BIOS: Bishop Conrad Gillian LINT, Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford & Somerset Counties, PA; v.3; Bedford County by E.
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; Lewis Pub. Co.,
NY/Chicago 1906; ppg. 122-125

Bishop Conrad Gillian LINT.

Bishop Conrad Gillian Lint, who for over fifty years has served as pastor
of the local congregation of the German Baptist Brethren church at
Meyersdale, was born May 19, 1834, at Meyers Mills (now Meyersdale),
Somerset county, Pennsylvania, the son of Gillian Christian and Elizabeth
(Hochstetler) Lint, of Swiss and German descent, respectively. 
Christian Lint, grandfather, was born in Pennsylvania.  He became a
farmer in Somerset county, and later in life removed to Ohio, where he
died.  His wife was Miss Lichteberger, of Westmoreland county.  They had
children as follows: Christian, John, Jacob, Conrad, Daniel, Elizabeth
(Mrs. Baker), and Gillian C. Jacob bought the home farm, where he died at
the age of ninety. 
Gillian Christian Lint, father, was a native of Somerset county, born
March 19, 1808, in the section that is now known as Jefferson township, a
short distance west of Somerset town.  He was a blacksmith by trade, and
followed this occupation for a number of years in Meyers Mills.  He was the
first justice of the peace in Summit township and served in that capacity
for fourteen years, and during this period never had a case reversed by the
courts. 
Gillian C. Lint married, March 6, 1832, Elizabeth Hochstetler, who was
born April 18, 1812, a daughter of Jacob Hochstetler, of Somerset county. 
The following children were the issue of this marriage union: Conrad
Gillian, see forward; Margaret (Mrs. Samuel Foust), born February 14, 1836,
died May 2, 1884, at Meyersdale; Eliza (Mrs. M. D. Miller), April 12, 1838;
Anna (Mrs. Israel Berkley), January 4, 1841; William Gillian, March 14,
1843, died July 1, 1903, at Meyersdale; Mary (Mrs. Isaac Miller), August 4,
1844; Daniel Gillian, February 1, 1847, died February 9, 1905, at Cross
Roads; Zacharia, October 1, 1848, died May 19, 1849, at Meyersdale; Lydia
(Mrs. Alex. E. Shoemaker), April 24, 1850; Sarah Jane, November 5, 1852,
died August 25, 1854; and Edward, born and died October 1, 1859.  Gillian
C. Lint died May 20, 1893.  His wife, Elizabeth, died June 25, 1881.
Conrad Gillian Lint obtained his early intellectual training in the
subscription schools of his day under the preceptorship of some of the
prominent educators of the country.  Among them were numbered Alexander
Stutzman, who later became a leading attorney of Somerset county; Joseph
Stutzman, afterwards the first school superintendent in the county after
the installation of public schools; Christ Stutzman, M. D.; Frank Stutzman,
attorney-at-law; W. J. Baer, later judge in the court of common pleas; C.
C. Musselman, afterwards an assemblyman; and General William H. Koontz. 
Under these eminent instructors Mr. Lint acquired an education of no mean
dimensions, and was prominent in the numerous literary societies of the
day.  Being of a studious nature and a great reader, Mr. Lint succeeded in
amassing a fund of information on all subjects, that became of inestimable
value to him when he entered the ministry.  Early in young manhood, and
before he left the school-room, he entered into an apprenticeship to learn
the blacksmith trade with his father.  He was engaged in this occupation
until 1866, and during the period spent at the smithy became very
proficient.  It is said that he had few if any equals in the work of the
anvil, while he attained to an unusual degree of success in the more
technical points in the trade.  During the seven years of more in which he
was engaged at this hard labor he attended night schools, and pursued his
studies with the utmost assiduity and earnestness. 
He was baptized June 16, 1855, by Elder Jacob Blough, in the church over
which he now presides.  On the same day he was made deacon of the church,
which was a most unusual event.  The confidence and trust reposed in him by
the members of the congregation are attested by the fact that on the 24th
of June, eight days after his baptism, he was admitted to the ministry.  He
was but twenty-one years of age at this time, but of ability and wisdom
beyond his years.  His advancement in the church was rapid, and the trust
reposed in him by the church has been in no manner betrayed.  The district
in which his church is located was at that time called Elk Lick.  It was
later changed to Dale city, but in 1870 assumed its present form,
Meyersdale.
In early life Rev. Lint had taken several courses in vocal culture, and
at the time he was elected to the ministry he was engaged in teaching vocal
music in the evenings.  He had three large classes in the community, but
finding it necessary to devote his entire time and attention to his church
work he immediately closed his music classes.  Rev. Lint's life was a very
busy one at that time.  Laboring at the blacksmith shop every day,
diligently studying evenings, and filling widely distributed ministerial
appointments on Sundays, his time was very closely occupied.  When he began
his ministerial work the church membership was about one hundred and
seventy-five in the entire district, embracing six regular preaching
stations.  It was the custom of the bishop to start out early Sunday
morning on horseback, no matter how inclement the weather might be or how
impassable the roads.  Frequently he would return late at night, sometimes
having eaten nothing during the day but a light meal before starting. 
In 1865 the bishop of the district, Rev. John Berkley, died, and in 1867
Rev. Lint was made his successor, the church membership having grown at
this time to three hundred.  For over half a century this has been his
field of labor, and during this time he has officiated at over five hundred
funerals, covering a territory as far east as Wellersburg, and west to
Somerfield.  Services were at first conducted in private residences; in
1847 the Summit Mills meeting house was built, and in 1852 the first
meeting house in Meyersdale was erected on the site of the present German
Baptist Brethren church. 
Bishop Lint is possessed of unusual ability as a preacher, and having
been, during all the years he spent in the ministry, a close student of the
Bible, few have a clearer understanding than he concerning the things
spoken of therein.  His sermons are interesting and direct, and great
numbers are always attracted on the occasions of their rendering.  He is
still in charge of the Meyersdale church. 
June 24, 1905, was the fiftieth anniversary of his election to the
ministry, and on the following Sunday he preached a sermon in honor of the
event.  Personally Bishop Lint is a man of genial and pleasant disposition,
and greatly loved by all who know him.  In his political relations he
accords allegiance to the Republican party.  All his relatives are
Democrats, except his father, who joined the Republican organization in
1856.  The bishop has never held public office, although repeatedly urged
to do so.  He is deeply interested in educational affairs and served as
school director for five terms of three years each, from 1858 to 1873.
He married, in 1855, Catherine Flickinger, a daughter of Samuel
Flickinger, of Elk Lick township.  No children have been born of this
marriage union.