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Joseph Horner, A.M., D.D., L.L.D.
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biography
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Horner, Joseph A.M.,D.D.,L.L.D., who has been for nearly thirty years the agent of the
Methodist Book Concern in Pittsburg, is a man of profound scholarship and pleasing personality. He was born in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, one of the prettiest spots in England,
son of Charles and Elizabeth (Morrill) Homer. The father, who was born in the township of Beadle, Yorkshire, was a first-class mason, and followed the business of contractor
and builder in his native land for some time. In 1832, with his wife and family, he came to America, and, settling in Pittsburg, was soon in control of a prosperous building
and contracting business. An eloquent and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he acted as local preacher for some time in his native land, and in this city was
a prominent church member, serving the society as class leader and in other capacities.
Joseph Horner was a child when his parents settled in Pennsylvania. He received his early education in a private school taught by Samuel Kerr, a noted educator of that day,
and he afterward graduated from Duff's Commercial College. Obtaining employment then as a book-keeper for the firm of I. & A. Patterson, leading contractors and builders
of the locality, he worked for them six years. He then entered the Western University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in the class of 1848. Among his classmates were
Judge John H. Bailey and Judge Chris Magee; Colonel A. S. Morgan, at one time the commandant of the United States Arsenal in Pittsburg; and James D. Lange, who afterward won
prominence among the railroad magnates of New York. In 1850 Mr. Horner entered himself as a law student in the office of John A. Wills, Esq., of Pittsburg. While not taking
kindly to the law, he showed a natural bent for the ministry. Subsequently, with the purpose of following this calling, he entered the Pittsburg Methodist Episcopal Conference
in 1850, and devoted his time to studying theology and to writing. At this time, stationed at Manchester, now a part of Allegheny City, he acted as junior preacher of the Conference,
and he contributed much valuable matter to the local papers and the Methodist Quarterly Review. He was ordained Deacon in 1852 and Elder in 1854. There were six churches in this circuit,
and his labors were shared by another preacher. In 1853 he was placed in charge of the Fayette Spring Mission. He continued in active pastoral work until 1869. In October, 1868,
he was appointed Pittsburg agent of the Methodist Book Concern, and entered immediately on his duties. The office at that time was on Wood Street, near the corner of Fourth Avenue.
In April, 1869, it was moved to the corner of Smithfield Street and Virgin Alley; and the next move was in 1894, when the present commodious headquarters were opened to the public.
The building is a handsome eight-story brick edifice. The first floor and basement are devoted to the Book Concern's business; and on the seventh floor, besides a chapel, are the
editorial rooms and the office of the Pittsburg Christian Advocate, the local denominational paper, of which Dr. Charles W. Smith is the editor. Mr. Horner has written and published
many articles of interest, always following an unusual vein. His first production, published in the Methodist Quarterly Review,/i>, was a dramatization of Solomon's Song, entitled "Solomon's
Song Retranslated, Arranged, and Annotated." Other articles which attracted attention were: "Christianity and the War Power"; "The Baptism of Naaman, the Leper,"
a treatise on immersion; "Where is the Ramah of Samuel?" an article on the birthplace of Jesus, and one on the chronology of the infancy, taking up and refuting the views
of Renan, the brilliant French infidel. Study has always been Mr. Homer's luxury. He has recently given much attention to research in chronology as connected with the developments of
modern scholarship in relation to the Assyrian monuments. For twenty-six years he has been the treasurer of the funds of the Pittsburg Conference, and he was a member of the General
Conference in 1872 and 1876. In the latter year he was secretary of the Committee on the State of the Church. He is a trustee of the Allegheny College, Beaver Seminary, and Pittsburg Female College.
In his younger days he was connected with a number of literary clubs and societies. He cast his first vote in the ranks of the Whigs, and has been for many years identified with the Republican party.
When he was a boy he took an active part in juvenile temperance work, becoming interested at the time of the Washingtonian movement in 1840.
Mr. Horner was first married in June, 1853, to Caroline, daughter of John McCracken, M.D., of Pittsburg . The four children born of the marriage were: Charles S., a resident of this city;
Martha E., the wife of George T. Bushfield, a Pittsburg grocer; John McC, who died in 1888; and James Richey Horner, M.D., of Allegheny, who is now in London making a special study of
brain and nerve disorders. The mother died in 1863. Mr. Horner contracted a second marriage on May 16, 1866, with Margaret Lusk, a daughter of Thomas Lusk, of Allegheny. Of the three
children born of this union two died in infancy. The other, Joseph T., graduated from Western University in 1896, with the degree of E. E. He is a member of the London Society of Biblical Archaeology.
Biographical review: containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburg and the vicinity, Pennsylvania. Boston: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1897, Author: Anonymous, Submitted by C. Anthony.
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