Rev. G. W. Bussey, pastor of
Jordan Street Baptist church, Greenwood, South Carolina, was born in
Edgefield county, South Carolina, September the 14th, in the year
1845. His paternal lineage is traceable from Ireland to Virginia,
thence to South Carolina. His mother was Miss Eliza Jane Vance, from
near Shelbyville, Kentucky. His father, Joseph Bussey, was a
successful farmer, owning many slaves before the war. His homestead
remained in the family from the date of its grant by King George
until it was sold after his death by his youngest son. The Bussey
family, though never aspiring to public office, has long been
prominent and influential in their section of the State. The Tillman
family, of which Senator B. R. Tillman is the most prominent, was
intimately associated with them. Mr. Bussey worked on his father's
farm until, at the age of sixteen, he went out with the reserves in
the Confederate war to guard the coast at Charleston. Later he
served under Longstreet in Tennessee and Virginia, in the ?th South
Carolina Regiment, Company I. He was wounded in the arm in the
battle of the Wilderness, Virginia.
His educational advantages
before the war were such as were afforded by the old field school.
After the war, he helped his father awhile to lift some debts
incurred in the purchase of slaves, which then were free. But at
leisure seasons walked six miles to school. He spent one year in
Furman University and two in the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, then in Greenville, South Carolina, taking the full
English course.
Mr. Bussey's religious life dates to his early
childhood, which he attributes to the training of his godly parents.
Yet his public profession did not occur until the age of twenty one.
He was ordained to the ministry in 1869, in the Red Oak Grove
church, the family church, the presbytery consisting of Revs. S. P.
Getson, Luther Broadus, J. P. Mealing and D. D. Branson. He
immediately became pastor of this church, and has served it
continuously since, except six years, and is its present pastor.
During the first twenty nine years of Mr. Bussey's pastoral work he
served churches in the Edgefield Association as follows: Red Oak
Grove, 1869-98, 1905-1917; Callahan (now Parsville), 1870-98;
Rehoboth, 1873-85; Plum Branch, 1885-98; McCormick, 1896-98;
Republican, 1880; Red Hill, Stevens Creek, Berea, Modoc and Gilgal
at various times. In 1898 he was commissioned as chaplain of 1st
South Carolina Regiment, by Governor Elerby, and served during the
Spanish-American war at Columbia, South Carolina, Chickamauga,
Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. On returning
from this
service he located at Pelzer, South Carolina, and served the First
Baptist church there as pastor from 1899 to 1905. Thence he went to
Fountain Inn for a pastorate of seven years, 1906-1912. While at
these two places he served the following churches at various times
as pastor: Barksdale, Ebenezer, Beulah, Grove Station and Clear
Springs. In 1913 he became pastor of Jordan Street church of
Greenwood. He moved there and is still serving that church in
connection with Grendel church, same town. During recent years he
has served Doves Creek and Falling Creek churches in Elbert county,
Georgia.
Though the enumeration of these names and dates
indicates a long and extensive career, it is wholly inadequate to
convey the force of the life they are intended to summarize. Mr.
Bussey is naturally endowed with a strong body which makes itself
felt in all of his work. He is deliberate in thinking and in
speaking, and is the embodiment of vigorous energy in his work.
Laziness with him is as intolerable as meanness. This attitude puts
him early on the ground where there is something to do. He visits a
great deal, and knows his people, not only by name and occupation,
but as well their disposition and daily life, soothing their sorrows
and sharing their joys to an extent not experienced by many pastors.
At the ripe age of seventy two he is yet vigorously prosecuting
his work, taking a keen interest in denominational affairs and the
general work of the kingdom.
The contrast between Mr. Bussey and
many preachers of his age who narrow down their interest to local
affairs is very easily accounted for when certain facts are known.
Besides being naturally endowed with a youthful and jovial spirit,
he has during his entire ministry kept in close touch with the
progress of the kingdom, both by broad reading of religious
literature and regular attendance upon such general meetings as
State Conventions, the Southern Baptist Convention and International
Sunday School Conventions.
The inspiration and information thus
obtained has been reinforced by the personal touch of denominational
leaders. During a long period of his ministry in Edgefield county he
was the only resident Baptist pastor in a territory of twenty miles
square or more.
His home at Parksville naturally became the
Mecca of representative men. As the date of the associational
meeting approached each year the presidents of our Baptist colleges,
the editor of the Courier, the State Mission Secretary, and others
representing denominational interests, assembled at his home to be
conveyed to and from the place of meeting. In this benevolent work
he was always very materially aided by his friend and neighbor in
the person of the lamented L. F. Dora.
The preaching qualities
of Mr. Bussey are the resultants of a happy blending of the
conservatism of the old school and the progressiveness of the new.
While broad enough to adopt new ideas, he is conservative enough to
do so with due caution. He is a calm but vigorous speaker, always
practical, seeming to love truth both for its own sake and for the
good it can do humanity. His chief test of logic is experience
rather than theory. A man of skeptical tendencies was heard to say.
after hearing Mr. Bussey preach one day, "Though his logic may be
answerable his preaching is irresistible."
The confidence
begotten in his people by his consistent life, together with his
fair mindedness has often caused them to call upon him to become the
sole arbiter of their differences. Although some cases arbitrated by
him were of a serious nature his decisions were abided by as final.
In enumerating the factors which have made Mr. Bussey's life count
for what it has, it would be an injustice to truth to close without
mentioning the noble wives who have shared his joys and trials
alike. His first wife was a neighbor girl, Miss Hattie Morgan,
who died about a year after their marriage, leaving an infant
one day old, who is now Mrs. J. A. Waldrop, of Chicago, Illinois.
Later he married Miss Emma Whitmire, of near Greenville, South
Carolina, to which union were born eight children, five of whom are
living. Her companionship and fidelity have been his greatest
earthly asset during his strenuous struggles in rearing and
educating their children.
Disastrous fires have burdened him
financially, and the cares of his life have been many, yet he
rejoices in preaching the gospel of the same God whose grace has
sustained him all the way. The heroism of Mr. Bussey's character is
indicated by the following reminiscence: At the time his father,
Joseph Bussey, was called out with the reserves to guard the coast,
the subject of this sketch, G. W. Bussey, was only sixteen years old
and small to his age. As his mother was low with a disease known to
be fatal he proposed to go in his father's place. "Son, you are too
little. They won't take you," was the first response. "But, papa,
mother is on her death bed and you can be of more comfort to her
than I can. They may accept me when I tell them how it is." His
father yielded and he was soon ready to start. Having bidden the
family good-bye, except his mother, whom he thought he could not
bear to tell good-bye, he passed out of the back door and started
around the kitchen. When about half way across the yard he was
hailed from a window by a relative. "George, aren't
you going to
tell your mother good-bye?" He turned to come back as he
resolved that he would see his mother again. His hand reached
forward as he entered the room to clasp the outstretched bony hand
of his mother. Realizing the solemnity of the occasion she, after
the farewell greeting, calmly said: "Son, be good, be brave; I know
I shall not see you again
on earth. Strive to meet me in
heaven." He has not seen her since, but that parting admonition
helped to make him a brave soldier during the war and has not lost
its force in his life during the half century of useful service
since.
Men of Mark in South Carolina By James Calvin Hemphill
Published 1907 – transcribed and contributed by Barb
Ziegenmeyer
