1779 – Nathan Appleton was born in New Ipswitch, New Hampshire. He was a merchant, manufacturer, financier, politician, and philanthropist. A mill owner and operator, he was concerned about the human suffering caused by the factory system, and sought to change working conditions in the United States, combining the Unitarian principle of the goodness of … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 6

Oliver Cromwell 1655 – Having determined that John Biddle was so controversial that any court decision on his case would endanger the Puritan government, Oliver Cromwell, the lord protector of England, exiled and imprisoned him on the Scilly Isles. Cromwell released Biddle three years later at the request of friends. Biddle is known as the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 5

First Universalist Church, Norway, Maine 1749 – Thomas Barnes was born. He became Universalist through the preaching of Caleb Rich. Barnes preached in New Hampshire and Vermont before taking up a ministry in Oxford, Massachusetts, from 1789 to 1792. In 1799, he moved to Norway, Maine and became the first Universalist preacher there. Barnes is … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 4

1802 – George Ripley was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, he settled at the Purchase Street Church in Boston. In 1836, he joined Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederic Henry Hedge in forming the Transcendental Club. Ripley wrote frequently for the Christian Examiner and edited the Boston Observer and Religious Intelligencer. … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 3

1755 – Hannah Adams, the first woman in America to earn her living as a writer, was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. A pioneer in comparative religion, Adams wrote A Dictionary of Religion, and many other books. James Freeman, The Unitarian minister of King’s Chapel in Boston, was a strong supporter of Adams, and she was … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 2

1854 – Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon was born in Hamilton, Illinois. She learned radical Unitarianism from her uncle, William Gordon. She teamed up with Mary Safford, and together they organized the Unitarian church in Hamilton. The pair also served in Humboldt and Sioux City, Iowa. Gordon was ordained in Sioux City in 1889. The post October … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History October 1

The Potter Church in New Jersey (rebuilt 1841) 1770 – John Murray, an émigré from England, preached his first Universalist sermon in America when his boat ran aground at Cranberry Inlet, New Jersey. There he met Thomas Potter, who had been waiting for God to send him a preacher with a message of universal salvation. This … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 30

1929 The first service of the Humanist Society, the first independent Humanist congregation, was held at Steinway Hall in New York City. Charles Francis Potter, a Unitarian minister and one of the signers of the first Humanist Manifesto, conducted the service and delivered the sermon, “A New Faith for a New Age.” The post September … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 29

1887 – The influential Universalist Clinton Lee Scott was born in Newport, Vermont. He served Universalist churches all across the country. He also served as superintendent of churches for the Massachusetts and later Connecticut Universalist Conventions. Scott founded the Charles Street Meeting House in Boston in 1949 and was one of the architects of the consolidation … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 28

The Seal of Raków, Poland 1616 – The Unitarian Church in Rakow, Poland, sent Peter Statorius III and John Lunkwitz to Altorf, Germany, to help free Unitarian students imprisoned for their beliefs. The post September 27 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.