The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-22
Sketch OF REV. DR.. CFF|N
He Will BE the Next Pastor OF the
Elm Park Church.
BROAD MINDED LIBERAL MAN
Began the STUDY Of Law. but Felt That
His Place Was in the Ministry
and Oteycd the promptinss
OF His Heart.

Rev. Charles NJ. GifIin. ID. D.. who has
been invited by the Elm Park Methodist
Episcopal church to be their pastor
after the next conference, began his
ministry i'm Ohio. where he was born.
Several of the papers of this city have
given the reverend gentleman's name
as Rev Francis Gibbons. That was an
error. His name is Rev. Charles II.
Giffin. ID. D.. and he is at present the
pastor of the Methodist Episcopal
church of Mt. Vernon. n. Y.
DR.. Gifln was reared in Cincinnati
He was intended by his father as Il
lawyer and was tutored toward that
end. At suitable age it was arranged
that he should study for his profession
with the Hon. George H. Pendleton. 1t
suited new conditions for him to BE-
placed in the care of Judge Bellamy
Storer. with whom Hon. Ben
jamin Harrison had previously
read law. He entered the law
school of the Queen City of the
West. Among his fellow students and
friends. although much the senior of
DR.. Gifin. who was the boy student of
tHt iiStitutloli,-WuS iioii Den jdiiiil Dut-
terworth.
1t was while he was pursuing this
legal course that Dr. Giffin was con-
vinced that he should enter the min
istry. When he had graduated and
passed for admission to the bar, TO
which he was admitted after his pas
toral work began, since he was too
young at graduation, he entered the
work of the Methodist ministry in the
Cincinnati conference of that church.
Previous Pastorates.
He was only a short while in that
conference when he was invited to
brooklyn and began a ministry there
which has covered some years and in
cludes four pastorates: Seventh ave-
nue.. Nostrand avenue. First Place and
Grace churches. =. In that New York
East conference he has also been pas
tor in the City Of Films. New Haven,
Conn. and i'm the First church, Mount
Vernon. n. Y, which pulpit he now oc-
cupies. and is exDected to vacate to
come to our city. The church in Mount
Vernon is one of the best and most i'm
portant in the great conference in
WiltSe DOtutTS IL is Ic itif-
bers are largely business men whose
offices and stores are In New York city
proper.
DIR. Gifin has also been pastor in
Baltimore. Md. and 'Covington, KY,
the appointment in the latter city being
at Union church, so known throughout
MethOdism on account of Amos
Shinkle being it's chief member. Mr..
Shinkle was known as the leading lay
man in the general conference and
president of the book committee for
many years.
DR.. Gitlin married in Brooklyn, n. Y.
his wife having been born i'm Alabama.
They have three sons. two of them hav-
ing chosen to follow their ather's call
ing. One is a Junior in Wesleyan uni
versity, Middletown, Conn, where he
is one of the editors of The Argus. the
chief paper of that college. The eldest
son is a student at Drew Theological
seminary, Madison, n. ]. The second
son is in business in New York city.
The subject of this sketch has writ
ten considerably for the religious press,
his articles appearing in the organs of
his own denomination. For several years
he was a member of the editorial corps,
doing constant and much writing for
the papers while carrying on an active
pastorate.
The reverend gentleman has the de-
gree of A. NJ. from the Wesleyan uni
versity, Middletown, Conn; ID. d., from
the Dickinson college Carlisle, Pa.
On tho Fatcd City OF Chicago.
The doctor has been abroad several
times, his last trip being to the North
Cape and Russia. On this voyage he
was one of the passengers on the fated
City of Chicago, when that ship in a
fog drove on the rocks of Fastnet, and
was rescued with his fellow travellers
by the life saving corps, being COM
PEELED to so up a rope ladder on the face
Of the rocks some two hundred and
fifty feet high.
About this interesting and thrilling
trip he has prepared a lecture entitled
Six Seas. the Car and the Midnight
SUM- which he has delivered to large
audiences. One of his trips abroad was
made to be a speaker at the First
Ecumenical conference held in the City
Road chapel, London. in 1881. at which
great occasion he was assigned a place
on the regular programme by the COM
mittee of arrangements.