Facts of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Riley Dr. Benjamin Franklin1 Riley was born July 16, 1849 in Pineville, Monroe CO, AL, and died 1925. He married Emma Shaw, daughter of Dr. Shaw and Permelia Crosby. She was born Unknown. Notes for Dr. Benjamin Franklin Riley: "Dr. Riley was a minister in Conecuh and later a professor at then Howard College. now Samford University in Birmingham...... Eugenia Ellis" HISTORY OF CONECUH CO., AL. Benjmin Franklin Riley Pub. 1881, Reprint 1994 Begins with earliest times and settlers , the Creek Indians. The early settlement of Conecuh by the whites in 1815 at a place called Bellville. Early in 1817 more people moved in from N.C. and Chester District, S.C. Great difficulty befell those early emigrants especially in 1816 as they tried to obtain food from long distances, with their lives always endangered through perilous travels in Indian Territory. The author gives a biography of early families: Amos, Ashley, Autrey, Bell, Bolling, Burnett, Cary, Crosby, Cosley, Cunningham, Donald, Ethridge, Forbes, Gray, Greene, Groce, Hawthorne, Hunter, Jay, Jernigan, Jones, King, Lee, Martin, McCreary, Morrow, Oliver, Perryman, Rabb, Sampey, Shaw, Simpson, Stallworth, Stearns, Straughn, Travis, Warren, Watkins. Other surnames mentioned throughout the book: Allen, Betts, Bowles, Boykin, Brantly, Burson, Cook, Copsey, Dean, Farnham, Feagin, Folks, Halstead, Hart, Hodge, Horton, Johnston, Keyser, Manning, McCaskill, Meeks, Mendenha! ll, Robinson, Roebuck, Slaughter, Starke, Turk, Walls, and many others. $29.50 ___________ >From NORTHERN ALABAMA, Historical and Biographical by Smith & Deland, Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, Printers and Binders, 1888 p. 217, Contributed by Mary Anne Abbe REV. B. F. RILEY, D. D., the subject of this sketch is a native Alabamian. He was born near the village of Pineville, Monroe County, July 16, 1849. Reared in a country home far in the interior, his early scholastic advantages were meagre. His early years were chiefly spent laboring on his father's farm, with occasional alternations of attendance at a country school. At the age of eighteen he asked permission of his father to leave home, in order that he might secure an education. Going to Starlington, Butler County, he taught a primary school, where he made his first money. In his nineteenth year he went to Erskine College, S. C., and begged to be taken on trial in the sophomore class. His training had been so defective that he found it difficult to maintain his place in the class, but overcoming all barriers, he pushed through and graduated in 1871. His original purpose was to prepare for the bar, but this idea he abandoned and chose the ministry instead. After the completion of his course at Erskine, he entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, then at Greenville, S. C., but his health had been so impaired by the taxation of his strength in his literary course, that he had to give up the prosecution of his theological studies. Returning to Alabama, he engaged in manual labor, in order to recuperate his strength for the further pursuit of his divinity course. After the lapse of a year or more he entered the Crozer Theological Seminary near Philadelphia, and returned to Alabama in 1876. He has served as pastor of Baptist Churches at Snow Hill and Opelika, Ala., and Albany, Ga. At present he is pastor at Livingston, Ala. In 1885 he was honored with the title of Doctor of Divinity by the State University. Dr. Riley's tastes are decidedly literary. He has accumulated an excellent library, and is a regular contributor to some of the leading journals of the country. He has written two small works-one a local history, the History of Conecuh County, Ala., and the Immigrants' and Capitalists' Guide-Book to Alabama. The latter work was purchased by the State for gratuitous distribution , and is used in the interest of immigration. Dr. Riley has other works in course of preparation, which will be issued as early as the exactions of his pastoral work will allow. ------------------------------------------- ERSKINE COLLEGE ACADEMIC HALL OF FAME BANQUET APRIL 3, 1998 Web Page: http://www.erskine.edu/news/ahof.html DUE WEST, SC - The annual Academic Hall of Fame Banquet will be held at Erskine College Friday, April 3 at 7 p.m. in Moffatt Dining Hall on the campus. Five alumni are slated for induction this year, and the recipient of the Chairman's Award is to be announced. Sponsored by the Erskine College Board of Counselors, the Academic Hall of Fame Banquet is an opportunity to honor alumni, living or deceased, who by their lives and achievements have earned academic distinction. This year's inductees are 1942 graduate Elizabeth Plaxco Patrick of Charlotte; 1871 graduate Benjamin Franklin Riley; 1877 graduate Robert Milton Stevenson; 1924 graduate William Hood Stuart, Sr.; and 1924 Due West Woman's College graduate Margrette Moore Stuart. Presiding over the banquet this year will be Board of Counselors Chairman William E. Kibler Jr. of Honea Path. __________________ CITATION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN RILEY , 1849-1925 Born in 1849 near Pineville, Alabama, clergyman, educator and author Benjamin Franklin Riley was the son of Enoch and Sophronia Autrey Riley. His parents were poor but devout and eager for their son to succeed. After attending school in his community, he entered Erskine College in 1868 and received the A.B. degree in 1871. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Pineville in July 1872 and entered Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at that time located in Greenville, South Carolina. His studies were interrupted by failing health and he returned home to Alabama to recuperate. In 1874 he entered Crozer Theological Seminary where he remained until 1876. He married Emma Shaw of Belleville, Alabama June 21, 1876, and they became the parents of eight children. Soon after his marriage he accepted the pastorate of Carlowville and Snow Hill churches in Alabama. He was called to a church in Albany, Georgia in 1878, but after a brief pastorate interrupted by ill health, he returned to Alabama and became pastor at Opelika from 1879 to 1882. In 1888 he was made president of Howard College (now Samford University) near Birmingham, Alabama, remaining there until 1893 through a period of great difficulty in the history of the institution. He resigned the presidency of Howard College and accepted the chair of English and oratory in the University of Georgia, which he held with distinction until 1900. He served as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas from 1900 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1909 was superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Texas. His work with the Anti-Saloon League revealed to him the detrimental effects of alcohol on black citizens, and inspired in him a sympathy for them. He became an advocate of reform in race relations. During his work as secretary of the Anti-Saloon League he wrote The White Man's Burden (1910) and later wrote The Life and Times of Booker T. Washington (1916). His most important work was in the field of education and authorship. A diligent writer, he contributed regularly to the religious press of his denomination and to other similar periodicals. In 1881 he published The History of Conecuh County, Alabama, and in 1888 Alabama As It Is. Riley's other historical writings include History of the Baptists of Alabama (1893); History of the Baptists in the Southern States East of the Mississippi (1898); History of the Baptists of Texas (1907); Makers and Romance of Alabama History (1914); The Baptists in the Building of the Nation (1922); and Memorial History of the Baptists of Alabama (1923). Erskine College recognized his accomplishments by conferring on him the Doctor of Divinity degree in 1890. The 1926 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention included praise for his character, describing him as "an independent thinker ... lover of truth and justice ... friend of the lowly." An entry devoted to B.F. Riley in the Dictionary of American Biography describes his constant alternation between the practical and the scholarly. "While he was pastor he was also studying and writing, and while he was in educational work he continued to preach." His writings are described as showing "diligence in research, care in statement, and vigor of style." His last years were spent in Birmingham, Alabama, where he continued his round of quiet study, writing, and frequent preaching and lecturing. As scholar, historian, pastor, writer, and civic leader, Benjamin Franklin Riley was a credit to his family, his church, his region, and his country. A man of letters and a man of God, he was clearly a credit to his alma mater as well. Notes for Emma Shaw: From Margaret J. Gaston, Conecuh County, AL: "Emma was the d/o Dr. John L. and Permelia (Crosby) Shaw."