One Faithful & Determined Woman – CTS from the Archives

Throughout our 100th Anniversary year, we will highlight articles from CTS’ Institutional Historical Collection in our series “CTS from the Archives.” This story from the CTS Archives was written by Rev. Dr. Scott Seay and originally posted May 28, 2019 on Facebook.

Sarah (Harris) Dickerson Froe (1843-1905)

Disciple of Christ friends, I want to introduce you to some people I met in the archives and special collections at CTS this afternoon. The first is Sarah (Harris) Dickerson Froe (1843-1905). She was born into slavery In Putnam County, (West) Virginia. With her enslaver’s family she moved to Tazwell County, Virginia some time during the U.S. Civil War. There she met and married Bartley Dickerson (1835-1873), who had been a Disciples of Christ evangelist since at least 1860. In short order, the couple had six sons. Bartley died from pneumonia at the age of 38, leaving Sarah to raise their sons ranging in age from three months to nine years old. In 1876, she married Fletcher Froe, an older widower whose children were already grown. He died in 1880.

Because of her tenacity and determined faith, she sent her boys to the Louisville Bible Institute, and four of them became evangelists for the Disciples of Christ: William H. (1864-1930), Charles H. (1869-1938), George M. (1871-1953), and Cloyd H. (1873-1947). Three of these distinguished Disciples preachers were present in Nashville, Tennessee in 1917 for the formation of the National Christian Missionary Convention, known since 1969 as the National Convocation. Four sons of these preachers–Sarah’s and Bartley’s grandsons–also became Disciples ministers, forming what some have called a “preaching dynasty” in the Disciples of Christ. They collectively gave over 300 years of ministry to the Disciples of Christ during their lifetimes. They served churches in Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio, and New York. I completely lost track of time this afternoon as I dug and dug in our collections to find out as much as I could about this family.

It all seems to have begun with a faithful and determined woman named Sarah Harris Dickerson Froe. I hope that you find her as inspiring as I do. (All photos courtesy of the Archives and Special Collections at Christian Theological Seminary).

Archival Images (click to view full sized photo)