Samuel Need Hurst

Encyclopedia of VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY, under the editorial supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL. D., vol. iv, pp. 377-381.

Rev. Samuel Need Hurst, teacher, lawyer, preacher, author and publisher of Pulaski, Virginia, is a descendant of an old Virginia family of English ancestry. The family name is English, or Saxon, meaning a grove, wood, thicket, or vineyard, or a person living in such a locality, and is used as a prefix or affix to many English names. The Hurst [sic] are of one of the most ancient and numerous families of England, and have borne coats-of-arms.

The original home of the Hurst family in America was in Shenandoah county, Virginia, whence Absalom Hurst, with his family, removed to Little Reed Island creek and New river, in what is now Pulaski county, during the early settlement of Southwest Virginia. His son John was father of Thomas Hurst, who lived at what is now known as Rich Hill, Pulaski county, Thomas Hurst married Jemima Breeding, sister to William Breeding, the father of William W. Breeding, later living east of Allisonia, and then near the present home of Ingram Hurst, where he died; his unmarked grave is in the pine thicket on Spencer Breeding Hill, near Bethel Church. His children, all now deceased, were: Allen, of whom further; Wesley, William, Calvin, Matilda Nester, Elizabeth, wife of Nimrod Whittaker; Rhoda, wife of James Stone; Nancy, wife of James Crowell.

Allen Hurst, son of Thomas and Jemima (Breeding) Hurst, was born March 2, 1825, at Rich Hill, Pulaski county, Virginia. He married, July 20, 1851, Nancy Cook, born in 1831, near the "old Paper Mill," Pulaski county, and who was of full German or Dutch descent. Besides two sisters—Elizabeth Deaver, and Mary Kersey (wife of Rev. James Kersey), she had three brothers—, Henry and George, who manifested a roving disposition; teaching on the way as a means of income, they traveled over the United States, and wandered to Australia and other foreign countries, losing themselves to their home people. Immediately after his marriage, Allen Hurst, with ax on shoulder, and with his young and industrious wife, went out into the virgin forest at the foot of Max mountain (a spur of the Blue Ridge), in Hiawassee district, Pulaski county, and, felling the trees, soon had a comfortable hewn log house. They began life without a penny to buy a foot of land, but soon owned their home, and, clearing the mountain slope and foothills to the brink of New river to the north, finally owned about one hundred and fifty acres of land, one of the largest and best farms in that section, with a splendid seven-room weatherboarded house, and ample barns, granaries and outbuildings. In religious faith Allen Hurst was a most uncompromising and zealous Primitive or Old School Baptist, and his wife late in life united with the same church. He is in a large measure responsible for the existence of Bethel Church, on "Spencer Breeding Hill," not far away. But few times did he ever go outside his native county, and then only to buy cattle or market wool, and perhaps a trip "to Lynchburg town, to take his tobacco down;" and his wife was never outside the bounds of her native county. In 1861 Allen Hurst went to war. He and his brother Calvin belonged to Company B, Forty-fifth Virginia Regiment, under Colonel Brown, Lieutenant-Colonel Harmon, Adjutant Burns, and were in the Piedmont fight. They were captured June 5, 1864, and imprisoned at Camp Morton, near Indianapolis; Calvin was exchanged in March, 1865, and went to Richmond; Allen was held prisoner until after the surrender. With Allen in the army, his wife Nancy, true to the heroism displayed in her girlhood, though now the mother of five little children (the eldest only nine years old) and the prospective mother of another, she at once assumed personal management of the farm, following the plow, turning the sod for the coming crop, which she was to cultivate with her own hands. She would take her nursing babe to the field and place it on a pallet or quilt while she went the rounds of the field. Thus she not only provided for her six children during the war, but maintained the farm in good shape. All her life long she displayed the same energy and activity, and was known throughout the community for these traits and for her mother-wit and sterling character. Allen Hurst knew nothing but straightforward honesty, and his word was as good as his bond, anywhere in the county. He died January 7, 1904, his wife having died April 15, 1899, and they were buried in the Hurst burying ground, on the farm.

Children: Mary Jane, born August 4, 1852, wife of Leander Southern; Matilda, born October 23, 1853, died July 1, 1894, wife of Uriah Houston Southern: Reason Vinceton, or "Dump," born September 15, 1855; Charity, born November 11, 1857, died in girlhood; Allen Princeton, or "Print," born January 31, 1860; Nancy Emeline, or "Nannie," born April 21, 1862, wife of Homer B. Mitchell; James Calvin, or "Jace," born September 12, 1864; Samuel Need, or "Sam," born February 16, 1867; Gracie Truman, or "Grace," born April 24, 1868, wife of James E. Lindsey; Ida Lillian, born June 1, 1871, died October 10, 1886; Benjamin Caudill, or "Caudill," born May 21, 1875; William Wysor, or "Wysor," born September 4, 1876. Of the sons, "Dump" owns and lives on a portion of the home place, while "Wysor" owns the remainder and occupies the family residence. "Print" is a traveling salesman for the Cosby Shoe Company, of Lynchburg, Virginia, while "Caudill" is manager of the Pulaski Grocery Company, Pulaski, Virginia, for which he traveled as salesman some fifteen years. They, and also "Nannie" and "Grace," live in Pulaski, each owning a splendid home, "Caudill's" being one of the handsomest in the town. "Jace" studied medicine and graduated, winning a gold medal, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, and in the practice of his profession and other business in connection, he has amassed quite a considerable fortune. He is also a Primitive or Old School Baptist preacher, and pastor of their church at Roanoke, Virginia, where he lives and practices his profession.

Rev. Samuel Need Hurst, son of Allen and Nancy (Cook) Hurst, was born February 16, 1867, in Pulaski county, Virginia, and was reared on the home farm, in the lap of the foothills of Max mountain, in Hiawassee district. His early opportunity for education was very limited; the "old field schools" in that rural section were poor indeed. It took him some two or three years to learn his alphabet; the letters, for convenience, being pasted on a shingle with a handle to it. He was some fourteen years old before he began to learn and to be fired with a spirit for education. He went to school in winter, and worked on the farm the remainder of the year. But often he burned the midnight lamp in his eager desire for knowledge. Finally his thirst for education became so great, he besought his parents (who were illiterate) with tears, to allow him to go off to college. His determination and tears finally won, and with the little money he had saved from selling nuts and other articles gathered from the farm, supplemented by advancements from his father out of his future patrimony, he attended Snowville Academy in 1883-84, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute (then Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College) in 1884-85, where he worked at intervals on the college farm, setting posts and shucking corn. He then stood a competitive examination in Virginia and won a Peabody scholarship (which paid him $400 cash), in the University of Nashville, where he attended in 1885-87, graduating with the degree of L. I. (Licentiate of Instruction). Having studied law privately on the farm, he rounded out his legal education by taking Professor John B. Minor's summer course in the University of Virginia in 1888. Later in life, after practicing law and writing and publishing law books for twenty years, in 1909 he went to Louisville, Kentucky, with his family, and took the pastors' course in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, graduating there in Old Testament, New Testament, systematic theology, homiletics and elocution.

When eighteen, Rev. Mr. Hurst passed an examination for a teacher's certificate, the superintendent writing across the top, "Best examination in the county for 1885." After graduating from college he taught school, first as principal of Snowville Academy, 1887-88, and in the latter year was elected to a chair of higher mathematics and English literature in Glendale Male and Female College, Terrell, Texas. Later he taught as professor of higher mathematics in Wytheville Male Academy, Virginia; a school at Dexter, Tennessee, near Memphis; and then a normal school of teachers in Martin county, Kentucky.

Studying privately and finishing his legal education as above stated, Rev. Mr. Hurst was admitted to the bar; April 24, 1889, and with but thirty dollars of his patrimony left, went out into the world to measure swords with the stern realities of life. He entered the law office of the late General James A. Walker, of Wytheville, Virginia, teaching in the male academy in the afternoons to pay his board. He practiced law and wrote and published law books until 1909, when he forsook the law for the ministry.

Soon after going to the bar, Rev. Mr. Hurst discovered the necessity for a magistrate's guide, and so commenced writing his "Guide and Manual," which took him two years to complete. Much of his work was done with his own pen, and now he uses only stenographic help, all editorial work he does himself. The following is a list of the law books written by him, the same being in general use by the bench and bar in the two Virginias: "Hurst's Guide and Manual," two editions, 600 pp., for magistrates, attorneys, etc.; "Hurst's Annotated Virginia Digest," nine volumes, 900 pp. each, compressing one hundred volumes into nine; "Hurst's Complete Index to Virginia Reports," 1438 pp.; "Hurst's Virginia and West Virginia Criminal Digest," 1013 pp.; "Hurst's Annotated Pocket Code of Virginia," three editions, 800 pp.; "Hurst's Annotated Virginia Constitution," 259 pp.; "Hurst's Form Book for Virginia Attorneys," 556 pp.; "Hurst's Index and Directory of Virginia Law," 1050 pp.; and he has now in preparation another work which will appear in 1916. Besides his law works, numbering sixteen volumes, averaging about 800 pages each, and aggregating over 13,000 pages, he also compiled a "Biographical Mirror of all the Supreme Court Judges of Virginia" from the first organization of the court in 1779 down to 1895; and "Sixteen Golden Rules for the Guidance of Courts," together with a historical review of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, and a "History of Law Reporting in the State," etc., prefixed as an introduction to the first volume of his "Digest." He has also, upon request, contributed an article on "Lincoln from the Standpoint of a Southern Lawyer," for a book not yet published. His first book, "Guide and Manual," was dedicated to Professor John B. Minor; the "Digest" set was dedicated to Judge Edward C. Burks; while his "Criminal Digest" was inscribed to Professor Charles A. Graves.

As to his "Guide and Manual," his maiden effort, his county paper (The "News-Review") in its issue of November 23, 1894, had this to say: "At a rare young age in life, Mr. Hurst became the author of a law book in general circulation throughout the State, and thus became the first law writer of Southwest Virginia, and added his name to the honorable list of Virginia authors, the whole list, from the first organization of Virginia as a State down to the present time, being only about one dozen, as follows: Tucker, Lomax, Henning, Robinson, Stephen, Davis, Matthews, Mayo, Daniel, Barton, Minor, Burks and Hurst. Pulaski county has just cause to be proud of the distinction he has thus, so early in life, won for himself and the county of his nativity, and should hope, with him, for greater usefulness and distinction still."

As to this work, Hon. John Randolph Tucker and Professor Charles A. Graves, of the law faculty of Washington and Lee University, said: "Mr. Hurst exhibits throughout a competent knowledge of his subject, thorough research, and great clearness and accuracy in his statements of legal propositions. Nothing, it seems, has escaped his scrutiny." Senator John W. Daniel said:

"Carefully compiled, exceedingly useful, and a book of great value." Judge Fauntleroy, of the Supreme Court of Virginia, said: "You have achieved a great and valuable work, and conferred a boon upon the State." Governor P. W. McKinney: "Your work is well arranged for investigation, rich with information, and a reliable authority. It should be in the hands of every good business man and attorney in the State." Attorney General R. Taylor Scott: "A monument to your industry, care and legal attainments." The "Guide and Manual" was also examined by a committee of thirty-seven lawyers of the house and senate and unanimously recommended for use by the magistrates and officials of the commonwealth. His subsequent works were equally well received, being recommended by the Supreme Court and the bench and bar of the state.

Owning his own plant, Rev. Mr. Hurst printed and published his own books, reading all the proof himself. In recent years he contracts the printing of his works. He personally conducted the sales by circular advertising, and kept his own accounts of receipts and disbursements. For a time he also owned and conducted a newspaper in his native county.

In June, 1889, Rev. Mr. Hurst united with the Primitive or Old School Baptist church at Bethel, in the neighborhood of his birth, his parents and most of his relatives being of that faith. Moving to Luray, Virginia, in 1901, he was in 1903 ordained to the full work of the Gospel ministry. Elders T. S. Dalton, John R. Dailey and Reuben Strickler composing the presbytery. He continued practicing law, writing law books and preaching until May 1, 1909, when he withdrew from the Primitives, assigning his reasons in writing. On June 9, 1909, he and his wife united with the First Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia, Dr. T. Clagett Skinner, pastor. On June 23rd his church called for a presbytery to ordain him, the same being composed of the pastors of the Baptist churches at Roanoke, Vinton and Salem, and two lay members from each church. The presbytery met June 25th and after a thorough examination as to moral, spiritual and educational qualifications, unanimously recommended his ordination. On June 30th, in the First Church, he was in due form ordained to the full work of the Gospel ministry, Rev. William F. Powell, of Calvary Church, preaching the ordination sermon; Rev. P. H. Chelf, of Belmont Church, delivering the charge; and Dr. T. Clagett Skinner, of the First Church, presenting the Bible and making the ordination prayer. At the conclusion of the ordination ceremonies, and as the first act of his new ministerial life, he administered the ordinance of baptism to his wife and companion in the ministry. Thence he went to the Southern Baptist Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky; completing his theological course there, he accepted a call from Salem Church, near Pembroke, Kentucky, which he served one year. He then accepted a call of the Baptist State Board of Virginia to be their missionary pastor at Galax and Fries, where he served one year. Resigning his field there, Mr. Hurst again returned to the law; and, to whet his appetite, he revised and published a third edition of his "Pocket Code." He then compiled and published his "Index and Directory of Virginia Law." And he is now busily engaged in the preparation of another Virginia law book to appear in 1916.

On February 18, 1890, Rev. Mr. Hurst was married to Anna Louise Evans of Monroe Louisiana, a great-granddaughter of Alexander Pope, poet laureate of England. Of this union there was only one child Virginia L., who was born August 13 1892, and is now teaching in Joplin, Missouri She studied the violin in Berlin, Germany under the celebrated Kubelik. Losing his wife, July 23,1893, Mr. Hurst married March 9, 1895 Ida May Hopson, of Inez, Kentucky, a daughter of lawyer Jasper Wingfield Hopson, whose mother was a Newberry and a near relative of the Newberrys of Virginia, one being of "Big Four" reputation in the Virginia legislature. Her mother, Nancy Delena Hopson, was formerly Miss Ward, whose mother was a Clay, a relative of the Clays of Kentucky, and a direct descendant of the illustrious Henry Clay, of Colonial fame. Mr. and Mrs. Hurst have eight children: Erskine, born July 12, 1897; Elsie and Ressie, twins, born January 31, 1899; Aubrey, born August 13, 1901; Evangeline, born June 15, 1903; Vivian, born June 15, 1905; Evelyn, born August 26, 1907; and Samuel Need, Jr., born February 8, 1912.