Blakeslee, Erastus

BLAKESLEE, ERASTUS: Congregationalist; b. at Plymouth, Conn., Sept. 2, 1838; d. at Brookline, Mass., July 12, 1908. While a sophomore at Yale in 1861 he enlisted as a cavalryman. He was mustered out in 1865 as brevet brigadier-general of volunteers. After a business career he studied in Andover Theological Seminary from 1876 to 1879, and entered the Congregational ministry. He had three charges, at Greenfield, Mass., Fairhaven, Conn., and at Spencer, Mass. (1887–92), and resigned the last that he might give his whole time to the preparation and publication of the "Bible Study Union Lessons," which are not only widely used in this country, but translated into several missionary languages. With the teachers' aids, issued separately, more than 160 volumes of lessons were published.

Frank Sanders.