Rev. Moses Duncan Alexander Steen, D.D.
Moses Duncan Alexander Steen, the fifth son of Aaron F. Steen, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere, was born at the homestead of his maternal grandfather. Michael Freeman, ten miles east of West Union, April 24, 1841, where he spent his childhood. Ln 1848, his parents moved to Mt. Leigh. He united with the Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church. June 8. 1858. and that Fall became a student at the North Liberty Academy, with the ministry in view. He spent three years at the South Salem Academy under the late Rev. J. A. I. Lowes, D. D., and one year in Hanover College, Indiana. He graduated at Miami University in 1866. In the "Autumn of the same year, he took up the study of theology at the U. P. Seminary at Xenia, and remained one term. He continued the study of theology at the Seminary of the Northwest at Chicago, until April 8, 1868. when he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Chillicothe, and in the Summer preached at Mt. Sterling and Sharpsburg. Ky. In the Fall of 1868. he spent one term at the theological seminary at Princeton, N. J., and April 1, 1869, was graduated from the Northwest Seminary at Chicago.
Directly after his graduation, in 1869, he took charge of the Presbyterian Church at Worthington. Ohio, where he was married on June 22, 1870. to Marv Foster. On September 8, 1870, he was ordained by the Presbytery of New Albany, Indiana, having previously accepted a call to Vevay, Indiana. In 1872. he was called to Solon, near Cleveland; thence to Conneatville and Waterford. Pennsylvania; thence he was called to Ludlow, Kentucky, where he remained seven years; thence to Pleasant Ridge, Ohio. He was afterwards located at Troy and Edwardsville Ill., Gunnison and Black Hawk, Col., and Snohomish, Washington. At Conneatville, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1873. his only child, Lulu Grace, was born, and she died July 3, 1876. On September 1, 1886, he located at Woodbridge, Cal.. where he still remains as pastor. He made a tour of Europe in 1877 and has travelled in every State and Territory in the United States, in Canada and Mexico. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was given him by the San Joaquin Valley College, California, in 1888, and in 1889, Wooster University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. Since 1893, he has been stated Clerk and Treasurer of the Presbytery of Stockton, a district as large as Ohio. He was a Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1880, 1887 and 1894. In 1895, the General Assembly sent him as delegate to "The Council of the Reformed Churches throughout the world, holding to the Presbyterian system," which met in Glasgow, Scotland, June. 1896. He attended this with his wife and made a tour of British and Continental Europe. He is the author of the following works : "Scriptural Sanctification." "How to be Saved," "The Human Soul," and numerous magazine articles.
His wife is a true helpmate in his sacred profession, cultivated, amiable, and devout. Since 1887, she has been the Presbyterial Secretary of the Woman's Occidental Board of Foreign Missions. Dr. Steen is a man of fine culture, deep scholarship, and unusual ability. His Christianity is profound. In many particulars, he has been like John Elliot or Jonathan Edwards, in that he has lavished upon his congregations, in remote places, an amount of learning that would shame many a metropolitan pulpit. He has a warmth of religious affection that world satisfy a Baxter. He cheers the sorrowing, and the poor are helped by his tender consolation. He has lived a noble and useful life and holds the affection of all his people, men, women and children. He is true to all obligations. He believes in, and cultivates in himself and others, those virtues which make true Christian manhood and womanhood. His life is a true exemplification of his teachings.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900