BIO: Rev. Milton VALENTINE, Gettysburg, Adams County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/ _______________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886 _______________________________________________ Part III, History of Adams County, Page 375 REV. MILTON VALENTINE, D.D., LL. D., professor of didactic theology and homiletics (elected 1884) and chairman of the faculty in the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, at Gettysburg, was born at Uniontown, Carroll Co., Md., January 1, 1825. His parents were Jacob and Rebecca (Picking) Valentine, the former a native of Maryland, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania. The family is descended from George Valentine, who emigrated from Germany in the early part of the eighteenth century and in 1740 located on the Monocacy River, in Frederick County, Md., where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1783. The land on which he lived is still in possession of the Valentine family. This George Valentine, who was the great-grandfather of our subject, was an earnest Christian and a devout member of the Lutheran Church. Dr. Valentine was next to the youngest of a family of six sons and three daughters. His youth was passed on a farm, and he was prepared for college in the academy at Taneytown, Md. In 1846 he entered the freshman class in Pennsylvania College, and in 1850 was graduated from that institution. He then entered the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, from which he graduated in 1852, having served as tutor in the college while pursuing his studies. The same year he was licensed to preach, and temporarily supplied the pulpit of the Lutheran Church, in Winchester, Va., in 1852-52. During the winter of 1853-54, he was engaged in missionary work in Allegheny City, Penn., and was pastor of the Lutheran Church at Greensburg, Penn., 1854-55. Owing to a throat trouble he retired from active ministerial work in 1855, and from that time until 1859 was principal of Emmaus Institute, Middletown, Penn. From 1859 to 1866 he served as the pastor of St. Matthews’ Church, in Reading, Penn., and from 1866 to 1868 he was professor of ecclesiastical history and church polity in the Theological Seminary, at Gettysburg. In 1868 he was called to the presidency of Pennsylvania College, and continued in this position for sixteen years, during a portion of the time (from 1868 to 1873) giving instruction also in the seminary. Dr. Valentine is a man of recognized ability and possesses untiring energy. Many of his sermons, together with essays and discussions, have been published in pamphlet form. He is the author of “Natural Theology, or Rational Theism,” a work published in 1885, by S. C. Griggs & Co., of Chicago. This is being introduced in many colleges as a textbook, being indorsed by eminent educators of the country. Dr. Valentine was married December 18, 1855, to Miss Margaret G., daughter of Sterling Galt, of Carroll County, Md., of Scotch-Irish descent. They have four children, viz.: Sterling Galt, Ph. D., chemist at Colebrook Furnace, Lebanon; Milton Henry, a student of theology in the Theological Seminary; Esther Amelia and Margaret Grayson.