Pipes, John
1/1/1891
February 21, 1818 - 1891 |
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| Bro. Pipes was one of our charter members and one of our most faithful members and few have done more and endured more than he. He has served all portions of the State and all classes of works and has very efficiently filled every one. Without further statement, we append the Obituary article by Dr. Carter, the Editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate. John Pipes was horn in Ouachita Parish, La. on February 21, 1818. In his boyhood the church services of the neighborhood were held at his father’s house. He was converted on October 14, 1840 while on his way to a camp meeting near Minden, La., at which place be was received into the church by the Rev. Richmond Randle. In 1842 he received license to exhort from the Rev. Edwin Phillips, pastor of the Ouachita circuit. In 1843 he was licensed to preach by the Quarterly Conference where the Rev. P. M. Wiggins, P. E., presided, and was admitted on trial into the Mississippi Conference at Woodville, at the close of this year, and was sent to the Caddo circuit as junior preacher, with the Rev. P. M. Goodwyn. In 1844 Bishop Janes, who presided at the Conference convened at Port Gibson, sent him to the Monroe circuit as junior preacher with the Rev. R. M. Crowson. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Soule at New Orleans in 1845, and was sent to the East Feliciana circuit as junior preacher with the Rev. Thomas Clinton. In January 1847, be was present at the organization of the Louisiana Conference, and was sent to Andrew Chapple in New Orleans. At the next Conference, which met at Minden, Bishop Paine ordained him elder, and sent him to the Pres-ton Colored Mission, which work he served three years successively, viz. 1848, 1849 and 1850. In 1851 he was sent to the Chicot circuit, and in 1852 to Milliken’s Bend. La.; in 1853 and 1854 to Mansfield and Pleasant Hill; in 1855 to Homer circuit; 1856 and 1857 to Bastrop circuit; in 1858, 1859 and 1860, to the Shreveport district as presiding elder. In 1861 and 1862 he served the Pleasant Hill cir-cuit; in 1863, 1864 and 1865—as a war measure—the Natchitoches mission. The next four years, from 1866 to 1869, he was on Mansfield circuit, when he was placed on the Shreveport district from 1870 to 1873. Thence he was moved to the DeSoto circuit, which he served four years, from 1874 to 1877, and was sent the next four years to Logansport mission. In 1882 and 1883 he was on the Caddo circuit, and in 1884 was placed on Grand Cane circuit. At the Conference in Minden in January 1885, Bro. Pipes, in a very effecting talk, asked to be placed upon the superannuated list, which was done with regret by all. From that time on he lived for heaven, and, so far as he was able, worked for the good of his fellows. In 1849 he was married to Miss Harriet Postell Shaffer, who bore to him four children, and who, for over forty-two years, was a helpmate worthy of such a man. Bro. Pipes was a man of the most transparent character. His simplicity was very marked. His integrity of purpose was above question. His earnestness in work was rarely equaled. His love for his friends was beautiful to see. His devotion to the church was never excelled. His quietness of manner was most striking. His preaching was fervent, practical and pathetic. His administration of discipline was loving and judicious: His purity of life was a most attractive exhibition of the power of divine grace. He loved God and worshipped him most devoutly. He loved men and wrought diligently for their physical, mental and moral improvement. Louisiana Methodism has received much from the life and work of her loved and loving son, Rev. John Pipes. For several years Bro. Pipes had been in a low state of health. He went on a visit to his daughter in the early summer, in the hope that a more bracing climate would recover him sufficiently to enable him to meet his brethren once more in Conference. This was the great desire of his heart, expressed in a letter to the editor just as he was leaving for Missouri. God had better things for him. That trip was the last earthly journey, and in the midst of those he loved so well he passed into the beatitudes above. The writer loved him as a father, and the tears flow at the thought that we shall see him no more on earth. Respected by all his brethren, highly esteemed by his friends, honored of all men, loved by his Savior, he lived and wrought and has attained to his reward. A day before his death he dictated the following letter: Dear Bishop Keener and Members of the Louisiana Conference Yours in love,
P.S. Dear Dr. Carter: All that love can do has been done for my precious father, but without avail. He is passing from us. He dictated the above letter this morning, a copy of which he wished sent to you. . JOHN PIPES. Mrs. W. J Jones. |
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| Source: Journal of the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1891, Pages 29-30 | |
