Bishop Joseph Staunton Key III was born on July 18, 1829 at La Grange, Troup County, GA.
He was the son of Reverend Caleb Witt Key and Elizabeth Haines.
Bishop Joseph Staunton Key III married Susan McIntosh "Susie" Snyder, daughter of Honerable Benjamin Snyder, in 1851 at Savannah, Chatham County, GA.
Bishop Joseph Staunton Key III married Mrs. Lucy Kidd in 1892.
Joseph Stanton Key was made Bishop of the Methodist Church. He and his second wife founded the Kidd-Key College, at Sherman, Texas.
He was the subject of the following sketch at The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans,:
"KEY, Joseph Staunton, M.E. bishop, was born at La Grange, Ga., July 18, 1829; son of the Rev. Caleb Witt and Martha (Haines) Key, and grandson of the Rev. Joshua Hames. The Keys are of English and Welsh origin. Martin Key married a sister of Lady Jane Grey and from him sprang the American family. Caleb Witt Key was for more than fifty years a Methodist minister in Georgia. Joseph Staunton Key was graduated from Emory college, Oxford, Ga., A.B., 1848, A.M., 1851; entered the Methodist ministry, and was active as pastor in Georgia until elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, in May, 1886. He removed from Georgia to Sherman, Texas, in 1889; visited China and Japan in 1892, and made numerous official visits to Mexico. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., in 1867."
He was the subject of the following sketch at Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century. Addenda, page lix,:
"KEY, JOSEPH STAUNTON, clergyman, bishop, was born July 18, 1829, in La Grange, Ga. He is bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South."
He was the subject of the following sketch at The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 9, page 537,:
"Key, Joseph Staunton, Methodist Episcopal bishop, was born at La Grange, Troup co., Ga., July 18, 1829, son of Caleb W. Key. According to history, a certain Sir Martin Key, chief of the grooms of Edward VI., was married to Catherine, sister of the ill fated Lady Jane Grey, and from them, it is believed, that the American Keys are descended. A Martin Key appeared in Virginia before 1645, and obtained grants of land in the eastern part of the colony. A hundred years later, a third Martin Key, a tobacco planter was living in Albemarle county, and still later entertained Bishop Asbury as a guest. It is probable that Joseph Key, grandfather of the bishop, was the son of this Martin Key, of Albemarle. He removed from Virginia to Green county, Georgia, in the early days of the nineteenth century, taking with him his son Caleb W., born on the Staunton river. At the time of his son's birth, Caleb W. Key was a prosperous brick mason, carrying on a trade that was highly respectable, A man of real gifts, good attainments, and delightful manners, he seemed fitted for some higher calling, and this he finally found in the ministry, becoming connected with the Georgia conference as an itinerant preacher. Joseph Staunton Key, improved his advantages at an early age, and entered Emory College where in his senior year(1847) he was converted, at a revival. On Jan. 15, 1849, he entered the Georgia conference and was sent as a missionary to the negroes; also to assist the pastor of the church of whites in the university town of Athens. He reminedin active pastoral work until elected bishop, and during much of that part of his life, was in charge of city churches, with no experience as an itinerant. He was a member of the first general conference after the civil war (1866); was one of the leaders of the forward movement, as it was regarded, made at that conference; and introduced the provision, now in the Discipline, in which regular church conferences were to be called. He was made presiding elder, in which capacity he earned a great reputation, having in his various districts nearly 7000 members and under his care twenty preachers. SUch training prepared him for an office for which his tallents well fitted him, and in May. 1886, at Richmond he was advanced to the highest office in the church. Three years later he was removed to Texas, making his home in Sherman. In 1892 he visited China and Japan and made frequent visits to Mexico. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Georgia State University in 1869. Bishop Key was married first in 1851, to Susie Snider, and again in 1892 to Mrs. Lucy Kidd. A daughter and two sons, both of whom entered the ministry, were born to him; Rev. Howard Key, D. D., is the only one living."
He was the subject of the following sketch at Key and Allied Families, pp 199-209,:
Bishop Joseph Key, son of Rev. Caleb Witt Key, was a prominent Methodist minister of Georgia while the state was new and undeveloped. He was born in a Methodist parsonage in LaGrange, Ga., July 18, 1829. Having been reared in the parsonages, he knew all about the ups and downs and the twists and turns in a Methodist preacher's life. He filled every office in his church, from janitor up to Bishop.
Bishop Key was educated in Emory College at Oxford, Ga. At the age of sixteen he became a member of the Methodist Church, four years later he entered the ministry.
"My father," said Bishop Key, "was a member of the old undivided Georgia Conference. At that time Georgia was a new state and was practically without roads and highways. There were no buggies and but few carts and wagons. Horseback was the principal method of traveling. The Bishops in making their appointments at the Conferences would often send ministers almost across the state, and those thus changed in removing to their new charges were frequently compelled to follow blazes through the swamps, thickets and forest in order to reach safely destinations. In riding their circuits they usually carried their Bible, hymn-book and extra shirt or two in their saddle bags.
The time of holding the conference was a season of anxiety to the family of the preacher. In going to and returning from conference he was usually away from home three or four weeks, and in the absence of railroads and telegraph lines, and with the irregular mail service, the family as a general rule had to wait his return before they would know whether or not they would have to undertake a new charge. No one save themselves knew or could know the griefs and heartaches which the preachers' good wives and children endured in those days, when Methodism was leading civilization from ocean to ocean across the, then unsettled and undeveloped continent. In this connection we should not forget the important fact that victories of these grand old missionary pioneers could not have been achieved without the aid of their faithful wives, for God only knows what burdens they must have borne.
While awaiting the preacher's return from conference the good mother would gather her brood around by the family fireside in the humble parsonage and in tears would spend the evening in prayer and in discussing the privations and sorrows which an appointment to some distant charge would entail upon them. These changes were frequently more trying upon the children than the large majority of people ever realized. They like older people, make acquaintances and particular friends and companions, and their hearts were often wrung when the time would come to break up their happy associations and say "goodbye" to those they loved as brother and sister.
It was not infrequently the case that, in removing from one appointment to another, the long journey, sometimes requiring a week's travel, would have to be made in cumbersome old time farm wagon over rough and muddy roads. Reaching some friendly home where the night was spent, all tired and hungry, the preacher and his wife would be conducted into the sitting room, where they would be entertained until bedtime. While the children perhaps, would be sent into some cold and cheerless room to await supper time or the hours for their retirement. At that time parsonages were few and it was frequently the case that the pastor would have to find and rent a house suitable for a parsonage after he had reached his new appointment. At any angle from which we may view his environments in those primitive times the services of a Methodist preacher did not lead him along paths strewn with comfort, nor over flowery beds of ease. Possibly the work which these old missionary pioneers accomplished for the building of Christian civilization has never been and never will be duly realized and appreciated by the generations that have followed them, and harvested the valuable fruits that were produced by their unremitting labor. They wrought on starvation wages eking out a mere living for themselves and families. But to appreciate rightly the privileges and advantages which the people are now enjoying we should once in a while review the past and contrast primitive conditions with those which exist under the splendid twentieth century civilization for which our forefathers laid the foundation.
"Even since I first entered the ministry," said Bishop Key, "sentiments, ideals and methods of living have greatly changed and progressed. Then the minister was expected to rise early, pursue his studies, equipping himself for the proper performance of any ministeral duty which he might be called upon to discharge. These were some of the questions which the student for the ministry were expected to answer in the affirmative. Do you rise early? Can you shave, dress and tie your cravat in the dark? The cravats, or as they were then generally called, "neckties," were usually folded around the neck twice, and it required some skill to tie them neatly.
"In those times," continued Bishop Key, "Salaries cut but little figure with the Bishop in making his appointments. The preacher was sent where it was believed that he was most needed, or could accomplish the best service, regardless of the salary. At that time the salaries were low, and many preachers would receive less than $100 for their year's service, and when the appointments were announced each preacher as a rule, went to his charge without 'kicks' or complaints. Now (1915) there are few charges that pay less than $500 annually, and salaries run as high as $6,000, and bishops in making their appointments have no little trouble with preachers who expect to be adjusted to a good salary rather than the congregation. I remember when boots came into use, and a young preacher going to his charge in the country arrived at the church house on Sunday morning after the congregation had gathered for service. He rode up on horseback wearing a pair of red-top boots with the legs of his pants tucked in them. This so shocked the congregation at the conduct of the young preacher, whom they regarded as too full of the pomp and vanities of this world to serve them acceptably as a good and pious pastor. Laboring under this impression, the officers and old men of the congregation immediately held a conference back of the church building to determine whether they should accept or reject him. They had reached the conclusion that they would not receive him, when one old member, with better judgment and more considerate than the others, advised them to go slow, telling them that the county was new and full of snakes, and that the young man, in order to reach his appointment had traveled through the brush and along muddy paths and byways, and that most likely he wore the boots as a protection against snakes and to his pants. This argument proved effective, and the conference reconsidered its decision and accepted him. This young minister was the reverend and later the Hon. Henry W. Hill, who some years after this incident, retired from active ministry in Georgia and removed to Alabama, where he became distinguished as an able lawyer and statesman. He served that state as Congressman, and U. S. Minister to Belgium. But he always retained his credentials as a local preacher and delivered sermons as long as he lived.
"My first appointment was to a negro mission at Athens, Ga. My salary was only $100 and out of which I had to pay board. My experiences while serving this mission proved to be valuable to me. I learned how to feel at home in the pulpit, and how to preach to the common people. Before the separation of the Northern and Southern Methodist Churches, the young or 'junior' preachers were usually sent to the negro missions. The young man reared in the South, understanding the negroes and better understood by them, could catch the ear of the negroes quicker and were more acceptable to them as preachers than those who were reared north of the Mason's and Dixon's Line.
"My second appointment was to Savannah, Ga., as junior preacher, under Dr. Lovic Pierce. I was married in Savannah to Miss Susan McIntosh Snyder, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Snyder, at the end of my second year in the ministry. The country was then new and the difficulties and hardships of travel were many. My bridal tour was made from Savannah to my third appointment at Lumpkin, Ga. We went on a river steamboat up to Augusta, Ga., thence on the Georgia Railroad to Atlanta, thence by stage to Columbus, then on a steamboat down the Chattahoochee River to Georgetown, and from there by carriage to Lumkin. It required a week to make this trip. I served this charge three years without a vacation, or any let up in the discharge of my duties as pastor, on a salary of $400. From this charge I went to Talbotton, Ga., where my father had been pastor, and I had been sexton. My duties as such consisted chiefly in cleaning up the church, trimming and supplying the lamps with oil, ringing the bell, etc. I had to do this work every Saturday. In this church I have officiated as sexton, Sunday School Superintendent, Pastor and Bishop.
My fifth appointment took me to Athens, where I began my ministerial career as missionary to the negroes. At this time the State University being established here, Athens was regarded as the seat of wealth, culture and refinement in Georgia. I could not help but have doubts and misgivings as to the manner in which I would be received, but I determined to do my full duty and meet, unflinchingly, the responsibilities attached to this important charge, leaving the results with God, who said 'that he would never forsake his own.' To my great satisfaction and delight, the students and the people met and welcomed me with open hearts and arms, and it seemed to me that I reaped some of the richest fruits and harvests that I ever gathered in all of my ministry. I was almost constantly in a revival, scores of students and some of the members of the faculty were converted and professed religion.
"I was personally acquainted with 'Bob' Tombs, Joe Brown, Ben Hill, Alexander Stephens, and his brother Linton Stephens, Howell Cobb was my personal friend and I preached his funeral. Alexander and Linton Stephens were kinsmen of mine. (Note: Probably he meant kinship by law. His first cousin, Joseph Key, Jr., married Margaret Grier, cousin of the author of the almanac, and daughter of Robert Grier, Sr. Alexander H. Stephens' mother was Mary Grier, sister of Robert Grier, and Linton Stephen was Alexander's half brother. Their father was Andrew B. Stephen, who married (1) Mary Grier, (2) Matilda S. Lindsey, daughter of Col. John Lindsey.) I was well acquainted with the father of Pres. Wilson. He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Ga. While I was the pastor of the Methodist Church in the same city. I knew his son, President Wilson, when he was a small boy, but have never met him since he became President. His father, Dr. Wilson, was a splendid gentleman and a genial, sunny-hearted companion.
In referring to his wife, Bishop Key spoke of her most tenderly and affectionately. He said he had never met a more remarkable woman, that he had never heard her utter a cross word or make an unkind remark about any pupil, teacher, or professor in her school, nor about any servant in her employment. Those who knew her best regarded her as the embodiment of Christian culture and refinement. (Texas Press.).
Bishop Joseph Staunton Key III died in 1916 at Sherman, Grayson County, TX.
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