Memorials: Mr. William H. Inman

(Holley Gazette, May, 1997)

The communion table and chairs, the offering plates, the display Bible and cross, the flags on either side of the pulpit and the candelabra, wherever you look in the Church there are memorials to those who preceded us. With a few unobtrusive exceptions, the names of the individuals so honored are not displayed to remind us who they were. It is well that it is so, for only one NAME should be prominent. That name, of course, is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, in Prov. 10:7 Solomon tells us that “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing….” And in Prov. 22:1 “A good name is more desirable than great riches….”

Naturally, when selecting only a few, the vast majority will be left out. It is not our purpose to laud the great leaders of the Church past, though some may be, but simply to point out those who have been honored by their contemporaries.

William H. Inman does not have a tangible item in the Church named in remembrance of him, but his name does come up annually when the treasurers report is given. Mr. Inman was a “…life-long and highly esteemed resident of Clarendon…. He was born in June 1842…and was the last survivor of…seven children.” After completing school in Albion, he taught for several years and then turned to farming. He was, for two years, (1882-3), Supervisor of the Town of Clarendon and in 1870 Commissioner of Highways.

Mr. Inman married Eva M. Allen in 1904. He was ca. sixty two and she ca. thirty eight years of age at the time. After having been baptized, the Inmans joined our Church March 21, 1915. His father Philip and grandfather, Thomas, had been members for many years preceding this date. He lived only five years after having joined the Church. They appear to have had no children. “Mr. Inman was of a quiet and unassuming disposition which gained him many close friends….”

“At the time of his death, (January 10, 1920), he was vice-president of the First National Bank of Vermillion, S.D. and…a director of the State Exchange Bank of Holley and was reported to be one of the wealthiest men in Orleans county.”( Of course this was before the Dickinson Enterprises was established.)

In his will he left life use of his property to his wife and some other relatives; small amounts of money to certain individuals and “$2500 to the University of Rochester to provide the tuition charged…for one pupil from the town of Clarendon.” After the deaths of those left life-use of the property, it was to be sold and the proceeds “paid over to the Rochester Trust and Safe Deposit Company…in trust and the income arising from such fund shall be paid…to the following institutions: First Baptist Church of Holley, Baptist Home of Monroe County…, Young Men’s Christian Association of Rochester; American Baptist Home Missions Society…; American Baptist Foreign Missions Society…; Rochester Theological Seminary…; school district 2, in the town of Clarendon….; (and) the Christian Church…of Manning.

Mr. and Mrs. Inman are buried, along with other family members,just behind the mausoleum in the Hillside Cemetery of Holley. They have one of the largest and most imposing monuments in the Cemetery. THANKS MR. INMAN!