USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 36
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After relinquishing pastoral work, Mr. Agnew was elected Professor of Languages in Washington College, Pa., January 12th, 1831. This position he resigned September 26th, 1832, on account of inadequacy of salary. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by this institution in 1852. The Rev. George P. Hays, D. D., its present President, in writing to a friend, says : " He is spoken of here by those who knew him, as a gentleman of very high scholarship and excellent ability as a teacher. He probably made as much reputation in the short time he was here as any man who was ever connected
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with the college, in an equal length of time. His departure from the college was deeply regretted by both the Faculty and the Trustees."
After leaving Washington, which he did on account of inadequacy of salary, Prof. Agnew became connected with the German Reformed Institution in York, Pa. He was then elected a Professor in Marion College, Missouri, where he remained until the institution was dis- solved, and subsequently he was chosen to a similar position in Newark College, Delaware, from which he withdrew, as did some other professors also, because the funds for the institution were raised by lottery. Next he became editor of the Eclectic Magazine, and the Biblical Repertory, a quarterly in the interest of the (then) New School Branch of the Presbyterian Church, with which he was connected.
After having had charge of a Female Seminary in Philadelphia for a few years, Dr. Agnew became Professor of the Ancient Languages, in the University of Michigan, in 1845, retiring from this position, in which he established his reputation as a thorough scholar, in 1852. He then selected as his field of labour and usefulness, Maplewood Female Seminary, Pittsfield, Mass. In reference to this portion of his history. the Rev. C. V. Spear, A. M., present Principal of that institution, thus writes :
" Professor Agnew became a partner and co-principal in the conduct of this Seminary some time during the Academic year of 1852-3. The school was enjoying a very good degree of success when he became connected with it, and remained one of the prominent institutions of the state while he was its sole Principal, as it has since. Its name, now and for all the years since he was here, was given by him. He was very highly esteemed by the pupils and patrons of the school, as a man of rare geniality and elegance of manners in social life, and thorough scholarship and cultivated taste-eminently fitted in many respects for his post here and its multiform duties, and lacking only in health, and a certain financial sharpness too often incompatible with the highest culture and intellectual ability. He possessed, in a rare degree, that high hopefulness which is o necessary to the commence- ment and the prosecution of any undertaking that is at all difficult and worthy of high ambition ; and with adequate support would, but for failing health, have continued his work here much longer without doubt. His pupils, and the teachers and professors in the school. were very warmly attached to him, and among other reasons, for the unfailing kindness, forbearance and urbanity, that characterized all his intercourse with them. I need not say, what no doubt many voices will
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utter, that while many men in posts of honour are feared, and others respected, he was a man to be both honoured and loved. I recall, as I write, the presentation of a beautiful vase of silver-I think the gift of the teachers and professors-as a testimonial of their high esteem and affection for him, at the Summer Anniversary of 1856. The sincere warmth of the devotion then expressed was no transient feeling, and his retiring a year later was deeply regretted by many friends."
It may here be added that all Dr. Agnew's friends earnestly wished that he had retained his position at Pittsfield. After abandoning it, which he did, no doubt, from a desire to make himself more able to do good, and from other influences, he was induced, through his too great readiness to trust in his fellow-men, to engage in some speculations, from which, however, he would, in all probability, have come out safely but for disasters which overtook them by reason of the war, and made them issue in total loss.
In addition to the literary labours of Dr. Agnew, to which we have already referred, he was also editor of The Knickerbocker ; the author of a small and valuable work on "The Sabbath," from the press of the Presbyterian Board of Publication ; and assisted in the translation of Winer's Grammar of the New Testament. Whilst, too, occupying positions of mere literary responsibility, we find him using his graceful pen in efforts to do good in the religious sphere. During his Profes- sorship at Newark, he contributed an excellent sermon to the National Preacher, on " Motives and Means of Peace to the Churches."
Dr. Agnew died of bilious fever, at Peeksville, N. Y., October 12th, 1865. His character is thus succinctly delineated by one who knew him thoroughly: "He was generous, benevolent, social, genial, gen- tlemanly, scholarly."
JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, LL. D.
AMES ROSS SNOWDEN, lawyer, statesman and author, comes from one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania. Although born in Chester, Delaware county, Pa., he was, as the sequel of this sketch shows, in early life identified with Cumberland valley, by descent, residence and education, and thus appropriately finds a place in this work.
His great grandfather, John Snowden, emigrated from Great Britain at some time previous to the year 1678, and first fixed his residence in Delaware county. In 1685, he removed to Philadelphia. Being a man of education he was employed in various public offices. In 1704, he was an elder of the ancient Presbyterian First Church, in Market street, and was the first Presbyterian elder ordained in Pennsylvania. His son, Isaac Snowden, born in Philadelphia, in 1732. was an active and useful citizen, a member of the City Councils before the Revolution. a County Commissioner during the Revolution, and a Commissary for supplying the army. After the close of the War of Independence. he was elected Treasurer of the city and county of Philadelphia, which office he retained for several years. and was subsequently a member of the Select Councils of Philadelphiaa, Trustee of the College of New Jersey, (Princeton,) an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, and a member of the committee of which Dr. Witherspoon was chairman which formed the Constitution and Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church, in 1786. Four of his sons were graduates of Princeton College and entered the ministry : among these was Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, who was born in Philadelphia, in 1770, and graduated in 1787. He studied divinity under Rev. Charles Nisbet, D. D., at Carlisle, and there married a daughter of Dr. Lemuel Gustine, an eminent physician of that town. They had five sons and one daughter. Four of the sons became Doctors of Medicine, viz : Isaac W. Snowden, Charles G. Snowden. Lemuel G. Snowden, and Nathaniel D. Snowden. The daughter. Mary Parker, was married to James Thompson, the late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. The youngest son, the subject of this notice, was educated chiefly under the tuition of his father, who, for some years had charge of Dickinson College before it passed into the hands of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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Choosing the bar for his profession, James Ross Snowden was admitted ex gratia at the carly age of nineteen, and having taken up his residence at Franklin, Venango county, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General. Subsequently, and for several years, he was elected to the Legislature of the state; and was Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1842, and again in 1844. In 1845, he was elected State Treasurer, and re-elected in 1846. In 1847, he was appointed by President Polk Treasurer of the Mint, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States. In 1850, he returned to the bar, and fixing his residence at Pittsburgh, was appointed Solicitor of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, which position he resigned to accept the office of Director of the Mint, in 1853, which office he held until 1861, when he was appointed Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania. In 1873, he resumed the practice of his profession in Phila- delphia. During these active duties Mr. Snowden has also been connected with many scientific, literary and historical societies; and being an elder in the Presbyterian Church, has taken an active part in the various courts of that denomination.
Among the many works of which Mr. Snowden is the author, are the following: Ancient and Modern Coins ; Medals of Washington and National Medals. Both these works are illustrated with fac simile engravings ; the latter also contains biographical notices of the Directors of the Mint from 1792 to 1861. The Coins and Money Terms of the Bible; the Corn-Planter Memorial, and Sketch of the Six Nations of Indians.
In 1868, he contributed to Bouvier's Law Dictionary the articles on the Coins of the United States and Foreign Nations. He has also at different times published addresses, pamphlets on currency, on inter- national coinage, history, and other subjects. He carly took an interest in military affairs and was elected colonel of a volunteer regiment in 18.42. He presided at the State Military Convention of 1845, and wrote the memorial which produced a needed reform in that branch of the service. Although always a Democrat, he supported the War for the Union, and being in command at Philadelphia of a volunteer regiment he twice offered it for service in the field; but it was not accepted by the Government. In 1845, he received the degree of Master of Arts from Jefferson College. In 1872, Washington and Jefferson College conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
During Colonel Snowden's administration of the Mint, many im- provements were made, prominent among which was the re-construc-
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tion of the Mint building, so as to render it fire-proof. A beautiful medal commemorates this event. On the obverse is the bust of the Director, with the inscription, "Presented to James Ross Snowden, Director of the Mint, by his personal friends, as a mark of their regard for him as an officer, and their esteem for him as a citizen." Beneath the bust is the date, 1859. On the reverse, there is a representation of the Mint edifice, with the legend, "The Mint of the United States of America, built 1832 : rendered fire-proof, 1856." Colonel Snowden married, in 1848, Susan Engle, second daughter of General Patterson, of Philadelphia.
JOHN MICHAEL KREBS, D. D.,
HE son of William and Ann (Adamson) Krebs, was born in Hagerstown, Md., May 6th, 1804. He was religiously edu- cated. His father was a member of the German Reformed Church, and his mother after her marriage became one, though she had previously been an Episcopalian. He received the best education the town afforded till he was between fourteen and fifteen. In this time he gave some little attention to the classics, though his attention was chiefly directed to English studies. His father, who was a man of great energy, integrity and respectability, was a merchant, and also held the office of postmaster, and at the age above mentioned this son became a clerk in the post office, at the same time rendering some service in his father's store, which had meanwhile been given up chiefly to his brother.
In 1821, the year before his father's death, his thoughts were intensely directed toward serious things, and after his father's death his impressions became deeper and stronger, and after many and severe struggles, of which those around him knew nothing, his mind gradually came to repose in the gracious provisions of the Gospel, and at the age of nearly nineteen, he joined the church under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Lind. He now formed a purpose to devote himself to the ministry. After studying under Mr. Lind's direction for some months, he entered an academy in his native town, and in Febru- ary, 1825, entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. He graduated in September, 1827, under the Rev. Dr. William Neill, receiving one of the highest honours of his class.
He then began his theological studies under the Rev. George Duffield, D. D. Three or four months after this a vacancy having occurred in the grammar school attached to the college, he was appointed to fill it, and here he continued in the business of instruction for two years, at the same time improving his leisure in the prosecution of his theological studies.
At the end of two years from the time he was graduated (October. 1829,) he was licensed by Carlisle Presbytery. During the winter and spring after he was licensed, he preached by appointment of the Presbytery to various congregations in the neighbourhood. In May. 1830, he set his face toward Princeton, N. J., to pursue further theolo-
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gical studies in the Seminary. He received and accepted a call to Rutgers Street Church, New York, and was installed November 12th, 1830, having been ordained the week previous at Lancaster, Pa., by Carlisle Presbytery. This was his only charge.
Dr. Krebs was a man of rare gifts and of still more rare and varied acquirements, being learned not only in theology but in the whole range of sciences, and his learning was all made to bear upon the work to which he had devoted his life, that of the Gospel ministry. He was eminent as a preacher of the Gospel, and still more eminent in the councils of the church, being distinguished for his knowledge of ecclesiastical law, and his acquaintance with the ecclesiastical history of the denomination to which he belonged. He was regarded as one of the highest living authorities in regard to Presbyterian usages.
In 1837, he was appointed Permanent Clerk of the General Assem- bly, and retained the office till 1845. He had resigned it the year previous, but his resignation was not accepted. In 1845, he was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. He was elected Clerk of the Presbytery and Synod of New York, in 1841, and Director of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., in 1842, and was appointed President of the Board in 1866. He was a member ยท of the Board of Foreign Missions from its organization till his death. His published works consist of about a dozen occasional sermons, which are marked by great energy, perspicuity and precision.
In 1866, Dr. Krebs was a member of the General Assembly at St. Louis, Mo., and was appointed Chairman of the Committee on the Reunion of . the Presbyterian Church. Of this measure he was an earnest supporter, though his decline in health, which had previously commenced, prevented his active participation in the preparation of the plan of union in the successful consummation of which he was deeply interested.
He died at his residence in New York, September 30th, 1867. He was twice married ; first, on October 7th, 1830, to Miss Sarah Harris Holmes, a daughter of Andrew Holmes, of Carlisle, Pa. They had two children. She died February 20th, 1837. His second wife was Miss Ellen Dewitt Chambers, daughter of John Chambers, of New- burg, N. Y. She died in 1863. Several children survive him.
REV. JOHN H. KENNEDY.
EV. JOHN H. KENNEDY was descended from a very respect- able and pious ancestry. James Kennedy, his grandfather, emigrated from Ireland, and settled first in New Jersey, and afterwards in Pequea, Lancaster county, Pa., where some of the family still reside. Rev. Robert Kennedy, the father of the subject of this sketch, who is elsewhere noticed in this volume, was for many years in the ministry, and sustained a very high standing among his brethren for talents, learning and respectability.
John Herron, Esq., the maternal grandfather, who was the father of Francis Herron, D. D., lived and died on " Herron's Branch," Franklin county. At the house of this vencrated grandfather, John H. Kennedy was born, November 11th, 1801. His mother (Jane Herron) was, in the mysterious providence of God, removed by death when John, her eldest son, was eighteen months old. After the death of his mother, he lived in his grandfather's family until his fifth year. During this period his health was very delicate, and little hope was enter- tained that he should attain to manhood. His recollections of his grandfather, and his residence in his family, were of the most pleasing kind. It was, he remarks, his " Vale of Tempe," and the time spent there, his "Saturnalia." About the close of his fifth year he was taken home by his father, who had married a second wife. He was carly sent to school, but was not so fond of study as of play, and especially such sports as required vigorous exertion. These, though often exposing him to danger, and sometimes to injury, contributed to that remarkable health which he enjoyed until the last year of his life. In his ninth or tenth year, he commenced the Latin grammar with his father, under whose instruction he studied the Latin and Greek Languages. He was afterwards connected with the Academy in Cumberland, Maryland, of which his father, on his removal from Welsh Run, had taken charge, being at the same time pastor of a congrega- tion in that place. In November, 1818. he became a student of Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pa. During his whole collegiate course he sustained a high standing as to talents and scholarship, and graduated with honour, May, 1820.
Mr. Kennedy spent the summer of 1820 at his father's, in general reading, and in efforts to do good, as he had opportunity. In October
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of that year he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, where he studied the regular term of three years. To this period he always reverted with endearing recollections. He commenced his theological studies with diligence and success, and was soon distinguished by his talents and acquirements. During the fall vacation of 1821, he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Carlisle. During the winter or spring of this year, he visited Morristown, New Jersey, at the request of Mr. McDowell, pastor of the church there, a powerful revival of religion having commenced, which pervaded the whole country. In October, 1822, he was licensed to preach the Gospel-aged twenty years and ten months. Deeply impressed with the responsibilities of the work to which he was to be devoted, he set apart a day for fasting and prayer, a duty which he often practised in the succeeding years of his life. After his licensure to preach the Gospel, he con- tinued his studies another year at Princeton. During this year, the doctrines denominated Hopkinsian were frequently the subject of warm discussions in the Seminary. In these discussions he took an active and decided part in opposition to what he believed erroneous in these doctrines. A debate prepared at that time on the subject of the atonement, was afterwards published in the first volume of the Christian Advocate. Its admission into that periodical by the venerable editor. Dr. Green, is no slight evidence of its intrinsic ability and excellence. though written by one who had just arrived at the years of manhood.
Leaving the Seminary in the fall of 1823, Mr. Kennedy itinerated in different directions about eighteen months. He preached for some time in Bedford and Uniontown, Pa., and traveled through some of the Western States. He traveled also to the South, and preached for some time at Wilmington and Fayetteville, North Carolina. In April, 1825, he again arrived at his father's, who had now returned to his former residence in Franklin county. In the summer he visited Phila- delphia, preached in the Sixth Church as a supply for three months, received a call from that congregation, and was ordained and installed as their pastor, November, 1825, in the twenty-fourth year of his age.
Previously to his settlement in this church he had been appointed chaplain, to go out in the Brandywine, the Government vessel, appointed to carry Lafayette back to his native land. This appoint- ment was by some means prevented from reaching him until after his installation. Had he received it sooner it might have given a new direction to the current of his life.
His settlement in Philadelphia was unsought, as it was unexpected, by himself. The station was one of great importance and responsi-
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bility, for so young a man. The Sixth Church grew out of a division of the Old Pine Street Church, of which Dr. Alexander had been . pastor when called to Princeton. On the settlement of Dr. Ely this division took place, and the Sixth Church was formed. It contained a large portion of intelligence, picty and respectability, but its location in the vicinity of other churches, and certain pecuniary embarrass- ments, were unfavourable to its growth. It had become vacant by the resignation of Dr. Neill, who had accepted a call to the Presidency of Dickinson College. After labouring a year in this congregation, and discouraged at his prospect of usefulness, he determined to resign his charge. The Presbytery met, and with the concurrent desire of the congregation, persuaded him to remain. His intention was at this time to have gone to Liberia, and he often expressed his regret that he yielded to the advice to remain in Philadelphia, having then, as he remarked, "had a burning zeal in behalf of Africa, such as he never felt in behalf of any other object." In 1828, he was married to Miss Harriet McCalmont, of Philadelphia, whose intelligence, piety, and accomplished education, qualified her eminently for being to him a prudent counsellor and cheering companion. In December, 1829, at his own request, his connection with the Sixth Church, which had con- tinued for four years, was dissolved. During this period he discharged the duties of his office with ability and faithfulness. The visible fruits of his ministry were not equal to his desires, and hence his frequent discouragements, which resulted in his resignation, yet his labours were blessed to the edification of Christians, and a goodly number added to the Church. The charge of a congregation in a city is one of great responsibility and hazard, especially to a young man, yet was Mr. Kennedy enabled to sustain a high and increasing reputation among his brethren, and the intelligent part of the religious community, as an able, lucid, and instructive preacher of the Gospel. It is known that he stood very high in the estimation of his venerable patron and friend, Dr. Green, who occupied a pew in his church, and sat with delight under the ministry of his young friend.
After Mr. Kennedy's connection with his congregation was dissolved he committed himself to the providence of God, without any definite object or plan as to future settlement. He was urged to make a tour to Missouri, with a view of settlement at St. Charles, and accordingly left Philadelphia with that intention. The severity of the season prevented him, and he was detained in Franklin county. A call was prepared for him from the congregation of Newville, one of the largest and wealthiest in Carlisle Presbytery. At this crisis, being uncertain
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and anxious as to the path of duty, he set apart, as was his frequent custom, a day of fasting and prayer, to seek Divine direction. It was the 11th of March, 1830. It is worthy of observation that on the evening of this same day, altogether unexpected to him, he received a letter from Cannonsburg, inquiring as to his views in relation to a Professorship in Jefferson College, in connection with the charge of a small congregation, about five miles distant from that town.
He was at first startled at the proposal of a Professorship of Mathematics, for which he considered himself less qualified than for any other department. On further consideration, with the hope that by diligent exertion he might be prepared for the service, he inclined to accept. He visited the place in May; received and accepted the appointment from the college, and the call from the congregation of Centre. He returned to Philadelphia, and arrived in Cannonsburg with his family, and entered on the duties of his profession, June, 1830.
Professor Miller, in view of whose resignation, on account of age. the appointment was made, still continued to officiate for some time. This afforded opportunity for Mr. Kennedy gradually to prepare him- self for conducting the departments of Natural Philosophy and Mathe- matics, which he was enabled to do with great credit to himself, and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. After the division of the departments of Natural Science and Mathematics, and the appoint- ment of a distinct Professor for the latter, he devoted himself more exclusively to Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, in which he greatly excelled.
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