Page 44 - History of UB Church in Hburg Region
P. 44
History of U.B. Churches in Harrisonburg-Staunton Region December 26, 2024
was especially interesting to the author, because it is the only report of names of members of any of
the Freedmen’s Missions.
At the Conferences of 1906, 1907 and 1908, G. A. Newman was assigned to Harrisonburg Colored, and
T. K. Clifford to Augusta and Rockingham Colored.
Memorial to Rev. T. K. Clifford (Conference Minutes, 1908). Rev. Theodore K. Clifford, for 25 years pastor
of the Freedmen’s mission of the United Brethren church in the Valley of Virginia, died of pneumonia at his home
in Harrisonburg, Va., March 16, 1908, at the age of 63 years and 3 months. His wife, who was Sarah J. Turney,
preceded him to the Spirit World just 2 months. He is survived by eight children—five daughters and three sons—
one of whom takes up his father’s work. He also leaves a brother who is a lawyer and editor, of Martinsburg,
W.Va.
At the age of 15, several years after the death of his mother, he ran away from home, and after serving as a
waiter to Captain Geroolmen, of the 87th Ohio regiment, he enlisted in the regular army, served a full term in the
ranks, and proved himself a gallant soldier. He was honorably discharged in 1864 at Brownsville, Tex. He
returned to Hardy County, W.Va., and several years later was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal
Church, in which he worked for 11 years.
Having lived among United Brethren people and knowing their religious life, and feeling the pressing
claims of our work among his own people and preferring the polities of the United Brethren Church, he cast his
lot with the Freedmen’s Mission and remained with it faithfully and unswervingly until the day of his death. He
became a member of the Virginia Conference in 1887.
Brother Clifford was a man above the average of his race. He was free-born, but he understood thoroughly
the conditions resulting from slavery and sympathized in helpful ways with all of his people. He so deported
himself as to win the respect and esteem of the best people of both races, and those who knew him best esteemed
him most. He was a man of sterling integrity and his upright life was never questioned. Among the colored
people of Rockingham, Augusta, and other counties of Virginia and West Virginia, he was known as a good
preacher, but his life spoke louder than his words. He was at one time called in as the spiritual adviser of an old
acquaintance who was tried, convicted and executed for murder; another crime to be laid at the door of the open
saloon. His spiritual help for the condemned man made him friends among all the officers of the court, and many
other citizens who held him ever afterwards in the highest esteem.
He always attended sessions of the Annual Conference, and was closely interested in all proceedings, but
never took part in these public discussions unless he was called upon. He appreciated genuine kindness and
manifested his appreciation in every proper way. He was a good preacher himself and enjoyed a gospel sermon
and believed in experimental religion. He was a good singer and often led the soul-stirring singing of his people.
His work required consecration, patience and endurance. He could have had better places and better
salaries in other churches; his people were poor and backward, even among a backward race, and his work
required long drives over mountains to sparsely settled communities. He served rural communities in the main
and he must have known he was leading a forlorn hope. As the children grow up they go to centers of population
and are lost to the church, but not to the cause. Here he could find his reward.
Upon his death-bed, he asked his son, James, to come home from Philadelphia and take up his work. We
have never been fortunate in raising colored ministers, and it is a touching scene, when the dying father puts his
hand on the head of a loved son and consecrates him to the work he lays down. Somebody must come for these
helpless people.
His funeral was conducted in the colored United Brethren church in Harrisonburg by Rev. G. A. Newman,
principal of the Harrisonburg colored high school, the surviving colored member of the Virginia Conference. On
the afternoon of March 18th, the opening day of our Conference Session, and at the same hour, the Conference
made the memorial services the special order of the day. Other ministers, white and colored, assisted in the
funeral services, and paid merited tributes to the worth of Brother Clifford. Peace to his ashes. He has gone to
his long home and his great reward. “He being dead, yet speaketh.” —A. P. Funkhouser
Freedmen’s Mission Work after 1907. Rev. James D. Clifford was appointed to serve both Rockingham
and Augusta Freedmen’s Missions at the conference of 1908. At the conference of 1909 he reported as follows:
appointments, 5; organized churches, 5; members at the beginning of the year, 238; received on confession of
I.A.5 U.B. Churches in Rockingham County, 1912 30
was especially interesting to the author, because it is the only report of names of members of any of
the Freedmen’s Missions.
At the Conferences of 1906, 1907 and 1908, G. A. Newman was assigned to Harrisonburg Colored, and
T. K. Clifford to Augusta and Rockingham Colored.
Memorial to Rev. T. K. Clifford (Conference Minutes, 1908). Rev. Theodore K. Clifford, for 25 years pastor
of the Freedmen’s mission of the United Brethren church in the Valley of Virginia, died of pneumonia at his home
in Harrisonburg, Va., March 16, 1908, at the age of 63 years and 3 months. His wife, who was Sarah J. Turney,
preceded him to the Spirit World just 2 months. He is survived by eight children—five daughters and three sons—
one of whom takes up his father’s work. He also leaves a brother who is a lawyer and editor, of Martinsburg,
W.Va.
At the age of 15, several years after the death of his mother, he ran away from home, and after serving as a
waiter to Captain Geroolmen, of the 87th Ohio regiment, he enlisted in the regular army, served a full term in the
ranks, and proved himself a gallant soldier. He was honorably discharged in 1864 at Brownsville, Tex. He
returned to Hardy County, W.Va., and several years later was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal
Church, in which he worked for 11 years.
Having lived among United Brethren people and knowing their religious life, and feeling the pressing
claims of our work among his own people and preferring the polities of the United Brethren Church, he cast his
lot with the Freedmen’s Mission and remained with it faithfully and unswervingly until the day of his death. He
became a member of the Virginia Conference in 1887.
Brother Clifford was a man above the average of his race. He was free-born, but he understood thoroughly
the conditions resulting from slavery and sympathized in helpful ways with all of his people. He so deported
himself as to win the respect and esteem of the best people of both races, and those who knew him best esteemed
him most. He was a man of sterling integrity and his upright life was never questioned. Among the colored
people of Rockingham, Augusta, and other counties of Virginia and West Virginia, he was known as a good
preacher, but his life spoke louder than his words. He was at one time called in as the spiritual adviser of an old
acquaintance who was tried, convicted and executed for murder; another crime to be laid at the door of the open
saloon. His spiritual help for the condemned man made him friends among all the officers of the court, and many
other citizens who held him ever afterwards in the highest esteem.
He always attended sessions of the Annual Conference, and was closely interested in all proceedings, but
never took part in these public discussions unless he was called upon. He appreciated genuine kindness and
manifested his appreciation in every proper way. He was a good preacher himself and enjoyed a gospel sermon
and believed in experimental religion. He was a good singer and often led the soul-stirring singing of his people.
His work required consecration, patience and endurance. He could have had better places and better
salaries in other churches; his people were poor and backward, even among a backward race, and his work
required long drives over mountains to sparsely settled communities. He served rural communities in the main
and he must have known he was leading a forlorn hope. As the children grow up they go to centers of population
and are lost to the church, but not to the cause. Here he could find his reward.
Upon his death-bed, he asked his son, James, to come home from Philadelphia and take up his work. We
have never been fortunate in raising colored ministers, and it is a touching scene, when the dying father puts his
hand on the head of a loved son and consecrates him to the work he lays down. Somebody must come for these
helpless people.
His funeral was conducted in the colored United Brethren church in Harrisonburg by Rev. G. A. Newman,
principal of the Harrisonburg colored high school, the surviving colored member of the Virginia Conference. On
the afternoon of March 18th, the opening day of our Conference Session, and at the same hour, the Conference
made the memorial services the special order of the day. Other ministers, white and colored, assisted in the
funeral services, and paid merited tributes to the worth of Brother Clifford. Peace to his ashes. He has gone to
his long home and his great reward. “He being dead, yet speaketh.” —A. P. Funkhouser
Freedmen’s Mission Work after 1907. Rev. James D. Clifford was appointed to serve both Rockingham
and Augusta Freedmen’s Missions at the conference of 1908. At the conference of 1909 he reported as follows:
appointments, 5; organized churches, 5; members at the beginning of the year, 238; received on confession of
I.A.5 U.B. Churches in Rockingham County, 1912 30
