Locke, William E

Locke, William E.

a minister and instructor, first in the Baptist, and later in the Presbyterian Church, was born in New York City, where he received a good education at the high school, in which he subsequently became an assistant teacher. In 1832 he took charge of the Mantua Manual Labor Institute in New York, and in 1833 was licensed to preach in the Baptist Church. He entered the junior class of Hamilton Institute (now Madison University); in 1835 he accepted his first call from the Church in Messina, N.Y., and was ordained August 18, 1836. He remained in the Baptist i connection until 1849, when his views concerning baptism led him to a change of his ecclesiastical relations. He was called in 1850 to the Presbyterian Church at Springfield, N.J., where, because of impaired health, he quit preaching. He subsequently took charge of the Female Collegiate Institute in Lancaster, Pa., and in August 1857, removed to Missouri, and took charge of the Van Rensselaer Presbyterial Academy. At the end of his first quarter in this new position he was taken ill, and died November 15, 1858. Mr. Locke's talents as a teacher were of a high order, and in the various places in which he labored he made many warm friends. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. A1. 1860, page 73. (J.L.S.)