Rev David Swing, pastor of the Central Church, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, August 23, 1830, the youngest son of David and Karinda (Gazley) Swing. The Swings were a German family, and came to America in 1726. David Swing, Sr., was for many years engaged in steamboating on the Ohio River. He was a man of ability and of sterling character. He was honored for his man-hood rather than for his doctrinal Christianity. He died of cholera in 1832, leaving two sons to the care of their mother, who was a devoted Christian, and who inculcated into the minds of her children the fundamental principles of the Christian life. In 1837, Mrs. Swing married the second time, and re-moved to Reading, Ohio, and in 1840 settled on a farm near Williamsburg in the same State. On this farm young David lived eight years, attending the public school in the winter season and at such other times as it was possible. Farm labor gave him a vigorous constitution, and contact with nature developed in him, to an unusual degree, the observing and reflective faculties, and also that originality and independence of thought which characterize all his utterances and writings. At the age of eighteen, having prepared himself by private study, he entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, from which he graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1852. He then commenced his Divinity studies under Rev. Dr. N. L. Rice, of Cincinnati, with whom he remained one year. In 1853, he returned to Miami University as Professor of Ancient Languages, and remained in that capacity thirteen years. In 1866, he was invited to the pastorate of Westminister Presbyterian Church, Chicago. In this Church his sermons were characterized by liberality of thought, and by a want of dogmatic teaching respecting certain doctrines which underlie Calvanism, and which were believed by some to be essential to Presbyterianism. Large congregations listened to his sermons, and his popularity became so great that the North Presbyterian Church was led to seek a consolidation with Westminister Church, which was effected February 6, 1871, and the united bodies named the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The church-building was soon afterward destroyed by the great fire, as were also the residences of all but two of his parishioners. Rev. David Swing himself saved nothing, and with his wife and two daughters spent the night on the open prairie. On the second Sunday after the fire, October 22, he commenced preaching in Standard Hall, on the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Thirteenth Street. There he preached nearly a year. But when the hall became too small to accommodate the increasing congregation, the services were transferred to McVicker’s Theatre; but upon the completion of the new Fourth Church edifice, he resumed the pastorate of this Church. This building also was soon filled to overflowing by members and strangers temporarily sojourning in the city, all anxious to hear Professor Swing, whose fame had become widely extended. Professor Francis L. Patton, then pastor of Jefferson Park Presbyterian Church, and professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, believing the teachings of Professor Swing to be heretical and subversive of true Christian doctrine, inaugurated the trial which has since been so famous, and which resulted in Professor Swing’s withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church. His friends then inaugurated the movement resulting in the organization of the Central Church. His relations as pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church terminated December 1, 1875, and he commenced preaching for the new organization in McVicker’s Theatre in April, 1876. This theatre was used until the fall of 1880, when the services were transferred to Central Music Hall, which continues to be used until the present time. His fame, and the intrinsic merit of his powerful sermons, have rendered his name one of the most celebrated in the country, and the vast auditorium of Central Music Hall is weekly filled to hear him. Professor Swing was married, on July 3, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Dr. James Porter, of Oxford, Ohio. Mrs. Swing died on August 3, 1879, leaving two daughters — Mary, now Mrs. Jewett E. Ricker, of Cincinnati, and Helen, who lives at home with her father.