Westminster College - Blue Jay Yearbook (Fulton, MO)

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. E 5 CIIAHLES CAIIIPBELL 1H'ERS.7lIAN, D. D., LL. D 8 2 2 I x I I , . i I s 4 I 5 v i 1 1

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MICHAEL MONTGOMERY FISHER, D. D., LL. D. PRESIDENT, 1866-1870. IN PARKR county, Indiana, Qctober 8, 1834, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, Michael Montgomery Fisher was born. Reared on a farm, he attended district school and academies and Hanover College, from which, in 1855, he was graduated with the degree of B. L, and first honor. Designed by his father for the profession of law, Providence overruled this decision and made him an educator alike in the pulpit and from the teacher's desk. Accepting, in 1855, the offer of a professorship in VVestminster College, he began his life work with an enthusiasm for humanity that only grew and deepened with the coming years. 1-Ie was elected,. the following year, to the professorship of Latin and Greek. VVhile teaching he pursued a theological course, and, in 1859, was licensed to preach by the Presby- terian church and the following year ordained. Through the dark days of the Civil Weir' he labored at his post, on meagre salary and amid many trials, to prevent even a temporary suspension of college work. From 1866 to IS7O he served as chairman of the faculty and acting president of Westminstei' College. From 1870 to 1874 he was president of a college for young women at Independence, Missouri, and pastor of the Presbyterian church in that city. From 1874 to 1877 he was again professor in Westminste1', and from 1877 until his death, which took place February zo, 1891, he was professor of Latin in the University of Missouri, at Columbia. Part of this time he was pastor of the Columbia Presbyterian church, afterward he was chairman of the faculty and acting president of the University, filling all these positions with acceptability to curators, faculty, and students. Dr. Fisher was three times married: In 1856 to Miss Anna Atwood, of St. Louis, who died in 1864, in 1866 to Mrs. Bettie P. Cochran, who died in IS7ZQ in December, 1874, to Miss Eliza Gamble, daughter of.Iudge John XV. Gamble, of Audrain county, who. with Hve children, four of the last marriage, survives him. Few gentler, more lovable men have lived and labored than Dr. Fisher. A distinguished author, an effective preacher, an able educator, an ardent student, he was more than all, and, best of all, a lover of humanity. His friends were coextensive with his acquaintanceship, and in his death all who knew him felt deep, personal loss. YVhere he went he carried sunshine, and the good his busy, noble life has wrought will be known in its rich fullness only when the leaves of the Judgment Book unroll. 2I

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CHARLES CAMPBELL HERSMAN, D. D., LL. D. DR. CHARLES CAMPBELL HERSDIAN was born in Lexington, Kentucky, June 16, 1838. His parents moved to Missouri and settled in Monroe county when he was a boy, His father was a- prosperous farmer and successful business man, and although he died when I-Iersman was young he had accumulated. suihcient property to liberally educate his children. In the beginning of his education, he was fortunate in having excellent teachers. When he had outgrown the home school he was sent away to Van Rensselaer Academy to prepare for college. Thence to VVestminster, where he spent four or five years and secured the degree of A. B., graduating in 1866 with the high- est honors of his class, which was a large and brilliant one. h ' YVhile in college he manifested the greatest enthusiasm in the performance of all duties, whether in class room or in the societies. He belonged to the Philologic and Religious Inquiry Societies. He was a favorite both with faculty and students, for he had those fine qualities of mind and character that still commend him wherever he is known. The year following his graduation, Dr. Hersman went to Princeton Theological Seminary where he attracted the attention of his professors and class by his remarkable recitations, especially when it was known that he came from a western college. He returned home in 1863 and was married to Miss Machette and accepted a chair in Carroll College, VViscon- sin, the same year, where he remained a short time, returning to take the chair of Greek in VVestminster, to which he had been elected. This chair he occupied continuously for the nearly twenty-five years of his connection with the college, adding during the last ten years the duties and office of president. In September, 1887, he became pro- fessor of New Testament Exegesis and Biblical Interpretation in the Columbia Theological Seminary. In 1888 was elected chancellor of the Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tennessee, from which place three years after, he was called to the chair of New Testament Exegesis in Union Theological Seminary, Hampden Sidney, Virginia. Dr. Hersman is a man of gentle, almost diiiident, disposition, a thoughtful and powerful preacher, and a superbly clear and able teacher. ' He certainly has no superior, and it is doubtful if he has an equal as a teacher in his d'epartment. His cordial and warm manner attaches his students to him in a way that few men can. He is, in point of service, next to the senior professor in Union Seminary. Among the many distinguished alumni of Westminster' College, none has brought more honor to his alma mater than Dr. Hersman. Two of the best institutions in this country have honored themselves by conferring upon him the degrees of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Laws. . I 23