Raiford, Matthew

Raiford, Matthew a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Jefferson Co., Ga., July 12, 1789. He enjoyed the comfortable assurance of grace at or before the tenth year of his age, and joined the Church in his eleventh year. He was licensed to exhort March 28, 1818, and was licensed to preach Dec. 6. He entered the Georgia Conference at the ensuing session, and filled various appointments until 1842, when he ceased to be an effective preacher. He was sorely afflicted for several years before his death, but often spoke of it with calmness and Christian confidence. He died in Monroe Co., Ga., April 16,1849. — Minutes of Annual Conf. of the M. E. Ch., South, 1850, p. 25.