Mary & Daniel Livermore On Christmas Eve in 1843, Mary Rice took a walk around Duxbury, Massachusetts where she served as headmistress of a school. In the midst of another theological crisis, she pondered whether life had meaning. As she passed the Universalist church she was attracted by the cheerful singing coming from within. Mary had never attended either a Christmas service or a Universalist service, the Baptists considering the former to be popish and the latter to be outside the Christian pale. Nevertheless, she entered and found herself surprised and uplifted by the message she heard. After the service she introduced herself to the church's young minister, Daniel Livermore, and inquired where she might find some Universalist literature. With books borrowed from Daniel's library, Mary "was soon deep in a course of theological reading and study." William Ellery Channing's "Moral Argument against Calvinism" proved especially convincing to her. She met with Daniel frequently. As a result, Mary embraced Universalism and Daniel and Mary fell in love. Although friends and some members of her family disapproved, they were wed in 1845. Their strong marriage lasted for over half a century. Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (1820-1905) was a key organizer for the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. Afterwards, she became a leader of the woman suffrage and temperance movements, and a popular lecturer on social reform. Her husband, Daniel Parker Livermore (1818-1899) was a Universalist minister, a social activist, an editor, and a writer. Their lives and careers were inextricably linked from the time of their first meeting in 1843 until Daniel's death. . . . Read more about the Livermores