Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/347

 SHEAFE

SHEARER

(1862); Novum Belgium, an account of the New Netherlands in 1643-U (1862); The Operations of the French Fleet under Count de Grasse (1864); Tlie Lincoln Memorial (1865); TJie Story of a Great Nation (1885); Life of Father Isaac Jogues (1885); Catholic Church in Colonial Days (1886); Catholic Hierarchy of the United States (1886), Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll (1888) and completed four of the five volumes of The History of the Catholic Church in the United States. He died in Elizabeth, N.J., Feb. 22, 1892.

SHEAFE, James, senator, vras born in Ports- mouth, N.H., Nov. 16, 1755. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1774, A.M., 1777. He was a member of the Portsmouth board of selectmen for several years; a member of both the lower and upper liouses of the New Hampshire legisla- ture, and of the executive council of the state; a Federalist representative from New Hamp- shire in the 6th congress, 1799-1801, and in 1806 was elected U.S. senator for the term expiring March 3, 1801, but resigned in June, 1802, when he was succeeded by W. Plumer, who completed the term. He was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for governor of New Hampsliire in 1816. He died at Portsmouth, Dec. 5, 1829.

SHEARER, George Lewis, secretary, was born at Dillsburg, Pa., Oct. 16. 1835; son of Dr. George Lewis and Eliza (Eichelberger) Shearer; grandson of Ludwig and Susan (Eichelberger) Shearer and of Jacob and Elizabeth Dinkle (Musser) Eichelberger, and a descendant of Baron Johann Daniel Diinckel and Maria Ursula Gor- niiss, his wife, who came from Strasburg, Ger- many, to York, Pa., about 1740, and of Valentine Shearer, who came to America about 1750. He graduated at Lafayette college, A.B., 1857; A.M., 1860; and at Princeton Theological semi- nary, 1864. He taught at Monroeville, Ala., 1857- 59, and at Academia, Pa., 1859-61; M-as licensed to preach, 1864, and ordained an evangelist, Oct. 3, 1865. He was married, Dec. 27, 1865, to Mary Wing, daughter of Leander S. and Mary Jane (Young) Ketchum of Clyde, N.Y. While con- tinuing his theological studies at Princeton, he entered the service of the American Tract society as missionary to soldiers and freedmen in 1862, and was district secretary of the same at Phila- delphia, 1864-65, and at Richmond, Va., 1865-68; assistant secretary. New York city, 1868-72, and secretary, 1872-1903. He was vice-president of the Evangelical Alliance from 1872; one of the founders of the Presbyterian Union of New York, 1887; and secretary of the committee for secur- ing exemption from the collateral inheritance tax, 1889-90. He received the honorarj^ degree of D.D. from Lafayette in 1883 and was a trustee of the college, 1891-97.

SHEARER, John Bunyan, educator, was born in Appomattox county, Va., July 19, 1832; son of John A. and Ruth A. (Webber) Shearer; grandson of James and Elizabeth (Akers) Shearer and of John and Ruth (Akers) Webber, and a descendant of Scotch, Welch, and German ancestors. He at- tended Union acad- emy, Va.; was as- sistant instructor there, 1848-49, and was graduated from Hampden-Sidney col- lege, Va., 1851. He took a post graduate course at the Uni- versity of Virginia, 1851-54, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1854, and was married in Prince Edward county, Va., Sept. 5, 1854, to Lizzie, daughter of Johan and Katriua (Blumenthal) Gessner of Munster, Westphalia, Prussia. He was principal of Kemper's High school, Gordonsville, Va., 1854-55, and was graduated from the Union Theological seminary, Richmond, Va., in 1858. He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry by the Orange presbytery, N.C., in 1858, and was pastor at Chapel Hill, N.C., 1858-62; and at Spring Hill and Mount Carrael, Va., 1862-70. He founded the Cluster Springs High school, Black Walnut, Va., and was elected president of Stewart college, Clarksville, Tenn., in 1870, and was pro- fessor of Biblical instruction and moral philo- sophy there, 1870-75. He founded and developed the Southwestern Presbyterian university, Clarks- ville, Term.; was its president, 1875-79, and professor of history and English literature, 1879- 82, and of biblical instruction, 1882-88. He was elected president and professor of biblical instruc- tion and moral philosophy at Davidson college, N.C., in 1888. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Hamj)den-Sidney college in 1872 and that of LL.D. by the Southwestern Presb3'terian university in 1889. He endowed the Shearer professorship of Biblical instruction in the Southwestern Presbyterian university, Clarksville, Tenn., in 1897, and built the Shearer Biblical Hall at Davidson college, N.C., in 1901, and dedicated it to his wife, Lizzie Gessner Shearer, " his helpmeet and inspiration for nearly fifty years." He first made Biblical instruction a necessary part of a liberal education, co-ordi- nating it with the secular studies beginning in 1871; taught the English Bible for thirty-two years, and was elected chairman of the permanent committee of Church and Christian Education of