1743 – Thomas Jefferson was born in Shadwell, Virginia. As delegate to the Continental Congress (1775-76), he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson also wrote the Statue for Religious Freedom of Virginia, where he served as governor. He was the U.S. minister to France, was appointed secretary of state under George Washington, became vice president … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 13
1912 – Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, died at age 90. The Joslin Diabetes Center is located at her birthplace in North Oxford, Massachusetts, a historic site. She worked with the wounded in the Civil War and provided supplies for medical personnel. President Abraham Lincoln asked her to search for missing … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 12
1865 – Mary White Ovington was born in Brooklyn. She spent her life fighting for social justice. Inspired by Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois, she was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for which she worked tirelessly for decades. Ovington lived in the Tuskegee Apartments in … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 11
1778 – William Hazlitt was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, also named William, was a prominent Unitarian Minister. Young William became an artist and well-known literary figure. He was a friend of Charles Lamb. The post April 10 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 10
1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz was born in Breslau, Germany. A hunchback, he took the name “Proteus” to express his wish that he could change his shape, as the Greek god did. He was forced to Flee Germany because of his political activities as a socialist, and he came to America to work for General … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 9
1889 – Sir Adrian Boult was born in Chester, England. He was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra, musical director of the BBC, conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of the London Philharmonic. He was an active Unitarian layman. The post April 8 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 8
1780 – William Ellery Channing, “the father of American Unitarianism,” was born in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1903 he became minister of the Federal Street Church, now the Arlington Street Church. He created a stir with the sermon he preached at the ordination of Jared Sparks, “Unitarian Christianity.” A statue of him stands at one … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 7
1769 – Charles Wellbeloved, an English Unitarian minister, was born. He saved Manchester college from extinction, and it survives today as an important college of Oxford University. A distinguished preacher, he ministered to St. Saviorgate Chapel (Unitarian) in York for 67 years. He founded many civic organizations in York, including the Philosophical Society and the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 6
1904 – The Irish Unitarian philosopher and writer Frances Power Cobbe died at age 82. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she became Unitarian as a result of reading A Discourse of Religion by Theodore Parker. She wrote major works of philosophy, including Cities of the Past (1864). Cobbe advocated the importance of listening to one’s own soul. … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 5
1802 – Dorothea Lynde Dix was born in Hampden, Maine. She was a teacher who wrote several school texts. She also worked for prison reform and founded the first public hospitals for paupers and the mentally disabled. The U.S. government appointed her supervisor of female nurses during the Civil War. She was instrumental in building … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 4
