1876 – The pioneering religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs was born in Hangchow, China, the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries. She received an M.A. degree from Columbia Teacher’s College in 1904 and a B.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1926. Fahs edited curriculum materials for the American Unitarian Association and devised the innovative New Beacon … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 2

1819 – The great American author Herman Melville was born in New York City. He left home at age 17 and served on the whaler Acushnet, deserted in the Pacific, and lived briefly with a cannibal tribe. His works include Typee, Omoo, and Mardi, but he is most famous for his 1851 novel Moby Dick. He … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 1

1921 – Whitney Young was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky. He served in World War II and studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After he earned an MSW from the University of Minnesota in 1947, he joined the St. Paul Urban League. He became executive director of the Omaha Urban League in 1950, … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 31

1630 – Governor John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and others signed the covenant of First Church in Boston. The date was set apart as a day for fasting and prayer, and after solemn religious exercises, the congregation gathered under “the umbrage of a great tree” and formed themselves into a church. First church was founded as … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 30

The Houses of Parliament 1812 – An act of Parliament in England required every person officiating at a religious meeting house to declare acceptance of scriptures as the divine rule of doctrine and practice. Courts had eroded the rights outlined in the Toleration Act of 1799, and the new act was designed to clarify the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 29

De Benneville window, First UU Church, Reading, PA 1703 – George de Benneville was born in London, England, to French Huguenot parents. He converted to Universalism early in life and became an itinerant preacher in France, where he was arrested and condemned to death. He was brought before the guillotine but King Louis XV granted … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History July 28

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