Person:William Reid (84)

Rev. William S. Reid was a native of Pennsylvania, and was born about the year 1776. Early in life emigrating to Virginia, he settled at Hampden Sydney College, where he studied for the ministry, which he afterwards adorned by his zeal, piety and eloquence. He married Clementina Venable, a young lady belonging to one of the first families in Virginia, and she was eminently qualified for the wife of a minister. Of excellent disposition, amiable speech, and a heart without guile, she joined to these the most enthusiastic, tender and romantic devotion to her gifted husband, the cords being only strengthened as she became older.

Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Reid came to Lynchburg, where he established the first Presbyterian Church of that place, presenting the ground on which to erect the building, and preaching for some time with little or no salary ; and for many years he was the beloved pastor of that Church, walking in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless ; but about the year 1828 or '29, a division occurred in his Church, putting to a severe test his Christian character, as some of his oldest and most influential members went over to the new side ; but after this time, Mr. Reid continued zealously to advance the cause of Christianity by his faithful ministry for many years. Mrs. Clementina Reid was a lady of great excellence, and she has left in Lynchburg a remembrance of herself that will never be effaced from the hearts of her friends. Of the ministerial course of this beloved man, it is not here the intention to write ; the effects are too well known throughout the State, and they will continue to be felt through time and eternity ; but tenderness of emotion impels us to offer a brief tribute of him as a teacher, which station he occupied for many years in Lynchburg, by presiding over one of the best female schools in the State of Virginia. His thorough knowledge of the structure of the English language, his happy talent for imparting instruction, and exciting interest in his pupils ; his scientific attainments, his graceful manner of illustrating by experiments, his impartiality, his firmness, tempered by gentleness — all these secured to him eminently the respect and regard of his scholars, who will carry with them through life the most affectionate remembrance of Mr. Reid, mingled with retrospections of the past most pleasing.

How many ladies scattered over the United States has he educated, and how many of the same have been joined by him in the holy bands of matrimony, and for how large a number of these has he not prayed beside a bed of death, and rendered the last solemn services over their graves ! And how many, as they approached the hour of death, have blessed God that they have been instructed by this beloved pastor.

** Oh ! blessings on his kindly voice, and on his silver hair,
And blessings on his whole long life, until he meet me there ;
Oh ! blessing on his kindly heart, and on his silver head,
A thousand times I blessed him, as he knelt beside my bed."

The first coronation of the Queen of May ever known in Virginia took place at Mr. Reid's school. Miss Edgeworth's beautiful story of "Simple Susan"* had just appeared, and its perusal had excited in the pupils the strongest interest, mingled with a desire to have a celebration. It was told to the writer by one of the pupils who was then at this school, that late in the day on the first of May, they requested of their teacher a holiday, choosing unanimously for their Queen Eliza Clopton, the most beloved of all their school companions. This rustic fete was conducted with great simplicity, and in the hearts of surviving class-mates will ever be most tenderly remembered. At that time, and for many succeeding years, there were no luxurious armchairs in Lynchburg, and one venerable elbow-chair was every May-day conveyed to Mr. Reid's, and from it the May Queen gently swayed the sceptre over her flowery realm. That chair, from which these lines are penned, sweetly recalls the blithe, happy time when Eliza Daniel was Queen of May. Her smiling blue eyes, her brown hair, surmounted by her wreath of dewy flowers, her graceful form draped in white muslin, are yet present to memory. On her bosom was fastened, by an old-fashioned brooch, a bunch of white rose buds ; their stem was broken, and already in their early fragrance and beauty were they fading. What could have been more emblematic of her brief, happy life, than this childish scene ? The flowers of hope and love fading in early womanhood, the stem of her afiections broken and crushed, as were those pale flowers, her own life evanescent as her May-day reign, and in the lapse of years, nought left to friends but sweet memories of the past, treasured in their hearts, as pearls of her life's brief story, and by them prized as the most sacred relic of by-gone days.

In the year 1841, Mrs. Clementina Reid departed this life, leaving in the hearts of her family and friends, a void never to be filled. Her death materially affected the health of her devoted husband, and though he submitted to the heavy bereavement with Christian fortitude and resignation, still he was never the same after her departure.

Surviving his wife ten years, Mr. Reid was tenderly cherished by a large family, who could not but esteem it a privilege to administer to the comfort and happiness of this, their estimable parent. His death was deeply felt by the whole community in which he lived, and a sketch of his life, by an able divine of Lynchburg, appeared at the time of his death, bearing ample testimony to his worth and of the esteem in which he was held by other denominations.

A large family survive him. Miss Reid, and his two sons, William S. Reid, jr., and S. V. Reid, being residents of Lynchburg ; and with the exception of Mrs. Martha Calhoun, Mrs. Spencer, and Mrs. Wilson, the rest of the daughters of this family reside in the Western States. This finished scholar and eloquent minister deserves a far better memorial than a passing tribute, and it is to be hoped that some one intimately acquainted with the interesting events of his life, will compile at least a small volume for the purpose of publication, embellished with a portrait of Mr. Reid ; a suggestion of this sort will doubtless be warmly responded to by friends, former pupils, and their descendants scattered over the United States.

[Includes grave photos.]
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[Inscription:
Beneath this stone lie the ashes of Rev. William S. Reid D.D. for forty years the faithful and beloved pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, Va. He was born April 1778 in Chester, County, Penna. He died June 23, 1853; aged 75 years and 2 months. This stone was erected by his friends and the members of his church in 1855.]

Rev. William Shields Reid (1778-1853)
He was born in West Nottingham township, Chester Co., Pennsylvania, April 21, 1778, the son of Adam Reid and Martha Shields. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1802 and taught at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia in the academy of Rev. S.B. Balch between 1802 and 1804. He was a candidate to the Winchester Presbytery April 22, 1804 and studied theology under Dr. Moses Hoge. He was dismissed to Hanover Presbytery, August 1, 1806, by which he was licensed and ordained about 1808. He was vice president and president of Hampden-Sydney College 1806-7 and resided at Lynchburg, Virginia, 1808-53. He was stated supply at Concord Congregation 1810, principal of Tompkin's Boys School 1808-1815, he had his own boarding school for girls between 1815 and about 1848. He founded and organized the First Ptrbyterian Church of Lynchburg, March 20, 1815 (three men, ten women) and was stated supply there 1815-1822. He was their pastor 1822 to 1848. The church was built on lot 93, 2nd Street near Main which he donated. Sunday School was organized there May 3, 1818. He died at Lynchburg, Jun 21, 1853. He married Clementine Frances Venable and had thirteen children. He was the Moderator of his Synod in 1821.

The first building housing the First Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg, Virginia was a small brick structure with a high steeple, erected in 1815 on what is now Main Street across from City Market between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets. Dr William Shields Reid, the first pastor, and his wife Clementina donated the land. The Sabbath School Society began classes in May 1818. When this church building was severely damaged by a storm in 1854, a new and larger church, a two story edifice with Sabbath School Room below Church Auditorium, was built on the same site and dedicated on Sunday, November 14, 1858. As the church congregation continued to grow, a third church building was put up at Ninth and Court Streets and dedicated on May 8,1900. A weekly church bulletin, a "first" in Lynchburg, was introduced in 1904.