RUSK, Albert H. (1851-1946)

RUSK

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/21/2020 at 12:38:10

Albert Hardin Rusk
(November 9, 1851 – 1946)

Albert Hardin Rusk was born on a farm in Brown County, Ill, Nov 9, 1851. The house was a one-room log cabin and living conditions were typical of the time and country. Homespun clothing log-rolling, house-raisings, quilting-bees, apple-pearing were common place. He was the oldest of six children and there was no church within several miles. Occasionally a primitive Baptist or Mormon elder would pass that way and preach. He attended the country school and availed himself of the limited school facilities of the community while helping his father clear and develop the homestead farm. A Methodist circuit rider stared the Perry circuit. He was the Rev. Curtis Powell, and with an assistant, the Rev. T. S. Rhodes, held religious services every two weeks on Sunday afternoons, at the schoolhouse. These same ministers held a revival meeting and the parents of the Rev. Mr. Rusk were among the 40 converts. A church and Sunday school were organized and he was the first convert in the new church. This church group became very active in a temperance movement and their fight was very successful. One month after he was converted he felt that he should become a minister. His own account is: “I had an unmistakable conviction that I should preach the gospel. I had no freedom until I accepted God’s call.”
His father suffered an accident and for some time it was necessary for him to run the farm until younger brothers could take over. He then entered Garret Biblical institute for a few terms and entered the Illinois Conference as a pastor in 1878. At his own request he was transferred to the Des Moines Conference in 1882. In 1883 he married Mary Hannah Eddy of Shelbyville, Ill. To this union were born two children, a daughter, Mrs. R. C. Williams of Indianola, and a son, Frank E. Rusk of Omaha. There are four grandchildren and one great grandchild. In the Des Moines Conference the Rev. Mr. Rusk served as pastor at Lenox, Sidney, Randolph, Prairie City, Des Moines, Asbury, Walnut, Carson, Madrid, Winterset, Davis City, Afton, Fontanelle, Russell, Carlisle, New Virginia, and Patterson. He retired from the ministry in 1910 after 32 years as an active pastor, and moved to Indianola.
As a pastor, he always maintained the full programs of church work and in all of this was most ably assisted by his wife, who died in 1931. At the same time he was always zealous in working to provide for the financial needs of the church. He built churches, paid off debts, improved the church property and saw to it that all financial needs of the various branches of the church were not overlooked or neglected. He never wavered in his complete loyalty to his church, its ministers, hospitals, colleges, missions, church publications and everything that is Christianity and Methodism.
From 1912 to 1922 he was engaged in work for the Joint Centenary Commission and as special representative of the Methodist Board of Education. He covered a large part of the country in his work and enjoyed it greatly. His church needed money to carry out its program of Christian education and he was happy to do his part. By present day standards the life of Albert Rusk was not one of ease and luxury – rather it was one of devotion to conscience and belief. There was hardship and toil – not much glamour and little for the headlines. He never criticized men but worked for principles. Those who knew him intimately knew that he would not have changed his course were he to live it over. As a father, a citizen and a servant of the church his life is an example to all. Services were held Monday, April 22, at 1:30 at the Methodist church parlors. The Rev. E. W. Frohardt was in charge. Cards of Thanks: We acknowledge with gratitude the many kindnesses, the words of sympathy, the neighborly assistance and the floral offerings in the time of our bereavement. – Mrs. R. C. Williams, Frank E. Rusk. [Copied from a scrapbook at the Warren County Historical Society Library, Indianola, Iowa]