WILLIAM NEWTON GLENN,

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 49.

WILLIAM NEWTON GLENN,

ASSOCIATE editor of this paper, died of pneumonia, at his home in this town, December 1, at the age of sixty-nine years, seven months, and eight days. He was sick but a week.

His birthplace was Mercer, Pa. There he received a common school and academic education. When quite young he went West to Kansas and Nebraska, the then frontier. Here he kept frontier store, learned the printer's trade, and followed generally the strenuous life of a frontiersman. He related to the writer how at one time he ran the entire distance of twenty miles one night to intercept a band of Indians who had planned the plunder of his store. When they reached it, to their surprise, they found him in charge, and left crestfallen.

In a few years he followed the westward wave of progress as far as Carson City, Nev., where he worked for a time at the printer's trade, moving on to the Golden State at the time of the Civil War.

To the last call but one for volunteers by President Lincoln, he responded, enlisting for three years or the close of the war. He did not see active service, as his regiment was stationed at the important post of San Francisco, quartered at the Presidio. During his two or more years in the army, he taught school, kept the commissary's books, and learned the art and rules of war.

Soon after his discharge, he attended a religious revival in Stockton, was converted, and joined the Baptist Church.

Here also he was married to Miss Victoria Elizabeth Tripp, July 10, 1866, who survives him. The fruits of this union were nine children, five of whom are living, and were present at his funeral.

In Stockton he was connected in a journalistic capacity with the Stockton Independent and Stockton Herald, serving on the latter's staff several years.

His health failing, he spent one year on a farm, where he learned present truth. When he became a Christian, he enlisted for life, and when the Captain gave further orders, he followed them.

In February, 1876, he connected with the Pacific Press, then in Oakland, and remained with the company till death, a period of nearly thirty years, being the oldest employee in connection with the publishing house. During this time he has acted as proof-reader, foreman of the type-room, manager, editor. For twelve years he was editor of Our Little Friend, and for many years has been connected with the SIGNS OF THE TIMES as associate editor, a most willing worker and genial companion. It mattered not what it was he was asked to do, if it came within his power at all, he was ever willing.

He was also ordained as a minister, acting for many years in official capacity in Oakland and Alameda churches, but his burden lay in connection with the office of publication. The readers of the SIGNS will remember him best by his trenchant articles on religious liberty. He understood the principles of it most thoroughly, and wrote not only for our own publications, but for secular journals as well. He was also the author of several tracts and the book, "Things Foretold."

He was taken with a severe chill Sabbath, November 24, just before going to church, where he was acting as leading elder. This rapidly developed into pneumonia. At the end of one week the power of the disease seemed to have been broken, and his temperature fell to normal, but his heart was too weak to throw off the poisons engendered by the disease, and acute jaundice set in. He died Sabbath, December 1, in the closing hours of the day.

From the first he seemed to feel that the disease would prove fatal, and so expressed himself to others. The writer saw him about an hour before his death. He was hopeful in God, knowing that he was going to die. It was a privilege to kneel by his bedside in prayer, to clasp the hand, and to hear the response from one with whom he had held so many seasons of pleading with God, and had labored so long. He fell, so to speak, in the harness, none more faithful to his work than he, none more willing to do. The Pacific Press, and especially the writer, will feel the loss, but we do not mourn for him. He rests in the Lord, and we are sure he will come forth when the Master shall call, in the first resurrection.

The funeral was held from the Baptist church, and he was interred in Oakland, where others of his loved ones rest. The following resolution was passed by the Board of Directors of the Pacific Press, at a special meeting called after his death:

"Whereas, The hand of death has been laid upon one of our faithful burden bearers and fellow laborers, Brother William Newton Glenn, the oldest employee of the office, serving as foreman, proof-reader, manager, director, and for many years editor of Our Little Friend and associate editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, who fell asleep Sabbath, December 1, in his seventieth year; therefore,

"Resolved, That we, the Board of Directors of the Pacific Press, hereby express our unqualified appreciation of his faithful labors and genial companionship, and Christian brotherhood, and that we express to his bereaved widow and children our heartfelt sympathy in this their great loss;

"Resolved, That the office be closed at the time of the funeral; and further,

"Resolved, That this resolution be spread upon our minutes, and that a copy be placed in the hands of our sorrowing sister, Mrs. Glenn."

M. C. W.

W. N. Glenn Seated at His Editorial Desk.