BIO: Robert Wilson KIDD, Beaver County, PA
  
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson
  
  Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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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. 430-431.
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  REV. ROBERT WILSON KIDD is the beloved pastor of the United Presbyterian
  church at Beaver Falls, Pa., which charge he has had since the year 1892. He
  is a man of great strength of will and force of character, with brilliant
  mind and self-reliance, and by his courteous' manners and winning address, he
  has not only won the esteem and affection of the members of his congregation,
  but also the cordial regard of the citizens of the borough. Mr. Kidd is a son
  of James and Sarah (Middagh) Kidd, and was born in 1848, in Juniata county,
  Pennsylvania.
  
  James Kidd was born in Ireland, and came to this country in 1819; upon
  arriving he located in Juniata county, Pa., where he bought a large farm and
  followed agricultural pursuits the rest of his life. He was a strong
  anti-slavery man, and always voted the Republican ticket. As a result of his
  union with
  
  BEAVER COUNTY  431
  
  Sarah Middagh, seven children were born.
  
  Rev. Mr. Kidd received his preliminary education in the public schools, and
  afterwards pursued a course at Westminster College at New Wilmington; in the
  meantime having decided upon entering the ministry, he began his studies in
  the theological seminary at Newburg, N. Y., in 1873, and completed them in
  1876, - when he was at once ordained to the ministry. A very prominent charge
  was assigned to him, - the Seventh Avenue United Presbyterian Church of New
  York City, and he continued to occupy the pulpit of that church until 1892.
  In that year, he accepted his present pastorate in Beaver Falls, which has
  ever since continued to flourish. The present edifice was erected, in 1893,
  at a cost of $17,000, and it is one of the most handsome churches in the
  county; the large liability thereby incurred has been very nearly cleared,
  through the untiring efforts of Rev. Mr. Kidd. When the subject of this
  sketch assumed his present position, the membership numbered only 224, which
  number has since been increased to about four hundred. The Sabbath school has
  about 300 members, and all the departments of the church are in a flourishing
  condition; these are the Young People's Church Union, - the Junior Society, -
  the Ladies' Aid Society, the Women's Missionary Society, and the Young Women's
  Missionary Society. Rev. Mr. Kidd is an earnest Christian, a messenger of
  peace and good will, and manifests those traits of character which gain for
  him the esteem and respect of all who know him.
  
  Politically, Rev. Mr. Kidd is a strong Prohibitionist and interests himself
  in the cause of good government. He was united in the bonds of matrimony with
  Amanda Harper, a daughter of Dr. James Harper, now of Xenia Theological
  Seminary, in Ohio. This union was blessed by the birth of four children,
  namely: Robert Wallace; Chester Buchanan; Howard Carson; and Gladys Harper.