Frank E. Higgins (19 August 1865 – 4 January 1915) was an American Presbyterian minister and evangelist to logging camps in Minnesota. He was known as the "Lumberjacks' Sky Pilot".[1]
Higgins was born in Toronto and grew up in Shelburne, Ontario. He moved to the United States in 1890, and studied at Hamline University in the hopes of becoming a Methodist minister. He did poorly in his studies, however, and dropped out. He started pastoring a Presbyterian church in 1899 and was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1902.[2] He preached his first sermon to the lumberjacks in 1895, and was appointed Superintendent of Lumber Camp Work in 1908.[3]
Higgins recruited many other evangelists to his work, including Richard T. Ferrell.[4] He was the subject of three novels by Thomas D. Whittles: The Lumberjack Sky Pilot (1908), The Parish in the Pines (1912), and Frank Higgins, Trail Blazer (1920).
The Book News Monthly described him as "a man of sterling worth – simple, whole-souled, sincere. He possessed a vigorous body, a cool head, a loving heart, and a genuine contempt for hardship".[5]
References
- ^ Hagg, Harold T. (1950). "The Lumberjacks' Sky Pilot" (PDF). Minnesota History. 31 (2): 65. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ Cartwright, R. L. "Higgins, Francis "Frank" E., (1865–1915)". MNopedia. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ "Parish in the Pines". Presbyterian Historical Society. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ Daman, Glenn (2018). The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America (PDF). Moody Publishers. p. 22. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ "Folks you will like to meet". The Book News Monthly. 33: 284. 1915. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
Further reading
- Rimmer, Harold (2015). The Last of the Giants: How Christ Came to the Lumberjacks. Aneko Press.
This page was last edited on 18 July 2022, at 18:22