Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 55, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1899 — Death of Dr. J. L. Smith. [ARTICLE]

Death of Dr. J. L. Smith.

Rev. John L. Smith, D. D., the “Grand Old .Man” of Indiana Methodists, whose supposed fatal sickness has been heretofore mentioned, died Saturday night, at his home in Valparaiso, of pneumonia. His age was 88 years, lacking just two months. He was a remarkable old man and retained his clearness of mind and much of his bodily vigor, almost to the last. He began his ministerial labors in Indiana in 1840 and excepting four years from 1862 to 1866 when he was an internal revenue collector, continued constantly in active work until 1891. He was appointed presiding elder of the I afayette district in 1848, in 1850 of the LaPorte d'strict, later of the Indianapolis district, again of the Lafayette district, then to the Crawfordsville district, again in the Lafayette district, and finally for 5 years, beginning in 1866, in the Valparaiso district. In all he was a presiding elder 30 years.