Gospel preacher. James J. Trott, Messenger of the Church of Christ at Franklin College, Tenn., to the Cherokee nation
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from, henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv: 13. Although the death of our beloved Brother J. J. Trott was announced in our columns a few months since, the labor and character of that good man demand, at the hands of his brethren, a more extended notice. While we are liable to idolize the dead, the good deeds of many of the faithful are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, to encourage the living in lives of righteousness. Our deceased brother was born November 4th, 1800, and died December 10th, 1868, sixty-eight years, one month, and six days old. At an early age he became a member of the Methodist Church, and his strong and manly intellect, with his earnest life, soon gave unmistakable evidence of his ability to preach. He obtained his license and was put on his first "circuit" with the venerable John Rains, who still survives. His constant devotion as a preacher in the Methodist connection, and his marked progress, not only made his brethren proud of his commanding talent but produced in them the conviction that he possessed admirable qualifications for a missionary to the Heathens. Accordingly, in the spring of 1823, he was sent to labor amongst the Cherokees, in Georgia, where he toiled faithfully till the spring of 1837—having worked for the Indians nine years—when he returned to Tennessee. The important incidents of his life, while in the Nation, "would afford material for a valuable volume, could we get in possession of them. Some of the more important incidents were published many years since; but I have not been successful in finding them, and for the few, I will give, I must rely upon memory. It is, however, not too much to intimate that from a long and intimate acquaintance, the impressions made by our deceased brother's Christian conversations, are deep and lasting. James T.(sic) Trott, being a man of enlarged capacity, though not of the most active and sprightly mind, was by no means contracted in his religious opinions. He associated well, in his missionary labors, with Presbyterians and members of other denominations. His want of rigid partisan views did not inspire enthusiasm in his Methodist brethren, and yet he was loved by all as a clear-headed, pure-minded, good, and safe man. Suffice it to say that he built up many Methodist Churches amongst the Cherokees, and from his connection with the Rosses and Adairs—chief men of the tribe—he was not only very highly esteemed but exerted a powerful influence in the nation. One event thoroughly tested his integrity as a man, his indomitable will, and his self-denial as a believer in the Savior. It will be remembered that during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the effort was made to bring the Cherokees, and all sojourners in the Nation, under the formal and practical workings of the American Government. To accomplish this object, a law was enacted requiring the oath of allegiance of native Indians, mixed bloods, and dwellers in the Nation—missionaries included. The penalty for refusing was a berth in the State Prison. Very soon many of the missionaries, Bro. Trott amongst them was thrown into prison. These missionaries were native-born citizens of the Government of the United States had never, to their knowledge, violated it, loved it for their fathers' sake, and, of course, having never become aliens, they refused to subscribe to the oath. Months and years hung heavily upon many of these self-denying missionaries, and after severe privation and extreme sufferings, Bro. Trott, with two Presbyterian preachers, were sentenced to a series of years at hard labor in the Georgia Penitentiary. They were driven on foot a hundred or two miles to the prison. The Presbyterian ministers went in and served for more than a year; but the Georgia Governor's heart, at the prison door, in looking upon the noble person, and into the manic and innocent face of our brother, relented. He broke his manacles and set the righteous man at liberty. But his cruel imprisonment, with "the mock trial and conviction at what was called the bar of justice," had worked a complete revolution in the sentiments previously entertained regarding human government. By his revolutionary ancestors, he had, from early childhood, been taught to reverence his government; but his sad sufferings deeply impressed upon his great heart the frailty of every institution modeled by man's device. Even Methodism itself, whose divinity he had never doubted, began to evince its rickety construction, and its ragged exterior. In the meantime, while in prison, by some means he had been enabled to read some of the writings of Alexander Campbell, who had directed his attention back to the primitive church, and the matchless authority of the Holy Scriptures. But in all Georgia, he knew no one who could sympathize with him in his enlightenment. The consequence was he soon started for Tennessee, and having no personal acquaintance with an advocate of the ancient order of things spiritual, he visited the very popular Baptist minister, Peyton Smith, and demanded immersion at his hands into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The timid Baptist faltered, and said, "Go before the Church, and relate your Christian experience." The clear-headed Trott said, "Nay, I have not been in the Kingdom of the Savior, and have no experience therein; but I believe now and have long believed, with all my heart in the Lord, and I desire to put him on in baptism." The Baptist trammels fell from the pious Smith's hands, and they went to the nearest water—Overall's Creek, four miles from Murfreesboro, Tenn.—where the earnest Methodist missionary, Jas. J. Trott, sought and obtained a good conscience by baptism into Christ. Being a free-born citizen of the kingdom, and by his birth having been constituted a king and a priest, after spending some time, like Paul, with the Disciples, he was strengthened and confirmed and conferring not with flesh and blood, he straightway preached Christ to all who would hear, and proved himself an able minister of the New Testament. It was my good fortune, in a very short space after his adoption into the heavenly family, to form his acquaintance, and from the year 1837 to 1859, we were co-laborers in the Lord's vineyard. A good portion of the time, which elapsed, Bro. Trott was a member of the congregation at Franklin College. We attended many missionary meetings, co-operating and consultation meetings together, and it affords me the highest satisfaction to state, that in my whole forty years of work I have not found a more self-sacrificing, independent, earnest, humble, and faithful teacher of the Christian religion than was our departed Brother J. J. Trott. Having, in 1859, signified his willingness to spend and be spent, amongst the Cherokees, the congregation, by prayer, fasting, and the extension of the "right hands of fellowship," gave our brother to the work of converting the Heathen, beyond the Mississippi. With his family, soon after, he took his journey to his new field of labor, where he toiled steadily, diligently, and successfully till the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861. Having been robbed and maltreated in his new home, he was forced to take up his line of march to Kansas, where he labored, in poverty and perils, till 1865, when he renewed his attacks upon the kingdom of the enemy in Arkansas and kept up his aggressions till he was visited by the Brothers Joseph and Benjamin Harlan, in the autumn of 1868. His health having become impaired, he was induced to accompany these brethren to Tennessee with the hope of recovering his wasted strength sufficiently to lift his cheering voice, once more, amongst his friends in the valleys, and upon the hill-tops of Tennessee, in defense "of the faith once for all delivered to the saints." But, alas! no one saw what was before him. He reached Nashville greatly debilitated, where he perhaps saw no old friend, save our excellent Brother, Dr. W. H. Wharton. I had earnestly desired to see his face once more and entered the hotel with anxious eyes but a few moments after his departure. He sought rest, but with all the care afforded by Bro. Harlan and family, and the best medical attention, the grim messenger could not be resisted. He took our brother across Death's deep river, and we shall see him no more on earth. Farewell, for a little while, Bro. Trott. His poor body now sweetly sleeps by the side of the highly favored, pure, and excellent Brother F. M. Carmack in the family grave-yard of Bro. Joseph Harlan, six miles from Gallatin, Sumner County, Tenn. He will rest, with other beloved ones, from his labors, till it shall please the Father to call him and them to mansions better ordered in the Heavens. We weep not without hope but confidently trust and believe that at the coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will find a happy home, and be invested with immortality. To the partner of our brother, Sister R. P. Trott, with sons and daughters, 'tis pleasant to say, look up; the day is not far distant when we will be called to a joyful meeting in deathless climes. No brother, more beloved by all who knew him well, has left us, than Bro. James J. Trott; and the members of his weeping family may be assured that they have the warmest sympathies of thousands whom they will not see till the meeting of the general assembly and Church of the First Born, in the presence-chamber of our God. —T. F. [Tolbert Fanning], Gospel Advocate, Volume XI, No. 12, March 25, 1869.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from, henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv: 13. Although the death of our beloved Brother J. J. Trott was announced in our columns a few months since, the labor and character of that good man demand, at the hands of his brethren, a more extended notice. While we are liable to idolize the dead, the good deeds of many of the faithful are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, to encourage the living in lives of righteousness. Our deceased brother was born November 4th, 1800, and died December 10th, 1868, sixty-eight years, one month, and six days old. At an early age he became a member of the Methodist Church, and his strong and manly intellect, with his earnest life, soon gave unmistakable evidence of his ability to preach. He obtained his license and was put on his first "circuit" with the venerable John Rains, who still survives. His constant devotion as a preacher in the Methodist connection, and his marked progress, not only made his brethren proud of his commanding talent but produced in them the conviction that he possessed admirable qualifications for a missionary to the Heathens. Accordingly, in the spring of 1823, he was sent to labor amongst the Cherokees, in Georgia, where he toiled faithfully till the spring of 1837—having worked for the Indians nine years—when he returned to Tennessee. The important incidents of his life, while in the Nation, "would afford material for a valuable volume, could we get in possession of them. Some of the more important incidents were published many years since; but I have not been successful in finding them, and for the few, I will give, I must rely upon memory. It is, however, not too much to intimate that from a long and intimate acquaintance, the impressions made by our deceased brother's Christian conversations, are deep and lasting. James T.(sic) Trott, being a man of enlarged capacity, though not of the most active and sprightly mind, was by no means contracted in his religious opinions. He associated well, in his missionary labors, with Presbyterians and members of other denominations. His want of rigid partisan views did not inspire enthusiasm in his Methodist brethren, and yet he was loved by all as a clear-headed, pure-minded, good, and safe man. Suffice it to say that he built up many Methodist Churches amongst the Cherokees, and from his connection with the Rosses and Adairs—chief men of the tribe—he was not only very highly esteemed but exerted a powerful influence in the nation. One event thoroughly tested his integrity as a man, his indomitable will, and his self-denial as a believer in the Savior. It will be remembered that during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the effort was made to bring the Cherokees, and all sojourners in the Nation, under the formal and practical workings of the American Government. To accomplish this object, a law was enacted requiring the oath of allegiance of native Indians, mixed bloods, and dwellers in the Nation—missionaries included. The penalty for refusing was a berth in the State Prison. Very soon many of the missionaries, Bro. Trott amongst them was thrown into prison. These missionaries were native-born citizens of the Government of the United States had never, to their knowledge, violated it, loved it for their fathers' sake, and, of course, having never become aliens, they refused to subscribe to the oath. Months and years hung heavily upon many of these self-denying missionaries, and after severe privation and extreme sufferings, Bro. Trott, with two Presbyterian preachers, were sentenced to a series of years at hard labor in the Georgia Penitentiary. They were driven on foot a hundred or two miles to the prison. The Presbyterian ministers went in and served for more than a year; but the Georgia Governor's heart, at the prison door, in looking upon the noble person, and into the manic and innocent face of our brother, relented. He broke his manacles and set the righteous man at liberty. But his cruel imprisonment, with "the mock trial and conviction at what was called the bar of justice," had worked a complete revolution in the sentiments previously entertained regarding human government. By his revolutionary ancestors, he had, from early childhood, been taught to reverence his government; but his sad sufferings deeply impressed upon his great heart the frailty of every institution modeled by man's device. Even Methodism itself, whose divinity he had never doubted, began to evince its rickety construction, and its ragged exterior. In the meantime, while in prison, by some means he had been enabled to read some of the writings of Alexander Campbell, who had directed his attention back to the primitive church, and the matchless authority of the Holy Scriptures. But in all Georgia, he knew no one who could sympathize with him in his enlightenment. The consequence was he soon started for Tennessee, and having no personal acquaintance with an advocate of the ancient order of things spiritual, he visited the very popular Baptist minister, Peyton Smith, and demanded immersion at his hands into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The timid Baptist faltered, and said, "Go before the Church, and relate your Christian experience." The clear-headed Trott said, "Nay, I have not been in the Kingdom of the Savior, and have no experience therein; but I believe now and have long believed, with all my heart in the Lord, and I desire to put him on in baptism." The Baptist trammels fell from the pious Smith's hands, and they went to the nearest water—Overall's Creek, four miles from Murfreesboro, Tenn.—where the earnest Methodist missionary, Jas. J. Trott, sought and obtained a good conscience by baptism into Christ. Being a free-born citizen of the kingdom, and by his birth having been constituted a king and a priest, after spending some time, like Paul, with the Disciples, he was strengthened and confirmed and conferring not with flesh and blood, he straightway preached Christ to all who would hear, and proved himself an able minister of the New Testament. It was my good fortune, in a very short space after his adoption into the heavenly family, to form his acquaintance, and from the year 1837 to 1859, we were co-laborers in the Lord's vineyard. A good portion of the time, which elapsed, Bro. Trott was a member of the congregation at Franklin College. We attended many missionary meetings, co-operating and consultation meetings together, and it affords me the highest satisfaction to state, that in my whole forty years of work I have not found a more self-sacrificing, independent, earnest, humble, and faithful teacher of the Christian religion than was our departed Brother J. J. Trott. Having, in 1859, signified his willingness to spend and be spent, amongst the Cherokees, the congregation, by prayer, fasting, and the extension of the "right hands of fellowship," gave our brother to the work of converting the Heathen, beyond the Mississippi. With his family, soon after, he took his journey to his new field of labor, where he toiled steadily, diligently, and successfully till the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861. Having been robbed and maltreated in his new home, he was forced to take up his line of march to Kansas, where he labored, in poverty and perils, till 1865, when he renewed his attacks upon the kingdom of the enemy in Arkansas and kept up his aggressions till he was visited by the Brothers Joseph and Benjamin Harlan, in the autumn of 1868. His health having become impaired, he was induced to accompany these brethren to Tennessee with the hope of recovering his wasted strength sufficiently to lift his cheering voice, once more, amongst his friends in the valleys, and upon the hill-tops of Tennessee, in defense "of the faith once for all delivered to the saints." But, alas! no one saw what was before him. He reached Nashville greatly debilitated, where he perhaps saw no old friend, save our excellent Brother, Dr. W. H. Wharton. I had earnestly desired to see his face once more and entered the hotel with anxious eyes but a few moments after his departure. He sought rest, but with all the care afforded by Bro. Harlan and family, and the best medical attention, the grim messenger could not be resisted. He took our brother across Death's deep river, and we shall see him no more on earth. Farewell, for a little while, Bro. Trott. His poor body now sweetly sleeps by the side of the highly favored, pure, and excellent Brother F. M. Carmack in the family grave-yard of Bro. Joseph Harlan, six miles from Gallatin, Sumner County, Tenn. He will rest, with other beloved ones, from his labors, till it shall please the Father to call him and them to mansions better ordered in the Heavens. We weep not without hope but confidently trust and believe that at the coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will find a happy home, and be invested with immortality. To the partner of our brother, Sister R. P. Trott, with sons and daughters, 'tis pleasant to say, look up; the day is not far distant when we will be called to a joyful meeting in deathless climes. No brother, more beloved by all who knew him well, has left us, than Bro. James J. Trott; and the members of his weeping family may be assured that they have the warmest sympathies of thousands whom they will not see till the meeting of the general assembly and Church of the First Born, in the presence-chamber of our God. —T. F. [Tolbert Fanning], Gospel Advocate, Volume XI, No. 12, March 25, 1869.
Gospel preacher. James J. Trott, Messenger of the Church of Christ at Franklin College, Tenn., to the Cherokee nation
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from, henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv: 13. Although the death of our beloved Brother J. J. Trott was announced in our columns a few months since, the labor and character of that good man demand, at the hands of his brethren, a more extended notice. While we are liable to idolize the dead, the good deeds of many of the faithful are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, to encourage the living in lives of righteousness. Our deceased brother was born November 4th, 1800, and died December 10th, 1868, sixty-eight years, one month, and six days old. At an early age he became a member of the Methodist Church, and his strong and manly intellect, with his earnest life, soon gave unmistakable evidence of his ability to preach. He obtained his license and was put on his first "circuit" with the venerable John Rains, who still survives. His constant devotion as a preacher in the Methodist connection, and his marked progress, not only made his brethren proud of his commanding talent but produced in them the conviction that he possessed admirable qualifications for a missionary to the Heathens. Accordingly, in the spring of 1823, he was sent to labor amongst the Cherokees, in Georgia, where he toiled faithfully till the spring of 1837—having worked for the Indians nine years—when he returned to Tennessee. The important incidents of his life, while in the Nation, "would afford material for a valuable volume, could we get in possession of them. Some of the more important incidents were published many years since; but I have not been successful in finding them, and for the few, I will give, I must rely upon memory. It is, however, not too much to intimate that from a long and intimate acquaintance, the impressions made by our deceased brother's Christian conversations, are deep and lasting. James T.(sic) Trott, being a man of enlarged capacity, though not of the most active and sprightly mind, was by no means contracted in his religious opinions. He associated well, in his missionary labors, with Presbyterians and members of other denominations. His want of rigid partisan views did not inspire enthusiasm in his Methodist brethren, and yet he was loved by all as a clear-headed, pure-minded, good, and safe man. Suffice it to say that he built up many Methodist Churches amongst the Cherokees, and from his connection with the Rosses and Adairs—chief men of the tribe—he was not only very highly esteemed but exerted a powerful influence in the nation. One event thoroughly tested his integrity as a man, his indomitable will, and his self-denial as a believer in the Savior. It will be remembered that during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the effort was made to bring the Cherokees, and all sojourners in the Nation, under the formal and practical workings of the American Government. To accomplish this object, a law was enacted requiring the oath of allegiance of native Indians, mixed bloods, and dwellers in the Nation—missionaries included. The penalty for refusing was a berth in the State Prison. Very soon many of the missionaries, Bro. Trott amongst them was thrown into prison. These missionaries were native-born citizens of the Government of the United States had never, to their knowledge, violated it, loved it for their fathers' sake, and, of course, having never become aliens, they refused to subscribe to the oath. Months and years hung heavily upon many of these self-denying missionaries, and after severe privation and extreme sufferings, Bro. Trott, with two Presbyterian preachers, were sentenced to a series of years at hard labor in the Georgia Penitentiary. They were driven on foot a hundred or two miles to the prison. The Presbyterian ministers went in and served for more than a year; but the Georgia Governor's heart, at the prison door, in looking upon the noble person, and into the manic and innocent face of our brother, relented. He broke his manacles and set the righteous man at liberty. But his cruel imprisonment, with "the mock trial and conviction at what was called the bar of justice," had worked a complete revolution in the sentiments previously entertained regarding human government. By his revolutionary ancestors, he had, from early childhood, been taught to reverence his government; but his sad sufferings deeply impressed upon his great heart the frailty of every institution modeled by man's device. Even Methodism itself, whose divinity he had never doubted, began to evince its rickety construction, and its ragged exterior. In the meantime, while in prison, by some means he had been enabled to read some of the writings of Alexander Campbell, who had directed his attention back to the primitive church, and the matchless authority of the Holy Scriptures. But in all Georgia, he knew no one who could sympathize with him in his enlightenment. The consequence was he soon started for Tennessee, and having no personal acquaintance with an advocate of the ancient order of things spiritual, he visited the very popular Baptist minister, Peyton Smith, and demanded immersion at his hands into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The timid Baptist faltered, and said, "Go before the Church, and relate your Christian experience." The clear-headed Trott said, "Nay, I have not been in the Kingdom of the Savior, and have no experience therein; but I believe now and have long believed, with all my heart in the Lord, and I desire to put him on in baptism." The Baptist trammels fell from the pious Smith's hands, and they went to the nearest water—Overall's Creek, four miles from Murfreesboro, Tenn.—where the earnest Methodist missionary, Jas. J. Trott, sought and obtained a good conscience by baptism into Christ. Being a free-born citizen of the kingdom, and by his birth having been constituted a king and a priest, after spending some time, like Paul, with the Disciples, he was strengthened and confirmed and conferring not with flesh and blood, he straightway preached Christ to all who would hear, and proved himself an able minister of the New Testament. It was my good fortune, in a very short space after his adoption into the heavenly family, to form his acquaintance, and from the year 1837 to 1859, we were co-laborers in the Lord's vineyard. A good portion of the time, which elapsed, Bro. Trott was a member of the congregation at Franklin College. We attended many missionary meetings, co-operating and consultation meetings together, and it affords me the highest satisfaction to state, that in my whole forty years of work I have not found a more self-sacrificing, independent, earnest, humble, and faithful teacher of the Christian religion than was our departed Brother J. J. Trott. Having, in 1859, signified his willingness to spend and be spent, amongst the Cherokees, the congregation, by prayer, fasting, and the extension of the "right hands of fellowship," gave our brother to the work of converting the Heathen, beyond the Mississippi. With his family, soon after, he took his journey to his new field of labor, where he toiled steadily, diligently, and successfully till the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861. Having been robbed and maltreated in his new home, he was forced to take up his line of march to Kansas, where he labored, in poverty and perils, till 1865, when he renewed his attacks upon the kingdom of the enemy in Arkansas and kept up his aggressions till he was visited by the Brothers Joseph and Benjamin Harlan, in the autumn of 1868. His health having become impaired, he was induced to accompany these brethren to Tennessee with the hope of recovering his wasted strength sufficiently to lift his cheering voice, once more, amongst his friends in the valleys, and upon the hill-tops of Tennessee, in defense "of the faith once for all delivered to the saints." But, alas! no one saw what was before him. He reached Nashville greatly debilitated, where he perhaps saw no old friend, save our excellent Brother, Dr. W. H. Wharton. I had earnestly desired to see his face once more and entered the hotel with anxious eyes but a few moments after his departure. He sought rest, but with all the care afforded by Bro. Harlan and family, and the best medical attention, the grim messenger could not be resisted. He took our brother across Death's deep river, and we shall see him no more on earth. Farewell, for a little while, Bro. Trott. His poor body now sweetly sleeps by the side of the highly favored, pure, and excellent Brother F. M. Carmack in the family grave-yard of Bro. Joseph Harlan, six miles from Gallatin, Sumner County, Tenn. He will rest, with other beloved ones, from his labors, till it shall please the Father to call him and them to mansions better ordered in the Heavens. We weep not without hope but confidently trust and believe that at the coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will find a happy home, and be invested with immortality. To the partner of our brother, Sister R. P. Trott, with sons and daughters, 'tis pleasant to say, look up; the day is not far distant when we will be called to a joyful meeting in deathless climes. No brother, more beloved by all who knew him well, has left us, than Bro. James J. Trott; and the members of his weeping family may be assured that they have the warmest sympathies of thousands whom they will not see till the meeting of the general assembly and Church of the First Born, in the presence-chamber of our God. —T. F. [Tolbert Fanning], Gospel Advocate, Volume XI, No. 12, March 25, 1869.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from, henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv: 13. Although the death of our beloved Brother J. J. Trott was announced in our columns a few months since, the labor and character of that good man demand, at the hands of his brethren, a more extended notice. While we are liable to idolize the dead, the good deeds of many of the faithful are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, to encourage the living in lives of righteousness. Our deceased brother was born November 4th, 1800, and died December 10th, 1868, sixty-eight years, one month, and six days old. At an early age he became a member of the Methodist Church, and his strong and manly intellect, with his earnest life, soon gave unmistakable evidence of his ability to preach. He obtained his license and was put on his first "circuit" with the venerable John Rains, who still survives. His constant devotion as a preacher in the Methodist connection, and his marked progress, not only made his brethren proud of his commanding talent but produced in them the conviction that he possessed admirable qualifications for a missionary to the Heathens. Accordingly, in the spring of 1823, he was sent to labor amongst the Cherokees, in Georgia, where he toiled faithfully till the spring of 1837—having worked for the Indians nine years—when he returned to Tennessee. The important incidents of his life, while in the Nation, "would afford material for a valuable volume, could we get in possession of them. Some of the more important incidents were published many years since; but I have not been successful in finding them, and for the few, I will give, I must rely upon memory. It is, however, not too much to intimate that from a long and intimate acquaintance, the impressions made by our deceased brother's Christian conversations, are deep and lasting. James T.(sic) Trott, being a man of enlarged capacity, though not of the most active and sprightly mind, was by no means contracted in his religious opinions. He associated well, in his missionary labors, with Presbyterians and members of other denominations. His want of rigid partisan views did not inspire enthusiasm in his Methodist brethren, and yet he was loved by all as a clear-headed, pure-minded, good, and safe man. Suffice it to say that he built up many Methodist Churches amongst the Cherokees, and from his connection with the Rosses and Adairs—chief men of the tribe—he was not only very highly esteemed but exerted a powerful influence in the nation. One event thoroughly tested his integrity as a man, his indomitable will, and his self-denial as a believer in the Savior. It will be remembered that during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the effort was made to bring the Cherokees, and all sojourners in the Nation, under the formal and practical workings of the American Government. To accomplish this object, a law was enacted requiring the oath of allegiance of native Indians, mixed bloods, and dwellers in the Nation—missionaries included. The penalty for refusing was a berth in the State Prison. Very soon many of the missionaries, Bro. Trott amongst them was thrown into prison. These missionaries were native-born citizens of the Government of the United States had never, to their knowledge, violated it, loved it for their fathers' sake, and, of course, having never become aliens, they refused to subscribe to the oath. Months and years hung heavily upon many of these self-denying missionaries, and after severe privation and extreme sufferings, Bro. Trott, with two Presbyterian preachers, were sentenced to a series of years at hard labor in the Georgia Penitentiary. They were driven on foot a hundred or two miles to the prison. The Presbyterian ministers went in and served for more than a year; but the Georgia Governor's heart, at the prison door, in looking upon the noble person, and into the manic and innocent face of our brother, relented. He broke his manacles and set the righteous man at liberty. But his cruel imprisonment, with "the mock trial and conviction at what was called the bar of justice," had worked a complete revolution in the sentiments previously entertained regarding human government. By his revolutionary ancestors, he had, from early childhood, been taught to reverence his government; but his sad sufferings deeply impressed upon his great heart the frailty of every institution modeled by man's device. Even Methodism itself, whose divinity he had never doubted, began to evince its rickety construction, and its ragged exterior. In the meantime, while in prison, by some means he had been enabled to read some of the writings of Alexander Campbell, who had directed his attention back to the primitive church, and the matchless authority of the Holy Scriptures. But in all Georgia, he knew no one who could sympathize with him in his enlightenment. The consequence was he soon started for Tennessee, and having no personal acquaintance with an advocate of the ancient order of things spiritual, he visited the very popular Baptist minister, Peyton Smith, and demanded immersion at his hands into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The timid Baptist faltered, and said, "Go before the Church, and relate your Christian experience." The clear-headed Trott said, "Nay, I have not been in the Kingdom of the Savior, and have no experience therein; but I believe now and have long believed, with all my heart in the Lord, and I desire to put him on in baptism." The Baptist trammels fell from the pious Smith's hands, and they went to the nearest water—Overall's Creek, four miles from Murfreesboro, Tenn.—where the earnest Methodist missionary, Jas. J. Trott, sought and obtained a good conscience by baptism into Christ. Being a free-born citizen of the kingdom, and by his birth having been constituted a king and a priest, after spending some time, like Paul, with the Disciples, he was strengthened and confirmed and conferring not with flesh and blood, he straightway preached Christ to all who would hear, and proved himself an able minister of the New Testament. It was my good fortune, in a very short space after his adoption into the heavenly family, to form his acquaintance, and from the year 1837 to 1859, we were co-laborers in the Lord's vineyard. A good portion of the time, which elapsed, Bro. Trott was a member of the congregation at Franklin College. We attended many missionary meetings, co-operating and consultation meetings together, and it affords me the highest satisfaction to state, that in my whole forty years of work I have not found a more self-sacrificing, independent, earnest, humble, and faithful teacher of the Christian religion than was our departed Brother J. J. Trott. Having, in 1859, signified his willingness to spend and be spent, amongst the Cherokees, the congregation, by prayer, fasting, and the extension of the "right hands of fellowship," gave our brother to the work of converting the Heathen, beyond the Mississippi. With his family, soon after, he took his journey to his new field of labor, where he toiled steadily, diligently, and successfully till the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861. Having been robbed and maltreated in his new home, he was forced to take up his line of march to Kansas, where he labored, in poverty and perils, till 1865, when he renewed his attacks upon the kingdom of the enemy in Arkansas and kept up his aggressions till he was visited by the Brothers Joseph and Benjamin Harlan, in the autumn of 1868. His health having become impaired, he was induced to accompany these brethren to Tennessee with the hope of recovering his wasted strength sufficiently to lift his cheering voice, once more, amongst his friends in the valleys, and upon the hill-tops of Tennessee, in defense "of the faith once for all delivered to the saints." But, alas! no one saw what was before him. He reached Nashville greatly debilitated, where he perhaps saw no old friend, save our excellent Brother, Dr. W. H. Wharton. I had earnestly desired to see his face once more and entered the hotel with anxious eyes but a few moments after his departure. He sought rest, but with all the care afforded by Bro. Harlan and family, and the best medical attention, the grim messenger could not be resisted. He took our brother across Death's deep river, and we shall see him no more on earth. Farewell, for a little while, Bro. Trott. His poor body now sweetly sleeps by the side of the highly favored, pure, and excellent Brother F. M. Carmack in the family grave-yard of Bro. Joseph Harlan, six miles from Gallatin, Sumner County, Tenn. He will rest, with other beloved ones, from his labors, till it shall please the Father to call him and them to mansions better ordered in the Heavens. We weep not without hope but confidently trust and believe that at the coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will find a happy home, and be invested with immortality. To the partner of our brother, Sister R. P. Trott, with sons and daughters, 'tis pleasant to say, look up; the day is not far distant when we will be called to a joyful meeting in deathless climes. No brother, more beloved by all who knew him well, has left us, than Bro. James J. Trott; and the members of his weeping family may be assured that they have the warmest sympathies of thousands whom they will not see till the meeting of the general assembly and Church of the First Born, in the presence-chamber of our God. —T. F. [Tolbert Fanning], Gospel Advocate, Volume XI, No. 12, March 25, 1869.
Family Members
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
