Mears, John William, Dd

Mears, John William, D.D.

a Presbyterian minister and educator, was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1825. He graduated from Delaware College at the head of his class in 1844, and from Yale Divinity School in 1851. He was ordained, in 1852, pastor at Camden, N.J.: in 1854 became pastor at Elkton, Maryland; in 1857 at Milford, Delaware; in 1860 became joint editor of the American Presbyterian, at Philadelphia, and later sole editor and proprietor until 1870, when that paper was merged in the Evangelist. In 1871 he was, elected professor of metaphysics in Hamilton College, a position which he retained until his death, November 10, 1881. Dr. Mears took great interest in the questions of the day, and in 1878 he organized the movement against the Oneida community which gained such force that they were compelled to abolish the objectionable system of complex marriage. He was prominent as a prohibitionist, and was the candidate of that party for governor in one campaign. He was the author of several well-known religious works, among them The Bible in. the Workshop, and The Martyrs of France.