1844 – Meadville Theological School formally opened in Meadville, Pennsylvania, as a school to train Unitarian ministers. Many believed that churches should not be solely dependent on Harvard Divinity School for ministerial training. The Meadville Theological School moved to Chicago in 1926, incorporating with the University of Chicago. Read about Frederic Huidekoper, founder of the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 1

1740 – John Frederick Oberlin was born. A simple village parson in Alsace, France, he was animated by his belief in universal salvation and the triumph of universal good. He ran a village school that was noted for its nurturing spirit, especially toward girls. During the French Revolution, his reputation spared him from anticlerical excess. … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 31

1784 – Mary Austin Holley was born in New Haven, Connecticut. She was reared Episcopalian and became a Unitarian as an adult. A cousin of Stephen F. Austin, “Father of Texas,” Holley promoted independence from Mexico for Texas, which was achieved in 1836, and Texas statehood, which was made official the year of her death, … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 30

1632 – The philosopher John Locke was born in Wrington, Somerset, England. He trained in medicine and the humanities but became a public servant and diplomat. He wrote extensively on the importance of government as a peacemaker and non-religious authority, including his famous Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Civil Government. His writings on New Testament … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 29

1859 – James Henry Leigh Hunt, an English poet and editor of The Monthly Repository, a Unitarian journal, died at age 74. He was a Unitarian and associated with many Unitarians of his day, including Charles Dickens, Harriet Martineau, and Charles Lamb. He is best remembered for his poems “Abou ben Adhem” and “Jennie Kissed … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 28

1866 – John Pierpont, a Unitarian minister and abolitionist, died at age 81.First a lawyer and then a businessman, he became Unitarian, studied for the ministry, and settled at Hollis Street Church in Boston. In 1845, the church dismissed Pierpont for preaching abolitionism, a cause he continued to champion. Read more about John Pierpont at: … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 27

1949 – Clarence Russell Skinner, a Universalist leader, died at age 68. He was a professor of applied Christianity and dean of Crane Theological School, as well as a secretary of the Universalist Service Commision. A pacifist, Skinner wrote the Universalist Statement of Social Principles. Read more about Clarence Russell Skinner at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 26

1911 – Kenneth Leo Patton was born in Three Oaks, Michigan. He was a Unitarian minister in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1942 to 1948 and served in the Charles Street Meeting House (Universalist) in Boston from 1949 to 1964. A leading influence in Universalism, he wrote A Religion for One World, and helped edit Hymns for … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 25

1862 – Samuel Atkins Eliot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From an accomplished Boston family, he began his ministry in 1889 with pastorates in Seattle, Washington and Denver, Colorado. In 1893, he traveled back east to take up a ministry in Brooklyn, New York. In 1898 he became secretary of the American Unitarian Association then … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 24

1623 – Stanisław Lubieniecki was born in Rakow, Poland. He was a learned Polish knight but relinquished his place at court to become a Unitarian minister. As Polish civil magistrates began their persecution of his religion, Lubieniecki devoted many years and much of his money to finding safe havens for his parishioners. He also created … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History August 23