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William James Chichester
"Dr. Chichester was born at Baltimore, Maryland, October 20, 1849, of parents who
emigrated from the province of Ulster, Ireland, and who brought with them the sturdy faith of the North of Ireland Presbyterians.
At the age of six years his father died, leaving a widow and two sons. He was graduated from Baltimore City College in 1867,
being the valedictorian of his class and carrying off the prize, in money, offered by the city of Baltimore."
"His means being limited, he went into business as a clerk in a dry goods store, but with his mind set on the ministry he was not happy at his work. He carried his difficulty to his pastor, by whose advice and assistance he found his way to the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pa., where he won the lifelong friendship of Dr. Archibald Alexander Hodge, and was graduated in 1870, after which he took a post-graduate course at Princeton." "His ministry began at the Second Church of Altoona, Pa., where he remained seven years, going thence to Titusville, Pa., where, after a ministry of two years, he was called to the First Church of Germantown, Pa., whence, after a ministry of five years, he crossed the continent to take charge of the First Church of Los Angeles, Cal." "The most distinctive work of Dr. Chichester’s life was the organization of Immanuel Church, Los Angeles. After a ministry at the First Church covering three years, his eye detected the need of a new Church in what was to be the residence center of the city. Six years afterward the handsome and spacious edifice in which the Assembly is to meet was dedicated free of debt, with a membership of 1,200, and with a position of the Pacific coast which has been well described as “A Spiritual Pharos, whose beams light the travelers from the East, and meet the longing eye from China and Japan." "Dr. Chichester entered upon his work in Chicago in 1897, and brought to the First Church his ripe experience, his unflagging zeal and his sympathetic spirit." "He was a valued member of the committee charged with the serious problem of mission work in the city of Chicago, of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Hospital, with its wide spread influence for the relief of suffering, and of the General Assembly’s committee on evangelistic work. Three years ago it was proposed that he be a member of the General Assembly, but, loyal to California, he expressed a preference to wait until the Assembly should meet within its bounds. He died just before the Presbytery of Chicago met, when, with hearty unanimity, he would have been elected to represent it in the Assembly which was about to sit in his own Church at Los Angeles." "But God had prepared for him better things. The long work of the servant was done, and the reward was at hand. He new his time had come, and he was eager to go to the master for whom he had preached for thirty-two years." Source: Quoted verbatim from "The First Presbyterian Church, 1833-1913, A History of the Oldest Organization in Chicago, With Biographical Sketches of the Ministers and Extracts from the Choir Records" by Philo Adams Otis. Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago, 1913 |
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Crawford County Clergy
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