Born: Cannon County, Tennessee, May 10, 1810.Died: Nashville, Tennessee, May 3, 1874.
Born: Cannon County, Tennessee, May 10, 1810.
Died: Nashville, Tennessee, May 3, 1874.
TOLBERT FANNING was born in Cannon County, Tennessee, May 10, 1810. When he was eight years of age, his parents moved to Lauderdale County, Alabama, and he remained in that State until he was nineteen. His father was a planter, on a small scale, and young TOLBERT was brought up mainly in the cotton field. He was allowed to attend school from three to six months in a year, and it was his good fortune to be placed under the care of excellent teachers. He soon became fond of study, and made considerable progress in acquiring the rudiments of an education.
At this time, his father, though highly respected in his county as an honorable gentleman, was not a member of any church, but his mother was an Old Virginia Baptist, and a woman of fine intellect and great purity of life. From her, and from Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian preachers, whom he occasionally heard, he received his early religious instruction. At times his young heart was deeply impressed with the necessity of a religious life; but he was taught that "all men are in a state of total darkness, and must remain so till illuminated by special communications of the Spirit."
From the time he was ten years of age he had read the Bible, but supposed he could not understand a word in it without a special illumination from above. Seven precious years of his life were spent in this gloomy and hopeless condition. When sixteen years of age, he began to pay attention to the preaching of EPHRAIM D. MOORE and JAMES E. MATHEWS, who called themselves Christian preachers, and were great and good men. From their teaching, he was encouraged to read the New Testament, with the view of really acquiring spiritual light. Soon all was plain, and his gloomy doubts gave place to an intelligent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
About the first of October, 1827, he attended a meeting on Cypress, seven miles north of Florence, Alabama, and heard JAMES E. MATHEWS preach a masterly discourse on the Gospel and its Conditions, and, at the conclusion of the discourse, he walked forward, and, with a perfect understanding of the truth, made the confession, and was immediately immersed into Christ.
The next two years were spent chiefly in studying the Scriptures, attending school, and visiting the brethren in Alabama and Tennessee. On the first day of October, by the advice of the Church at Republican, where he made the confession, he bade adieu to his family, for the purpose of trying to preach the Gospel. Though young and inexperienced, such was his earnestness and zeal, and such the power of the truth which he preached, that every-where thousands attended his meetings, and large numbers were brought into the kingdom.
In November, 1831, he entered the Nashville University, and graduated in 1835. During his college course, he preached considerable at different points in Tennessee, and made a tour with Brother A. CAMPBELL to Ohio and Kentucky. While at Perryville, Kentucky, he held a successful debate with a Methodist preacher by the name of Rice.
In 1836, he spent the spring and summer in a preaching tour, with Brother A. CAMPBELL, through Ohio, New York, Canada, New England, and the Eastern cities. In 1837, he was married to CHARLOTTE FALL, and, the same year, opened a female seminary in Franklin, Tennessee. On the first day of January, 1840, he removed to his present location, five miles from Nashville, and conducted a female school till 1842, when he spent most of the year in a successful preaching tour through Alabama and Mississippi.
In 1843, he began to build Franklin College, and, in October, 1844, the buildings were completed, and TOLBERT FANNING was elected the first President of the college. In 1861, he resigned the Presidency to W. D. CARNES, President of the East Tennessee University, with the view of raising money to greatly enlarge the institution; but the war defeated all his calculations, and, in 1865, the college was destroyed by fire. He is at present conducting "Hope Institute," for the education of young ladies, and is senior editor of the "Gospel Advocate."
Brother FANNING's life has been one of great activity. He has been an editor for twenty years, taught school for nearly the same length of time, and traveled and preached in fifteen States, where he has been instrumental in establishing many churches, and scattering the good seed of the kingdom generally. As a speaker, he is remarkably self-possessed, and presents his points in a logical and forcible manner. His mental and physical characteristics are strongly marked, and his whole organization indicates that he is a man of strong will, great physical endurance, and powerful intellect.