RICHARD CORDLEY, D.D.
(Emporia)

Richard Cordley was born September 6, 1829, in Nottingham, England.  Before he was four years old his parents moved to America, and settled in what were then the back woods of Michigan, about forty miles west of Detroit. Here he lived on his father’s farm until twenty-one years of age.  He went to school at the log school house, and afterward at Ann Arbor, attending school in the winter and working on the farm in the summer. In this way he prepared himself for college, and in the autumn of 1850 he entered the State University at Ann Arbor.  Through the four years of college, and the three years at the Theological Seminary, Andover, Massachusetts, he maintained himself by working over-hours and during vacations.

He graduated in theology at Andover in 1857, and, with three of his classmates, proceeded to Lawrence, Kansas, where he took charge of the Plymouth Congregational church of that place.  The church then had a little over twenty members and an unfinished house of worship.  He remained in this position for eighteen years, seeing the church grow from twenty members to over four hundred.  They had, meanwhile, built one of the finest church edifices in the West, at a cost of over forty thousand dollars.

At the Lawrence raid, August 21, 1863, he was one of the many marked for special attention.  He was sought for earnestly, but not found.  His house, however, was burned and all its contents.  He remained on the field taking his Spencer rifle, doing guard duty in the city in rotation with other citizens.

In 1874 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him, by the State University of Kansas.  In 1875, Mr. Cordley resigned his pastorate at Lawrence, being worn out and needing a change of work and climate, and removed to Flint, Michigan.  In September, 1878, he returned to Kansas, and accepted a call to the Congregational church at Emporia, where he now resides.

A friend who has known Dr. Cordley from his boyhood to his mature years, cannot refrain from adding a word to this modest sketch of his old college chum. Dr. Cordley’s life has been the daily growth of a plant well cultivated, which has come to a ripe and abundant fruitage.  He will pick up more rich nuggets of truth in the same time from a given field, than any other known preacher.  He has never received the apostolic touch of Peter, or of any of his successors, to make him a bishop, yet he has naturally grown into this office by common consent, and for many years has been the chosen minister of his church in Kansas for extraordinary occasions.  Atone of the National Councils of his church in the East, the Kansas brethren desired to secure a special indorsement for their college.  But twenty other colleges were clamoring for the same thing and the effort was likely to prove a failure, when they brought Dr. Cordley to the platform.  One of his epigrammatic, three-minute, clean-cut diamond speeches electrified the whole Council, and the measure went through like a flash of lightning—when the great Council “sat down on the colleges”.  It was a fitting recognition of his worth and services, that the presidency of this college (Washburn College) should afterward be offered to him, which he declined.

His sermon style is sui generis.  After one of his twenty-minute sermons, a friend suggested that the sermon must have been composed, before he studied Homiletics.  “No,” he replied, “it was written after I got through with Homilectics!”

(Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler from “The United States Biographical Dictionary Kansas 1879”)

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REV. RICHARD CORDLEY,D. D., Pastor First Congressional Church, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, September 6, 1929. Came to this country with his parents in 1833, locating in Livingston County, Mich., where his youth was spent. His preparatory studies were made at Ann Arbor Classical School under Rev. Daniel Wilkens; graduated from the State University of Michigan, 1854, and entered Andover Theological Seminary,Mass., from which he graduated in 1857.  Came to Kansas in the fall of 1857 Lawrence.  Preached his first sermon as Pastor of the Plymouth Church on the first Sabbath in December, 1857. The membership of the church at that time was only twenty-one or twenty-two and a large part of the pastor's support was supplied by the American Home Missionary Society. Dr. Cordley remained as pastor of the Plymouth Church eighteen years and left it with a membership of over 400. During his pastorage two quite marked revivals were experienced. The first, in 1867, when about 100 were added to the membership. The second, in 1872, added about 175, of whom sixty-nine were baptized in one day. A fine and substantial church was built at a cost of about $45,000 and dedicated in May, 1870. At the time of the Quantrell raid in Lawrence, which occurred on the 21st of August, 1868, the residence of Dr. Cordley, with all its contents, was burned, making a loss to him of more than $3,000, about one-half of which was made up by contributions of friends and churches in the East. He and Rev. Lewis Bodwell, who had stopped with him for the night, narrowly escaped death. When they discovered that the raiders were in town and the main street on fire, they closed the house and watched the movements of the enemy; but when a gang of six ruffians rode up to the house from the opposite side of the street they decided to wait no longer. Dr. Cordley taking his little girl in his arms and Mrs. Cordley the arm of Mr. Bodewell they walked through the back gate and along the street very deliberately. In full view of the raiders, but providentially they were not noticed, and as soon as possible concealed themselves behind some favoring bushes and escaped to the woods. The well-known reputation of both these brethren as Abolitionists would have sealed their fate had they been discovered in their flight. For two years subsequent to their raid, which was so disastrous to the people in the town, Dr.Cordley took his turn with other citizens of Lawrence in standing guard over the town. In 1875 Dr. Cordley removed to Flint, Mich., where he remained for three years as pastor of the First Congregational Church. Returned to Kansas in 1878, located at Emporia as pastor of the first Congregational Church of that place with a membership of eighty-one. During his pastorate the membership increased to about 150. A beautiful and substantial church edifice has been erected at a cost of about $13,000, with seating capacity for 600; dedicated January 9, 1881. Dr.Cordley was a member of the School Board in Lawrence for six years, Member of the School Board of Emporia four years and Clerk of the Board three years. He was Regent of the State Agricultural College eight years. Has been a Trustee of Washburn College since its foundation, a period of twenty-two years. Married Miss Mary A. Cox of Livingston County, Mich., May 19, 1839. They have one child - Maggie, who is married to William E. Griffith and resides in Lawrence.  (William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas ~ Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)