David B. Chesebrough

Background

David B. Chesebrough was born on March 14, 1932, in Cooperstown, New York, United States. He was an adopted son of Florence J. Chesebrough, a registered nurse.

Education

Chesebrough studied at Wheaton College, receiving his bachelor's degree from it in 1954. He then became Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1958. Later, in 1975, he received his master's degree from Loyola University of Chicago. Chesebrough also graduated from Illinois State University in 1988.

Career

Chesebrough had worked for twenty-five years as an American Baptist minister, and for ten years as an academic. His writings, all related to the field of American religion, especially in the mid-nineteenth century, are a combination of many things learned from both careers.

Chesebrough had served as a pastor of American Baptist churches in Gosport, Indiana for three years from 1958, as well as in Hammond, Indiana from 1961 till 1970.

He had worked as an instructor in sociology at Judson College (now Judson University) for two years from 1970. Chesebrough was a pastor of American Baptist church in Normal, Illinois from 1972 till 1987. He also held a position of a member of graduate faculty in history at Illinois State University from 1988. Simultaneously, he took a position of an instructor at Lincoln Land Community College from 1972 to 1987.

Chesebrough took a position of an instructor of Normal Campus of Lincoln College during two periods of time - 1989-1991 and 1993-1994. In addition, he worked as an adjunct professor of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and as a speaker at Knox College. He retired from teaching in 2002.

Chesebrough had written his dissertation about the northern and southern clergy during the Civil War era, and between 1991 and 2002 he published seven books that combined his knowledge of that period with his professional skills in homiletics and deep comprehension of American theology.

Achievements

• Chesebrough received the Human Relations Award from Illinois Educational Association in 1980. He won the Herb Sanders Award in 1995, for “outstanding academic advisement”. Next year he obtained the Certificate of Merit from National Academic Advising Association.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Frederick Douglass: Oratory from Slavery

    (This book traces the development of Douglass's rhetorical...)

    1998
  • Theodore Parker: Orator of Superior Ideas

    (As a volume in the Great American Orators series, the foc...)

    1999
  • Charles G. Finney: Revivalistic Rhetoric

    (Chesebrough examines the rhetorical skills and techniques...)

    2002
  • Phillips Brooks: Pulpit Eloquence

    (This volume in the Great American Orators series focuses ...)

    2001
  • Clergy Dissent in the Old South, 1830 - 1865

    (Emphasizing the courage required and the cost of dissent ...)

    1996
  • No Sorrow Like Our Sorrow 1994

Views

Quotations: "Writing is not something I have to do, but something I want to do."

Membership

Chesebrough was a member of the American Society of Church History, the Southern Historical Society and the Illinois Historical Society.

Connections

Chesebrough was married to Terri Gray. The couple is survived by two children - Brenda Boscarino and Timothy, as well as by a grandson Tyler Boscarino.

Wife:

Terri Gray

His wife was an insurance representative.

Daughter:

Brenda Boscarino

Son:

Timothy Chesebrough

Grandson:

Tyler Boscarino

Adoptive mother:

Florence J. Chesebrough