John Newton Waddell
[1812-1895]

[ Note that "Waddell" is frequently found spelled without the final “l” as “Waddel.”]

Biography--
Born on 2 April 1812 in Willington, SC to the Rev. Moses Waddell and his wife Eliza Woodson Pleasant Waddell.

John’s first wife was Martha Ann Robertson [born, 5 May 1816 to George Brownlee and Mary Robertson], whom he married on 27 November 1832. She died in 1851, and John remarried, taking Mary A. Weden of Richmond, MA as his second wife on 24 August 1854. Mary died on 10 April 1862, whereupon Rev. Waddell married a third time, to Mrs. Harriet Godden Snedecor of Lexington, MS on 31 January 1866.

John was educated at the University of Georgia, attending there from 1826-1929 and graduating with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He taught at an Academy in Willington, SC from 1830-1832 and was principal of a grammar school in Athens, Georgia from 1833-1834. For a time he turned his hand to farming in South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi, 1835-1841, before answering a call to the ministry.

He was licensed to preach by Mississippi Presbytery on 15 September 1841 and then served as stated supply for the Mt. Hermon Presbyterian Church of Smith County, Mississippi in 1842. He was then ordained to the pastorate by Tombeckbee Presbytery on 23 October 1843, initially serving as stated supply for the Montrose and Mt. Moriah churches of Newton County, MS, while also serving as a teacher at the Montrose Academy from 1841-1848.

Rev. Waddell next served as stated supply for the Presbyterian church in Oxford, MS and concurrently as a professor of ancient languages at the University of Mississippi, from 1849-1857, having formerly served on the school's Board of Trustees prior to his appointment. From 1857-1861, Waddell was a professor at the Synodical College in LaGrange, Tennessee. He then worked as an agent for the Bible Society attached to the Confederate States Army, from 7 February to 7 May, 1863 and as Commissioner to the Army of Mississippi (CSA), from 1863 until the close of the war in 1865.

After the war, Rev. Waddell was Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, from 1865 to 1874, and during these years he occasionally served as stated supply for the Oxford and Hopewell churches. Leaving the University of Mississippi, Rev. Waddell was Executive Secretary for the Georgia Commission on Education, from 1874-1879. He somehow also managed to serve as stated supply for the Lauderdale St. church in Memphis during these same years.

From 1879 to 1888, Waddell was Chancellor of the Southwest Presbyterian University, located in Clarksville, Tennessee. He is credited with calling Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson, the father of President Woodrow Wilson, to teach at Clarksville. Illness forced his retirement in 1888, though he apparently remained in the Clarksville area until 1891, and he then resided in Avondale (Birmingham), Alabama from 1891 to 1895. Rev. Waddell died in 1895, and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Honors include the Doctor of Divinity degree, awarded by the University of Nashville in 1850 and the Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.), awarded by the University of Georgia in 1873. Rev. Waddell is noted as having called to order the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. He also served as Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1868 and as stated clerk for General Assembly from 1861-1865. His published works are noted below.

Archival Collections--
The Papers of the Rev. John Newton Waddell are preserved among the collections of the Presbyterian Historical Society archives at Montreat, North Carolina, and consist of one-quarter cubic foot of materials. This collection includes a diary, sermon notes and sermon register belonging to the Rev. Moses Waddell, as well as sermons by the Rev. J.N. Waddell and other items.

A three-volume diary, covering the years 1862-1864, is preserved at the Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division, James Madison Memorial Building, Washington, D.C.

Bibliography--

Articles published in The Southern Presbyterian Review—
Halsey’s Literary Attractions of the Bible, 11.3 (October 1858) 419-448.
The Lecture System—Its Influence upon Young Men, 12.2 (July 1859) 258d-288.
The Westminster Review on “Christian Revivals,” 13.2 (July 1860) 225-274.
The Works of Philip Lindsley, D.D., 18.2 (September 1867) 187-207.

Other published works--
1854
Address on occasion of laying the foundation of the Presbyterian Female College Institute, at Pontotoc, May 6, 1854 (Holly Springs, MS : “Miss. Times” Cheap Book and Job Office Print., 1854), 14pp. One copy located at PHS, Montreat.

1852
Moral Heroism : An oration delivered before the Ciceronian and Phi-Delta societies of Mercer University, Penfield, Georgia, on commencement day, July 28, 1852 (Penfield [GA] : Banner Office, 1852), 26pp. One copy located at the Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ.

1858
Christian education in its principles; a sermon preached before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, La., May 12th, 1858, in behalf of the Board of Education (Philadelphia, Printed by C. Sherman & Son, 1858), 20pp.; 21cm. Copies were located on OCLC at Wake Forest University, the New York Historical Society, Juniata College (PA) and the Presbyterian College library in SC. This work has also been reproduced on microfilm, with copies held by the Presbyterian Historical Society (Phila.) and the Presbyterian College library (SC).

1865
Address on public education, delivered in the Hall of Representatives, by joint invitation of the Senate and House of Representatives, in Jackson, Miss., on the evening of Wednesday, 25th October, 1865 (Jackson [MS] : J.J. Shannon & Co., 1865), 15pp. One copy located at PHS, Montreat.

1866
Inaugural Address, on the nature and advantages of the course of study in institutions of the higher learning; delivered on occasion of the inauguration of the faculty of the University of Mississippi, July 28th, 1866 (Natchez, Miss. : Daily Courier Book and Job Office, n.d.), 28pp. One copy located at PHS, Montreat.

1891
Memorials of academic life; being an historical sketch of the Waddel family, identified through three generations with the history of the higher education in the South and Southwest (Richmond, Va., Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1891), 583pp.; front. (port.); 21cm.

Sources--
Prince, Harold B., A Presbyterian Bibliography (Metuchen, NJ : The Scarecrow Press, 1983), pages 384-385 [entries 3901-3905].
Scott, E.C., Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., 1861-1941 (Austin, TX : Press of Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., 1942), page 738.
White, Henry Alexander, Southern Presbyterian Leaders, 1683-1911 (New York : Neale Publishing Company, 1911; reprint, Edinburgh : The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), pages 421-425.