Chapter Thirty Eight

July 20, 1939

Prof. J. W. (Will) Griffin was from Rutherford county. He was a fine Christian young man and became one of the leading school teachers of Rutherford county. He was one time editor of a Forest City newspaper and was awarded a feature syndicate loving cup and a free trip to Atlanta, Ga., for being the outstanding editor in the state. He married Miss Mary Byers, of Ellenboro. Prof. Griffin died in 1927.

I recall a revival which was held at Kadesh church, which was one of the most remarkable revivals I have ever heard of. One night during the revival some young man was converted and the young people began to shout and they kept it up for two hours. There were seven conversions during this two hours. There were about fifty young people who took part in this shouting. They would almost run over each other at times. The older folks just sat and looked on.

These Belwood people were among the best people I ever associated with. The year I resided in Belwood was among the best years of my life. I felt like all the people were my friends. They had a good school there and everybody seemed to work together and tried to get all out of it they could.

Mr. Bob Doggett was a student in the school and was a fine young man from Rutherford county and a brother of H. B. Doggett of Forest City. Mr. Doggett became a Methodist preacher and was a member of the Western North Carolina Methodist conference for sometime, but was later transferred to the South Carolina conference, where he died a few years ago.

George A. Webb made a lawyer and resided in Shelby, N. C. Rev. Ed Crowder, who resides in Rutherfordton, was a student in the Belwood school and was a fine young man. He was a member of the Western North Carolina Methodist conference for a number of years. He has been superannuated by the conference, and has resided in Rutherfordton some years. Mr. Crowder married a sister of Rev. Bob Doggett and a daughter of Mr. Lewis Doggett of Rutherford county. She died a few months ago.

Rev. D. P. Tate, who was headmaster of this Belwood school, is still living and resides in Columbia, S. C. Mr. Tate’s wife and Rev. Mr. Crowder’s wife were sisters.