On the fourth Sabbath in August we had the funeral of our father preached at Mt. Olive church, near Dyer Station, in Gibson county, Tenn., by Rev. H. R. Read. It was one of brother Read's best sermons. It was remarked by many that it was perhaps the best effort of his life. The text, "There were six steps to the throne." Rev. H. Parks was present, and took part in the service. A very large congregation assembled from the entire and surrounding neighborhoods. An interesting feature of the occasion was, that all the family living were there. It is the first time in six years that this family has been together. We met in Humboldt six years ago, and took dinner with Dr. Maxwell, our brother-in law. In that meeting we had our father, Dr. Jas. McLeskey, and his wife; Mrs. M. J. Maxwell; Mrs. Ellen McLeskey, brother J.'s wife; and our own sweet little Jennie Blake, my oldest daughter. All these were absent now, and we could not suppress the question, who of us will be missing when this family shall meet again?
On the Sabbath of this funeral we all took dinner with our brother-in-law, Mr. J. M. Stolts, and, as already remarked, we were all there that are living. Four children, two sons in-law, and three daughters in-law, eleven grand children and great grand child, twenty-one in all. Twelve are dead, father, mother, two children, two daughters-in-law, and six grand children. They are all in heaven now, and of these that remain all are members of the church who are of mature years. And since, I live upon the firm belief that in the sweet by-by we will all meet in heaven. I feel that I cannot afford to miss that. I want to meet my parents, my brothers and sisters and my own dear sweet children. And by the grace of God I will meet them, and we will know each other there.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, October 14, 1880]
WILLIAM HAMILTON McLESKEY was born in South Carolina, July 13, 1808, and died in Gibson county, Tenn., July 1, 1880. In early life he left his native State, and in January, 1827, came to Weakley county, Tenn.; July 24, 1828, he was united in marriage to Miss Jemima Gilbert, of Weakley county. In the person of Miss Gilbert he became heir to earth's richest legacy, a good wife; for she possessed all those noble and endearing qualities that so highly adorn woman, and eminently qualify her to be a helpmeet for man. She was spared to share with him the toils of life until December 24, 1867, when the old ship cast moorings, and she triumphantly joined the victor's song; "safe at home." They raised six children, four sons and two daughters, and it is due the departed to say that few parents were ever more successful in training their children. They all became religious in early life, and became efficient workers in the Church; three of them now ministers of the gospel in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and doing work for the Master.
The precise date of father McLeskey's conversion and first connection with the Church, the writer has not. Soon after joining the Church he was chosen to the office of ruling elder, in which capacity he served to the entire satisfaction of the congregation until he placed himself under the care of the Hopewell Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church as a candidate for the ministry, which he did in September, 1846. In September, 1847, he was licensed to preach, in October, 1850, was set apart to the whole work of the ministry. Nearly the whole of his Christian and ministerial life was spent within the bounds of the Hopewell Presbytery. While he was not regarded as a fine orator, few surpassed him in sermonizing ability. He showed a depth of thought that far surpassed many of much higher literary attainments. He was a sterling man, yet we do not claim for him perfection. He loved the Church, and was ever ready to make sacrifices to promote her welfare; understanding, perhaps as fully, the entire workings and the distinctive doctrines of the Church as almost any one. Though liberal in his feelings, he was sometimes regarded, especially by those least acquainted with him, as extremist. When once settled in his mind upon any subject, so strong was his adherence to what he regarded as right, that he would, sometimes in the heat of debate, inadvertently alienate for a time the warm friendship between himself and his best friends. Few knew him better than the writer, and we are safe in saying when he let his mantle fall, few were left to take it on. He was well versed in parliamentary law, and his judgment being good on almost all question brought before our ecclesiastical courts, he was qualified for a safe counselor in our Church judicatures.
For some months prior to his death, it was discovered by his intimate friends, especially his daughter, Mrs. Storlts, with whom he was living, that his mind was giving away. Their worst fears were realized about three weeks before his death. His children were forced to look upon their father with a wrecked mind; yet how consoling to know that during those three weeks he recorded his testimony to the truth of the power of vital godliness. Though his past history was to him almost a perfect blank, there was one thing he never forgot, and that was his conversion to God. Of this he could speak with such clear understanding that the skeptic would have been forced to abandon his skepticism, or prove himself a perfect mad man. During the three weeks he was usually calm and quiet, and seldom seemed to suffer a great deal. It may with truth be said that death won a trophy in the fall of W.H. McLeskey. His remains were deposited by the side of his companion in the cemetery at Newbern, Dyer county, Tennessee.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, February 3, 1881, page 1]
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]