Henry
Ward Beecher,
the eighth son of the Rev. Lyman
Beecher, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on 24th June, 1813.
The brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe,
he was educated at the Lane Theological Seminary before becoming a
Presbyterian minister in Lawrenceburg (1837-39) and Indianapolis (1839-47).
His pamphlet, Seven
Lectures to Young Men, was published in 1844.
Beecher moved to Plymouth Church, Brooklyn in 1847. By this time he
had developed a national reputation for his oratorical skills, and
drew crowds of 2,500 regularly every Sunday. He strongly opposed slavery
and favoured temperance and woman's
suffrage.
Beecher condemned the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska
bill from his pulpit and helped to raise funds to supply weapons to
those willing to oppose slavery in these territories.
These rifles became known as Beecher's Bibles. John
Brown and five of his sons, were some of the volunteers
who headed for Kansas.
He supported the Free Soil Party in
1852 but switched to the Republican Party
in 1860. During the Civil War Beecher's
church raised and equipped a volunteer regiment. However, after the
war, he advocated reconciliation.
Beecher edited The Independent
(1861-63) and the Christian
Union (1870-78) and published several books including
the Summer in the Soul
(1858), Life of Jesus Christ
(1871), Yale Lectures on
Preaching (1872) and Evolution
and Religion (1885). Henry
Ward Beecher died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 8th March, 1887.
Eugene Zimmerman, Henry Irving wishing
Henry
Ward Beecher sucess on his lecture tour of Britain.
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