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west virginia edition 301 In politics he is a Republican, and among the secret and benevolent orders, belongs to the Masons, Odd Fellows and Pythians. His favorite reading after the Bible is history. He believes the outstanding need of the race today may be summed up in two words: “education and business.” Ely Leon Lofton The record of a struggle up from obscurity and poverty to a place of leadership in the Kingdom of God, like this story of Rev. Ely Leon Lofton, A.B., B.D., should be read and studied by the struggling boy who imagines he is having a hard time. The story reveals certain traits which account for his success. In the first place, he had faith and courage and refused to be defeated by any obstacle which it was possible for him to overcome; in the second place, he has never been ashamed or afraid to work. Back of it all was patience and a fine determination to win. He was born at Moro,Ark., on February 28, 1891, and spent the early years of his life on the farm. His parents were Robert Lofton and Ellen (Norman) Lofton. The father was born near Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Lofton was married on January 9, 1916, to Miss Myrtle Louise Ellison, daughter of Castello and Lula Ellison. She was educated at Philander Smith College and pursued a course in Missions at Gammon. She teaches music. Of the four children born to them three are living. They are Verna W., Ely Leon, Jr., and Frances Helen Lofton. Young Lofton pursued his elementary studies in the Lee County, Ark., public schools, from which he passed to Philander Smith College at Little Rock, where he won his A.B. degree in 1916. This was followed by the theological course at Gammon Theological Seminary, where he won his B.D. degree in 1920. The story of these years cannot be told better than in his own words. He says, “I was with my father on a farm at Moro, Ark., till I was 17 years of age. I helped him pay for two farms, both about 140 acres. He was not able to school me. I 302 history american negro got permission to stop going to public school and work on a railroad that was being built through that section. Many mornings I went to work half frozen to earn my first school money. I drove a road scrape and wheeler. I helped my father make the next spring crops and went back on the road in the summer. I helped to gather the crops and in November, 1908, I went to Philander Smith College, Little Rock,Ark. I had only $15.00. $3.50 was left after paying tuition and buying books. Col. G. A. A. Dean employed me as a servant. He gave me $1.00 per week and board and allowed me to go to school. I was told his wife was the crank of cranks, and I thought so at first. After cleaning and dusting she would follow me with a white handkerchief. I did not suit her at all at first, being a country boy, and nobody was ever known to stay more than a month or two at a time. We learned one another and before school was out understood one another. I remained in the home off and on for eight years, till I finished school. She gave me $3.00 per week and board after the first year. During vacations, I taught in the rural schools or worked in Southern Pacific Shops. Here I was first put on the scrap iron pile, and then transferred to machine shop and made a helper. I won three scholarships at Philander Smith College and was delegate to Student Conference at Atlanta in 1914; two years Bible Class President of Wesley M. E. Church; two years President of the Y. M. C. A. of the school. In order to get to Atlanta I borrowed $20.00 from the Mercantile Trust Company, without anyone going on my note. When I got to Atlanta I had $15.00. That was the fall of 1917. I had a wife and one child. Dr. Bowen, now VicePresident of Gammon Seminary, at first told me to get a job and go to work, that they could not let me enter on such a small sum as $15.00. After talking over the matter he agreed to give me a trial. After paying...

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