E. V. Nonamaker to Carroll Herman Little, July 1, 1914

Description
Creators
E. V. Nonamaker, Correspondent
Carrol Herman Little
, Recipient
Media Type
Text
Item Type
Correspondence
Description
Handwritten letter to Carroll Herman Little from E. V. Nonamaker on July 1, 1914. Nonamaker is asking Little to reconsider resigning as housefather of Bethany Orphans' Home.
Notes
Carroll Herman Little (1872-1958) was a Lutheran pastor, and a professor and administrator at the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada (later Waterloo Lutheran Seminary; now Martin Luther University College) in Waterloo, Ontario.

Little was born in Hickory, North Carolina in 1872. He was the eldest of ten children born to Rev. Marcus Lafayette Little (1848-1891) and Candace Mary Almetta Herman (1848-1947). Marcus L. Little, a Lutheran pastor and educator, was killed in a train accident in Newton, North Carolina on February 16, 1891.

C. H. Little received his early education and work experience in North Carolina, graduating from Gaston College in 1889. From 1888-1891 Little worked as editor of a newspaper founded by his father in Dallas, North Carolina. He also taught in North Carolina schools. After his father’s death, Little entered Roanoke College in Virginia, graduating with a BA (Classics) in 1893. From 1897-1898 he was enrolled in post-graduate studies in the Classics Department at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1901 Little graduated from Mount Airy Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following in his father’s footsteps, C. H. Little was ordained by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania on June 3, 1901. After ordination he accepted a call to the Nova Scotia Synod, serving as pastor in the New Germany parish from 1901-1909, and the Mahone Bay parish from 1909-1911. From 1911-1914 he was housefather of Bethany Orphans’ Home in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. During this time he also served the Nova Scotia Synod as secretary (1904-1909), president (1911-1914) and editor of the Nova Scotia Lutheran (1907-1911). In 1914 Little was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. Little left Nova Scotia in 1914 when he accepted a call to the St. Lawrence Parish in Morrisburg, Ontario.

In 1917 C. H. Little accepted a teaching position at the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada (now Waterloo Lutheran Seminary) in Waterloo, Ontario. He remained at the Seminary for the rest of his career, retiring in 1947. In addition to his responsibilities as professor, Little also held various administrative roles including acting President, 1918-1920, 1929-1931, and 1942-44; Bursar, 1918-1933; and Dean, 1920-1927. Little continued to pursue his own education through correspondence studies with the Chicago Lutheran Seminary, receiving the degrees of BD and STM in 1924, and an STD in 1928.

Publications authored by C. H. Little include New Testament handbook (1941); Lutheran confessional theology : a presentation of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of concord (1943); and Explanation of the book of Revelation (1950). He was a long time contributor to the Canada Lutheran, and held editorial positions for the publication.

Little married Edith Blanche “Bonnie” DeLong (1888-1974) on September 9, 1908 in Nova Scotia. They had ten children: Carolus DeLong, Herman Luther, Marion, Arthur Bernard, Robert Paul, Margaret Eileen, Ruth, Catharine, Florence Josephine, and John Frederick.

Carroll Herman Little died in Waterloo, Ontario on March 31, 1958.

-- Letter transcribed by Kelsey Grant in May 2014.
Date of Original
July 1, 1914
Dimensions
Width: 21 cm
Height: 26.5 cm
Subject(s)
Clergy
Little, Carroll Herman
Bethany Orphans' Home (Bridgewater, N.S.)
Nonamaker, Edgar V.
Local identifier
S100_5.1.7
Collection
Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada fonds
Language of Item
English
Geographic Coverage
  • Wentzell Lake
    Nova Scotia, Canada
    Latitude: 44.36685 Longitude: -64.36545
Copyright Statement
Public domain: Copyright has expired according to Canadian law. No restrictions on use.
Recommended Citation
Correspondence from E. V. Nonamaker to Carroll Herman Little, 1 July 1914, Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada fonds, S100, FIle 5.1.7, Wilfrid Laurier University Archives & Special Collections, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Reproduction Notes
RG-102.13 Disc11
Contact
Wilfrid Laurier University Library
Email:libarch@wlu.ca
Website:
https://library.wlu.ca/archives

Agency street/mail address:

75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON Canada N2L 3C5

Full Text

Wentzel’s Lake N.S

July 1, 1914

Dear Bro. Little,-

No doubt you will be surprised in receiving this communication from me at this time and perhaps consider what I have to say entirely out of place, but I would ask you, if it seems presumptuous, to view it in the spirit in which it is given - namely that of a sincere friend as well as of a brother worker. I have been thinking ever since I left the Home yesterday as to what your resignation would ultimately mean both to you and your family and our Synod and its work here in Nova Scotia. I do not doubt that it will be to your advantage as well as to your family's whether you remain in the Synod or not, to be relieved of the burden of the Home and in that I rejoice, but on the other hand I fully know that should you leave this Synod we will be losing one whose place cannot be filled. It will be to us more than the loss of a Pastor, for should you go from our midst we will miss you not only as a man and a friend, but also as our counselor and guide especially along doctrinal lines. We pastors have all been benefited from time to time, to a great extent, by your knowledge of doctrine whether Lutheran or non Lutheran, and again have you set us on the right track when we were in danger of giving off at a tangent. I say these things meaningly Bro. Little. They are

(Page 2)

the thoughts that I think and the things that I feel. To flatter I have not learned the art and if I had why should I stoop to that when I am made to feel that you are about to leave us to labor in distant quarters? No Bro. Little if ever I felt sorry and regretted the departure of a Brother Pastor I am sad to think that you are about to leave us. I know nothing about your plans for the future but will you pardon a presumptuous friend for making a suggestion? It is this – I know that you are worthy of a far better field, but I am exceedingly anxious that you stay in our midst and so I ask you that you allow me as president of the Lutheran conference to negotiate with the Midville Parish with regard to extending you a call? I know that you would do nothing along that line and I also know the thoughtlessness and backwardness of our people and hence I make this suggestion. This I feel would be honorable but is to be strictly between you and myself. Can you affront of my audacity and give me your consent to act? May I hear from you soon:

Sincerely and fraternally yours

[signed] E.V. Nonamaker

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