1906 – Alice Harrison was born. She became director of youth activities for the Universalist Church of America in 1946 and continued as a leader in combined Unitarian and Universalist youth education through her career. She was ordained in 1968 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lynn, Massachusetts, and received a D.D. degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 27

1994 – James Luther Adams, the foremost Unitarian theologian of the modern era, died at the age of 92. Holding professorships at Meadville, Harvard, and Andover Newton, he was a foremost authority on Paul Tillich. He helped organize the Commission of Appraisal, the Unitarian reform movement that led to the election of Frederick May Eliot … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 26

1806 – Maria Weston Chapman was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She was educated in London and in 1828 became principal of Ebeneezer Bailey’s Young Ladies’ High School. In 1830, she returned to the United States and married Henry Chapman, an abolitionist. They were members of the Federal Street Church during the ministry of William Ellery … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 25

1805 – William Gaskell was born in Latchford, England, to a family who attended Sankey Street Unitarian Chapel in Warrington, then called “the cradle of Unitarianism.” He served for 50 years as senior minister of Cross Street Chapel (Unitarian) in Manchester, where he helped to found Warrington Academy in 1751 to train Unitarian ministers, and … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 24

1793 – Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the father of Octavius Brooks Frothingham, an eloquent Unitarian preacher and abolitionist. Himself a minister, Frothingham led the First Church in Boston from 1815 to 1850. Harvard awarded him a D.D. degree in 1836. The post July 23 first appeared on Harvard Square … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 23

1967 – Carl Sandburg, a Unitarian poet and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, died at age 89. Born in Galesburg, Illinois, he published his first book, Chicago Poems, in 1916, and won his first Pulitzer Prize (for poetry) for Cornhuskers, in 1918. Sandburg traveled around America traveling and singing folk songs, many of which were published … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 22

1770 – John Murray, the founder of organized Universalism in the United States, sailed from England to America on the Hand-in-Hand. He had lived through great sorrows in England, including the death of his father, wife, and child, and become a convinced Universalist. He wanted a fresh start in the New World. He landed at … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 21

Königsberg Castle before WWI 1611 – Florian Crusias, as distinguished philosopher and theologian of Danzig, Poland, held a public Greek disputation for his students at the University of Königsberg. Greek was the language used by advanced scholars in the study of the New Testament. The Socinians regarded Crusius as the “prince of philosophers.”   The … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 20

1860 – Florence Buck was born. She was headmistress of a school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a lifelong friend of the Unitarian minister there, Marion Murdock. Eventually Buck studied for the Unitarian ministry, and was ordained in Chicago at All Souls Church in 1893. She and Murdock were called as co-pastors of Unity Church in … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 19

1926 – The celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence was born in Neepawa, Manitoba. She was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. Her books, which reflect her commitment to justice and social causes, include The Stone Angel, and A Bird in the House. Laurence and her husband joined the Unitarian church in Vancouver, … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 18