Rev. W. T. Robbins
By Henry Harvey Fuson, 1924Rev. W. T. Robbins was born in Bell County, Kentucky, October 29, 1876. His grandfather, Alexander Robbins, a Baptist preacher, came from North Carolina, bringing with him Wilburn's father, Wiley Robbins, about 70 years ago. He settled in Jackson County, Kentucky, and devoted himself to preaching and teaching in the public schools. Many of the churches in Jackson, Clay and Laurel counties were built up by this grandfather. He died just before Brother W. T. Robbins was born. His father came to Bell County soon after the death of this grandfather and located here.
He attended the public schools at home and in Pineville, and taught school before he was hardly grown. After beginning the teaching profession he attended the preparatory department of Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, where he left before finishing the department; attended the Knoxville Business College, Knoxviiie, Tennessee, after which he spent a few years as stenographer and bookkeeper; then re-entered Lincoln Memorial University where he spent two winters preparing for the ministry; and spent one winter at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky.
He taught twenty years in the schools of Bell County and elsewhere and now holds a life certificate for the state of Kentucky. He was once Secretary of the Bell County Board of Education and was a member of the Board of Examiners for four years. He is now a member of the County Board of Education.
He united with the Baptist church August, 1894; was licensed to preach October, 1897; and ordained February 12, 1898, in the Ferndale church.
He did not begin the active work of the ministry until 1909. From that time to the present he has been continuously at the work. He was called to his first pastorate in 1910, and since that time has had the care of eighteen churches. Most of the time he has been pastor of four churches and sometimes has had charge of as many as six. After he had taught school all day he would often walk eight or ten miles to keep his appointment with his church. The State Board heard of the good work he was doing in the destitute parts of the association, and thru the influence of Dr. J. M. Roddy and Rev. W. C. Sale, he was appointed Missionary to do evangelistic work in the association.
He has attended many sessions of the General Association of Baptists of Kentucky and the Southern Baptist Convention, held at Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D. C.; Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has had charge of the following churches as pastor: Williams Branch, Fork Ridge, Dorothy, Pruden's Chapel, Clear Fork, Ferndale, New Liberty, Harmony, Bethlehem, East Jellico, Varilla, Flat Shoals, Beech Grove, Mount Hope, Old Yellow Creek, Wasioto, Kettle Island, and Riverside.
He has aided in the organization of the following churches: Campbell's Chapel, Fork Ridge, East Jellico, Mount Ralston, Tinley Chapel, Varilla, Flat Shoals, Antioch, Moss Chapel, Davisburg, Cary, Straight Creek, Highland Rim, Kettle Island, Crane Creek and Bell Jellico.
I was agreeably astonished when I read over the report in the minutes of the work Brother Robbins has done in the past eight years. It reads like a romance, and yet, knowing the man, i.t is so genuinely like him that I can no longer wonder. He has accomplished . . . it by keeping everlastingly at it, just as he did when he went to school. He walked from his home near Roost (now Ferndale) to Pineville to school and I have seen him stand before the stove to warm and cry because his hands were so numb that they hurt before the fire. I would that our mountain boys could catch something of his spirit and rise to their great opportunities! 2921 days of labor! 3104 sermons! 5052 religious visits! 20 churches organized! 98 Sunday schools founded! 946 conversions; 765 baptisms! 429 received by letter! 1194 total increase in membership! 515 Bibles and Testaments sold! 11320 tracts distributed! 35489 miles traveled (mostly on foot)! ! ! in eight years! This would be a great work for a lifetime!
In speaking of myself in connection with the associational work, from a standpoint of modesty, I must be very brief. I think the only advantage I have over Brother Robbins is the fact that I attended one or two meetings of the association before he did - the separation meeting in the North Concord Association and the first meeting of the Bell County Association. I served six years as clerk, but he has served eighteen.
========================== [From History of the Bell County Association of Baptists, 1922, pp. 18-20. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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