Stevens, John, Dd

Stevens, John, D.D.

a Baptist minister and educator, was born at Townsend, Massachusetts, June 6, 1798. He graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1821, had charge of the Montpelier Academy for one year, then entered Andover Theological Seminary, was converted, and in 1823 was baptized and united with the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts. From 1825 to 1828 he was a tutor in Middlebury College, and then, for three years, classical teacher in South Reading (now Wakefield) Academy. From 1831 to 1838 he was editor of the Ohio Baptist Weekly Journal, and was then chosen professor of moral and intellectual philosophy in Granville College (now Denison University), a position which he occupied till 1843, when he accepted an appointment from the Missionary Union as district secretary for the. states of Ohio and Indiana, and held this important office twelve years. In 1844 he was ordained in Cincinnati. In all educational matters affecting the welfare of the denomination he took great interest. For several years he was secretary of the Western Baptist Education Society; and was one of the early and warm friends of the theological institution established at Covington, Kentucky, and of the institution established at Fairmount, near Cincinnati. He was appointed professor of Greek and Latin in Denison University in 1859, and when a division was made in the two departments, he retained the chair of Latin until 1875; upon his resignation he was continued "emeritus" professor. He died in Granville, Ohio, April 30, 1877. See Cathcart, Baptist Encyclop. page 1103. (J.C.S.)