Litchfield enquirer., 1847-07-29
WHOLE No. 1913.
lLITGEI.F IE-LD COUNTY,
BIOGRAPH1W.
Samuel John Mills.
[Continued frcm our last.1

in company with MeSSrS Richards, Bard.
we'll, Poor, Warren and Meigs, on the 2lst
of June, 1914, all destined to missionary
services. Shortly afterwards, he began to
make preparations for a missionary tour
through the western and southern States.
Such was his impression of the importance
Of this service, that he performed two sepa
rate tours through those sections of the
Union-the first of which was made under
the direction and patronage of the Connec-
,icut and Massachusetts Missionary Socie-
ty, and for the seconi. he obtained the as.
sistance of the Philadelphia Bible and Mis-.
sionary Societies. The objects of these
tours were, to explore the country and learn
its moral and religious state-to preach the
gospel to the destitute-and to form and
promste the establishment of Bible 8 ycie.
situations. In connection with the Rev.
John F. Schermerhorn, on his first, and the
Rev. DAM i Smith, on his second tour he
passed through New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, DC, to New
Orleans. Nearly six hundred miles Of their
route lay through a mere wilderness.
The Report made by Mr.. Mills, Of these
tours, is one of the most interesting ever
given to the public Prea ching to the Scl~
diers of Generals jackson, Adair and Thorn
as, at their respective camps-visiting the
hospitals for the sick and wounded-and
attending upon the spiritual wants of the
British prisoners in their dungeons-these
were some of his cmployments during his
mission to the south west in 1874.
On his return, it was his paramount de-
sire to turn the attention of the Atlantic
States to the destitute regions he had visits
ed. He accordingly presented their claims
to the Societies in and Philadelphia and
Baltimore, and to the Connecticut Bible
Society Immediately set on foo'
measures for the supply of the South and
West with Bibles the Connecticut Society
promptly voting five hundred copies for gra,
tuitous distribution in Louisiana.
sa. Among Mr.. Mills great projects Of be-
hevolence was the NOMINATION. of Nationaf
Bible Society. DR.. Spring remarks, "The
formation of this national institution Mr..
Mills thought of, suggested, and pressed the
suggestion, long before it probably entered
into the mind or heat CT any other in~
dividual. With the gentlemen who were
interested in the early stages of this meas
ure; he had frequent interviews and though
he concealed the hand that moved it for>
ward, was himself the principal mover of
the design, and principal agent in induc>
ing others of greater weight of character
to become its abetlors. If the lofty edifce
has inscribed on one side the endeared and
memorable name of ELIAS EoUpINoT, it has
on the other the humble inscription, SAMu-
Ell ]. MILLS
The American Bible Society was formed
in the city of New York ON the 9Th day of
May, 1916.
MIR. Mills next great effort was to unite
the Presbyterians of the General Assembly,
the Dutch Reformed, and the Associate Re.
formed churches, in the missionary cause,
and the result was, the formation of The
United Foreign Missionary Society.
About this time he spent some months In
the city of New York, seeking out the
wretched abodes of poverty and vice, cheers
ing and relieving the wants of the suffering,
and lifting up the fallen.
But the darling object of Mr.. Mills, and the
one for which he seems to have been specially
raised up, was the amclioration Of Africa.
| The civil, moral, and and spiritual dcgrada-
tion ofth benighted land, lay with contin-
ual weight upon his mind. His first effort
in his new enterprise, was, TO establish
seminary for the education of eolored men
in this country, with a view to their becom-
ing missionaries to the land of their fathers.
The institution, through his instrumental.
ily, soon went into operation under the man
agement of Board Of Directors appointed
by the Synod of New York and New Jersey,
and Mr. Mills accepted an appointment as
their agent. He had at the same time
commission from the Foreign Mission
School al Cornwall In letter dated at
Philadelphia, July Is, 1917, he says,"I ar
rived in this place yesterday from Balti-
J more. collected for the Mission School,
while in the State of Virginia, about fifteen
hundred dollars. received at Baltimore,
and two or three other places in Maryland,
for the African School, about eight hundrsd
dollars" These schools fiourished for sew
eral years; but at length, missing the foss
tering care of their protector and friend
they died. During all the journeys Of Mr..
Mills, in 1914 and rs, his thoughts were
earnestly enlisted in behalf of Africa, and
he labored much to procure the grant Of a
township oc land, on which small colony
m obi he OSkahli Shnd hoth far Nha r,,rp<<a