PCA Historical Center: Rev. John Black [1768-1849], Pastor and Theologian, RPCNA,GS

Rev. John Black, D.D.
[2 October 1768 - 25 October 1849, age 80]

	3The Rev. John Black, Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA from 1800 until his death in 1849, and Professor of Latin and Greek Ancient Languages at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh). Born in County Antrim, Ireland and a graduate of the University of Glasgow, Rev. Black served as Stated Clerk of the Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1802 to 1836 and as Moderator of the RP General Synod (or New Light) church in 1837.
[Photograph scanned from the original donated by Mr. Thomas Reid, Jr., Librarian and Archivist at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA]	Speaking of Rev. Black, Samuel Wilson noted that "His power as a pulpit orator won him fame all over the country...As a man of learning he had few equals in his day, and his facile and graceful pen gained him a large circle of admirers." (Wilson, Samuel, McClelland and His Men, date unknown)
Rev. Black's son Samuel W. Black later became the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Nebraska Territory in 1857 and fourth Governor of the Territory in 1859. He served as Colonel of the 62nd Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers and died in battle at Gaines Mills on 26 June 1862. A daughter, Elizabeth Thomson, married James H. McClelland on 12 February 1835. She had been tutored by her father and is reported to have been a scholar in her own right in both ancient and modern literature.

See also, The Last Resting Place of the Rev. John Black, D.D., in the Reformed Presbyterian Advocate, volume 16, number 1 (January 1882), pages 12-14 and 16.9.298301, Some Reminiscences of Rev. John Black, D.D.