Biography

Blackwell, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Blackwell - ca. 1877 - Library of Congress
Elizabeth Blackwell – ca. 1877 – Library of Congress

Elizabeth Blackwell (February 23, 1821-May 31, 1910) was the first woman to earn a degree from medical school in the United States and the first woman to appear on the medical registry of the United Kingdom.

Young, Joshua

Rev. Joshua Young, Unitarian Minister and Underground Operator
Rev. Joshua Young, Unitarian Minister and Underground Operator

Reverend Joshua Young (September 23, 1823- February 7, 1904), Unitarian minister who served five congregations throughout his lifetime, was best known as the clergyman who officiated at the funeral of abolitionist John Brown.

West, Robert Nelson

Robert Nelson WestRobert Nelson West (January 28, 1929-September 27, 2017) was a Unitarian Universalist minister and the second president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). During his presidency (1969-1977) he rescued the Association from bankruptcy, and then reshaped it’s internal structure. Through careful stewardship and increased outside funding he assured that it had a reliable economic base.…

Huidekoper, Harm Jan

Harm Jan Huidekoper
Harm Jan Huidekoper

Harm Jan Huidekoper (April 3, 1776–May 22, 1854) was a businessman, philanthropist, essayist and lay theologian, a vice president of the American Unitarian Association, and a founder of the   Meadville Theological School. Not well-known in the annals of American Unitarian history, he was nonetheless acquainted with many prominent Unitarians in his time.

Carter, Samuel

Samuel CarterSamuel Carter (May 15, 1805-January 31, 1878) was a lawyer who shaped the legal codification and business practices of the early railways in England. For nearly four decades he was solicitor to two of the corporations that created Britain’s rail network.…

Vonnegut, Kurt

Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Kurt Vonnegut Jr

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922-April 11, 2007) was an American novelist also known for short stories, essays, and plays. His writing often displays a darkly comic and satirical style revealing serious moral commentary, sometimes through the medium of science fiction.

McEldowney, William Joseph

William McEldowneyWilliam Joseph McEldowney (1889-1967) was an accountant and lawyer before switching—in mid-life—to the Unitarian ministry. Raised among Methodists and Presbyterians, he was in his forties when he started attending Unitarian services in Wellington, New Zealand. Attracted to the ministry, he enrolled at Manchester College, Oxford in England.…

Palmer, Thomas Fyshe

Thomas Fyshe PalmerThomas Fyshe Palmer (July 1747-June 2, 1802) was one of five, eighteenth-century British political reformers, who came to be known as “The Scottish Martyrs”. Palmer was born in England, educated at Cambridge University, and ordained to the Anglican clergy before falling under the influence of Joseph Priestley.…

Reid, Helen Richmond Young

Helen Richmond Young Reid (December 11, 1869-June 8, 1941) was a Montreal social worker involved in local, national, and international reform movements. A life long Unitarian, she founded and directed a number of charitable and educational organizations. She served on government committees and she published articles and books in the fields of social welfare, public health, and immigration.…

Ronalds, Francis

Sir Francis Ronalds
Sir Francis Ronalds

Sir Francis Ronalds (February 21, 1788-August 8, 1873) – inventor, engineer and scientist – is known for building the first working electric telegraph and, while director of the Kew Observatory, the first successful continuously-recording camera. He was also arguably the first electrical engineer.

Robinson, Elmo Arnold

 Elmo Arnold Robinson
Elmo Arnold Robinson

Elmo Arnold Robinson (January 1, 1887- January 17, 1972) was a Unitarian Universalist minister, a professor of philosophy for thirty years at San Jose State University in California, and a scholar of American Universalism, especially its history in Ohio and Indiana.