PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA
BIOGRAPHIES
WOOD, J. A., Farmer, Sec. 7; Chemung P.
O. ; born in Kent Co., C. W., 1818 ; came to Porter Co., Ind., in 1836
; lived there three years; came to McHenry county in 1846 ; owns 200
acres of land two miles from Chemung depot; been Supervisor, Road
Commissioner, etc. Married Sarah Thompson in 1840, who was born in
Brockville, C. W.; had five children- four boys and one girl; one son,
Israel Wood, served in the Union Army, in Co. E, Ninety-fifth Ill. Vol.
Inf.
[Source: 1877 Directory of McHenry County, IL - Transcribed by K. Torp]
Arthur A. Hughart. The life work of Arthur A. Hughart has been in the educational field. In his native state of Indiana he gained more than a local reputation as an able schoolman, not only as an individual teacher but as a school executive, and it was from that field he was called to the superintendency of the city school of Coffeyville in 1912. Here his influence has been of the greatest value. He has thoroughly reorganized and systematized the work of the city school system, has introduced some new departments and methods, and has made the local schools an object of pride to all citizens. .
Born on a farm in Center Township, Porter County, Indiana, August 12, 1864, Arthur Abram Hughart
is a son of William A. and Mary (Fulton) Hughart and a grandson of David Hughart. David Hughart, who was of German lineage, and of an old colonial family in Virginia, was born in that state and in 1835 came west and located as a pioneer in Porter County, Indiana. He secured government land in Liberty Township, and in the course of many years of toil and industry made it a fine farm. In 1860 he moved from the farm to Valparaiso, where he was engaged in the buying and shipping of grain. He was a successful business man and a public spirited citizen. He died in Porter County, Indiana, at the venerable age of eighty-nine years.
William A. Hughart, father of Professor Hughart, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, June 28, 1830, and was five years of age when brought to Porter County, Indiana. He grew up in that section of Northwest Indiana, attended some of the pioneer schools, and gave his active career to agriculture. He died September 4, 1912. His wife, Miss Fulton, was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Abram and Jane (Turner) Fulton. The Fulton family moved to Indiana about 1840, establishing a home in La- Porte County, where Mary Fulton grew to womanhood. She was a woman of fine character, and had a great influence over her children during their youth. She died in 1907 at the age of eighty-three. Of her four children only two reached maturity, the daughter being Ruth, wife of Samuel E. Collins, a building contractor at Valparaiso, Indiana.
The early life of Arthur A. Hughart was spent on' a farm. With growing stature and increasing strength he found ample employment in farm duties, and in the meantime attended the district schools. In 1889 he graduated from the Valparaiso High School, and at the age of twenty did his first work as a teacher in one of the district schools of his native county. At an early age he learned to depend upon himself, and he .gained his higher education largely through his earnings as a teacher and farm worker. After a thorough four years' course he was graduated in 1893 A. B. from Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana.
On leaving college Mr. Hughart became principal of the public school at Hebron in Porter County, Indiana, and remained there two years. It was his reputation as a successful principal and able schoolman that brought about in 1895 his election as county superintendent of Porter County. For seven years Mr. Hughart filled that position, and in that connection showed the ability for systematic and efficient organization as the management of schools to the best interests of all concerned that have since been his chief characteristics in educational work.
On leaving the office of county superintendent in 1902 he was elected superintendent of the public school system of Valparaiso, Indiana. There he had a large force of teachers and many schools under his direction, and the ten years of his superintendency are still bearing fruit in that progressive Northern Indiana city.
In August, 1912, Professor Hughart came to Coffeyville to accept the superintendency of the city schools, and he now has under his supervision nine schoolhouses, a faculty of ninety-six teachers and an enrollment of 3,500 scholars. Professor Hughart has the faculty of imparting his enthusiasm to all his subordinates, and during the past four years has worked constantly to the ideal of making the city school system an efficient factor in the training of an army of children for their life service, included among whom may be mentioned Charles B. Denison, why by inheritance, education, predilection and thorough training, is fitted to take his place among the leading members of his calling.
Charles S. Denison, who has been practicing at the bar of Pittsburg since 1909, was born at the Osage Mission, Saint Paul, Kansas, August 28, 1878, and is of Scotch and German descent, the Denisons having come from Scotland to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, David Denison, was born in the Keystone State, where he was a millwright, and later in life also followed that vocation in Illinois, where his death occurred at Sterling, in 1887. The father of Charles 8. Denison, J. L. Denison, was born in 1837, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was there reared and received his early education, being graduated from the academy at Chambers- burg. Subsequently he studied for the law at Princeton, Illinois, and in 1859 came to Kansas and settled at lola as a pioneer attorney. While residing there he enlisted in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and served throughout the Civil war, along the Arkansas and White Rivers, and was once slightly wounded. He then returned to lola, but in 1866 went to old Erie, now two and one-half miles east of Erie, where he established a trading post and conducted it from that year until 1876, then going to the Osage Mission, where he resumed the practice of his profession. He rose to a high place among the lawyers of his county, and from 1889 until 1908 was attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad. He died at Kansas City, Missouri, August 14, 1908, but was laid to rest at Erie, Kansas. A republican in his political views, Mr. Denison was county attorney of Neosho County for eight years. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. In fraternal circles he was particularly well known, having been the oreanizer of the first Blue Lodge of Masons at Humboldt, Kansas; organized and installed the first Commandery, Knights Templar, at Oswego, which has since been removed to Parsons; organized the Commandery at Osage Mission, which has since been transferred to Chanutp; and organized the first Chapter in Southeastern Kansas, which was removed to Chanute. He was a life member in each of these, and was also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Denison married Miss Martha Hoaglsnd, who was born in 1845, in Wyandotte County, Ohio, and now resides at Erie, Kansas, and they had three children: Anna, who is unmarried and resides at Erie; Charles S.; and Todd, who is employed by the Burronehs Adding Machine Com-pany at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Charles S. Denison received his education in the public schools of Erie, where he was graduated from the. high school in 1896, and then entered the law office of his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1902 and engaged in practice at Erie, where he remained until 1909, in that year coming to Pittsburg. He hns been successful in building up a large general practice and has been connected with some important litigation in the state courts. His offices are located at 301 to 305 Commerce Building. While at Erie, Mr. Denison was district attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad and local attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway from 1905 to 1909. He is a republican, but he never sought public office. His professional connections are with the Crawford County, Kansas State and American Bar associations. His home is at No. 403 West Third Street.
On January 21, 1915, at Girard, Kansas, Mr. Denison was united in marriage with Miss Thora Kiehl, daughter of Chris and Rosa (Baker) Kiehl, residents of Franklin, Kansas, where Mr. Kiehl is master mechanic for the Western Coal and Mining Company.
Source: A standard history of Kansas and Kansans By William Elsey Connelley
John M. Williams was born in Blount County, Tenn., Oct. 24,1812, a son of Richard and Rachel (Mills) Williams, and grandson of William Williams, a prominent minister of the Society of Friends in Wayne County. His father was born in North Carolina, Dec. 31, 1786, of Welsh descent. His mother was of English descent, born April 25, 1756. They were married in 1805, and in 1813 came to Wayne County, Ind. " In 1836 they removed to Michigan, but a year later returned to Indiana and located in Porter County, where Mr. Williams died July 7, 1849, and Mrs. Williams Dec. 31, 1849. They had a family of ten children, seven of whom are living. Our subject attended the early subscription schools, but being ambitious, improved his education by studying during his leisure hours at home. In 1841 he went to Muncie, Ind., and began the study of law with Walter March, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He practiced law and engaged in the mercantile business till 1849, when he went to California, but a year later returned to Indiana. He has held many offices of trust in the township, and has served as magistrate thirty-five years. March 17, 1852, Mr. Williams married Sophia, daughter of John and Rachel Cate. They have had four children—Clarkson, Mary, George W. and William, the two eldest deceased.
Source: History of Wayne County, Indiana By Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
[Source: 1877 Directory of McHenry County, IL - Transcribed by K. Torp]
Arthur A. Hughart. The life work of Arthur A. Hughart has been in the educational field. In his native state of Indiana he gained more than a local reputation as an able schoolman, not only as an individual teacher but as a school executive, and it was from that field he was called to the superintendency of the city school of Coffeyville in 1912. Here his influence has been of the greatest value. He has thoroughly reorganized and systematized the work of the city school system, has introduced some new departments and methods, and has made the local schools an object of pride to all citizens. .
Born on a farm in Center Township, Porter County, Indiana, August 12, 1864, Arthur Abram Hughart
is a son of William A. and Mary (Fulton) Hughart and a grandson of David Hughart. David Hughart, who was of German lineage, and of an old colonial family in Virginia, was born in that state and in 1835 came west and located as a pioneer in Porter County, Indiana. He secured government land in Liberty Township, and in the course of many years of toil and industry made it a fine farm. In 1860 he moved from the farm to Valparaiso, where he was engaged in the buying and shipping of grain. He was a successful business man and a public spirited citizen. He died in Porter County, Indiana, at the venerable age of eighty-nine years.
William A. Hughart, father of Professor Hughart, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, June 28, 1830, and was five years of age when brought to Porter County, Indiana. He grew up in that section of Northwest Indiana, attended some of the pioneer schools, and gave his active career to agriculture. He died September 4, 1912. His wife, Miss Fulton, was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Abram and Jane (Turner) Fulton. The Fulton family moved to Indiana about 1840, establishing a home in La- Porte County, where Mary Fulton grew to womanhood. She was a woman of fine character, and had a great influence over her children during their youth. She died in 1907 at the age of eighty-three. Of her four children only two reached maturity, the daughter being Ruth, wife of Samuel E. Collins, a building contractor at Valparaiso, Indiana.
The early life of Arthur A. Hughart was spent on' a farm. With growing stature and increasing strength he found ample employment in farm duties, and in the meantime attended the district schools. In 1889 he graduated from the Valparaiso High School, and at the age of twenty did his first work as a teacher in one of the district schools of his native county. At an early age he learned to depend upon himself, and he .gained his higher education largely through his earnings as a teacher and farm worker. After a thorough four years' course he was graduated in 1893 A. B. from Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana.
On leaving college Mr. Hughart became principal of the public school at Hebron in Porter County, Indiana, and remained there two years. It was his reputation as a successful principal and able schoolman that brought about in 1895 his election as county superintendent of Porter County. For seven years Mr. Hughart filled that position, and in that connection showed the ability for systematic and efficient organization as the management of schools to the best interests of all concerned that have since been his chief characteristics in educational work.
On leaving the office of county superintendent in 1902 he was elected superintendent of the public school system of Valparaiso, Indiana. There he had a large force of teachers and many schools under his direction, and the ten years of his superintendency are still bearing fruit in that progressive Northern Indiana city.
In August, 1912, Professor Hughart came to Coffeyville to accept the superintendency of the city schools, and he now has under his supervision nine schoolhouses, a faculty of ninety-six teachers and an enrollment of 3,500 scholars. Professor Hughart has the faculty of imparting his enthusiasm to all his subordinates, and during the past four years has worked constantly to the ideal of making the city school system an efficient factor in the training of an army of children for their life service, included among whom may be mentioned Charles B. Denison, why by inheritance, education, predilection and thorough training, is fitted to take his place among the leading members of his calling.
Charles S. Denison, who has been practicing at the bar of Pittsburg since 1909, was born at the Osage Mission, Saint Paul, Kansas, August 28, 1878, and is of Scotch and German descent, the Denisons having come from Scotland to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, David Denison, was born in the Keystone State, where he was a millwright, and later in life also followed that vocation in Illinois, where his death occurred at Sterling, in 1887. The father of Charles 8. Denison, J. L. Denison, was born in 1837, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was there reared and received his early education, being graduated from the academy at Chambers- burg. Subsequently he studied for the law at Princeton, Illinois, and in 1859 came to Kansas and settled at lola as a pioneer attorney. While residing there he enlisted in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and served throughout the Civil war, along the Arkansas and White Rivers, and was once slightly wounded. He then returned to lola, but in 1866 went to old Erie, now two and one-half miles east of Erie, where he established a trading post and conducted it from that year until 1876, then going to the Osage Mission, where he resumed the practice of his profession. He rose to a high place among the lawyers of his county, and from 1889 until 1908 was attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad. He died at Kansas City, Missouri, August 14, 1908, but was laid to rest at Erie, Kansas. A republican in his political views, Mr. Denison was county attorney of Neosho County for eight years. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. In fraternal circles he was particularly well known, having been the oreanizer of the first Blue Lodge of Masons at Humboldt, Kansas; organized and installed the first Commandery, Knights Templar, at Oswego, which has since been removed to Parsons; organized the Commandery at Osage Mission, which has since been transferred to Chanutp; and organized the first Chapter in Southeastern Kansas, which was removed to Chanute. He was a life member in each of these, and was also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Denison married Miss Martha Hoaglsnd, who was born in 1845, in Wyandotte County, Ohio, and now resides at Erie, Kansas, and they had three children: Anna, who is unmarried and resides at Erie; Charles S.; and Todd, who is employed by the Burronehs Adding Machine Com-pany at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Charles S. Denison received his education in the public schools of Erie, where he was graduated from the. high school in 1896, and then entered the law office of his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1902 and engaged in practice at Erie, where he remained until 1909, in that year coming to Pittsburg. He hns been successful in building up a large general practice and has been connected with some important litigation in the state courts. His offices are located at 301 to 305 Commerce Building. While at Erie, Mr. Denison was district attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad and local attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway from 1905 to 1909. He is a republican, but he never sought public office. His professional connections are with the Crawford County, Kansas State and American Bar associations. His home is at No. 403 West Third Street.
On January 21, 1915, at Girard, Kansas, Mr. Denison was united in marriage with Miss Thora Kiehl, daughter of Chris and Rosa (Baker) Kiehl, residents of Franklin, Kansas, where Mr. Kiehl is master mechanic for the Western Coal and Mining Company.
Source: A standard history of Kansas and Kansans By William Elsey Connelley
John M. Williams was born in Blount County, Tenn., Oct. 24,1812, a son of Richard and Rachel (Mills) Williams, and grandson of William Williams, a prominent minister of the Society of Friends in Wayne County. His father was born in North Carolina, Dec. 31, 1786, of Welsh descent. His mother was of English descent, born April 25, 1756. They were married in 1805, and in 1813 came to Wayne County, Ind. " In 1836 they removed to Michigan, but a year later returned to Indiana and located in Porter County, where Mr. Williams died July 7, 1849, and Mrs. Williams Dec. 31, 1849. They had a family of ten children, seven of whom are living. Our subject attended the early subscription schools, but being ambitious, improved his education by studying during his leisure hours at home. In 1841 he went to Muncie, Ind., and began the study of law with Walter March, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He practiced law and engaged in the mercantile business till 1849, when he went to California, but a year later returned to Indiana. He has held many offices of trust in the township, and has served as magistrate thirty-five years. March 17, 1852, Mr. Williams married Sophia, daughter of John and Rachel Cate. They have had four children—Clarkson, Mary, George W. and William, the two eldest deceased.
Source: History of Wayne County, Indiana By Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Biography
of William Maxwell BlackburnThe ancestors of Dr. Blackburn were of Scotch-Irish blood. Tradition says that the family was of those who, under the persecutions of the time of Mary Stuart, left Scotland and joined the Huguenots in France in their struggle for religious liberty —a struggle seemingly disastrous in outcome, but vindicated in history as triumphantly glorious. Escaping from their pursuers, it is said that they crossed the English Channel in an open boat, and, about the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, returned to Scotland. Falling under the influences that were making for the settlement of the New World they came to America and settled in eastern Pennsylvania, members of the Pennsylvania colony. From there they extended their borders south and west into Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and beyond. The famous pulpit orator. Dr. Gideon Blackburn, of Georgia, belonged to the Virginia branch, and from Kentucky came Governor Luke Blackburn and United States Senator Joseph Blackburn.
The grandfather of William Maxwell Blackburn, William, had his home in Kentucky, but, being opposed to slavery, came north and settled in the valley of the Wabash in Indiana. He was killed not long after at a house-raising and left his widow, a very superior woman, in that new country with a large family of children, of whom the second son, Alexander, became the father of the subject of this sketch. The mother was Delilah Polk, of the same general family as that of President Polk. She was of Kentucky birth and grew up amid the surroundings of Daniel Boone. Her father, Charles Polk, was born at Detroit, Michigan, whither his mother, made prisoner by the Indians in Kentucky, had been taken in midwinter, and his father did not see the boy until he was about two years old. Then the mother bore him on horse-back back to Kentucky. Those were heroic days and produced heroic men and women; though not more heroic than these days of ours where conditions exist like those of that time. Not more than twenty-five years ago, I was with a party which rode in the bitterest of winter weather from the Rosebud Agency to Fort Sully, in South Dakota, and one of that party was an Indian woman who rode on horseback with the rest, having her five-year-old daughter strapped in her blanket upon her back. Often the child cried from the cold, and every member of the party suffered from frost, but the mother never made complaint. There are heroic men and women in these days!
The Blackburns and the Polks were thrifty and well-to-do, and belonged to the better educated class of farmers and business men. Alexander Blackburn and Delilah, his wife, bravely attacked the rugged conditions of pioneer life incident to building up a home and fortune for themselves and their children. They moved from the Wabash Valley when the eldest son, William Maxwell, was four years of age, going with an ox team a distance of two hundred and fifty miles into northern Indiana and making their home near La Porte.
Probably but few of the incidents of that journey were permanently remembered by the boy, but the impressions made upon him could not easily be effaced. There was the long and slow journey; the encampment at night by stream and near rich meadows where the tired oxen grazed; the restful play at evening about the camp fire with the little brother, two years younger, who doubtless cried often and often was left to cry, because mother was busy with the evening meal; then there were the rivers to cross and a part of the way a new country to traverse, while there were roads to cut through thick timber and other difficulties to overcome and trails to meet before they reached the rich prairie land known as Rolling Prairie in "the edge of some of the finest timber that ever grew." There they made their new home. Strong of character by inheritance, the circumstances of early pioneer life developed additional strength. And to this there was added the life-giving spirit of a true religious experience, so that in this pioneer home was ever a glad, joyous household. It was a good place for a boy to grow to young manhood. One writer has fitly characterized this home as "cheerfully religious," the words "cheerfully religious" being used with intention, for he goes on to say, "I was never in a home where the religious life was so prominent and yet never saw a more joyful home," and in the games of youth the "father and mother romped with all the enthusiasm of the youngest." It was here, in walks with his parents, that the future doctor of divinity and enthusiastic student of geology early learned to love the study of nature.
His ready wit and sturdy character, so marked in later life, grew naturally, as does a plant in rich, well watered and carefully tended soil. There was nothing left to chance, and yet it is also true that but few boys needed less of supervision and guidance. His body grew healthy and robust in the life of a farmer's bow. The farm in those days was in a wheat growing region. The sickle gave place to the cradle and this to the famous McCormick reaper, one of the first three, it is said, manufactured by Cyrus McCormick. In the sowing and the reaping and then in threshing the grain, at first with an old-fashioned flail, and in marketing the result at Michigan City or New Buffalo, on the lake twelve miles away, the boy did his full share.
It is probable that he attended school when opportunity offered, but undoubtedly his earlier study of books was at home under the direction of his parents. His father is spoken of as a remarkably well educated man and a great reader, and as having taught school as occasion demanded. That Dr. Blackburn did not lack for early advantages is evidenced by the fact that at seventeen years of age he began to fit for college, and that he graduated with honors shortly after reaching manhood's estate.
At college he was a hard-working student, a ready debater, and early evidenced the clear logic and mental grasp of later days. After graduation a year was spent in teaching school, a winter term at La Porte and a summer term at Constantine, Indiana. His professional studies occupied the following three years, and we find him ordained as an evangelist and preaching at Three Rivers, Michigan, before reaching the age of twenty-five. Shortly before ordination he was married to Miss Elizabeth Powell, who, after treading life's journey fifty-five years with him, survived her husband but a few months, dying March 7, 1899.
The young preacher was always a student; he studied men and books and soon began to write. In his early pastorates his efforts at authorship were largely biographical and show the trend of his study; and out of these studies—or were they but an indication of the larger selection already made—the study of church history came to have for him attractions, and this became his chosen field.
In 1862 he spent some months in travel and study in the mother country. He also went to the continent and was in France, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to careful study of the causes and events of the Reformation, that he might the more correctly interpret the far-reaching results of that religious upheaval. On his return there was published, during a pastorate of four years at Trenton, New Jersey, other biographical studies— lives of John Calvin. Ulric Zwingli, William Farrel, Aonio Palario. the great Swiss reformer, and a history of the Huguenots under the title "Coligny and the Huguenots," in two volumes; all of which appeared in rapid succession.
When it is remembered that to the exacting responsibilities of a city church were also added the absorbing study of history in the life of the Christian church and the Growth of doctrine, one is astonished at the amount of work accomplished. It is only when a powerful mind works effectively and without waste that such results appear. A partial list of the product of Dr. Blackburn's pen gives thirty-three titles to his credit. While still a pastor at Trenton he was offered the presidency of his alma mater. This he declined, though fully appreciating the honor of the call. It was rather as a student of church history than in general administrative ability that he felt his power. In June, 1868, he was elected to the vacant professorship of ecclesiastical and church history in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Chicago. He entered upon the duties of the chair at once, and threw himself with all the zeal and the training of years of special study into meeting the needs of the position. The place had found the man and the man had found his place. It was as when a machine complete, made for a specific purpose and perfectly adjusted, falls into the steady stroke and regular beat of the accomplishment of that for which it was made.
Dr. Blackburn enjoyed his work and worked with all his might. The amount of work he accomplished at this time is marvelous. Occupying the chair of a most important professor-ship, he assisted in making good vacancies in other chairs, sup-plied one or other of the city churches, delivered ecclesiastical and historical lectures outside, and made frequent contributions to periodicals and reviews, and made a steady advance in the preparation of his historical works. His "History of the Christian Church" was published about the time of his withdrawal from the seminary. It is well understood that this resignation was one of the attendant results of the David Swing heresy trial. Dr. Blackburn did not hold to Professor Swing's views, but defended the man in his right to hold these without being branded as a heretic. No one now remembers this trial—we do not know what it was about and wonder what was gained by it. Though Professor Swing was acquitted, he was virtually driven out, and the spirit of intolerance prevailed. With this Dr. Blackburn was not in sympathy, and resigned. Death came and further weakened the faculty, and it was years before the seminary could re-cover.
Long before this Dr. Blackburn's reputation as an author and an authority in his chosen field had been settled. Not only in this country, but in Europe as well, his name was favorably known. A British review of the history of the Huguenots says: "In this work the author has gone to many fountain-heads and set them before the reader in all the distinctiveness of a dramatic picture. If there had been no authentic work on this most interesting subject written on this side of the Atlantic, here is one by an American author that admirably fills the needs," and of his "History of the Christian Church" one of our foremost American reviews says: "Our own country has produced but few ecclesiastical historians of note; Dr. Philip Schaft and Dr. William M. Blackburn are the best. The volume of Dr. Blackburn's now before us is the most creditable general history of the Christian church that has appeared on this side of the Atlantic. Dr. Schaft has as yet covered only a part of the ground. The author is a professor of church history and a well-known lecturer and writer of learning and ability. His researches in general and ecclesiastical history have been widely extended, and his study of Christian doctrine has been thorough. His style is lucid, direct and forcible. His method is much better than that of the old German authors, not being encumbered with endless divisions and sub-divisions, yet following a definite outline with a sufficiently minute analysis. The chapter on religious denominations is of peculiar value. We discover a spirit of fairness and candor which will doubtless secure for the work a wide acceptance among Christians of various names. The author is not unwilling to acknowledge the mistakes of those Christians with whom he would most naturally sympathize, and the virtue of those with whom he is known to differ in important respects. On the whole the history is a fine specimen of condensed, yet spritely historical writing. The work ought to have a place, not only in the theological seminaries and ministers' libraries, but in the families of intelligent Christians of all denominations."
European comment is no less favorable in the tone and spirit with which the author is regarded.
It was expected that the historical study of the church would be followed by a companion volume on the "History of Christian Doctrine." Upon this work had been spent years of study and research, and the manuscript was nearly completed and ready for the printer when this and other valuable notes were destroyed by fire. Such a loss cannot be recovered and the work was not re-written.
On withdrawal from the Chicago professorship, Dr. Blackburn was selected to be chancellor of the Western University at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which position he declined. A few years were spent in the pastorate at Cincinnati, when failure in the doctor's hitherto robust health and that of others of the family, brought them to North Dakota for a summer in the Devil's Lake region. Quite unexpectedly to him, the University of North Dakota offered him the presidency. He accepted with many doubts and was entirely satisfied to continue the connection but one year. There was too much of politics in a position in a state institution to suit the doctor's make-up. However, he did not choose to return to the older homes and cities from whence he had come. The wine of life and the breezes of the prairies had found way into his blood, and the doctor longed to take part in the work of empire building by making men of character in this newer land. He was called in 1885 to be president of the Presbyterian Synodical College of South Dakota at Pierre.
Until now the most of us had not known Dr. Blackburn.
His stocky figure, strong face and active movements drew attention at once, and men beheld with a gasp the reckless dash with which the doctor, with hat well back on his head and sitting firmly in his two-wheeled cart, sent the half-wild pony through the streets. He became a familiar figure, and we came to love him, though it is doubtful if many fully appreciated him. He was never idle; work was the dominant note in his life. The habit of life had long been fixed and he could not have changed it if he would, and would not if he could, and the new college in a new region afforded ample Held. It was the work of laying foundations, and the doctor strove to lay these deeply and well. Conscious of his own strength, of the great opportunity, and confident of hearty support by his associates in the churches and ministry of his order, nothing discouraged him — the work of the master builder was joy to him and inspiration to beholders.
It is to be regretted that, as seen from the outside. Dr. Blackburn's efforts in behalf of education at this outpost did not receive the loyal support they deserved. Hard times came and the new country did not develop according to plans laid in dreamland. Local jealousies, growing out of the bitter war waged upon Pierre by other aspirants for the capital, alienated some from the support of their college. To Dr. Blackburn there fell the greater burden. With a scanty corps of instructors, he was left almost unaided to secure pupils, and to some extent provide the necessary funds. Had he been a younger man, and had he been a college president of the modern type, it is altogether possible that the institution would have weathered the period of stress and difficulty. But Dr. Blackburn was not of the modern type of college president— he was not a money-getter, and did not take kindly to this feature. Nor would he run into debt, and the result was that when funds were not forthcoming the doctor paid bills out of his own pocket, and when the pocket was empty did without, rather than incur indebtedness. Dr. Blackburn was pre-eminently a teacher, and as such was remarkably successful. Whether in class or as a lecturer, or in the pulpit, he had the ability of a master.
You could not talk with him on the street corner without learning something from him. He taught without effort—he simply could not help himself, for he was a born teacher. It is a pity that such men are obliged to attempt anything other than the chosen work of their high calling. With much the same power as that of Mark Hopkins did Dr. Blackburn teach men. If President Hopkins, sitting on a log with a student by his side, stood for a fully equipped college, the same might be said of President Blackburn and his student seated together on a boulder here in South Dakota.
In June, 1898, the college was removed from Pierre to Huron.
Dr. Blackburn resigned from the presidency, was chosen president-emeritus and to give instruction in psychology and geology, and attended to the duties of his position through the first term of the college year. His death was sudden and painless and took place at his home in the city of Pierre. His body rests in the cemetery overlooking the city and the river beyond, while the ideals for which he strove, the purposes for which he lived and the men into whom he builded of his own lofty character remain, our rich inheritance from one most worthy, who has gone before. This brief sketch has followed the course of only the larger events of Dr. Blackburn's life. It has not attempted to show in any adequate degree his life's abiding influence for good in this world's betterment, nor was it attempted as other than a sketch. Any just analysis of his life and the work accomplished would require much more time than the limits of this paper allow. A few sentences should be written giving in brief the estimate of men who knew him well as a writer, a preacher and a lecturer, and as a man whom to know was a joy and an inspiration. As an author Dr. Blackburn made for himself an international reputation before reaching the age of forty. His style was always that of vital youth. It was clear and full of vigor, almost electrical in effect. A tremendous worker and an insatiable reader, he had something to say on many topics, and he knew how to tell what he knew effectively. In his earlier days and in middle life, when the fire of authorship burned most, the productions of his pen were marvelous in variety and number—church history, biography, books for youth, tracts for the public and studies in many directions followed one another in volcanic pro-fusion. Fact, fancy and argument were at his command.
As a lecturer he was early in demand. Within the first ten years of his work as a pastor, a writer refers to him thus: "He proved able and popular, young, brilliant, eloquent, full of life and energy, an untiring worker, with just enough of a strain of Scotch bluntness and independence in his make-up to make him bold and decisive of speech. He was never tame or common-place, never merely rhetorical, but always argumentative, convincing and stimulating. As a lecturer and pulpit orator he was a perfect artist in word painting. His pictures of scenes that he had witnessed and descriptions of occurrences in which he had borne a part were as clearly and vividly shown before the imagination as if depicted on canvas." And these words continued to be true of his entire life. After coming to South Dakota we find him much in demand. He was interested in every educational effort. He was for one year, and possibly more, a member of the faculty of the Lake Madison summer school; he was also slated for lectures on psychology and geology. This was after he had taken up the special study of geology himself and had become interested in the Bad Lands, the traces of glacial drift and other open pages of the book of nature at hand in this broad and generous state. I cannot say what the psychological course was, but he was brim full of geological data and could not fail to be intensely interesting and instructive.
In the pulpit there were but few his equal. He spoke with conviction and with trained ability. There was nothing for show and no effort at "effect." He preached as he taught, out of a full life. His sermons were often severely logical in form and always logical in thought. As an exegete he was particularly happy, and some one has said that his later sermons were running commentaries on the Scriptures.
A Calvinist by inheritance and training, he was broadly liberal in his recognition of the good in other systems. He would defend his own lines of faith, but never was intolerant of others. His youngest brother is a well known and widely honored clergyman of the Baptist denomination, and the two have always been one in sympathy and desire for the success of the other. When Dr. Blackburn chose to talk doctrinal theology he was fully able to hold his own. He would not, however, allow any-one to force a profitless discussion—too much like threshing over old straw. The story is told of a persistent effort to bring the doctor out on the dogma of infant damnation. Again and again was reference made to bring argument. "You Presbyterians believe that infants dying unregenerate are lost and eternally damned, don't you, now?" was the final attack. The doctor fairly lost his patience, and replied, "Well, suppose we do believe in infant damnation; suppose we do; it does not hurt the infants at all!"
It was not till after coming to South Dakota that Dr. Blackburn devoted himself especially to geological studies. The so-called Bad Lands had great attractions, and he made repeated visits to them, bringing strange casts and shapes of former life back with him. On such an expedition the doctor was a boy again. He wore his oldest clothing and had but little in appearance to recommend him. At one time, when on one of these expeditions, the party drifted into the mining regions of the Black Hills, and here was an opportunity to visit one of the deeper gold mines. This could not be neglected, and application was made to the superintendent, stating who the applicant was and his interest in science as additional reason for the favor desired. Now, the doctor was in traveling attire and had been out in the wilds for some weeks, and there was doubtless ample justification for the incredulous refusal of permission to visit the mines. "You Dr. Blackburn! You president of Pierre University! Not much! Why, Dr. Blackburn's a gentleman, he is!" Had the superintendent heard Dr. Blackburn preach the Sunday following he would have obtained truer knowledge of his identity, notwithstanding the clothes worn by him.
The earlier existence of our State Historical Society had inception in 1890. The first steps for public recognition were taken at a general meeting called for that purpose February 20, 1890, presided over by that grand and rather peculiar old hero, Rev. Edward Brown. Several meetings were held for perfecting the organization, resulting in the selection of permanent officers— Hon. George H. Hand as president, and Hon. O. H. Parker as secretary. It was not, however, till February 18, 1891, that the society was finally incorporated, and February 20, 1891, Dr. Blackburn was chosen to be permanent secretary. Of historical value, as probably the last specimen of the handwriting of Mr. Hand in the interest of the Historical Society, is a slip of paper now loose in the records, giving the fact of Dr. Blackburn's election as the matter of business attended to by the board and signed Geo. H. Hand, president. This slip has further an endorsement by Dr. Blackburn, stating the fact above mentioned relative to Mr. Hand's handwriting. President Hand died soon after, and though a general interest was kept up by individuals, the society, as such, fell into the domain of the future. Dr. Blackburn once grimly remarked that he hoped his election as secretary had not brought on the death of the original society!
He quietly devoted himself to the collection and care of such objects of historical value as came in his way, and waited for the renewal of life which would surely come.
Dr. Blackburn was always interested in everything pertaining to the real advancement of the state and the community in which he lived. He was, moreover, keenly alive to the demand made upon him as a citizen for the public good. State and city politics, in the broader sense of the term, claimed his thought and effort. He was a wide reader. On all national questions he kept himself well posted, and international issues were fresh and living topics when he talked upon them. His life as a man and with other men was manly and robust. His thinking was never lacking in strength. He had a message to men, whether it were of life eternal or the open secrets of nature. This gave him power, for he lived up to the doctrine he taught. He had no patience with form for form's sake, and could not endure shams, nor could he abide fraud and deception. Absolutely fearless in sup-port of truth as he saw it and always ready and eager to learn.
Dr. Blackburn never grew old. The eternal springs of youth were his. There was no such thing as "'dry rot" in either head or heart.
At the appointed time the body failed and was laid to rest. The man still lives—he lives in the work he did, the characters he helped build, and in the remembrance of men. Such men truly live, and live forever.
—Thomas Lawrence Riggs.
Oahe, South Dakota, August, 1902.
[Source: "South Dakota Historical Collections", Compiled by the State Historical Society, Vol. 1, 1902 - Transcribed by K. Torp]