James Redpath was born August 24, 1833, in Berwick Upon Tweed on the northeast coast of England. His mother was English and came from a seafaring family. His father was Scottish, and for a time he served as the master of schools in Berwick. The family was “seceder” Presbyterian, a denomination founded in opposition to the Patronage Act of 1712 which restored the power of land-owning patrons over congregants to choose church ministers. This was the religious climate in which Redpath, the oldest of seven children, was raised to become a minister. But he developed serious theological objections while still young and gave up his studies despite his father's strenuous resistance.
In 1849 the family emigrated to the United …
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