Crist, Jacob B.

Born: 1798-11-11 Berks County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1881-04-28 Pennsylvania

Crist was a Methodist Episcopal and Lutheran minister. After spending his early years in Berks County, Pennsylvania, near Reading, he moved to Harrisburg, Virginia, where he joined the Methodist Episopal Church. In 1824, he received his license to preach. After a year of itinerant ministry on the Warm Springs Circuit, he spent three years as travelling companion to Bishop William McKendree. He ventured west, moving first to Columbus, Ohio, then to Oregon, Illinois, and later to Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1847, he left the Methodist Episopal Church and joined the Lutheran Church. He served several years as a traveling agent and fund raiser for the American Sunday School Union and the American Colonization Society. In 1848, he became a traveling fund raiser for Hillsboro College, and moved his family to Hillsboro, Illinois. He traveled throughout the Midwest and South on behalf of the college, but was relieved of his duties after accusations against his moral and Christian character. Returning to Pennsylvania, he held successive pastorates in Lancaster, Blair, and Armstrong counties. He also served as agent for the Education Society of Gettysburg College.

Robert Allan Stevens, Anticipation Exceeded Realization: Saga of an Antebellum College, The Story of the Original Illinois State University (Miami and Los Angeles: Three Star Press, 2017), 43; John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature supplement (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1887), 2:170.