Battelle, Gordon

Battelle, Gordon D.D., a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Newport, Ohio, Nov. 14, 1814. He entered Marietta College in 1833, and graduated at Alleghany College in 1840. In 1842 he was licensed to preach; and from 1843 to 1851 he was head of an academy at Clarksburg, Va. Meanwhile he had been ordained deacon in 1847. and elder in 1849. From 1851 to 1860 he labored efficiently as preacher and presiding elder. He was a member of the General Conferences of 1856 and 1860. His influence in Western Virginia was very great, and on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, he was called to serve as visitor to the military camps. He was a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution of West Virginia, and to him, more largely than to any other man, is due the abolition of slavery in that region. In November, 1861, he was chosen chaplain of the 1st Va. Regiment, and continued in the service till his death of typhoid fever, Aug. 7, 1862. — Minutes of Conferences, 1863, p. 33.