1. Matthew Simpson was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852 and based mainly in Philadelphia.
23 Facts About Matthew Simpson
1. 2.
Bishop Simpson played a leading role in mobilizing the Northern Methodists for the cause.
3.
Matthew Simpson's grandfather, Thomas Simpson, was a British soldier who emigrated to Ireland.
4.
Matthew's uncle was Matthew Simpson, who emigrated from Ireland to America in 1793.
5.
Matthew Simpson was consecrated at birth for the ministry by both of his parents.
6.
Matthew Simpson was baptized as an infant by Bishop Francis Asbury.
7.
Matthew Simpson was elected to the office of Tutor in his eighteenth year, then engaging in teaching.
8.
Matthew Simpson was appointed pastor of the Liberty Street Methodist Church in Pittsburgh in 1835, and of a church at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, in 1836.
9.
The Rev Matthew Simpson was appointed Professor of Natural Science and elected vice-president of Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania.
10.
The Rev Matthew Simpson was then elected editor of the Western Christian Advocate, which he made a strong temperance and anti-slavery organ, from 1848 to 1852.
11.
From Berlin, Bishop Matthew Simpson extended his travels through Turkey, the Holy Land, Egypt, and Greece, returning to the United States in 1858.
12.
In 1859, Bishop Matthew Simpson changed his residence from Pittsburgh to Evanston, Illinois, where he accepted the position of president of the Garrett Biblical Institute.
13.
Matthew Simpson became a trusted friend of President Abraham Lincoln, who considered his advice of great value.
14.
Matthew Simpson attended the family at Lincoln's death and gave the sermon at his funeral in Springfield.
15.
Matthew Simpson was urged by the Secretary of War to undertake the organization of the freedmen at the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau.
16.
In 1870, at the death of Bishop Kingsley, Bishop Matthew Simpson again visited Europe to complete the work which had been assigned to him on the continent.
17.
Matthew Simpson went as a delegate again to the English Wesleyan Conference.
18.
Matthew Simpson returned to Europe in 1875, presiding over the Annual Conference of Germany and Switzerland.
19.
Matthew Simpson then addressed the Garfield Memorial Meeting at Exeter Hall, London, on September 24,1881.
20.
Bishop Matthew Simpson was a gifted orator and throughout the war he gave his much forgotten "Great War Speech" which was so powerful and stirring it could move entire audiences to tears and cheering pride.
21.
Matthew Simpson delivered this speech over 60 times throughout the war, and it easily motivated and inspired cities wary of the long war.
22.
Bishop Matthew Simpson was taken ill at San Francisco in 1880, but recovered to preach the opening sermon at the First Ecumenical Methodist Conference in London.
23.
Matthew Simpson died June 18,1884, in Philadelphia and was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.