The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-01-25
DIR. j. s. MOFFATT
DIES IN COLUMBIA
MUCH BELOVED, MINISTER
PASSES AFTER SHORT ILL
NESS-FORMER PRESIDENT OF
ERSKINE AND MAN OF WIDE
LEARNING

DR.. James Strong Moffatt, pastor
of the Associate Reformed Presbyte-
rian Church at Columbia, and until
recently President of Erskine COL
lege, died at an early hour this
morning at the Columbia Hospital,
Columbia, S. c., where he had gone
for treatment. Funeral services will
be held at his church in Columbia to-
morrow (Thursday) morning at IL
O'Clock after which his body will be
taken to Due West, where the inter-
ment will take place Friday at 1
o'clock.
DR.. Moffatt had been i'll for only
a few weeks. 1t was last fall that he
accepted a call to the Columbia
church. He and his family had moved
there and had been most cordially re-
ceived by the people, not of his
church only, but of the entire city of
Columbia. The work there under his
ministry held out great promise. But
shortly after he had taken up the
work his fatal sickness came and end
ed a life of great usefulness to the
state and to his church.
DR.. Hoffatt was native of Fulton
County, Arkansas, son of William
Samuel Moffatt and his wife Martha
Jane (Wilson) Moffatt. The Moffatts
are of a Scotch family which first
settled in this country in Chester
County, South Carolina. DR.. Moffatt's
great-grand-father was soldier of
the Revolution. His grandfather was
a merchant of Greenville County,
South Carolina, and there was born
his father, the Rev. W. S. Moffatt who
for the greater part of his life was
a minister in the Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Church. His mother was
a native of Tennessee.
When James Strong Moffatt was
still child, his father moved to
Uniontown, Ohio, at which place his
father was pastor until the son was
grown. DR.. Moffatt attended differ
ent schools in Ohio, spent two years
at Erskine College and graduated
from Musgingum College, New Con-
cord, Ohio, in 1888. 1886 he gradu-
ated from the Theological Seminary
of the United Presbyterian Church,
at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He did
postgraduate work in Western Uni
versity, now the University of Pitts
burg. He was awarded the degree of
Doctor of Divinity by Cooper College,
Kansas.
In 1886 DR.. Moffatt was ordained
as a minister of the Associate Re-
formed Presbyterian Church. He was
first at Charlotte, N. c., but in 1887
he received a call from the church
at Chester, S. c., where weiwas pas,
tor until 1907, building up there the
strongest church of the denomina'
ton. In January 1907 he was made
President of Erskine College where
he remained until he resigned the
past var.
DR.. Moffatt was one of the most
attractive preachers of his church
Perhaps he had more admirers in his
church than any other man. He was
a profound theologian, student, q
thinker, but his sermons were never
theless always practical. He appealed
to the ordinary hearer as few preach
ers do. His style was simple but he
was a master of eloquent speech
His kindly heart, his love for man
kind, and his eagerness to serve, made
of him the typical minister. 1t made
of him the greatest minister of his
church in his day.
AS President of Erskine College
DR.. Noffatt gave most Of his time tt
the larger affairs of the college anc
especially to increasing the meagrt
endowment of the institution. He ad
ded of his own efforts at one time one
hundred thousand dollars to tha
fund; and during his administration
many other amounts were AIDED, Sc
that he left the college with great