Ransom Dunn: Evangelist and Educator “The young minister’s preaching is like a tornado!” So said Dr. George Ball, an early convert who founded Keuka College, a Free Will Baptist college in upstate New York. Ransom Dunn was born in 1818 in a log cabin near Bakersfield, Vermont, the third of four sons. All became preachers. Rev. Charles Bowles, a renowned black FWB preacher, visited young Ransom’s home. Bowles told the 5-year-old child, “My boy, be ready for the call of the Lord. He may want you…” Ransom accepted Christ at the age of 12 and was baptized. As a teenager, he was deeply moved by reading The Morning Star, a Free Will Baptist weekly newspaper. In it were pleas to evangelize the great American West. Dunn answered the call to preach at age 18 and left for the western wilderness of Ohio, journeying by stagecoach, train and ferry boat. During the next 12 years Dunn preached in 10 states with thousands saved. Dunn helped establish Geauga Seminary where a future president (James A. Garfield) would be educated and Rio Grande College in Ohio. He served as recording secretary of the Free Will Baptist Home Missions Society and president of the … Continue reading The Whirlwind Evangelist