Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3110 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANShis death he filled that position, and was also secretary of the committee onco-operation, a committee whose work is fundamental in the Georgia Baptistscheme of activity.Writing from an authoritative knowledge of the conditions, the authorof the biography already referred to has this to say concerning DoctorBernard's accomplishments:"The work of Dr. Bernard with the Mission Board has been a distinctand marked success. He has not entirely escaped the common lot of pioneersin thought and action. He has sometimes been misunderstood. At the sametime it is to the credit of Georgia Baptists and is also a gratifying vindicationof the wisdom of this man of God, that he has been permitted to see the fruitionof more than one important program in our Baptist life for which he contended when he stood almost alone and faced the active opposition of many."Dr. Bernard has been one of the staunchest friends and supporters ofthe organized work of the Georgia Baptist women and he enjoys the unstintedand cordial admiration of these elect women. During all the years of hisactive service to Georgia Baptists he has found time to write for the ChristianIndex and other papers, and also to write tracts and other articles. Hewields a trenchant pen, and what he writes is gladly read. In 1913, Dr. J. J.Bennett, then secretary of the Mission Board, became ill. In 1914 the work ofDr. Bennett fell on the shoulders of Dr. Bernard. With wisdom and faithfulness, with marked ability and untiring energy, though the accumulatedyears were beginning to tell upon him and to deplete his large stores of physicalvitality, Dr. Bernard set himself to this double task, and the results weretruly remarkable. In that year more money was collected than in any yearthat had preceded it."Mr. and Mrs. Hugh R. Bernard became the parents of eight children, fivenow deceased. The son Hugh is a merchant at Athens, and Annie was for anumber of years connected as a teacher with Brenaud College.Guy Talmadge Bernard, the oldest of his father's living children, waseducated in Mercer University and in the medical department of the University of Georgia, and since his graduation in 1907 has been in active practiceat Augusta. He is an instructor in the Georgia State Medical College and hasinterested himself in many movements outside of his profession.JOSEPH W. PRESTON, SR. A venerable and honored member of the bar ofthe City of Macon, Joseph W. Preston, Sr., is a native son of Georgia, whosesterling character, high attainments.and distinguished services in positions ofimportant public trust have all combined to confer distinction upon thisfavored commonwealth, upon himself and upon the name which he bears.General Preston, as he is familiarly known, is a scion of the stanchest of colonialancestry. Both his paternal and maternal forbears of the earlier generationsbecame prominent in connection with civic and industrial affairs in the historic Old Dominion. Both names have long been distinguished in the annalsof the fair Southland.General Preston was born in Jasper County, Georgia, December 19, 1839.His father was William H. Preston and his mother Martha Preston, the formera native of Virginia, and the latter of Georgia. Ancestors, in both lines, weregallant, patriot soldiers in the war of the Revolution. One of the number, inthe paternal line, was a member of the personal bodyguard of General Washington during the great struggle for national independence. The parents ofGeneral Preston continued their residence in Georgia until their death, hisfather having been a citizen of marked prominence and influence in hiscommunity.General Preston was reared in a home of culture and gracious refinement,and, after due preliminary discipline, was matriculated in Mercer Universityin 1860. Shortly thereafter all his personal ambitions and plans were sub-