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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��Ithamar Pilsbury, from Canaan, entered the school in 18 15, at the age of 22. He was in the army in the war of 181 2. A young man of 18, from a Christian family, in all the cor- ruptions of camp life, on the borders of Canada, he became a Christian man. He came to school wearing the same knapsack which he had carried in the army.
He was aroused to attend to his immortal interests by the following in- cident : He was one day in an open field, he and a companion, seated upon their knapsacks eating their dinner. For some cause Pilsbury removed from his knapsack and sat upon the ground. At that instant a cannon bal-1 passed over his head and took off the head of his companion.
In the school he studied and prayed and made rapid advancement in his studies. His heart was much upon his Redeemer's kingdom, and he made himself useful every where. His funds were low and he lived cheaply, aiding himself by his own efforts. Being a good penman he taught writing to his associates, and in his winter vacation he taught school, in which he was greatly blessed. One young man, who attended his school, with many others, was afterward known as a Christian. One was governor of this state.
Mr. Pilsbury entered Yale College and graduated in 1S22 ; studied the- ology with Rev. Gardner Spring and E. W. Baldwin, of New York city.
Mr. Pilsbury commenced his labors as city missionary in Boston, and in- stituted that system which has since prevailed.
In 1835 he became pastor of the church in Smithtown, on Long Island. Here he was made the instrument of a great advance in the life and useful- ness of the church, and, also, of the temperance cause.
In 1835 he was a commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presby- terian church at Pittsburg. From this place he extended his journey, and made himself acquainted with the mor- al condition of the western states. Soon
��after his return a company of Christian people was formed with a view of em- igrating to the West. Mr. Pilsbury was chosen to go before them, purchase the land and make the necessary ar- rangements for their removal. Such a colony was soon settled in Andover and Wethersfield, 111. He labored for a time for their spiritual good, preach- ing in private houses, school houses, or wherever the people could get to- gether. At length he became pastor of the church in Andover for ten years.
He was dismissed and settled again in Princeton, from which place he was called to the presidency of the college then recently established at Macomb- er. Here he labored in teaching and preaching for six years. But the fail- ure of the college opened the way for Mr. Pilsbury to accept an invitation to return to his former people at An- dover. With them were his last labors, and with them was he willing to die, as he did in 1862, aged 68.
Mr. Pilsbury was a man of an ac- tive mind, of great vigor of constitution ; able and willing to labor and endure self-denial and hardship in the cause of his Lord. He was eminently fitted for the work which was assigned him in a new country, and his influence will long be felt.
Such efforts and sacrifices could not be expected to extend to old age. Of this he was doubtless aware, but it did not deter him from any service by which he might hasten the advance of the Gospel over the West.
Samuel Reed Hall, from Croydon, was a young man of an active and vigorous mind. Such minds will usu- ally be felt in the community. They can not well be hid.
Mr. Hall entered the school at Mer- iden in 1S15, and pursued study, as he had the means, from time to time for four or five years, teaching much of the time.
He commenced the study of the- ology with Rev. Walter Chapin, of Woodstock, Vt., and afterward under
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