Rev. Peter Goodman Rea, P. O., Marshall. A minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was born in Henry county, Virginia, May 9, 1819, and is the ninth son of Joseph and Mary Ann Rea. His mother died when he was quite young, and his father moved the family to Cooper county, Missouri, in the spring of 1832, and died in Booneville, in 1835. Mr. Rea’s first religious impressions were received from reading a tract of the American Tract Society; but from a boy was remarkable for his steady, moral habits. In October, 1836, he united with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in Booneville. In October, 1837, he was accepted as a candidate for the ministry, under the care of the New Lebanon Presbytery. He entered the Cumberland Presbyterian College, in Kentucky, with the intention of graduating, but his health failed him, and he left college in the fall of 1840. In the spring of 1841 he was ordained, and traveled as a missionary until 1843. During this period he organized five new churches in destitute districts. On the 31st of October, 1843, he was married to Miss Mary Evangeline Rubey, daughter of Judge H. McLean Rubey, and granddaughter of Rev. Finis Ewing. He then settled, as pastor over three churches, in Saline county, and during his residence here, for two years labored extensively in the state, as agent for the Board of Missions of the C. P. Church. In 1859 he was unanimously appointed by the Missouri Synod, to take charge of the church at Booneville, and was a member of the Synod committee to establish a female college at the same place. On May 15, 1862, he had the honor of being elected moderator of the general assembly of the C. P. Church, held at Owensboro, Kentucky. He never sought prominence as a popular preacher; his highest aim being to do good. In 1863 he was elected president of the Missouri Female College, Booneville, Missouri, where he continued seven years. In the fall of 1870 he returned to his farm in Saline county, and for several years he labored as an evangelist. In 1874 he accepted the charge of Mt. Horeb Church, which position he at present holds. He was stated clerk of the Missouri Synod for twenty-five years. Mr. Rea has five children: Ann W., Carrie F., Joseph H., Mary H., and Robert Ewing.
