Billings, Silas

Billings, Silas a Presbyterian minister, was born at Somers, Tolland Co., Conn., Aug. 10, 1804. He graduated from Yale College in 1829, when he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary and graduated in 1833. His first field of labor was in Prince George County, Va., near Petersburg, where he remained but a short time and removed to the valley of Virginia, where for nine years he had charge of the churches of Woodstock, Strasburg, and Cedar Creek. He afterwards lived and labored successively at Morgantown, West Va., and also at Brooklyn, N. Y. After leaving thiis charge he went to West Bloomfield, N. J., and returned to Virginia, where he took charge of the church at Duffields. After 1869 he resided in Winchester, in charge of a seminary for young ladies. He was a great sufferer for many years, but his energetic spirit overcame all obstacles, and for a long time he was a successful pastor and popular preacher. He died in Winchester, Va., Jan. 8, 1881. See (N.Y.) Observer, Jan. 20, 1881. (W. P. S.)