Authors - Knox County Historical Society

William Andrew Leonard

(1848-1930)

William Andrew Leonard was an active minister and writer in the Episcopal Church during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. William Leonard was born in Connecticut in 1848. He was educated in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, but spent part of his early youth in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Here he worked in a clothing store owned by a relative. William attended St. Stephens College in Anandale, New York and Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown, Connecticut. In 1873 he was elected a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and two years later became a priest.

Jean Baptiste Lamy

(1814-1888)

Jean Baptiste Lamy was a well known missionary in early western America. He became famous by his being the hero in a popular novel. His Knox County connection was through his service to Catholic churches in the area.

Ernest Sutherland Bates

(1879-1939)

Knox County’s Ernest Sutherland Bates is introduced in Twentieth Century Authors as an “American biographer, historian, and educator.” He is further described as an “advocate of free speech, a respected critic, whose writings were lucid, readable, and soundly considered.” From his writings it is obvious that he had a vital interest in religion and the Bible.

Philander Chase

(1775-1852)

One of the very important literary persons in the history of Knox County was Philander Chase, first president of Kenyon College. Chase was born in 1775 in New Hampshire, the son of Dudley and Alice (Corbett) Chase. Dudley was a farmer and a deacon in the Congregational Church. Philander early decided he wanted to be a farmer but yielded to his father’s wishes and enrolled in Dartmouth College in 1791, graduating in 1795. During his college days he joined the Episcopal Church and declared his intention to enter the ministry. In 1796 he married Mary Fay. He was ordained as a deacon in 1798 and as a priest in 1799.

John Marshall Barker

(1849-1928)

John Marshall Barker was a writer in the areas of religion and social sciences. He was born in 1849 in Fredericktown, Ohio, the son of Joseph and Nancy Barker. John attended public schools in Fredericktown. He received an AB degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1874, and a BD degree from Boston University in 1877. Shortly thereafter Barker received ordination as a minister in the Methodist Church.

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