C. Vincent Hall: the “Alexander Campbell” of Jamaica and the "Young Indiana Jones" Archaeologist in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt Researched by Dr
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by Dr. Richard J. Geringswald, Th.D, Litt.D. President of Jamaica Bible Seminary, Kingston, Jamaica, Professor of Archaeology and frequent Lecturer at Polk State College Archaeology Club, Winter Haven, FL copyright 2019 Lieutenant C. Vincent Hall: The “Alexander Campbell” of Jamaica and The "Young Indiana Jones" Archaeologist in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt Researched by Dr. Richard J. Geringswald, President, Jamaica Bible Seminary, April 5, 2019 rev. Forward This is a new revised version of my 2008 report. Some mysteries have been answered and others still remain a puzzle. More research has been done as to his military career in Cambrai, France in WW 1 and his travels to Australia and his history in the Congregational church and why he left. Any additional information will be helpful. I joined Randal Craig, my Jamaican brother, to check Ebenezer cemetery for pictures of gravestone and complete dates and additional information. The cemetery had grave stones snapped off so possibly local carvers had marble to chisel for the tourist industry. The head of the Kingston cemetery located a grave site that best matches the brick crypts of the 1945 era and this may or may not be the grave site of C. Vincent Hall. Also we took a visit to the Brixton Hill Congregational church to check archives and they never heard of him. Some of his military service is on old records now on computer. I also found an old passport record before his Egypt trip but no mention of Egypt on it. Christian Standard records on his reports produced much insight, as well as from Disciples of Christ Newsletters. Gerry Williamson met and knew the man but she has passed. Some Jamaicans in their 80's and 90's remember him, but 11 years have passed since my first writing and even those have gone. I’m still looking for pictures, lantern slides of Egypt and more information on his wives and family. I even contacted London, England looking for the University or College he attended along with the Howard Carter archives at Oxford and they returned little to nothing. What I have here is accumulation of information over 22 years working with Jamaica Missions and Jamaica Bible Seminary which he helped start. God bless, Bro. Richard Brother Richard and Sister Cassandra Geringswald. Library tribute was a gift from Sister Fannie Knight, from the Boy’s Home library door now in the Seminary learning center at Mineral Heights Church of Christ, near May Pen. 1 Introduction: My son Nathan Geringswald sent me “Young Indiana Jones, the War Years” on DVD for Father’s Day some years back and did I ever see a parallel. There were special studies in the histories behind the adventure stories. C. Vincent Hall lived as real a life as a soldier in the Trenches of France in World War I, and explored the Tombs of Egypt with the Carter expedition, as Ray Chapman Andrews, the adventurer, who was the inspiration for “Indiana Jones”. Hall toured the world thrice, crossed Australia, circled Australia, endured the ruggedness of life in the harsh Egyptian climate. Mortality of archaeologists was short because of the realities of the heat of desert, storm, disease, robbers and fevers. Perhaps his experiences in the cold wet trenches of France as well as using mule and motor truck to funnel supplies under constant bombardment and shrapnel with the Motor Transport Corps, prepared him well for the upcoming touch challenges of Jamaica life. He’d spend nights sleeping on a pew in the pouring rain under a tent to protect the location for the next nights Revival. In beginning this search for Lieut. C. Vincent Hall, I had taught Restoration History over 2 decades ago at Jamaica Christian College (now Jamaica Bible Seminary, Ltd.) and have since accumulated more of the histories of the movers and shakers of the Restoration Movement of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in Jamaica. In June, 2008, I team taught Restoration Church History with Ozark Christian University Professor Dr. Rick Cherok, PhD Kent State, using as a text “Emerging from the Wilderness: a Study of Restoration History” by Donald G. Hunt. I merely had a scratched note: “C. Vincent Hall, cook on the Carter expedition that discovered the boy King Tut’s tomb 18 yrs. Old, Valley of the Kings.-- Donald Hunt”. (Later the experts put his age at 19.) It was a small notebook notation I had received in conversation with Bro. Hunt, whose last mission trip, before he passed away, was to Jamaica to teach the Unfolded Plan of God. Most Jamaica histories mention C. Vincent Hall with a small paragraph or two and have him in the Anglican Church in England and the Congregational Church in Jamaica. With “Google Search” I located some brochures at the Iowa University Library that caused everything to come together. I badly needed a picture of C. V. Hall, prayed about it, and found one the next day on the same web page of the Iowa University Library, I found the NY lectureship brochure. I immediately had shivers run down my arms. “Eureka, I found it!”. When I was in Jamaica 10 years ago, Dr. Winston Scott, our Academic Dean, went to an older member of the church he preaches and could at least tell us if the man was white or black. He was white. Talking with other Jamaica preachers they mentioned Hall was still respected among the circles of the Congregational Church in Jamaica. There were also parallels between Hall and Alexander Campbell. Both were well educated. Both were well respected. His efforts at Mocho were similar to Campbell’s Brush Run, with small beginnings and large impacts. Both church building would hold 30-35 people and you could crowd maybe 50 in the buildings. Crowds would have to gather on the grounds outside. In campaigns and revivals, Hall converted 100’s in the Clarendon district of Jamaica, just as Raccoon John Smith baptized thousands on the Western Reserve. Seven years after his death, there were 45 churches of Christ, 30 preaching points and an estimated membership of 3,000 by 1953. Both had desire to begin a college to train men. Hall saw his limitations as an educator or administrator and invited Luke Elliott to begin the Jamaica Bible Seminary. War took its toll on stumbling beginnings. One instructor Walter E. Stram came down in June 1950, but his German name confused the authorities and he was accused of being a German spy and was sent back home to America after 6 months on the island. With The Great Depression and World War 2, many Americans were recalled from overseas for their protection to come back home. Missionary work came to a standstill in many places. The same happened after World War II as the hurricanes destroyed many of the church buildings and many Jamaicans looking for work moved to England to rebuild that nation after the war. My frustration in this search is like getting one salted peanut to whet your appetite and nothing more. Tiny snippets of information. A Couple words. Victor Knowles biography of Archie Word tells of his revivals in Jamaica and how he was greeted by Tom Moodie, a co-worker of the recently departed C. Vincent Hall who was the first to tell America about the Churches of Christ in Jamaica. And then the record goes on to say how Brother Moodie was preaching for the church in Kingston Gardens and became Word’s host for the next 3 weeks, but nothing more on C. Vincent Hall. 2 We may leave you with more questions than answers, but you’ve got an exciting trail of adventure following the path of this great man of God and the man who had the vision for beginning Jamaica Bible Seminary to train Jamaican leaders for the Churches. Respectfully submitted by Dr. Richard J. Geringswald, President, Jamaica Bible Seminary 1998-2019. Early years “Brother Neil MacLeod was the connecting link between this phase of the work and the restoration movement that exists in Jamaica today. Sent by the CFBM, he stayed in the home of a family which had a young son whose name was C. Vincent Hall. This boy learned much about the restoration of New Testament Christianity, but as he grew older he was influenced first by the Congregationalists, then baptized by the Baptists.” The Church Abroad pg. 375 (Note: MacLeod graduated from Bethany College in 1896, preached in Ohio and Indiana, married, widower, volunteered for foreign service and was assigned to Jamaica. His sister Florence went with him and served until 1899 to return on furlough, remarried and then returned to the foreign field, but was cut short by Bro. MacLeod’s untimely death from fever. Buried by the King’s Gate Church. I guess Neil MacLeod stayed with the Halls prior to 1899 as a widower rather than a married man. How old was C. Vincent at this time? Between 15-17 RG) “He was a respected Jamaican with influential connections.” another report. “The spirit of restoration was revived when national, C. Vincent Hall, returned from the states in 1935...” Horizons Magazine Oct. 1986. Other records mention his parents in Jamaica raising him. He was of English parentage. Apparently his parents hosted a missionary in their home for a time. Other records have him preaching at a Methodist Church in Jamaica. College Years in England In Jamaica or in England? Where did the man get his education.? His psychology, speaking skills, interest in photography, ability to cook for large groups, his respect among Archaeologists and British Generals showed an ability head and shoulders above his peers.