Alderson, John, Jr

Alderson, John, Jr., a Baptist minister, was born in New Jersey, March 5,1738, 0. S. He took very little interest in the subject of religion until he reached the meridian of life. Severe domestic affliction seems .to have been sanctified to him, and he became a new man in Christ. He was ordained pastor of the Lynnville Creek Church, which his father had served, in October, 1775, where he remained two years, and then became pastor of a Church in Greenbrier County, Va., having the oversight also of several feeble churches in the neighborhood. During all this time he was compelled with his own hands to labor for the support of his growing family. After his family cares had been diminished, he gave himself wholly to the pastoral oversight of the churches under his charge. The last part of his life was spent with his son, under whose roof he died, March 5, 1821. Mr. Alderson is represented as having possessed an intellect naturally vigorous; and, although his early advantages had been limited, he was a man of respectable mental culture. In his preaching he delighted to dwell on the atonement of Christ and to recommend him to the attention of men. He was, without doubt, one of the most prominent men in the Baptist denomination in Western Virginia, and, says his biographer, '"it may be doubted whether in any part of the, state one. more self-denying and devoted could have been found." See Lives of' Virginia Baptist Ministers, p. 147-151. (J. C. S.)