Samuel Gilman (February 16, 1791-February 9, 1858) was arguably the most important and dedicated leader of the ultimately unsuccessful effort to establish Unitarianism in the antebellum South. He served the Archdale Street Church, the only Unitarian congregation in South Carolina, for almost 40 years and became a central figure in Charleston’s social and intellectual life.…
John Relly Beard (August 4, 1800-November 22, 1876), British educational reformer and minister, was a militant exponent and populariser of mid-Victorian Unitarianism. His most enduring achievement is the Unitarian Home Missionary Board.
John was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, the first of John and Ann Beard’s nine children.
John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767-February 23, 1848) spent most of his youth and adult life in public service to the United States, as senator, diplomat, secretary of state, president, and congressman. He made his greatest contribution to his country after his presidency, while serving in the United States House of Representatives as a staunch opponent of slavery and expansionist war.
Robert Spears (September 25, 1825-February 25, 1899), a remarkably able and successful Unitarian minister, was the voice of Biblically-based British Unitarianism in his day. He organized or reinvigorated twelve congregations and founded journals and social service organizations. Because of his great energy he has been called the Unitarian dynamo of the 19th century.…
William Hamilton Drummond (August 1778-October 16, 1865), a leading 19th century Irish non-subscribing Presbyterian minister and Unitarian Christian theologian, was also an honored poet, an educationalist and an early advocate of the rights of animals.
Born in Larne in August, 1778, Drummond was the son of William Drummond, a naval surgeon, and Rose Hare.…
John Turner Sargent (July 12, 1807-March 26, 1877) served as a Unitarian minister-at” align=right>t-large in Boston for eight years. Deeply committed to the poor and to freedom of the pulpit, he was active in many causes, including woman’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery.
John E. Wood (July 30, 1910-June 15, 1980), Universalist and Unitarian Universalist minister and denominational official, played a significant part, first in preparing the way for the Unitarian-Universalist consolidation, and then in raising environmental consciousness within the Unitarian Universalist denomination.
Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812-June 9, 1870) is often considered the finest English novelist of the 19th century. His enduring comic characters are part of the culture. He is known as well for exposing the wretchedness of the downtrodden, for his anger at their heartless oppression and for his contribution to the celebration of Christmas.
Maurice B. Visscher (August 25, 1901-May 1, 1983) was an internationally recognized physiologist and an outspoken and active citizen. His work as medical researcher and teacher, in linking the science of physiology with the practice of surgery, led to major developments in cardiovascular surgery.…
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832-March 6, 1888), best known as the author of Little Women, was an advocate of abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. Her stories, novels, and poems helped to support the Alcott family, and most have now been republished, widening her reputation beyond that of children’s author and bringing fresh critical notice to her work.…
Celia Burleigh (September 18, 1826-July 25, 1875) was ordained at Brooklyn, Connecticut, on October 5, 1871, the first woman to enter Unitarian ministry. Had this event not occurred, she would be remembered chiefly as a writer, editor, public speaker, and activist in a number of reform movements, preeminently women’s rights.
George Ripley (October 3, 1802-July 4, 1880), minister of the Purchase Street Church in Boston, 1826-41, was a central figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 1830s and 40s, a founder in 1841 of the Brook Farm commune, and later one of America’s most prominent literary reviewers and critics.