Linn, John Blair

Linn, John Blair D.D., son of the succeeding, a Presbyterian minister, was born at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1777, and graduated in 1795 at Columbia College, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in polite literature. Having abandoned the study of law, he removed to Schenectady, where he studied theology, and was licensed in 1798. He was ordained in 1799, and installed in the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, where he continued until his sudden death, August 30,1804. Linn was quite a poet, and most of his publications are of a poetical nature. His best works are, Pieces in Prose and Poetry: — A Sermon on the Death of Dr. Ewing (1802): — A Poem on the Influence of Christianity: — a narrative poem, entitled Valerian, with a sketch of his life by Charles Brockden Brown (1805, 8vo); and two tracts against the doctrine of Dr. Priestley. See Sprague, Annals, 4:210; Allibone, Dict. Brit. and Amer. Authors, volume 2, s.v.