Introduction

Biography

Robert was the son of John Sam­ple and Jane Wil­son.

After his mo­ther’s death in 1834, Ro­bert was sent to school in Ge­ne­va, New York. He lat­er stu­died at an aca­de­my at Mil­ton, Penn­syl­van­ia, then at Jef­fer­son Col­lege, Can­ons­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia, fin­al­ly stu­dy­ing theo­lo­gy in Al­le­ghe­ny Ci­ty.

He served pas­tor­ates at the First Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Mer­cer, Penn­sy­lvan­ia; Bed­ford, Penn­syl­van­ia; Min­ne­ap­olis, Min­ne­so­ta; and at West­min­ster Church, New York Ci­ty. In 1876, Woos­ter Uni­ver­si­ty of Ohio award­ed Sam­ple an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree.

He was a trust­ee of Mac­al­is­ter College, Saint Paul, Min­ne­so­ta; di­rect­or of Mc­Cor­mick Sem­in­ary, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois; on the Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Publication and the Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Church Erec­tion; and a trust­ee of Lin­coln Uni­ver­si­ty.

Works

• Memoir of Rev. J. C. Thom
• The Cur­tained Throne, a ser­mon in­spired by the death of Ab­ra­ham Lin­coln (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. S. Clax­ton, 1865)
• Beacon-Lights of the Re­for­ma­tion (se­cond edition, Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Pub­li­ca­tion and Sab­bath-School Work, 1915)