INCIDENTS, CHARACTERS #2 - ELIZABETH RUSSO
Subject: INCIDENTS, CHARACTERS #2
From: ELIZABETH RUSSO
Date: October 25, 1998

[Note: I am including the following to give you some background.  Please
delete this message if you wish to not read it.]

INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF METHODISM

By

The Reverend John Elmore DuBois

Edited by Elizabeth A. DuBois
(c) 1998  DuBois Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

PREFACE (cont.)


        MRS. LOUISA DUBOIS

        We sincerely sympathize with our dear friend, the Rev. John
DuBois, now
of Eutaw, Ala., and all the family, in their sad bereavements.  When we
were stationed in Greensboro, Ala., they were among the most devoted
members of our charge.  Sister DuBois was a model Christian.  Her maiden
name was Williams.  She was born in Virginia, Jan. 5, 1799.  When a
child she was taken by her parents to South Carolina; and in 1819 to
Autauga co., Ala.  There, Jan. 6, 1825, she was married to the Rev. John
DuBois, and proved to him indeed a help-meet--her children, too, found
her a devoted mother.  She was kind to all, and was warm in her
attachment to her friends, especially to the Church, or which she was a
member for some fifty-three years.  Her afflicted husband writes us,
Eutaw, Ala., March 20: "The long-standing acquaintance and friendship
existing between us inclines me to write first to you, to acquaint you
with the departure of my dear, precious wife, Louisa DuBois, which took
place on Monday evening, March 19, 1877, at half past eight o'clock,
after five days of pneumonia.  God, in his gracious providence, did not
allow her to be troubled with a shadow of a doubt, to disturb her mind. 
When in great pain, I would quote passages of Scripture and portions of
hymns, she would finish out and enter into the spirit of the sentiment. 
Several times she exclaimed, as she was wont to do in the great
congregation, when the Lord would pour out his Spirit upon the people:
'Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy
name.'  A short while before her death her pains subsided, and she
breathed her last as peacefully as a babe falling asleep upon its
mother's breast.  God, in his mercy to me, has taken her first, as she
was better prepared; and I trust it will be a means of grace to me. 
Dear brother pray for me, that I may be ready when the Master calls."

        Clearly, this was a man worth knowing, loving, and learning
From.  Thus
began my journey into Rev. John Elmore DuBois' past.

        I had already in my possession a series of facts that
genealogists tend
to record-his date and place of birth, his parentage, his siblings, his
date and place of death.  I also had a bit of family lore-that he had
made improvements upon the cotton gin and held patents for them.  From
his Bible, I had confirmation of the names and dates of birth of his
children.

        But who was this man?  Why did he leave South Carolina for
Alabama? 
Was he a minister assigned to the western territories who also became a
cotton planter and inventor to make ends meet?  Was he a young
adventurer who later in life heard "the call"?  Did he own slaves?  And
if he did, how did he square this with his faith?

        Truly blessed was the day of my good fortune when I received an
email
response to my inquiries for information.  Ms. Mary Ann Pickard,
archivist for the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist
Church, had written to inform me as follows:

        I just wanted to inform you that I have found a lot more in my
files on
the DuBois family including some copies of some articles by John
DuBois.  Also I found a data sheet on John DuBois with his children's
names etc....I looked in the correspondence files that Franklin Moseley
kept when he created the data sheets.  I have a folder just for
"DuBois."  In that folder was information that I had a photocopy of a
scrapbook (over 100 pages printed on one side) of articles collected by
John DuBois, including some of his own articles stored in the safe.  I
also found an descendant chart for John DuBois...

                                                
        What follows is a result of what Ms. Pickard mailed to me two
days
later.

        May the reader be as blessed as I have been.

                                -Elizabeth DuBois
                                  October, 1998

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