1935 – Caroline Julia Bartlett Crane died at 76. She was a Unitarian minister and activist for public kindergartens and urban sanitation. Born in Hudson, Wisconsin, she decided to become a minister in a time when ministry was considered an exclusively male profession. She was ordained in 1887 as a colleague of Mary Safford. The … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 24

1657 – Richard Coppin was arrested for preaching Universalism. One of the first two Englishmen known to have preached universal salvation, he was arrested under a 1648 statute that required belief in future judgment. There was an outcry against the law, and Coppin was released. The post March 23 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 23

1807 – Ephraim Peabody was born in Wilton, New Hampshire. He entered Harvard Divinity School in 1827, and became a tutor to Harm Jan Huidekoper, a Unitarian industrialist in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He served as editor of the Christian Register, a Unitarian magazine, while a minister in Cincinnati. He was called to King’s Chapel in Boston … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 22

1861 – Thomas Whittemore, a Universalist minister and historian, died at 61. He studied theology with Hosea Ballou, the “father of American Universalism,” and later wrote a biography of him. Whittemore edited Trumpet and Universalist Magazine (1828-1861), and wrote books on Universalsm, notably Plain Guide to Universalism (1840). Whittemore also served in the Massachusetts legislature … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 21

1834 – Charles W. Eliot was born in Boston. Both his father and uncle were mayors of Boston. He became president of Harvard University, expanding and upgrading the professional schools. Eliot was a member of the First Parish in Cambridge. His son, Unitarian minister Samuel Atkins Eliot, became the first president of the American Unitarian … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 20

1899 – Margaret Barr was born in England. She devoted her life to working with the Unitarians in the Khasi Hills in northeast India. She opened her first school in Shillong in the 1930s, and in 1977 the Barr Memorial Hospital opened in Kharang. Margaret Barr was greatly inspired by Mohandas Gandhi, whom she met … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 19

1568 The Act of Religious Freedom and Conscience (Edict of Torda) was issued by Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania, assuring religious freedom in his principality. He ruled from 1556 to 1570, and Geroge Blandata and Francis Dávid were members of his court. His conversion to Unitarianism occured at the Diet of Torda, where Unitarians won … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 18

Parliament of World Religions, 1893 1847 – Edwin Sweetser was born in Wakefield, Masachusetts. He was president of the Universalist General Convention from 1886 to 1887 and trustee from 1887 to 1903. He ordained the first African-American to the Universalist ministry in 1889. He was also a speaker at the World’s Parliament of Religions in … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 16

1719 – Following the Great Ejection from the Church of England James Pierce and 300 supporters and friends in Exeter formed the first congregation in England avowedly devoted to anti-Trinitarian worship. The only designation they assigned themselves was Christian. The post March 15 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History March 15

1583 – Faustus Socinus debated former Jesuit Christian Francken on the honor due Christ. Socinus debated in so scholarly and thorough a manner that Francken conceded defeat and withdrew. The post March 14 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.