Figure timeline
Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His rhetorical focus on the love of Christ has influenced mainstream Christianity through the 21st century.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · American clergyman and abolitionist (1813–1887) · politician · journalist · theologian · writer · also Henry Ward Beecher, Beecher
Born 24 June 1813 · Died 8 March 1887 · Q1607404
38 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
10 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
I sometimes have no idea at all what I am going to say until I look over my audience, and then I draw my inspiration from them. Other times I prepare a lecture in my mind beforehand, carefully working out points one, two and three and then something I see in my audience will change my whole train of thought, and I will make an entirely different speech from the one I had in mind.
I would not take fifty dollars for it. Under it my cows stand in summer. The shade of that tree has stood me instead of a shed ever since I owned this farm. That tree is worth its weight in gold.
76%Wikipedia
“I sometimes have no idea at all what I am going to say until I look over my audience, and then I draw my inspiration from them. Other times I prepare a lecture in my mind beforehand, carefully working out points one, two and three and then something I see in my audience will change my whole train of thought, and I will make an entirely different speech from the one I had in mind.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I would not take fifty dollars for it. Under it my cows stand in summer. The shade of that tree has stood me instead of a shed ever since I owned this farm. That tree is worth its weight in gold.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“there will be a bushel of hickory-nuts on that tree, anyhow; and he begins to think how he will climb it, and shake them down, and what he will do with them. That is what the tree says to him. I say to another person:”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“the inevitability of progress”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Atlantic: Henry Ward Beecher
The Atlantic: Henry Ward Beecher's Church
insider.si.edu: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lyman Beecher, and Henry Ward Beecher
Sculptor Joseph Kiselewski created a bronze medal depicting Henry Ward Beecher for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College in New York City
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
First Presbyterian Church in Lawrenceburg was renamed Beecher Presbyterian
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
In Borough Hall Park, Brooklyn, and was later relocated to Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn in 1959
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Died 1887-03-08.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Beecher suffered a stroke and died in his sleep on March 8
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“There are a great many doors open; but a door must be of a man's size or it is not meant for him.”
“Where is human nature so weak as in a book store?”
“A compaixão irá curar mais pecados mais do que a condenação”
Wrote Evolution and Religion to expound these views
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Angered many of his Republican allies when he endorsed Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland for the presidency, arguing that Cleveland should be forgiven for having fathered an illegitimate child
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tilton filed charges for "criminal conversation" against Beecher
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plymouth Church excommunicated Theodore Tilton for "slandering" Beecher
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly published a story about his affair with Elizabeth Richards Tilton, the wife of his friend and former co-worker Theodore Tilton
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Yale University established "The Lyman Beecher Lectureship", of which Henry taught the first three annual courses
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Elizabeth had confessed to her husband, Theodore Tilton, that she had had a relationship with Beecher
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“large of soul, a child of nature, and, although a Christian, yet in childlike sympathy with the truths of God in the natural world, instead of books.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Campaigned unsuccessfully to become a delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868 on a suffrage platform, and in 1869 he was elected unanimously as the first president of the American Woman Suffrag
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Beecher was unquestionably "the most famous preacher in the nation"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sent Beecher on a speaking tour of Europe to build support for the Union cause
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Brooklyn Eagle wrote a story accusing him of an affair with another young church member who had later become a prostitute
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Held another mock slave auction seeking enough contributions to purchase the freedom of a young woman named Sarah
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Beecher campaigned for Republican John C
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
As Star Papers; or, Experiences of Art and Nature
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Beecher became the first pastor of the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And he accepted the invitation of businessman Henry Bowen to head a new Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And he was offered the ministry of the Second Presbyterian Church there on May 13, 1839
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Beecher married Eunice Bullard
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And Lane Seminary in 1837 before serving as a minister in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and later in Indianapolis's Second Presbyterian Church when the congregation resided at Circle Hall at Monument Circle
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And then attended Lane Theological Seminary outside Cincinnati, Ohio
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
About four miles southeast, in the schoolhouse at a village then called Logtown, today known as Dwight
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1813-06-24.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Connections