Richard S. Rust

Richard Sutton Rust (September 12, 1815 – December 22, 1906) was an American Methodist preacher, abolitionist, educator, writer, lecturer, secretary of the Freedmen's Bureau, and founder of the Freedmen's Aid Society. He also helped found multiple educational institutions including his namesake Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, the oldest historically black United Methodist-related college.

Career

After graduating from Wesleyan University, Rust became the principal of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1846, today known as the Tilton School, where he made sure to impress his abolitionist values on all the students.

In 1875 he married Elizabeth Lownes. Lownes was an artist, but upon marrying Rust, she turned her full focus on humanitarian and evangelical work.

Published works

The Freedmen's aid society of the Methodist Episcopal church Freedom's Gift: Or, Sentiments of the Free (1840) The method of introducing religion into common schools (1856) An appeal for God's poor (1876) Isaac W. Wiley, Late Bishop of the M. E. Church. a Monograph (1885)