Introduction

Biography

William was the hus­band of Ma­ry Fran­cis Sim­mons of Cave Spring (mar­ried 1855)

In 1846 Ri­vers left Gaines­ville, Geor­gia, to at­tend Yale Col­lege (class of 1850). How­ev­er, he left school in his jun­ior year due to ill health. He moved to Floyd Coun­ty, Georg­ia, about 1851.

Rivers joined the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, South, at Gaines­ville, Georg­ia, on pro­ba­tion in 1850, and was re­ceived to full mem­ber­ship the next year. He was li­censed to ex­hort in Cave Spring in No­vem­ber 1856, and li­censed to preach at Liv­ing­ston, Georg­ia, Cave Spring Cir­cuit, in 1857.

He was or­dained a dea­con at Rome, Georg­ia, in 1863, and ad­mit­ted on tri­al to the Georg­ia Con­fer­ence at Ma­con, Georg­ia, in 1865. He was or­dained an el­der at Rome, Georg­ia, in 1869, and went to a four-de­cade preach­ing career.

He served in ma­ny Georg­ia lo­cations, in­clud­ing:

• Cedartown (sup­ply preach­er), 1864
• Rome Cir­cuit (ad­mit­ted), 1866
• Kingston, 1867
• Zebulon, 1868
• Jonesboro, 1869
• Cave Spring, 1870–71
• Forrestville, 1872–73
• Washington, 1874
• Elberton, 1875
• Barnesville, 1876–78
• Covington, 1879
• West Point, 1880
• South Rome, 1881–82
• Greenville and Tri­ni­ty, 1883–86
• Winterville, 1887–89
• Jefferson, 1890–91
• Powder Springs, 1892
• Jug Ta­vern, 1893
• Winder, 1894
• Belton and Miss­ion, 1895

He was su­per­an­nu­at­ed in 1895.