In 1879 at the call of the Friendship Baptist Church of Barbour county, he was set apart to the ministry by Revs. J. Shorter, A. Gachet and E. Alexander. Brother Maddox is a good man, a faithful preacher, and a successful builder—a leading man in the Eufaula Association, and is as gentle as a woman, and simple hearted as a child.
Rev. M. Tyler, D. D., Lowndesboro, Ala.
Maderson, Rev. William, of Greensboro, was born in Virginia in 1849, and came to Alabama in 1866. In the fall of 1872 he was baptized into the Second Baptist Church at Marion, Ala., and in the following year began to enter upon the work of the ministry, speaking in public as he had opportunity. While the Convention was in session in Marion in 1880, the hands of ordination were laid upon his head by order of the Marion Church, and by the same presbytery that ordained Dr. Pettiford. He spent some time in study in the Selma University, under the presidency of the late Rev. Harry Woodsmall. Mr. Maderson is a man of fine natural gifts which, considering his early, meagre advantages, have been well developed. He is remarkably capacitated for imbibing what is pure and elevating in good men and good books. He is dearly beloved no less for his stainless character than for his refinement and wisdom. After serving various other important pastorates, he was called to the pulpit of the Salem Church at Greensboro, where he now serves with success, greatly increasing the membership and purchasing a neat parsonage. For the past seven or eight years he has been the moderator of the Uniontown Association—the largest Association in the State. Should he continue as he has begun, coming years must increase his power with God and man.
Merrell, Rev. Mason C., of Fort Deposit, son of M. C. and Harriet Merrell, was born in Dallas county, Ala., June 26, 1849. As his parents were poor, he was apprenticed to the Rev. H. Talbird, D. D., of said county, who sent him to the schools of the neighborhood. By such means he was early placed in conditions where he was able to lay the foundation of a liberal English education. Much of Mr. Merrell’s time for many years has been spent in teaching in the State schools. The money thus earned has been a supplement to the meagre support given him by the small churches of which he is the efficient pastor. He was baptized into the fellowship of the Carlowville Church October, 1867, by the hands of his benefactor. In 1879 he was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry in the city of Montgomery, Revs. J. A. Foster, W. J. Stevens, Wm. Jinkins and R. Aarons officiating as presbytery. Brother Merrell is a sociable, genial companion, a careful speaker, an earnest Christian, and a firm believer in missions and education. On all the moral questions of the times he is as straight as a shingle. He, by his various pastorates, is associated with the Alabama District and the Union Associations, and in both bodies he is held in high esteem by all the thoughtful and pious persons.
Indeed, he is respected by all who know him, white and black. Because of his quietness and sunshine, as well as for his musical talent and skill, he is in special demand at our annual and extra meetings.
Murrell, Rev. Prince.—Rev. Prince Murrell was born in Savannah, Ga., January 1, 1817. His mother, who descended of a Congo prince, was born in Providence, R. I. His father was the son of an Englishman, of the name of Murrell. Some of his youthful years were spent with his parents in South Carolina. In the year 1838, his mother with seven children, he being the youngest, moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala. At this time no member of the family knew anything of the Christian life. In 1839 his mother was baptized, which incident excited such serious impressions in her son as resulted in his baptism in August, 1842. About this time he began to speak and exhort as he had opportunity. At the close of the war he had been a member of the Tuscaloosa Church (white) about ten years, and was the only colored Baptist preacher in Tuscaloosa. This brother has had a rather remarkable career. In the year 1855 he bought his freedom, and in 1856 started to Liberia, Africa, going as far as Savannah, Ga. His aspiration for liberty, his unaided toiling for the mastery of letters and books, his tact and perseverance in organizing the colored Baptists of his section into churches and associations, and his success in accumulating property with many other things, mark him as no ordinary man. His marriage to Miss Mary Drisdell in the year 1842, was no doubt largely conducive to his energy and success, for she—even up into old age—was a woman of strength and industry. The first colored school ever taught in Tuscaloosa was taught by him, and taught at a time when to teach a colored school was to put one’s life at the muzzle of the shot gun. Touching this phase of work, he related to the writer the following stories: “When we were just set at liberty I went to a white Baptist who had in times of slavery shown himself friendly toward black people, and said, ‘Mr. S——, we need a school teacher, can’t we secure you?’ He replied, ‘Do you think I would disgrace myself by teaching a negro school? Besides this, it would be only throwing into the waste my time, my talent and my strength. I might as well drive into a room a drove of sheep or a herd of swine, and put books before them as to put books before kinky-headed nigger children.’
“On one occasion, two white men who had come into town to bring a prisoner, walked into my school room with their ropes and chains in hand, and teacher and school, feeling sure that the ropes and chains were for their necks, were so dismayed as to excite the pity of the dreaded visitors, and they sought to remove our fears and to encourage us to continue on in our good way.”
Speaking of the organization of colored churches in the South, he remarked to the writer: “I was in Savannah when the white people were discussing the propriety of organizing colored churches.” He opened the first Sunday School for colored people in the city of Tuscaloosa the first Sunday in December, 1866. He claimed to owe most of his success in the study of divine truth to the Rev. Chas. Manly. On July 1 he organized the African Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa with 25 members. As he did not begin reading till he was 22 years old he was not faultless in his mastery of the English language, but was a good speaker, self-possessed and ready in words. Mr. Murrell was one of the leading fathers of the Alabama work. His children were a pride to him in his old age.
In the last years of his life he spoke tenderly of his old mistress who encouraged him to learn to read, and of his maiden mistress, who in many ways saved him from oppression and aided him in securing his liberty.