J. W. H., son of J.H. and Elizabeth Coker, was born, June
4, 1847, in Yancy County, N. C. He was converted early in life, and commenced
preaching before he was 19. He was licensed and ordained by the Protestant
Methodists, and preached two years for that denomination. Reading the New
Testament and contact with "Uncle Dicky" Evans, of Sevier County, made
him a Baptist. I have heard this version of his change from Methodist to Baptist
views, and the cause thereof, and am now confirmed in the belief that it is a
true version, since the story has been circulated and been published in the
papers for twenty years, and. I have not heard of any denial. Anyway, Brother
Coker, being rather belligerent in his younger days, and perhaps feeling himself
under the necessity of "whistling" some "to keep up
courage," was anxious - so the
story goes - to have a debate with Brother Evans over the
mooted questions of "baptism, close communion and falling from grace."
Time, place and subjects for discussion were agreed upon. But Evans was a
seasoned veteran, and Coker but a tender youth. What would be the result of the
debate?
Before the crowd had fully gathered, imagine the surprise and amusement of
everybody - Brother Evans had already converted his opponent and was leading him
down into the water to baptize him. He was received and ordained by the White
Oak Flats Church, Sevier County, November 12, 1871.
He was pastor of White Oak Flats, Evans' Chapel,
Friendship, New Salem, Allen's Grove, Pleasant Grove, Jones' Chapel, Red Bank,
Powder Spring, Henderson's Springs, White Church, Sugar Loaf, Ellejoy, Shady
Grove, Beech Spring, Bethel, and other churches, in the counties of Sevier,
Jefferson, Knox and Cocke. He was pastor of Bethel for thirty years.
Brother Coker was almost uniformly successful in holding
protracted meetings. In 1878 he made a six weeks' evangelistic campaign in
Western North Carolina, in which great numbers were converted and added to the
churches. In a ministry of forty-five years he witnessed 5,000 conversions and
baptized some 3,000 into the fellowship of Baptist churches. He preached a full
gospel and used no "clap-trap" methods. He was a "strong and
fearless preacher, always standing for the right. His life was devoted to the
ministry; he was always working for the Lord. He contended earnestly for New
Testament and Baptist principles, and was opposed to pulpit or other
affiliations that would compromise the truth or weaken the Baptist
conscience."
March 15, 1865, he was married to Miss Matilda
Ogle, of
Sevier County. This union was blessed with a family of eleven children. Some of
them are dead, but the father lived to see nearly all of them converted and
become members of a Baptist church. One of them is a preacher, now in Oklahoma.
Brother Coker had often expressed the wish that he might
fall in the harness and not outlive his usefulness or be laid on the shelf.
Accordingly, May 18, 1911, "he was taken ill at night and the next morning
departed to be with Christ."
His mortal remains were buried in the cemetery of Red Bank Church, tender
memorial services being conducted by Elders D. R. Mullendore and S. C. Atchley.
