[
51]
Benjamin Kimball Russ, born in
Salem, N. H., January 17, 1834, died in
Gorham, N. H., November 6, 1896.
Mr. Russ was a member of the class of 1860, Tufts College, and began to preach some time in 1861, and was ordained in 1862.
Rev. Dr. Leonard, dean of
Tufts Divinity School, who knew
Mr. Russ all through his college days, says of him: ‘All through his college course he was interested in theological questions.
He heard a greater number of preachers than any one I ever knew.
They were his study and theological school.’
His first pastorate was at
Somerville, Mass., where he remained about twelve years. Not long after leaving
Somerville, he was stricken with paralysis, and was an invalid several years.
In 1889 he went to
Gorham, N. H., where he soon had another shock, but had partially recovered from its effects, and was a faithful pastor and helpful preacher, serving the parish without a stipulated salary, and taking only such pecuniary assistance as came as a free — will offering.
He had a sensitive nature, and was averse to putting himself forward for notice or praise.
His work was faithfully done, and he bound those who waited on his ministering, both the aged and the young, by the strongest and most loving ties to himself.
A great lover of children, he was devotedly loved by them.
Death came to him in the way in which he had at one time said he desired to have it come, when he was alone, and unaccompanied by a painful struggle.
A born preacher and a faithful pastor, he still lives in many hearts that loved him.—Taken from the
Universalist Register for 1897.
