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February 2016 • SR
Beginning in 1973, the SDB Historical
Society has honored Seventh Day Baptists
who have made significant contributions
to the preservation and understanding of
Seventh Day Baptist history by the pres-
entation of an award: one of two traveling
golden-headed walking canes, which have
long been in the Historical Society’s
archives, and a commemorative plaque.
Because the primary symbol of the award
is the cane, the award is known as the
Gold-Headed Cane. Between 1973 and
2014, there were sixteen recipients of the
award. In 2015, at our General Conference
sessions, the Historical Society honored
the seventeenth recipient of the award,
the Rev. Dr. Paul W. Manuel, with the J. W.
Morton Gold-Headed Cane.
The presentation of the Morton cane to
Dr. Paul was highly appropriate, as Morton
was known as a pastor, a scholar, and a
teacher — three functions which Dr. Paul
has also admirably filled for many years.
Morton was born in 1821, and after pro-
fession of faith and completion of his early years,
was trained as a missionary and sent to Haiti as a
missionary for two years. At age 28, Morton became
a Seventh Day Baptist. Because of his education, he
became a teacher of Latin and Greek at DeRuyter
Institute. He was also a pastor at both the Marlboro,
NJ, and North Loup, NE, churches.
Dr. Paul is well known among our people for his
teaching gift and his scholarship. Much of his educa-
tion has been dedicated to the study of the Hebrew
language. What is not as well known is that he has
spent a significant amount of time studying and
writing about the history of German Seventh Day
Baptists, especially after he became the pastor of the
German Seventh Day Baptist Church in Salemville,
PA, in 1998. In addition, he has maintained important
relationships between the German SDB church and
the Ephrata Cloister and the now-defunct SDB group
at Snow Hill, stewarding important parts of the story
of German SDBs. In addition, his extensive theological
reflection and writing (some of which is now avail-
able on his blog —
com
) has long included a historic component. He
traced the development of various theological con-
cepts from their beginnings to the present in his
continued quest to teach the Scriptures correctly.
Dr. Paul was unable to be present at Conference to
receive his award, so it was received on his behalf
by friends from the Salemville church and delivered
to him by them. We are proud that Dr. Paul is the
seventeenth recipient of this award. We look forward
to honoring additional contributors to the preserva-
tion and dissemination of our history in the coming
years.
The text of Dr. Paul’s plaque reads:
The Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society
is proud to present the
Joseph W. Morton Gold Headed Cane Award to
Rev. Dr. Paul W. Manuel
For contributions to the understanding of
Seventh Day Baptist history through his research and
writing about German Seventh Day Baptists
and in the realm of Historical Theology
Presented at SDB General Conference
August 1, 2015
Historical Society
Rev. Nicholas J. Kersten
Director of Education and History
SR
