Rev. Samuel Luther Stiver, A.
M., B. D., Ph. D., D. C. L., one of the many educators of the State of
Illinois, and superintendent of the Bunker Hill Military Academy, was born
at Potter's Mills, Center County, Pennsylvania, November 1, 1848. He is a
son of Thomas J. and Mary F. Stiver.
The Stiver family is of German
extraction but has been settled in America for many generations. The
patriots of the Revolutionary War included Michael and Samuel Stiver — the
great-grandfather and the grandfather of Professor Stiver — who served under
Gen. James Potter, and later settled at Potter's Mills, where Thomas J.
Stiver was born. The latter was a successful farmer, and one of the reliable
men of his neighborhood, instinctively selected to fill the responsible
offices in county and township. He belonged, in his early manhood, to the
State militia of Center County, Pennsylvania. A man of intelligence and good
judgment, he took a deep interest in educational matters and served
frequently as a school officer. Being Presbyterian in religious belief, his
life was ordered in consonance with that faith. He married Mary F. Bench,
who was a daughter of William and Hester Bench, and a granddaughter of John
M. Bench, a very prominent man of affairs in the early history of Center
County, his name appearing on many public documents on record at the county
seat, who married Christina Moser, a daughter of Philip Moser. The father of
the latter (Burkhart Moser) came from Germany in 1740 and settled in
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and became the owner of the great body of
coal lands which embrace the city of Tamaqua and adjacent regions.
Eight children were born to the parents of Dr. Stiver, namely: Samuel
Luther, our subject; William B., a physician at Freeport, Illinois; Maggie
H., Center Hall, Pennsylvania; Pery O., editor and proprietor of the daily
and weekly Democrat, Freeport, Illinois; Roland J., a physician at Lena,
Illinois; Mary I., wife of Dr. J. E. Ward of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania;
Thomas J., a physician at Lena, Illinois; and David S., a dentist in
Chicago.
Dr. Stiver passed his boyhood on his father's farm and
attended school in the neighborhood and subsequently Penn Hall and
Jacksonville academies.. He then taught school and secured a State
certificate at the age of 18. In 1870 he entered Lafayette College, at
Easton, Pennsylvania, and graduated in the classical course in 1874, being
the salutatorian of his class and bearing off prizes in physics and
astronomy. During his college life he was also engaged in newspaper work,
was editor of the' college monthly and was a contributor to other college
publications. After leaving Lafayette, he passed one year as vice-principal
of the Chambersburg Boys' Boarding Academy, and during this period he also
studied law. In 1875 he went to New York City and entered Union Theological
Seminary where he was graduated in 1878, with distinction. While in New
York, he was engaged for two years in teaching in Dr. Sach's Collegiate
Institute and for a time had charge of one of Dr. John Hall's missions. For
one year after graduation from Union Theological Seminary, he was pastor of
the High Street Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. In the fall of
1879 he came to Bunker Hill and became the pastor of the Congregational
Church for two years, and then saw a new field of usefulness opening before
him in the possibilities of the Bunker Hill Academy.
Since Dr.
Stiver took charge of this institution, 21 years ago, many changes have been
made in it. He converted it into a boarding school and added a military
department, and as the years have gone by the increasing reputation of this
school has shown the wisdom with which Dr. Stiver planned as well as the
ability with which he has carried out his plans. The course of study
followed at the Bunker Hill Military Academy fits students for entrance into
any college in the United States, and gives also a practical education that
prepares a young man for almost any line of activity.
Our
distinguished subject leads a busy life, confined entirely to intellectual
lines, including preaching, lecturing, teaching and a considerable amount of
literary work. He is interested in reform movements and has served as a
delegate to county. State and national conventions. During the
Spanish-American War, his support and sympathy were given the Republican
party. His fraternal connections are with the Odd Fellows and his college
fraternity. Delta Kappa Epsilon.
On January 26, 1882, Dr. Stiver was
united in marriage with Carmelite W. Hornsby, who is a daughter of the late
Dr. Robert J. and Cordelia Hornsby. These children were born to them: Mary
Cordelia, a graduate of Monticello Seminary; Robert Thomas, a most promising
youth just ready to enter college, when he died from an operation for
appendicitis, at the age of 14 years; Kenneth Hornsby, who died of
pneumonia, aged one year; and Gladys, Helen and Perry, still in school.
In 1900 Dr. Stiver and his wife visited the old family home in Center
County, Pennsylvania, where members of the family still reside. While in
Pennsylvania he also secured many items of interest from records concerning
the coal lands of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which formerly
belonged to his mother's family and passed out of their possession before
they realized their value, among these a family genealogy, from the
title-books of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in Philadelphia, tracing
his mother's ancestors back to 1740 when Burkhart Moser, Sr., came from
Germany to Philadelphia and soon after took up the coal lands above
mentioned, and now in litigation for restoration of title to the Moser
heirs, involving many millions of dollars.
Extracted 2018 May 06 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 121-124.
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