Milligan, James, Dd

Milligan, James, D.D.

a Presbyterian divine. was born in Dalmellington, Ayrshire, Scotland, August 7, 1785. At the age of fourteen he united with the Established Church of Scotland. His early education was obtained while out upon the moor watching the sheep, reciting two or three times a week to a teacher in a neighboring village. In 1801, dissatisfied with the government of Scotland, he emigrated to America, and came to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. After engaging in mercantile life for some months, he entered Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. His funds becoming exhausted, he was obliged to leave, and went to Greensburg, Pennsylvania; instituted an academy, taught eighteen months, realized a sum sufficient to complete his collegiate course, and graduated with honors. He next accepted a call as teacher of languages in the Philadelphia University. While there he pursued his theological studies in the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary. He was licensed by the Northern Presbytery in 1811, and in 1812 was ordained pastor of Coldenham Congregation, Orange County, N.Y.; in 1818 he accepted a call to the Scotch Covenanter Congregation at Ryegate, Caledonia County, Vermont; thence he went to New Alexandria, Pennyslvania, in 1839; and in 1848 to Eden, Illinois, — where he continued to preach until 1855. He died about the year 1861. Dr. Milligan was a warm friend of the Scotch Covenanters. He was instrumental in inaugurating the first temperance reform movement in the State of Vermont; and was first also to introduce the scriptural office of deacon in the American Reformed Presbyterian Church. His publications are, A Narratice of the Secession Controversy in Vermont: — Sermon on Free Agency: — Sermon on the Prospects of a True Christian in a Sinful World: — A Defence of Infant Baptism See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1863, page 388.