From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Morgan Walden
John Morgan Walden
he found employment as a carpenter. He became inter-
ested in the writings of Thomas Paine, whereby Walden
became a skeptic. He read Sir Walter Scott and Oliver
Goldsmith. His own early romantic stories were pub-
lished under the pen name "Ned Law" in the Hamilton,
Ohio Telegraph from 1849 until 1853.
After attending Farmers’ College in College Hill, Ohio
in 1849, Walden taught school for a year in Miami Coun-
ty, Ohio. It was there that he was converted by a
Methodist Circuit Rider. Returning to Farmers’ College,
Walden graduated in 1852. He then continued to teach
there for two years.
Journalism career and Kansas
In 1854 John went to Fairfield, Illinois, where he pub-
lished the Independent Press. In his editorials he opposed
the liquor traffic and so-called "squatter sovereignty."
Illinoisans starved him out by refusing to support his pa-
per, and in 1855 he returned to Ohio, where he became a
reporter with the Cincinnati Commercial.
John became deeply interested in the Kansas troubles
while reporting from the Democratic National Conven-
tion of 1856. Indeed, he went to Kansas, where he estab-
John Morgan Walden lished the Quindaro Chindowan, a Free-Soil paper in the
Free State port-of-entry town of Quindaro. He was a del-
John Morgan Walden (February 11, 1831 – January 21, egate to five Free-State conventions, including the Leav-
1914) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal enworth Constitutional Convention of 1858. That same
Church. He also gained notability as a newspaper editor year he campaigned over half the Territory, opposing the
and journalist, as a State Superintendent of Education in Lecompton Constitution.
Kansas, as an officer in the Union Army, and as an Official John Morgan Walden served in the Kansas State Leg-
in his Christian denomination. islature in 1857. He also was the State Superintendent of
Education for a time.
Birth and family
John Morgan Walden was born in Lebanon, Ohio, the son
Ordained ministry
of Jesse and Matilda (née Morgan) Walden. The family John returned again to Ohio, where on September 8, 1858
moved to Hamilton County, Ohio in 1832. John was of he was admitted on trial to the Cincinnati Annual Confer-
Virginian ancestry, his great-grandfather Walden having ence of the M.E. Church. His first two years of ministry
moved from Culpepper County, Virginia to Kentucky in were spent on various circuits. In 1860 he was admitted
1770, and his grandfather Benjamin to Ohio in 1802. After to the Conference in full connection and sent to the York
the death of his mother in 1833. John went to live with Street Church in Cincinnati.
relatives near Cincinnati. While he was there the American Civil War began.
John married Martha Young of Cheviot, Ohio July 3, Rev. Walden became very active in the war effort, raising
1859. They had five children. two regiments to defend the city against threatening at-
tacks. He joined the Union Army, where he achieved the
rank of lieutenant colonel.
Education and early life Rev. Walden served with the Ladies’ Home Mission
Walden attended a local school in Cincinnati until 1844, in Cincinnati (1862–64). In the post-war years, he helped
when he went to work. Becoming a wandering laborer, many African Americans through his work as corre-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Morgan Walden
sponding secretary of the Western Freedman’s Aid Com-
mission and also with the Methodist Freedman’s Aid So-
Death and burial
ciety. Walden died on January 21, 1914 at Daytona Beach, Flori-
In 1867 Walden was appointed Presiding Elder of the da, and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati,
East Cincinnati District. In 1868 he was elected Publishing Ohio. He was survived by his wife and three of their five
Agent of the Western Methodist Book Concern, also in children.
Cincinnati. His penchant for statistics and organization,
his business ability, and his sympathetic cooperation
with the preachers made the Concern a financial success
See also
under his stewardship. • List of Bishops of the United Methodist Church
Episcopal ministry References
John Morgan Walden was elected a Bishop by the 1884 • , edited by John M. Versteeg, Litt.D., D.D. (Ohio Area
General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Sesquicentennial Committee, 1962).
During his service he presided at some time or other over • "Walden, John Morgan". Appletons’ Cyclopædia of
every Conference in the U.S.A. He also inspected missions American Biography. 1889.
in Mexico, South America, Europe, China and Japan. He Persondata
did much to shape the missionary policy of his Church. Name Walden, John Morgan
Walden was a delegate to the Ecumenical Confer-
Alternative names
ences in London in 1881, in Washington in 1891 and in
Toronto in 1911. With respect to church organization, Short description Union Army officer
he insisted on strict adherence to the written law of the Date of birth February 11, 1831
church. Otherwise, he was more liberal in his views.
Place of birth Lebanon, Ohio
Date of death January 21, 1914
Legacy and honors Place of death Daytona Beach, Florida
• In recognition of his work for African Americans, in
1900 Central Tennessee College in Nashville was
renamed in his honor as Walden University
(Tennessee).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Morgan_Walden&oldid=452169305"
Categories:
• 1831 births
• 1914 deaths
• Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church
• Union Army officers
• United States Army officers
• People from Warren County, Ohio
• American Methodist bishops
• American publishers (people)
• Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery
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