A Sketch of the Life and 
 Work of William P. 
 Pressly of Monmouth, III. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/sketchoflifeworkOOwarr 
 
U-QI 
 
 WILLIAM P. PRESSLY. 
 
 William Patterson Pressly was born in the Abbeyville dis- 
 trict, South Carolina, March 17, 1811. His parents, David Press- 
 ly and Jane Patterson Pressly were natives of Ireland. They 
 came to America in their early youth. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was the youngest of seven chil- 
 dren. Dr. John Taylor Pressly of the Theological Seminary at 
 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, for many years a noble leader of the 
 United Presbyterian church, was one of his brothers. The death 
 of their father occurred when William was only .five years old. 
 He went to Oxford, Ohio, in his youth, and for a time attended 
 Miami University, without completing the course of study there. 
 
 When he was of age he bought a farm in Preble county, 
 Ohio. For a number of years he was a farmer. Then began his 
 merchantile life. He was in business in Ohio at Hamilton, at 
 Oxford and at Fair Haven. 
 
 In the year 1859 he moved to Monmouth, Ilinois. For one 
 year he farmed, then he opened a dry goods store on the north- 
 west corner of the Public Square. In the year 1870 he rented 
 one of the business rooms in the library building erected by him- 
 self. 
 
 He continued there in business till ill health compelled 
 him to retire. For a number of years he was able to go about 
 to see his friends and to enjoy a well-earned rest. During the 
 _ last two years of his life he was confined to the house. He died 
 April 29th, 1905, being over ninety-four years of age. 
 
 Mr. Pressly was married in 1833 to Miss Mary Gilmore 
 of Preble county, Ohio. She died without children in 1836. 
 After two years he was married to Miss Martha Miller of Rock' 
 
4 
 
 bridge county, Virginia. To them were born four children. Of 
 these, Virginia died in infancy, Sarah when a very young woman, 
 Mary Jane at the age of twenty-two. The latter was a teacher 
 in Monmouth College for a year or two before her death. Henry 
 K., the only son, gave his life for his country before Vicksburg in 
 1863. He was a young man of high character and fine ability. 
 
 During all his life Mr. Pressly gave freely to those in 
 need and to deserving objects. No one can say how much he 
 did in this way. It was done without display. 
 
 When his children passed away, one after another, he de- 
 termined to be 
 
 HIS OWN EXECUTOR 
 
 and to make humanity his heir. Prospered in business he again 
 and again gave half of all he owned to some good and useful 
 object. 
 
 At an early date in the history of the them struggling 
 Monmouth College, he deeded to it seven hundred acres of 
 choice Iowa lands. This was at once sold for about $5,000. In a 
 few years it was worth far more. But even at that price, it was 
 the largest gift given to the college by any United Presbyterian 
 during the first twenty-five years of its existence. In giving this 
 the donor gave one-half of what he then possessed. And the 
 same was true of each of the large gifts made by him at later 
 dates. 
 
 In 1870 Mr. Pressly built and gave to the community at 
 large, the library building located at the southwest corner of 
 the Public Square in Monmouth. This gift included income to 
 sustain the building and to buy books. 
 
 Two years later he began his benefactions to the United 
 Presbyterian missionary schools in Assuit, Egypt, with a gift 
 of $10,000 for a boys’ school. In 1881 he gave again $10,000 
 for a girls’ school there. 
 
 When the library building erected by him became crowd- 
 ed with books, he enlarged it by an addition to the west and in- 
 creased the grounds by buying a lot to the south. 
 
 From time to time he continued to give as he acquired 
 
means. In this way he has given in all about $25,000 to the 
 Egyptian mission and about $25,000 to the Warren county li- 
 brary. 
 
 He often spoke of these as the twin objects of his affec- 
 tion. His will divides equally between these two, what little he 
 reserved for his own simple needs. The will was drawn four- 
 teen years before his death. It is in his own handwriting. 
 
 These large gifts have been productice property. The 
 income has more than doubled what he gave. The rents of 
 “The W. P. Pressly foundation” have kept up the library build- 
 ing and have bought 19,000 of the 22,500 volumes on the shelves 
 at the time of his death. 
 
 Mr. Pressly ’s large hearted philanthropy included both 
 the church and the community. He was devotedly attached to 
 the church of his fathers, the United Presbyterian. He gave 
 largely to its College and to its Missions. He was a public spirit- 
 ed citizen of Monmouth. He had lived and prospered here. His 
 customers were from all classes and from the farms all over the 
 surrounding country. He wished to return to those from whom 
 he had received. To do this he founded the popular depart- 
 ment of the Warren county library. He built and gave the 
 first building erected in Illinois, as a People’s library. This he 
 did before Chicago had its Public Library, or its Newberry 
 or its John Crerar. No such gift had then been given by Mr. 
 Carnegie in this state or elsewhere. 
 
 THE WARREN COUNTY LIBRARY. 
 
 The reports of the Commissioner of Education give the 
 dates of origin of Illinois public libraries and note which ones 
 own buildings. The only Illinois library for general use existing 
 before 1870 and now owning its building, is the one at Alton. 
 
 The librarian at Alton, Miss Dolber, kindly furnishes the 
 following information: “Mr. John Hayner built our library in 
 memory of his wife and gave it to our association in ]8?0.” 
 
 Such gifts are now a common mode of perpetuating a 
 name and benefiting a community. But the first such building 
 in this state bears the name of W. P. Pressly, and it will continue 
 
6 
 
 to bear aloft his name. That building will be retained for reven- 
 ue to sustain the library and will be a memorial of the donor. 
 Such was the action of the Warren County Library and Reading 
 Room Association, when it was determined that a new building, 
 hereafter to be erected, must be in another location, where 
 there is not the great danger of destruction by fire that there 
 is in the present site. 
 
 It is proper in this connection that Mr. Pressly’s inten- 
 tions in what he did for the library be put on record. The 
 Board of Trustees holds in trust property given by him for cer- 
 tain purposes. It is required of the corporation to carry out 
 the intentions of those who give. The remarkable success 
 which has attended the institution has been due fully as much 
 to the practical ideas given to it as to the financial help received. 
 
 Mr. Pressly made the country as well as the city the con- 
 stituency of this institution. It was his idea that a library need- 
 ed for large usefulness, a larger population than that of Mon- 
 mouth, just as our merchants need the country trade. 
 
 He knew that what he could give would not produce 
 income enough to buy all needed books. He stated that he 
 wished to furnish out of his money that which would be widely 
 read. ‘ ‘ I have kept goods which had a quick sale. My stock was 
 sold out on an average every three months.” These were his 
 words in expressing his wishes on this subject. He wished his 
 benevolence to reach the largest number possible, as he had 
 wished for many customers in his business. 
 
 It was his purpose to make reading attractive. The state- 
 ment was published, coming from him: “I will provide for the 
 boys a greater attraction than the billiard rooms.” And on an- 
 other occasion the trustees received a hint from him to buy more 
 books that the young people like. He said, “Even if they do 
 read about bloody Indians it is better than running the streets.” 
 
 The great usefulness of the modern public library has 
 been attained by such practical ideas as these, not by an ac- 
 ademic indifference to popular tastes in literature. First the 
 many are provided for, then special classes of readers. 
 
 In this way has been built up in Monmouth a first class 
 
7 
 
 collection of books for the purpose intended by the donor. It 
 was the estimate of Dr. David A. Wallace, published by him 
 shortly before his death, “that it is as well selected a library 
 as any in the west.” This is the repeated statement of the 
 catalogue of Monmouth College to date. 
 
 There are many desirable works which the income of 
 the “W. P. Pressly foundation” is insufficient to supply. That 
 income is intended to meet the common wants of all readers. It 
 is left for others to found departments for the advanced needs 
 of this and that class. 
 
 Mr. Pressly had a broad-minded conception of the large- 
 ness of the undertaking. This library is in time to provide 
 freely reading for young and old, for learned and ignorant, for 
 town and country. 
 
 At the very first it was proposed by one of the trustees 
 to call it the Pressly Library. Mr. Pressly refused to allow 
 this. He wished credit only for what he did. He did not wish 
 to monopolize credit for what he felt sure would in time be 
 done by others. He spoke of all that he did as only caring for 
 the infancy of the institution, saying, “The child must creep 
 before it can walk.” 
 
 He lived to see some of this expected growth. From 
 Mr. John D. Thompson, from Mrs. Sarah C. Simmons and from 
 the community at large has come to the library as much money 
 as all that Mr. Pressly gave it. And what has been received 
 from him and from others has been a natural growth. It has 
 not come by begging. Others have wished of their own accord 
 to have their names identified with this work. Mr. Pressly very 
 wisely saw to it that this is not a one-man library in its origin 
 nor a one-class library in its intent. 
 
 His conservative, prudent methods have been impressed 
 on the business management of the library. It has lived within 
 its means. It has accumulated funds. The gifts received have 
 not been used up. They have been increased. From the yearly 
 income a surplus is continually saved to invest. Mr. Pressly 
 was intensely practical. He saw to it that this gift of his was 
 managed on business methods, by business men. The money has 
 
8 
 
 been used to furnish what is absolutely needed, not for anything 
 else. Over the door leading to the reading room, the donor of the 
 building had placed the Latin motto of the Ohio school where 
 he once was a student, “Prodesse, quam eonspici.” 
 
 In all that Mr. Pressly has done for others, at home and 
 abroad, he acted on his own judgment and according to his own 
 lights. lie was his own executor. He planned his philanthrophy 
 with rare good sense. 
 
 MISSION SCHOOLS IN EGYPT. 
 
 He gave for native education in Egypt, because he had ob- 
 served that a German clerk could sell more goods to Germans 
 than he could. He thought that educated natives could teach, or 
 preach, or conduct the affairs of government with most success 
 among their own people. He gave for the education of girls in 
 the same land in order that educated men might have suitable 
 wives, and that homes might be purified and character elevated 
 by mothers. In the girls’ school to which he gave, Miss Martha 
 J. McKown, formerly of Monmouth, was a devoted worker. 
 
 The same practical common sense was shown in what he 
 did for Monmouth. In 1868 a public reading room, supplied only 
 with periodicals was opened here. This was organized and 
 helped by Judge Quinby. For two years Mr. Pressly watched 
 its workings. He went to Burlington, Iowa, and sat for a whole 
 day in the library to which Senator Grimes had recently given 
 $5,000. His wish was to see for himself what a public library 
 is. He came back determined that Monmouth shall have one. 
 
 The remarkable success of these well planned gifts in 
 Egypt and in this country was a great satisfaction to Mr. Press- 
 ly. For over thirty years he lived to enjoy seeing the results 
 of what he had done. He read with profound gratitude accounts 
 of the immense usefulness of the Mission Schools which he had 
 helped. These have had a remarkable success. They have been 
 managed with great ability by the missionaries o f the United 
 Presbyterian church. Mr. William E. Curtis is a most competent 
 judge of this by reason of his training, ability and wide acquaint- 
 ance with foreign affairs. He has very kindly sent on for use in 
 
9 
 
 this sketch, some proof sheets of his book on Egypt, now in press. 
 From it the following extracts are taken. They refer to the 
 schools to which Mr. Pressly gave: “The American school at 
 Assuit educates more competent teachers than any other insti- 
 tution in Egypt. A great deal of attention is paid to business 
 and industrial training. The missionary schools for boys are 
 popular because they furnish a better education than can be 
 obtained elsewhere. Nearly every graduate of the schools main- 
 tained by the American United Presbyterian Mission has suc- 
 ceded in securing lucrative employment as teacher or in the ad- 
 ministrative departments of the government. 
 
 “Many families are beginning to realize that it is an advan- 
 tage for a girl to know how to read and write and cipher. She 
 makes a more useful wife and mother and a more competent 
 house-keeper. This applies particularly to the middle classes 
 and to the Copts.” 
 
 Such words of commendation as these came often to Mr. 
 Pressly, concerning the work which his money was doing at 
 Assuit. 
 
 Mr. Pressly also rejoiced in the good use made of his 
 gifts at home. He saw the college which he had helped in the 
 day of its greatest need become the leading college of his church, 
 with its graduates widely known in her pulpits, in her missions 
 and in all the walks of life. For years up to the time of his 
 death he read in each successive catalogue of the college this 
 statement of how he had helped the college through a library 
 for all this community; “Few institutions afford library privil- 
 eges superior to those of Monmouth College. Through the lib- 
 erality of Mr. W. P. Pressly the Warren County Library was es- 
 tablished in 1870. This is as carefully selected a library as can 
 be found in the west.” 
 
 He saw branches of that library started in the country, 
 where he intended it to be used as much as in town. His pur- 
 pose as to the department which he endowed he saw faithfully 
 adhered to. The statement was made by his pastor, Rev. J. A. 
 Burnett in his funeral address: “It was his desire, which desire 
 has been fully carried out, that this should be a people’s library, 
 
10 
 
 where the many could be accommodated in their literary tastes.” 
 
 In health and in sickness, in active life and in the lonely 
 days of advanced old age, Mr. Pressly has often expressed his 
 great satisfaction with the work done by his gifts. While his 
 health allowed, he was daily in the reading room. Almost the 
 last time that he was there he said to one of the trustees. ‘I 
 thank God that I was led to build this building.’ 
 
 Mr. Pressly was a thoroughly religious man. He had 
 a remarkable ability in apt quotation of Scripture. During the 
 last two yearrs of his life his mind was enfeebled and darkened. 
 He did not know his most intimate friends. But he knew his 
 Bible with wonderful accuracy. 
 
 His was a religion of devotion, of practical beneficence, 
 of liberal fellowship and humanity. He honored all men. He 
 was a devoted United Presbyterian. For some years he was 
 a member of the Presbyterian Church, on a count of his affec- 
 tion for Dr. R. C. Matthews. He taught for yearrs, a Bible class 
 in the Methodist Sunday School. Some of Us intimate friends 
 were Catholics. He stated that he wished CaihoUe books bought 
 for the library, in proportion as they are read. This is, of course, 
 the usual custom of public libraries. Mr. Pressly esteemed true 
 men outside of all church lines. At the funeral of his friend, 
 Mr. J. W. Scott, whom he had known long as a pioneer business 
 man of Monmouth, he was asked to say a few words. He began 
 “It has been said that an honest man is the noblest work of God. 
 Mr. Scott was that man.’' 
 
 Such were the broad sympathies of him who gave to 
 this community an institution which is for all. 
 
 Mr. Pressly ’s sterling character and rr re practical ability 
 was recognized and honored. He was made a Trustee of Mon- 
 mouth College in 1859 when he first came to this city. He was 
 one of its directors during forty-four years. For most of that 
 time he was an elder of the First United Presbyterian congrega- 
 tion. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church for several 
 years and was once a delegate to its General Assembly. He was 
 the president of the Warren County Library and Reading Room 
 Association from 1870 to 1903. 
 
11 
 
 At his funeral all classes did him honor. The circuit 
 court, then in session, adjourned and the members of the bar 
 attended in a body. Eloquent and appreciative addresses were 
 made by the Rev. J. A. Burnett, pastor of the First United Pres- 
 byterian church, Dr. T. H. McMichael, president of Monmouth 
 College and Hon. R. J. Grier, judge of the circuit court. These 
 addresses are printed herewith. They are the words of men who 
 knew of what they did testify concerning a most beneficent life. 
 
 Outline of Address by Rev. John A. Burnett, Pastor First United 
 Presbyterian Church, Monmouth, 111. 
 
 As quietly and peacefully as the darkness of night is dis- 
 pelled by the gray of the morning, which in turn is followed by 
 the full glory of the rising sun; as unobserved as the river min- 
 gles its waters with the sea into which it flows, this father in 
 Israel passed from the scenes of this life to the glory of the life 
 everlasting. I did not know him as most of you knew him. Dur- 
 ing my residence of thirteen months in this city I visited him 
 many times, but his mental condition was such that it has been 
 only within the past two weeks that he has realized who I was. 
 1 can only therefore, speak in a general way of tn'm, and endeavor 
 to bring to you the leading elements of his character as I have 
 learned of his life from others. The one thing that has impressed 
 me above all else is the marvelous visions of this life. Mr. 
 Pressly was born in 1811, and from the time of his ability to 
 fully appreciate things about him, on for a period of about sev- 
 enty five years, he has witnessed wonderful transformations in 
 scientific development, in the material, commercial and social 
 progress of our country. He has been ‘face to faoe with the 
 events of three wars. He was most closely identified with the 
 conflict from which resulted the firmer union of the country, for 
 he had given his only son, whose life was sacrificed at the siege 
 of Vicksburg. Each new year of the century in which he lived 
 gave a new and wonderful vision of human progress. 
 
 Concerning his character there are some things that im- 
 press us deeply: 1. He was a good man. Good in the real sense 
 as revealing this qualities of life that grow out of a true heart. 
 
12 
 
 Good as Barnabos was good, who was “full of the Holy Ghost and 
 of faith.” Good as Jehoiada the priest was good,, concerning 
 whom it is written, “he had done good in Israel.” Such good- 
 ness indeed as comes out of the diviner life within and draw** 
 its power from Him who was good in the largest and best sense 
 of which earth or heaven has thought. No talent, no philanthro- 
 py can enable use to do good without the faith that worketh by 
 love. His faith was abounding; it was as simple as that of a 
 child ; it was trustful and hopeful. Such goodness as he possessed 
 you and I may emulate. 
 
 2. He loved the Church and was deeply interested in its 
 welfare. Two weeks ago I went into his room and said, “Mr. 
 Pressly, do you know me?’ “Yes,” he replied, “you are the 
 clergyman, and I want to say to you that you need never be 
 ashamed of your calling.” For a number of years he had been 
 an elder in this congregation, also a teacher in the Sabbath 
 school, and for a time its superintendent. Truly “he loved our 
 church,” being interested not only in the local work, but in all 
 that touched the church’s life in this country and in the mission 
 fields. He was born in a Christian home at a time when the 
 church was more and meant more to its members than it does 
 today. The whole atmosphere of his life was about the church. 
 Here the life caught its inspirations ; here reverence was deep- 
 ened; here everything centered that touched the religious and 
 spiritual life. His brother, Dr. John T. Pressly, was one of the 
 most influential leaders of the church in his day. 
 
 Nor was his vision narrowed by the limits of the congrega- 
 tion or even of the church in this country, it was broadened to 
 the needs of Egypt where the United Presbyterian church was 
 endeavoring to uplift humanity. Just eight years and three 
 months ago today, at this very hour, I delivered an address in 
 the U. P. Home for the Aged, Wilkinsburg, Pa., as the representa- 
 tive of the Pittsburgh Ministerial Association at the funeral of 
 Miss Martha J. McKown. It was she who interested Mr. Pressly 
 in the girls’ school in Assiut, Egypt. Concerning this the fol- 
 lowing is written in a brief sketch of Miss McKown ’s life. “Miss 
 McKown went home (1881) nominally to rest, but really to bend 
 
13 
 
 every energy towards securing funds for building* * * * Love 
 for the school carried Miss McKown through many an arduous 
 task during her year and a half in America. It was a day when 
 kope was at the ebb and the sky had lost its rose tints that she 
 called at the home of Mr. William Pressly, of Monmouth. That 
 day was painted in most vivid colors in the picture gallery of 
 Miss McKown ’s memory. It was no wonder that she liked to re- 
 call it. Even to the listener it made a striking picture, in which 
 the simplicity of Mr. Pressly ’s character and surroundings 
 brought into strong relief the magnificence of his self-sacrificing 
 generosity. 
 
 Mr. Pressly ’s response to Miss McKown ’s plea was a 
 gift of $10,000, of which half was to be spent on the new build- 
 ing and the remainder was to constitute a fund to aid in sup- 
 porting pupils too poor to defray the entire expenses of their 
 board and education. With the moneys secured from other 
 sources, this magnificent donation seemed to sweep away every 
 remaining difficulty, and it was with a full heart that Miss Mc- 
 Kown christened the girls’ college of the future the Pressly 
 Memorial Institute. 
 
 3. Mr. Pressly was practically benevolent. Concerning 
 the above gift, Professor T. H. Rogers, a personal friend and ad- 
 viser of Mr. Pressly, tells me that when he was considering this 
 gift he talked the matter over with him, and this was the 
 thought expressed, “When I kept store in Hamilton, Ohio, I had 
 a German clerk and he could sell to the Germans of that place, 
 of whom there were many, three times as many goods as I.” So, 
 he argued, natives prepared for the work could do infinitely more 
 for their people than the missionaries and teachers sent out from 
 y. Thus twenty four years ago Mr. Pressly acted up- 
 on the thought which is the established policy of the Foreign 
 Mission Boards of all the churches today. But this was not all 
 he did for the Church in Egypt. In the historical sermon 
 preached by Dr. Alexander Young one of the early pastors of 
 this church, at the time the congregation entered the present 
 building, the following is recorded, “William P. Pressly, by 
 careful attention to business and strict honesty in all his dealings, 
 
14 
 
 was financially prospered. The college and congregation are in- 
 debted to his liberality in a commendable degree, but the Warrer 
 County Library stands, largely through him, as an institution of 
 lasting benefit to the citizens of Monmouth, and the provision 
 made for its continuance and increasing influence, deserves the 
 gratitude of all who enjoy the benefit of his liberality; and, with 
 the divine blessing, succeeding generations may thankfully re- 
 joice.” 
 
 Our whole Church has special cause to be thankful for 
 another institution. Perhaps in February, 1872, (nine years be- 
 fore the above gift) Mr. Pressly said, “How can money be used 
 just now for the best interests of the Church?” Several objects 
 were needing help, but the opinion was expressed that our mis- 
 sion in Egypt was, at least, a deserving field ; and as Dr. Hogg of 
 that mission expected to visit our General Assembly in Washing- 
 ton, Iowa, in May, he could consult him respecting Egypt. The 
 result was a donation of ten thousand dollars in gold( and gold 
 was at a premium of about twenty per cent at that time) to found 
 a college at Assiut, for training young men for the ministry, and 
 both men and women as missionaries and teachers ’in other lines 
 of usefulness. 
 
 In more recent years about two thousand dollars have 
 been given, making a total (with the gold premium) of about 
 twenty four thousand dollars to the Egyptian mission. 
 
 He was deeply interested in Monmouth College, and gave 
 seven hundred acres of land in Iowa to that institution. In 1870 
 he founded the Warren County Library into which he has put 
 nearly twenty five thousand dollars. In this, as in his other gifts, 
 is seen the practicalness of his benevolence. It was his desire, 
 which desire has been fully carried out, that this should be a 
 people’s library, a place where the many, and not the few, could 
 be accommodated in their literary tastes. Thus so long as peo- 
 ple read and think Mr. Pressly will be known and honored in 
 this city. 
 
 For more than a generation his money has been doing 
 good, and how much more — infinitely more — this has accom- 
 plished than if he had waited to have disposed of his accumula- 
 
15 
 
 tions at his death. What satisfaction must have come to him 
 in the reflex blessings of his continued thoughtfulness and benev- 
 olence. 
 
 We are here, then, to honor the memory of him who has 
 woven his name in gracious benedictions into the life of the 
 church and of this city. Throughout this community, and to 
 far off Egypt, the influences he exerted have flowed in abundant 
 blessing. He rests in peace and it becomes us to imitate him in 
 so far as his life followed the thought and life of Him, whom 
 lie served so faithfully. 
 
 Remarks by T. H. McMichael, D. D., President of Monmouth 
 
 College. 
 
 It is mine this afternoon to bring to this service the tribute 
 of Monmouth College. Monmouth College stands indebted to 
 William Pressly and desires here to acknowledge this endebted- 
 ness. He was her friend at a time when friendship meant much 
 to her and to her future. For forty-four years he was connected 
 with her in an official way. This is longer than anyone else has 
 ever been connected with her history. It is longer, I dare sav. 
 than anyone will ever be connected with her again. All but five 
 of our forty-eight catalogues have contained his name. In look- 
 ing over the list of trustees for 1859, I find that with Mr. Press- 
 ly ’s passing, one only remains. Mr. Truman Eldridge of 
 Roseville. Of the twenty-five all the others have long passed 
 from the scenes of their earthly labors. 
 
 You have often looked out over a clearing from which all 
 the trees have been cut save one or two. These stand rugged 
 storm-torn, and lonely, defying the blasts, long after tneir 
 panions have gone down. And so Mr. Pressly was one who long 
 survived the companions of his early and his middle life. Of 
 those who had stood with him in his noble enterprises, he was 
 for years almost the sole survivor. There is something pathetic 
 in such a sight, and yet something suggestive and almost magnif- 
 icent. 
 
 How fast the older generation, the generation that made 
 
16 
 
 the city and the college, have been going from us! Within the 
 two short years in which I have stood in official relation to Mon- 
 mouth College, four of the old guard have gone, I. M. Kirk- 
 patrick, Judge J. J. Glenn, Draper Babcock, and now the oldest 
 of them all in point of age and service, William Pressly. How 
 much the city owes to such men as these,' the old guard that 
 stood by the College in the days of her infancy ! It was because 
 of the energy and self-sacrifice they put into her life, it was 
 because of what they did and what they gave, that she stands 
 today as one of the institutions that makes for the betterment 
 of the city and the community. 
 
 As has already been mentioned in this service, William 
 Pressly ’s purse was open for Monmouth College. She shared 
 in his beneficence at a time in her history when financial help 
 was needed, and when it meant much to her life. To many of us 
 there comes the memory of Mr. Pressly as we used to see his 
 familiar figure upon our streets. He had his peculiarities and 
 his oddities, and as we marked these we did not always think, 
 perhaps, of the greatness of the man. But he was great in the 
 c - ary truest sense. He was one of this old world ’s noblemen, and 
 lias left it better because he lived in it. 
 
 “ O ! never a sun like his went out 
 Or faded behind some hill, 
 
 But the lingering sky shone all about 
 With the joy of its radiance still.”. 
 
 Yes, this shadowed world is still kissed by the joy of the 
 radiance of his quiet, unostentatious life. Yonder in Egypt that 
 radiance still lingers in the Pressly Memorial Institute ; here in 
 our own city it abides in the Pressly Library, and yonder at the 
 College in the Pressly Professorship of Chemistry and Physics. 
 Monmouth College stands indebted to him. Monmouth College 
 wishes to acknowledge this indebtedness and to join with you, 
 his fellow-citizens, in doing honor to his memory. 
 
17 
 
 Address of Hon. R. J. Grier, Judge of the Circuit Court. 
 
 It is mine today, as a citizen of this community, and in 
 its behalf, to pay tribute to the departed for benefits conferred. 
 
 A grateful people honor and mourn those who have been 
 public benefactors. It may be that “he too serves who only 
 stands and waits, ’ ’ but the affections of the people go out to him 
 who has been mindful of their welfare, and active for their good. 
 
 Loving friends weep, and mourn the loss of a dear one 
 they will see no more. The rending of the tender ties of affec- 
 tion entails anguish and grief upon those near and dear. The 
 darkened room — the sable garb — the tear-stained eye, tell a tale 
 of sorrow and bereavement. But besides the grief of friends, the 
 passing of one who has been a public benefactor, one whose 
 humanitarian heart has gone out in love and good works for 
 the betterment of his kind, casts a gloom of sadness over the 
 community, and the busy, striving, absorbed, but grateful pub- 
 lic stop to acknowledge their indebtedness of gratitude, and pay 
 their tribute of respect and appreciation to the departed. 
 
 Father Pressly was a man of the common people. He 
 sprang from them, and he was of them. His life was with them 
 and his thought was for them. Humble in his tastes and simple 
 in his life, he was of the masses, yet none, respectable, were so 
 poor as to be beneath him, and by reason of his endowments, 
 his honesty and the purity of his life, none were so great as to 
 be above him. 
 
 It is no fulsome praise to say he was a humanitarian in 
 the largest sense. His thought was for the betterment of the 
 people. The dream and ambition of his life was the elevation of 
 the masses. For them he strove and saved and built, and to 
 them he dedicated the energies and savings of his life. The 
 foundations of the monument which he promoted, and founded, 
 and which he has left in this community, were laid in the love 
 of humanity, and an anxious solicitude for their welfare. While 
 others established libraries for the learned and the select, he es- 
 tablished his for all. I am advised that the building which 
 his generosity has dedicated in this city, is the first in this state, 
 
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 to be erected and dedicated to the use of a public library. His 
 generosity and the scope of his scheme knew no caste. The poor 
 and the rich, the learned and the unlearned, the erudite and 
 the simple, the adult and the child, were alike welcome to his 
 benefaction. It was his purpose that the opportunity and induce* 
 ment for information, betterment, and enjoyment should be open 
 equally to all. 
 
 The great body of this people were by him made heirs 
 and beneficiaries to the investigation, the discovery, the thought, 
 and the literary talent of the ages. The chronicles of his* 
 torian — the reasoning and deductions of the philosopher — the 
 researches and discoveries of the scientist— the flowers and songs 
 of the poets — the story of the novelist — were brought by his 
 beneficence and placed at the hand of every member of this 
 community. 
 
 For the simple choosing they were made the student o z 
 the companion, not only of the current thought of the day, but 
 of the bright and illustrious minds of the past. With its treas- 
 ured wealth of learning and literature, his gift has made the bril- 
 liant authors of every land and every time, the household and 
 fireside companions of every family and person in Warren Coun- 
 ty who will accept and associate with them. With this library 
 at command, no person has right to complain of their moral or 
 intellectual surroundings — their companions are of their own 
 choosing. Such an institution is a fixed society, whose atmos- 
 phere is a constantly applied influence for the elevation and re- 
 finement of all those within the radius of its influence. 
 
 Father Pressly is gone — his personal efforts are ended — 
 he lived to see the ambition of his life realized. 
 
 His toil and saving and industry bore fruit to his eyes, 
 and his philanthropic heart was gladdened by the result of his 
 efforts. 
 
 The first concrete idea of a public library in this com- 
 munity took form on January 12th, 1836, in the very infancy of 
 the county. It died before maturity. It was revived in 1868, 
 but not until 1870, when Mr. Pressly came to the rescue and 
 
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 shouldered the burden, did the scheme give promise of success. 
 When he gave it a local habitation in the building it now oc- 
 cupies, and an income from the savings of his life, then did it 
 first become in fact an institution of the community in perpetui- 
 ty. I would not, for an instant, detract one iota from the credit 
 and praise due those who so ably and persistently, with time 
 and energy and money and ability, have seconded and furthered 
 the efforts to establish and maintain this institution, and carry it 
 to success, but to him whose body lies here today undoubtedly 
 belongs the credit of having made possible this great power for 
 good, for which this community is so deeply indebted. 
 
 His purpose and thought is best given in his own words, 
 published in the city papers before he built the building. 
 
 LIBRARY AND READING ROOM. 
 
 Mr. Editor: As there exists a wrong idea in regard to the con- 
 templated Library and Reading, Room, permit us (by request of others) 
 briefly to state that, as the case onw stands, it is proposed to erect a two- 
 story brick building in the southwest corner of the square, that being the 
 most eligible site, everything considered, that could at present be ob- 
 tained; said building to be near 42x70 or 75 feet, containing two business 
 rooms in the basement and one above; the rent of the lower rooms to 
 be used in sustaining the property and furnishing, from year to year, 
 a fresh supply of reading matter for the use and benefit of the upper room. 
 The building first contemplated might have accommodated the citizens 
 of this place, but inasmuch as under God we are principally indebted 
 to the citizens of the country for the means to be used in its construc- 
 tion, if for no higher motive, gratitude towards them bids us now remem- 
 ber them as a party to be benefitted, and thus made a party interested in 
 patronizing and sustaining their own institution, in common with the 
 citizens of this place; hence, the present plan was adopted, which, it i& 
 hoped, may prove amply sufficient for the use designed for years to come. 
 We trust that as we become educated as to the real value of a Library and 
 Reading Room in our own midst, it may gradually increase in its effi- 
 ciency for good, and ultimately become an oasis where many a weary 
 pilgrim may obtain refreshment long after its projectors, and the present 
 Board of Trust, shall have passed away. 
 
 “O all the pleasures noble and refined 
 Which form the taste and cultivate the mind, 
 
 The ‘feast of reason,’ which from reading springs, 
 
 To reasoning man the highest solace brings. 
 
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 ’Tis books a lasting pleasure can supply — 
 
 Charm while we live, and teach us how to die.*" 
 
 W. P. PRESSLY. 
 
 Father Pressly has gone from us in life, he is about to go 
 hom us in flesh, but his great work will remain with us, and the 
 spirit in which it was given, will continue to exert its subtle 
 influences among the people and bear its fruits in the greater in- 
 telligence and in the higher and purer lives of the people. 
 
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