This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 12

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1820 – Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy. From a distinguished Unitarian family in England, she trained as a nurse. She volunteered in the Crimean War and took 38 nurses with her to set up a barrack hospital. Nightingale devoted many years to army sanitary reform and to improving nursing and public health.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 27

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1791 Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of orthodox minister Jedediah Morse. He was an artist, creating well-known portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette. Morse also invented the finger-key transmitter for the telegraph and created the Morse code (1836). The first transmission was “What hath God wrought!” on May 24, 1844. An advocate of higher education for women, he founded Vassar College in 1865 and Douglas College in 1871.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 26

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1866 – Historian Earl Morse Wilbur was born in Jericho, Vermont. He served as a Unitarian minister in Portland, Oregon, and was organizer, dean, professor of practical theology, and later president of Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry (later named Starr King). He wrote Our Unitarian Heritage (1925) and the two-volume A History of Unitarianism (1945-1952). Read more about Earl Morse Wilbur at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 25

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1778 – James Relly died. A prominent Methodist preacher in London, Relly fell into disfavor with his church in the 1730s because he preached universal salvation. John Murray attended Relly’s worship reluctantly. Murray converted to Universalist belief and left England in 1770 to become the first Universalist preacher in America.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 24

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1859 – William Turner died at 95. An outstanding Unitarian minister for 60 years of Newcastle-on-Tyne in England, he compiled the important book Lives of Eminent Unitarians (1840).

 

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 23

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1803 – Adin Ballou was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island. A minister of Prince Street Universalist Society in New York City, he helped establish and maintain the utopian Hopedale Community in Massachusetts. He supported the idea of Restorationism, or limited future punishment, against the more liberal views of his famous cousin, Hosea Ballou, who held there would be no future punishment at all. Read more about Adin Ballou at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 22

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1759 – James Freeman was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He became minister of King’s Chapel in Boston after the congregation agreed to remove references to the Trinity from the Book of Common Prayer. Read more about James Freeman at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 21

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1805 – James Martineau was born in Norwich, England. He was an outstanding philosopher and Unitarian theologian, minister, and professor and principal of Manchester College. His book The Rationale of Religious Enquiry (1836) argued for reason as superior in authority to the Bible. He published such major works as The Seat of Authority in Religion (1890). Read prayers by James Martineau.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 20

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1821 – The first issue of the Unitarian periodical The Christian Register was published. It was edited by David Reed and supported by leading Unitarians of Boston and New England, who provided funding and prestige. Read a biography of David Reed, founder of The Christian Register.

The post April 20 first appeared on Harvard Square Library.

Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History April 19

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1889 – Emily Taft Douglas was born in Chicago. After graduating from the University of Chicago, she became statewide organizer for the Illinois League of Women Voters. She married Paul Howard Douglas, a senator from Illinois (1948-1967) and was elected to the U.S. House of representatives herself in 1944. Her publications include Margaret Sanger: Pioneer of the Future (1970). Douglas was president of the Unitarian Women’s Alliance, moderator of the American Unitarian Association, and trustee of Meadville/Lombard Theological School. Read more about Emily Taft Douglas at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

[Please note that some sources list Douglas’s birthdate as April 10th and others give the 19th; for the purposes of this calendar’s consistency, we will leave her on the 19th. -Director.] 

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