Floy James
Floy James [1]
a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in the city of New York August 20, 1806. He received his academical education at Columbia College, New York, but left college before graduating, and went to London, where he was for some time a student of botany and horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Returning to New York, be became a clerk in the Methodist Publishing House. In 1831 he joined the Bowery Village (now, Seventh Street) Methodist Episcopal Church, and for some time acted as teacher and superintendent of a Sunday-school for colored persons under the care of that church. He was also appointed a class- leader; was licensed to preach in February, 1833; was received into the travelling ministry as a probationer at the New York Conference of 1835, and appointed to Riverhead, Long Island, N.Y. His subsequent appointments were: 183637, Hempstead Circuit; 1837-39, Harlem Mission. He was an earnest abolitionist at a time when abolitionism cost a man. something; and in 1838 he was censured by his Conference for attending an abolition Convention. He lived to see his principles triumph both in Church and State. At the Conference for 1839 be was ordained elder, and appointed to Kortright Circuit, Delaware County, N.Y., but, on account of the illness of his wife, he was released from the appointment. From 1840 to 1842 be was at Washington-street Church, Brooklyn; 1842- 44, Danbury, Conn.; 184446, Madison Street, New York; 1847-48, Middletown, Conn.; 1848-50, New Haven, Connecticut; 1850-52, Madison Street, New York, second time; 1852-54, Twenty-seventh Street, New York; 1854-56, presiding elder of New York District; 1856-60, editor of National Magazine and Secretary of the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal. Church; 1861-63, Seventh Street, New York; 1863, Beekman Hill, New York.
Three times his Conference elected him a delegate to the General Conference. His appointments during the twenty-four years of his pastoral life strongly indicate the high appreciation that was held of his merits; and it is believed that be never failed to leave any charge better than when he came to it. He also took a lively interest in the general affairs of the Church; was diligent in his attendance on the sessions of his Conference, where his influence was always potent. As assistant secretary and secretary he kept the Conference journals fourteen years. In 1848 he received the degree of D.D. from the Wesleyan University. As a preacher, he was clear, direct, and earnest; eminently evangelical in doctrine; in exhortation, pungent and effective; elevated in matter, and rigidly correct in style and manner. His death as sudden. On the evening of Oct. 14, 1863, in his study, with only a son with him, be was seized with apoplexy, and expired almost instantly. Dr. Floy was a man of powerful personal character, and of vigorous as well as acute intellect. His critical faculty was largely developed; his personal culture was careful and thorough; his English style cease pure and clear to a rare degree. For twenty years he was a contributor to the Methodist Quarterly Review, and some of the best articles in that journal are from his pen. He was devoted to Sunday- schools, and wrote several books for the use of the schools, among them Harry Budd, a very successful juvenile tale. One of his most important labors was the editing of the Methodist Hymn-book, a task assigned to a committee, of which Dr. Floy was the most active member, by the General Conference of 1849. The Hymn-book now in use owes its comprehensiveness and general excellence largely to Dr. Floy. He edited the posthumous works of Dr. Olin (q.v.). After his death appeared his Old Testament Characters delineated and illustrated (N. York, 12mo): — Occasional Sermons, Reviews, and Essays (N.Y. 12mo). — Curry, in Methodist Quarterly Review, January, 1864, article 6; Woodruff, in The Ladies Repository, July, 1865, art. 1; Minutes of the Annual Conferences, 1864, page 88.
