Rev. Isaac J. Swanson, B.A., B.D.
Located in Northern Scotland is Thurso, the little "town that is seated by the sea." This old town of Caithness, bristling with historic facts and traditional fancies, was the birthplace and early home of Rev. Isaac J. Swanson, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Lima.
Throughout Scotland there is hardly a locality where a boy is not within two of three miles of a school where he can get the necessary preparation for college, and our little Scotch lad early pursued his education in his native town at a noted academy for matriculation at a Scottish university. While still quite young, however, he came to America, but not before something of the rugged strength of that stern Northern clime had left its impress on his nature expressed in the strong personality and sturdy simplicity and power that characterize the man we know to-day.
Mr. Swanson finished his college course in Montreal at McGill University, the leading Canadian institution of learning whose degrees are recognized by Oxford in England, Vienna in Austria and by Harvard and Yale. He excelled especially in Hebrew, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of arts. A course in theology followed at the Congregational College in Montreal, and here he won the special prize offered for general excellence and was made valedictorian of his class. Coming to the United States, he completed his theological education at Chicago, graduating with the foremost members of his class and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. While in Chicago, besides pursuing his own studies, he taught English to the foreign classes at the seminary. His first charge was at Odell, Illinois, where he remained about three years, meeting with notable success. During his pastorate there he ws a member of the State Home Missionary Board and moderator of the local conference. On leaving Odell he was presented with a gold watch and highly complimentary resolutions from his church and congregation.
In 1895 Mr. Swanson received a call from Lima, which he accepted, and he preached his first sermon in the First Congregational Church of this city on the first Sunday in the year 1896. His 10 years of ministry here have been marked by a steady increase of membership, over 240 having been added and a decrease in the church debt by $5,000 until at present the debt is so small as to be a scarcely perceptible burden on the shoulders of the congregation. As a preacher and pastor he easily takes front rank and his church fills a prominent place in the religious life of the city. Mr. Swanson has been twice honored by being chosen moderator of the Toledo Conference, and he was sent as a delegate to the National Triennial Council for the Congregational Churches in the United States.
Going abroad in 1903, he toured extensively in his native country and England, besides taking a short trip through France. The story of these travels has been told in a number of illustrated lectures. He has been very active in the Y. M. C. A. work of the city and his labors in the Sunday School Training Class have been markedly successful. His influence and happy method of instruction resulted in the largest graduating class, that of 1905. This class present him with a very handsome set of books in token of their regard and of their appreciation of his services. His appointment as secretary of the Sunday School Teachers' Training Association of Allen County, and as president of the Pastors' Union of Lima, attest to the prominence his labors have one him and are a well-deserved acknowledgment of his learning and sterling religious character, as well as the high esteem in which he is held by his clerical co-workers. He is generally regarded as one of the ablest ministers in the city of Lima, possessing the highest regard of the public generally, and the confidence and love of his own congregation.