Jeremiah Dale was born in 1787 in Danvers, Massachusetts. At the age of 18 he was converted to Christ. He immediately began to think about the ministry, but his lack of education prompted him to remain in the wheel-wright trade, intent on being the best Christian and church member possible.
By 1816, Jeremiah was married and moving to Zanesville, Ohio. Two years after his wife and two of his children died, he married again, but his second wife also died. Then his shop was destroyed by fire. Undeterred he rebuilt and married once again, but again this wife died – as did their child.
Jeremiah Dale was a member of the Baptist church in Zanesville. Elder George Sedwick began giving him more and more responsibilities in the church, and he performed his duties so well that the congregation felt the Lord was calling him into the ministry. At the age of thirty-eight he was ordained.
For the next six years Dale spent all his energies in prayer, preparation and perseverance in serving his Saviour. He began preaching in two churches in Virginia – as well as one in Ohio. From time to time he ministered to a fourth in West Virginia. He was constantly on the road, riding 300 to 400 miles every month.
When his health began to fail in 1831, Dale returned to Massachusetts. While visiting his brother in Gloucester, he was asked to preach three times on the Lord’s Day, July 24. Returning to Danvers, he preached two days the following week, before his lungs began bleeding. He testified to his family that he had no wish to live beyond his usefulness and it appeared that he could no longer preach. He passed away on this day (Sept. 4) 1831. At his memorial, Acts 11:24 was the sermon text – “For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, and much people were added unto the Lord.”