Pike Co. GAGenWeb - Rev. John Wesley Brannon Obituary

Rev. John Wesley Brannon Obituary

Died at the home of his son, T .C. Brannon, In west Pike Co. near Lifsey Springs, Ga., Sept. 9th, 1901 and was buried at Beulah Baptist Church near Lifsey Sept. 10.

The pall hearers were all preachers except one. These were Revs. Jones Bush, Gideon Horn, H.H. Graham, J.T. Robinson and J.D. Carreker and Bro. T.W. Story. The attendance was large and there are people in many communities who have sincerely mourned in a sense of personal bereavement at the announcement of the aged minister's death. The 22nd of next Feb. he would have been 90 years old. For more than 40 years he had been a Congregational Methodist preacher and had helped many by his prayers and songs and talks both in the church house and at their homes.

Till he was 85 his voice rarely failed him and was extraordinary for its soft and musical quality. One of his favorite songs had in the chorus - "Say Brethren will you meet me?1?. Everyone who knew much of him knows that the song he sang most was - "The way worn traveler." To see the white-haired veteran of the cross nearing 90 singing this with shining face never failed to send a thrill through any congregation. When he reached the closing stanzas so full of triumph for the way worn, he would be nearly transfigured and how his voice would swell and bound with the sentiment was a wonder. This veteran appreciated the value of alter service and many a poor penitent has been comforted by his instructions and prayers as light and power came. At the funeral Rev. Gideon Horn remarked with much feeling Uncle Brannon was the first man to lay hands on me when I realized that I was a sinner.

Uncle Brannon leaves an unusually large family, there being alive now at the present time, 132 of his Posterity - children, grand-children, greatgrand children. A few others had preceded him to the other land.

To the very last he testified that the Lord is good, a strong-hold in the day of trouble and knoweth them that trust him.

Copied by Mrs. T.V. Cook from a paper clipping of her grandfather Brannon. Submitted by Sam Stewart.