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Birth
I was born in Warren, Connecticut to a New England family. -
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My Life
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Moving
My family and I moved to New York State, living in the central and western regions. -
Settling in Henderson
Sometime between 1794 and 1800, my family moved to Henderson near Lake Ontario and I spent most of my adolescence there. -
Move to Adams, New York
When I was a young man, I decided to move to Adams, New York in order to search for a direction in my life, for something I wanted to do. -
Studying Law
I began an internship under lawyer Benjamin Wright in order to study law. -
Joining the Church
I joined my local Presbyterian Church, led by Reverend George W. Gale, and discovered I was surprisingly good at playing the cello and leading the choir. I always thought I was more of a pianist myself but you don't choose your talents, I guess. At this time I decided I needed to settle the question on what would happen to my soul and salvation. -
Finding God
One day in Autumn, I happened to be taking a stroll through the woods when I felt the strangest warmth, the strangest sensation come over me. I felt like I was filled with His love, and I knew what I had to do. It was a dramatic experience, and I was immediately converted to the ways of the lord. -
Quitting Law
The next day, I resigned from Mr. Wright's Law Firm and went to find my place as a servant of God. -
St. Lawrence Presbytery
St. Lawrence Presbytery took me under their care and helped me on my path to preach the ways of the lord and become a pastor. -
Becoming a Missionary
The Female Missionary Society of Western New York commissioned me as a missionary. -
Marraige
I married my first wife Lydia Andrews in 1824. -
Visiting Gale
Lydia and I were making our journey to Whitestown to visit her parents, when we stopped and stayed for a while in Western, NY to visit my old friend and pastor Gale. He asked me to preach, and when I obliged him, crowds came to see me, astounded and seeking salvation and ways to convert. I again did the same in Utica and Rome, NY and more and more people came to see me. Nobody had paid me much mind before, but now I had a real following and supporters. -
New Measures
As my support grew, so too did the opposition. I had new practices, new measures that people disliked. I believed, unlike Calvinists, unbelieving was a matter of will not, not cannot. I allowed women to pray alongside men, I had an anxiety bench, the language was very informal, and meetings were daily. Unitarians disliked me because I believed any nonbelievers would be going to Hell, and they thought I was using scare tactics. That implies that Hell is not real. It is, children. You'll find out. -
New Measures Meeting
A meeting was held to decide whether my New Measures were okay and ethical. I, of course, came out more popular and still alowed to be a pastor, because that's what I do. I win. -
Rochester
Between 1830 and 1831, I was an extremely popular pastor in Rochester, NY. The whole city came to my sermons, the shopkeepers even closing down and encouraging patrons to come listen to me speak. -
Anti-slavery Preachings
Starting in the 1830s, I refused to let slaveholders take communion in any of my churches. I believe slavery is immoral and outlawed by God himself. -
Chatham Street Chapel
I was offered a pastorate at Chatham Street Chapel in NYC and I gladly accepted. I made several lectures that I had transcribed and published as "Lectures on Revivals of Religion". The book admittedly caused some controversy (as well as making me more famous) and I was eventually condemned by members of my own congregation. So, I left, and formed the New School Presbyterian Congregation. -
Broadway Tabernacle
A few of my close, wonderful friends helped me build my own church, known as the Broadway Tabernacle, designed specifically for me to preach in. It was somewhere I could be safe to say what I wanted to say and do what I wanted to do. -
Moving to Ohio
Later in the year, I moved to Ohio to teach at Oberlin college -
Abolition
Anti-slavery had been a part of my teachings and principles since the 1830s. I grew to be friends with two very wealthy brothers, the Tappans, and they paid for my family to move to Ohio to teach at Oberlin. I began to write for the Oberlin Evangelist, and grew increasingly more involved in social movements. I linked many antislavery circles and turned people over to the way of the lord, condemning slavery. Oberlin even became a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the scene of a slave rescue! -
Death of Lydia
The late 1840s were a rough time. I was starting to see so many converts backslide, and when I created a doctrine of perfectionism, people railed against me. I did not understand why many of my closest followers and friends had lost the way of the lord - and then, I lost someone forever. My wife Lydia who I had been married to for 23 years passed away, leaving me and five children. I was heartbroken. I eventually remarried and found a new partner in my preachings, but Lydia was one-of-a-kind. -
Presidency at Oberlin
For 15 years I served as the president of Oberlin College, teaching theology, and writing in opposition of freemasonry. -
My Memoirs
In 1868, I was encouraged by my friends to start writing a memoir of my revivals, a sort of autobiography. I quickly began work on them. -
Death
After a lifetime of servitude to God and spreading His love, I died peacefully. My legacy as an abolitionist and revivalist still lives on to this day.
