Biography:

Clergyman, educator, seminary president. Born– Sept. 27, 1863, at Fort Deposit, Ala. Parents– James L. and Louisa Zilpha (Cochran) Sampey. Married– Annie Renfroe, Sept. 16, 1886 (died 1925); Children–five. Married Ellen Wood, 1926.   Education– Howard College, A.B., 1882; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, B.D., 1885.  Ordained a Baptist clergyman, 1885. Taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 1885-1943, librarian 1889-1929, and president 1929-1942.  Served as pastor of several churches; conducted missionary tours to Japan, Brazil, and China.  President Southern Baptist Convention 1935-1938; Member International Sunday School Lesson Commission 1895-1942 (chair, 1921); appointed in 1937 as Southern Baptist Representative to the Conference on Life and Work in Oxford, and the Conference on Faith and Order in Edinburgh. Addressed the Baptist World Alliance, 1939.  President Emeritus, SBTS, 1942; awarded honorary degrees by Howard College (1901), Baylor University (1920), and Washington and Lee (1887).  Died August 18, 1946.

Source:

Who Was Who in America, Vol. 2; National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 36.; Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, vol. 2

Publication(s):

The Ethical Teachings of Jesus.  1909.

The Heart of the Old Testament. Nashville; Sunday School Board, Southern Baptist Convention, 1909.

The International Lesson System. New York; Fleming H. Revell, 1911.

Memoirs of John R. Sampey. Nashville; Broadman, 1947.

The Proper Attitude of Young Ministers toward Issues of the Day. Louisville, Ky.; C. T. Dearing, 1888.

Review and Expositor. Louisville, Ky.; Southern Baptist Theological Soc., 1904.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; the First Thirty Years, 1859-1889. Baltimore; Wharton, Baron & Co., 1890.

Syllabus for Old Testament Study. Louisville, Ky.; C. T. Dearing, 1903.

Ten Vital Messages. Nashville; Broadman, 1946.

Papers;

The papers of John R. Sampey are held by the James P. Boyce Centennial Library at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.