USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Necrology, 1890-1900 (Andover Theological Seminary) > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Vermont in 1893. The addresses at his funeral were made by Rev. Joseph Torrey, D.D., of Shirley, Mass. (Class of 1858); Rev. George I. Bard, of Wal- pole, N. H. (Class of 1860) ; and Rev. C. O. Day, of Brattleboro, Vt. (Class of 1877). Dr. Torrey sends the following tribute : " I have known Dr. Thompson ever since his college days, was with him for a while at Andover Seminary, was his neighbor pastor during a large part of his long ministry in Danville, and have corresponded or conversed with him frequently ever since. He was a man greatly respected and beloved by all who knew him. His intellectual endow- ments were of a high order. Possessed of a scholarly mind, he was a careful and discriminating reader, not overlooking the old standard authors, and yet keeping himself fully abreast of the times by familiarizing himself with the best and freshest views of writers of the present day. He was a man of decided and positive opinions, yet always stated them with great modesty, and no one was more willing than he to give a reason for his faith, or to give a fair and candid hearing to those who thought differently.
" In the pulpit, where he was equally at home with or without the manu- script, he was a strong, faithful, and interesting preacher, giving his hearers the assurance of his sincere love of the truth and of themselves. As a pastor he was eminently faithful and successful. Many a one has borne testimony to the warmth of his friendship, the kindness of his sympathy, and the sterling value of his counsel. In the ministerial association his papers always showed breadth of view, clearness of discrimination, and strength of conviction. His criticisms were eminently kind and appreciative. As a companion Dr. Thompson was delightfully social. There was a certain simplicity and genuineness about him
313
that easily won confidence and never disappointed it. 'An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile,' you would think him to be today, and you would find him just the same tomorrow and every other day. Those who knew him best loved and trusted him most. In conversation he was brimful of wit and brightness, inclined to show the pleasant side of his own nature, and taking optimistic views of the circumstances and events of the world's current history."
Dr. Thompson was married, November 3, 1866, to Arabella Goodrich, of Burlington, Vt., daughter of Chauncey Goodrich and Arabella Marsh, who survives him.
He died of acute bronchitis, at Westminster, Vt., September 9, 1897, aged sixty-five years, six months, and fourteen days.
CLASS OF 1862.
Thomas Mason Boss.
Son of Charles Dickinson Boss and Elizabeth Mason; born in New London, Conn., May 20, 1836; prepared for college at Williston Seminary ; graduated at Amherst College, 1859; took the full course in this Seminary, 1859-62 ; licensed by Essex South Association, January 7, 1862. He supplied the church in Jewett City, Conn., 1862-63, and other churches in Connecticut for short periods, but going West, was ordained over the church in Lyons, Io., June 5, 1866, and remained there four years; was pastor in Putnam, Conn., 1870-76; in Springfield, Vt., 1877-84; La Crosse, Wis., 1885-88 ; Leavenworth, Kan., 1888-96, residing there afterwards, without charge, until his death.
He published an address delivered at the centennial of the church at Springfield, Vt., in 1881, and Spiritual Life the Secret of Spiritual Power, a paper before the Wisconsin Convention. Rev. L. Payson Broad, Superin- tendent of Home Missions for Kansas (Class of 1873), sends the following tribute : "Mr. Boss was a strong thinker and able preacher. His theology was of the conservative-progressive type. He invariably preached Christ and Him crucified, while seeking to put truth in modern forms. He did literary work easily. His preaching increased in effectiveness in his maturer years, with their riper Christian experience and enlarged responsibilite devoted pastor, faithful friend, zealous promoter of missions, self-sacrificing, and fearless advocate of truth and reform. Despite minor limitations his work for God's kingdom was an important one. Steadily contending during his closing years against insidious and painful disease, he performed his duties till Christ took his chastened spirit to Himself."
Mr. Boss was married, May 15, 1866, to Annie Mindwell Lee, of Madison, Conn., daughter of Capt. Selah Lee and Electa Ann Bushnell, who survives him with two sons and two daughters, four children having died. One of the sons, Roger C. Boss, Washburn College, 1898, has already begun ministerial service in Kansas; another is in business at Omaha, Neb. ; the oldest daughter is an artist, the youngest a student in Bradford (Mass.) Academy.
Mr. Boss died of kidney disease and other complications, at Leavenworth, Kan., July 30, 1897, aged sixty-one years, two months, and ten days.
314
Elijah Cutler.
Son of Maj. Amos Cutler and Sarah Topliff ; born in Holliston, Mass., February 14, 1829; fitted for college at Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass .; graduated at Williams College, 1856; taught select schools in Wytheville and Draper's Valley, Va., 1856-59, also reading medicine there, and attending courses of medical lectures at Philadelphia and in Harvard Medical School (1858-59), with view to service as a medical missionary; studied in Theological Institute of Connecticut, at East Windsor, 1859-61, and in this Seminary, 1861-62. He was ordained, September 9, 1863, at Conway, Mass., and remained in that pastorate five years; was resident licentiate in this Seminary, 1868-69; acting pastor of First Church, Greenfield, Mass., 1869-71, and of the church at East Charlemont, Mass., 1871-72. From 1872 until his death he was agent of the Massachusetts Bible Society, Boston, with residence at Dorchester.
Mr. Cutler was a brother of Rev. Lyman Cutler, of the Class of 1850, and of Rev. Calvin Cutler, of the Class of 1861. He was an intimate friend of President Garfield, who was his college classmate. He served in the United States Christian Commission in Virginia in the spring of 1865, and the writer well remembers meeting him in Petersburg on the day of its capture, and taking an excursion with him soon after with supplies for the wounded of both armies on the line of Lee's retreat. Rev. Henry S. Huntington, of Milton, Mass., a Seminary classmate, sends this tribute : "I do not know how better to charac- terize Mr. Cutler than as a thoroughly manly Christian. He possessed an unusual amount of practical good sense. His judgment was sound. Slow of speech, and perhaps of thought, his conclusions were always weighty. He had no little penetration as a critic. While a most kindly judge of preaching, he had no patience with rant or mere goody talk. He held reverently to the substantial verities of the gospel, but looked for progress in their comprehen- sion, and was in hearty sympathy with it. He had a most genial soul, and his conversation was lighted up with flashes of humor. No one could come into his presence without being conscious of his kindliness. To his friends he was most true and affectionate. His greetings always made one glad. A man loyal to his church, his college, his friends, and his home, he has gone yet nearer to Him who possessed the supreme loyalty of his heart."
Mr. Cutler was married, October 12, 1863, to Ellen Maria Tucker, of Dor- chester, daughter of James Tucker and Rebecca Chamberlain. She survives him, with two sons and two daughters, two sons having died in infancy; the oldest son, a graduate of Williams College and Harvard Medical School, is a physician in Roxbury.
Mr. Cutler died of heart failure, at Dorchester, Mass., March 2, 1898, aged sixty-nine years and sixteen days.
OLASS OF 1863.
Thomas Gordon Grassie. (Non-graduate.)
Son of George Grassie and Elizabeth Field; born in Kildrummie, Aber- deenshire, Scotland, November 29, 1831; came to the United States with his father's family when ten years old; fitted for college at Bolton (Mass.) High School ; graduated at Amherst College, 1857; principal of Barre (Mass.) High
315
School, 1857-60; in this Seminary, 1860-63; licensed to preach by the Erie (Pa.) Presbytery, April 9, 1862, and supplied for six months the church in Wattsburg, Pa., of which his brother (Rev. William Grassie, Class of 1855) was pastor; closed his studies with the winter term of 1863, in order to enter the army; was ordained at the South Church in Andover, March 31, 1863, and served as chaplain of the 108th New York Volunteers, 1863-65; acting pastor Richmond, Me., 1865-67 ; pastor Methuen, Mass., 1867-73; Appleton, Wis., 1873-75; Oshkosh, Wis., 1875-77; Sycamore, Ill., 1877-79; Keokuk, Io., 1880-83; secretary of the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society, 1883-92, resid- ing at Milwaukee; home missionary superintendent for Northern Wisconsin from 1892 until his sudden death at his home in Ashland, immediately after dictating his regular report to the Society at New York.
As chaplain Mr. Grassie was at the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and other famous battles. While marching through the Wilderness he saw a fellow-soldier unable to march longer, gave him his own horse and walked himself. He caught cold, which settled in his eye, resulting in its loss.
Rev. Edward Abbott, D. D., of Cambridge, a Seminary classmate, writes: " Thomas Gordon Grassie was my chum at Andover in 1860-62. We had, I remember, a room in Bartlet Hall, on the upper floor, as it now seems to me ; and the most vivid detail of the interior of that room is Grassie, with his broad Scotch face and forehead and his broader Scotch brogue, sitting before the open Franklin stove, bent well over, poker in hand, hammering away at stick and coals, and talking metaphysics by the hour. It was an odd assortment, Grassie and the writer. Two persons in one Seminary class could hardly have been more unlike than we. He was many years my senior, and in most respects well above the average of the Seminary standard; but he treated my juvenility with a gentle hand, though always ready to set me right where he thought I was wrong. He was a large-hearted as well as a large-bodied man, with a warm emotional and a strong intellectual nature; fond of theology, fond of argument, dreamy and yet practical, impulsive, affectionate, full of energy, for- getful, assiduous at his work, visionary, humorous, always the best of company, always ready for a 'scrap,' but always coming out of it with a smiling face, a good-natured tone of voice, and a hearty grasp of the hand. I remember that with his high, bald forehead, and his varied experience of men and things, he seemed to my youthful imagination old enough almost to be my father. He was certainly one of the geniuses of the class. He had the respect of all, both students and instructors. I think we felt that he rose to heights and descended to depths in his speculations that few of us could reach. In de- bate he was a foeman worthy of Professor Park's or Professor Phelps's steel. Nobody could hoodwink him. He was alert, keen, up in an instant when he saw his adversary off his guard, and ever generous to a fallen foe. Since leav- ing the Seminary I have lost sight of him, and had heard nothing of him for a long time, until the tidings of his death came to me on the Friday after Ascen- sion Day. That he has gone to be with the Lord he loved and served, and has been received, or will be, with the ' Well done, good and faithful servant,' no one can for a moment doubt. A truer-hearted, nobler-spirited, more devoted man I never knew."
From an obituary notice in the Chicago Advance, written by Rev. Homer W. Carter, of Beloit, Wis. (Class of 1876), who succeeded Mr. Grassie as
316
secretary of the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society, the following quotation is made : " His character is summed up in the one word, strength. Robust- ness of body, robustness of mind, robustness of soul, were characteristics. Mr. Grassie had ideas; he had convictions; he had expressions, and they were all and always strong. When sometimes he seemed to stride roughshod over others, it was not in unkindness or in vindictiveness, but rather in unswerving devotion to lofty ideals and deep convictions as to the standards of the ministry, of the church, and of character. Nothing could daunt him, nothing could move him from these ideals. Mr. Grassie would not spare himself. He worked himself to death, and this at the age of sixty-six, and in spite of that robust constitution and calm cheerfulness. Shirking, laziness, and selfishness were thoroughly foreign to his nature. In thinking of Scripture appropriate to the case, one thinks of Elijah in his prophetic leadership and flashes of indig- nation against iniquity; of Moses and Joshua in their leadership; and he is grateful that such a one has held leadership among us, in shaping things for the kingdom of righteousness."
Mr. Grassie was married, April 7, 1863, to Mary Elizabeth Holbrook, of Barre, Mass. (Mt. Holyoke Seminary, 1863), daughter of Henry Holbrook and Sally Wadsworth, who survives him. They had five daughters and three sons; one of the sons was educated at Beloit College and is a journalist ; two of the daughters were educated at Mt. Holyoke College, one of them, Mrs. Effie Grassie Chapple, dying in Arizona in 1897 ; one son died in infancy.
Mr. Grassie died of diabetes and heart disease, at Ashland, Wis., April 28, 1898, aged sixty-six years, four months, and twenty-nine days.
CLASS OF 1870.
Jeremiah Ellsworth Fullerton.
Son of Galen Otis Fullerton and Sarah Ann Ellsworth ; born in Readfield, Me., July 4, 1843; his father dying at New Orleans, where the family removed in his infancy, he returned with his mother when he was five years old, to her native city, Bath, Me .; prepared for college in the high school there; graduated at Bowdoin College, 1865; principal of Hallowell (Me.) Academy, 1865-66; in this Seminary 1866-68; licensed by the Lincoln (Me.) West Association, November 3, 1868; supplied the churches in Solon and Bingham, Me., 1868-69; completed his studies at Andover, 1869-70. He was ordained as an evangelist at Cumberland Mills, in Westbrook, Me., September 8, 1870, and was acting pastor of the Warren Church there, 1870-72; was pastor of the church in Southbridge, Mass., 1873-76; of the church in Laconia, N. H., 1877-81 ; acting pastor at Hopkinton, Mass., 1881-86; at Brighton, Mass., 1887-90; Bellows Falls, Vt., from December, 1890 (being installed pastor March 25, 1891), to the time of his death.
Mr. Fullerton preached the annual sermon before the General Convention in 1897, and nearly every year was called upon for addresses on Memorial Day. All his work was done in the face of physical weakness and suffering, resulting from a fall on the sidewalk in New Orleans, in his childhood. Rev. C. O. Day, of Brattleboro, Vt. (Class of 1877), speaks of this in the following extract from a newspaper notice: "A man of great intellectual strength, decided opinions,
317
wide learning, clear and forcible utterance, warm and sensitive heart, his devo- tion was still his chief characteristic. He could not be daunted by ill-health or pain or discouragement. There was a touch of the heroic in him, and all he had and was he was ready to spend freely for Christ and his fellow-men. Years ago, when at Andover Seminary, he made the same strong impression of consecrated fearlessness upon the large class of Academy boys whom he taught."
Rev. George A. Hood, of the Congregational Church Building Society (Class of 1869), writes : "From the time of our acquaintance at Andover I have always watched Mr. Fullerton with interest. Bound up in that quiet and unassuming nature were many excellences: strong common sense and good judgment which others relied upon ; wise hopefulness which uplifted others; a brotherliness which always stretched out the helpful hand. He always seemed equal to every demand made on him, quick to see the right thing to be done and prompt to do it. We did not appreciate him when he was among us, just because he was so far from self-assertion or self-seeking; because he was such a Christian hero that he went right along in his many lines of work with undaunted courage and grit when most of us would have succumbed to pain, preferring to add to the happiness of those about him, rather than to call out their sympathy for his suffering."
Mr. Fullerton was married, October 12, 1876, to Sarah Elizabeth Otis, of Woolwich, Me., daughter of Christopher Tilden Otis and Harriet Huston. She survives him with two daughters, a son having died in infancy.
He died of concussion of the spine (injury received by a fall a few days before), at Bellows Falls, Vt., October 27, 1897, aged fifty-four years, three months, and twenty-three days.
OLASS OF 1880.
John Calvin Staples.
Son of Calvin Staples and Clarissa Rogers Sears; born in New Bedford, Mass., January 31, 1842; prepared for college in the New Bedford High School, but the death of his father prevented the prosecution of his studies. He engaged in business, first as a clerk in New Bedford, afterwards as a book- keeper in New York City, Newtonville, Mass., and Taunton, Mass. After sixteen years of business life he yielded to a strong conviction of his duty to enter the ministry, and took the full course in this Seminary, 1877-80. He was licensed to preach by the Old Colony Association, at New Bedford, April 30, 1879. He was ordained as pastor of the church at East Jaffrey, N. H., July 6, 1880, and remained there till the close of 1882; was pastor at South Deerfield, Mass., from January 1, 1883, to January 1, 1885, and at Littleton, Mass., from January 1, 1885, to January 1, 1890. After a few months of home missionary service at Lake Helen, Fla., he was pastor at Harwich, Mass., from January I, 1891, to January 1, 1893. His failing health then compelled him to retire from the active ministry, and he resided afterwards, without charge, at New Bedford. He often preached, however, and for three years from January, 1894, was gen- eral manager of the New Bedford Charity Organization.
His classmate, Rev. Rufus B. Tobey, of Boston, sends the following tribute : "Though Mr. Staples and I were born in the same city, we were not
318
personally acquainted until we matriculated at Andover. But he was by no means a stranger. Although engaged in business in the West, his reputation as a Christian worker was well known in the home of his childhood. I used to think of him as one who lent himself to business, but gave himself to the ser- vice of God. When God called him from business life into the ministry, many obstacles had to be removed before he could make the radical change. He overcame everything, and brought his wife and two children to Andover in the fall of 1877. Here the sympathy that literally suffers with another in his afflic- tion, already developed by the death of an honored father and a beloved brother, was intensified by the loss of his darling boy. In fact, God seemed to be fit- ting him by affliction to minister to bereaved ones. Early in his ministry his surviving brother passed away, then his mother, and later his wife and only daughter. He now made his home with his sister in New Bedford. When the work of the Associated Charities was started there he was called to the charge. It was felt that because of his business training and his sympathetic nature he was peculiarly fitted for the place. But the cry of suffering humanity and the many calls for sympathy and aid overwhelmed him. He confessed to me, the last time I saw him, that he bore the burden until it fairly crushed him. Then he laid it down. The methodical training of his commercial life enabled Mr. Staples to accomplish far more than if he had been merely a student, yet it was when he walked with God in his later experiences of deep affliction that he gained the largest measure of his power as a Christian minister."
Mr. Staples was married, January 7, 1868, to Helen Maria Eels, of Mari- etta, O., daughter of John Mead Eels and Susan Ann Hooker. She died July 12, 1890. Their only son died in 1879, at the age of three, and their only daughter in December, 1893, at the age of twenty-five.
He died of consumption, at New Bedford, Mass., November 25, 1897, aged fifty-five years, nine months, and twenty-five days.
OLASS OF 1881.
Sylvester Storrs Grinnell. (Resident Licentiate.)
Son of Jeremiah Grinnell (a prominent minister among the Friends) and Martha Taber ; born in Mt. Gilead, O., January 12, 1850; the family residing afterwards in Iowa, Indiana, and Tennessee, his preparatory education was obtained in Iowa, at Farmers' Institue, Indiana (of which his father had charge), and at Maryville, Tenn .; graduated at Maryville College, 1874; at Oberlin Theological Seminary, 1878; licensed to preach by the Cleveland (O.) Congre- gational Conference, at North Ridgeville, O., April 16, 1878. He began to preach at Rochester, Vt., in June, 1878, was ordained there January 14, 1879, and remained until November, 1880; studied in this Seminary as resident licentiate, 1880-81; preached at Green River, Wyoming, in the summer of 1881; labored two years in Des Moines, Io., organizing the Pilgrim Church in 1883; pastor, Rockford, Io., 1884-87 ; Lancaster, Wis., 1887-90; River Falls, Wis., 1890-94; supplied the Pacific Church, St. Paul, Minn., in the summer of 1894 ; pastor, Alpena, Mich., 1894-96; without charge at Pasadena, Cal., from December, 1896, to the time of his death.
Several of Mr. Grinnell's sermons were published in pamphlet form, and many pieces of verse, of superior merit, in the newspapers. Rev. Herbert W.
319
Lathe (Class of 1877), who, as pastor at Pasadena, knew Mr. Grinnell in the last year of his life, sends this tribute : " Mr. Grinnell was a very devoted and con- secrated man. His early association with the Friends largely accounts for the spiritual tone of his preaching, which was earnest, direct, and persuasive. He took a serious view of a minister's duties and opportunities, as one who should give account of the souls committed to his charge. He was a man of sound judgment, a good counsellor, genuine all through, and lovable. God greatly honored him in the winning of souls, in which respect he left a record which might be envied by many eminent preachers." Rev. Homer W. Carter (Class of 1876), Secretary of the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society, wrote of him in the Advance : " His fidelity was unfailing. He was an earnest and successful soul-winner, a diligent student, with a constant ambition to make the most and best of himself for the furtherance of his mission as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. His constitution was not rugged, yet his energy along the way of high ideals was untiring. Many, in different parts of the country, will count him as their spiritual father, though he had not yet passed out of the years of middle life."
He was married, January 18, 1887, to Corrinna Amira Phelps, of Rock- ford, Io., daughter of Chauncey Moss Phelps and Alma Heaton. She survives him, with one daughter, a son having died in 1894.
He died of pernicious anæmia, in Pasadena, Cal., December 12, 1897, aged forty-seven years and eleven months.
OLASS OF 1892.
John Rounds Smith.
Son of John Rounds Smith and Sarah Elizabeth Bullen ; born at Salem, Mass., March 11, 1867 ; prepared for college at the Salem High School; gradu- ated at Harvard College, 1889; took the full course in this Seminary, 1889-92 ; was licensed to preach by the Andover Association, meeting at Bartlet Chapel, Andover, June 1, 1891. He was ordained pastor of the Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass., September 1, 1892, and dismissed February 13, 1895. He afterwards supplied the church in Danielson, Conn., for some weeks, and preached occasionally in other places. He then engaged in business, repre- senting two manufacturing companies in Chicago, and was there killed by the explosion of a soda fountain tank, repairs on which he was superintending.
Rev. Emery L. Bradford, of Boxford, Mass., his Seminary classmate, writes : "Although little acquainted with Mr. Smith at Andover, being a member of his class only one year, his settlement at Georgetown was only five miles from me, and I knew very well the quality of his work there. He was an earnest, devoted, zealous, consecrated minister. He faced the peculiar and difficult problems of his field with courage and a lofty purpose. If the outcome was not all he hoped and prayed and unceasingly labored for, it was not because of lack of self-sacrificing labor on his part. I was on the council that dismissed him, and I came away with an exalted estimate of the manliness, the courage, the straightforward and unfaltering purpose of my friend and classmate. He surely sacrificed himself to the cause he loved. His going is the first break in
320
the Class of 1892. His untimely death is a personal shock and grief to all his classmates."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.