Rev. Prudy Le Clerc Haskell was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 6, 1844, and died in Oxford, O., Dec. 27, 1878. In her youthful days she was thoughtful, intelligent, and studious. Her parents were Universalists in sentiment, and her mind was impressed by the influences of their religious faith. An only brother, who had intended to enter the Universalist ministry, died in a Southern prison during the war, and she felt herself called to take the place which he would have filled. She was ordained at Madison, Ind., Oct. 14, 1869, where she preached two years, and succeeded in gathering the scattered remnants of a former congregation into a living form. She then went to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and labored there successfully for two years, greatly endearing herself to the people; but the climate proving unfavorable to her, she was obliged to leave and return to the home of her parents in Aurora, Ind. She was afterwards settled at Mt. Carmel, Ind., at Jeffersonville and Newtown, O., and at Covington, Ky. She was an attractive and interesting preacher, and very popular as a pastor. While residing in Covington, she was united in marriage to Mr. Cassius L. Haskell, who afterwards entered the ministry. She had been married but a single year when her earthly life ended. The remembrance of an evening with her at a meeting in Mt. Carmel, O., is very vivid in the mind of the writer. She had been deeply interested in a new church organization there, and had induced a good number of young believers to become members. Her welcome and counsel to them were pervaded with the Christian spirit.
Living Ministers.
It has been thought advisable to append to this record of the departed the names of a few of the living ministers, now advanced in years, who have earned an honorable reputation by their works during the time included in the survey here taken. It would have been agreeable to the writer if the number of such could have been increased, but this was forbidden by the limits prescribed to this volume. Besides, as already stated, it will be understood that this historical sketching is by no means exhausted; that there is another and a larger roll of those passed on, who have done faithful service in the redeeming army, as there is a noble company of the living who are yet adding their good work to the history of the church, and whose names and deeds may in some future day be truthfully and gratefully given to an appreciative public. For this brief review we are able to take of the faithful dead and living, let us be thankful.
One of the most aged living ministers of the Universalist Church is Rev. Clement Fall Le Fevre, D. D., of Milwaukee, Wis. He was born in Berkhamstead, County of Hertfordshire, England, Nov. 12, 1797. He was christened in the parish church, as was the poet Cowper, who was a native of the same county. The father of Mr. Le Fevre was a clergyman and graduate of Oxford University, and was acquainted with the distinguished poet, and always held his works in high estimation. In 1814 Mr. Le Fevre had a commission in the British navy as second lieutenant of the Royal Marines, and was appointed to a frigate and sailed for Halifax. His war record was a short one, however, for with the peace of 1815 he was put on half-pay. He was never in any engagement with the enemy, and, as he writes, "my sword was never stained with American blood, and theirs was never stained with mine, and that I consider the better." Having no particular employment, he was for some time adrift as to a life-calling, but subsequently inclined to his father's profession, and in nautical phrase "bore up for a parson." His father was educating some young men for the Universities, and the son joined in their classes. Having by this means obtained some knowledge of Latin and Greek, he received ordination, and was adopted by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This was in the year 1821. His appointment was to a church in Canada, in the diocese of Quebec, where he remained until the close of the year 1829, when, rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity and endless punishment for the sins of this life, he withdrew from the ministry and communion of the Church of England.
He next removed to New York, and made his home at Hempstead, L. I., the native place of his wife; and here and at several places on the island and in the city of New York he frequently preached. In 1830 he received fellowship of the Universalists, at the New York and Philadelphia Association, met at New Brunswick, N. J. He was next pastor four years in Troy, N. Y., six in New York city, four in Hudson, and six in Milwaukee, Wis. In the last-named place he purchased a farm and settled down for the enjoyment of a permanent home. Although having no special pastorate, he has been doing much missionary work, has constantly attended the meetings of the church, and often written for its publications. His health at this present writing is quite firm for one of his years, a slight failure of eyesight and a partial paralysis of the right hand being his principal infirmity.
Mr. Le Fevre enjoys a deservedly high reputation. His pulpit talents have always been appreciated by his congregations. His discourses have indicated a keen and well-balanced mind, logical force, and ripe scholarship. In social life he has always exerted a salutary influence; his wit and humor being admirable accompaniments of his gentlemanly dignity and sympathetic spirit. He has proved a valuable acquisition to the church whose pleasure it is to make this truthful record of him.
Lucius R. Paige.
Rev. Lucius Robinson Paige, D. D., is, with two exceptions,[51] the oldest living minister in the Universalist Church. He was born in Hardwick, Mass., March 8, 1802, and was educated in the public schools of his native village. On reaching his majority he began his work as a preacher, and did some effective missionary work as a layman. In 1825 he was ordained, and was settled at Springfield, Mass., where he remained four years. During this time, his faith being assailed by two ministers of the Methodist church, Rev. Timothy Merritt and Rev. Wilbur Fisk, Mr. Paige entered into a controversy with them, and proved himself an able advocate and defender of the Christian Gospel. The debate still exists in pamphlet form, and is one of the most pithy and searching that can be found. The spirit and behavior of the bigoted opponents of Universalism are strikingly illustrated, as well as the readiness and efficiency of the assailed one to meet and to deal with them. Mr. Paige was next minister in Rockport, and removed from there to Cambridgeport, where he was installed pastor of the First Universalist Society July 8, 1832. He held this position until 1839, after which he took no pastorate, but continued to preach frequently for more than twenty years afterwards, and has been active in the ministry until within a few years.