Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), American clergyman and abolitionist, one of the most popular preachers of his day.

The son of Lyman Beecher, Henry was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 24, 1813, and educated at Amherst College and at the Lane Theological Seminary. In 1847, after serving as pastor to Presbyterian congregations in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and Indianapolis, Indiana, he became the pastor of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, New York. He held this post for the rest of his life and became one of the most famous pulpit orators and lecturers in American history. His theological views were fairly orthodox, but he attracted and held huge audiences in the United States and England with his brilliant speeches and leadership at services and revival meetings and by his espousal of such controversial causes as the biological theory of evolution and scientific historical study of biblical texts.

One of the earliest and best-known supporters of the abolitionists, Beecher was also an effective proponent of women's rights, particularly woman suffrage. From 1861 to 1863 he was editor in chief of the Independent, a religious and political periodical largely devoted to these causes, and from 1870 to 1881 he edited The Christian Union (later The Outlook), a similar publication. In 1874 Beecher's former friend and successor as editor of the Independent, the American journalist and writer Theodore Tilton, brought suit for damages against him, charging that Beecher had committed adultery with Tilton's wife. A trial held in that year ended in a disagreement by the jury, leaving Beecher's reputation uncleared, and although later investigations, including an investigation by a council of Congregational churches, fully exonerated him, his later years remained clouded by the scandal. He died in Brooklyn, on March 8, 1887.

Beecher's published works comprise mainly reprinted sermons, lectures, and magazine articles. His other writings include the novel Norwood; or, A Tale of Village Life in New England (1867) and The Life of Jesus the Christ (4 volumes, 1871-91).

See also Abolitionists.