Background
William Salter was born on November 17, 1821.
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Biography of Iowa’s third governor, James W. Grimes, and a major history of Iowa.
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William Salter was born on November 17, 1821.
William Salter chose instead to follow a call to the ministry, which came when he was still a student at the City University of New York. After graduating in 1840, he taught briefly at South Norwalk Academy in Connecticut before matriculating at Union Theological Seminary, where, until 1842, he studied languages, historical and applied Christianity, and the Old and New Testaments. Developing a strict orthodoxy, William Salter chose Andover Theological Seminary to complete his education; at that time Andover was a holdout of orthodoxy against the tides of Unitarianism and other moderations of Old School Calvinism.
In 1846 William Salter became the second pastor of First Congregational Church in Burlington, Iowa, and remained senior minister of this congregation for more than 60 years until his death in 1910.
In 1852 William Salter served as president of the Burlington school board, and in addition to lecturing widely at local schools, he became a trustee of Denmark Academy and of Burlington’s first public library.
Prior to the Civil War, he not only allied himself with anti-slavery societies but also operated an Underground Railroad station to aid slaves fleeing to freedom.
In 1844 William Salter had supported the establishment of Iowa College - which eventually merged with a college established by Josiah Grinnell and became Grinnell College - and was one of its first trustees. Twenty years later he accepted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the State University of Iowa.
William Salter also wrote a pamphlet titled The Great Rebellion in the Light of Christianity for the American Reform Tract and Book Society.
(Excerpt from The Life of Henry Dodge, From 1782 to 1833: ...)
(Biography of Iowa’s third governor, James W. Grimes, and ...)
William Salter became an outright abolitionist in the 1850s.
William Salter signed up for the U.S. Christian Commission in 1864 and spent about eight months as a delegate in the field, preaching to, serving, and burying soldiers at the front.
William Salter and his companions the so-called "Iowa Band" went West to Iowa when it was the only territory to organize congregations, build churches, and battle sin in all its infinite varieties. They were the single most distinguished Protestant group of their time. He began his ministry in Jackson County, preaching in the Maquoketa area.
Iowa Band , United States
William Salter and Mary Ann had five children, of whom three would survive to adulthood.
William Mackintire Salter planned to follow his father’s footsteps into the ministry but during the graduate study in Germany encountered higher criticism and lost his faith. He soon became a labor activist, philosopher, and author based mostly in Chicago, as well as an early leader in the Society for Ethical Culture founded by Felix Adler.
