J. M. CHANEY, PASTOR
AND INVENTOR, DEAD.
SERVED 53 YEARS IN PRESBY-
TERIAN MINISTRY.
Independence Man Was President of
Elizabeth Aull Seminary at
Lexington, Mo., in 1885 --
Born in Ohio in 1831.
REV. J. M. CHANEY.
Rev. James McDonald Chaney died late Saturday night at his home, 532 South Main street, Independence, from the rupture of a blood vessel. For several days he was indisposed from acute indigestion.
Mr. Chaney has been in the ministry for fifty-three years, and fifty-one in the Lafayette, Mo., Presbytery of the Presbyterian church. Aside from his ministerial work, he was president of the Elizabeth Aull Seminary, at Lexington in 1885 and later of the Kansas City Ladies' college.
He was born near Salem, O., March 18, 1831. He was graduated from the Princeton Theological seminary, after which he entered the Presbyterian ministry.
SEMINARY PRESIDENT.
He came West to be president of the Elizabeth Aull college at Lexington. He was married to Miss Mary Parke, at Lexington, in 1875. From the Elizabeth Aull college, Rev. Chaney was tendered the presidency of the Kansas City Ladies' college at Independence, Mo., which position he held for several years.
During his connection with the Lafayette Presbytery, Rev. Chaney preached regularly. During his ministry he has had charge at Lamonte, Hughesville, Pleasant Hill, Corder and Alma, Mo.
Rev. Chaney was of a mechanical train of mind, and was interested in various devices, some of them his own patents. His laboratory at home was an attraction for young and old.
Rev. Chaney, after severing his connection with the Kansas City Ladies' college, promoted an academy for young men at Independence, making a feature of higher mathematics.
His son, J. Mack Chaney, is an attorney of Kansas City. A half sister, Mrs. W. B. Wilson, resides at Lexington, Mo.
STUDENT OF ASTRONOMY.
Astronomy was a field of science that fascinated the dead minister and his proclivities in this direction won him much local note. About ten years ago he invented a planetarium whereby an astronomer could determine the relative positions of all the known planets in the solar system, provided he knew the meridian passage or declination. If taken to any part of the earth's surface, the instrument could be made to indicate the movement of the planets, whether north or south of the equator. It was used in a number of schools.
Rev. E. C. Gordon, former president of Westminster college at Fulton, Mo., will conduct the funeral service, which will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the First Presbyterian church, Independence.
