The clergyman who preached himself to death

This is the tombstone of the Rev. William Crawford Herdman in Combs Cemetery near Luray in extreme northeast Missouri's Clark County --- south of Keokuk, Iowa (Kahoka is the county seat).

The Rev. Mr. Herdman was born during 1849 in Clark County and in 1864 at age 15 lied himself older to enlist for service in the 39th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. After that, he returned home to teach school  in Clark County and, for a time,  to publish a newspaper in Luray.

But in 1880, Brother Herdman was converted and five years later, age 36, he was licensed to preach by the Cumberland Presbyterians. Perhaps because he had entered the field late, he worked extraordinarily hard and it generally was agreed that when he died at age 58 in 1907 of "nervous prostration" that he had preached himself to death.

Much of his ministry was in Clark and Scotland counties, Missouri, and adjoining areas of Missouri and Iowa. But during the early 1890s, he took on the added responsibility of serving two Cumberland Presbyterian churches in south central Iowa, one at LaGrange in Lucas County and the other at Newbern, just over the Marion-Lucas county line to the northwest.

He did this while with his wife, Olive, maintaining a stable home for their seven children at Luray. But he probably did set some sort of record as a circuit-riding preacher during his years of service in Lucas County.

Keep in mind that many 19th century Iowa congregations did not have full-time pastors. These groups of the faithful generally conducted Sunday schools for themselves on those Sabbaths when a preacher was not present.

Brother Herdman's service in Lucas County was noted during 1903 by a columnist for Kahoka's Clark County Courier identified only as "Ecclesiasticus." Here's what he had to say in The Courier of Nov. 20:

"Recently the writer of these lines spent a few days in Marion and Lucas counties, Iowa, meeting the people of LaGrange C.P. church, where Rev. W.C. Herdman, of Revere, was at one time a few years ago pastor for a period of five years; going from Luray via Humeston and Chariton to LaGrange, a distance of 130 miles every two weeks; covering in the five years, a distance of travel of about 32,000 miles or once and a third the distance around the world. If that is not a record beater on reaching appointments, we'd like to hear from the next station. Newbern, Ia., the same distance, once a month, and to Macon county, Mo., once  per month, making the entire distance traveled in the five years something like 55,000 miles. The preacher evidently believed in moving himself rather than moving his family to new circuits."

The Rev. Mr. Herdman had not been forgotten by his former parishioners when his death was reported in 1907. Here's how the Chariton Herald's Newbern correspondent put in in The Herald of October 17th:

"The many friends of Rev. W.C. Herdman will be grieved to learn of his death at his home in Revere, Missouri, on October 8th after an illness of eight months with nervous prostration. He enlisted in the army in 1864 when he was but 15 years old. He was formerly a pastor at this place, serving six years in all. During his long pastorate here he greatly endeared himself to our people."