Rev. John P. Vandyke
Rev. John P. Vandyke was born in Adams County, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1803, and graduated at Miami University in the class of 1826, which was the first class to graduate from that institution. For a time after his graduation he was master of the grammar school in that institution. We are not advised when or where he studied theology. October 1, 1829, he was taken in the Presbytery of Chillicothe in a session at West Union, moderated at that time by the Rev. Dyer Burgess. The Presbytery gave him a text to preach from at his ordination on call from the church at West Union. St. John, 6:37-40.
At a meeting of Presbytery at West Union on April 6 and 8, 1830, Rev. Vandyke was installed. Rev. John Rankin preached on this occasion. At this meeting, Israel Donalson, Abraham Shepherd, Thomas Kirker and Moses Baird were present. In 1836. he had a call to Georgetown, but dechned it. On September 8, 1856, Presbytery dissolved the relation of pastor and people between him and the West Union Church and he became stated supply at Red Oak.
At a Presbytery held at Greenfield. April 5 and 6, 1853, he accepted a call from Red Oak Church, and on the third Sabbath of May following, he was installed. His pastoral relation to that church was dissolved April 5, 1854, at Hillsboro, Ohio. On September 5 and 6, 1854, he was dismissed to the Presbytery at Crawfordsville, Ind.
After leaving Chillicothe Presbytery, he labored as stated supply at Frankfort, Ind., until 1856. when he accepted a call from the Pleasant Ridge Church, in the Prebytery of Cincinnati. There he preached as often as his health would permit him, until the summer of 1862, when he removed to Reading. He labored faithfully until his last sickness. Here he died August 13. 1862, of pulmonary consumption.
Soon after his location at West Union, he married Nancy, the daughter of Gov. Thomas Kirker and had a family of children, one son. Lyman B., and several daughters. He was an active, useful minister, distinguished for preaching doctrinal sermons, and dwelling much on the decrees of God. He was very tall and slender. He was always delighted to have an argument and would stop on the street with friends and acquaintances and talk any length of time. He was very fond of conversing on scientific questions. Mrs. Sarah Bradford said of him he was a stronger Calvinist than John Calvin himself. He was always pleased to present the doctrine of election in his sermons. He was noted for his profound scholarship and his willingness to impart his knowledge.
He preached 3,893 sermons in his lifetime of which 2,990 were preached in West Union. I tremble when I think of the accounts the members of his West Union Church and congregation will have to give at the Judgment Day of the manner in which they listened to those sermons.
In his last illness. Rev. Vandyke enjoyed to a high degree, the hopes and consolations of the religion he so long preached. He bore his sufferings patiently and spoke of his future prospects with unwavering confidence.
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