USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The Old stone church; the story of a hundred years, 1820-1920 > Part 19
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While located at Hudson, Ohio, the comparatively small endowment of Western Reserve College came in its largest sums from such Cleveland Presbyterians as Truman P. Handy, H. B. Hurlbut, Joseph Perkins, Nathan Perry, P. M. Weddell, T. D. Crocker, Selah Chamberlain, S. B. Chittenden, the Reverend W. H. Goodrich, Harmon Kingsbury, Elisha Taylor, H. Harvey, William Williams, Douglas Perkins, Geo. W. Gardner, G. H. Burt, Henry M. Flagler, and other names familiar in earlier years. Three of the en- dowed chairs were the Handy professorship of phi-
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losophy, the Hurlbut professorship of chemistry, and the Perkins professorship of physics and astronomy. These now exist at Adelbert College and in addition the Selah Chamberlain professorship of sociology, the Haydn professorship of history, the Amasa Stone fund, the Julia Gleason Stone fund, the McBride lecture course fund, the Harriet Pelton Perkins schol- arship, the George Mygatt fund, the Solon L. Sever- ance fund, the Hatch Library, the Franklin T. Backus Law School and fund, the Amasa Stone Memorial Chapel, and the Department of Religious Education on the Louis H. Severance Foundation.
At the College for Women in addition to what has already been enumerated are the Woods professor- ship of Latin, the Haydn scholarship fund, the H. K. Cushing fund, the Julia Gleason fund and the Mary Chisholm fund.
These names show the great preponderance of Presbyterian supporters of Western Reserve College of Hudson, Ohio, and of the modern university in Cleveland, and especially those connected with the Stone Church.
In the summer of 1890 the Reverend Charles Frank- lin Thwing, D.D., LL.D., was called from his pas- torate in Minneapolis to the presidency of Western Reserve University. The way for his inauguration had been effectively prepared by the comparatively brief administration of President Hiram Collins Haydn, and a most inviting educational field had been made ready for fruitful seed-sowing. With the swift growth of Cleveland in population and wealth
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Western Reserve University has experienced a cor- responding development. This year's commence- ment brought to a close President Thwing's thirtieth year of administrative service, and he is taking a year's leave of absence richly deserved in view of what he had been permitted to rear upon foundations laid by faithful predecessors. Great as the educational structure has become, the pressing needs of Western Reserve University seem greater than ever, for the very reason that there is faith to believe that the sources of replenishment, both in friends and finan- cial resources, will prove in time to be correspondingly ample.
After retirement from his active pastorate Dr. Haydn continued to serve in his professorship of Biblical literature at the College for Women. In 1899 his son, Professor Howell M. Haydn, began to assist the father; was made associate professor in 1907; and in 1910 succeeded to the full professorship.
In his tenth anniversary sermon delivered June 10, 1894, Dr. Haydn thus referred to his educational serv- ice to Western Reserve University:
No adequate survey of these ten years can fairly leave out of account the three years of the partial surrender of the senior pastor's time at the call of the college and the university. Whatever it may have meant to the church, be it much or little, it certainly meant a great deal to him. It was a part of that unselfish policy which has characterized this church during the last fourteen years, in the face of the outsetting tide of population and the demands of institutions planted and nurtured by our own people, for the good of the city and the
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world. And for one, face to face with all the inroads of death and removal, and all the outlay of time and money for the public weal, I cannot see what better policy we could have pursued. This is not a time to enter into the history of my three years with the college as president. A novice in such matters, I simply, honestly and heartily did the work that had to be done as well as I could. It brought with it much defamation, as such necessary but unwelcome tasks always do. The adminis- tration of such matters, however wisely and honestly pursued, is liable to be misunderstood, and from the nature of the case can not be fully explained at the time to an interested public; and a man can only wait in pa- tience the testing of his work and his vindication, if he deserves to be vindicated. I have wrought and I am willing to wait. From 1880 onward the impress of this church and congregation has been ineffaceably put upon the university movement which here originated, made possible by the removal and endowment of Adelbert College, the founding of the College for Women, and the noble equipment of the Medical College. Nor are we yet in sight of the end and we may be thankful that so many others have been drawn into this stream of healthful beneficence to build up with the procession of the years a worthy university of learning.
The early responsibility assumed by Cleveland Presbyterians to sustain Western Reserve College, after the Congregational support had been largely diverted to Oberlin, caused for years apparent in- difference on part of the former body of Christians toward their Synodical College founded fifty years ago at Wooster, Ohio.
The catholicity of Dr. Haydn's mind was never more clearly seen than when after his presidency of
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Western Reserve University had closed he and another Cleveland pastor, at the request of the late Elder Louis H. Severance, investigated the needs of the distinct Presbyterian college and reported it worthy of financial assistance. How that honored Presbyterian elder befriended Western Reserve Uni- versity, Wooster and Oberlin Colleges is a story well known to the present generation. Dr. Haydn rejoiced in the rebuilding of the College of Wooster, after the visitation of a disastrous fire, and did all in his power to make the financial campaign for restoration a success.
In the Presbyterian Union of Cleveland, a volun- tary association of laymen designed to further the interests of local church extension, Dr. Haydn had been a natural leader, thus strengthening that line of denominational effort, not directly controlled by the Stone Church. Twice he served as president of this union, once soon after coming to Cleveland, and a second time when pastor emeritus. A discouraging indebtedness had accumulated upon several new church enterprises, by reason of the failure of the Presbyterian Union to render proper assistance. A debt of twenty thousand dollars demanded cancella- tion; while a similar amount was imperative to meet the needs of advance work. Dr. Haydn was in no physical condition to enter this last financial cam- paign of his strenuous career, and his response to the call of the church no doubt hastened the end of his life. The reaction from the effort to raise these funds caused at Christmas time, 1908, a partial stroke of
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paralysis, leaving the patient partially crippled, until July 29, 1913, when the speedy effects of a second stroke brought release.
The funeral services were held on Monday after- noon, August 4, 1913, in the Florence Harkness Chapel. They were conducted by the Reverend An- drew B. Meldrum, D.D., pastor of the Stone Church, assisted by President Charles F. Thwing, D.D., LL.D., of Western Reserve University. The pall- bearers were Elders Sereno P. Fenn, William E. Cush- ing, Lucien B. Hall, Martyn Bonnell, Livingston Fewsmith, Dr. H. H. Powell, Professor H. E. Bourne and Professor Frank P. Whitman. Later in the year, on Sunday evening, September 28, 1913, memorial services were held in the Stone Church. The Rev- erend Andrew B. Meldrum, D.D., delivered “A Per- sonal Appreciation;" President Charles F. Thwing, D.D., LL.D., gave a personal tribute closing :
Dr. Haydn wished me to become president at the college in 1888. I said, "No, I cannot come." The invitation was repeated two years after that, and I came. To me, as Dr. Meldrum has said he was to him, he was as a father.
The Reverend Paul F. Sutphen, D.D., spoke of Dr. Haydn as "A Cleveland Minister." The Reverend Arthur C. Ludlow, D.D., stated clerk of Presbytery, depicted Dr. Haydn "As a Member of Presbytery."
Addresses were also delivered by the Reverends Wilber C. Mickey, D.D., and Edwards P. Cleaveland, representing churches founded by the Stone Church; while Elder Sereno P. Fenn spoke in behalf of the
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session of the Stone Church. Letters from six former associate pastors were read. These addresses, letters, and various resolutions prepared at the time of Dr. Haydn's death were published in a memorial pam- phlet.
Perhaps the most striking overflow of power in the life of this servant of God was in his own mental and spiritual virility almost to the eighty-second year of life. To the majority of students there comes an inevitable "dead-line," no matter how vigorous they may have been. The busy pastor can not always follow the swift changes in theological and scientific thought, and toward the end of life is tempted to tremble for the future of the work that he so dearly loves.
Toward the close of his life, in a paper prepared for the Presbyterian Club composed of ministerial brethren, Dr. Haydn expressed these thoughts:
There is no new gospel. New emphasis, neglected truths, new applications, new adjustments to the needs of an age like this, seething with new ideas and vexed with new and difficult problems, are called for. The situation, as related to the minister of the gospel, how different from that of the pastor of fifty years ago, the end of whose ministry was personal conversion and the edification of the church. Now the test of all things, education, wealth, church, and ministry is the social service test, the indi- vidual for the sake of the many.
The man educated for the ministry thirty or forty years ago finds himself in an embarrassing situation. He is not equipped to handle and cope with the new forces about him. His knowledge is not equal to his love and zeal. Wide fields for study have emerged to view since
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he was simply a student, and he has not kept up with them. Tempted to say something upon matters with which he is not conversant he often speaks foolishly and loses the respect of men wiser than he. The social, ethical, economic problems of the day are too much for us; the sceptre of leadership has passed from our hands. A generation of ministers trained broadly today for the work of today is an imperative need of the hour. This is not and should not be spoken reproachfully of the ministry of today.
We of the last fifty years have had our hands and hearts pretty full to keep up with the new learning that centers around our precious Bible and the theological adjust- ments made necessary. The transition for example from the Calvinistic Sovereignty to a Father Sovereign and a Sovereign Father is a stride immense, and reaches down to the depths and out to the utmost verge of theology, yes, and to the service of man for men, for the kingdom of God is meant for all men and all time. Yea, further, it reaches into the life beyond and pervades eschatology. Or again, the historical approach to the Bible with its accompanying necessary and inevitable thesis of a pro- gressive revelation, or disclosing God to man, putting each of these little books and their authors, so far as possible, before us in their precise environment in time and space, of their birth and mission, ends and aims, has revolutionized exegesis, and given birth to a deal of helpful and inspiring literature, as well as new editions of the Bible, following the revision of the King James' version till the dear old Book speaks to the eye, as well as to the ear, and through both to the heart, in a trans- lation probably as faithful to the originals as we are ever likely to get. These are some of the great achievements and happenings in my day, issuing in a more catholic spirit, ever-growing unity of believers, a deeper sense of the presence of God immanent in the universe, dwelling
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in us by His spirit, and moving us to the service of minis- tration, even as the Christ who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. To get these vital matters clearly in hand our- selves and then wisely give them to our churches as they are able to bear them, has kept us pretty busy, if we have really attempted it. We bespeak for those who come after us more knowledge, wisdom and devotion, and for ourselves forgiveness and acceptance through Christ our Lord. A better time in which to live and work seems scarcely open to any generation of men.
Such a contrast between the earlier and later minis- try of his long life was drawn in the spirit of true humility, but few aged ministers have been better able than was Dr. Haydn to keep abreast of the times with open and eager mind for the reception of truth. Thus as pastor emeritus the Reverend Hiram Collins Haydn might have rested content with blind Milton's comforting assurance that "they also serve who only stand and wait." Working on, however, he who during two pastorates had guided the over- flowing influence of the Stone Church into local church extension, into educational upbuilding and into missionary effort of every kind at home and abroad, with overflowing mind and heart toward all things pertaining to the kingdom of God, entered into rest and his exceeding great reward.
Servant of God, well done; Rest from thy loved employ; The battle fought, the vict'ry won, Enter thy Master's joy.
XI. HELPERS ALL
In ancient warfare leaders had attendants to ac- company them into battle. Thus Jonathan and his armor-bearer scaled steep walls and routed the garri- son of the Philistines. Nonconformist churches have found it difficult to maintain an association of minis- ters in one parish, and yet the average city church greatly needs that cooperative service. Assistant and associate pastorates, however, are increasing.
The Old Stone Church has pioneered in the em- ployment at one time of a variety of pastors. Per- haps this has been more successful when the collegiate church existed, but congenial cooperation has also reigned when religious activities were confined to one congregation. The succession of assistant and asso- ciate pastors has been notable and should not be minimized in summarizing the influence of the Stone Church during the last one hundred years.
The greater number of ministerial helpers served during the pastorates of Dr. Haydn, who treated them as associates in every respect. Young ministers generally fear this kind of service as a mere secre- tarial or administrative experience that will permit little cultivation of initiative. No young clergyman associated with Dr. Haydn every found such fears realized. One of these once gave this testimony:
It is difficult for me now to realize how at first I was not a little afraid of Dr. Haydn. The feeling was so short
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lived and gave place so early to the opposite that I can- not realize that I was ever anything but perfectly at home with him.
The Reverend William H. Goodrich, D.D., was for three years associate pastor with Dr. Samuel C. Aiken, and in turn Dr. Hiram C. Haydn was for two years officially associated with Dr. William H. Good- rich, although the latter spent those years abroad, and there was affiliation of the two ministers in spirit only.
When the Wasonville Mission was inaugurated, demand for occasional preaching led in 1866 to the securing of the Reverend Aaron Peck to care for that field. Born at Orange, N. J., June 7, 1836, he graduated from Princeton College in 1857. Ill health interrupted studies for two years, but in 1864, having graduated from Union Seminary, he was licensed by the Newark Presbytery and ordained on May 8, 1866, by the Cleveland and Portage Presbytery. For two years he labored in Cleveland, and then after Euro- pean travel he became for nine years pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Perth Amboy, N. J.
The Williamsburgh Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., was the next field of service, after which he returned to Perth Amboy. In 1884 he removed to New York City, where he lived until the time of death on July 3, 1901. He married in 1859 Miss Julia Manning, of Newark, N. J., who died in 1909, leaving one daughter, the wife of the Reverend H. G. Mendenhall, D.D., of New York City, who has been for a number of
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years the efficient moderator of the Presbytery of New York.
The Reverend B. P. Johnson worked a while in the Wasonville Mission. His daughter Annie was a sweet-voiced gospel singer, who went to China as Mrs. Laughlin, and who died after three years' serv- ice in behalf of Chinese women.
While this mission, which became the North Pres- byterian Church, was under the control of the Stone Church, the Reverend D. W. Sharts served it from 1868 to 1870. He became pastor of the Congrega- tional Church at Owosso, Mich., and later entered business in that place. He also served a term in the state legislature.
From 1877 to 1880 Mr. B. F. Shuart, a layman of rare fitness for church work, had special charge of the St. Clair Street Mission and a Sunday afternoon Bible class. The first effort in behalf of the Chinese in Cleveland was started in his home. Finally he was ordained and went to a church in Billings, Montana, but ill health resulting from an injury caused him to turn to sheep raising, in which he was very success- ful. In later life he spent six months in Cleveland and again did efficient work in the Stone Church. No particulars relating to more recent years have been obtained.
As Dr. Haydn was leaving Cleveland in 1880 to serve the American Board he recommended the secur- ing of Mr. Rollo Ogden, a recent seminary graduate. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he was born at Sand Lake, N. Y., on January 19, 1856; graduated
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from Williams College in 1877, and then spent two years at Andover and one at Union Seminary. He was ordained by Cleveland Presbytery, and on No- vember 30, 1881, married Miss Susan M. Mitchell, the daughter of the Reverend Arthur Mitchell, D.D., pastor of the Stone Church. The young minister and bride at once entered missionary service in Mexico City, but were compelled in 1883 to return to Cleve- land on account of Mrs. Ogden's critical illness. The Case Avenue Presbyterian Church at once called the Reverend Rollo Ogden, who served that congrega- tion until he demitted the ministry in 1887 in order to enter literary work in New York City. In 1891 he became a member of the New York Post's editorial staff, on which influential paper he rose in 1903 to become editor-in-chief. That position was held until 1920, when Mr. Ogden became an associate editor of the New York Times. His home address is 216 Summit Avenue, Summit, N. J. Williams College, in 1904, conferred upon Mr. Ogden the honorary de- gree of doctor of literature. Mr. and Mrs. Ogden have three children, Alice and Nelson residing with their parents, while Winifred, now Mrs. John Lind- ley, lives in Cambridge, Mass.
The Reverend John W. Simpson was an associate pastor from 1882 to 1884. Born at Altoona, Pa., on May 7, 1852, he received college training at Wooster University; attended Western Theological Seminary, 1875-1876; ordained in 1879 and served as stated supply at Rouseville, Pa., 1876-1878. He was pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church at Olean, N. Y., from
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1879 to 1882, and then came to Cleveland to work mainly in connection with Calvary Mission. This was followed by a pastorate of eight years in the First Congregational Church, Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Ohio, where as president of the Evangelical Alliance he became influential in effecting municipal reforms. From 1892 to 1896 he was president of Marietta Col- lege, and then entered insurance business in Cincin- nati and in New York City. In the latter place of residence he died on March 19, 1909, when the apart- ment house in which he lived was burned, he having sacrified his life for the saving of others.
At the commencement of Dr. Haydn's second pas- torate the Reverend Wilton Merle Smith was in- stalled as associate pastor, and served almost five years, from October 1, 1884 to April 1, 1889. He was born at Elmira, N. Y., April 18, 1856; graduated from Princeton College in 1877, and from Auburn Seminary in 1881. The Presbyterian Church at Caze- novia, N. Y., was first served, followed by the Cleve- land pastorate. He married Miss Zaidee Van Sant- voord of New York City, on November 19, 1885. In 1889 a call to the Central Presbyterian Church, New York City, was accepted, a metropolitan pas- torate that continued until July 1, 1920, a period of thirty-one years.
This important service was relinquished when the church was at the height of its prosperity. The annual benevolences amount to one hundred thou- sand dollars, used mainly to sustain one of the best equipped stations in China, having thirty buildings,
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fifteen missionaries, forty assistants and seventy native helpers. A large mission is likewise supported in New York City. Dr. Wilton Merle-Smith expects to devote much time to the interests of the Assem- bly's Board of Home Missions, of which he is presi- dent.
His family consists of wife and three children, two daughters, Dorothy, the wife of David McAlpin Pyle, of Morristown, N. J., and Anita, wife of James Mc- Alpin Pyle of the same city. The son, Van Santvoord Merle-Smith, graduated from Princeton University in 1911 and from Harvard Law School in 1914. He served as major during the present war, was twice wounded and received the distinguished service cross. He also was military aide and private secretary to Secretary of State Lansing at the Paris Peace Con- ference, and was recently appointed Third Assistant Secretary of State at Washington. Dr. Wilton Merle- Smith received the honorary degree of doctor of divinity in 1889 from Princeton University.
When Dr. Haydn assumed the presidency of West- ern Reserve University the associated service of the Reverend Wilton Merle-Smith was supplemented by the engagement of the Reverend Giles H. Dunning. He was born at Shelby, Ohio, on May 7, 1851, but when seven years of age the parents removed to New York State, where the son was educated at Cazenovia Academy, Syracuse University, and Auburn Semi- nary. Before entering the seminary he had held two appointments in the Methodist Episcopal Church, one at Youngstown, N. Y., and the other at Ham-
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burg, N. Y., each one two years in duration. He went from Auburn Seminary to the Presbyterian Church at Dryden, N. Y., where he remained two years. The Breckenridge, now West Avenue Pres- byterian Church of Buffalo, N. Y., was the second pastoral settlement in the Presbyterian ministry. Thence he came to Cleveland to help in the Stone Church work, but all his time was soon demanded by the West Side Mission, which became Bethany Presbyterian Church, and of which he served as pas- tor for a period of thirteen years.
Within six months after he had been installed pastor of the Orwell Church, on January 8, 1902, there came a severe stroke of paralysis, from which there was recovery with the exception of the loss of speech. This continued until the time of death on September 29, 1911. The last decade of life, however, was not one of idleness, for having in youth learned a trade he kept busy at useful toil in his home until the end came. The burial was at Knollwood Ceme- tery, near Gates Mill. Mrs. Dunning and one son continue to reside in Cleveland. A son lives in Chi- cago; while the third son, who served in the recent war, has been under hospital care near Baltimore.
The Reverend Joseph H. Selden was an associate pastor from 1887 to 1892, when the Stone Church and Calvary Mission existed in collegiate form. He resigned to become pastor of the First Congregational Church, Elgin, Ill., where he remained until 1900. In an industrial city the work was of an institutional character. In 1898 Beloit College conferred upon
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him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity. Dr. Selden became in 1900 pastor of the Congregational church at Norwich, Conn., his native place, and for eleven years he rendered a progressive service, espe- cially in the enlargement of church facilities. There he also became connected with the organized benevo- lences of his denomination, such as the American Board, the Board of Ministerial Relief and the Home Missionary Society. Since the close of the Norwich pastorate special supply service has also been ren- dered in churches such as the North Woodward Ave- nue Church, Detroit, and the United Congregational Church at Norwich. During the war Dr. Selden was connected with the Red Cross work. He resides at Norwich, Conn.
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