Pemberton, Enos

West Milton Record

With the passing of this aged gentleman West Milton as his home, Union township as his birthplace, and Miami county and the state of Ohio loses one of the most widely known pastors of recent years, a clergyman who has been in harness since his ordination in 1871and lived as he has preached. Probably no man in our acquaintance has been so close to the mass of his hearers as the deceased, no clergyman has been so noted for the sweet simplicity of his words and the gospel taught, living up to it to his utmost, as the deceased. The thousands of living and ded with whom at times through his life he has been in contact will all unite in pronouncing Mr. Pemberton as a good man, a man in whom all the best virtues and the smallest of frailties of the human were to be found. His life was at all times an open book, his deeds and inspiration to those about him.

Enos Pemberton, the son of Isaac and Mary Pemberton, first saw the light of day in Union township, one mile west of Ludlow Falls, on April 22, 1837. He was the eldest of a family of ten children. When he was but five years old his parents moved to Cass County, Indiana, settling tem miles from Kokomo. The country at that time was a wilderness and in that place they remained until the lad was about grown. He attended school in a small log cabin, built for church purposes. Later the family moved to Tippecanoe County, near Lafayette, the boy attending school at Park county, a school under the care of the Friends under the direction of Barnabas C. Hobb. Earning his tuition fee, board money and other expenses by working at odd jobs for 10 cents and hour and splitting rails at $1.00 per thousand, the lad worked his way through school.

In 1860 he was taken with the western fever and journeyed as far west as the Rocky Mountains, over trails of the wildest and passing through territory practically unknown, meeting with the then common danger so wild beast, venomous reptiles and hostile Indians. Denver at the time of his arrival was but a village. He was at Nebraska City when the fall of Fort Sumter took place in 1861and he immediately started the homeward journey. Running the gauntlet through Missouri, he arrived home and enlisted for three years in Company B, 71^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on November 1, 1861. At the expiration of his enlistment he re-enlisted for the duration of the war and served until mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, November 30, 1865. He received his honorable discharge as a First Lieutenant; the commission having been signed by Lieut.

Governor Anderson of Ohio. For a time he served as a commissary sergeant, and was present and took part in numerous important engagements, among which may be mentioned the battle of Shiloh, Nashville and the siege of Fort Donelson.

Mr. Pemberton was married in January, 1866 to Miss Mary M. Hoover, by whom he had three children, of whom and the mother are dead. On July 23, 1873, he married Mrs. Thursey Yount, to which union three children were born, one of whom died in infancy, the other two being his son, Albert and daughter Rosa – Mrs. B.H. Lair, both of West Milton. Edward W. Yount of Urbana is a step-child of the deceased.

On December 14, 1871, Mr. Pemberton was recorded a minister in the West Branch Monthly Meeting of Friends. His leadership in this chosen occupation was soon recognized and he early became among the best and most widely known of the clergymen of the time. During his ministry he has officiated at about 2,000 funerals, 1,000 weddings and numerous other activities in which a minister is called upon to take part. He continued in his calling until unable to do more and had his wish of “dying in harness.”

Rev. Pemberton was a member of Dan W. Williams Post, G.A.R., and until the last meeting of the association was president of the 71^st Ohio Regimental Association. He has the particular care of the program and arrangements to the last meeting of the association here in September last.

The funeral of the deceased will take place tomorrow afternoon from the Friends church, Rev. Chas. Dudley of Louisville, Ind., a former pastor of the local church, in charge. He will be assisted by Revs. James Swanders and O.P. Furnas. Interment will be in the local cemetery in the family plot, beside the remains of this last wife who died about eight years ago.

Surviving the deceased, in addition to the children, are the grandchildren, Myron Lair of Columbus, Mrs. Frank Schmidt and Charles Pemberton of West Milton.