Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Foreword

By Edwin A. Penick, Bishop of North Carolina

One of the many characteristics for which Bishop Cheshire is remembered by his friends and admirers was his uncompromising adherence to the last letter of truth. An inaccurate or careless remark often brought forth from him a startling correction. His own historical papers were loyal to such facts as patient research could discover. His official documents were models of lucidity and precision. His counsel was penetrating and true and bracing like fresh air in a stuffy room. His conversation, particularly when he was describing the very human traits of men and women he had known, was full of delightful surprises because of his breathtaking forthrightness. He even carried in his pocketbook an exact paper pattern of a huge mountain trout he once caught as documentary evidence of his best fish story.

This characteristic of Bishop Cheshire must have been in the author's mind when he wrote the following pages. I believe that the good Bishop would approve this biography for its restraint and disciplined faithfulness to the record of a true life.

Preface

From my earliest memories I can recall the annual visits of Bishop Cheshire to the home of my parents. As very young boys my brothers and I were fond of looking at him, for with his flowing white beard and rather stocky figure, he appeared a perfect embodiment of Santa Claus. He readily gained our confidence with his frank and open manner and his keen understanding of the sort of things children were interested in. As I grew older he won my complete affection and admiration. With his many relatives and friends throughout North Carolina, I felt particularly honored when he wrote me letters from England during his visit there in 1920. The multiplicity of such personal attentions was one of his characteristics which gained for him the lasting affection of his people.

Although I have felt inadequate to the task of writing Bishop Cheshire's life, I have found the work a labor of love and a distinct privilege. Some persons will undoubtedly be disappointed that more stories of and about the Bishop have not been included. The use of many of his anecdotes has purposefully been avoided, since most of them are much more delightfully told by the Bishop himself in his charming volume of reminiscences, Nonnulla. My primary object has been to present his accomplishments as deacon, priest, and bishop. His work in these periods of his career merits preservation in some permanent form for its own sake as well as for the benefit of future churchmen. Also, an attempt has been made to portray the Bishop's dynamic personality and its striking influence upon the character of his work and of his human contacts.

I wish to gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance given me by Mr. Joseph B. Cheshire, Miss Sarah Cheshire, and Mr. James W. Cheshire in reading this work and for the generous loan of invaluable manuscripts. I also wish to express my appreciation to my wife, Emily Dewey, for her untiring help in criticizing and reworking the manuscript, and to Bishop Edwin Anderson Penick and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence for reading the work.

Contents