William Goodridge VENABLE

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  General Notes:

WILLIAM GOODRIDGE VENABLE [William] of "Ditchfield," Victoria, Co., Texas, b. at "Haymarket," Prince Edward Co., Va., May 2, 1819; d. Feb. 29, 1908, at Falling Springs, Va., at the home of his youngest son, Rev. A. Sidney Venable; mar. (I) 1841, his cousin, Mildred Carrington (d. Apr. 14, 1843), dau. of William Allen Carrington, and Sarah Embry Scott of "Mildendo," Halifax Co., Va. He mar. (II), Dec. 10, 1845, his cousin, Sallie Tucker Venable (d. 1907), dau. of Dr. Paul Carrington Venable of "Wheatland," Mecklenburg Co., Va., and Emily (Carrington) Venable, his second wife. He was educated at Hampden-Sidney College, 1835, and the Univ. of Va. The following account of him is from The Central Presbyterian:

In 1850, he moved to Texas with his young wife and two children, and settled in Victoria county, seven miles from the town of Victoria. Here with a large force of negro slaves he engaged in farming, and here he reared his family, and spent the greater part of his active life.

Coming of old Huguenot stock, he, early in life, united with the Presbyterian church. Transferring his membership to the little church in the town of Victoria, he was soon elected a ruling elder, and though living at a distance of seven miles, he and his whole family were regular attendants on the services of this church for thirty-seven years. His feeling of responsibility for the spiritual welfare of his household extended to his slaves, for whom he provided religious instruction. The influence of this refined Christian family, on this wild country can hardly be over-estimated. Texas in those early times was sparsely settled, society was rude, and lawlessness was common. Oftentimes the gravest crimes went unpunished. It was through the influence of the few godly people then living in the country, and the large numbers that have come in since, that Texas is today a moral, law-abiding and God-fearing State; and no family has perhaps contributed more to bring about this result than the Venables.

During the Civil War, Mr. Venable several times offered his services to his beloved Southland as a soldier, but the authorities invariably refused them; Gen. J. B. Magruder, on one of these occasions paying him the following tribute: "Go home, Mr. Venable, and do what you can to furnish the sinews of war. I know where your heart is, you are too valuable a man to be shot down in the ranks." And well he filled his trust, for he gave to the Confederacy all he made on his large plantation, outside of a bare subsistence, throughout the entire war, and never did a soldier, nor a soldier's wife, leave his door empty-handed.

In 1887, he moved to Sherman, Texas, where, having transferred his membership to the First Presbyterian church, he was soon elected an elder. In 1901, his wife and Miss Sally, his only single daughter, having died, he went to live with his son, Rev. A. Sidney Venable, at Bay View, Va., and in 1907 moved with him to Falling Springs, Va.

Although for several years before his death he became so feeble as to need assistance in getting about; yet his mind remained remarkably clear, living over again in memory his long active life, and returning a keen interest in current events. He sat in his invalid's chair, spending his time, chiefly, in reading God's Word, which for years he had made a practice of reading through at least once and sometimes twice a year, and in praying God's blessing on his children and the Church.

He always loved Texas, and when his son accepted a call to the College Park church, Sherman, Tex., he was delighted with the thought of getting back to his old State and his old friends; but before his son could leave for his new home, the old saint was called to a far better home, "a home eternal in the heavens."

Mr. Venable was a typical Southern gentleman of the Old School: generous, hospitable, courteous. He was a staunch Presbyterian, stern in his opposition to all he considered wrong, and warm in his approval and support of all he esteemed right. It can truthfully be said of him that he "brought up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"; and as a consequence lived to see all his children and grandchildren safely housed in the Church of his choice. He was unobtrusive in his religious life, yet such was the purity of his life and character, that it was wonderfully potent in bringing men to Christ, for he was truly "a living epistle known and read of men," as numbers today will joyfully testify.

Out of a family of ten children, only four survive: Mrs. M. V. Lyte, of Bay View, Va.; P. C. Venable, of Sabinal, Tex.; W. G. Venable, Jr., of Sherman, Texas, and Rev. A. Sidney Venable, of Falling Springs, Va. Of the three sons, two are ruling elders in the Presbyterian church, and one a Presbyterian minister.

The funeral service at the grave was closed with a prayer of thanksgiving for the life of this old Servant of God, and truly it should be an incentive to all to give utterance from the depths of their hearts, to the prayer of the old prophet-"Let me die the death of the "righteous, and let my last end be like his." As David said of Abner the son of Ner, "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man. fallen this day in Israel."