Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Dru­ry La­cy II a Pres­by­ter­ian min­is­ter in Raleigh, and Will­ia­na Wil­kin­son, and hus­band of Ma­ry Ca­the­rine Shep­herd (mar­ried 1888). His mo­ther died of tu­ber­cu­los­is when he was four years old.

He gra­du­at­ed from col­lege in Da­vid­son, Vir­gin­ia, in 1859, then en­rolled at Un­ion Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry in Hamp­den-Sid­ney, Vir­gin­ia.

In the Am­eri­can ci­vil war, he was a pri­vate in the Con­fed­er­ate Rock­bridge Ar­til­le­ry, lat­er served as chap­lain of the 47th North Ca­ro­li­na In­fantry Re­gi­ment. Af­ter the war, he re­turned to Ra­leigh and be­came a teach­er.

He was li­censed to preach by the Pres­by­te­ry of Roa­noke, Virg­in­ia, October 2, 1862, and or­dained to the min­is­try in Ap­ril, 1869, by the Ab­ing­don Pres­by­te­ry. He served as pas­tor of the An­chor of Hope and Cove church­es in south­west­ern Vir­gin­ia.

In 1873, he re­turned to North Ca­ro­li­na and be­came pas­tor of Buf­fa­lo and Eu­phro­nia church­es in Moore Coun­ty.

In 1885 he trans­ferred to the church at Jones­boro, North Ca­ro­li­na, in the Pres­by­te­ry of Fay­ette­ville.

In June, 1888, he ac­cept­ed a call to the Se­cond Pres­by­ter­ian Church of Nor­folk, Vir­gin­ia, stay­ing there 11 years.