Introduction

Biography

John was the son of Sa­mu­el Egar and Eli­za­beth Hod­son: He mar­ried twice, to Abi­gail S. Mer­rill (1834–?) and Lau­ra Ma­ria Hyde (1838–1927). He emi­grat­ed to Am­er­ica in 1846 with his wi­dowed mo­ther.

He was edu­cat­ed at Na­sho­tah House, Na­sho­tah, Wis­con­sin (BD 1856), and Ra­cine Col­lege, Ra­cine, Wis­con­sin (MA, 1858; DD 1872).

He was a mis­sion­ary in Prair­ie du Chien, Wis­con­sin (1856–57). He then served as rec­tor in Wau­ke­sha, Wis­con­sin (1857–58); Be­loit, Wis­con­sin (1858–60); Ga­le­na, Il­li­nois (1860–63); Lea­ven­worth, Kan­sas (1863–68); and at St. Pe­ter’s Church, Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia (1868–72).

He was a Pro­fess­or of Ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal His­to­ry, Na­sho­tah House Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry, Na­sho­tah, Wis­con­sin (1872–81); and rec­tor of Zi­on Church, Rome, New York (1881–1903), where he re­tired.

Works

• The Doc­trine of the Tri­ni­ty De­fend­ed, 1861
• The Mar­tyr-Pre­si­dent, 1865
• The Three­fold Grace of the Ho­ly Tri­ni­ty (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. B. Lip­pin­cott, 1870)
• The Story of Na­sho­tah (Mil­wau­kee, Wis­con­sin: Bur­dick & Ar­mi­tage), 1874
• Christendom: Ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal and Po­li­ti­cal, from Con­stan­tine to the Re­for­ma­tion (New York: James Pott, 1887)