1853-1935
Adoniram Judson Reamy
Baptist Pastor/Lecturer VA/SC
In 1853, a two-volume work entitled A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D.D. was published. Compiled by Judson’s widow, Emily Chubbuck Judson and written by Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, this book became a national best-seller.
But also that same year, Adoniram Judson Reamy was born on April 19 in Foneswood, VA, to Robert Neale Reamy and his wife, Virginia Jane Owens. He eventually married Mattie Ramsdell and together they had five children. Apart for short stays in South Carolina and Florida, Rev. Reamy spent most of his life in Virginia. He studied chemistry at Richmond College (now University of Richmond).
As a pastor he was respected and useful with over 400 newspaper notations about weddings, funerals, dedications, conferences and other services he provided for the community. But he was especially good as a public speaker.
Monday night, Rev. A. J. Reamy delivered one of the most humorous lectures ever heard here. The audience was in an uproar of laughter from first to last. His subject was “Love and Matrimony.” As a lecturer he is a man of extraordinary ability.[1]
Rev. A. J. Reamy, of Onancock, lectured in Atlantic Baptist Church, Monday, February 26th, on “The World’s Fair.” Those who could not see this wonderful exhibition of the nations, treasures, arts, soldiers, religions of the earth, should certainly hear Mr. Reamy.[2]
Rev. A. J. Reamy is in Florida holding a protracted service. The fame of Mr. Reamy as an evangelist is spreading to the four corners and he always receives souls for his hire.[3]
Adoniram Judson Reamy died on October 21, 1935, at age 82 and is buried in the Warsaw Baptist Church cemetery in Warsaw, VA.
The death of Rev. Adoniram Judson Reamy, 83, which occurred suddenly at his home near Edwardsville, Northumberland County, Va., Monday at nine o’clock, brought universal sorrow through the Northern Neck, where he spent most of his fifty-five years of active service in the ministry.
A man of brilliant mind, a great student, he ably and fearlessly proclaimed the unsearchable riches of the Scriptures, and thousands were converted under this able ministry.
Few men possessed the love and esteem to a greater degree than the deceased, and in his death the Northern Neck has lost one of its foremost and outstanding citizens, beloved not only for his Christlike spirit, but his ability to interpret and explain the scriptures and his love and consideration for his fellowman.
He is survived by his widow and five children….[4]
One of these surviving children was named Adoniram Judson Reamy, Jr., was born in Centralia, VA (11-30-1883) and died in Hickory Head, GA (5-31-1955). At one point this father-son combination co-pastored a group of churches together.
The Rev. Adoniram Judson Reamy and his son, the Rev. A. J. Reamy, Jr., have accepted a call to the joint pastorate of Fairport, Fairfield, Smithfield and Coan Baptist churches, in Northumberland county. The younger Mr. Reamy will fill his first appointment on the 1st of October, and his father will join him one month later.[5]
This junior Adoniram Judson Reamy also had a son whom he named Adoniram Judson Reamy born on Christmas Eve, 1909, in Tifton, Georgia, and died in January, 1985.
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[1] Peninsula Enterprise (Accomac, VA), Volume 13, January 6, 1894, p. 4.
[2] “Modestown,” Peninsula Enterprise (Accomac, VA), Volume 13, March 3, 1894, p. 4.
[3] “South Carolina Johnston,” Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA), January 17, 1900, p. 6.
[4] Uncited obituary at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9757220/adoniram-judson-reamy
[5] The Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, VA), September 19, 1911, p. 9.