Background

Jenkin Lloyd Jones was born on November 14, 1843 in Wales, and was brought to the United States by his parents in 1844. His parents were Richard Lloyd and Mary (Thomas) Jones, from Wales, where his ancestors, Jenkin Jones and David Lloyd, were pioneer Arminian ministers.

Education

Sauk County, Wisconsin, afforded him a meager schooling. After teaching school in Wisconsin, 1865-66, he entered the Meadville Theological School, Meadville, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1870.

Career

Enlisting August 14, 1862, in the 6th Battery, Wisconsin Artillery, in obedience to "conscience, not the government", he took part in the battles of Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and Missionary Ridge, and was mustered out July 18, 1865, a confirmed opponent of war.

Then, upon graduation in 1870 from Meadville Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he was ordained a Unitarian minister and ordained to the Unitarian ministry the same year, he served at Winnetka, Illinois, 1870-71, then at Janesville, Wisconsin, 1871-80.

In 1872 he began the publication of a series of Sunday School lessons for liberal churches, radically different from all contemporary courses because of their emphasis upon the evolution of man, the mythical analogies and ethical harmony of the great world religions, the flowering of Christianity into a universal religion of ethical theism (Erasmus to Emerson), and the credos in verse of great modern poets. Into the work of the secretaryship of the Western Unitarian Conference which he filled from 1875 to 1884, he threw himself with pioneer zeal, that resulted at first in phenomenal progress but later, owing to his insistence upon ethical rather than theological unanimity as the basis of liberal fellowship and missionary work, in the withdrawal (1887 - 94) from the Conference of many of the conservative churches. The Conference, however, has never lost the gains and the catholic spirit of his secretaryship.

In 1885 he undertook the full ministry of All Souls Church, Chicago, whose bond of union was his own work: "We join ourselves together in the interest of Morality and Religion as interpreted by the growing thought and purest lives of Humanity, hoping thereby to bear one another's burdens and to promote Truth, Righteousness and Love in the world. " This church became the spiritual dynamo of the Abraham Lincoln Center, founded in 1905. Its name recalls the devotion to the Emancipator which led Jones, after a pilgrimage to the Lincoln birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky, 1904, to write in his paper, Unity (March 24, 1904), an editorial on "The Neglected Shrine" which, through the interest of Collier's Weekly, led to the rehabilitation and dedication of cabin and farm as a national memorial.

With William C. Gannett he wrote The Faith That Makes Faithful (copyright 1886). Other significant publications of his include: Jess: Bits of Wayside Gospel (1899); A Search for an Infidel (1901); Love for the Battle-Torn Peoples (1916). His ideal of universal religion inspired not only his founding of the Tower Hill (Wisconsin) Summer School in 1889, but his general secretaryship of the World's Parliament of Religions, in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

As editor, 1880-1918, of Unity, a religious weekly dedicated to "Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion, " he advocated most of the great social reforms of this period. He was an unrepentant member of the Ford Peace Ship Mission (December 1915 - March 1916), while his editorial opposition to war in general and to the United States' participation in the World War led to the suspension of Unity in July and August 1918 by the post-master-general.

Achievements

• With characteristic energy and originality Jenkin Jones organized a mutual improvement society, embracing literary, scientific, civic, and philanthropic interests, that served as a pattern of many similar organizations ("Unity clubs") in Unitarian churches of the Middle W. Between 1886 and 1915 Jones was active in more than 20 associations and reform movements. He was the founder and first president of the Illinois State Charities, vice president of the American Humane Society, a board member of the Poetry Society of America, honorary vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League, leader of the Anti-Saloon League of Chicago, director of the Non-Smokers Protective League, a charter member of the Civic Federation of Chicago, and founder of the Helen Heath Settlement House. He lectured in English at the University of Chicago and at Meadville, where he also served on the board. Another Jones's achievement was in his help to found the liberal religious and reform weekly, Unity in 1878, which he was also the editor of untill his death. In 1887 he helped found the Chicago Institute for Instruction in Letters, Morals, and Religion and became a trustee of Antioch College. He helped begin the Post Office Mission, an early form of The Church of the Larger Fellowship, which mailed sermons and tracts to people living far from any Unitarian church.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Civil War: An Artilleryman's Diary (Annotated)

    (SUBJECT United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 ...)

  • Love for the Battle-Torn Peoples Sermon-Studies (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Love for the Battle-Torn Peoples Sermon-Stud...)

  • On the Firing Line in the Battle for Sobriety (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from On the Firing Line in the Battle for Sobriet...)

  • Love for the Battle-Torn Peoples: Sermon-Studies

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Prayers

    ("Outward things are easily discussed; those things which ...)

  • The Women's Uprising: A Sermon of the Women's Congress Held in Chicago, May 15-21, 1893

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • A Search for an Infidel; Bits of Wayside Gospel

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • Jess; Bits of Wayside Gospel

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • The carpenter's son: the leader of men. A Christmas preparation sermon

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Practical Piety. Four Discourses Delivered at Central Music Hall, Chicago

    ( About the Book Biographical books, or bios, are detaile...)

  • Love for the Battle-Corn Peoples

    (This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book publ...)

  • The Faith that Makes Faithful

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • An Artilleryman's Diary

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • A Chorus of Faith as Heard in the Parliament of Religions: Vol. 1

    (A Chorus of Faith as Heard in the Parliament of Religions...)

  • Love and loyalty

Religion

In his religious denomination Jenkins Jones was an Unitarian. He grew up in a churchgoing family, but then he became a radical theist, and tried to move Unitarianism away from a Christian focus towards non-sectarian engagement with world religion. Later in life, during a time of popular enthusiasm for war, he was a prominent pacifist.

Views

Beginning with Mary Safford, Jones promoted women in ministry and helped to make theological education easier for them. Women ministers, a number of whom where known as the "Iowa Sisterhood, " loyally supported his missionary policies. He gave lectures that addressed the role of women in the home and in society. Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon recalled his lecture on Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House as "a plea for recognition of womanhood as womanhood. Womanhood first, this being right, wifehood and motherhood would take care of themselves. " In his later years Jones campaigned for votes for women, billing himself as "America's aboriginal suffragist. "

After founding the liberal religious and reform weekly, Unity in 1878, which he was also the editor of, the masthead principles of Unity were "Freedom, Fellowship, and Character. " On the editorial board with him were William Channing Gannett (co-editor), James Vila Blake, Henry Martin Simmons, John Learned, and Frederick L. Hosmer. This group, known as the "Unity men, " guided the magazine until 1892, helped to clarify Jones's thinking, and supported his missionary goals. Together, they opposed basing Unitarian fellowship upon any doctrine whatsoever, but defined it as the common effort to improve human life.

Quotations: “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey . .. delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. ”

“Life is just like an old time rail journey . .. delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. ”

“There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed.

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .

Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. ”

Membership

In 1886 Jones became a charter member of the Chicago Peace Society. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1895. He was also a member of the following organizations: the American Humane Society, the Poetry Society of America, the Anti-Imperialist League, the Anti-Saloon League of Chicago, the Non-Smokers Protective League.

Personality

Jones was a man of immense energy and striking appearance, stocky and sturdy, with a shaggy head of hair, full beard, and deep-set eyes.

Jenkin Jones was a man of the Pauline type, great-hearted, tender, tolerant, a born helper of souls. His values were spiritual. For this reason he often ignored physical facts. He was human, sensitive to hurt, at times susceptible to designing flattery that defeated his better ends. He was sometimes too ready to trust. He was capable of mistake. But he always had the courage of his convictions.

He loved a good comedy. He enjoyed jokes. He laughed heartily. Just as he was moved by mirth, so was he moved by tenderness. Deep sympathies laid hold on his heart. His strong preaching was always filled with sentiment but never with sentimentalism. He was dynamic. It was nothing uncommon for his congregation to break out in applause. More than once the people were moved to a standing cheer while his hands would be raised in protest. Except in most unseasonable weather, through many years his church was filled to standing room only and at times hundreds had to turn away.

Connections

Jones was first married to Married to Susan C. Barber in 1870. His first wife bore him a son and a daughter and died in 1911. He married Mrs. Edith Lackersteen in 1915.

Father:

Richard Lloyd Jones

Mother:

Mary (Thomas) Jones

1st wife:

Susan C. Barber

collaborator:

Mary Safford

American Unitarian Universalist minister.

2nd wife:

Edith Lackersteen

Daughter:

Mary Jones

colleague:

Henry Martin Simmons

colleague:

John Learned

colleague:

William Channing Gannett

co-editor

colleague:

Frederick Lucian Hosmer

American Unitarian minister who served congregations in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and California.

colleague:

James Vila Blake

American Unitarian minister, essayist, playwright and hymn writer and poet.

Partner:

William C. Gannett

Son:

Richard Lloyd Jones

References

• Heralds of a Liberal Faith. II the Pioneers, pp. 1-306
• The Unitarians and the Universalists by David Robinson (1985-04-10)
• The Proceedings of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society Volume XIX - Part I -- 1980-1981
• Freedom Moves West: A History of the Western Unitarian Conference, 1852-1952 by Charles H. Lyttle (2006-06-15)
• Historical Dictionary of Unitarian Universalism (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements Series)