Before you speak ill of others, consider Charles Simeon’s wise counsel: “The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such matters. “1st To hear as little as possible what is to the prejudice of others. “2nd To believe nothing of the kind till I am absolutely forced to it. “3rd Never to drink into the spirit of one who circulates an ill report. “4th Always to moderate, as far as I can, the unkindness which is expressed towards others. “5th Always to believe, that if the other side were heard a very different account would be given of the matter. “I consider love…
Read MoreO GOOD LORD, who willest all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of thy verity, show thy power and excellent Majesty unto the whole world, that everyone may sing thy praises, yea, and show forth thy salvation, which thou has promised to all them that dedicate themselves to thy service; that thou mayest be praised in all thy creatures, by means of Jesus Christ thy Son. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 108.
Read MoreO LORD, the only protector and stay of all thine, who guidest thy children as the sheep of thy fold, extend thy goodness to us, and so sustain our hearts, which by nature are harder than any flint, that we be not hardened or obstinate through any incredulity against thy holy Word, but we may serve thee in true and living faith, so that in the end we may enter into thy heavenly rest, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 107-108.
Read MoreIndomitable physical courage, moral strength, and Christian conviction marked the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Yesterday Lynne and I visited her gravesite at Ruleville in the Mississippi Delta. Mrs. Hamer came to national prominence when she addressed the 1964 Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee. She described the imprisonment and brutal beating she endured during the 1963 summer voter registration drive. Watch a brief historical introduction and then listen to her eight minute speech. The youngest of twenty children, her family were sharecroppers. Her attempt to register to vote in 1962 led to the firing of her and her husband from the plantation where she had worked for eighteen years. Her gravesite is located in the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden. A few hundred yards to the west is the Fannie…
Read MoreMOST POTENT KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, whose glory is incomprehensible, whose majesty is infinite, and whose power is incomparable, maintain thy servants in quietness; and grant that we may be so settled on the certainty of thy promises that, whatsoever thing come upon us, we may abide firm in thy faith, and may live uprightly and without reproach in the midst of thy church, which Jesus Christ thy Son hath bought with his precious blood. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 106.
Read MorePictures early in marriage and later in life of my great grandfather and great grandmother, George Franklin (1860-1949) and Carrie Lou Moore Wingard (1870-1955). The last two pictures were taken at the Wingard family home at Elmdale in southern Montgomery County, Alabama.
Read MoreA Centerpoint School class roll from 1913. Centerpoint was located in southern Montgomery County, Alabama. It was near Elmdale, the Moore-Wingard farm. Some of the teachers lived with the Wingards. Clinton King was the teacher in 1913. One of his students is my grandfather’s sister, Magnolia Wingard, age 15. Five years later, in 1918, Clinton King and Magnolia Wingard were married. Several of my great uncles and aunts and their kin are listed on the report card. I have posted additional information elsewhere about Centerpoint School.
Read MoreThese pictures were take at an October 2007 workday at Moore-Wingard Cemetery in southern Montgomery County. The cleanup crew from left to right: Duane Norman, son of Murray and Ralph Norman Murray Wingard Norman, daughter of Uncle Murray Wingard Vickey Wingard, wife of Rick Wingard Rick Wingard, son of Dick Wingard, grandson of Uncle Sam Wingard Ralph Norman, husband of Murray Norman Austin Norman (front), son of Duane Norman Richard Wingard, son of Uncle Will Wingard Here’s what the cemetery looked like in June. Things were much improved by the end of our workday. Below are two pictures that show how the cemetery has changed the past 50 years. Here is a picture of George Franklin and Carrie Lou Wingard’s…
Read MoreSeveral Wingards are buried at the Pisgah Primitve Baptist Church Cemetery in south Montgomery County, Alabama. One Primitive Baptist distinctive is the practice of footwashing when communion is observed. Pisgah Primitive Baptist Church was constituted in 1842, and its beautiful meeting house was built in 1931. I have never been in the Pisgah meeting house, but I’m told its interior was never painted, and that if you look up, you can see the foot prints of the workers on the ceiling planks. The grave of Lenna Emma Curry Wingard (1862-1889), the first wife of my great-grandfather George Franklin Wingard (1860-1949). These are the graves of George Carroll (1914-1917) and Eugene Wilson Wingard (1915-1917), sons of Eugene Franklin “Buck” Wingard (1887-1966).…
Read MoreWelcome to the Wingard Cemetery in Wingard, Alabama. If you’ve never been to Wingard, you’ll find it in western Pike County, just off the main highway between Troy and Luverne. Wingard, Alabama was settled in 1820 by William Wingard (1796-1872) and his wife Ellender Burgess Wingard (1797-1885). They moved from South Carolina, accompanied by his brother-in-law, William Burgess, who had married Mary Wingard. So, a brother and sister married a brother and sister. Here are a few photos of Wingard Cemetery, taken in 2007: Richard William Wingard was the father of my great-grandfather, George Franklin Wingard (1860-1949). He died on his son’s second birthday. My closest kin lived in northwest Pike County and southern Montgomery County at Elmdale, the Moore-Wingard plantation. For a number…
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