History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/William Salter
WILLIAM SALTER, one of the pioneer preachers of Iowa, was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 17, 1821. He was educated in the Union Theological Seminary of New York, the Theological Institution of Andover, Massachusetts, and the New York University. In November, 1843, he came to Maquoketa, Iowa, one of eleven young Congregational ministers who, early in that year formed an “Iowa Band” to establish churches of their faith in the new Territory. They were young men from twenty-two to thirty-four years of age who were in the senior class at Andover. Seven of them, including Mr. Salter, were ordained in the old academy building at Denmark in Lee County, on Sunday, November 6, 1843. From there they went to different localities as missionary preachers. After preaching two years at Maquoketa, Mr. Salter became the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Burlington. In addition to his services as a minister, Dr. Salter has given much time to study of Iowa history and for many years has been a contributor of valuable articles to historical publications. His “Life of James W. Grimes” is one of the best of Iowa biographies. He has also written biographies of General Augustus C. Dodge, General J. M. Corse and Governor James Clarke. He is the author of a church hymn book, “Memoirs of J. W. Pickett,” “Forty Years' Ministry” and numerous historical addresses. For more than half a century he has continued to meet the highest expectations of a cultured and critical congregation. In all the attributes of a great and popular minister, a genial and helpful pastor, he was uncommonly endowed. His name and fame are intimately entwined with the building up of the State which in youth he selected for a home.