The Minister’s Eternal Marriage

In September 1977, my wife, Lyn, and I moved with our family to Spotsylvania County, Virginia. I knew that some of my ancestors had lived in Spotsylvania County around 1890. My natural curiosity aroused, I looked through the telephone book and called the post office to learn whether any Winfreys still lived in the area. But my search was unsuccessful.

One warm Saturday we decided to tour the county as a family. Turning onto every back road we could find, we enjoyed discovering the countryside together. Throughout the day, I had had a peculiar, yet persistent, feeling that something would turn up concerning my ancestors. I tried to watch the names on the mailboxes as we drove but saw none that were familiar.

Then I saw the brick church with its adjacent cemetery. I felt a distinct prompting to pull into the parking lot. A pleasant-looking gentleman was sitting in his car there, and as we began talking, I asked him if he knew whether any Winfreys were buried in the cemetery. The answer was no, but he said that he believed a Winfrey used to be the pastor of the church. The man told us that he was now the pastor. Then he gave us a tour of the building.

Inside, he showed us a list on the wall of all of the previous pastors. On a gold plaque was the name E. W. Winfrey.

I knew so little about my own ancestry that I didn’t know how this Winfrey was related to me, but the discovery was exciting. Before we left, my wife asked the pastor why he had been sitting in the parking lot. He explained that he had been impressed to wait there, but he didn’t know why.

I later discovered my relationship to the man whose name was on the plaque. E. W. Winfrey was my great-grandfather. News of my chance discovery excited my relatives, and an aunt loaned me Great-grandfather’s journal. Through the information I obtained in that volume—a complete genealogy of my Winfrey family—I was able to perform the temple ordinances for my ancestors.

One section of the journal particularly fascinated me. Great-grandfather Winfrey was quite a poet. In one poem, he expressed his sincere belief that he would be married to his beloved wife through all eternity. That was a peculiar doctrine for a Southern Baptist minister. Now that we have performed his temple work for him, his hope for an eternal marriage is undoubtedly now a reality.