Person:Samuel McLaughlin (2)

Source 1: Information from Carrie Todd McLaughlin: SAMUEL ROBB MCLAUGHLIN was born on February 20, 1860 in Clifton, Iowa. He graduated from Monmouth College in 1883 and from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1886. He was ordained a United Presbyterian minister in Iowa in 1886 and held the following pastorates: (1) Elvira, Iowa; (2) Rock Valley, Iowa; (3) Cañon City, Colorado, (4) Eskridge, Kansas, (5) Colorado Springs, Colorado, and (6) Arkansas City and Hutchinson, Kansas. Each of these churches more than doubled in membership during his time as pastor. After serving a second time as pastor in Colorado Springs, he retired there in 1928. Weakened by an accident caused by a drunken driver, he died of coronary thrombosis at his home on January 9, 1931, and is buried in Colorado Springs.

Source 2: Obituary in the United Presbyterian, Feb. 12, 1931: DEATH OF S.R. MCLAUGHLIN, D. D. By Mills J. Taylor, D. D. From his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at 2:15 P.M., January 9, 1931, Rev. S. R. McLaughlin passed on to his eternal home. His passing came so quietly and quickly that friends and even loved ones were taken by surprise. For two weeks after the automobile accident which he experienced on December 12, and which as already been mentioned in The United Presbyterian, he seemed to have suffered no ill effects. Then his nerves seemed to give way and on new Year's Day he became really ill. Even then he did not appear to be in a serious condition, but on the morning of January 9 it became evident that he was seriously ill and in the early afternoon of that day he suffered a heart attack which proved fatal. Mr. McLaughlin's life had been an unselfish one, deeply rooted in Christian faith and full of Christian service. Graduating from Monmouth College in 1883, he entered Allegheny Seminary from which he was graduated in 1886. His first pastorate was at Elvira, Iowa, his second at Rock Valley, Iowa, and his third at Canon City, Colorado. Under his ministry at Canon City the congregation was organized and the church and parsonage were built. His fourth pastorate was at Eskridge, Kansas, and his fifth and sixth at Arkansas City and Hutchinson, Kansas. Under his leadership at Arkansas City and Hutchinson new churches were erected and at the latter place a parsonage also was provided. Each of the six charges, above mentioned, were left by him more than doubled in their membership. His last charge was at Colorado Springs, where he died, although he was not pastor at the time of his demise. It is an interesting fact that several of his charges sought to have him return to be their pastor for the second time. The funeral, which was very large, was in charge of Rev. W. L. Thornburg, the present United Presbyterian pastor at Colorado Springs. He was assisted by several of our ministers of the Presbytery of Colorado and by local ministers of other denominations. Mr. McLaughlin is survived by his widow, Mrs. Carrie Todd McLaughlin; his children, Mrs. Paul Burgess, a missionary in Guatemala, Central America; Dr. Ralph T. McLaughlin of the faculty of the theological seminary, Cairo, Egypt; Mrs. Howard J. S. Buchanan of Monmouth, Illinois, formerly a missionary in Egypt and the Sudan; and by two brothers, David. H. and Dr. Charles W. McLaughlin of Washington, Iowa. Mr. McLaughlin had a multitude of friends, made wherever he lived or even traveled, for he was a friendly man. The friends he made he also kept because the better men knew him the more he grew in their estimation. I recall that I met him first when I was a boy and was won by that friendliness. After I became a pastor I saw him frequently and during the last 13 years, as a secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, I met him often and have had with him the kind of correspondence that reveals character. His was an exemplary life. He was a Christian husband and father loved and honored by his family. He was a thorough-going Christian steward. He handled his own business well, directed wisely such business affairs of the church as came under his care, gave generously to the support of the local congregations he served, and at times contributed directly a very large part of the salary support of his children in the foreign fields. Congregations he served were taught by his missionary messages and inspired by his missionary example. One of the most stirring missionary appeals ever heard by the Tarkio Bible and Missionary Conference was one heard from his lips following his own and Mrs. McLaughlin's returning from Egypt two years ago where they had gone to visit their son. But he was a great soul winner at home, too, as the growth of the congregations he served witness. Men listened to his preaching with more than ordinary attention. His habit was to seek the unchurched and unsaved business men in his parish, win their respect and confidence and fix appointments with them for the purpose of talking over their souls' welfare. Many men, some of them far on in years, he thus brought to Christ and like Paul "travailed again in pain until Christ should be formed" in them.