In Memoriam: The Last Days of Dr. William Swan Plumer, by Douglas Plumer and Kate Bryan (the daughters of William Swan Plumer)

American National Biography, Volume 17, by John M. Mulder, 1999

A Timeline of William Swan Plumer’s Life

July 26, 1802 – William Swan Plumer is born to William and Catharine (McAlister) Plumer in Greersburg (now Darlington), Pennsylvania.

1818 – Having grown up in Ohio, with his father trading up and down the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, Plumer decides he wants to obtain a liberal education and is teaching in what is now West Virginia.

Fall 1819 – Plumer moves to Malden, West Virginia, to teach.

1819-1820 – Plumer is converted through the preaching of Congregationalist preacher Calvin Chadwick, and senses a call to the ministry.

October 1820 – Plumer moves to Lewisburg, Virginia, to study with Dr. John McElhenny.

1822 – Plumer concludes his studies with Dr. McElhenny and enters Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia.

1825 – Plumer graduates from Washington College and enrolled at Princeton Seminary.

June 14, 1826 – Plumer is licensed by New Brunswick Presbytery.

September 1826 – Plumer graduates from Princeton Seminary.

May 19, 1827 – Plumer is ordained by the Presbytery of Orange as an evangelist/church planter. He organizes churches in Danville, Virginia; Warrenton, North Carolina; and labors in Raleigh, Washington, and Newburn, North Carolina.

June 11, 1829 – Plumer marries Mrs. Eliza Garden Hasell.

June 1829 – Plumer becomes Stated Supply of Briery Church in Prince Edward County, Virginia.

October 1830 – Plumer becomes the pastor of Tabb Street Presbyterian Church in Petersburg, Virginia, until September 1834.

October 1834 – Plumer becomes the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, until November 1846. During this time Plumer participates in the 1837 General Assembly that split the Presbyterian Church along Old School and New School lines, and in 1837 begins the Watchman of the South, an Old School newspaper.

1838 – Plumer is elected the Moderator of the General Assembly.

April 1847 – Plumer becomes the pastor of Franklin Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

1854 – Plumer is elected the Professor of Didactic and Pastoral Theology at Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

1855 – In addition to his seminary duties, Plumer becomes the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

September 1862 – Plumer resigns his pulpit and his chair at the seminary due to controversy over his refusal during corporate worship to “ask God’s blessing upon the Government of our country in its efforts to suppress rebellion,” or to “give thanks to God for the victories which God has granted our armies.”

1862-1865 – Plumer moves to Philadelphia, where he serves as Stated Supply of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church and focuses on writing books.

November 1865 – Plumer becomes the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

November 1866 – Plumer is elected the Professor of Didactic and Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary.

1871 – Plumer is elected the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, one of only two men ever to hold this office twice in the history of the Presbyterian Church.

1880 – Plumer is made Professor Emeritus at the age of 78.

October 22, 1880 – Plumer passes away in Baltimore, Maryland, following complications from kidney stone surgery.