Robert Fleming Sample
was born in the town of Corning, N. Y., Oct. 19, 1829. [son of John
and Jane Wilson Sample, Grandson of John and Mary McCormick Sample;
Great-grandson of Thomas McCormick
(2nd);
Great-great grandson of Thomas McCormick (1st)].
After his mother's death in 1834, he was sent to school in Geneva, N.
Y., and continued his studies in an academy at Milton, Pa., entering
Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa., during the presidency of the Rev.
Robert J. Breckenridge, D. D., where he graduated with honor.
During the last year of his theological course at Allegheny City, he was
called to the First Presbyterian Church of Mercer, Pa., as successor to
the Rev. Joseph T. Smith, D. D. His
subsequent pastorates were in Bedford, Pa., Minneapolis, Minn., and New
York City. His most important work was done in connection with the
Westminster church of Minneapolis, where he ministered for nearly twenty
years. The membership of the church had advanced to a thousand, and the
congregation was worshipping in one of the finest church edifices in this
country, when he resigned this interesting and beloved charge on account
of ill-health, induced by overwork and the rigor of the climate. After a
brief sojourn in the South, he accepted a call to the Westminster Church
of New York city, where he still remains. In 1876 he received the honorary
degree of Doctor of Divinity from Wooster University, of Ohio. Dr. Sample
has been a trustee of Macalister College, a director of McCormick
Seminary, a member of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and is at
present a member of the Board of Church Erection, and a Trustee of Lincoln
University. He was Moderator of the Presbytery of New York during the
protracted discussion of the revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and was the only member of a committee
of twelve, appointed to frame a paper on that subject, who voted against
the radical changes proposed and afterwards rejected by the General
Assembly. He was also a member of the prosecuting committee in the case of
the Presbyterian Church against the Rev. C. A.
Briggs, D. D., whose errors were condemned by the highest court of
the church. He was a member of the Alliance, at Belfast, composed of
delegates from all branches of the Presbyterian denomination throughout
the world, and read one of the important papers before that body.
Dr. Sample is the author of "Beacon-Lights of the
Reformation;" of the "Memoir of Rev. J. C. Thom;" of four
anonymous books on "Christian Experience," and several hymns,
incorporated in the hymnology of his own and other churches. He has also
been a regular correspondent of "The Presbyterian" for nearly a
third of a century; has written extensively of his travels in Europe and
the East, and has furnished numerous articles for the leading magazines
and reviews of this country. The Presbyterian Encyclopedia says of him:
"Dr. Sample, as a preacher, is thoroughly evangelical, able,
instructive, impressive; as a writer, he is graceful, vigorous and
popular, and he wields a strong influence by his sound judgment earnest
zeal and exemplary Christian character. He has a record of which any
minister of the gospel might justly be proud."
Dr. Sample married, March 31, 1853, Nannie M.
Bracken, of Cannonsburg, Pa. Had issue:
1. Mary E. Sample. B., July 31, 1854.
M., J. B. Donaldson, D. D., Minneapolis, Minn., 1878
2. Anna J. Sample. B., Jan. 31, 1857.
3. Robert W. Sample. B., Mar. 21, 1858.
4. John W. Sample. B., June, 1861.
5. Henry B. Sample. B., Aug., 1863. D., 1868.
6. Lottie M. Sample. B., 1867. D., 1868.
7. Walter B. Sample. B., Oct. 21, 1869.
From Family Record and Biography of the
McCormick Family, pages 156-158.
