Portrum.--The Rev. George W. Portrum, of the Knoxville Presbytery, departed this life at his home, near Persia, Hawkins County, Tenn., March 16, 1886, in the 52d year of his age, in great peace, surrounded by his grief-stricken family, relatives, and friends, after an illness of only a few days, with pneumonia fever. Brother Portrum professed religion at Pilot Knob, Greene County, before the late war, and was impressed by the Holy Spirit that he would have to take a position on the walls of Zion, and having already obtained a classical education, he was not disobedient to the heavenly call, but joined the Knoxville Presbytery at New Bethel in 1861, and was licensed at Oakland in 1862, and was ordained at Pilot Knob, Sept. 27, 1866. The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. J. B. Dobson, and the charge delivered by the Rev. J. P. Holtsinger. Since then Brother Portrum has made full proof of his ministry, having served various congregations, and had been pastor at Pilot Knob for fifteen consecutive years; and has, by his humble walk, godly conversation, and unblemished Christian character, greatly endeared himself to all who knew him. His ministry was of that character that universally impresses, forcing conviction on his hearers, and causing them to feel that the discourse was a message direct from God; and wherever he sowed the seed of life results for good ever followed, and to the very last there was in his discourses a very marked improvement in the matter and manner, always taking advanced positions in thought, in laying before the world the plan of human redemption as revealed in the blessed gospel; and the glorious result was in keeping with the advancement, for in his work for the last six months of his life he witnessed the conversion of more than 200 precious souls, and for the remainder of the Presbyterial year he had laid his plans for much greater accomplishments. His heart was in the work, and his sweetest thought was for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom and the more permanent establishment of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. But the great Head of the Church, who doeth all things well, has seen fit in his wisdom to remove him from his labors on earth to the haven of rest on high, for which he had been preparing for the greater part of his life; and while Knoxville Presbytery will lose one of its ablest ministers, and his beloved charges lose a true and tried pastor, and his bereaved family lose an affectionate husband and kind father, and while we all feel the world is poorer since he is gone, still the great consolation will steal into our hearts that our loss is his eternal gain. And we are glad that he was so signally blessed, when the momentous last hour of his life had come he was permitted to die at home, the last look on earth into the eyes of the loved ones, and to feel as he departed that every thing that affection could devise was done for him, and in taking a last farewell of earth to gently fall asleep in Jesus. An able and efficient minister, a good citizen, a model husband, a kind father, a true friend, a high-toned Christian gentleman, his work was well done. To the bereaved family and friends we give our warmest sympathy, and pray God that this afflicting dispensation of his providence may be sanctified to their good and to the glory of his great name.        J. J. CARROLL.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, April 29, 1886, page 2]