Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-10-18
TRIBUTE TO |. 0. SLOAN.
The Presbytery of Bismarck Retire
Rev. l. 0. Sloan at His Own
Request.
Resolutions Adopted by Them in
Praise and Honor of the Aged
Divine.
A Sketch of His Career in the West
and a Tribute to the Worthy
Man.
Rev. Sloan Retired.

Rev. Sloan Retired.
At the meeting Of the Presbytery of
Bismarck at Mandan last week Rev. I.
O. Sloan was, at his own request. honor.
ably retired and his application to the
board of reliet for the annual sum Of
$500 as a pension for life, was unani-
mously Endorsed. This resolution was
also passed respecting Mr.. Sloan: In.
bonorably retiring Rev. L. o. Sloan, at
his own request, the Presbytery of Bis
marck wishes to put on record it's appre-
citation of his pioneering self sacrifices,
his church organizations, his faithful
ness, sweetness Of life, saintliness Of
character and attractiveness of manner.
Enshrlned in the hearts of all, ne will
live loving and beloved and his will be
the crown with stars of rejoicing.
The retiring of Rev. Sloan closes the
active career of one of the Oldest and
best known ministers of the gospel in
the state. He came to Bismarck in the
earliest days of the city, and took an &C.
tive part in the advancement and up
building OF church work. In those days,
when the minds of men were directed
more to the accomplishment of worldly
things, to the considerable exclusion Of
the spiritual, and when the work of
church building and the dissemination
of Christian doctrine was not always a
pleasant task, Rev. Sloan made rapid
strides in the work and through his hon
esty of purpose and kindliness of heart,
and gentleness Of spirit, won the friend
ship and admiration of every n
The TRIBUNE is indebted to Mrs.
Slaughter for an interesting sketch of
Rev. Sloan, and a touching tribute to
the man.:
In July, 1873, the Rev. D. G. Lyon or
ganized the congregation Of the present
Presbyterian church of Bismarck, it
having then but four members, viz: Col.
G. A. Lounsberry, I. G. Adams, H. F.
Douglas and Mrs. Boswell, the last
named being the widow of a Presby-
terrain clergyman IN Omaha, who was
then engaged as h~ousekeeper in the post.
trading establishment of Dickey & Will.
son at Fort Mexican, now Fort Abraham
Lincoln. The coming to Bismarck O.
the Rev. l. 0. Sloan, who was installed
as pastor of the new Presbyterian
congregation, vas an event blessed ir
it's results to the church of which he wal
the honored head and to the communit,
in which he was for so long the leader O
religious thought and director of chris
tian work. Refined, intellectual and O.
q most gentle and kindly nature, he cap
tivated the most lawless part of the com
munity from the start. Alone, without
family ties, and having ever then reached
that period of life when non seek to la,
down the burdens of life and rest at east
from their labors, his self-denlal and de
votion to the cause of the Master in quit.
ting voluntarily his luxuriant home il
Philadelphia to give his time, his rart
talent and energies to the building of {
church on the frontier, and to min1ste,
to- the spiritual wants of an isolated com
munity, exposed to the dangers of Indiar
warfare and deprived of those intellec
tual pleasures which his scholarly at
tainments fitted him so we'll to enjoy, al
commended him to the affection of the
warm hearted western people. During
the course of a long and useful career al
the pastor of the church whose founda
ton he had seen laid, and which he haC
himself built up from it's first small be
ginning to dimensions of strength and
Importance, he never faltered in faithful
work, and never lostone itoa of the re-
spect and affection which his kindly
manner and venerable appearance had
won or his first arrival.
He married the first couple and
preached the first funeral sermon in Bis.
marck. He visited the sick everywhere
and wherever there was distress of BODY
or soul, to the dying member of the
deml-monde or to the criminal in the
county Jail. Then on errands of mercy
went those venerable feet, and then in
accents Of love and tenderness was heard
that tremu]ous voice b~eseeching the All.
Father, who judges not as men do to
pity and forgive. Father Sloan,' as all
loved to call him, was a christian in all
that the name implies. That was the
secret of his success. and the cause Of
his great popularity with all classes Of
people. That wal the reason why the
Peoples Sunday school, so long neutral
to UNCONVENTIONAL views, was early gath
cred into the fold of "Father S~loan's"
church. That was why the efforts of
other denominations to build up rival
churches in a community scarcely able
fn annnOrt ono 1uoro