My Genealogy Hound

THE REVEREND THOMAS E. CALVERT. In the Book of books is recorded the divine command, “Go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel.” The subject of whom we are writing left home and friends in Bonnie Scotland to obey the mandates of this behest. Thomas E. Calvert, minister of the Fredonia Presbyterian Church, is a son of William and Mary I. (Jeffrey) Calvert, and was born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, February 14, 1858. The family name is from the French Col-vert, meaning “green hill,” the founder of the family in Scotland being a French Huguenot who fled to Scotland during the persecutions. The paternal grandparent, Thomas Calvert, was a son of Herbert Calvert, who held the place known as Orchard Farm, which has for many generations been in the Calvert family. He was a millwright by trade and a dealer in wood. He was born in Canonby, Scotland, and married Grace Hope, by whom he had nine children: James, Edward, Herbert, Thomas, Margaret, Mary, Barbara, Grace and William (father). He died about 1850, and is buried in New Abbey, Scotland, and Mrs. Calvert died about 1874, and is buried at the same place. Adam Jeffrey (maternal grandfather) was born in Annan, Scotland, about 1810. He was a tailor and clothier of that town, and was popular and successful. He married Mary Irving, and had five children: John, Richard, Adam, Margaret and Mary. This wife dying, he took for a second, a Mrs. Henderson, who is now living in the town of Moffat, Scotland. Adam Jeffrey died in 1878, and is buried at Annan. William Calvert was born in New Abbey, Scotland, in 1835. While yet young he learned the trade of a millwright, and followed it for many years, but is now manager for the firm of Nicholson & Anderson, dealers in wood and slate, with whom he has been for thirty years. He is an elder in the United Presbyterian Church of Annan, and is a good and trusted servant.

Early realizing that a thorough education was the best legacy that he could leave his children he gave them every advantage. He married Mary I. Jeffrey on May 1, 1857, and has had eight children: Thomas E., Mary, Margaret, William, Grace, Adam, Jeannie and Edward. Adam came to America in 1887, and is now one of the firm of Calvert & Cowley, druggists, at Buffalo, N. Y. None of the others (excepting subject) came to this country.

Thomas, when four years of age, was sent to the Annan Female school taught by a Miss Brown, who was considered the best lady teacher in the county, Thomas being an especial favorite, more than usual attention was given to his advancement. The text books used were grammar, history, geography, arithmetic, the Westminster catechism and the Bible. He was under the intellectual and moral influence of this grand and noble lady until he had attained his twelfth year, and it is to the stimulus given by her to his expanding intellect that Mr. Calvert attributes much of his usefulness. Leaving the kind and motherly Miss Brown he was sent to the Annan academy and began the study of language, mathematics and the classics, remaining four years. The paternal Calvert had decided that his son, Thomas E., should be a doctor, so at sixteen years of age he was placed in a dispensary to learn medicine, but the boy, led by an unseen but plainly felt hand, decided that he was called upon to preach and kept up his studies at nights while working during the day, until 1876, when he went to Edinburgh, and matriculated for a coarse in the arts, his preceptors being Professors Blackie, Greek; Kelland, mathematics; Tate, science; Frazer, metaphysics; Calderwood, moral philosophy; and Masson, English literature. He graduated in 1880, taking the degree of A. M., and then took a tutorship in the Highlands until the fall, when he entered the United Presbyterian Hall at Edinburgh to prepare for the ministry, under the instruction of Prof. Dr. John Ker, to whom Mr. Calvert pays the highest compliment that tongue can utter; Rev. Cairns, D. D., Dr. Duff, and Professors Johnston and Patterson. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Edinburgh. He taught several months in prominent private families in the city, came to America in May, 1886, and was first called to preach in the Presbyterian Church at Youngstown, N. Y. While there he was called to the pastorate of the Fredonia Presbyterian church, and now has a congregation of about five hundred members. Mr. Calvert is an eloquent and earnest speaker. Large congregations listen to his preaching every Sunday, and his sermons are almost entirely carefully prepared expositions of the Word of God.

On July 31, 1888, Rev. Calvert was married to Lillie A. Woltge, a daughter of William and Anna (Andrews) Woltge, of Buffalo. They have one child, a daughter, named Anna Mary Lillie Woltge. Rev. and Mrs. Calvert made a wedding tour to Scotland, and upon returning they found a home in Fredonia elegantly furnished, the gift of Mr. Woltge, it being a present and a surprise. Rev. Calvert’s social qualities rank with his oratorical abilities, and during his stay at Fredonia he has made many warm and appreciative friends.