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MARSHALL COLLEGE
Class of 1838 Obituaries
Rev. Moses KIEFFER, D. D., son of Christian and Mary (Poorman) Kieffer, was born May 5, 1814, near Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pa. At seventeen years of age he entered a preparatory school in York, Pa., and afterwards followed the school to Mercersburg, Pa., when it was changed to Marshall College, and became a member
of the Junior class. He was one of the original members of the Goethean Society. He graduated in 1838 with honor.
He entered the Theological Seminary and was subsequently licensed to preach the Gospel, in the fall of 1839, by the Synod in session at Philadelphia. In that year he entered upon his first charge, Waterstreet, Huntingdon county,
Pa., where he was pastor of three congregations for four years. He next became pastor of the Hagerstown charge, comprising the Hagerstown and Salem congregations, in Maryland, where he remained seven years. He then moved to Reading, Pa., and while there led his people in the enterprise of building the Second Reformed church of that city.
In 1855 he resigned the pastorate of the Reading church to accept a call from the Synod of Ohio to the professorship of theology in the seminary at Tiffin. This responsible position he filled with ability and fidelity for thirteen years.
In connection with his duties in the seminary he also served the Church as president of Heidelberg College.
In 1868 he moved to Sandusky, Ohio, where for two years he supplied the Presbyterian church of that city. In 1869 he went to Chambersburg, Pa., and for a time be supplied
the Grindstone Hill charge in that vicinity. In 1871 he was called to the pastorate of the church at Greencastle, Pa., where he remained until 1874, when he resigned to accept a
call to the Reformed church at Gettysburg, Pa., his last regular charge. Having served this congregation for nine years, he was permitted to go into partial retirement, as he
had been in active work for forty-four years. Yet he was not silent, for he continued to preach to several congregations near Gettysburg, until July, 1887, when he went to
Sioux City, Iowa. Though bending under the weight of years he stepped to the front at the age of seventy-three as a Reformed missionary, and as a result of this sacrifice there
was built to his memory the " Dr. Kieffer Memorial Church," at Sioux City.
While at Tiffin he wrote a work on dogmatic theology, and went to Chambersburg with the manuscript with a view to having it published. The next day the Confederate army
burned Chambersburg and the labor of years was destroyed. He translated from the German, and used as text-books, while professor in the Theological Seminary at Tiffin, "Dr.
Ebrard's theological works." He was a frequent contributor to the Mercersburg Review.
From 1848 to 1863 he was one of the firm of M. Kieffer & Co., which managed the publication interests of the Reformed Church at Chambersburg, Drs. S. R. Fisher and
B. S. Schneck being associated with him.
He was married May 5, 1840, at Emmitsburg, Md., to Miss Catherine Ann Smith, daughter of George Smith of Emmitsburg. Four children were born to them, two dying
in infancy. His surviving children are Rev. Augustus Rauch Kieffer, of Bradford, Pa.,, a graduate of Heidelberg College, 186o, and of the Theological Seminary, Gambier,
Ohio, 1871; and George Smith Kieffer, of Baltimore, Md.
Some years after the death of Mrs. Kieffer he married, during his residence in Sandusky, Ohio, Mrs. Elizabeth
Barney, widow of Charles Barney, late of that city, who survives him.
He died at Sandusky, Ohio, a little after midnight on February 3, 1888, from croup bronchitis, contracted at Sioux City. He lies buried at Sandusky.
[College Student, 8: 121, 126; The Fathers, 6: 391; George S. Kiefer.]
Rev. George Henry MARTIN, D. D., son of John and Mary (Groff) Martin, was born at Emmitsburg, Md., October 21, 1816. He was received into the membership. of the
Church of the Incarnation of that place by the Rev. Elias Heiner, May 28, 1835. His literary studies were begun in
the High School of the Reformed Church, at York, Pa., in 1834. He was one of the founders of the Diagnothian Literary Society, and was graduated from Marshall College in
1838
He pursued his theological studies in the Seminary of the Reformed Church at Mercersburg, graduating in 1841, and Maryland Classis, the same year, licensed him to preach the Gospel. During a part of his Seminary course he taught in the Preparatory Department connected with the College. The following year he began his ministry at Middlebrook, Augusta county, Va., and labored there successfully for six years.
On May 16, 1844, he was united in holy wedlock to Miss Esther Galley. Their union was blessed with three children, two sons and one daughter. The sons are John W. and Robert Nevin Martin. The daughter died in infancy.
In 1849 Rev. Martin accepted a call to the Lovettsville charge, Loudoun county, Va., where his pastorate continued for 16 years. His third field of labor was the Woodstock charge, Shenandoah county, Va., upon which he entered in the spring of 1865, laboring therein with eminent success
for 19 years. During this pastorate he built two churches, one at Woodstock, in 1868, and the other at Harrisville, in 1876. For a year and a half afterwards (May, 1884, to December, 1885) he was the pastor of the Burkittsville
charge, Frederick county, Md. He then returned to the Valley of Virginia, a spot dearer to him and his companion in life than any other on earth, and became pastor of the
Timberville charge, Rockingham county, Va. He continued to serve this charge to the day of his death, which occurred September 18, 1887. He was buried at Woodstock, Va.
In 1876 Mercersburg College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Several times he was elected president of Virginia Classis. In 1872 he represented
that classis at General Synod, Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1880 the Synod of Potomac, meeting at Woodstock, Va., honored Dr. Martin by electing him the president. Although
an active pastor, Dr. Martin was always an earnest student. He was an able expounder of God's word, a self-sacrificing servant of the Master, a man highly esteemed by all who knew him as a preacher whose godly life was consistent with
his Christian profession.
[The Fathers, 6: 368; Rev. N. H. Skyles.]
Daniel MILLER, son of Samuel and Mary (Muma) Miller, was born November 24, 1813. His literary studies were commenced in the High School of the Reformed Church at York, Pa., in 1834. He was one of the eighteen who, in the fall of 1835, followed this High School from York
to Mercersburg, when it was changed to Marshall College. He became a member of the first Sophomore class, and was graduated in 1838. The Goethean Literary Society honors
him as one of its founders.
After pursuing his theological studies for a year in the Reformed Seminary, he went to Princeton, N. J., in order to continue his studies in the seminary of his own church
(Presbyterian). Several weeks after his admission to that institution he was taken ill, removed to the home of his parents near Shepherdstown, W. Va., and there died November 30, 1839.
Daniel Miller was a young man of an amiable disposition, of remarkable consistency in religious life, and of distinguished earnestness and devotion to Christ and His kingdom,
[Rev. G. G. Everhart; Rev. E. V. Gerhart, D. D.]
Rev. Andrew Strassburger YOUNG, A. M., was born at Hanover, near Allentown, Pa., March 31, 1811. He was the fourth child of Christian and Catharine (Strassburger) Young. In May, 1833, he entered the High School of the Reformed Church at York, Pa., with a view of preparing himself for the ministry. When, in the fall of 1835, the institution was located at Mercersburg, Pa., and chartered by the Legislature as a college, he continued his connection with it, and was a member of the second class, which graduated in 1838. From this time to the close of the summer session of 1843 he taught in the institution, first as assistant in the Preparatory Department, then as tutor in the College, and subsequently as rector of the Preparatory Department. In the meantime he prosecuted his studies as a student in the Theological Seminary and afterwards privately. He was a Diagnothian.
On May 18, 1842, he was married to Miss Abbie Elizabeth Moore, a daughter of Loammi Moore, of Morristown, N. J. They had two sons, Frederick Rauch and James Edgar (Lafayette, 1863), both deceased.
He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Goshenhoppen Classis in the spring of 1843; and the ensuing autumn
he accepted a call to the Trappe charge, Montgomery county, Pa., where he was ordained to the ministry by the Classis
of Philadelphia. He labored with much acceptance until the winter of 1844-45, when, owing to failing health, he resigned. After his health was sufficiently restored he became pastor of the Mount Bethel charge in Northampton county, Pa., where he continued in the active duties of the
ministry till near the close of his life, when by advice of his physicians he resigned his charge in 1847. He removed to
Allentown, Pa., where he opened Willow Grove Seminary with fair prospects of success, but the disease with which
he was afflicted soon proved fatal.
Mr. Young was a man of much modesty, and of an amiable, retiring disposition. As a teacher he commanded the love and confidence of his pupils. He spoke and wrote the English and German languages with equal accuracy, fluency and ,classic elegance. He died in Allentown, February 15, 1848. His widow afterwards became the wife of Prof. James H. Coffin, of Lafayette College.
[The Fathers, 3 : 423 ; Miss D. C. Young.]
Source: Franklin and Marshall College
Obituary Record, Edited for the Alumni Association, Vol. 1, No.1, Lancaster,
Pa. Published by the Alumni Association of Franklin and Marshall College,
June 1897.
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