USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Necrology, 1890-1900 (Andover Theological Seminary) > Part 41
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Dr. Bartlett died of acute indigestion, at Hanover, N. H., November 16, 1893, aged eighty years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days.
John Sumner Kidder.
Son of John Kidder and Rachel Shepard; born in Crown Point, N. Y., January 22, 1811 ; from the age of fourteen lived with relatives at New Alstead, N. H., employed as a clothier and wool-spinner and in teaching district schools; at twenty-one he began preparation for college, attending Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., and Burr Seminary, Manchester, Vt .; graduated
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at Amherst College, 1839; took the full course in this Seminary, graduating September 7, 1842, his Commencement theme being "Exegetical Preaching ;" was licensed to preach by the Andover Association, meeting with Dr. Justin Edwards, Andover, April 12, 1842. After preaching one year at Canton, Mass., he was ordained as a home missionary at New Alstead, N. H., September 12, 1843, and spent all his subsequent life in Michigan, his places of service being as follows: Schoolcraft, 1843-47; Leoni, 1847-48; Wayne (and Canton), 1848-51 ; Litchfield, 1851-55; Eaton Rapids, 1855-59; Windsor, 1859-64; Wayland (and Hopkins), 1864-67; Rockford (and Cedar Springs), 1867-69; Rochester, 1869-71; New Haven (and Chesterfield), 1871-74; Nunica (first year at Robinson also), 1874-76; Hopkins (two churches), 1876-79; afterwards resided at Hopkins Station until his death.
Rev. Lyman Whiting, D.D., of East Charlemont, Mass., with one excep- tion the only survivor of the Class of 1842, writes of Mr. Kidder : " His simple, earnest piety was the main feature of his college and seminary life. Few equaled him in kindness of spirit, evenness of temper, and constancy of Chris- tian character." Rev. F. W. Bush, of Hopkins Station, Mich., thus described him in the Minutes of the Michigan Congregational Association : " Father Kidder ' was by choice a missionary pastor. His delight was pioneer work. He loved to organize and build up. To gratify this disposition he moved more frequently than would otherwise have been necessary. He was a man of strong convictions of duty and the rightness of things. Positive in his nature, he was yet very companionable and made many friends. He passed away after about three years of suffering from infirmities peculiar to old age ; full of good works and ready as the ripened sheaf for the heavenly garner. Thus ended the life work of the oldest minister in our Michigan list, having been connected with our State Association over fifty years."
Mr. Kidder was married, August 29, 1843, to Mary Ann Kidder, of New Alstead, N. H., daughter of Ezra Kidder, Esq., and Calista Taft. She died May 29, 1896. They had three sons and three daughters; one of the sons died in childhood and another in early manhood.
Mr. Kidder died of old age, at Hopkins Station, Mich., October 18, 1897, aged eighty-six years, eight months, and twenty-six days.
David McGee Bardwell. (Non-graduate.)
Son of Giles Smith Bardwell and Sarah McGee; born in Bolton, N. Y., August 29, 1815, but his father's family removed to Williamstown, Mass., in his boyhood; fitted for college in the public schools of Williamstown, and in Bennington (Vt.) Seminary; graduated at Williams College, 1839; studied in this Seminary, 1839-41. He supplied the churches in Salisbury, Vt., 1842- 44, and South Woodstock, Ct., 1844-45. He was ordained at Southbridge, Mass., May 19, 1845, "as a missionary of the Home Missionary Society to Northern Indiana," serving at Ontario and Greenfield, Ind., 1845-48; Grass Lake, Mich., 1848-50; Sharon, Mich., 1850-51 ; Michigan City, Ind., 1851-55 ; health failing, engaged in business, residing at Michigan City, 1855-59; labored as agent of the American Bible Society for Wisconsin, 1859-65, residing at Waukesha; acting pastor at Markesan, Wis., 1865-69; returning to the East with impaired health, he resumed service as pastor of the Presbyterian church
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at Whippany, N. J., in 1871, remaining there until 1886; afterwards a resident of the Presbyterian Ministers' House at Perth Amboy, N. J.
Rev. Albert Erdman, D. D., of Morristown, N. J., writes of him in the New York Evangelist: "His preaching was ever faithful to the Word of God and His grace, tending to build up his hearers in the great fundamental truths of the gospel. His serene and loving disposition drew to him the affection of old and young, so that as a pastor he brought cheer and wise counsel into the homes of his people, while to those in affliction his kindly heart and strong Christian faith gave blessed comfort. He was a man of large common sense, and withal, a keen sense of humor. A lover of peace, he took no pleasure in the 'strife of tongues.' The writer recalls how on one occasion, during a meeting of the presbytery, at which there was more than usual discussion and difference of opinion on some question of no great importance in itself, Mr. Bardwell was found in the graveyard in the rear of the church, sitting serenely on a tomb- stone, and in answer to the question, 'Brother Bardwell, what are you doing here ?' with a merry twinkle in his eye he replied, 'Thank heaven, they can't talk here ! ' "
Rev. Alexander W. Sproul, D. D., of Perth Amboy, N. J., writes in a local paper : " As a resident of the Presbyterian Ministers' House he adorned in his retirement the gospel he loved to preach. He was a man of great simplicity of character and consistency of deportment, esteemed by all who knew him."
Mr. Bardwell was married, October 10, 1841, to Mary Hunter Cutting, of Westford, N. Y., daughter of Sewall Cutting and Mary Hunter. She died June II, 1887. He married, second, November 29, 1888, Mary Hovey, of Perth Amboy, N. J., daughter of Rev. Jonathan Hovey and Clarissa Parsons, who survives him. His two children, a son and a daughter, died in early youth.
Mr. Bardwell died of Bright's disease, at Perth Amboy, N. J., June 1, 1898, aged eighty-two years, nine months, and three days.
CLASS OF 1843.
Ebenezer Alden.
Son of Ebenezer Alden, M.D. (member of Seminary Board of Trustees from 1837 to 1881), and Anne Kimball ; born in Randolph, Mass., August 10, 1819; prepared for college at Randolph Academy; graduated at Amherst College, 1839; took the full course in this Seminary, 1840-43, his graduating essay, September 6, 1843, being " Latimer as a Preacher;" licensed by the Andover Association, meeting with Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, Andover, April 11, 1843. Joining the " Iowa Band," which comprised eleven men, all from his Seminary class, he journeyed with them to Iowa Territory in October of that year, and was ordained with six of them at Denmark, November 5, 1843. Mr. Alden was assigned to Solon, although in three months he removed to Tipton, the county seat. He remained there, the whole county being virtually his field, until 1848, when he returned to the East, and was pastor of the church at Marshfield, Mass., from 1850 to 1885. He was then made pastor emeritus and continued to reside in Marshfield until his death.
Mr. Alden was on the first Board of Trustees of Iowa College. He pub- lished one sermon, An Unconditional Surrender Demanded of the Sinner, 1854,
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also Historical Sketch of the First Church in Marshfield, and a sermon preached in 1875 upon the completion of twenty-five years in his pastorate. He wrote the article on Marshfield for the History of Plymouth County. Daniel Webster was one of his parishioners, and it was the dying statesman's request that Mr. Alden should conduct his funeral service. His address on that occasion at the Webster homestead was printed in the memorial volume published by the city of Boston, and a sermon, preached in the Marshfield church on the Sunday following Mr. Webster's death, printed in the Boston papers. It may be noted that he attended the funerals of five members of the Webster family, repre- senting four generations. The striking difference between his pastorate in the ancient Pilgrim town and his early labors in "Iowa Territory " is shown by the fact that he officiated at the funerals of three persons who were over one hundred years of age.
Rev. James L. Hill, D.D., of Salem (Class of 1875), son of a member of the "Iowa Band," wrote in the Advance: "Mr. Alden was a fine type of the New England ministry of a generation just gone. His influence lay in what he was in himself. His power was felt in every matter that concerned the good of the community. Dr. Robbins and Dr. Harvey Adams of the Iowa Band having died, the line is growing slender. The two that remain are looking at life's work in the light of the setting sun." At the Commemoration of Dr. William Salter's Fifty Years' Pastorate in Burlington, Iowa, in 1896, Dr. Robbins said : " Ebenezer Alden, Jr., was 'the sober ministerial wit' of the Band. It was Mr. Alden who concocted the 'prairie-grass tea ' indulged in by members of the Band in their overland trips. With a church of nineteen members, a lean-to to a store for a study, and a horse and buggy for his attendant keepers, he worked diligently and with acceptance all round the county for the most of five years to 1848. My nearest ministerial neighbor, Congregationally, about twenty-five miles distant, he would now and then find his way, for a little rest and mending, to the Muscatine home. His name is cherished with interest and respect all through that region."
Rev. Charles L. Merriam, of Lowell (Class of 1882), who in his first pas- torate at Kingston was a near "ministerial neighbor," writes: "I shall never forget the time I first met Mr. Alden. It was in those days of special trial to Andover graduates. We were all under suspicion then. He was moderator of the council called to ordain me. His gentle, considerate thought of me, his sympathetic appreciation of my position, and his wise and kindly conduct of the examination won my heart. I was not alone in this feeling. Many others, especially the young ministers, were drawn to Mr. Alden. It would have been easy to have called him ' Father Alden.' He was never distant, never anything less than the man with the winning smile, the hearty hand-grasp, and the love- light of God in his face. Trained in a different system of theology, he was wonderfully tolerant of 'new views' and was never the less brotherly on that account. Indeed, it was something beautiful, the way his life broadened out in his old age to the newer thought of men. If he could not always agree or accept he never bitterly antagonized. He believed that men could progress in their apprehension of the truth, and so was never found very much in the rear of those who were pushing on for more light. He was a good man - in a very sturdy and wholesome way. The Pilgrim churches owe much to his wisdom and faithfulness, but they owe more to the genuine saintliness of his character.
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In the life of faith in Christ and love to Christ, he did yeoman's service for God and man, and fell on sleep."
Mr. Alden was married, April 4, 1848, to Maria Louisa Dyer, of South Abington, Mass., daughter of Captain Christopher Dyer and Betsey Porter, who died March 4, 1889. He left one son, Professor Edmund K. Alden, of Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., and three married daughters. A son and a daughter died in early childhood.
He died of heart disease, at Marshfield, Mass., January 4, 1899, aged seventy-nine years, four months, and twenty-five days.
CLASS OF 1845.
Alexander Huntington Clapp, D.D.
Son of Levi Clapp and Sarah Huntington; born in Worthington, Mass., September 1, 1818; in early childhood went to the home of his maternal uncle, Ralph Huntington, Esq., in Boston; attended the Adams and Fort Hill Gram- mar Schools, and the English High School; was for some years a clerk in Bos- ton ; fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and Leicester (Mass.) Academy ; graduated at Yale College, 1842; studied in Yale Divinity School, 1842-44, and in this Seminary, 1844-45, his graduating address, September 3, 1845, being upon the "Eloquence of Martin Luther." He was licensed to preach by the Andover Association, meeting with Rev. John L. Taylor at Andover, April 7, 1845; and continued study here as resident licentiate, 1845- 46; was pro tempore Professor of Rhetoric, Middlebury College, 1846. He was ordained as pastor of the Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vt., October 14, 1846, and remained there until 1853. Temporary affection of the eyes then compelled him to suspend preaching, and for two years he served as cashier of the Pacific Mills Corporation at Lawrence, Mass. He was installed pastor of the Beneficent Church, Providence, R. I., October 3, 1855, and con- tinued in that pastorate until 1865. From that time he was connected with the American Home Missionary Society in New York; as secretary, 1865-78 ; as treasurer (also editor of the Home Missionary), 1878-93; and from 1893 to the time of his death honorary treasurer and editorial secretary.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Iowa College in 1868. He served as chaplain of the 10th Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers in 1862, when called for the defense of Washington. He was lecturer on Home Missions in this Seminary, 1874-77. While in the Seminary he edited A Selec- tion from the Writings of Bishop Hall. While in Brattleboro he edited Lives of the Presidents, and other works. In Providence he published a sermon on God's Purpose in the War, 1861, and several memorial sermons. Besides his editorial service for the Home Missionary Society, he was for years, as the inti- mate friend of Dr. Henry M. Dexter (Class of 1844), the occasional corre- spondent of the Congregationalist, and from 1875 to 1897 contributed the weekly letters to that journal, which have made the name of " Huntington " so widely and happily known.
From the address of Rev. Joseph B. Clark, D. D., secretary of the Congre- gational Home Missionary Society (Class of 1861), as given in the advance sheets of the Home Missionary, the following extracts are made : "For thirty- five years, lacking a few months, his life has been devoted to one thought and
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purpose, the redemption of America through home missions. His early les- sons in this school of work were taken at the feet of Milton Badger [Class of 1827], whom he reverenced and loved; and if the spirit of Milton Badger sur- vives to any extent in the office of the Home Missionary Society, it is an inheritance, transmitted through the example and frequent precepts of Dr. Clapp, his admirer and devoted pupil. Something of the blessed influence among the missionary churches and pastors of the West may be inferred from the title that early attached to his name and that clings to it still. Among other men, his compeers and companions in missionary journeys, he was known as ' The Beloved Secretary.' Every one loved Dr. Clapp. His sympathy was perfect and also genuine. Many touching letters are found in our missionary files from obscure home missionaries and their wives, blessing him for his visits to their prairie homes, and for words and acts of cheer which had passed wholly from his own mind. Often of late years white-haired veterans have appeared at our office door inquiring for the man who more than any other gave them hope in some dark season of missionary experience, and after hours of mutual reminiscence, hours always cheerfully spared by him for such interviews, they have left their trembling blessing and gone their way with brimming eyes, and not often with empty hands, confirmed in their abiding affection for 'The Beloved Secretary.' His success as a missionary secretary, treasurer, and editor will be cherished in the office as an inspiring tradition. Whatever he attempted, like good Hezekiah, he did with his whole heart, and so he prospered. His visits to the giving churches of the East were welcome as Spring. They were occasions to be anticipated with pleasure. Benevolence became a sort of luxury when inspired by the stirring and often witty appeals of 'The Beloved Secre- tary.' Large bequests to home missions were sometimes traced to the magic touch of his hand."
Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D.D., LL.D., sends this tribute to his Seminary classmate : "Dr. Clapp is remembered by those who knew him in his Seminary year at Andover (1844-45) as a careful and diligent student, an earnest and open-minded thinker, a devout Christian disciple, a most sympathetic and delightful friend. He had a business training, which most of his classmates had missed, and some of them thought that, attractive as the pastorate would surely be to him, his proper life work would be accomplished in connection with the secretaryship of some important society - as it proved to be. To an unusual degree he was conciliatory in spirit, wise in administration, while definite and strong in personal conviction; and the humorous vein which was in him - as native to him as its brilliance to the diamond, or its beautiful play of color to the opal - was not only a constant refreshment to his friends, but to himself a real though unconscious instrument of power. Fisher Ames said of Hamilton, when talking of him with a friend at his garden gate, after the statesman's death, ' His wit was as sharp as yonder thistle-blade,' and then added, as a breeze touched the crown of the plant, 'and as delicate as its down.' No more exact description could be given of the wit and playfulness combined in Dr. Clapp. He took a real sunshine out of life for many when he trod the valley of the shadow by his Saviour's side, and saw the Gates of Light unfold."
Dr. Clapp was married, September 4, 1845, to Emily Payson Copeland, of Boston, daughter of Seth Copeland and Martha Brackett. She survives him.
Dr. Clapp died of Bright's disease, in New York City, April 27, 1899, aged eighty years, seven months, and twenty-six days.
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Samuel Bacon Fairbank, D. D.
Son of John Barnard Fairbank and Hannah Maria Crisey; born in Stam- ford, Ct., December 14, 1822; prepared for college in Brooklyn, N. Y., and at McGuffey's School in Cincinnati, O .; graduated at Illinois College, 1842; took the full course in this Seminary, 1842-45, his Commencement address, Sep- tember 3, 1845, being on " The Prospective Benefits to Literature from the Evangelization of India." He was licensed to preach by the Andover Associa- tion, meeting with Rev. John L. Taylor, Andover, April 7, 1845, and was ordained to the missionary work at Jacksonville, Ill., November 11, 1845, Rev. T. M. Post preaching the sermon ; sailed from Boston under commission of the American Board, in May, 1846, arrived in Bombay the following September, and spent his life in Western India. Besides three visits to America, his service in the field was at Ahmednagar, 1846-50, at Bombay, 1850-55, at Wadale, 1856-69, at Ahmednagar, 1871-78, at Wadale, 1878-87, and at Wadale and Kodaikanal, from 1888 until his death.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Illinois College in 1877. While at Bombay he had charge of the printing establishment. He was especially fond of music and translated many hymns -some of his own com- posing -into Marathi, and prepared the first book of musical notation for Western India. He contributed to many papers on various branches of natural science, also to the Government Gazetteer of Western India. In his last years he prepared the Sunday school notes for all Christian missions in the country.
Rev. Thomas S. Smith (Class of 1869), his son-in-law, and for many years a missionary in Ceylon, writes of Dr. Fairbank: " His childhood was in a home of wealth in the city of Brooklyn, but the financial panic of 1837 brought the family into straightened circumstances and led to emigration to the West. When he entered Illinois College his parents were living in Diamond Grove, a village near Jacksonville, and he boarded himself on provisions brought weekly from home, and graduated, one of the first in his class, when twenty years old. His father gave him a horse and buggy to start him on his theologi- cal course, and with a classmate in college and Seminary, Coffin [Prof. William Coffin, who died in 1890], he drove all the way from Jacksonville to Andover, and then sold the horse and buggy, helping himself in the Seminary with the proceeds. More than thirty years later I heard these old cronies go over the incidents of that journey, and laugh together at the pranks they played along the way. He was only twenty-three when he went out to India, and looked so much younger that he was for years called by the natives ' the boy missionary.' He was remarkable for his versatility, his good judgment, and his wise, sympa- thetic helpfulness to the poor and struggling native Christians. He helped them to help themselves by showing them how to improve their methods in farming and other work. He loved them, he trusted them, and the conscious- ness of this often kept them from proving false to him.
" He loved natural history in all its departments, and Nature in all her moods. A keen observer and an indefatigable collector, he has left namesakes among the birds and shells, snakes and ferns of India, species which he was first to discover, and which higher authorities named for him. In these recre- ative studies his enthusiasm was contagious, and among others, Blanford, the author of the best work on the mammals of India, was started on his scientific career by watching Mr. Fairbank skin a painted snipe which the young civilian
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had kindly shot for him at a chance meeting while touring in the Deccan. Dr. Fairbank was a most congenial companion and associate. His talk at the table or on the tramp, in the garden, or from the pulpit, was always interesting, sug- gestive, and helpful. He was so unassuming, unselfish, and appreciative, that everybody loved him, and those who knew him most loved him most unreserv- edly of all. He never grew old in heart. I think he anticipated living to a great age, and was always full of plans that would have kept him busy for many years -and then suddenly 'he was not, for God took him.' On a rail- way journey, having preached twice on Sunday only two days before, at the little border station of detention between plague-smitten Bombay and plague-fearing Madras, he lay down for a moment in the office of the doctor in charge and lapsed into unconsciousness, a few hours later breathing his life away."
A few sentences are also taken from a sketch in the Dnyanodaya, the mis- sion paper published in Bombay, written by Rev. Robert A. Hume, D. D., of Ahmednagar (Class of 1873) : " He was the senior missionary of the American Marathi Mission and senior Protestant missionary in all India. Fifty-two years is a long time for any foreigner to live in India, and still more unusual for one to retain his position as a worker for such a long period. Two years ago, on the fiftieth anniversary of his landing, the Indian Christians of Western India celebrated his semi-centennial in various ways. Parsi and Christian friends gave funds for the building of a memorial well at Wadale, near the top of which is a tablet stating the circumstances under which it was built."
Dr. Fairbank was married, March 26, 1846, to Abbie Allen, of Oakham, Mass., daughter of Dea. James Allen and Polly L. Crocker. She died at Bombay. August 21, 1852. He married, second, July 31, 1856, Mary Ballan - tine, daughter of Rev. Henry Ballantine, of the Marathi Mission (Class of 1834), and Elizabeth Darling. She died at Ahmednagar, January 15, 1878. A son and a daughter by his first marriage and two sons by his second marriage have died. Two sons and two daughters are foreign missionaries - Rev. Henry Fairbank, Rev. Edward Fairbank (Class of 1892), and Mrs. Robert A. Hume, in the Marathi Mission, and Mrs. Thomas S. Smith, in Ceylon - while another daughter is preparing for medical missionary service, at Johns Hopkins Medical School; two daughters are wives of Rev. Robert M. Woods of Hatfield, Mass., and Prof. W. W. Hastings, Ph. D., of the University of Nebraska; one daughter is a teacher in Chicago Settlement work, and the youngest is a grad- uate of this year at Smith College.
Dr. Fairbank died of heat apoplexy, in the village of Tungabhadra, near Madras, India, May 31, 1898, aged seventy-five years, five months, and seven- teen days.
George Washington Porter, D. D. (Non-graduate.)
Son of Daniel Porter and Ruth Meacum; born in Beverly, Mass., June 21, 1817; early studies conducted under private tuition; instructor in Chauncy Hall School, Boston, 1839-42; studied in this Seminary, 1842-43; studied in universities of Halle and Wittenberg, Germany, 1844; ordained as deacon in the Episcopal church, September 8, 1846, by Bishop Eastburn ; ordained priest at All Saints' Church, Worcester, Mass., October 2, 1847, also by Bishop Eastburn. He organized St. Mary's Church, Dorchester, Mass., in 1846, and
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remained its rector until 1853, being also for a time master of a young ladies' school in Boston ; was rector of St. Andrew's Church, Schoharie, N. Y., 1853- 57, and for the same time principal of Wainwright Institute, Middleburgh, N.Y., which he founded; rector of Christ Church, Morehouse, N. Y., 1857-64; of St. Michael's Church, Brattleboro, Vt., 1864-65; of St. Peter's Church, Drews- ville, N. H., 1867-68; of Trinity Church, Woburn, Mass., 1868-71; at Constableville, N. Y., 1872; at Bainbridge, N. Y., 1875; of St. Thomas' Church, Hamilton, N. Y., 1877-79; of Trinity Church, Wrentham, Mass., 1882-84; removed to Lexington, Mass., in 1885, where he resided afterwards until his death.
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