Samuel Luckey
Samuel Luckey [1]
a noted minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany County, N.Y., April 4, 1791; entered the ministry in 1811, at Ottawa, Lower Canada; from 181216, inclusive, labored at Dutchecss, Montgomery, Saratoga, and Pittstown, and in 1817-18 in the city of Troy. In 1819 he was at Rhinebeck and in 1820-21 at Shenectadys, where he received from Union College the degrees of master of arts and of doctor of divinity. The next ten years of his life were spent at New Haven, Brooklyn, Albany, and as presiding elder on the New Haven District. In 1822 he became principal of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, N.Y., where he remained four years. At the General Conference of 1836 he was a delegate, and was elected editor of The Christian Advocate and Journal at New York. At that time the office involved the senior editorship of the Book Room. After an honorable service of four years he returned to the itinerancy, first for a time at Duane Street, New York, and in 1842 was again transferred to the Genesee Conference. From this time to the day of his death (October 11, 1869) he remained in Western New York, residing mostly in Rochester City, but filling the offices of presiding elder, pastor, and chaplain of the Monroe County Penitentiary, in which latter position he served for nine years, bestowing great labor on the reclamation of the fallen. Dr. Luckey had also the honor to be appointed in 1847 one of the regents of the State University. He wrote an excellent treatise on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, a work on the Trinity (a respectable 12mo volume, which gained for him a wide repute for theological acumen and polemic tact), and a small volume of Ethic Hymns and Scriptural Lessons for Children. The hymns, which are original and not without merit, are rhythmical paraphrases of Scripture, mostly of the Psalms. "Dr. Luckey was a man of no ordinary power of intellect. For depth of penetration and soundness of judgment he had few superiors. His knowledge of the forms and principles of law, both civil and ecclesiastical, was quite extensive. He was a thorough Methodist, and with the genius and historic development of his Church he was as familiar as with the alphabet. He long stood among the magnates of his people, and his history is woven in the history of his Church." See Conf. Minutes, 1870, page 280 sq.
