REV. WM. ROACH. C. MANTON.
REV. WM. ROACH died on Wednesday, November 12, 1879, after a few days illness at his home in Blossom Prairie, Red River county, Texas.
Brother Roach came to Texas nearly two years ago, joined the Red River Presbytery, and has been an earnest worker for Christ during his residence in the State. He lacked but a few months of being seventy-nine years old. Born in South Carolina in 1801, his parents moved from thence to Tennessee, and shortly afterwards to Kentucky, where, at the age of twenty-one brother Roach professed religion under the ministry of Laban Jones. He soon joined the Church, was ordained an elder. Feeling that he was ordained to preach, he became a candidate for the ministry, and in due time was fully set apart to the work of a gospel minister. His labors were abundant in the counties of Union, Lyon, Hopkins, Livingstone, Caldwell, Crittenden, and others in Kentucky.
Uncle Billy, as we loved to call him, was present at the first General Assembly of our Church, fifty years ago. Now he is a member of the General Assembly of saints, a meeting of perpetual enjoyment in the presence of the King. The old warrior was ready; the shining walls of the city and its pearly gates were always in full view, but a thin veil separated him from his home. It has parted, the warfare is over; the crown is won; the sword is sheathed; the palm branch is waving in his hand, as he shouts Hosanna to Prince Emmanuel.
The writer spent a few hours with brother Roach the evening before he died, of great pleasure. His mind was perfectly clear and joyous. We shall never forget his last words to us, praying that we might be a strong man in the Lord: May God grant it. Brother Roach has left a wife and five children to mourn his loss.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, December 18, 1879, page 2]
MORTUARY
William Roach - Red River Presbytery
[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1880, page 100]