EV. ELI TININ ISELEY, son of Louis and Mary Iseley, was born in Alamance county, North Carolina, August 18, 1861, and died December 20, 1002, in Garfield county, Colorado. He was buried at Leaksville church in the Valley of Virginia. He made a profession of religion and connected himself with Bethlehem church in Alamance county, at the age of thirteen, of which he was a member when he died.

      Rev. E. T. Iseley was received into the Biblical class of the North Carolina and Virginia Conference in 1874. He had attended the schools of his neighborhood, and at this time was in school at Graham, North Carolina. He entered Trinity College, Randolph county, North Carolina, during the session of 1876-'76, where he continued some time. He taught school and attended school. He was licensed to preach by the North Carolina and Virginia Conference, at Hayes' chapel, Wake county, North Carolina, in 1885. At the Conference at New Elam in Chatham county, in 1887, the Educational committee reported: "Bro. E. T. Iseley has come before us as a candidate for ordination. He comes well up to the literary requirements, and is recommended for ordination." He was thereupon solemnly ordained to the gospel ministry. During the year he was pastor of Bethany, [389] Christian Light, and New Hill churches, and attended the Conference at Hanks' chapel, in 1889. At the Conference at Pleasant Grove in Halifax county, Virginia, in 1889, he served on the committee on religious literature, and had had charge of three churches. He was granted a letter of transfer from this Conference by the Executive committee to unite with the Virginia Valley Conference, and took pastoral charge of Antioch, Bethlehem, Linville, and Concord churches. In 1893, he was president of the Virginia Valley Sunday School Convention at Antioch in Rockingham county, Virginia. From the Virginia Valley Conference he was a ministerial delegate to the Southern Christian Convention at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1894. He was also president of his Conference.

      In 1895, Rev. E. T. Iseley accepted work in the Virginia Central Conference, to which he took a transfer. In 1896, he was received as a member of the Central Conference, and also attended the Virginia Valley Conference and entered into the discussions, especially the discussion of the report of the committee on Foreign Missions.

      Rev. E. T. Iseley while in the Valley of Virginia married Miss Ada A. Swank, a most estimable lady and church worker. He continued to labor in the bounds of the Virginia Central Conference till 1899, when he accepted work in the Eastern North Carolina Conference, his transfer from the Virginia Central Conference being recommended, and by this received. He immediately took charge of the following churches: Auburn, Pleasant Hill, Pleasant Grove, and Spilona. At the Conference at Oak Level in Franklin county, he was placed on the committee on Sunday schools, and at Pleasant Union in Harnett county on the committee on Foreign Missions. He labored in this Conference till the fall of 1902, when he accepted an appointment as home missionary to the state of Colorado under the direction of the Home [390] Missionary Department of the American Christian Convention.

      Leaving his home at Auburn, North Carolina, in the Eastern North Carolina Conference, November 15, 1902, Rev. E. T. Iseley with his wife visited the home of his childhood and relatives in Alamance county, and attended preaching service at Bethlehem church by Rev. J. W. Holt the third Sunday in November. On November 20th, they left Burlington, North Carolina, for Harrisonburg, Virginia, to visit Mrs. Iseley's relatives. While in the Valley of Virginia he preached at Leaksville church where he had served as pastor four years, and returning to Harrisonburg, the home of his wife's brother-in-law, J. S. Kagey, he preached the following Sunday at New Hope where he had served as pastor three years, before going to North Carolina.

      Leaving Harrisonburg, Monday, December 1, 1902, they arrived at Dayton, Ohio, December 2nd. After visiting the Editor of the Christian Missionary, Rev. J. G. Bishop, D. D., the Editor of the Sunday School Literature, Rev. J. P. Watson, D. D., and others, and attending prayer meeting at the Christian church, they started on their western journey, Thursday, December 4th. They stopped at Peculiar, Missouri, to visit a sister of Mrs. Iseley's, and Rev. E. T. Iseley preached in the morning and at night in the M. E. Church. They left Peculiar, Monday, December 8th, and arrived at New Castle, Colorado, December 10th. They were met by Frank Wisaner, deacon of the Divide Creek Christian church, and "taken to the home of James Evers, whose wife and two daughters are also members of Divide Creek church." At this church which is fourteen miles from New Castle, Rev. E. T. Iseley preached his last and only sermon in this new field of labor, on the 2nd Sunday in December, 1902. He died the following Saturday at 9:5 P. M. His body was carried to New Castle to be embalmed, and on [391] Monday, December 22nd, Mrs. Iseley left with the body for Luray, Virginia. From here the corpse was carried to Leaksville church, where the funeral services were conducted, December 26th, and his body laid to rest.

[LCM 389-392]