Robert
Fleming Sample was born in the town of Corning, N. Y., Oct. 19,
1829. [son of John and Jane Wilson Sample, Grandson
of John and Mary McCormick Sample; Great-grandson of Thomas
McCormick (2nd); Great-great grandson of Thomas McCormick (1st)].
After
his mother's death in 1834, he was sent to school in Geneva, N. Y., and
continued his studies in an academy at Milton, Pa., entering Jefferson
College at Canonsburg, Pa., during the presidency of the Rev. Robert J.
Breckenridge, D. D., where he graduated with honor. During the last
year of his theological course at Allegheny City, he was called to the
First Presbyterian Church of Mercer, Pa., as successor to the Rev.
Joseph T. Smith, D. D. His subsequent pastorates were in Bedford, Pa.,
Minneapolis, Minn., and New York City. His most important work was done
in connection with the Westminster church of Minneapolis, where he
ministered for nearly twenty years. The membership of the church had
advanced to a thousand, and the congregation was worshipping in one of
the finest church edifices in this country, when he resigned this
interesting and beloved charge on account of ill-health, induced by
overwork and the rigor of the climate. After a brief sojourn in the
South, he accepted a call to the Westminster Church of New York city,
where he still remains. In 1876 he received the honorary degree of
Doctor of Divinity from Wooster University, of Ohio. Dr. Sample has
been a trustee of Macalister College, a director of McCormick Seminary,
a member of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and is at present a
member of the Board of Church Erection, and a Trustee of Lincoln
University. He was Moderator of the Presbytery of New York during the
protracted discussion of the revision of the Westminster Confession of
Faith, and was the only member of a committee of twelve, appointed to
frame a paper on that subject, who voted against the radical changes
proposed and afterwards rejected by the General Assembly. He was also a
member of the prosecuting committee in the case of the
Presbyterian Church against the Rev. C. A. Briggs, D. D., whose errors
were condemned by the highest court of the church. He was a member of
the Alliance, at Belfast, composed of delegates from all branches of
the Presbyterian denomination throughout the world, and read one of the
important papers before that body.
Dr. Sample is the author of
"Beacon-Lights of the Reformation;" of the "Memoir of Rev. J. C. Thom;"
of four anonymous books on "Christian Experience," and several hymns,
incorporated in the hymnology of his own and other churches. He has
also been a regular correspondent of "The Presbyterian" for nearly a
third of a century; has written extensively of his travels in Europe
and the East, and has furnished numerous articles for the leading
magazines and reviews of this country. The Presbyterian Encyclopedia
says of him: "Dr. Sample, as a preacher, is thoroughly evangelical,
able, instructive, impressive; as a writer, he is graceful, vigorous
and popular, and he wields a strong influence by his sound judgment
earnest zeal and exemplary Christian character. He has a record of
which any minister of the gospel might justly be proud."
Dr. Sample married, March 31, 1853, Nannie M. Bracken, of Cannonsburg, Pa. Had issue:
1. Mary E. Sample. B., July 31, 1854.
M., J. B. Donaldson, D. D., Minneapolis, Minn., 1878
2. Anna J. Sample. B., Jan. 31, 1857.
3. Robert W. Sample. B., Mar. 21, 1858.
4. John W. Sample. B., June, 1861.
5. Henry B. Sample. B., Aug., 1863. D., 1868.
6. Lottie M. Sample. B., 1867. D., 1868.
7. Walter B. Sample. B., Oct. 21, 1869.
From Family Record and Biography of the McCormick Family, pages 156-158.
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