Charles Francis Barnard

Background

He was born on April 17, 1808, on South St. , Boston, the eldest son of Charles and Sarah (Bent) Barnard.

Education

After studying at the Boston Latin School and under private tutors, he entered Harvard College as a sophomore, graduating in 1828, and then attended the Harvard Divinity School.

Career

In 1834 he was ordained as a Unitarian minister at large; William Ellery Channing, delivering the charge, used these words, "The only power to oppose to evil is love, strong, enduring love, a benevolence which no crime or wretchedness can conquer, and which therefore can conquer all. " Barnard lived and worked in this spirit. Already he had enlisted in philanthropic work among the poorer classes under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Tuckerman, the pioneer of such service in Boston. It soon appeared that Barnard's talents best adapted him for work among children. In 1832, in the parlors of Dorothea Dix, he gathered a class of three waifs, which rapidly grew. After temporary connection with Hollis Street Church, and inadequate accommodation elsewhere, Barnard, failing to enlist support from the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches (Unitarian) under which he had been serving, appealed to the public for funds for a suitable building. In January 1836 Warren Street Chapel, "the Children's church, " was opened, with 730 children in attendance. Here for thirty years Barnard preached and educated children. He was a pioneer in seeking and winning street boys and girls, surrounding them in the chapel with music, pictures, and flowers; giving them outings, establishing evening classes and a free public library. He originated children's Fourth-of-July floral processions, and personally financed a public greenhouse on the Back Bay marshes, where, largely because of his efforts, Boston's Public Garden now blooms.

During the Civil War, Warren Street Chapel became under Barnard's superintendence a recruiting center; to it the Union Army owed 500 soldiers. In 1866 the strain of his work affected his mind; thereafter, except for a brief period of service for children at the Harvard Church, Charlestown, Massachussets, he lived in retirement at West Newton. In 1884 he voluntarily entered the McLean Asylum, Somerville, where he died.

Achievements

• He is known as a philanthropist and educator. In 1889 Warren Street Chapel was renamed Barnard Memorial Chapel.

Religion

After temporary connection with Hollis Street Church, and inadequate accommodation elsewhere, Barnard, failing to enlist support from the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches (Unitarian) under which he had been serving, appealed to the public for funds for a suitable building.

Connections

Barnard was twice married: in May 1834 to Adeline Russell, who died within a month; and in January 1837 to Sarah Holmes, by whom he had six children.

Father:

Charles Barnard

Mother:

Sarah (Bent) Barnard

Wife:

Adeline Russell

Wife:

Sarah Holmes