was Bishop James O. Andrew, a native of Georgia. Bishop Soule was a Northern man by birth and rearing, having been born in Maine, August 1, 1781. He died at Nashville, March 6, 1867.

http://www.ku.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/blair/blchapter02.htm

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Life of Joshua Soule. Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1911.

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The efforts made to "harmonize" the slave-holding and the non-slave-holding delegates, had thus far failed. It was not, however, abandoned. With that view, Bishop Soule, acting as the representative of the other Bishops, introduced three resolutions. We have not been able to procure a copy of them. In Zion's Watchman, we find them substantially stated thus:Ñ

1. "The action of the General conference in the Comfort case was not intended to express or imply, that it was either expedient or justifiable to admit the testimony of colored persons in States where such testimony is rejected by the civil authorities.

2. "It was not intended by the adoption of Dr. Few's resolution, to prohibit the admission of it, when the civil authorities or usage authorizes its admission.

3. "Expresses the undiminished regard of the General conference for the colored population."

Bishop Soule spoke in favor of the compromise resolutions of the Rev. Mr. Smith:-

"It was in view of the vast but jeoparded interests of our beloved Zion; with a view to promote the union of our extended ecclesiastical confederation, that he ventured to speak on the present occasion. He would lay one hand upon the north and east, and the other upon the south, and constrain them to harmonise. He had listened to the speeches of brethren, and he perceived that the waters were troubled, but he was not alarmed; our ship is not wrecked, and he had no doubt but that we should bring her safe through. * * *

"He had listened to the intimations of the possible necessity of adopting this measure, but brethren had approached so near together, that they only appeared to differ as to the modus operandi of doing the thing, which all seemed to agree should be done. He could not, therefore, believe that brethren were in earnest in intimating the probability of a division [of the church] on so trifling an occasion. He had heard the appeals from brethren of the south with unmingled sympathy, because he waa acquainted with the south; he was familiar with the difficulties which brethren from that region struggled with. * * *

"We are in danger of forgetting that men born in the south are much better qualified to judge of the bearing which particular measures will have upon that region, than those of the north can be. He thanked the brother from Georgia, (Dr. Few,) for his kind allusion to him, and regretted that he was understood to take ground against the Dr., for he agreed with him entirely. * * *

"The brethren from the south came forward with all that frankness which characterizes southern men; I say, with all that frankness which characterizes southern men, for this is a distinguishing trait in their character, and propose a conciliatory plan, which he thought could not fail to harmonise the great majority; I say the great majority, for I despair of giving satisfaction to all. * * *

"He could not possibly see an objectionable feature in, or any favorable effect that would be likely to result from adopting them, either in the north or south. Does any one think that they may be disastrously used in the north in favor of modern abolitionism? I neither see it nor fear it. Permit me to say to the members of this General conference, who are connected with the abolition movements, that the brethren at the south are better judges, circumstanced as they are, than you can possibly be, in regard to every thing connected with slavery." * *

"Surveying the whole ground of this unfortunate affair, and where is // -25- // the man who dare come to the conclusion, that sufficient reasons have been developed in this controversy for dividing the body of Christ."

http://downloads.members.tripod.com/medicolegal/bulwarks.htm

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was afterward employed by the Rev. D. D. Moore, in Soule Female College, at Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The monument at the graves of Bishops McKendree and Soule in the Vanderbilt campus is a modest structure of the best South Carolina granite. It is surrounded with a carving representing an open Bible and Hymn-book Ñ the badge of their profession. The cartouche at the head of Bishop McKendree's grave bears the simple inscription: WILLIAM McKENDREE, Born July 6, 1757; ordained Bishop, May 18, 1808; Died March 5, 1835. The cartouche at the head of Bishop Soule's grave has this: BISHOP SOULE, Born Aug. 1, 1781; ordained Bishop, May 28, 1821; Died March 6, 1867. *What names shall fill the opposite cartouches? Most of us here have contributed liberally to defray the expense of erecting this monument !/*Bishop Joshua Soule/

http://www.tngenweb.org/madison/smith/nca6-02.htm

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When the war came on, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had 207,000 colored communicants. Their spiritual wants were administered to by faithful and earnest ministers of the Southern Methodist Church. Georgia and South Carolina alone had as many as sixty ministers who served as missionaries to the slaves.

Bishop James Osgood Andrew, ninth bishop of the // Page 24 // Methodist Episcopal Church and second bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, having become connected with slavery by reason of a colored girl in his possession bequeathed him by a lady, also by reason of a boy belonging to his daughter, and other legal slaves of his whom he secured to his second wife, actually became unacceptable to many Northern Conferences, and precipitated the occasion, if not the cause, of the great split in Methodism in 1844. That General Conference declared that "it is the sense of this body that Bishop Andrew desist from the exercise of his office so long as this impediment remains." Upon that resolution the North voted in the affirmative, and the South in the negative. The inevitable separation of this Church came; and in 1846, at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, J. O. Andrew, who had been the ninth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, became the second bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Bishop Joshua Soule being the first. While Bishop Andrew owned slaves, and thus indirectly, if not directly, gave a tacit assent to the perpetuation of the "peculiar institution" of slavery, which John Wesley declared to be "the sum of all villainies," yet he was a man of warm and tender heart, and frequently rose to sublime heights of eloquence when pleading for the religious instruction of the slave.

http://docsouth.dsi.internet2.edu/church/phillips/phillips.html

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The Louisville Convention.

The Church in the South and Southwest, in her Quarterly and Annual Conferences, approved the course of their delegates in the General Conference and declared her conviction that a separate organization was necessary to her existence and prosperity. Delegates representing fifteen Annual Conferences // Page 35 // assembled in Louisville, Ky., in accordance with the call, May 1, 1845. Bishops Joshua Soule James O. Andrew presided, and Rev. T.N. Ralston and Rev. T.O. Summers were elected Secretaries. The following resolutions were adopted, with only three dissenting voices:

Be it resolved by the delegates of the several Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the slaveholding States in general convention assembled, That it is right, expedient, and necessary to erect the Annual Conferences represented in this convention into a distinct ecclesiastical connection separate from the jurisdiction of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as at present constituted; and accordingly we, the delegates of the Annual Conferences, by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, entirely dissolved; and that a separate ecclesiastical connection under the provisional Plan of Separation aforesaid and based upon the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, comprehending the doctrines and entire moral, ecclesiastical, and economic rules and regulations of said Discipline, except in so far as verbal alterations may be necessary to a distinct organization, and to be known by the style and title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Resolved, That we cannot abandon or compromise the principle of action upon which we proceed to a separate organization in the South; nevertheless, cherishing a sincere desire to maintain Christian union and fraternal intercourse with the Church (North), we shall always be ready, kindly and respectfully, to entertain duly and carefully consider // Page 36 // any proposition or plan having for its object the union of the two great bodies in the North and South, whether such proposed union be jurisdictional or connectional.

Bishops Soule and Andrew were requested to unite with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, "upon the basis of the Plan of Separation." Bishop Soule at once gave the convention to understand that he felt bound to carry out the plan of episcopal visitation as outlined by the bishops in New York, while Bishop Andrew connected himself with, and was recognized as a bishop of, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. On May 1, 1846, the first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was convened in Petersburg, Va., Bishops Soule and Andrew presiding. General officers were elected, and the newly formed Church was provided with all the officers necessary for the proper care of every phase and department of the Church work.

Thus began a Church that has grown in membership and wealth until to-day it is recognized as one of the world-wide powers for the establishing of righteousness in the hearts of men. This Church has upward of two million members, three large and flourishing Publishing Houses, a complete system of colleges and universities, sixteen bishops, fourteen general officers, and Church property valued at millions of dollars. In the Methodist family the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, takes second rank with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/lane/lane.html

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1477. Bishop Joshua SOULE, 7G Grandson, M. Born on 1 Aug 1781 in Bristol, Maine.80 At the age of 85, Joshua died in near Nashville, Tennessee on 6 Mar 1867.80

80Rev. Joshua Soule entered the traveling connection at a session of conference held in New York City, June 19, 1799, and was stationed on the Portland, Me., circuit, the colleague of Timothy Merritt.

He had just passed his eighteenth year, and with a limited education, showed extraordinary ability as a preacher; was studious and greatly devoted to his work. In 1800 he was on Union River circuit, in Maine, without a colleague, when his labors, exposures, and trials were great, but he was greatly blessed in his work, and had a very successful year. At the New England Conference held in Lynn, Mass., July 17, 1801, he was received into full connection in that body and ordained by Bishop Whalecoat. He was stationed this year on Sandwich circuit, Mass., which embraced all of Cape Cod, except Provincetown. Here his executive ability was evinced in bringing the various societies into Methodistic order, and he had the pleasure of secing great success attend his labors. In 1802 he was stationed on Needham circuit, Mass., with Daniel Berry for colleague, one of the largest circuits in New England. There were societies in the following towns: Harvard, Needham, Westboro, Milford, Holliston, and Malden, besides preaching stations in various other places. The territory embraced in this circuit was extensive enough for a good sized Presiding Elder's District. Before leaving the circuit, he prepared a book of records which opens with the following note in a very legible hand, a very fine specimen of writing: "As the interest of the Methodist society greatly depends upon the pious and assiduous exertions of the official's character, I sincerely hope that my successors in the holy cause, on this circuit, will be faithful to inculcate the discipline in the fear of God.

"As no records have been kept previous to my coming into the circuit, whereby I could obtain information concerning the antecedent state of the societies, I can leave no chronicle of circumstances existing prior to my personal knowledge." Signed, "Joshua Soule. Harvard, Feb. 14, 1803."

In 1803 he was stationed on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts which was his first station, his talent being confined to a single society. His labors were abundant and successful on this island of the sea in building up a society, which for a long time was one of the most promient Methodist churches in New England. In 1804-5 he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Maine District which included the entire state. What a field! Who can describe his exposures and sufferings during those two years? But they were glorious years for Methodism with great revivals in all directions. In 1806 the work had been so extended that it was found necessary to divide the District into Portland and Kennebec; he was placed in charge of the latter, where he was continued for two years. In 1808 he was appointed to the Portland District where he was continued, making eight years of continuous labor as Presiding Elder in Maine; and those were great years for Methodism in that state. The triumphs were marvelous. In 1812, he was stationed in Lynn, Mass., with Daniel Webb for colleague. Here, where Jesse Lee preached on his first visit to New England, and where he found so hearty a welcome, and soon organized a society, were at that time two societies of considerable strength, and the two preachers, well united and adapted to the work, found a soil especially congenial to Methodism, and their year's labor was crowned with excellent success. But as great as his success had been, and as greatly as he was endeared to the people, they could not keep him from Maine, which seems to have had a pre-empted claim on him, so he must go back to the Presiding Eldership of the Kennebec District in 1813, where he remained for three years, and had not the General Conference in 1816, laid hands on him and placed him as Agent of the Book Concern in New York, his native state might have kept him within its domain as long as he lived.

So, of the seventeen years he spent in the ministry in New England, thirteen of which were spent in Maine, eleven on Districts, and four in Massachusetts, in all of these he witnessed great results for the cause of Methodism under his labors. He was among the chief of the giant and heroic men who planted Methodism on the old Puritanic soil, and his name will ever be honored by those who were descended from those who were so greatly blessed by his labors.

Joshua Soule was a great man, and in some respects but few, if any, have been raised more than his equal in American Methodism. He was physically great. In person he was grand, noble, commanding, and in the streets of any city, he would attract attention of all beholders. His gait was majestic. He seemed to move his feet deliberately and by rule, never raising one foot until the other had been squarely planted on a sure foundation. He was calm and self-controlled in every movement.

His mind was clear, broad, comprehensive, and he never failed in mastering the subject he had in hand. Though not an orator, he was often eloquent, and though he might not have been considered a great logician, his reasoning was often masterly, sweeping over an audience as tempest moves the forest. His breadth and depth of thought, and his direct, earnest, commanding delivery, always gave great power to his puplit efforts; and his hearers were always conscious that they were listening to an able minister of the gospel, whose object was to bring them to a better acquaintance with the Lord and Master.

His industry was remarkable. As a student he was untiring in his efforts to acquire knowledge. With limited advantages for acquiring an education and his time devoted to the arduous duties of an itinerant ministry, he became possessed of a respectable fund of knowledge. As a writer, his style was vigorous, clear and strong, and commanded the respect of his readers. On publishing the first volume of the Methodist Magazine, January, 1818, the opening address from his pen is a specimen of writing for clearness, comprehensiveness and force, which has seldom been equalled in the denominational literature.

In whatever position he was placed, as pastor of a circuit station, or Presiding Elder of a District, Agent of the Book Concern, Editor, Bishop, he was equal to the occasion or situation.

The life of Bishop Joshua Soule was not published till nearly half a century after his death. He had stated on the conference floor that he did not want his life written by any man and went to his home to destroy such documents as he thought might be used for such a purpose. There were reasons, after this long lapse of years, assumed to have been of sufficient weight to ignore the restrictions, and the Southern branch of the Methodist church published a small but well-arranged volume covering the most salient features of his active and useful life. The materials to be used for this work were meager and widely scattered and there were deficient sections to be regretted. There were also several errors of statement that the discoveries during the last research will enable the compiler of this volume to correct.

The introductory chapters in this "Life of Bishop Soule" were so rich in historical statement relating to the early history of the Norse ancestors of the Soule family that I have quoted freely from them. These descriptions will also disclose some misstatements that will be rectified in the more extensive preliminary sections of the present work. In one particular the author of the "Life" has made prominent only one member of the ancient Scottish family, several of whose representatives were the most distinguished soldiers and diplomats of those days. We shall quote: "The early New England race of Soule were sea-kings--skippers of whaling and fishing vessels or masters of merchant ships that braved the mid-Atlantic. The second generation settled about the shores of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island in the open face of the surf. They took to the sea as by intuition. The spray was in their hair and the salt was in their blood. The deep was their affinity. Their very virtues were ocean-like--resistless, unconfined. Courage and candor were in their hearts. On the sea they welcomed the storm, and on the land they turned not back from any purpose or enterprise.

"The persistence of the sea-faring life in the choice of this generation was not fortuity, nor in the reference of their physical and temperamental qualities to the blood and heredity of the sea-kings either fanciful or accommodated. The Soule in the south of Scotland and in the north of England, dwellers about the Tweed, as well as those of France, were Normans of the Normans. Their ancestral blood ran red in the veins of those whose prowess Rollo the Norwegian, in the tenth century, established himself on the northern shores of France. From Rollo and his Vikings were descended those mighty dukes and feudal lords who conquered England and gave to it new blood and the capacity of a new faith. It was from the midriff of one of Rollo's Vikings that the race of Soule were sprung. The love of the sea and its mysteries and the longing for lands unknown which entice to adventure the pagan sires enticed their Christian sons to seek in many lands the goal of liberty and freedom of thought.

"The very name of Soule is an echo of the sagas, new and old. Its root is the true Norse word sjo, or so, the equivalent of the English see, the moving, restless one, to which root has been conjecturally referred the English word Soul. Here is a lineage that loses itself among the sons of Woden, a race tree as ancient and mysterious as Ygdrasil itself.

"As to the true spelling (and pronunciation) of the name there was confusion even in England just before the Cromwellian period. The spelling on the Plymouth list is Sowle. In France the name is a word of two syllables and accented on the final letter. At an early date in Normandy the name was spelled Soulis, which was no doubt the original form; but to-day it is met in the capital and other cities about the Seine as Soule. A brother of the Bishop, who removed from New England to the West in advance of his more noted kinsman, replaced the Gallic accent, and his descendants continue to be known by the name of Soule. The Bishop in his later years was known to be sensitive concerning this reversion to precedent, and stoutly insisted that, so far as regards his own name, the Plymouth rule of pronunciation should apply.

"In Stubbs' Chronicle of the reign of Edward First and Edward Second, is given a particular account of Sir John Soulis (should be `Soule' as now proven by ancient charters witnessed by him), who belonged to one of those Anglo-Norman families who settled in Scotland in the reign of Malcolm III. This thirteenth century link in the chain of the modern Bishop's family was cast in a rude but heroic mould. He was the compeer and accomplice of the Baliols and the Bruces, the Lords of Hastings and their great clan barons, who in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries played between England and France the games of diplomacy and war, with the crown and kingdom of Scotland as a stake. By turns Sir John Soulis was a soldier and diplomat of fortune; and not a few were the freebooting enterprises which he undertook along the land and on the seas, thus showing himself a veritable Viking of the later age. Though a natural ally of the Scottish king, John Baliol, he was sometimes in the employ of the English sovereign Edward I and yet at other times on missions for the king of France; but he invariably sought those enterprises which had in them the elements of adventure and daring. Appointed by King John as co-guardian with John Comyn, of Scotland, while the king was in exile of war he assumed almost regal power and began to treat with the court of Rome against the English. To further his designs he took to the sea on an embassy to France, and soon the ships of England were scouring the Channel in search of him and his companions. He was thus for a time the disturber, if not the dictator, of Europe. Though baffled in the effort to realize his vast schemes, the latent Norse instinct of his nature led him to continue the feudatory strife along the Scottish border. Later his name became terrible as a foeman amongst the inhabitants of the English shires. Finally he joined himself to Edward Bruce, a younger brother of King Robert Bruce, who early in the fourteenth century led a sea expedition to Ireland and had himself proclaimed king in the north of that island. In a great battle at Dundald, which recalled `the last great battle' of Arthur with the Picts in Cornwall, the prince and his Norman ally perished side by side."

80His Farm in Livermore, Maine. From a series of letters written to his brother in Maine, it appears that Bishop Soule was the owner of a farm in Livermore, Maine; if not the parental homestead, the farm to which his father had moved in an adjacent town. He had signified his intention of removing to his native township and securing the rest and quietude he so much longed for, but his physicians warned him that his weakened physical system would not resist the strain of a northern climate and he abandoned all hope of a permanent settlement in his native land. He had announced his wish to visit Maine and be present at a reunion of the remaining members of his father's family, and his friends cordially sanctioned this desire and presented him with funds to pay the expenses of the journey; but he did not go and never afterwards visited his early home.

His Southern Residence. After a residence in the Bishop's House erected for him and family in the city of Nashville, longing for the free air of the rural districts, he purchased a farm some miles from Franklin and about two hours drive from Nashville; an estate consisting of about fifty acres, with a substantial manor or farm house thereon. Here by an out-of-door life and the care of his meadows, crops and garden his health was much improved. Leaving this estate, sometime in 1855 he established his residence on the Gallitin Pike about seven miles from Nashville, which comprised a meadow, an orchard, a garden and a few acres of tillage. The farm-house was a modest but most cosy and restful place, and there the venerable man indulged to the fullest extent his love of reading and gardening. Here he spent the remnant of his days, saving the last few months which were passed in the city of Nashville. After a dozen years of rest and quiet in this modest homestead swept around with the extending fields swathed with bluegrass and clover, the Civil War came on and the city of Nashville was occupied with Federal troops. He was thus isolated from his colleagues and deprived of many privileges. He had not taken the oath to either the North or the South; no man had required him to do so. So careful was he in the expression of his convictions that for some time his own family did not locate his sympathies in the war raging around them, and it was only through a single remark made after one of the great battles of the sixties had been fought that he betrayed his preference for the arms of the South.

During the growing weakness of his advancing years, Bishop Soule insisted on kneeling when he prayed and had to be assisted as he bowed before his Maker.

On March 2, 1867, he was attacked with a fatal malady and sank rapidly. He was convinced that the end was near and often asked the hour. He was asked by his attendant if he felt any pain and replied, "None at all." This question was repeated about midnight and he answered, "A little, not much." When he was inquired of concerning his hope, "Is all clear before you?" the answer was "Yes, yes." About one o'clock he seemed near the end and was asked "Is all right still?" and with unmistakable emphasis he replied, "All right, sir, all right." When seen to cross his hands on his breast he was asked: "Are you praying, Bishop?" he replied "Not now," and these were his last words. Without a struggle, groan or any evidence of pain, he passed away. Such a closing of life can only be experienced by the virtue of living faith in the atonement of the Saviour. The functions of that massive brain were accomplished; the throbbings of that noble heart were forever stilled. What was beyond?

The first interment of the remains of Bishop Soule was in the Old City Cemetery at Nashville, Tenn. There his dust remained with that of his kindred for ten years, when, by request of the Church officials and the consent of the family it was removed to a place of sepulture upon the ground of Vanderbilt University. This spot is one of the most restful to be found. It lies swarded in blue grass and red clover under the shadow of fragrant trees. It was a glorious day in October, in the year 1876, that this soil was opened and the remains of this father of the church was lowered by reverent hands to rest until the trump of God shall proclaim the resurrection of the body. The bells in the twin towers of the University building tolled a solemn requiem as the funeral act proceeded. At the ceremony of the spreading of superficial dust, and amid the silence of nature's making, the bells having ceased their monodies, an eloquent eulogy was delivered by Bishop McTyeire. Since the second interment of the remains of Bishop Soule, a monument of granite in the form of a modern pulpit surmounted by a Bible and hymn book, was erected on the spot, and here all that was mortal of the great man rests till the consummation of all things.--Compiled from the Life of Joshua Soule.

80Bishop Soule's Bible and Family Record. In an old brown, leather-covered volume upon the back of which there is printed in gold letters the name "Joshua Soule," now the property of Miss Florence Teague of Nashville, Tenn., was found written by his own hand the vital records of his family beginning with his own birth and marriage and ending with the birth of his youngest child.

As the early life of Bishop Soule was that of an itinerant minister and the removal of his hearth-stone from one locality to another, his children were born in divers towns and no connected records could be found in the town registers. In consequence of this state of affairs it was thought doubtful whether a well-connected family record could be compiled; but to the great satisfaction of the author of this history there awaited more cheering prospects. In a parcel of books retrieved by one of his daughters who spent her evening of days in her father's home, Mrs. Martha Conwell, there was discovered the Bishop's Bible containing a nearly complete record of the births of his children. While searching from town to town where Bishop Soule had resided during the births of his children, resulting in the possession of three names only, the author continued to believe that a man of the thoughtfulness of the father of this numerous family would have made record of the names and births of his children; and after long search and patient waiting the coveted chronicles were found. However, his children and grandchildren became so scattered and isolated that it has been impossible to procure the full records of their individual families, and, hence, there will be some of the dates wanting or given as problematical. The publication of this family record with such supplementary information as could be gathered by an extended correspondence with descendants, will greatly enhance the value of this family memorial.

On 18 Sep 1803 when Joshua was 22, he married Sarah ALLEN80, F.80

80Sarah Allen Soule, the bishop's wife, was a rare specimen of piety, prudence, industry and economy. To show his benevolence it may be stated that he received as members of his household three maiden sisters of his wife, the Misses Allen, and made them comfortable for many years; then he saw them respectfully buried. He said he wanted no other epitaph upon his tombstone than this: "The man who helped the poor to live here."

During the early years of his itinerant ministry he was often a stranger in his own family. During his long journeys as a circuit-rider and as presiding elder through the wilderness of Maine, he was so long absent that when returning, his younger children did not recognize him as their father; and more than once he found a babe in the cradle whom he had not seen. On reviewing his experiences before the Conference after he had been a bishop more than twenty years, he said: "I have occupied the humblest cabin, scarcely supplied with the necessaries of life. I have slept on the earth with a bearskin for my couch and the heavens for my only protection. I have bedded on snow from three to four feet deep, the heavens spread over me; and from such scenes of exposure I have entered the stately mansion house with every comfort earth can afford."

In his letters to his relatives in Maine he frequently mentioned his children; especially when acquiring their education. He expressed great confidence in their ability and successful advancement in their studies and states his intentions concerning their future. He had made choice for each of his sons of the profession they were to adopt and seems assured of their success therein. He mentions with no less interest his daughters and their studies of French, music and art. He says these were in institutions of the first respectability and that they were so far advanced that they could translate almost any French book into good English; and that on their vacations the French language was very common in his family.

His stately and statuesque form was truly commanding, and supplementing this with the rather stern expression of his strongly marked features, were a warning against unwarranted familiarity. When attending the Wesleyan Conferences in England and Ireland his carriage and facial expression were compared to Lord Nelson, the "Iron Duke." Certainly his rank as an ecclesiastical commander was equal to that of the highest military official and his authority recognized equally by his brethren and colleagues. With his massive head thrown back and his falcon eyes directing his gaze steadfastly ahead, his attitude was one of confidence and responsibility. In him was sharply marked the antithesis between a haughty spirit and an humble heart. His greatness was the reflection of his goodness; his authority based upon a consciousness of integrity.

At one time when Bishop Soule was on a journey he had occasion to tarry for a night at a village hotel. At the time the landlord was absent and the hostelry was left in the care of a typical Irishman whose observations were acute and his expressions graphic. When the proprietor had returned late at night, Pat informed him of the coming of the stranger guest. "And what sort of a man do you think he is?" Tipping his head in a position of deep inquiry the Hibernian replied: "Well, I don't just mind, but I'll wager me faith that he's aither a gineral or a bishop."

His bosky thicket of hair rising high above his towering brow was like the wind-tossed mane of an Arabian charger and formed a secure place of repose for his spectacles while employed in the enthusiasm of preaching. His semiprofile portrait shows his face to have been moulded after the typical Soule model. His descriptive list represents his nose as "Roman," but it was but slightly Romanized and deviated but little from the aquiline. The fashion of his face was somewhat elongated and very rugged in aspect; the general structure being composed of hills and valleys. His cheek bones were prominent and his ample forehead overhanging. His brows were long, thick and outstanding and gave to his expression a solidity and determinate character.

His mouth was surmounted by a long, close-shut upper lip which was the unquestionable material synonym of firmness and resolution. His chin was square-cut and granitic and stood forth as the unyielding foundation and secure support of what was above it. However, this whole facial area was lighted by the spiritual fire that burned within his soul as an electric flame shines through the translucent globe of glass; radiating over his features as a softened light is diffused through a room.

No person who ever looked upon the face of Bishop Soule could doubt that he was a man of unyielding will and uncompromising determination. There was in the settled expression of his features the unmistakable evidence of a lofty personality and independence of character that could brook no interference nor countenance any intrusion. His yea was yea and his nay was nay. An instance that illustrates this unyielding purpose was when he had been requested to assist in the dedication of a Methodist meeting-house somewhere in Michigan. He was greeted at the railway station by the local pastor, a very excellent man, and while on their way to the new edifice, he was informed that a great exertion had been made to provide music for the occasion; and that among the instrumental accompaniments there would be a violin. On hearing this, Bishop Soule turned on his heel with the remark, "Go ahead and dedicate your church, but I will have nothing to do with it," and took the next train for his home.

As was his father before him, Bishop Soule was a very strict governor in his own home, demanding strict obedience to parental authority and the letter and spirit of domestic law. An expression of his face or a motion of his hand was sufficient to correct any digression from the mandate of home statutes. However, this seeming imperious sway of the father's scepter was tempered with deep affection and solicitude for his children's future welfare. The domestic Book of the Law was embossed in gold; its title was emblazoned upon the scroll of love. Children who are indifferent to home government will disregard the civil and political law when they become responsible citizens.

They had the following children:
3770 i. Maria, F (1804-1847)
3771 ii. Joshua, M (1805-)
3772 iii. Amelia, F (1807-)
3773 iv. Jane Augusta, F (1809-)
3774 v. Ernestine Cordelia, F (1812-)
3775 vi. James, M (1814-)
3776 vii. Joseph Allen, M (1815-1881)
3777 viii. Sarah, F (1817-)
3778 ix. William McKendrie (Twin), M (1821-1870)
3779 x. Martha (Twin), F (1821-)

- Ancestors and Descendants of Elder Thomas Cushman
http://www.krittersnkids.com/gen/Cushman/RR01/RR01_243.htm

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