Reuben Post

Post was born January 17, 1792, in Cornwall, Vermont, the son of Roswell and Martha (Mead) Post.Catalogue of the officers and students of Middlebury College in Middlebury, 1915, page 34. He graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1814, then studied for the ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.A History Of New England, Volume 2, edited by R. H. Howard, Henry E. Crocker; p 258

Post was ordained in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 1819. He was immediately installed as the second pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Washington D.C., succeeding Rev. John Brackenridge, D.D. John Quincy Adams was a regular worshiper there during Post's tenure.

On December 9, 1819, Post was named Chaplain of the Senate.{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Chaplain.htm |title=Senate Chaplain |work=www.senate.gov |publisher=United States Senate |accessdate=January 14, 2010}} On December 6, 1824, and again on December 5, 1831, Rev. Reuben Post was named Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC.; see: http://www.phcmontreat.org/ThisDayInHistoryIndex-December.htm{{cite web|url=http://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/history.html|title=History of the Chaplaincy, Office of the Chaplain|accessdate=2008-09-14}}

Post continued at First Presbyterian Church until June 24, 1836, when he was called to serve the Circular Church in Charleston, South Carolina. His inaugural sermon at the Circular Church was from Acts 10:29.Annual Obituary Notices of Eminent Persons Who Have Died in the United States, 1859, page 268.

Reuben Post married Harriet Moffitt, a granddaughter of Richard Henry Lee, on January 7, 1823. Their children were: William, Harriet Lee (Mrs. Henry L. Pinckney), Emily, Frances, and Richard Henry Lee Post.

Post served as pastor of the Circular Church for 23 years. He was also president of the board of supervisors of the high school in Charleston. In 1858, Post took a vacation to his native Vermont; while there a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Charleston. Post returned at once to care for members of his congregation, and soon fell victim himself and died in the 23rd year of his pastorate there. A memorial tablet was placed in the church and his gravestone is in the church courtyard, along with those of his wife and daughter—they are in the shapes of chess pieces: a king, a queen and a rook.The Circular Church: Three Centuries of Charleston History, by Joanne Calhoun, page 73.

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{{succession box |title=Chaplain of the United States Senate |before=John Clark |after=William Ryland |years=December 9, 1819 – November 17, 1820}}

{{succession box |title=Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives |before=Henry Bidleman Bascom|after=Ralph Randolph Gurley |years=December 26, 1824 – December 6, 1830}}

{{succession box |title=Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives |before=Ralph Randolph Gurley |after=William Hammett |years=December 5, 1831 – December 3, 1832}}

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{{Chaplains of the United States House of Representatives}}

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Category:1792 births

Category:1858 deaths

Category:People from Cornwall, Vermont

Category:American Presbyterian ministers

Category:Chaplains of the United States House of Representatives

Category:Chaplains of the United States Senate

Category:Middlebury College alumni

Category:Princeton Theological Seminary alumni

Category:19th-century American clergy