| Notes |
- Rev. John Alderson Sr. was born in Yorkshire in the year 1699. His father, John Alderson, was a Baptist minister, of useful talents and respectable standing, and though supporting his family by the cultivation of the soil, he devoted a large portion of his time to the ministry. At the age of 19 or 20, his son was about to form a matrimonial connection beneath the social standing of the family, and the father, in order to divert his attention from the object of his affections, proposed furnishing him an outfit and the requisite means for travelling through the country. The proposition was accepted, but the youth soon squandered all his means, and was overtaken by a press-gang, who forced him on board their ship, which was about to sail for America.
Without the knowledge of his parents, he was brought to the state of New Jersey,and,as was the custom of those days, he was hired out by the captain for his passage money. His employer was a respectable farmer, by the name of Curtis, and the affections of his daughter to whom he married.
Soon after this he became deeply concerned about his eternal interests. By the grace of God he became a humble penitent at the feet of Jesus. Having embraced the Saviour in the fulness of his heart, he was baptized and received into the fellowship of the Bethlehem Baptist church. Possessing a clear intellect, and a heart deeply imbued by divine grace, he was encouraged to give himself to the ministry of the word. After a protracted struggle, he, at length, obtained the consent of his own mind, and was sent forth as a herald of the cross of the same church that put into the ministry John Gano, Hezekiah Smith, Charles Thompson, the Eatons, and other distinguished ministers of the gospel. It must have been exceedingly gratifying to the father to hear from the long lost son, and more especially to hear that the prodigal had become a minister of the gospel. Thomas Hollis, a wealthy merchant of London, and a Baptist, had presented Rev. John Alderson of Yorkshire, with a number of valuable books, among which were Keach on the Parables, Keach on Scripture Metaphors, large folio, and Cotton's Concordance, quarto, London 1635. These books the father sent over as a present to the son. They are now in the possession of the writer. In the Concordance is written "Thomas Hollis 1721", and "Joseph Eaton,1735"; also "John Alderson his book."
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Original source:
Religious Herald, Richmond, Virginia, 10 April 1873, Page 57, Column 6 Memorial Readings
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1699 - 1780 (80 years)
[1] 
