Some famous Universalists, Unitarians, and Unitarian Universalists born this month.
Hosea Ballou 2nd (October 2/18, 1796, Guilford, VT – May 27, 1861, Medford, MA)
Author, clergyman, educator. In 1829 he published Ancient History of Universalism. He received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Harvard and became an Overseer of Harvard University in 1845. Ballou later served as president of Tufts College where he established the first curriculum that led to the Bachelor of Arts degree.
Eliza M. Tupper Wilkes (October 8, 1844 – 1917 Sioux Falls, SD)
Wilkes was ordained by both the Universalists and Unitarians in the late eighteen hundreds and served as first female minister at the First Universalist Church in Rochester, Minnesota from 1869 to 1873. In 1873 she moved to Colorado, set up a Unitarian congregation in Colorado Springs, and advocated voting rights for women.
Frances Dana Barker Gage (October 12, 1808, Marietta, OH, – November 10, 1884, Greenwich, CT)
‘Aunt Fanny’, women’s rights activist, journalist, temperance novelist, and associate editor of the “Ohio Cultivator” and “Field Notes”. During the Civil War she served as superintendent of a camp of freed slaves on Parris Island, SC, and later volunteered with the Western Sanitary Commission to care for wounded soldiers. Her first novel, Elsie Magoon, was published in 1867.
e e cummings/Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894, Cambridge, MA, – September 3, 1962, North Conway, NH)
Poet, painter essayist, and playwright.
Joseph Sill Clark (October 21, 1901, Philadelphia, PA, – January 12, 1990, Philadelphia, PA)
Lawyer, Served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II, as mayor of Philadelphia, PA, 1952-56, and U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania 1957-69. Was also a member of board of overseers of
Harvard University from 1953-1958.
Weston Edward Vivian (October 25, 1924, Newfoundland, CAN, -)
U.S. Representative from Michigan, research engineer and lecturer, and consultant.
Ida Mabel Folsom (October 27,1889, – November 1, 1979)
Teacher, author. She served as a science teacher at Aroostook State Normal School from 1912 until 1935 and authored “Lessons from the out-of-doors” in 1927.
John Adams (October 30, 1735, Braintree, MA, – July 4, 1826, Quincy, MA)
Lawyer, Delegate to Continental Congress from Massachusetts, signer of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Minister to the Netherlands and to Great Britain, Vice President of the United States, 1789-97, and President of the United States, 1797-1801.
Lucy Hunt Ballou (October 31, 1810, Milford, MA, – 1891, Hopedale, MA)
Helped form utopian Hopedale Community with husband Aidin in 1841. In 1842 she was appointed director of housekeeping. She ran the house as a free hotel for the community?s visitors and prospective residents and also helped to compose and edit Aidin’s works including
“The History of the Ballou Family in America”.
The Seven Principles
Peace Candles & First Thursdays Peace Vigils In April, 2003, Foxborough Universalist Church (UUFoxborough) lit the Peace Candle that sits in the front window of the church and serves as a symbol of the congregation’s continued prayers for peace, especially in Iraq. In the Fall of 2006, UUFoxborough’s Social Action Committee began the First Thursdays Peace Vigils and the community of vigilers have stood in front of the church with peace candles and signs once a month since then except for a few occasions due to extreme circumstances such as a blizzard and Covid-19 regulations. Please support this ongoing effort by joining the vigilers and a First Thursdays Peace Vigil sometime from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. any first Thursday.
In U/U/UU History
The Foxborough Universalist Church building was dedicated on October 4, 1843.
In April, 2003, Foxborough Universalist Church (UUFoxborough) lit the Peace Candle that sits in the front window of the church and serves as a symbol of the congregation’s continued prayers for peace, especially in Iraq. In the Fall of 2006, UUFoxborough’s Social Action Committee began the First Thursdays Peace Vigils and the community of vigilers have stood in front of the church with peace candles and signs once a month since then except for a few occasions due to extreme circumstances such as a blizzard and Covid-19 regulations. Please support this ongoing effort by joining the vigilers and a First Thursdays Peace Vigil sometime from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. any first Thursday.