With a pardonable degree of pride and pleasure, we place upon the roll of honor and the page of history, the name of William Carter Cantrell. He was the son of Isaac and Ruth Cantrell, and was born in Orange County, N.C., March 17, 1836. His father died the following year. His mother moved with him to Fentress County, Tenn., in his early childhood. Then a little later came to Overton County, Tenn., where he spent the rest of his life.
Brother Cantrell became a Christian in 1854, and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Shiloh. He was married March 12, 1857 to Miss Polly Booker French, daughter of Martin and Juda French.
He was received as a candidate for the ministry by old Sparta Presbytery, in 1882; was licensed to preach in 1884; was ordained to the whole work of the ministry in 1886. He was not a great preacher, but a true, noble and good man, and his name is indeed worthy of a place among the heroes of the cross and the martyrs of faith. When the merger scheme came up he turned neither to the right-hand nor the left. He was not physically able to do much at this time, because of an incurable disease that was sapping his life away, yet with his voice and his failing strength he did is best to hold up the church he loved and served all these years.
His death occurred November 11, 1911. Funeral was conducted by Rev. W. H. Peek, and his body laid to rest in the old Shiloh Cemetery, to await the coming of the Lord. "And if I go away, I will come again and received you unto myself."
"Oh the bliss of life eternal!
Oh the long unbroken rest!
In the golden fields of pleasure,
In the region of the blest--
But to see our dear Redeemer,
And before his throne to fall;
There to hear his gracious welcome,
Will be sweeter far than all."
The writer of this sketch owes Brother Cantrell a debt of gratitude for his fatherly counsel and earnest, Christ-like exhortations. One instance he especially treasures, was at the time he was licensed to preach and a number of the brethren were offering various words of encouragement, and admonition, Brother Cantrell said: "Brother McDonald, live on your knees--be humble." Through twenty-four years of chequered life and vivid experience, these words have never grown dim, nor shorn of their power; and they shall yet have a prominent place in memory's hall, while the life currents urges through this human heart. "He being dead yet speaketh." "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works."
[Source: Our Senior Soldiers: The Biographies and Autobiographies of Eighty Cumberland Presbyterian Preachers. Compiled by The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication. The Assistance of Revs. J. L. Price and W. P. Kloster is Greatfully Acknowledged. Nashville, Tenn.: The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1915, pages 113-115]