Steele, John (2)

Steele, John (2), a Presbyterian minister, was born at Bellefonte, Center Co., Pa., Dec. 11, 1812. He received a careful parental training, joined the Church at the age of twenty-two, pursued his academical studies at Milan Academy, Huron Co., O.; graduated at Jefferson College, Pa., in 1842, and at the Theological Seminary at Allegheny City in 1845; was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Blairsville, Ind., April 16, 1846; ordained by Lake Presbytery April 8, 1849; and in 1850 was installed pastor of the Church of Laporte County, Ind. In 1855 he labored at Macomb, MacDonough Co., Ill.; in 1856 he returned to Indiana, and labored at South Bend, in Lake Presbytery; in 1859 at Newton, Ia.; in 1860 as a missionary to Pike's Peak, in company with several members of his Church; was appointed chaplain of the 13th Regiment Iowa Volunteers Nov. 5. 1861, and died in that service Sept. 10, 1862. Mr. Steele was an able expounder of the doctrines of the Bible, faithful and self-sacrificing as an army chaplain, and mild, amiable, and social as a man. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1864, p. 196. (J.L.S.)