The history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, especially in West Tennessee, would be incomplete without mention of the McLeskey family, members of which have been so closely identified with it.

The Rev. William Hamilton McLeskey, himself the son of a preacher, the Rev. Jo McLeskey, Sr., of the Carolinas, came to Weakley County, Tennessee, January 1827, being at the time nineteen years of age, and was married to Miss Jemima Gilbert, July 24, 1828. In 1846 he was received under the care of the Hopewell Presbytery, and was ordained to the full work of the ministry in October, 1850. He was for many years a circuit rider, his circuit covering much of the territory between the Tennessee and the Mississippi Rivers, and it required a full month for him to make the trip round his circuit.

Four sons, Jo, Ben, Bob and Jim, and two daughters, one of whom, Mrs. E. M. Stolts, of Dyer, Tenn., is still living, grew to maturity in this family and their parents being ardent Cumberland Presbyterians, their children were, of course, trained up in the faith and doctrine.

Jo, (he was partial to this spelling of his given name,) was born January 23, 1832, near McKenzie, Tenn. He was received under the care of Hopewell Presbytery in 1855 and was ordained to the full work of the ministry in 1857. He was specially gifted in revival work and there are thousands in heaven and other thousands yet on earth who were born into the kingdom of Christ in his revival meetings. He was also pastor of many of the congregations of West Tennessee, his last work being Paducah, Ky.

Ben, the Rev. B.G. McLeskey, was born near Dresden, Tenn., attained to great distinction, being at the time of his death president of Trinity University in Texas.

Bob, the Rev. Robert Gilbert McLeskey, was born in Tennessee in 1877, was received under the care of presbytery and licensed to preach by Reuben Burrow in 1866, and was ordained to the full work of the ministry at Humboldt, Tenn., in October, 1867.

The Rev. Jo McLeskey was married to Miss Ellen Carter in June, 1858. Of the children born to this union, three, J. E. McLeskey, of Rives, Tenn., Mrs. W. H. Forbis, of Memphis, Tenn., and the Rev. W. H. McLeskey, of Clarksville, Tenn., are now living. His first wife having died while their children were quite young, he was united in marriage in December, 1879 to Mrs. Sallie Cooper. She, with three children, Mrs. D. A. Hipps, of Jackson, Miss Callie McLeskey, of Memphis, and Mr. Jo McLeskey, of Memphis survive him. He died at his home in Fulton, Ky., May 5, 1909, and was carried to Mt. Olive Cemetery, near Dyer, Tenn., where his funeral, attended by a large concourse of friends, was conducted by the Rev. J. A. McIlwain and others. From the time that he entered the ministry until within a few months of his death, he was preeminently a preacher. He preached his first sermon at Meridian camp ground in Weakley County, Tenn., from the text, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward," and his last sermon at Dyer, Tenn., only a short time before his death. His was an active life in the service of the church and he is said to have preached more funerals and married more couples than any other minister who ever lived in West Tennessee.

The Rev. William Hamilton (Hamp) McLeskey, the second son of the Rev. Jo McLeskey, Jr., is, and has been for the past four years, pastor of the strong and growing congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Clarksville, Tenn. To him and his wife, who was Miss Florence Meadows, three children have been born, two of whom, the Rev. James M. McLeskey and Hamilton, a five-year-old boy, are now living. He and one of the elders of his congregation, Judge W. B. Young, will be members of the General Assembly at Bowling Green, Ky.

The Rev. James M. McLeskey, for the past two and one-half years the pastor of the Arrington Street Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the city of Nashville, is the youngest of the McLeskey family to enter the ministry of the church. Though but a youth when he came from Bethel College to the pastorate of this congregation, he has been quite successful in his work and his outlook for the future is full of promise. He began work as a pastor in the church at the age of sixteen and has been constantly engaged in that kind of work, though, in common with all of the McLeskeys, he delights in revival as well as pastoral work.

Thus it will be seen that the history of the ministers of the McLeskey family covers a period greater than that of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In the pictures which appear upon this page, reading from top to bottom, the second, third, fourth and fifth generations are shown and we regret that the picture of the first generation is not available. Reading from left to right are three brothers of the third generation.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, May 8, 1913, page 290]

Birmingham, Ala., April 13.--

Rev. James M. McLeskey, age 45, pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, died here yesterday, Sunday morning, after several weeks illness of pneumonia.

The Rev. McLeskey, son of the Rev. and Mrs. W. H. McLeskey of Nashville, was a native of Tennessee. He received his education at Bethel College and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. A ministerial career that began when he was a youth carried him to the pastorate of numerous Southern churches.

He was pastor of the Arrington Street Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Nashville, for four years before going to Memphis, where he served as pastor of Central Church for nine years. For several years he was pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, Tenn. Before coming to First Church, Birmingham, he was engaged in evangelistic work for about a year. He has served the Birmingham Church the past eighteen months.

His father is editor of the Sunday school literature for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Survivors, in addition to his parents, are his wife, two children, Dorothy and Thomas McLeskey, and a brother, Hamilton, of Nashville.

Following services at the church here today, the body will reach Nashville union station at 7:40 o'clock tonight and be conveyed to the parlors of Marshall funeral home, 129 Eighth Avenue, South, where funeral services will be held at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning. The Rev. O. A. Barbee will officiate, with Rev. J. W. Stiles and Rev. Thos. A. DeVore assisting.

Pastors of the Cumberland Presbyterian churches of Nashville will serve as pallbearers. Interment will be at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Nashville, Ten.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, April 16, 1936, page 12]