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1907 Past and Present Biographies
Rev. A. B. ShipmanBorn on the banks of the old Susquehanna river in the city of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1844, he was the fourth son of John Bird and Keziah (Reeder) Shipman. Back of there was an ancestry most honorable, the family having for nearly two hundred years been represented in America, where its members were ever noted as a righteous and God-fearing people. The father of Rev. Shipman engaged in merchandising in Sunbury and was also interested in mining and milling operations in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. Although his business made extensive demands upon his time be yet found opportunity to aid in Christian work and was ordained as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. He did everything in his power to advance the cause of Christianity, organized a number of Sunday schools and worked most persistently in behalf of the growth and progress of the church. He likewise became a pioneer in the cause of temperance throughout the state of Pennsylvania and his influence was a strong element in the promulgation of temperance views. On the 12th of April, 1858, the Shipman family left Milton, Pennsylvania, for a new home in Iowa, locating near Wapello in Louisa county, where on the 10th of December, 1858, the father died, leaving several children to the care of his widow, who did a mother’s full part by her little ones. Rev. A. B. Shipman was but fourteen years of age at the time of the removal to the west. He lived at home until August, 1861, when in response to the county’s call for troops to aid in crushing out the rebellion he offered his services to the government, although only seventeen years of age at the time. Enlisting in the army, he served with Company K, Eighth Iowa Infantry, for almost five years, continuing at the front for thirteen months after Lee surrendered, being detailed as the private secretary of Major Rankin in the Freeman’s bureau oflice at Tuskegee, Alabama. At the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, 1862, he was wounded and captured, being confined in the rebel prison for nearly six months, after which he was exchanged on the 13th of October, 1862. He participated in twenty-two battles beside numerous skirmishes and was a most loyal defender of the old flag. Following his return home Rev. Shipman became a student in the United Presbytenan College, where he spent almost four years and during that time was licensed to preach by Dr. Frank Evans. After completing his college course he engaged in teaching for two years and then entered the employ of the American Bible Society, acting as district agent for central Iowa. At the end of two and a half years he joined the Des Moines conference in September, 1876. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Peck and ordained elder at a session of the Des Moines conference at Red Oak, Iowa, by Bishop Wiley, serving faithfully and well for twenty-two years. During his ministry be baptized twenty-one hundred people. He came to Greene county in the fall of 1878 to take charge of the Methodist church at Grand Junction and held the first revival service ever held in Paton. He continued his residence in Grand Junction for two years and was then transferred to Scranton. While at that place he held two services each Sunday and in the afternoon went out to the Stream schoolhouse, where he organized a class. He also went to Churdan, holding a basket meeting in Churdan Grove, preaching the first sermon ever delivered there. Two weeks later he went to Churdan, at which time a railroad was being builded at that point and there he preached in a box car. He was afterward transferred and did not again live in Greene county until 1897, when he came to Jefferson. In September of that year, at the conference of Guthrie Center, he requested that he be placed on the superannuated list on account of physical disability contracted while in the United States service. He then removed to his home at Jefferson, securing a farm of forty acres in the town, which he owned up to the time of his death. During his last year on earth it is safe to say that no man in Jefferson led a more active, busy life than Rev. Shipman. In the summer prior to his demise he established a small dairy business but it grew rapidly and, lacking adequate assistance much of the time, he did most of the hard work himself. On the 24th of June, 1875, Rev. Shipman was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Miss Sophronia E. Armstrong, at Vinton, Iowa, the wedding ceremony being performed by Dr. S. H. Freer, presiding elder of - the Cedar Rapids district, assisted by the Rev. A. B. Condit. Four children were born of this union: Mary, now the wife of Allen Cook, of Tulsa, Indian Territory; Carrie, the wife of Charles Crooks, of Jefferson; Warren R., residing in Belmond, Iowa; and Earl Cranston, who died September 30, 1900. Death came to Rev. Shipman suddenly and was the occasionof the deepest regret throughout the entire community, for during his residence in Jefferson he made friends of all with ‘whom he came in contact. His life was indeed a noble one and its influence far-reaching. Wherever he went he left the impress of his individuality for good .upon the community. He aided in the upbuilding of churches, in the promulgation of moral principles and in the inculcation of high ideals and lofty purposes. His memory is still cherished by all who knew him but especially so by his family, who knew him as a devoted husband and father. He always had a cheery word and pleasant smile and his face bespoke his high intellectuality and his kindly purposes. |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |