Westfall, Benjamin B

Westfall, Benjamin B.

a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was born at Claverack, Columbia Co., N. Y., in 1798. His early life was spent on a farm. Religious convictions seized his mind when quite young. He graduated at Union College, N.Y., in 1823, and at the New Brunswick (N. J.) Theological Seminary in 1826. He was licensed by the Classis of New Brunswick in 1826. He was missionary at Sand Beach, N. Y., in 1827-28. Then he was made pastor of Rochester, part of which time Clove was connected with it. In this field he labored from 1828 until 1838, during which time he saw, as the fruits of his labor, about three hundred souls brought into the Church. His last charge was Stone Arabia and Ephratah, where he toiled from 1838 until his death, in 1844. He was a man of fervent piety and deep and strong convictions. His sermons, breathing his own high convictions of truth, were addressed both to the consciences and understandings of his people. He lived only to save men. His death was caused by excessive labor in revival and, other meetings for the benefit of the people. See Corwin, Manual off the Ref. Church in America, s.v.