Columbia County Pastor Found It Hard to Live on the Same Pension As His Faithful Horse

There are many promises in God’s Word for the riches that await believers of Christ in Heaven. Among them:

“And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14 ESV

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” Matthew 19:29 ESV

An old country preacher from north central Pennsylvania needed to cling to the promises found in those scriptures, especially since his faithful horse received the same monthly pension that he did. Newspaper stories shared the circumstances surrounding the life of Reverend Uriah Myers, and his once-famous racehorse, Clover, who was put out to pasture, who had a remarkable journey.

Arizona Republic, (Phoenix, Arizona) February 20, 1928, Page 10 - The simple tale of an old country preacher and his old horse has focused attention on this little town (Catawissa, Pennsylvania.) Probably it has made many a” modern” remember with a mellow kindliness some old country parson associated with his childhood--and some old horse. It is a story for realists, however, as well as for sentimentalists. The preacher is Rev. Uriah Myers, and the horse that once famous racer, Old now gone on to the mystic of death.

A peculiar circumstance has come to light concerning financial arrangements which attended the almost simultaneous retirement of both Rev. Myers and Old Clover from ordinary activity, a few years ago. Upon retirement, both were pensioned. To enable Old Clover to spend his last days in comfortable leisure, he was awarded $25 a month. Exactly the same sum was granted to Rev. Myers to enable him and his wife to buy food and clothing and keep a roof over their heads, through their old age.

Clover got along very well on his pension, but Rev. Myers and his wife are encountering difficulties. Reverend Myers is nearly, 90 now. He was ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1869 and made pastor of the St. James Church at Turbotville, Pa. Later he was called to Catawissa, where he served for 38 years. He went about such duties as preaching on Sundays, conducting weekly prayer meetings, visiting babies, marrying the lovers, and burying the dead. Fame passed Rev. Myers by, but just once she nodded indulgently at him because of his horse.

The world suddenly discovered that the old horse Dr. Myers had been driving for years was a horse with a past -- glorious past, too. It was none other than Old Clover, an aristocrat of the turf of half a century before. Catawissa had known it and forgotten it.

Clover came to the world's attention because of his infirmities. He no longer could draw Rev. Myers' rickety old buggy over the country roads, and the minister found he could not keep his faithful steed any longer without help. He made an appeal on Clover's behalf. Out of sentiment for the old racer, the New York Jockey Club decided to pension him. The club figured $25 a month would keep Clover the rest of his life in comfort and idleness. And Old Clover lived to be two score and 13 years of age, a record of longevity for a track horse.

As has been said, when Rev. Myers retired, he was awarded a church pension of exactly the same amount as Clover's. It is not to Rev Myer's discredit that he had not been able to put (any money) by for a rainy day. Most of his life he had been lucky to provide for the immediate present, with no margin for extravagance. In his best days, he received not more than $50 a month for his preaching.

For a while after he retired, he could work at odd jobs and pick up a little money. But now his health is failing. He can't do chores that require a strong back or a powerful arm.

Principal J. De Witt Jobborn of the high school in Danville, Pa., a nearby town, knew of Dr. Myers' plight, so he wrote to the Board of Pension of the United Lutheran Church America:

“We understand that a movement to increase the pensions of Lutheran ministers is underway, and we are writing to inquire if something cannot be done immediately for dear old Dr. Uriah Myers, of the neighboring town of Catawissa, who gave his whole life in untiring service to his parish, and whom we understand is now failing in health and in great need," he said.

Peter P. Hagan, the board's treasurer, wrote to Rev. Myers: "The request of friends of yours in Danville that your pension of $25 per month be raised to meet increased living costs must be refused.

"We realize this seems harsh. We are only too well aware that the years of splendid service which you have rendered to the Christian ministry are deserving of far better treatment at our hands. We know full well that is unfair to expect any man, however resigned he might be through intimate knowledge of the Scriptures, to endure pain and suffering, to exist on the impossible pittance of $25 per month. Nevertheless, we are helpless and will be until the funds for ministerial pensions administered by us are increased very materially. There are no funds at present to increase your pension or the pension of any Lutheran minister by so much as a single dollar."

He concluded with the hope that Rev. Myers might be spared for many years of service and counsel to the country. Rev. Myers understands. He knows that there may be other old ministers suffering greater hardships than he. Meanwhile, he dreams of the happy, active days when he drove Old Clover through the country on his parish duties. Those were happy days! "For years," said he proudly, "Clover was my faithful companion in my work and from the story of the horses of fire which swept Elijah into the clouds. I have the inspiration that Clover will again serve me.”

Clover’s story was also featured in local newspapers. A 1922 photo in the Bloomsburg Morning Press featured a photo of Reverend Myers, who was seventy-five at the time, along with his 73-year-old wife and fifty-one-year-old Clover. He died two years later in Reverend Myer’s barn. And his story didn’t end there.

Reverend Myers wrote a book about Clover after the horse died, and his body was donated to the Museum of Natural History in New York City, where his skull was displayed shortly after his death.

Reverend Uriah Myers served St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Catawissa from 1883 until 1921. Born in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1847, Reverend Myers died March 30, 1932, at the age of 85, in Montour County. He and his wife Sarah are buried in the Muncy Cemetery, in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.