|
David Leith was born in
the City of Dundee on March 15, 1847. All seven children in
his family became orphans when both parents, Thomas Leith
and Isabella Kenney, died in 1848 or 1849. David and an
older sister, went to live their father's sister. Nothing
more is known of the whereabouts or fate of the remaining
five brothers and sisters, but it was not uncommon at that
time for children as young as thirteen to be put to work in
the mills and factories of Dundee. When he was of school
age, David's aunt sent him to the local Parish school which
he attended for five years. He subsequently attended
Fisher's school and then Madras College in St Andrews. At
some point during his stay in St. Andrews, his aunt cut off
his and his sister's funding which made it difficult for him
and for his sister. He was required to do extra chores to
help cover the cost of his room and board. He and his sister
brought suit against their aunt to restore funding.
After returning to
Dundee, aged around 18, he was then converted in the
Methodist Church in the late 1860's and shortly thereafter
began his ministry by holding services in the market place
in Dundee and preaching on street corners. He lived for a
short time in Glasgow and upon returning to Dundee he
married Elizabeth Buchan, a woman seven years his senior, on
3 June 1868. He was not yet twenty-one years of age. He
worked as a "Drummer" for a hardware manufacturer for a
period of time. In his quest to become a minister, David
spent a year "on trial" and after preaching trial sermons
and passing the necessary exams he was licensed as a
preacher in March 1869, by the Quarterly Conference of St.
John's Methodist Church of Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1872 David saw an
advertisement in the London Methodist Recorder indicating
that the Southern Methodist were looking for Ministers in
the western states and the territories in the United States
of America. He subsequently set sail for the United States
in October 1873 leaving his wife and 3 children in Scotland.
Upon arrival in the United States he was admitted on trial
in the Memphis Conference in November of that year. After
spending two and one half years in the United States, David
was unable to raise the cost of passage for his family and
was forced by circumstances to return to Scotland in April
1876.
Upon his arrival back in
Scotland, David Leith became the Minister of the
Congregational Chapel, Wick, Scotland on 17 June 1876 at a
salary of one hundred and sixty pounds where he remained for
five years. By 1881 he was living in Neilston, Renfrew. He
then returned to the United States this time with his
family. They departed Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday, 15
September 1881 on board the steamship Anchoria of the Anchor
Line bound for New York. In route the Anchoria was involved
in a collision with another vessel. Although delayed, the
Anchoria docked in New York on Wednesday, 28 September 1881.
The family proceeded from New York to Memphis, Tennessee
where David was readmitted into the Memphis Conference of
Methodist Churches. He was assigned to serve the First
Church in Jackson, Mississippi for a period of two years;
Hernando Street (Second Church) Memphis, two years and
Trenton Station four years. While assigned to Trenton
Station, David Leith applied for citizenship. Two years
after applying, on 11 October 1886, he became a naturalized
citizen of the United States of America by decree issued by
the Chancery Court, Madison County, Jackson, Tennessee.
David was transferred to the North Alabama Conference in
1889 and served as Pastor of St. John's Church, South
Birminham for two years; Attalla for a period of three
years; Courtland, one year; Guntersville, one year and
Florence, two years. In November 1898 he was transferred
back to the Memphis Conference and served Henderson Station,
one year; Brownsville Circuit, two years; Milan Station, one
year; Somerville Station, four years; Collierville station,
two years; Paris District, three years.
While David was serving
in the Paris District, on 16 January 1910 Elizabeth Buchan
Leith passed away. She was 70 years of age. Elizabeth was
buried at the Maplewood Cemetery, Paris, Tennessee. Sometime
between 1910 and 1912 David married Lillian Sarah Smith who
was born 10 February 1876. David was twenty-eight years
older than Lillian who would have been about 33 years old at
the time. Shortly after David's marriage to Lillian, she
gave birth in Memphis, Tennessee to a boy, William Wallace
Leith, 20 October 1912. Following his service in Paris,
David Leith served the Buntyn and Springdale church, two
years (1911-1913); Pepper Memorial, two years; Newbern
Station, two years and Dwyer Station, one year
(1917).
David closed out his
active ministry in 1917 and the Memphis Conference of
Methodist Churches granted him the Superannuated Relation.
David Leith died in his home on Graham Avenue in Memphis on
26 December 1919 at age 72. He is buried along side his
first wife, Elizabeth, in Maplewood Cemetery, Paris,
Tennessee. Lillian Smith Leith died on 24 March 1932 at her
home at 3309 Bowen Street in Memphis, Tennessee at the age
of 56. She is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery (March 25,
1932).
Note:
After David
Leith returned to Scotland in 1876, following a three year
stint with the Methodist Conference in Tennessee, he wrote
frequently and extensively for the Western Methodist
newspaper, a publication in the United States at that time.
His byline was "Letter from Scotland" and each article ended
with David Leith, Scotia. Wick, Scotland, followed by the
date. In these articles, he wrote of the politics of
theology, the failure of the Presbytery to censure the Rev.
David McCrae (march 19, 1877). Rev. David McCrae expressed
an opinion that the Confession of Faith was no longer useful
and should be laid on the shelf as a historical document.
Rev. Leith spoke with pleasure of the end of the yellow
fever epidemic that hit Memphis Tennessee; he wrote of the
Russian Czar's proclamation of war against Turkey; a visit
to Scotland by Mr. Philip Phillips, the American composer
and hymnologist. He wrote of the failings of the English
justice system; the declaration of war by Great Britain
against Afghanistan; the mine catastrophe at a coal-pit near
Glasgow in October, 1877 resulting in the loss of two
hundred and thirteen lives. In one such article, he comments
on the presence of Ex-President Grant on a visit to
Scotland. David relates his remonstrations with another
gentleman "as to the impropriety of receiving General Grant
as if he were the Emperor of the United States, instead of
being (as I believe he now is) merely a private citizen. The
reply was, "The Americans themselves, notwithstanding their
boast about 'all men being born free and equal,' make as big
a fuss over a Prince, or a Lord, a Grand Duke, or a Duke,
when such appears amongst them. From which (said this
gentleman) I draw this inference: they don't believe their
own doctrine"
He wrote of local option
laws as it applies to drink and encouraged Parliament to act
so as to put forward the issue of temperance . He wrote of
fearing war with Russia to be inevitable. He railed against
the Grand Orient of France (Free and Accepted Masons) and
their act to obliterate from its ritual all reference to the
being of God and the immortality of the soul. He felt that
by this action "the French ruthlessly lay hands on and
attempt to destroy fundamental principles of the
Brotherhood." When commenting on the Government (May 20,
1878) as it relates to the cost of war, he stated: "And this
is a Conservative Government! May Heaven send us light as to
what is being conserved." And he talks of the weather and
the cost of strawberries; at three shillings (seventy-five
cents) a box, each box containing fifteen to twenty berries.
He points out that they have been raised in hot houses
"which accounts for their high price."
|
