David Steele

David Steele, Sr. (2 November 1803 – 29 June 1887) was a Reformed Presbyterian or Covenanter minister.

Early life

He was born in Upper Creevagh, County Donegal, Ireland to David Steel and Sarah Gailey. His father was a fourth-generation descendant of Capt. John Steel of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, a local leader in the Covenanter uprising of 1679. His grandparents, on both sides of the family, were Covenanters. His paternal grandfather, John Steel, had resided in Fanet. He moved to Creevaugh sometime prior to the birth of his grandson. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Gailey, resided in Killylastin. His father died when he was an infant, in February, 1805. According to Steele, his only recollection of his father was conducting family worship. Next to the Bible, Steele claimed the greatest impression made on him, in his youth, was Thomas Boston's Four-fold State of Man and A Cloud of witnesses for the royal prerogatives of Jesus Christ. The latter work is an account, published in 1714, of the Scottish martyrs who perished during the persecutions, known as the Killing Times, during the reigns of Charles II and James VII. In his seventeenth year [1820], he entered the Academy in Derry, where he pursued his studies for three years, including the study of languages.

Emigration to America

In 1824 he emigrated to the United States. He settled in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he worked, for a time, in his uncle's store, while he pursued classical studies. In the spring of 1825, he was retained to teach at the Academy of Ebensburgh. The following year he entered the Western University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated, in 1827. After this, he began a course of studies in theology under the direction of the Rev. Dr. John Black, at Pittsburgh. In 1830, on April 8, he was licensed by the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. On May 4, 1831, he married Eliza Johnston, of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio. He accepted the unanimous call to serve as pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation in Brush Creek, Adams County, Ohio. On 6 June 1831, he was ordained and installed, as the third pastor, by two brothers, members of the Ohio Presbytery, Rev. Gavin and Rev. Hugh McMillan. During this time, he had several preaching assignments, one being in Mill Creek, Kentucky. When the Reformed Presbyterian Church split into "Old Lights" and "New Lights," in 1833, Steele and his Brush Creek congregation remained in ecclesiastical connection with the "Old Lights" party. He was appointed Clerk of Synod in 1833 and, in 1838, he was assistant clerk.