BIO: James L. DEENS, Beaver County, PA
    
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    BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.  This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches 
    of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  Buffalo, N.Y., 
    Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 347-349.
    _________________________________________________________________ 
    
    REV. JAMES L. DEENS, who for many years served in the ministry of the
  Methodist Episcopal church, became thoroughly identified with the interests
  of Beaver county, after his retirement from active ministerial service, when
  his preference of the freedom of country life asserted itself in the choice
  of a home here. Prior to a permanent residence on his farm, however, he had
  served as pastor of several local charges, and thus strengthened his
  interests in the Beaver Valley.
    
    His thorough enjoyment of farm life, exempt from the strain of routine
  service, was marked by evidences of vitality and adapt-ability to
  surroundings seldom experienced by one of his years.
    
    James L. Deens was born in County Armagh, Ireland, January 3, 1820, being
  the only child of James and Margaret (Graham) Deens. His father, of direct
  Scotch descent, died when a young man, and the widowed mother, during a
  period of general emigration from Ireland, brought her infant son t0 America,
  locating in Pittsburg, which became to them a permanent home around which
  their interests ever centered; for there Mrs. Deens subsequently married John
  Lompre, a French Canadian, whose paternal interest in the boy was marked by a
  voluntary embodiment of the step-father's name in the boy's full name of
  James Lompre Deens, and by a close companionship in business, interrupted
  only by the sudden death of the father just as James was entering manhood.
    
    To the mother, thus left a second time with a family of which only Lydia
  Sergeant and Eliza Lompre Irwin attained maturity and established families of
  their own, the best tribute that can be paid is the acknowledgment of the
  respect accorded her for half a century by all who came under the influence
  of her unselfish spirit, which remained young and sympathetic until the close
  of a long life of loving interest in family and friends. In 1887, at the age
  of eighty-seven, she peacefully passed away.
    
    James Lompre Deens during his early years was sent to both private and
  public schools, and when opportunity afforded, or necessity required, was
  reared by his father's side as a tobacconist, of which trade he became
  master. His general education was completed in the Western University of
  Pennsylvania, after which careful and thorough preparation for the ministry
  was made under the leading teachers of Methodism, to whose influence was
  largely due his connection with the Pittsburg Conference in 1846.
    
    After traveling several circuits, he became
    
    348  BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
    
  pastor in charge of various stations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, serving as
  Presiding Elder of the Barnesville District, Ohio, during that period of
  unrest in our Nation's History, - the Civil War-in which he was commissioned
  Captain of the Barnesville Company, Monongahela Regiment of Unattached
  Departmental Troops Volunteers.
    
    Subsequently, as pastor, he was stationed successively at Brownsville, Pa.,
  New Brighton, Pa., Main street and Bingham street charges, Pittsburg, and at
  Mansfield Valley. His last appointments were all in Beaver county, at
  Georgetown, Homewood, Noblestown, and Shoustown; after which a supernumerary
  relation, later changed to superannuated, was taken.
    
    Two years after his admission to the conference he was united in marriage
  with Mary E., daughter of Samuel McKinley, who stood high in the Masonic
  fraternity, and was also a prominent Methodist.
    
    The wife shared faithfully her husband's itinerant life, and still survives
  him in her home in Beaver, surrounded by her children, - Margaret A., who
  resides with her mother; James C., representing the pottery industry of East
  Liverpool; Anna M., engaged in scientific work in the Pittsburg High School.
    
    The three other children have established their own homes in Beaver: Minnie
  G., whose union with James Dowdell, a paper manufacturer of Wellsburg, W. Va.,
  resulted in the following issue, - Grace P., Marie E., James Deens, John
  Irwin, Anna M., and Olive S.; Charles H. A. conducts his farm on the south
  side of Beaver county, but occupies a Beaver residence for the educational
  advantages offered there, - his marriage with Anna M. daughter of John Adams,
  the pioneer glass manufacturer of Pittsburg, has been blessed by the following
  children, - Harry Adams (recently deceased), Walter Lompre, Mary Natalie, John
  Adams, Charles Wilfred, Jean Annette, Alta Carol, and Helen Elizabeth; John U,
  a pharmacist, became united in marriage with Lydia Ferguson, to whom have been
  born two children, Louise and Lillian.
    
    The paternal spirit showed itself strikingly in the watchful interest
  exercised by this father over children and grandchildren alike, and
  undoubtedly bore fruit in the community of family interests now centered in
  the Beaver Valley.
    
    It would be a depreciating familiarity toward a man like James L. Deens to
  attempt to sum up in a few paragraphs his life of service, the
  responsibilities faithfully met, the hardships cheerfully undergone, or to
  describe his life as a husband, father, friend, and citizen. Brief mention,
  however, of a few striking traits may be permitted. He knew men as few are
  able to know them; he believed his brethren, and with a loyal devotion he
  stood by his friends. As a preacher he knew what he wished to say and had
  unusual ability in making himself understood. Thoroughly fitted for his work,
  scriptural, evangelical, simple, fearless, though tender of heart, he taught
  his people righteousness. A despiser of shams, he could strip the borrowed
 
    
    BEAVER COUNTY  349
    
  garments from assumed humility or pretentious ignorance. Master alike of
  pathos and invective, able to see at a glance the strong and the weak points
  of an issue, capable of clear statement, his arguments had oftentimes a
  startling suddenness, always a clearness, and kindly wit, which made him in
  an age of great conference debaters easily the foremost; already some of his
  speeches belong to the traditions of the conference.
    
    A lifelong student, when years of failing health came to him, he never lost
  interest in things which are and are to be. Questions of church polity, the
  civic discussions of the time, the welfare of the church and the work of his
  brethren were matters of living interest and constant conversation. Only the
  outward man grew old; mind and heart remained young. When retirement from
  active ministry became necessary, his nobleness of spirit was strikingly
  exhibited. Unwilling to be idle, fearful of an aimless existence, he located
  on his farm near Beaver, Beaver county, Pa. His children and their children
  always found this place of rest beautiful, as did also his old companions in
  the ministry, and other acquaintances who shared his hospitality. There he
  passed from this earth at Eastertide in 1892, and from the altar of home and
  church, he was borne to the Beaver Cemetery, and tenderly laid to rest in the
  beautiful Ohio Valley.
    
    The publishers of this work take pleasure in announcing that a portrait of
  Rev. James L. Deens is presented in connection with the foregoing account of
  his life and deeds.