The Jackson Herald July 5

Mr. Claude Wade, a young man living near Academy church, died last Saturday with neuralgia of the heart. He was just 21 years old. He was a son of Rev. J. M. J. Wade. He was buried at Academy burial grounds last Sunday, Rev. Charles T. Brown conducting the funeral obsequies.

The following article about the Wade family was submitted for use on this site by Lanelle Martin Romines

"This article was found at the main Atlanta Library on microfilm by Betty Wade Ellington and Edna Wade Hilderbrand

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ATLANTAN GEORGIAN, ATLANTA, GA. FRIDAY, DEC. 19, 1919".

     "If there is a man in Ga. not more than three score & five yrs. old who is about to become the father of his nineteenth child and can still face the high cost of living problems with a smile, let him come forward.      Otherwise, Jeremiah Mitchell Jasper Wade of 6 Freeman Alley, Atlanta, will retain the title as Ga.'s champion father. Should such a man prove himself entitled to this honor, Mr. Wade is ready to claim the spotlight as the greatest grandfather in the state, with 45 to his credit, not to include eight ggrandchildren.
     Furthermore, he can prove he is responsible for the existence of these seventy-two souls without having ever set his foot outside of his native state & that all of his descendants are now living within a 100-mile radius of Atlanta.
     Mr. Wade, according to his statement, is a "footwashing missionary Baptist preacher" and he attributes his success as a father to the fact that he is a "praying man".

"I never set out to get rich, but to serve the Lord," he says, "I joined the church when I was 17 yrs. old & married my first wife when I was 19 & she was 16. We began keeping house right away in a little log cabin in Dawson Co. and prayer has been a daily thing with me ever since. The first night we were married we started praying to the Lord to care for us & to bless our home & He has done it ever since. When I was 28 yrs. old I began to preach. I've tried to make God-fearing men & women out of my children, and there isn't but one of them who is not a member of the Church. and that's the youngest who is just 2 yrs. old. One of my boys is preaching & two others are deacons & I think there's another going to preach soon."
Of Mr. Wade's eighteen children, fourteen are living. Sixteen were born to his first wife during a married life of thirty-seven yrs. Thirteen of them were boys & three girls. The second wife, who lived only a year, was the mother of one boy, who died in infancy, and the third wife, whom he married in 1916, has one boy living and the stork is expected to come around again soon.

     The first Mrs. Wade was one of a family of 16, whose mother had 21 brothers & sisters raised to manhood & womanhood. Mr. Wade's eldest child, a dau., is the mother of sixteen children, several of whom are married. Like her own mother, she married at the age of 16 and gave birth to a similar number of offspring, all of whom are living.
     The oldest son, who is 41 yrs of age is the father of two children, one of whom is living. Of the 14 living children, twelve are married. Ten of them are sons & two daughters. Most of them live in Dawson & Hall counties near the place where they were born.
     Nothing of the cynic has intrenched itself in Mr. Wade's nature as a result of his being the father & grandfather of such a coterie of human beings. As he says himself, "He has worked hard & trusted in the Lord," & been happy & comfortable. The high cost of living holds no terrors for him, despite the fact that his days for becoming a father are not yet passed. In fact, he has rather decided theories as to the duty of a young man to marry & raise a family.   "The secret of happiness & success is hard & honest work & faith in the Lord," he says. "I believe every young man should find himself a wife as soon as he can & set out to make a home. And when I say home, I don't mean that he should move into a house & merely live there; he must start out right & pray & labor & trust in the Lord. Of course, when I started out as a married man, things didn't cost as much as they do now. I used to work splitting rails for a gallon of syrup a day, which I sold for 40 cents, & I supported a family of eight that way. Since I've been preaching that's how I've made my living, & the Lord has helped me. There have been times when I was badly in debt & things looked dark, but I never have had a lawsuit or been in bankruptcy or failed to meet my financial obligation I might have. I did it by working & praying & believing the Lord would provide, and He has."

J. M. J. Wade family plans reunion June 7 (abt. 1937): Over 100 members of the family, from a 6 mo. old gggranddau. to an eldest son, now 60, are expected to attend the J. M. J. Wade family reunion, June 7, near Sandy Springs. "There are 11 of my 19 children still living. There are btwn. 40 & 50 ggrandchildren, and all of them are expected," Mr. Wade said Mon. as he planned the reunion. "He has been married 3 times & recently observed his 21st anniversary with his 3rd wife. Mr. Wade is 82."