Sheldon Jackson

1834-1909. Presbyterian missionary to the West and Alaska. Born in New York State, he earned his degrees at Union College and Princeton Seminary, afterward serving Presbyterian churches in Minnesota (1859-69). He was then put in charge of his church's western missions (1870-82) and there pioneered the use of prefabricated church buildings. After two years in New York he supervised Alaskan Presbyterian missions from 1884 until 1907. He set up a public school system in Alaska for the government, and in 1892 introduced reindeer into mainland Alaska to help the natives. When elected moderator of his denomination in 1897 he was described as a man who was “by inside measurement a giant.”