This is a provisional timeline which obviously has a lot of gaps. It is only a bare skeleton which will hopefully grow some meat as time goes on. I offer it here 1) to solicit input and corrections and 2) as a window into my research. I’ve been in information-gathering mode for about three months. I know far more now than I did when I began, but as I said above, there is much I don’t know and much, much more to read before I dare venture anything about bro. Dorris’ theology. But for now, I’m at the point where I can begin to reconstruct a basic sequence of events. A timeline functions for me like a skeleton. It won’t be very long before I’ll have most all of these dates memorized; so as new information surfaces I’ll have hooks on which to hang it.
Since it is a work in progress, I will not publish this on my Written Word page until later in the spring.
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April 7, 1871 born near Portland, Tennessee
1889 baptized by J. W. Grant
1889/1890 began preaching near Portland, Tennessee; preaching at Brown’s School House
1889/1890 first person whom he baptized was his mother
Ca. 1892-1896 attended Nashville Bible School
May 4, 1898 married Mary Louise Merritt of Franklin, Tennessee
May 4, 1898 began plans to begins his first paper, The Bible Student
January 2, 1899 moved to Franklin, Tennessee
January 5, 1899 first issue of The Bible Student appears (discontinued October 1902)
May 19, 1899 Carrie Louise Dorris born in Franklin, Tennessee
August 13, 1900 Carrie Louise Dorris died in Franklin, Tennessee
October 1902 ceased publication of The Bible Student to devote more energy to evangelistic preaching and teaching
April 21, 1904 Mary Louise Merritt Dorris died at 5605 Morrow Road, West Nashville
1906-1908 West Nashville
April 4, 1908 married Luisa (or Lula?) Kerr of Maury County, Tennessee
1908 published A Discussion Between Two Brothers
1910 published An Interesting Correspondence
1910-1912 5605 Morrow Road, West Nashville, Tenn.
1913 R.5 Clarksville, Tenn. (publication info. uncertain for this edition of LoP)
1914 5605 Morrow Road, West Nashville, Tenn.
February 1915 first issue of The Home Missionary appeared from Clarksville, Tennessee (discontinued December 1916)
1915 R.5 Clarksville, Tenn. (publication info. uncertain)
December 1916 final issue of The Home Missionary appeared from Nashville, Tennessee (continued as Tidings of Joy)
January 1917 first issue of Tidings of Joy appeared from Nashville, Tennessee bearing Volume 3, no 1.
1917 became an official at Life and Casualty Insurance Company
1916-1920 5605 Morrow Road, West Nashville, Tenn. (publication info. uncertain)
November 1919 facilities of the Southern Practical Institute opened “for its friends”
January 1920 Tidings of Joy published by Southern Practical Institue, Nashville, with C. E. W. Dorris as editor of the paper and Superintendent of the school
January 5, 1920 first day of classes at Southern Practical Institute with “35 students from five states and the continent of Africa, ages ranging from 7 to 47, of which twenty-five are boarding students…”
February 16, 1920 Southern Practical Institute closed due to epidemic influenza (as reported in Tidings of Joy, March 1920).
April 1920 Tidings of Joy returns to C. E. W. Dorris as sole editor and publisher. The school is closed on account of the “flu” with no definite plans to reopen it.
June 1920 final issue of Tidings of Joy appeared from Nashville, Tennessee.
1921-1936 Life and Casualty Building, Nashville, Tenn. (publication info. uncertain)
October 5, 1925 first services, Central Church of Christ, Nashville.
1934 retired from Life and Casualty Insurance Company
1937 1101 Caldwell Lane, Nashville
1938 Commentary on Mark published by Gospel Advocate Company
1939 edits David Lipscomb’s Commentary on John, published by Gospel Advocate Company
November 20, 1962 Luisa Kerr Dorris died in Nashville
October 3, 1964 died in Nashville, Tennessee, age 93; funeral services conducted at Central Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas C. Whitfield and S. P. Pittman
