Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

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T HE Honorable Benjamin Whitfield Grif- fith, son of General Richard Griffith, twice elected State treasurer, and who fell at Savage Station in the war between the States, was born in Hinds County, near Jack- son, Mississippi, January 3d, 1853. His mother, Mrs. Sallie Whitfield Griffith, was the daughter of the Reverend Benjamin Whit- field. After receiving his preparatory education in the public schools in and around Jackson, he entered Mississippi College in 1870, and two years later was graduated with the degree of B. A., as valedictorian of his class. Upon graduation, he went to Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and, after a thorough course in commercial methods, he returned to his alma mater, and was elected professor of mathematics, though still barely over twenty years of age. At the end of the second year’s work as instructor, the trustees conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts. On leaving the schoolroom, he studied law r , and was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Finding the law unsuited to his taste, he obtained the position as bookkeeper in the Capital National Bank, of Jackson, Mississippi. Six years later he was elected cashier of that institution, which position he held until 1893, when he was elected president of the First National Bank of Vicksburg, Mississippi, a position he still fills. In 1879 he was married to Miss Cora Bertha Griffing, who has proved a most loving helpmate. Seven children have blessed this union — four boys and three girls. Three of the boys have been students of M. C., B.W. Griffith, Jr., graduating with first honors in 1906. Mr. Griffith is one of those consecrated laymen who are doing so much to advance the Christian cause in our State. Joining the Baptist Church at the age of thirteen, he has been a deacon for nearly thirty years, and is ever ready to lend his energy, influence, and means for the advancement of any worthy cause. For many years he was superintendent of the Sunday school at Jackson, and filled the same office at Vicksburg for two years. A loyal friend of the college, he has served on the Board of Trustees for a number of years, and has been a member of the Executive and Investment Com- mittees of that board ever since these committees were named. Politically a Sound Money Democrat, he has always taken an active interest in political matters, having been elected mayor of Vicksburg on the reform ticket in December, 1904, and has given that city a clean, conservative, and yet signally progressive administration. In fraternal organizations, he is identified with the Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias. B. W. Griffith, ’72 4

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principles have always ruled supreme. A spirit of true democracy has always pre- vailed, yet there was always an aristocracy most exclusive. An aristocracy based on merit, character, and brain, and not on birth or privilege. A new era of prosper- ity and progress has dawned on the old alma mater: yet may she still stand in her purity, and glory, and strength, and live to bless untold generations to come. I N NO other activity of life is the power and influence of Mississippi College men so felt as in the ministerial profession. Among the most notable examples of this fact is the subject of this sketch. George Boardman Eager was born near Rodney, Jefferson County, Mississippi, on? February 22 d, 1847. He is one of the five sonsW the Reverend E. C. Eager. His family has been connected with Mississippi College for many years indirectly, and directly through his brother, our own beloved “ Pat, ” and, consequently, we take great interest and pride in the great work which he has done for the j enlightenment and betterment of humanity. At the early age of sixteen years he entered the Confederate Army and served gallantly under “Marse Robert,” in the Army of North- ern Virginia. He entered Oakland College, Mississippi, in 1869, and later came to Missis- sippi College, from which he graduated with highest honors in 1871. In the same year he was ordained a minister of the Baptist denomination by the church at Clinton. In 1876, he was graduated in the Elective Course from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which was then located at Greenville, South Carolina. His first pastorate was in the famous old university town of Lexington, Virginia, where he took a postgraduate course in Washington and Lee University. On the twen- tieth day of February, 1879, he was married to Miss Annie Coor Pender, the gifted daughter of Doctor and Mrs. William Coor Pender, of Clinton, Mississippi. Doctor Eager has served churches in Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama, with preeminent success. As a preacher he combines that intellectual vigor, oratorical grace, and spiritual fervor which have made him among the foremost in his profession. He has been a power for civic righteousness wherever he has been pastor, and the courage of the soldier has repeated itself in this greater war, from which there is no discharge. The degree of D. D. was conferred on him in 1880 by the University of Tennes- see, later by Howard College, Alabama, and in 1906 Georgetown College, Kentucky, honored him with an LL.D. At the close of eight years in the pastorate of the First Church, Montgomery, Alabama, Doctor Eager was elected the professor of biblical introduction and pastoral theology in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at Louisville, which chair he fills at the present time. George B. Eager, ’71 3

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T A. V. Rowe, ’72 U) GIVE true prominence to the great- ness of a life whose wonderful activ- ities and invaluable services extend over half a century is the province of the historian, but cannot fall within the limits of this biographical sketch. To those whose existence stands for other than the most worthy and deserving principles, or is eked out at the foot of the ladder of noble aspiration, Doctor Rowe’s life is a stinging rebuke. His birth is recorded at Winona, Mississippi, April 28th, 1848, and his adolesence was spent under the elevating influence of a godly father and a saintly mother. He entered Mississippi College at the age of twenty-one years, and was graduated with B. A. degree in 1872. In the ensuing fall he entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he re- mained two years, at the end of which time he returned to Mississippi and began his mis- sion work, and later assumed duties as pastor. n , , , ,, . In 1874 he was married to Miss Fannie J. odds, ot Crystal Springs, a young woman of rare accomplishments, who has always been an inspiration to service in the varied fields of activity which have opened to him. J Such was the preparation of this man for the work in which he has proven a a d e y m P a y factor. For three years he held the chair of Latin in his was nl iT ' t f °u Whlch P ° Slt ‘? n hls scholarl .y attainments eminently fitted him. He a na torat r W- eCF aTyS a lP ° f the Convention B ™rd of Missions while serving p torate at Winona, and entered upon the duties of this office in 1893 No greater encomium can be paid to a man than to say that he did well what he under- took, and no greater reward can diligent and meritorious effort reap than the saffs- ion ot good results. He has seen the receipts of the Convention Board for Missions grow from $12,000, m 1894, to $71,000, in 1907. What wonderful success has followed ms efforts and crowned his toil! To bring about these figures, he has enjoyed, as few men have, the unstinted help and confidence of his brethren throughout the State he loves. His home all these years has been the scene of domestic tranquillity and joy, the members of the amity bound together in love, and in their midst is one whom her children rise up to call blessed, whom her husband delights to honor, whose personality is that of a queen, and yet a humble follower of Him whom we love and whom we serve. V. i5