Many years ago, I tracked down the sermon that Rev. William Shelton delivered at Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph's ordination. Duncan Hyder Selph was my husband's great-grandfather. I had hoped that sermon would reveal personal information about D. H. Selph, even a tiny bit of personal information, but it was strictly a sermon. That was disappointing, but really exactly what I expected.
Rev. William Shelton's tribute to Rev. Duncan H. Selph was published just two months after Selph's death on 9 January 1874.
And there was one interesting lead - for a brief time, Duncan Hyder Selph lived with the Sheltons in Brownsville, which is in Haywood County, Tennessee. I'm not sure about when that occurred, but if it was while Selph was a student in 1850, this might be a clue as to where I could find him on the census. Currently, D. H. Selph has not been found on the 1850 census.
"The Rev D. H. Selph, formerly of Rutherford county, died near Lexington, Missouri, on the 19th inst. He was greatly esteemed both as a minister and a teacher."
The above brief notice from a column of items in the Nashville Union and American, has awakened in my mind a train of reflections, some of which I desire to communicate to the readers of the Christian Repository, many of whom, in Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, are familiar with his name and history. I desire to communicate these personal reminiscences as a tribute of honor and respect to the memory of a loved friend and brother, who, having fought the battle of life, has now entered his rest.
My first acquaintance with Mr. Selph was formed about twenty-five years ago, when he was a student in Union University. At that time I was professor of Greek and Hebrew in that institution, and he was a student for the ministry and one of the members of my classes. My recollections of him are, that he was a good student, that he was most exemplary in his conduct, a young man of sterling worth and fine promise. Though I did not regard him as being remarkable for quickness of apprehension or brilliancy of talent, I saw that he had those solid qualities of mind and heart, which would enable him to push his way in life by the energy and persistence of his character. Hence I believed, from my knowledge of him as a student, that, in future life, he would make his mark in the world.
The most prominent event of his life, which memory recalls to mind, is the scene of his ordination to the ministry, which took place, if I mistake not, in 1852, in Lincoln county, Tennessee, at the Mulberry Church, of which I think he was called to be pastor. I remember that I preached his ordination sermon to an immense congregation, who had assembled from the whole surrounding country, to witness the consecration of the young preacher. The
presbytery which united in setting him apart to the work of the ministry by the laying on of hands, as I now remember them, consisted of Dr. J. H. Eaton, the President of the University, one of Tennessee's ablest preachers, best of educators and noblest of men; Rev W. S. Perry, who was then Financial Agent of the University, and whose whole life was one grand act of self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the Baptist denomination; Rev. Bradley Kimbrough, who was then, in his palmy days, a man of power in the denomination. The other two are dead and gone from the scenes of earth; but he still trembles on the shores of time, now an old and infirm man, who has finished his work and is only waiting for the messenger to come and take him home. There may have been other ministers who participated in the ordination, but I do not now recall them.
The sermon on the occasion was, I think, the first ordination sermon I had ever preached. I was then a young preacher myself, only twenty-seven years of age. I remember that the result of the whole service was to produce a profound impression upon me. I suppose I must have been in such a frame of mind and heart as enabled me to preach the sermon with considerable unction, for I remember that there was great feeling in the congregation while I was preaching, and at the conclusion of the services, I was invited by the church to prepare it for publication. The sermon appeared soon afterwards, I think, in the Baptist Preacher, published in Richmond, Virginia, by H. K. Ellyson, the father, I presume, of the present distinguished Baptists of that name residing in that city.
My recollections of the impression of Mr. Selph's appearance, manner and deportment, on the day of his ordination, are very favorable. He seemed to be a young preacher of respectable talents, ardent piety and earnest devotion to his work. I remember the peculiar feelings of interest, and of confidence in his future success, with which I laid my hand on his head, with other members of the ordaining presbytery, and joined in the prayer of consecration --by which we devoted him to the great and glorious work, to which God had called him--the work of preaching the Gospel of Christ.
The next event in Mr. Selph's history which memory recalls, took place, I think, in 1857, when I was President of Brownsville
Female College. The faculty of that institution had invited him to attend the Examination and Commencement, and to preach the Annual Sermon to the young ladies of the college. His sermon on that occasion, which is the only sermon I remember having ever heard him preach, was an able one, and produced a good effect. I have forgotten the text; even the subject and the whole train of thought have escaped my memory; but I recall the impression produced in my mind, on the minds of the faculty and students of the college, and of the large congregation which had assembled to hear it. The sermon was evidently prepared with great care, was well delivered, and produced a profound impression on the community, for it was afterwards spoken of by teachers, students and others as a sermon of great power. During his stay in Brownsville, he made his home in my family, when I had a better opportunity, than I had previously found, of becoming acquainted with his fine social qualities. Around the family fireside, I found him an agreeable companion, courteous in his bearing and refined in his manners--a true Christian gentleman.
In retracing these personal reminiscences, the next scene which memory presents occurred, I think, in 1859, when I was invited to deliver an Address to the Literary Societies of Madison College, of which Mr. Selph was, at that time, President. He had taken charge of this institution when it was only Spring Creek Academy. If it had remained only Spring Creek Academy, it might have continued to the present day, a power in the Baptist denomination, as a training school, preparatory to our higher seats of learning. But those were days in which people went crazy about establishing colleges. Every section of the country and almost every neighborhood thought itself incomplete without a college. The Baptists of West Tennessee were just like the rest of the people. A good academy was not good enough for them. They must have a college. So a college was established. Large indebtedness is incurred in erecting buildings, employing professors, purchasing libraries cabinets, etc., so as to make the Academy worthy of its new name; and thus the ultimate result is, that the Academy, which is really what the people needed, if they had only known it, is lost to the denomination by the attempt to make it a college.
But on the occasion of my visit, Madison College was in the vigor of its youth. The day of sickening had not yet come. It
was in the very zenith of its glory. It had been made what it was mainly by the personal influence of President Selph. It had a fine reputation among the Baptists of West Tennessee, won by his labors. It had an extensive patronage. Several young men of brilliant promise were students in the college, one of whom I must be excused for mentioning--Robert S. Thomas, of Brownsville,--of whom it may truly be said that when he fell, struck by a cannon ball in the battle of Shiloh,--no truer, nobler, more talented, or promising young man ever surrendered his life in service of his country. But Madison College was then in its palmy days. Its handsome and substantial buildings were just completed. Every thing about it seemed to float on a smooth sea of prosperity.
On the evening in which I delivered my literary address to the young men of the college, I was greeted by an immense assembly, consisting of the beauty, wealth and refinement of Madison county, whose presence, smiles and hearty greeting inspired me with an enthusiasm that bore me successfully through the ordeal. My address was flatteringly received by the audience, and was afterwards published by request of the societies.
President Selph, on the occasion of my visit to Madison College, had been married only a short time. His wife was of the family of Burtons, of Murfreesboro, one of the talented and distinguished families of Tennessee. Her oldest brother, Hon. Harry M. Burton, was one of the most brilliant young men of his day. He died when about thirty five years of age, in one of the Islands of the West Indies, whither he had been sent as minister by President Fillmore. Her second brother, Judge John M. Burton, of Murfreeboro, is now one of the leading lawyers of the State, having recently received from the Governor, the compliment of being appointed, with Judge Nicholson, to some special service in the Supreme Court. Her youngest brother, Dr. Geo. W. Burton, now of Louisville, Ky., is so well known to the Baptist people of the whole country, as one of the noblest men and most generous of Christians, that it is only necessary to mention his name, in order to find a universal recognition of his worth.
Mrs. Selph's mother, one of the noblest of Christian women of the old style, and her sister, then unmarried, now Mrs. J. W. Carter, of Kentucky, were visiting the family at the time of my presence; and the day which I spent in their midst I remember as a day of peculiar pleasure.
Continuing these reminiscences; Mr. Selph soon afterwards resigned the presidency of Madison College, and returned to Murfreesboro, where he had been invited to take charge of the Female Institute, which position he held for several years, I know now how long. Thence he removed to Danville, Ky., where he remained, I think, during the recent war, having charge of an institution of learning for young ladies. During all these years I do not now remember that we ever met. Being in different sections of the country, our paths did not cross each other.
I think it was in the winter of 1867, that our next meeting occurred. It was in the Capitol at Nashville and under peculiar circumstances. Soon after the close of the war, he sold out his interest in Kentucky, and returned to Murfreesboro, and had been elected President of Union University. I found him now in Nashville, exerting his influence among members of the Legislature in order to have the Agricultural College of Tennessee established in Murfreesboro, in connection with Union University. Seeing little hope of the ultimate success of the attempts in which his services were enlisted, and having different objects in view in reference to this agricultural fund, which I was sent to Nashville to promote, by the Trustees of West Tennessee College, of which I was then President, I found that his mission to the Capitol was to lobby the Legislature in one direction, and mine, to lobby in another. Thus his plans and mine were in direct antagonism: and during the few days in which we were together in the city, we had some pretty sharp words on the subject. But the result proved that East Tennesse out generaled both of us and all our friends; for both our plans were defeated. Knoxville got the agricultural college, and our work was "love's labor lost." So in mutual disappointment we parted as good friends as ever, and went back to our homes wiser if not better men.
After this encounter and its results, so disagreeable to both of us, we met no more, except incidentally a few times in Murfreesboro and Nashville, when nothing special occurred, till he removed to Missouri to take charge of the Female College in Lexington, since which time I have never seen him, and seldom heard from him.
Yet the announcement of his death, sudden and unexpected as it came, has awakened these memories of "Auld Lang Syne," which
have spontaneously poured themselves out in the form in which they are here presented, and which I hope his friends will accept as an honorable tribute to his worth. Cut down in the midst of his days by the shaft of death, he still lives in the hearts of those who knew him best.
Nashville, Tennessee
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