| Notes |
- Obituary:
Newspaper Watertown NY Daily Times 1917 C - 1830.PDF http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%20Disk3/Watertown%20Times/Watertown%20NY%20Daily%20Times%201917%20pdf/Newspaper%20Watertown%20NY%20Daily%20Times%201917%20C%20-%201830.PDF
http://boards.ancestryclassroom.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.clinton/4435/mb.ashx
Asa Lynds Smith 1833 - 1917
One stormy day in the fall, when the wind, as though
conscious of the severe winter that was to follow was
sighing wearily, a little group of preachers with their
district superintendent gathered to speak the last words
of farewell to another veteran of the cross who had
gone to gain the crown, Oct. 6, 1917.
The Rev. A. Lynds Smith was born January 13th, 1833,
in Champlain Village, Clinton Co. He was educated in
the common schools and later attended Franklin academy
at Malone.
He was licensed to exhort on Chateaugay Circuit August
14th, 1859, by S.C. Goodell, pastor, and to preach on
the Malone Circuit April 14th, 1860, under Presiding
Elder L.D. White. The same year he was admitted on
trial in the Annual Conference.
He was ordained Deacon April 1862, by Bishop Ames, and
Elder 1864 by Bishop Baker.
January 5th, 1861, he was married to Sarah A. Whipple,
of Chateaugay. There were three children, Rollin F., who
died February 4th, 1886, Chas. W. and Wilbur F. These
were the days of vast circuits, short pastorates,
few church buildings, no parsonages, and salaries that
might range anywhere from sixty to one hundred dollars.
But the call had come clear and insistent and, filled
with boundless ambition, the young preacher and his
consecrated wife entered into the work.
About twenty years passed away; then came sudden sorrow,
for the wife and mother had slipped away into the
presence of the King.
In 1889 he was married to Ida Davis, of Norfolk, who was
to be his companion for 28 years. To them were born
two children, Frank H. and Ralph D., who died March 26,
1899.
His appointments were Chateaugay, Belmont, Fort Jackson,
Lawrence, West Stockholm, Norfolk, South Canton,
Spragues Corners, DeKalb, Richville, Evans Mills,
Plessis, Hammond, Chasm Falls, Bucks Bridge, 43 years
in all.
A great church builder, he has left behind him scattered
through the Conference many monuments that speak
eloquently of his worth. The fine brick church and
parsonage at Norfolk, the town where he passed his
last years, being but one of many.
A strong man, in the early years when the country was
only sparsley settled and money scarce, he would go
to the woods and hew the timbers with his own hand.
For the last few years he suffered greatly, suffered
until the strong frame was but a wreck, and to his
grief, he found it impossible to meet with the
worshippers in the church that his faith and zeal had
built. It was then, deprived of the services of God's
house, that he loved to creep now and again to the
parsonage and talk eloquently of days long ago.
Again, the young itinerant claiming the power of God,
goes out into the lonley settlement to tell the
story of the Cross. Again the voice of prayer rises
from some tiny school house almost buried in the forest.
The massive timbers of the little church rise slowly
at the cross roads and the preacher full of faith lays
almost all his meager salary upon the alter at the
time of dedication and trusts God that somehow he
will be sustained. Then would come a few words of
encouragement, a fatherly blessing and the writer of
this simple testimony would gaze with misty eyes at
the tottering figure down the road, and turn with
renewed faith to the problems of a busy, modern
world.
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1833 - 1917 (84 years)