Bliss, Zenas

Bliss, Zenas a Congregational minister, was born in Randolph, Vt., Nov. 24, 1808. He fitted for college at the Orange County Grammar School in his native town, and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1831. In the fall of 1832 he entered Andover Theological Seminary and remained there two years, when he went to Fredonia, N. Y., and became associate-principal of the academy there. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Buffalo in 1834, and was ordained to the ministry in the following year. For about two years he preached alternately to two congregations in the vicinity of Fredonia, with little or no compensation. In the spring of 1837 a severe attack of spasmodic asthma, which became chronic, so disabled him that he never ventured again to assume the permanent charge of a parish. As stated supply, however, he ministered to various churches for nearlv seventeen years. In the fall of 1837 he commenced preaching in Quechee Village, Vt., and there continued for two years. Thence he went to Virginia, and, returning in November, 1840, became stated supply at Jericho Centre, Vt.; but after two years he was compelled again to go South. In 1843 he became stated supply at Wynooski Falls. In the latter part of 1844 he went to Alabama, and was employed for nearly four years in teaching; and in 1848 became stated supply at Richmond, Vt., remaining until the spring of 1854. He then retired from the ministry, removed to Amherst, Mass., and busied himself upon a small farm. He died there, Dec. 9, 1865. See Cong. Quarterly, 1868, p. 44.