ENTRY

William F. Broaddus (1801–1876)

SUMMARY

William F. Broaddus was a Baptist minister. Born in what would later become Rappahannock County, he was educated there and in 1824 ordained as the pastor of the F. T. Baptist Church. Two years later he moved to Frederick County and advocated the work of traveling missionaries against the opposition of those who feared they would corrupt the principles of individual salvation. Broaddus’s proposal that money be raised to evangelize among the poor led the Ketocton Baptist Association to deny him a seat and the Columbia Baptist Association, at least temporarily, to bar him from its conference. Broaddus eventually moved to Kentucky, then worked as an agent raising funds for Columbian College (later George Washington University) in Washington, D.C. In 1853, he became the pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he was briefly imprisoned by the U.S. Army as a Confederate sympathizer. From 1863 to 1868 he served as pastor of the Charlottesville Baptist Church before returning to Fredericksburg. He died there in 1876.

Early Years

William Francis Ferguson Broaddus was born on April 30, 1801, near Woodville in the portion of Culpeper County that in 1833 became Rappahannock County. He was the son of Susannah Ferguson White Broaddus and her second husband, Thomas Broaddus. Dissatisfied with the awkwardness of his name, he asked his mother for permission to drop one of his middle names. She agreed, and he was always known thereafter as William F. Broaddus, but he never disclosed which name he had dropped. His father died when Broaddus was about ten years old. He attended local schools and by the age of sixteen was sufficiently educated to become a schoolmaster. On October 28, 1819, he married Mary Ann Farrow. They had four sons and two daughters.

Ministry

In 1823 Broaddus joined the F. T. Baptist Church in Culpeper County, and the following year he was ordained as its pastor. He was a natural and easy speaker, described as laborious rather than studious in his preparation. In 1826 Broaddus moved to Bethel Baptist Church in Frederick County. He became a supporter of those Baptists who advocated missionary work and evangelism and opposed the views of those who feared that innovations such as traveling ministers, Sunday school associations, and other evangelical work would corrupt the principle that individual salvation was possible only through God’s intervention.

In 1827 the Ketocton Baptist Association defeated Broaddus’s proposal that money be raised to spread the gospel among the poor, and some members threatened to abstain from fellowship with any Baptist who advocated missionary efforts. Four years later he was criticized for organizing a four-day revival meeting. In 1833 the association denied Broaddus a seat at its annual meeting, and shortly thereafter the Columbia Baptist Association also refused to admit him to its conference. Angered, delegates from Bethel and from the Long Branch Baptist Church, of which he was also pastor, withdrew from the Ketocton and Columbia Baptist associations and formed the evangelical Salem Union Baptist Association. In 1835 the Columbia Association relented and allowed Broaddus to participate, but five antimissionary congregations left the association. The rift was not healed for many years, but later church historians gave Broaddus much of the credit for the eventual evangelical triumph over antimission Baptists in the region.

The Obligation

Between 1834 and 1839 Broaddus was pastor of Bethel, Long Branch, Middleburg, and Upperville Baptist churches in Frederick and Loudoun counties. He also conducted a boarding school for girls at Middleburg in Loudoun County. In 1836 Broaddus engaged in a public exchange with another minister, Henry Slicer, over the nature of baptism. He argued that only repentant believers should be baptized in Letters to Rev. Mr. Slicer, in Reply to his “Appeal” on “Christian Baptism.”

From 1840 to 1845 Broaddus was minister of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. From 1845 to 1851 he was president of the Shelbyville Female Institute in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and during part of the time he served the Baptist church in Versailles as well. A fire at the institute destroyed the diary that Broaddus had kept since his youth. His wife died on September 8, 1850, and on July 29, 1851, he married a widow, Susan Burbridge, of Kentucky, before moving to Washington, D.C., as an agent raising funds for Columbian College (later George Washington University). Broaddus had been a trustee from 1838 to 1841 and served again from 1859 to 1872. As Columbian’s agent he raised an endowment of more than $40,000. In 1854 the college awarded Broaddus an honorary DD. His second wife died on April 21, 1852, and exactly one year later he married another widow, Lucy Ann Semple Fleet. They had one daughter.

Broaddus moved back to Virginia in 1853 as pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church, and on October 1, of that year he opened the Fredericksburg Female Academy. Principally a minister and educator rather than a scholar, he nonetheless engaged in another debate on baptism, this time with Archibald Alexander Hodge. In Strictures on Rev. A. A. Hodge’s Four Sermons on Infant Baptism (1858), Broaddus maintained that infant baptism was contrary to Scripture because only repentant believers could be baptized. In 1859 his church granted him a year’s sabbatical to study at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina.

Belle Boyd

The Civil War disrupted Broaddus’s ministry. On July 29, 1862, the U.S. Army arrested him and eighteen other Fredericksburg residents and held them in Washington’s Old Capitol Prison until they could be exchanged for prisoners of war being held in Confederate prisons. He and one of the other captives, Belle Boyd, were paroled on August 29, and traveled together to Richmond, where Broaddus worked out a prisoner exchange with the Confederate government. Broaddus obtained his own release on September 24, 1862, and returned to Fredericksburg. Wartime damage to his house destroyed a draft autobiography and all the diaries he had kept since the Shelbyville fire.

Later Years

Broaddus served as pastor of the Charlottesville Baptist Church from January 1863 until 1868, when he resigned and returned to Fredericksburg to raise money under the auspices of the Baptist General Association of Virginia for the education of children of deceased or disabled Confederate soldiers. In three years he helped more than 2,000 children receive school tuition.

In 1867 Broaddus delivered and published a Centennial Sermon of the Potomac Baptist Association, of Virginia. This history of the early churches of the northeastern Piedmont in part described his own role in the split over evangelism and missionary work. From 1868 to 1876 Broaddus served as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he was an overseer of Columbian College from 1872 until he resigned in 1874. His eyesight began failing during the last years of his life, and he suffered the effects of dementia near the end. Broaddus died in Fredericksburg on September 8, 1876, and was buried with Masonic rites in the city cemetery. A tablet commemorating his service was later placed in the Fredericksburg Baptist Church.

Major Works

  • Strictures on Rev. A. A. Hodge’s Four Sermons on Infant Baptism (1858)
  • Centennial Sermon of the Potomac Baptist Association, of Virginia (1867)

MAP
TIMELINE
April 30, 1801
William F. Broaddus is born in Woodville, Culpeper (later Rappahannock) County.
October 28, 1819
William F. Broaddus and Mary Ann Farrow marry. They will have four sons and two daughters.
1823
William F. Broaddus joins the F. T. Baptist Church in Culpeper County.
1824
William F. Broaddus is ordained the pastor of F. T. Baptist Church in Culpeper County.
1826
The minister William F. Broaddus moves to Bethel Baptist Church in Frederick County.
1827
The Ketocton Baptist Association defeats William F. Broaddus's proposal that money be raised to spread the gospel among the poor.
1833
The Ketocton Baptist Association denies William F. Broaddus a seat at its annual meeting.
1834—1849
William F. Broaddus serves as pastor of Bethel, Long Branch, Middleburg, and Upperville Baptist churches in Frederick and Loudoun counties.
1835
The Columbia Baptist Association reverses itself and allows the pro-missionary pastor William F. Broaddus to participate.
1838—1841
William F. Broaddus serves as a trustee of Columbian College (later George Washington University).
1840—1845
William F. Broaddus serves as minister of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.
1845—1851
William F. Broaddus serves as president of the Shelbyville Female Institute in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
September 8, 1850
Mary Farrow Broaddus, the wife of William F. Broaddus, dies.
July 29, 1851
William F. Broaddus and Susan Burbridge, of Kentucky, marry and move to Washington, D.C.
April 21, 1852
Susan Burbridge Broaddus, the wife of William F. Broaddus, dies.
1853
William F. Broaddus and Lucy Semple Fleet marry. They will have one daughter.
October 1, 1853
William F. Broaddus opens the Fredericksburg Female Academy.
1854
Columbian College (later George Washington University) awards William F. Broaddus an honorary DD.
1859—1872
William F. Broaddus serves as a trustee of Columbian College (later George Washington University).
July 29, 1862
The U.S. Army arrests nineteen Fredericksburg residents and holds them in Washington's Old Capitol Prison until they can be exchanged for prisoners of war.
September 24, 1862
William F. Broaddus obtains his release from Washington's Old Capitol Prison.
January 1863—1868
William F. Broaddus serves as pastor of the Charlottesville Baptist Church.
1867
William F. Broaddus delivers and publishes a Centennial Sermon of the Potomac Baptist Association, of Virginia.
1872—1874
William F. Broaddus serves as an overseer of Columbian College (later George Washington University).
September 8, 1876
William F. Broaddus dies in Fredericksburg.
FURTHER READING
  • Gunter, Donald W. “Broaddus, William Francis Ferguson.” In the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 2, edited by Sara B. Bearss, John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tarter, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, 242–244. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2001.
CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Gunter, Donald & Dictionary of Virginia Biography. William F. Broaddus (1801–1876). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/broaddus-william-f-1801-1876.
MLA Citation:
Gunter, Donald, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "William F. Broaddus (1801–1876)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 30 Sep. 2023
Last updated: 2021, December 22
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