Person Page - 800

     Earl L. Smith married Laura Stinnett, daughter of Aaron Isham Stinnett and Nancy Catherine "Nannie" Riddle, on 27 June 1925.

     Elisha was born circa 1802 at North Carolina.^1,2 He was the son of Alexander Smith. He married Virtuous Donaldson, , on 1 April 1824 at Jasper Co., Georgia.³

     Eliza was born circa 1805 at Jasper Co., Georgia.¹ She was the daughter of Alexander Smith. She married Martin K. Calaway, , on 28 December 1826 at Jasper Co., Georgia.² Eliza died in September 1877 at Calhoun Co., Arkansas.

     Elizabeth was born circa 1816 at Jasper Co., Georgia.¹ She was the daughter of Alexander Smith. She married Ezekiel B. Kelly, son of Charles R. Kelly and Elizabeth Wiley, on 11 November 1834 at Newton Co., Georgia.² Elizabeth died on 20 May 1905 at Dale Co., Alabama. Her body was buried at Sylvan Grove Cemetery, Dale Co., Alabama.²
     
Biography of Elizabeth Smith:

Ezekiel Kelly and his wife, Elizabeth Smith are both buried in Sylvan Grove Cemetery. No birth dates are on the tombstones. Buried next to Ezekiel is Zora Kelly, born 1862, no death date, and Lanie Arnold Herring, born 30 September 1857, died 17 April 1922. These could be daughters of Ezekiel.

     Elizabeth A. Smith was born in January 1853 at Florida. She married Thomas O. Townsend, son of David R. Townsend and Nancy Burnett, on 22 January 1874 at Lafayette Co., Florida.¹

     Elvina was born circa 1843 at Newton Co., Georgia.¹ She was the daughter of Elisha H. Smith and Virtuous Donaldson. She married John F. Faith, , 23 Mary 1867 at Newton Co., Georgia.

     She married Charles Marcus Dean, son of John Proctor Dean and Sarah Elizabeth Kelly, on 14 March 1926.¹

     Ernest was born on 3 October 1898 at Madison Co., Florida. He was the son of William Caleb Smith and Sarah Elizabeth Littleton. He married Sarah Blanche Duval, daughter of Stephen Johnson Duval and Ada Irene Leslie, on 15 June 1919.² Ernest died on 3 August 1958 at Live Oak, Suwannee Co., Florida, at age 59.³ His body was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Madison, Madison Co., Florida.

     Essie Gertrude Smith was born on 8 March 1896 at Elbert Co., Georgia. She married George Washington Martin on 14 June 1914 at M.V.Appling Store, Oglethorpe Co., Georgia.¹ Essie Gertrude Smith died on 19 August 1972 at Bibb Co., Georgia, at age 76.¹ She was buried on 24 August 1972 at Baldwin Memorial Gardens, Baldwin Co., Georgia.¹
     
Biography of Essie Gertrude Smith:

FUNERAL SERVICE FOR MRS. ESSIE SMITH PARKER, OPENING SCRIPTURE: Mathew 11:28:30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find fest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".
SCRIPTURE READING: 11 Cor. 4:17:18 Rom. 8:18 Rev. 7:14:17
DEATH IS CERTAIN
I was handed some papers on which Mrs. Parker had begun to write the story of her life. As I read from those pages, I felt I became some what acquainted with Mrs. Parker.
She began by telling how she came from a " large but happy family ". She told how that she was the oldest of sixteen children and being so she was a second mother to some of her younger brothers and sisters. She mentioned in those pages how that on Sunday afternoons she, her daddy and mother and I suppose the other children would sit and listen to her mother read from the Bible. Mrs. Parker mentioned in those pages how her mother and daddy use to sit out on the porch of their Elbert County home in the late evening and sing. She talked of how their voices would ring out over the North Georgia Hills. As I read this, I was reminded of how my family, when we get together gathers around the piano at home and sings. I came from a large family; eight of us. It seems to me on occasions like this we are happier than any other time.
Mrs. Parker told of an experience when she was a thirteen year old girl. She said her family went from their home in Elbert County, to her mother's brother's home in Oglethorpe County to visit. When Sunday morning came her uncle went out and hitched up the mules to the wagon. They all climbed in and went to an old fashion camp-meeting that was in progress. She told how that as she sat listening to the anointed preaching of Bro. Sorrow, something, as she expressed it, got a hold of her. She told how as she found herself in an alter of prayer something had a hold to her. As she related her experience, I could almost imagine being right there with her in that old fashion North Georgia Camp-meeting.
I never had the opportunity to talk with Mrs. Parker but from those pages, the experiences she told about, and what others said about her I feel she must be in a better place.
I want to talk for a while on the certainity of death. It has been said, " no one can preach another person's funeral ". We preach our funeral by the lives we live.
In the book of 2 Sam. 14:14, we have an account given of King David and his son Absalon, when Absalon had been banished from his home country into another because he had slain his brother. A woman of Tekoa, when speaking to David concerning this situation, said, " For we must needs die, and are as water split upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. " She expressed the idea that all of us must come to this same point in life that Mrs. Parker has reached.
Job spoke of the certainity of death when he said, " For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living ". (Job 30:23 ) Job compared death as a house appointed for all living. We too, will have our part in that house appointed to all living.
The fields that were green in the Spring are now losing their luster and becoming brown. The corn was planted in the early Spring; it germinated and came forth a tender green plant. It grew to be a stalk several feet tall. As it neared maturity the tassels spread forth. After the tassels, came the silks and the mature ear of corn. As the summer heat and wind beamed on it, it began to lose its green luster in a few weeks it will be brown and drooped in the field.
Our lives are much like this. We are borned; we grow into maturity; we blossom out during the height of our lives. We produce our fruit. We too, began to lose our luster and become brown with age until we are called to face this same appointment; death.
In our childhood there were strong men who were wonders to us because of their strength. Where are they now ? We can go to a cemetery and read their names on the gravestones or see them pass by us with decay and death written in the wrinkles and alignment of their faces. So Peter told us, " All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof, falleth away. " ( Pet. 1:24 )
To me, the rose is the most beautiful of all flowers. In the Spring it comes forth. The leaves become green, the buds appear, then the rose it its beauty appears. For a period of time it lingers there and then it begins to wilt and fall away. King David said, " As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. " (Ps. 103:15-16)
Job said, " Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down. " (Job 14: 1-2)
Death is often sudden. God teaches us that life is brief. "But a hand-breadth", "a vapor that appeareth but a little time and then vanisheth away." " A flower of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven." Christ said He would come as a thief in the night. We know not when our call will be.
Death ends our earthly existence. It is as "water split upon the ground, which cannot be grathered up again." Dives, in the Bible account of the rich man and Lazarus was told of a great gulf fixed across which there would be no crossing. The account tells of a rich man that fared sumptuously every day; and a certain beggar named Lazarus which laid at the rich man's gate begging for the crumbs which fell from his table. When the rich man died, he went to hell. Lazarus died and went to Abrahan's bosom or Paradise. In hell the rich man cried out for Lazarus that he might dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. He was told there was a great gulf fixed so that no passing from one to the other was possible.
The Bible account of the ten virgins tells us how they slept while waiting for the bridegroom. When the sound of his coming was made they rose to trim their lamps. Five had no oil. They had to go buy and when they returned, they found the door shut for all eternity. They weren't prepared. They missed the mark. Paul said in writing to the Hebrews, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." (Heb. 9:27) We must face this appointment.
There is a need for preparation. We fail to understand that, "the things which are seen are temperal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18)
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)
The psalmist said, "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Ps. 23:4)
Paul said to the Corinthian church, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 15:55-57)
Yes, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we can have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mrs. Parker mentioned, in those pages she wrote concerning her life, a church that was set in order when she was only fourteen years old. She was one of forty members that organized that little church in Elbert County. She wrote about how glad she was to have that church. She said the last time she saw that church was in 1914. She expressed her desire to go back one more time to, as she called it, " that great old church. " She said, "but I guess I never will because I am old and my health is bad." I thought to myself, you may never go back to Elbert County to that great old church, probably built of stone, mortar and wood, but you will go to see that church. Not the building but those who really made up that church. Those, who along with herself, had organized the church so many years ago. In Heaven they can all sit down and talk about those days again.
As I said, I didn't get to talk to Mrs. Parker here but I look forward to one day getting to know her better. From the content of those pages she wrote and what some I talked with said, I believe she had an experience with God and today is with the Lord.
In closing let me refer you to the words of Jesus in St. John 14:1-3. "Let not your heart be troubles; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Presented by: Rev. Tyrone L. Hutchinson
Pastor of Milledgeville Church of God. ¹

     Ethel May Smith was born on 5 December 1884.¹ She was the daughter of James Monroe Smith and Katherine Scott.