Biographical Details
Date of Birth: January 3, 1813
Birth Location: Chester District, SC, USA
Major Study: Theology
Graduation Year(s): 1840
Degree(s) Earned: Bachelors
Date of Death: December 15, 1892
Death Location: Guthries, SC, USA
Matthew Elder
Life Experience
Matthew Elder was born of two Irish immigrants. He was educated at the schools of McMillan, Donnelly, and Sheene. He graduated from IU in 1840 with the intention of entering the ministry, having studied New Testament Greek under IU President Andrew Wylie. In 1841, he began teaching at Fishing Creek Church. In 1842, he entered Erskine Theology Seminary in South Carolina. The same year, he was stricken with a severe spinal affliction from which he never recovered.
Elder held the position of elder in the Presbyterian church. He advocated for temperance in the press and through public addresses. He was professor of ancient languages and natural science at Yorkville Female College for nine years, and he taught for a total of twenty-four years. In his seventies, he was a farmer in York County, South Carolina.
Marriage and Family
In 1842, Elder married Jane Elizabeth Stinson. He and his wife had eight children, five of whom died as children. Jane died in 1857 at age thirty-seven. Elder and his brother, Alexander, died the same year. Elder’s eulogist wrote, he “was at times a great sufferer, but lived to a good old age, respected and honored by all who knew him.”
Interesting Anecdote
Elder’s brother, Alexander, had a great-granddaughter, Nancy Gilder Black, who was a social advocate and missionary in Korea from the 1920s to the 1940s, and also a great-great grandson, Dr. Loren McKeown, who pioneered the study of Native American literature in the U.S. and was an advocate for African and Native American minorities.
References
- Wylie
- Findagrave.com
- Due West Telescope 11/20/1857
- News9EMail 11/25/2017