Civil War Union Army Chaplain. He was born on October 2, 1833 in Apollo, Pennsylvania, the eighth child of Smith Agnew and Maria Sterrett Agnew. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1854. Moving on to the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, he graduated with a Doctorate of Divinity in 1857. He began his ministerial career in 1858, becoming pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After the Civil War began he enlisted in the Union Army, and was commissioned as Chaplain of the 76th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on November 18, 1861. He served the spiritual needs of the regiment, a unit recruited in the western part of the state and known as the "Keystone Zoauves", through its early service in Virginia and South Carolina before he resigned on May 25, 1862 (the regiment would served through the rest of the balance of the war without a chaplain). He returned to his Johnstown pastorate, serving until 1867, when he resigned his position and traveled to Philadelphia. There, he was pastor of the Westminster Church at 58th and Chester Avenue from 1868 to 1870, then of the North Presbyterian Church at 6th and Green Street from 1870 to 1882. He returned to his roots in 1882 by accepting the pastorate of East Liberty Church in Pittsburgh, only to return to Philadelphia two years later to become pastor of the Bethlehem Church at Broad and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia, which he served in until 1896. He was heavily involved with the Presbyterian Church at large, serving on a number of boards and as a trustee to two different Presbyterian colleges before retiring in 1912. He died December 2, 1919 at his home at 1319 North Franklin Street, Philadelphia, and lies buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

He married Anna Cochran on June 6, 1857 at Newcastle, Pennsylvania. They had five children – Franklin Cochrane (1858-1879), Jemina Mayes (1861-1861), Hulbert (1863-), Anna Eulareen (1866-) (married William Dayton Roberts), and Laura (1871-1873).

On October 23, 1908 he filed for a United States Army Veterans Pension (Application #1378559, Certificate #1151402, PA).