Rev. A. W. Lansden, of Marshall county, Missouri, died on the 8th inst. at 11 o'clock, P.M.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, September 15, 1875]

IT becomes a kind of sad yet pleasing duty of mine, by request of his family, to pen these lines in memory of Rev. Abner Wayne Lansden, who departed this life at his home in Saline county, Missouri, September 8th, 1875, wanting but twenty-two days of being eighty-one years of age.

Father Lansden was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, October 1st, 1794; removed with his father's family to Wilson county, Tennessee, in 1807; professed religion in 1820; joined Presbytery with George Donnell and Samuel Aston, April 5th, 1821, at old Moriah church, where the family worshiped. He was licensed in the fall of 1822; ordained in the spring of 1825. Married Mary M. Gallaher, sister of Revs. James, Allen, and William Gallaher, of the Presbyterian Church, in 1828. Resided in Blount county, Tennessee, till near 1835, when he removed to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he lived thirty-four years. He lived twenty-nine years in one neighborhood, organized and built up the Smyrna congregation. Removed to Saline county, Missouri, in 1869, where his two daughters had gone, and where he breathed his last.

In 1843 his wife died, leaving him with five children, the youngest five and the oldest thirteen years of age. He was married again in 1855 to Miss Sarah L. Lowrance, who survives him. He preached to Smyrna congregation a part or the whole of his time for twenty-nine years, and after removing to Missouri labored for the most part in the Mt. Olivet congregation in New Lebanon Presbytery.

On the last Sabbath in August he preached his last sermon from the text, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life." Mark x. 17. His sermon was delivered with unusual earnestness. He has been a faithful messenger of Christ to dying men for fifty-three years. What a testimony to leave behind! He lived to see all his children members of the Church and, we trust, heirs of eternal life.

Father Lansden was one of the first ministers the writer remembers to have heard preach. My father's house was a preaching place for the "circuit riders" in East Tennessee for many years. Lansden or George Donnell, I cannot now tell which, came round first, and the other soon followed. Father Lansden was one of the most efficient instruments in God's hands of establishing the Cumberland Presbyterian Church through all East Tennessee. Many and many a time have I seen him exhort, sing, pray, and labor at camp-meetings till nearly if not quite the break of day. He was a man of whom any Church may well feel proud, for in his long ministerial life of over fifty-three years, he has never had the slightest stain upon his moral character. He ever adorned his calling and brought honor to his Church. In later years I have heard him say the first couple he ever married was at my father's house, at the close of preaching at one of his monthly appointments. The couple were cousins of mine; and although they were not members of church, they named their first-born for him who married them. He left that country when I was but a boy, and when we met after long years of separation my heart was too full for utterance.

In all my acquaintance in the Church, I never have known a better man. He was a good preacher. His strong points were the doctrines of the gospel, on which he dwelt with great clearness, pathos, and power. His appeals to the unconverted were often almost irresistible. His tender pleadings with them, while tears would course down his cheeks, were enough to melt, and often under God did melt, hearts of stone. He spent no time in frivolous talking and jesting after service would be over. As a father, husband, neighbor, and citizen, he met his responsibilities so that he commanded universal love and esteem. Hundreds, it may be thousands, will rise up and call him blessed as the instrument of their salvation. Unostentatious, gentle as the dove, yet he was as firm to his principles as the everlasting hills. He never neglected family religion, was a close observer of the Sabbath, was a total abstainer from all intoxicants. He was faithful to all his Church vows. Always present at Presbytery and Synod, unless Providentially detained--and that, with him, meant death or serious sickness. He is gone to his rest. He died in great peace. Shortly before he breathed his last, his two daughter by his bed, he raised his hand and said, pointing upward, "It is all light and no darkness at all." And thus his sun, instead of setting in eternal night, has arisen "no more to go down." He has gone to be with Jesus "which is far better." May the same blessed light shine all along the pathway of his bereaved wife and children until they, too, shall have crossed over and rejoined the husband and father, reconstituting the family unbroken on "the other happy shore." May our denomination, and especially the Presbyteries and congregations with which he mingled and which he so long and faithfully served, imitate his noble virtues and be ready to rejoin him and his now sainted compeers, Aston, Donnell, and others, when the Master shall say, It is enough, come up higher.
TAYLORVILLE, ILL., Oct. 6,

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, November 4, 1875, page 1]

Rev. A. W. Lansden - New Lebanon Presbytery

[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1876, pages 27 and 111]

Mr. Lansden was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, October 1st, 1794; removed with his father's family to Wilson county, Tennessee, in 1807; professed religion in 1820; joined Presbytery with George Donnell and Samuel Aston April 5th, 1821, at old Moriah church, where the family worshiped. He was licensed in the Fall of 1822; ordained in the Spring of 1825. He married Mary M. Gallaher, sister of Revs. James, Allen, and William Gallaher, of the Presbyterian Church, in 1818. He resided in Blount county, Tennessee, till near 1835, when he removed to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he lived thirty-four years. He lived twenty-nine years in one neighborhood, organized and built up the Smyrna congregation. He removed to Saline county, Missouri, in 1869, where his two daughters had gone, and where he breathed his last.

In 1843 his wife died, leaving him with five children, the youngest five and the oldest thirteen years of age. He was married again in 1855 to Miss Sarah L. Lowrance, who survives him. He preached to Smyrna congregation a part, or the whole of his time for twenty-nine years, and after removing to Missouri labored for the most part in the Mount Olivet congregation in New Lebanon Presbytery.

On the last Sabbath in August he preached his last sermon from the text, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"--Mark x. 17. His sermon was delivered with unusual earnestness. He was a faithful messenger of Christ to dying men for fifty-three years. what a testimony to heave behind! He lived to see all his children members of the Church, and, we trust, heirs of eternal life.

Mr. Lansden was one of the first ministers the writer remembers to have heard preach. My father's house was a preaching place for the "circuit riders" in East Tennessee for many years. Lansden or George Donnell, I cannot now tell which, came round first, and the other soon followed. He was one of the most efficient instruments in God's hands of establishing the Cumberland Presbyterian Church through all East Tennessee. Many and many a time have I seen him exhort, sing, pray, and labor at camp-meetings till nearly if not quite the break of day. He was a man of whom any Church may well feel proud, for, in his long ministerial life of over fifty-three years, he never had the slightest stain upon his moral character. He ever adorned his calling and brought honor to his Church. In later years I have heard him say the first couple he married was at my father's house, at the close of preaching at one of his monthly appointments. The couple were cousins of mine; and although they were not members of the Church, they named their first-born for him who married them. He left that country when I was but a boy, and when we met, after long years of separation, my heart was too full for utterance.

In all my acquaintance in the Church I never have known a better man. He was a good preacher. His strong points were the doctrines of the gospel, on which he dwelt with great clearness, pathos, and power. His appeals to the unconverted were often almost irresistible. His tender pleadings with them, while tears coursed down his cheeks, were enough to melt, and often under God did melt, hearts of stone. He spent no time in frivolous talking and jesting after service was over. As a father, husband, neighbor, and citizen, he met his responsibilities so that he commanded universal love and esteem. Hundreds, it may be thousands, will rise up and call him blessed as the instrument of their salvation. Unostentatious, gentle as the dove, he was as firm to his principles as the everlasting hills. He never neglected family religion, was a close observer of the Sabbath, was a total abstainer from all intoxicants. He was faithful to all his Church vows. He was always present at Presbytery and Synod, unless Providentially detained--and that, with him, meant death or serious sickness. He died in great peace at his home in Saline county, Missouri, Sept. 8th, 1875, lacking but twenty-two days of being eighty-two years of age. Shortly before he breathed his last, his two daughters being by his bed, he raised his hand and, pointing upward, said, "It is all light, and no darkness at all." And thus his sun, instead of setting in eternal night, has arisen "no more to go down."

We take pleasure in appending the following letter, written by Rev. Jesse S. Grider to the Cumberland Presbyterian shortly after the death of Mr. Lansden. Mr. Grider was then a resident of Illinois, and was traveling in the interests of Lincoln University.

"I was with Bro. Wiley Knowles at his appointment near Auburn, Illinois, on the Sabbath immediately succeeding the announcement in the Cumberland Presbyterian of the death of the venerable Abner Lansden. The members of that congregation (Smyrna) had not heard of that sad event, and at the close of the sermon Bro. Knowles arose and said, 'I have a sad announcement to make. Your old pastor, and one long beloved, Father Lansden, is no more.' Immediately the whole congregation broke into tears. The people literally 'lifted up their voices and wept.' An old sister exclaimed, 'My spiritual father has gone to heaven.' An old brother (Jannett) arose from his seat and said, with tears, 'He is not only my spiritual father, but of my whole family. He led us all to Jesus.' I do not remember to have ever witnessed such a scene as this. It has been often said that a monument erected in the affections of a people is more enduring than brass. Father Lansden has certainly one of these heart-monuments erected to his memory.

"I do not think the poet spoke truly when he said, 'The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.' Let us prefer the sentiment, 'He, being dead, yet speaketh.'

"Now, Mr. Editor, would you not prefer such a monument as the one erected in the hearts of these people to that of the costliest marble, or the most imperishable brass? This modest, unpretending minister of Christ has left a record behind, in which the most gifted and honored might rejoice.

As said elsewhere, Mr. Lansden was one of the first, if not the first, preacher I can remember to have heard. After years of separation we met in the Fall of 1853 or 1854 at Mount Zion camp-ground, in Macon county. That was a memorable occasion; for not only was Mr. Lansden present, but his old East Tennessee comrade, Rev. Samuel Aston, who had just come West, and these two met at this meeting for the first time in many years. Mr. Aston took charge of this church, and in a year or two thereafter died, and was buried in the graveyard close by the church.

Mr. Lansden was for several years pastor of old Sugar Creek church, in Sangamon county. During his pastorate there the writer assisted him in a meeting of much interest. His labors extended over a large territory of the State. For a short time, also, he was pastor of Bethany church, in Moultrie county, and may have supplied other churches. But his great work was at old Smyrna. There he lived and labored for a great many years, and left universally beloved.

Mr. Lansden belonged to a generation past. He was remarkable for his simplicity, modesty, and retiring manner, chaste language and dignified demeanor in the pulpit. He never, on any occasion, indulged in light and frivolous conversation in private circles. You could not be with him long without feeling that his conversation was in heaven; that he lived in a holy and pure atmosphere, and that, while he did not seem conscious of it, he occupied a much higher moral plane than the great mass of professed Christians. The one trait of character more prominent than all others was his great humility. He never aspired to be great in the world's estimation. He only wished to be useful. He was willing to take the lowest seat and occupy the humblest place, if only the Master's cause was served. He was rather under the average stature, lean and thin, and possessed of a clear, silvery voice which, once heard for half an hour, could never be forgotten by an attentive listener. Like the most of the fathers of Cumberland Presbyterianism, he had a mind well stored with Bible knowledge, and was well qualified to expound and defend the doctrines of our Church against the extremes of Arminianism and Calvinism. Few men in any Church have lived longer or to a better purpose than did he. One son resides in Cairo, Illinois, another in Kansas; two married daughters and the widow have their homes in Missouri.

[Source: Logan, J. B. History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Illinois, Containing Sketches of the First Ministers, Churches, Presbyteries and Synods; also a History of Missions, Publication and Education. Alton, Ill.: Perrin & Smith, 1878, pages 157-161]

Ministerial Record of Rev. Abner Wayne Lansden

1854
Sangamon Presbytery
Lick Creek, Illinois

1856
Sangamon Presbytery
Lick Creek, Illinois

1857
Sangamon Presbytery
Lick Creek, Illinois

1860
Sangamon Presbytery
Laomi, Illinois

1861
Sangamon Presbytery
Laomi, Illinois

1865
Sangamon Presbytery
Laomi, Illinois

1868
Sangamon Presbytery
Laomi, Illinois

1869
Sangamon Presbytery
Laomi, Illinois

1870
New Lebanon Presbytery - Missouri Synod
Marshall, Missouri

1872
New Lebanon Presbytery - Missouri Synod
Marshall, Missouri

1873
New Lebanon Presbytery - Missouri Synod
Marshall, Missouri

1874
New Lebanon Presbytery - Missouri Synod
Marshall, Missouri

1875
New Lebanon Presbytery - Missouri Synod
Marshall, Missouri