Jared Maurice Arter was born to slave parents in 1850 in Jefferson County, West Virginia. His father died shortly before the Civil War. When Arter's family was emancipated, he and his siblings moved with their mother and her second husband to Washington, D. C., where they lived for sixteen years. Jared began his education when he was hired out to a New York family. After paying off a house they bought for their mother and family, he and his brother entered Storer College in 1873. Jared continued his education at Pennsylvania State College in 1879. After teaching for two years, he transferred to Hillsdale College in 1882 and graduated in 1885. In 1887, Jared was ordained and became a pastor and teacher at Storer College for a few years, before leaving to attend Chicago Theological Seminary from 1891 to 1894. He then worked as a teacher, pastor, or school administrator at various institutions in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky for many years. Arter's story concludes by mentioning an illness requiring surgery, but does not discuss the outcome. Echoes from a Pioneer Life (1922) includes addresses and sermons delivered to various groups and a sketch of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, Arter's hometown.

Monique Prince