Pentecostal Possibilities or "The Story of My Life"
by Milton Lorenzo (M. L.) Haney
CHAPTER 1
Parentage
My father, Rev. James Haney, was born in the County of Donegal, Ireland, about the year 1776. He and his brother Thomas came to America in 1782 with my grandfather, John Haney, and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Father was of Scotch descent and reared a Presbyterian, but in boyhood his heart was turned toward the Methodists. He was married to Hanna Freeborn, and from this union there were born twelve children, nine sons and three daughters. In the year 1811, with a small company of adventurers, he removed to Ohio, where, one mile east of where now stands the town of Savannah, in Ashland County, they cut their farms from a dense beech forest.
Father was a self-made man, with less help than can now be well conceived, but he made his mark in those times as a man of unswerving integrity, as a real Christian, and an able minister. He was an ordained local preacher for nearly 50 years. He never belonged to a conference, but traveled and preached much more than pastors now usually do. I think he never received one dollar by way of compensation for his ministry. He was twice in the State Legislature, but I have no recollection of his referring to it but once! Father's natural sense of justice was marked and wonderful. I believe he would have scorned the offer of ten thousand dollars, if made on condition that he would wrong a neighbor out of one cent. I think in fifty years he never intentionally swerved a hair's breadth in business transactions from what he saw to be right.
In August, 1820, his first wife died at the birth of her twelfth child, and three years afterward he married Mary Bevans, who the 23d day of January, 1825, became my mother. Her parents were born in New England and her father was of Welsh stock. Grandfather Bevans was a revolutionary soldier, but rarely could be drawn out to speak of his war history. Once, after much teasing by his grandson, he conceded that the English dead in the ditch fronting where he stood were three men deep! His relation to the revolutionary struggle marked him to the end of his life with a high order of patriotism After peace was declared he was married to Miss Hannah Owen, who was an intense Calvinist and an earnest defender of her faith.
Less than five years had gone by after the close of the war, when Freeborn Garretson appeared in their New England town as a Methodist preacher. The news of his arrival spread like wild fire, accompanied with statements involving his character, the whole population being warned against him as a wolf in sheep's clothing and his church as infidelity in disguise. Not a church, school house, or even a private dwelling could be procured as a preaching place. So Garretson announced that he would preach at 2 P. M. under the shade of a tree the coming Sabbath.
My grandfather was a common sinner, and so much had been said against the stranger, that he was curious to see and hear for himself. The opening songs and prayers of the preacher were to him new and wonderful. The company gathered, seemed awe-stricken, as though a man from eternity were there. The Scriptures read, the text announced and the preaching that followed were clothed with Divine authority and the first stroke of Freeborn Garretson's sword cut my grandfather's heart in two! On reaching home he said with emotion to his young wife: "Hannah, that is a man of God." Poor Hannah, thinking her husband would be ruined, raved like a wild woman; but the wound in her husband's heart was too deep for any power to turn him from his purpose, so he went again.
On returning the second time to Hannah, she saw a light in his face that had never been there before. The change in her husband was so marked and wonderful that she felt curious to go and see and hear for herself! The prejudices of a lifetime were swept from her great soul under the preaching of Garretson, and her sins rose like mountains before her; but the minister held up Christ bleeding on the cross for her, and my grandmother was born of God! My mother was subsequently converted in her tenth year, about 109 years ago, and joined the Methodist Church under the ministry of Freeborn Garretson. Of this church she was a member eighty-three years.
She was a woman of prayer and attained a wide knowledge of the Scriptures. Private prayer and searching the Scriptures were the strongholds of early Methodists. From the time she reached her majority, till her marriage, her time was largely given to teaching. During these years she was widely recognized as a woman of strength in public prayer and exhortation. To the end of her life she possessed a remarkable interest in soul saving. I think I have never known one who surpassed her in soul travail, taking the years together. She was always a believer in the Methodist doctrine of holiness, and always a seeker. Mentally she knew it was received by faith, but eighty-three years were put in in getting ready to believe. Practically she could not shake herself loose from the growth theory which has deceived a multitude of millions. She was strong willed and high tempered, and carried a battle of four score years against self-will and unholy anger. The years of fasting and prayer, of struggle and agony to conquer herself are amazing to contemplate. It was not till in the last week of her life, while surrounded by a group of holiness people, that she let go of it all, and allowed the Lord to sanctify her.
After marriage in her forty-second year, she entered my father's home as a "stepmother." There were six sons and two daughters still remaining, with ages ranging from twenty down to four years. God only knew the tasks which were before her in this new relation. Her interest in mental culture was greatly in advance of those about her, as many considered ignorance a virtue. She insisted on the best opportunities attainable for the schooling of these boys and girls, and exerted a moral influence over them, which will never be rightly estimated till the judgment day.
Each of them subsequently made a profession of religion, and three of the boys became ministers. My mother lived to see them all in mature manhood save one, who died at the age of ten. The effect of her unremitting care for her household can hardly be estimated, nor justice meted to her for the patient toils of that wonderful life. It now seems impossible that she could have accomplished what she did, when the major part of the very fabric to attire her family was constructed by her hands. The great and smaller spinning wheels seem before me now as in childhood, with the wonder that mother's feet could never get weary. It will require the years of eternity to fill up the measure of praise due to God for giving me such a mother.