Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/413

 \1R(^INIA BIOCRAPIIY

311

l'"(ir thirt\- \ ears he was pruiniiR-nt in pcjlit- ical and civic affairs of 1 '.altimore. as mem- ber of the city council, and at the time of his death was sn])erintendent of the water sta- tion o]>erated 1)\- the Baltimore M: Ohio Rail- road Company. lie married Sarah l>eale. who snr\i\es him, residing' with her dauijh- ter, Mrs. Dr. llord. Dr. and .Mrs. llord liaA-e a daui^hter. Sarah l^lizaheth, horn in Richmond, jinie S, iof).

John Mason Filcher, D. D. The forty- five years that John Mason I'ilcher, D. U., has passed in the ministry of the Baptist church have been a period in which de- voted and unremitting lal)or have had a bountiful reward. Dr. Pilcher is at this time pastor of the Chester Church of Ches- tertield county, but despite his intimate con- nection with that locality in the present day, V^irginia would not surrender her claim upon him to any one city, for in the course of his long and active ministry his association has been largely with organizations and insti- tutions of state-wide scope and effect. The pedagogical profession and the business world were scenes of his endeavor prior to his beginning of an ecclesiastical career, but so complete has been his identification and his alliance with religious work in Virginia that nothing else enters into a recital of his life work. The several pastorates that he has held compose an honorable and useful record, and when the needs of organized re- ligious work called him to responsible posi- tion he acquitted himself in a manner no less creditable. For twenty-eight years Dr. Pilcher was corresponding secretary of the Sundav School and P)il)le P>oard (Colpor- teur's work) of the l>a])tist (General Associa- tion of A'irginia.

The descent of the family of which he is a member is probably Welsh, while mater- nally he is of English blood, lie is a great- grandson of Richard Pilcher, and grandsc^n of Frederick Pilcher, who was born in Staf- ford. Stafford county, \irginia. Frederick Pilcher was a barrel manufacturer of Fred- ericksburg, Virginia, until his death in 1832, aged sixty-three years. He married Mar- garet Alsop. Issue: John Alsop, mentioned below ; George Mason ; Hiram ; Lucinda H. ; William Stanton, one time mayor of I_^ouis- ville, Kentucky ; Eliza Ann.

John Alsop Pilcher, son of Frederick and Margaret (Alsop) Pilcher, was born in Staf-

ford count}-, X'irginia. November 2, 1796, and died in Richmond, Virginia, January 28, 1852. Ili^ calling was that of his father, barrel manufacturing, and he w^as the pro- prietor of a flourishing business located in Richmond, lie married Elizabeth Ann Par- sons, who died in 1870, daughter of Samuel Pleasants and I-llizabeth (Laddj Parsons. Samuel Pleasants Parsons was born in Charles City ccninty, Virginia, and was a civil engineer, at the time of his death hold- ing the office of superintendent of the Vir- ginia I'enitentiary. With Moncure I). R(jb- inson he built one of the earliest railroads in the United States, a road w^ith wooden tracks, horse-drawn cars carrying coal from the mines. Elizabeth Ann Parsons was the only daughter of Sanniel Pleasant^ Parsons and his wife, Elizabeth Eadd. C hildren of John Alsop Pilcher: Samuel 1\, Margaret E., Anthea, Rebecca J., William S., Mary Bell, two who died in infancy, and Rev. John Mason, the last the only sur\ivor of the nine children.

Rev. John Mason Pilcher was born in Richmond, Virginia, July i^), 1841. His vouthful education was obtained in the Eng- lish and classical school maintained by E. S. S(|uire, and after preparatory study he enter- ed Richmond College, this institution award- him the degree }\Iaster of .\rts in April. 1861. For one year after his graduation he taught school in King William county, Virginia, and then entered the military service of the Confederate States, serving in Company D. Second Regiment. Eocal Defence Troops, from May, 1863. to April, 1865, becoming sergeant-major. From 1865 to 1870 he dealt in coal and wood in Richmond. Mrginia, and on February ly. of the latter year, was or- dained into the ministry of the Baptist church.

His first ministerial work was the organi- zation of the Grove Avenue Church, and the following year he accepted a charge in Cov- ington, \'irginia. In Covington he led his congregation in the erection of a house of worship and for nine years was pastor at that place, at the end of that time becoming corresponding secretary of the Sunday- school and Bible board of the r.a])tist Gen- eral Association of Virginia. He held this office for" twenty-eight years, devoting him- self to its activities with constancy and fidel- ity, and was also president of the state con- ference of charities and correction.