Background
Both Whitman’s father and grandfather were prominent New York surgeons.
Both Whitman’s father and grandfather were prominent New York surgeons.
After spending his formative years in Manhattan, Whitman went on to study at. In what was, at the time, a humiliating turn, he was kicked out after his first semester for failing an advanced-level history course he was placed in. Disgraced, he returned to New York and took work as a messenger boy for a carpet company and a Wall Street bank.
lieutenant was at a party in New York that Whitman met the then secretary of labor, Frances Perkins.
The two became friends and Perkins wound up getting Whitman a job in District of Columbia, at the Department of Labor.
Though again, it was a small post as a messenger boy.
Perkins and Whitman stayed in contact and it was after Whitman revealed his interest in the ministry that Perkins encouraged him to follow his interest by attending seminary. Whitman did, going on to graduate from the Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Whitman was later quoted as saying, "I guess when I think about it, I’ve been a messenger boy my entire life!".
He lived, preached and served his congregation at Trinity Church in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts’ Berkshires served as the backdrop for Whitman’s substantive ministry. He later returned to the ministry, however, as rector of Saint Martin’s Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.