Background
Thomas Beecher was born on February 10, 1824, in Litchfield, Connecticut, the twelfth of Lyman and Harriet (Porter) Beecher's thirteen children.
(Originally published in 1914. This volume from the Cornel...)
Originally published in 1914. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume.
https://www.amazon.com/Notable-Sermons-Thomas-Kinnicut-Beecher/dp/1112179615?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1112179615
https://www.amazon.com/lecture-delivered-Thomas-Beecher-January/dp/1425591108?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1425591108
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Churches-Thomas-Kinnicut-Beecher/dp/1166964841?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1166964841
Thomas Beecher was born on February 10, 1824, in Litchfield, Connecticut, the twelfth of Lyman and Harriet (Porter) Beecher's thirteen children.
Thomas Beecher was educated chiefly in the West, where, after a pastorate of some years in Boston, his father went to take charge of Lane Theological Seminary, when Thomas was about eight years old. He graduated from Illinois College, of which his brother Edward was president, in 1843; and later studied theology under his father.
Like the rest of the Beecher children he found himself unable to accept the Calvinistic doctrines which had overshadowed his youth, and instead of immediately entering the ministry he turned to teaching. He was principal of the North East Grammar School, Philadelphia, and later of the high school in Hartford, Connecticut. The urge to preach finally mastered him, however, and he was ordained in September 1851 at Williamsburg, New York, where he organized a Congregational church. In June 1854 he became pastor of the Independent Congregational Church, Elmira, New York, of which he continued as pastor and pastor emeritus until his death.
In 1863 Beecher was chosen chaplain of the 1416t New York Volunteers and served four months with the Army of the Potomac. During his long residence in Elmira he became one of its most picturesque and best known citizens. For years he edited a weekly "Miscellany, " first in the Elmira Advertiser, and later in the Gazette, in which he expressed independent, if not always defensible, views, some of which attracted wide attention.
He also became known as a pioneer in the "institutional church" movement. He built a new edifice, one of the first of its kind, equipped with gymnasium, library, lecture rooms, and other provisions for social work, which Mark Twain described under the title "A New Beecher Church" in A Curious Dream (1872). He took an advanced position regarding Sunday school methods, grading his school and requiring serious, systematic work on the part of teachers and pupils.
Although essentially orthodox, he was broad in his sympathies and in 1870 published Our Seven Churches, in which he set forth the admirable characteristics of the various denominations represented in Elmira, and in the last chapter, his own conception of the "Church of Christ. " He also published a considerable number of short pamphlets on various subjects, and after his death appeared In Tune with the Stars (1902), stories for children.
Thomas Beecher achieved success serving as the principal of the North-East Grammar School in Philadelphia (1846-1847); the head of the High School in Hartford Connecticut (1848-1851); the head of the Sunday school run by the Park Church, Elmira. Beecher is also known as a pioneer in the "institutional church" movement. He built a new edifice, one of the first of its kind, equipped with gymnasium, library, lecture rooms, and other provisions for social work. Beecher edited a weekly "Miscellany" in the Elmira Advertiser and the Gazette. He also published Our Seven Churches (1870) and In Tune with the Stars (1902). There is a memorial statue built in Elmira, New York where Thomas Beecher spent a large portion of his life.
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
(Originally published in 1914. This volume from the Cornel...)
Thomas Beecher was the candidate of various parties for political offices, but was never elected.
Thomas Beecher was a member of the Congregational Church.
A striking figure with his waving white hair, always shabbily dressed, for Beecher impoverished himself by his generosity, highly unconventional according to ministerial standards of the days, he was popular with all classes. To his parishioners he was affectionately known as "Father Tom. " Having a liking for mechanics, he long kept the town clock in order, and on his trips to New York, it is said, frequently ran the locomotive of the train on which he traveled.
On September 24, 1851, Thomas Beecher married Olivia Day, daughter of President Day of Yale College. She died in August 1853, and on January 21, 1857, he married Julia, daughter of Rev. Henry and Eliza (Webster) Jones, a granddaughter of Noah Webster.
