Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Post, Truman Marcellus

POST, Truman Marcellus, clergyman, b. in Middlebury, Vt., 3 June, 1810; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 31 Dec., 1886. He was graduated at Middlebury college in 1829, and then was principal of an academy at Castleton, Vt., for a year. In 1830 he returned to Middlebury as tutor, and remained for two years, also studying law. He spent the winter of 1832-'3 at Washington, D. C.. listening to debates in congress and at the supreme court. After spending a short time in St. Louis, Mo., he settled in Jacksonville, Ill., and was admitted to the bar. In 1833 he became professor of languages in Illinois college, and later he took the chair of history. He studied theology, and was ordained minister of the Congregational church in Jacksonville in 1840. He was called in 1847 to the 3d Presbyterian church in St. Louis, and in 1851 to the newly organized 1st Congregational church in that city, serving until his death. Dr. Post held the place of university professor of ancient and modern history at Washington university, and in 1873-'5 was Southworth lecturer on Congregationalism at Andover theological seminary, and was professor of ecclesiastical history in Northwestern theological seminary in Chicago. In 1855 he received the degree of D. D. from Middlebury college. He contributed to the “Biblical Repository” and other religious periodicals, and, besides various pamphlets, addresses, and sermons, was the author of “The Skeptical Era in Modern History” (New York, 1856).