A portion from
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE SECOND ANNUAL REUNION OF THE BOND FAMILY, BY ITS PRESIDENT, H.S. BOND, AT TURNER, OREGON, SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 1938.
The only one of father’s brothers with whom I was personally acquainted was the Rev. George W. Bond; Uncle George I called him. I was twelve years of age when he died. I remember him as a man of genial, even jovial disposition. I was always glad when Uncle George came to our home.
He came to Oregon in that emigrant train of ’53 and was one of the strong pillars of the Baptist church in Oregon. For the last 18 months of his residence in Iowa he served under appointment of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. During the 13 months immediately preceding his migration to Oregon, he preached 134 sermons, baptized 36 persons and solemnized 16 weddings. He preached in dwelling houses, school houses, court houses and church houses. Some of the towns and cities in which he preached were Knoxville, Iowa City, Pella, Albia, Keokuk, Oskaloosa, Blakesburg, Freemont, and DesMoines. He sometimes rode twenty or more miles to a preaching service.
It is said that in Oregon at different times he preached in nearly all the churches south of Corvallis and Pleasant Butte, besides preaching in many school houses.
In going to his appointments, he frequently had to travel on foot, sometimes wading thru water from four inches to a foot or more in depth. He would pull off his shoes and socks, roll up his pant legs, wade thru, then sitting down on a log, he would redress his feet after which he would march on, singing his favorite hymns.
His first sermon in Oregon was preached on Sunday, October 22, 1853 from this text, found in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” It seems to me that was a very appropriate text for his first sermon here. During his 26 years of subsequent service in the vineyard of the Lord, he must have been frequently very weary in body and mind, but he was never spiritually weary. He never “wearied in well doing.” He never fainted in the work of his Master. As a result he reaped a most glorious and abundant harvest. During those 26 years, he preached 1307 sermons, baptized 81, married 58 couples, helpd ordain seven preachers, helped organize five churches and four associations.
He was pastor of the Eugene Baptist church for about 14 years, of the Springfield church 8 years, and was pastor of the Springfield and Halsey churches at the time of his death. I understand that he was the first pastor called to the pastorate of the Eugene church after it was located in the Eugene area. Among the other words of praise and commendation of him written by C. H. Matoon, in his book, Baptist Annals of Oregon, are these. “As a preacher Brother Bond was doctrinal and practical. He always said something worth thinking about, and his short sentences and clear and conclusive arguments called forth frequently such expressions as ‘A strong man’, and ‘a sound preacher,’ ‘a solid discourse,’ etc. He was one of the pillars of the Corvallis Association and he always met with a warm welcome when he visited other associations. He had an easy command of language and spoke rapidly but distinctly, and without manuscript from a few notes and always had good attention. His genial countenance, his tender admonitions, his earnest warnings, his labor and sacrifice for the cause, his prudent counsel and salutary advice will long be felt and remembered by the Baptists of Oregon.”
I hold in my hand a letter written by Uncle George to my father in his last illness. This letter is dated at Eugene, December 24, 1879. He wrote this letter sitting in bed. In it he said that his doctor thought his life might be prolonged for awhile, perhaps for some years. But said Uncle George, “I think it very doubtful about even getting up, but I am not afraid of death. I can say, ‘welcome, death.’ I am prepared to go, I have put my trust in Him who said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’”
Of him in his last illness, Mr. J. C. Bushnell, one of his close friends and brothers in Christ, said, “As he talked to us of dying, of his past life, of his hopes beyond the grave, he seemed almost to speak to us from the other side.”