ASA SEVERANCE FISKE
FISKE, ASA SEVERANCE, preacher and pastor, philosophical writer, army chaplain, and superintendent of Relief for Refugees during the Civil war, was born at Strongsville, Ohio, March 2, 1833. His father, David Fiske, manufacturer and farmer, was characterized by "gentleness, generosity, equanimity and universal good-will." From his mother, Laura Severance Fiske, richly endowed intellectually, as her son believes, came an influence to which he attributes much that was best in his life. His earliest known ancestor was knighted by Henry VII. Asa was robust as a youth, always a booklover and interested in public affairs. His early life was spent in western Massachusetts, and knew the usual hard tasks of a New England farmer's son. In his youth he exhibited much mechanical ingenuity. He overcame serious difficulties in getting the means for a liberal education. He supported himself in part by teaching while preparing for college and during his course at Amherst, where he was graduated in 1855. He took theological courses at Andover and Yale, but leaving the latter seminary for a position as tutor at Amherst, he was not graduated in theology. He has received the degree of D.D. from Hamilton college. His first pastorate was at St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1859-61, when he entered the army as chaplain, and was afterward appointed "Superintendent of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands." He was detailed by General Grant for special missions to the North and in Washington, to secure relief for refugees within army lines. He held public meetings in the principal cities of the North, the result of which was that half a million dollars was raised for such relief. After the war his pastorates were at Rockville, Connecticut; St. Peter's Presbyterian church, at Rochester, New York, from 1870-75; nine years in San Francisco, California; at the First Presbyterian church in Ithaca, New York, from 1884-96; and at the Gunton Temple Presbyterian church in Washington 1896-1905. He is the author of "Reason and Faith" and "Ruth, an Idyll of the Olden Time"; and many of his sermons and addresses have been published.
