My Genealogy Hound

REV. DR. WOODBURN. B. F. Woodburn is a descendant of early settlers in Allegheny county. James Woodburn, his grandfather, was the first permanent settler in Crescent township, of which he and James O’Hara owned at one time nearly all the land. James Woodburn came to a tract adjoining Shoustown in 1794. B. F. Woodburn was born at the old homestead on the bank of the Ohio river, March 23, 1832. In the adjoining village many of the famous steamers of the olden time were built, and a river life had great attraction for the boys of that day. Young Woodburn, having secured a clerk ship, embarked on a steamer for Fort Smith, Ark., and in that capacity, and as captain, he spent eight years on various steamers plying the Ohio, Mississippi, Cumberland and other rivers. At the age of twenty-six years, having made a profession of religion, he entered on a seven years’ course of study, graduated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, in 1862, and at the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, in 1865. He became pastor of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church immediately after completing his studies, and after four and one-half years’ service accepted a call to the Sandusky Street Baptist Church, Allegheny, March 1, 1870. He has been intimately associated with the work of the denomination, especially in the western part of the state, and in 1881 he received the degree of D. D. from Lewisburg University. He has also been interested in the educational and philanthropic enterprises of this region. He has served for a number of years as a member of the board of controllers of Allegheny City, and has been president of the Allegheny General hospital since its establishment in 1886. He is the author of the history of the Baptist denomination published in this work.