F. M. GREEN.

      Francis Marion Green was born in Norton, Summit county, Ohio, September 28, 1836. His father, excellent in Bible knowledge and steadfast in faith, was for fifty-seven years a minister of the Gospel. His uncle, Almon [459] B. Green, will remain in the memory of those who knew him as one of the best examples of clear and cogent scriptural preaching which any generation can produce.

      His early days were passed upon the farm, but in 1853 he entered the Eclectic Institute, at Hiram and from thence forward with few and brief seasons of quiet toil, he has lived a life of unusual public activity.

      In 1852, he confessed Christ and was baptized by Dr. W. A. Belding. In 1862, he married Ellen E. Stow, with whom he has walked in faithful fellowship all the years. In 1863, he was ordained to the ministry. In varied and abundant labors in that high calling, few men live who have surpassed him.

      He has been minister and preacher in Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Wilmington, and Kent, in Ohio, and in Duluth, Minn., and he has done extended work in other places. From 1863 to 1865 he was chaplain of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane. From 1870 to 1878 he was State and National Sunday School Secretary for the Churches of Christ; and from 1878 to 1882, he was Corresponding Secretary of the American Christian Missionary Society.

      He loves his home region and clings to the fellowship of early years and yet he has been almost ubiquitous, and he has grown familiar with the rocks of Maine and the sands of Florida.

      Well known as he has been as a speaker, he is yet better known and will be abidingly known as a writer. He holds a ready pen and has a rare faculty of stating things with grace and truth. He is a clear and accurate writer. From 1867 to 1874 he was a regular correspondent and Associate Editor of the American Christian Review, edited by Benjamin Franklin. From 1866 to 1888 he was a constant contributor to the Christian Standard, and for a brief period, an associate editor.

      From 1876 to 1887, he was Associate Editor of the "Teachers' Mentor" and the "Bible School," issued from the Standard office.

      Indeed, it would require volumes to hold the Sunday school literature that has come from his head and hand. Genial and full of hope, yet always tempered with the spirit of an unquestioning faith, it has helped directly the lives of one generation, and at least, indirectly, it will bless all that follow.

      As a writer of books he has given the world some literature which it could ill afford to spare. He issued the "Standard Sunday School Manual," with us a pioneer volume, on the organization and work of the Sunday School, in 1878. In 1882 he wrote "A Royal Life," the life of Garfield. And of this it may be said, that no other man who knew Garfield so well has yet written his life, and no other book yet printed gives a more accurate vision of the man.

      He issued the "Christian Ministers' Manual" in 1883 and "Christian Missions and Historical Sketches" in 1894.

      He wrote Life and Times of John F. Rowe in 1998 and the History of Hiram College in 1901. The last work gives a good illustration of the author's breadth and power. He has known so well the leaders among the disciples and has been so much a part of their movement, that aside from the local, he has written a volume rich in biography that will have increasing value.

      Elected to the Legislature of Ohio, 1885, he took a prominent place, yet never compromised his character as a Christian minister. Indeed, always and over all he is devoted to Christ and his church. Increasing years have diminished physical strength, but not mental vigor. He grows old cheerfully and loves his brethren better with each passing year.

      As Secretary of the Eastern Ohio Ministerial Association for thirty years, he has come to hold a place that no other can fill. He brings the fellowship of the past sweetly into the present. His ministry is changed somewhat in form, but it has not lost its value.

      In his pleasant country home, near Kent, with his great library at hand, with a large circle of friends around him and the sunlight of heaven above him, he abides with us. In modesty and yet in Christian dignity, he has done a great work in this world.

[COC 459-460]