Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1913-01-31
MIDOLEBURY GRADUATE IN
SCOTLAND
Distinguished Career of Rev. Kerr
C. Anderson, D. D., of the
Class of 1871.


abroad. One of the strong churches in
Scotland has had for its leader for many
years an able q aduate of Middlebury,
Rev. Kerr C. Anderson, d. D., of the
class of 1871. Some of our readers will
remember that DR.. Anderson was a
favorite pupil of the late Professor
Weber, who recommended him as lis
successor in the Presbyterian ministry
in Troy, N. Y.
A recent issue of the Christian
Commonwealth, a London paper of wide
circulation in Great Britain, contains
the following interesting sketch of DR..
Anderson:
When one listens to DR.. Anderson
preaching one gets the impression that
here is a mar whose vision of the truth
has led him, single-minded, on a far
quest, who has pursued itunwaveringly,
and has returned with a message which
is apt to be misunderstood. This impress
sion is %deepened when one meets him
face to face. One feels that he is a lonely
man. He seems careworn and rather
weary, with brooding eyes and furrowed
face. But in talking his face brightens,
and a rare smile, kindly and rather
sweet, breaks out now and then. His
personality wins upon you as he talks.
For one thing, his unworldliness, in the
best meaning of the word, envelops him
and gives a suggestion of aloofness and
elevation to his personality. Yet there
is, too, a quality of concentrated energy,
as of a man whose whole mission is to
render his vision and to convince men of
its reality.
For twenty years DR.. Anderson has
been minister of Ward Chapel, Dundee.
Born in 1854 in Scotland, he went to
America at an early age. He was edu-
Gated at the New England College of
M%iddlebury, Vermont, whittier he went
at the age of seventeen or eighteen.
From thence he went to Yale Theological
School, and studied under such men as
DR.. Samuel Harris and DR.. g. B. Fisher,
at that time probably the greatest &C.
clesiastical historian of his generation.
DR.. Anderson was for a good many
years, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, a
minister in America, and held pastorates
in Milwaukee and at Oshkosh, Wisconsin,
and then went to Troy, New York, and
remained there a number of years. This
charge came to him through his old pro-
fessor of mental philosophy at Middle
bury, Professor Weber, who became the
pastor of the church and on retiring re-
of this church DR.. Anderson received his
divinity degree. He explained to me
that near Troy is a village called Science
tady, in which the old Union College is
situated, one of the best of the older col
leges of America. A number of the
elders of DR.. Anderson's church were
trustees of Union College, and wishing
to honour their pastor prevailed on
him to accept the degree. He en-
tered Middlebury, he told me, as a
second year student, having returned to
this country and entered Edinburg Uni
versity for one session, after a few years
in America. At the end of the first year
at Edinburg, however, he went back to
America and started his studies at
Middlebury, which eventually led him to
Yale Theological School, and thence into
the ministry. He graduated M. A. from
Middlebury at the end of the fourth
year. From his brief references to
these years at college | gathered that
he took an honorable and distinguished
place in the college lists. A call to
Horton Lane Chapel, Bradford, came to
him in 1885, which he accepted, and re-
NAMED there for seven years.
During these years he formed the
friendship with Rev, T. Rhondda Will
liams which still endures. Mr.. Williams
was a neighbor, though on the other
side of Bradford, and the two ministers
got to know each other intimately.
"Those were the years" said DR..
Anderson, 'when Mr.. Williams passed
through the critical time of his theolog-
zeal thinking, n we had many happy
and fruitful talks together" At the
end of the seven years came the call to
Ward Chapel, where he has remained
even since, his twentieth anniversary
being due in October. "Ward Chapel -
Dr.. Anderson explained, ''has always
been a Liberal Church since DIR. Charles
Short was minister there. Probably
DR.. Short did all the negative work that
needed to be done; at least, | look upon
him as having done a very splendid
work, not only for the church but for
me as WELL"
"And you have always held the
Liberal Christian point of view?"