GREENDEM (Contributed by Ouida Starr Woodson of Camden, Alabama) Newspaper article taken from the Green County Democrat, Thursday, 23 Feb 1956 edition. "Heroes of the Cross--Methodist History" by F. S. Mosley History of JOHN WESLEY STARR Born August 7, 1806 Wilkes County, Georgia Died Feb. 2, 1870 Bibb County, Alabama In a lonely spot in an old field two or three miles west of Westley Chapel, about ten miles Northwest of Centreville, Bibb County, Ala., lie the mortal remains of one Rev. John Wesley Starr, who was one of the Builders of Alabama Methodism, a true soldier of the Cross. To forget our debt to the early circuit riders is to make ourselves unworthy heirs of our great legacy. John Wesley Starr bore the honored name of the founder of Methodism, indicating the esteem in which John Wesley was held by his father, Joshua Starr of Wilkes County, Ga., where John Wesley Starr was born on Aug. 7, 1806. In 1820 John joined the church, and on Sept. 17, 1830 was licensed to preach in Georgia by Rev. Andrew Hamill, and joined the Georgia Conference Jan. 2, 1833. He served LaGrange, Talbotton, Zebulon, Thomaston and Madison Circuits in Georgia before transferring to the Alabama Conference in Dec. 1839, and served Irwinton (Eufala), Montgomery District (four years), LaFayette (two years), Crawford, Oak Bowery Institute as Agent, Crawford again, Talladega, Lafayette again (two years), Summerfield District (four years), Greensboro, Randolph Circuit in Bibb County, Bibb County Iron Works, Mahans and superanuated 1866, and died in Bibb County, Ala. Feb. 2, 1870. John Wesley Starr was married Dec. 23, 1824 near Washington, Ga. to Hannah Miller, daughter of John Paul Miller and Elizabeth Shiptrine, who was born Nov. 6, 1808 and died Feb. 16, 1891 at the home of son Dr. Lucius Ernest Starr at Camden, Alabama. Thirteen children were born to John Wesley and Hannah Miller Starr and their descendants are both numerous and useful citizens, many of them being leaders in church and state today. Below is given brief references to some of these descendants. John Wesley Starr's first child was Elizabeth Fenton Starr 1826-62, who married 1848 James Andrew Ray and was mother of David Lorenzo Ray, Elizabeth (Mrs. Wilson Arnold, Emma Lillius (married William R. Byers and A. J. Aderhold), John Ray and Catherine Elizabeth (married 1879 Edward Brooks Mackey). Mrs. E. W. Mcrary of Orville faithful member of that church and one of the finest members I ever had as a pastor, is a daughter of the Arnolds (?). Mrs. Warren Webster Barnes, Washington D.C. is a daughter of the Byers. John Wesley Starr's second child was Joshua F. Starr 1828-56, who is buried in what used to be Methodist Holy Ground at Summerfield, Ala. He married 1852 in Talladega, Adaline M. Faire, and left one daughter. John Wesley Starr's third child was his namesake, John Wesley Starr, Jr., 1830-53, who joined the Alabama Conference in Jan. of 1852 and was assigned to Wesley Chapel (now St. Francis Street Church, Mobile, Ala.) and was pastor there when he died Sept. 20, 1853 of yellow fever, while sticking to his post of duty during an epidemic. A large monument now stands in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, honoring the memory of the three martyrs, Augustus H. Powell, Jacob S. Hughes and John Wesley Starr, Jr., who died the same month of yellow fever. The fourth child, Sarah Matthews Starr 1831-79 married 1855 at Summerfield, Jacob S. Hansburger, and was mother of Mary Catherine (who married Rev. Leander Cotton Calhoun of Alabama Conference 1845-1925), Hannah Elizabeth (who married George Nelson Cooper and was mother of Rev. George Nelson Cooper, Tarrant City), Mrs. Russell Potts; and William Ernest Hansberger (father of Mrs. Frank Chester Smith of Birmingham). The fifth child, James Wesley Starr 1835-1902, married 1890 Adele Tholozon Bright and had two daughters, Hannah and Elizabeth (now Mrs. A. E. Thayer of Laurel, Miss.). Rev. John Wesley Starr's seventh Emory Parks, died in infancy. His eighth child was Dr. Lucius Ernest Starr 1838-1913 who married 1879 Mary Eloisa Tepper and lived at Camden. His children were Samuel Ernest (who married Bertha Ernestine Smith of Montgomery); Mary Turner (who married Joseph Powell Primm of Camden); and John Paul Starr (who married Lois Evelyn Arnold), who lives at Camden and has an oil painting of his grand- father, John Wesley Starr. The ninth child, Mary Francis Starr, 1840-1919 married 1870 Rev. William Maltbie Winn, 1847-1924, who was educated at Summerfield and Greensboro, Alabama, and joined the Alabama Conference (Mobile Division) in 1869 and served Randolph Circuit, Brush Creek, Whistler, Rembert Hills and Grand Bay Circuit, and superannuated 1880, but in 1884 entered the North George Conference and was a member at his death. One of his sons is Elisha Starr Winn, Presbyterian, Fitzgerald, Ga., who has presented the Alabama Conference Historical Society copies of the 1773-1828 and the 1829-1839 Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church Annual Conferences, in memory of his father and mother, Rev. and Mrs. William Maltbie Winn, and his grandfather John Wesley Starr. Rev. Archelus Hughes Mitchell 1807-1903 of the Georgia and Alabama Conferences was great uncle of Rev. Elisha Starr Winn, whose son, Rev. William M. Winn, is paster of Midway-Ocee Methodist Charge, Atlanta. The tenth child of Rev. J. H. Starr was Wilbur Fisk, named for the Bishop by the name, died in the Civil War in 1864, age 22. The eleventh child was Elbert Soule Starr 1845-1908, who was mayor of Selma 1889-1891 and member of State Legislature 1903-1907, and who married Sallie Ann Bennett and had Estelle, who married John William Butterly, who had Rev. Elbert Soule Butterly, Bessemer and Dorothy, wife of Spencer T. Kimbrough, both of the North Alabama Conference. Rev. John Wesley Starr's twelfth child, William Henry Stephen Starr, died young, also the thirteenth child, Catherine H. D. Starr who died at the age of sixteen. One can hardly estimate the debt we owe to Rev. John Wesley Starr and his descendants, and the least we can do is to preserve the memory of these Heroes of the Cross, these early Circuit Riders, who had so little, but gave so much, and left us our wonderful warm-hearted Methodist Church, which today continues to bless and lift mankind. May we in turn play our part as well as they did and be worthy of the "well done" from the lips of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.