Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All Rights Reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc

Home , Charlotte Champe Stearns, Eliot family (America), William Greenleaf Eliot

Six essays on the life and character of the nineteenth-century Unitarian minister, educator, and philanthropist, based on the 1983 Minns Lectures by Earl K. Holt III Minister Emeritus First Unitarian Church of St. Louis

With an introductory essay on Eliot’s early life by William A. Deiss Winchester, Virginia

second edition

IllaG ublisHe 2011

Illustrations ix Foreword xi Dr. William H. Danforth, Chancellor Emeritus, Washington University Preface xiii About the Minns Lectures xix Chronology xxi introductory essay William Greenleaf Eliot: The Formative Years (1811–1834) xxv William A. Deiss one “St. Louis, Near Alton” (1834) 1 two “The Whole City Was His Parish” (1849) 33 three Eliot Seminary (1857) 55 four “Loyalty and Religion” (1861) 85 five From Chancel to Chancellor (1870) 115 six “Looking Unto Jesus” (1887) 139 appendices a The First Family of American Unitarianism 161 b Bringing Eliot to St. Louis 174 c Abby Eliot Remembers the Early Years in St. Louis 179 d Charter and Constitution of Eliot Seminary 184 e “Christ and Liberty” 192 f An Eliot Memorial 215 index 218

vii

William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1860 ii William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1835 lviii First Congregational Church member signatures (1837) 12 First Congregational Church, northwest corner of Fourth and Pine streets (1837) 16 Eliot begins the first of his ten Notebooks (1847) 20 Abigail Adams Cranch, circa 1835 22 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1840 32 Eliot records the passing of the school tax (1849) 39 Eliot is forced to write with his left hand (1850) 50 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1854 54 Church of the Messiah, northwest corner of Ninth and Olive streets (1851) 56 Eliot notes the incorporation of an “Eliot Seminary” (1853) 59 Eliot becomes fully engaged in establishing Eliot Seminary (1853) 62 Smith Academy, southeast corner of Nineteenth and Washington streets (1879) 68 Mary Institute, north side of Lucas Place (now Locust Street), just west of Fourteenth Street (1859) 70 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1860 84 “The Higher Law Doctrine: North and South” (1861) 88 Beaumont Cottage, circa 1855 96 Eliot obtains a permit to allow “Nigirita” to continue operation (1861) 98

Eliot drafts “suggestions” for a Western Sanitary Commission (1861) 103 Eliot’s home at 2660 Washington Avenue, circa 1868 109 Eliot’s study at 2660 Washington Avenue, circa 1868 110 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1870 114 Church of the Messiah, northeast corner of Locust and Garrison streets (1881) 118 Eliot begins to plan his Conference Sermon (1870) 125 Eliot records Washington University’s decision to admit women (1870) 130 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., 1885 138 “Nunc Dimittis” (1887) 141 “A Confession of Unitarian Christian Faith” (1870) 149 Memorial plaque honoring Abby Adams Cranch Eliot, Eliot Hall, First Unitarian Church of St. Louis 158 Memorial plaque honoring William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., Eliot Hall, First Unitarian Church of St. Louis 159 Abbreviated Eliot family tree 162–63 Origins of the First Congregational Church and Society of St. Louis (1834–1835) 176–77 Abigail Adams Cranch Eliot, circa 1860 181 Charter and Constitution of Eliot Seminary (1853–1854) 186–87 The William Greenleaf Eliot plaque, Washington University (1953) 217

Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All rights reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc. · www.villagepublishers.com William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., circa 1840 Courtesy Washington University Archives

E111This year everything sad is heaped upon us. 444H f I use the next year rightly it will be the best and richest of I my life.” So wrote William Greenleaf Eliot in his journal on the day after Christmas in 1848. It was not unusual, at the turning of the year or sometimes in the fall, for Eliot to record in his journal his thoughts, plans, or ideas for the year ahead. These jottings not only give us the specifics of his objectives and goals; they also reveal a characteristically optimistic and hopeful spirit. Only rarely did he turn to reflection about the past; his orientation, and the orientation of the progressive era in which he lived, was toward the future. Typifying this spirit was the sentence with which he concluded an address written late in his life relating the remarkable history of the Church of the Messiah on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary: “The past has much for which we may reasonably be grateful, but the future must and will have better things in store.”* But more than just an optimistic, forward-looking spirit supported Eliot’s prophecy of December 26, 1848. The year 1849

*This sentence is inscribed on a time capsule, filled with memorabilia col- lected at the church’s 150th anniversary in 1985 and sealed in a wall just outside the sanctuary, in Eliot Hall, First Unitarian Church of St. Louis. 33

Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All rights reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc. · www.villagepublishers.com William Greenleaf Eliot would mark the fifteenth anniversary of his arrival in St. Louis. In that time, the population of the city had increased tenfold, from barely 7,000 to over 70,000. By following a maxim other young clergymen would do well to emulate—not to use their influence until they have some—he was gradually emerging as one of the leading citizens of this rapidly growing city and would eventually become generally considered its most influential minister. His church, likewise growing in numbers and influence, had already outgrown its original building at Fourth and Pine, built in 1837— even with a major addition in 1842 that had increased the seating capacity of the church by fully one half. One of Eliot’s plans for the year ahead was the construction of a new church, a project that was fully launched by year’s end despite the then-unforeseen calamities of the months ahead. “My time is all broken in little pieces,” Eliot wrote in his journal, a not uncommon ministerial lament. Though his activities and involvements outside the church were at this time minuscule compared to what they would become in later years, even at this point he was deeply concerned that “secular activities” occupied too much of his attention and energy, distracting him from his first purposes. Sunday newspapers were introduced in St. Louis around this time. Eliot declined to subscribe, however, because he said he felt it tended to “secularize” the day too much. Sun- days, at least, he reserved for God. His journal meditation on the day after Christmas in 1848 reveals his state of mind as he looked ahead: What I must do in the coming year: Regularly have an hour, if I can, at least half an hour, in my study, before breakfast: For personal religious improvement. Sermons. Since I began to preach, I have never preached one that satisfied me, and generally the hour after preaching is one of commingled pain and mortification. Yet I fear there is more of self than of true humility in this. Let me try harder and fret less.

If I use the next year rightly it will be the best and richest of my life. I must now use, for more extended good, the influence which I feel myself to have acquired. As a Citizen, I must make myself known, through the state. But still more, in my society, a deeper religious influence must be expected—and this charity begins at home. There are causes that have turned me away from God and from Church, which have now ceased and must cease altogether. . . . If I know myself my first object in life is to make my own people religious—but the details of life, public schools, etc. engross too much time. When Eliot first became a member of the St. Louis School Board in 1848, the public schools were at a primitive level. He spent some time visiting the various schools, and having found them generally substandard, he instigated the “importation” of a number of new teachers from New England. (Four of them lodged initially in the Eliots’ home.) Besides his considerable work as a member of the School Board and continuing pastoral duties, at this time Eliot received an appointment to a commission charged with investigating con- ditions at the county farm and city workhouse and initiating a proposal for a new correctional facility. “Those who are able to work all the time without painful weariness,” he confided to his journal, “do not know what luxury they enjoy.” Nevertheless, his plans around this time, besides those already mentioned, included to preach on slavery; to approach members of the legislature regarding some consideration of emancipation laws; to preach strongly against the liquor trade; to deliver a se- ries of lectures on his European travels of the year before, for the benefit of the church’s charity fund; and to give a course of religious lectures for young men and women. Such were some of the “little pieces” of his life. But a major focus of his energies was the public schools, and particularly his own idea for authorization of a city property

Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All rights reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc. · www.villagepublishers.com William Greenleaf Eliot tax—an authorization for a tax not to exceed one-tenth of one percent. The enabling legislation was approved by the Missouri state legislature on February 13, 1849, and would be submitted to the voters of St. Louis in June. Eliot had been elected president of the School Board in Oc- tober 1848. This may be seen as a symbol of his increasing influence and at least one basis for his confident expectation of “the best and richest” year of his life in 1849. But what would prove to be a truer harbinger of the new year was Eliot’s journal entry of January 21: “Tomorrow from the church will be buried James Henderson Haven, the first victim of the cholera from my society.” In the weeks and months that fol- lowed, sickness and death were the constant companion and pre- occupation not only of the minister and the doctor, but of all the citizens of St. Louis: A cholera epidemic swept the city and killed more than 10 percent of the city’s population before it abated in late summer. Eliot’s journal for these months is an almost constant record of deathbed visitation and funerals, interspersed with School Board meetings (support was needed for the school tax vote in June) and, of course, the unbroken routine of preaching and worship. “Things are very gloomy and becoming worse,” he wrote during this period, “but one subject engrosses all minds. In one family five persons have died since Wednesday, and like cases I hear of daily.” Both days and nights were filled with calls to the dying. Week by week the number of deaths increased. On a Tuesday during this period he recorded for himself a “comparatively quiet day,” yet the previous morning he had gone twice to visit an Ed- ward Crow, who died at one o’clock. At seven in the evening he christened a baby whose mother had died, and then at eight o’clock went to a School Board meeting. At half past nine he received a message from a Mrs. Gates, whose husband he had pre viously visited. He found her alone with Dr. Gates, who was not expected to live through the night. The neighbors were all sick, 36

Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All rights reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc. · www.villagepublishers.com “The Whole City Was His Parish” and he persuaded the tired wife to sleep, while he remained during the night with the sick man. These people lived in a small, one-story brick house, on low ground, with a bed on the floor. With careful nursing, Dr. Gates got through the night very well, and when Eliot left him there was some hope of his recovery. He returned to his home in the morning and, sending a physician to the sick man he had just left, went to bed. He had slept for three hours when he was summoned to a Mrs. Holden and her child, both ill. At three in the afternoon, she sent for him a second time, and as soon as he saw her he “knew that she must die.” He spent most of the afternoon with her and returned in the evening after attending a wedding. At midnight, he was again summoned to her bedside and remained there until three in the morning. On coming home, he was met at his door by a gentleman who told him that his “next neighbor,” Mrs. Clark, was very ill. At seven thirty the previous evening she had been at Eliot’s door. He had discouraged her from returning to nurse a cholera pa- tient. At nine o’clock she was violently ill, and at four thirty in the morning, when he reached her bedside, she was in a dying condition. And so the record continues. As if the cholera were not enough, on the evening of May 17, a fire broke out on the 262-ton steamerWhite Cloud, which was tied up on the riverfront at the foot of Franklin Street. Fanned by a strong northeast wind, the blaze quickly spread to other boats along the river, and in about half an hour 23 steamers, three barges and one canal boat were destroyed. Embers carried across the levee to the wood frame buildings that began at Locust and Front streets, and before the fire was brought under control (by the drastic measure of blowing up a line of buildings along Second and Market streets), 400 buildings were damaged or destroyed along 15 city blocks. The total loss was estimated at $6.5 million. In June, Eliot wrote in his journal: “This year everything sad is heaped upon us.” 37

Copyright © 2011 by Earl K. Holt III. All rights reserved · Published by Village Publishers, Inc. · www.villagepublishers.com William Greenleaf Eliot Besides the personal tragedy that the epidemic and the fire entailed, they also seemed to ensure the defeat of the school tax measure. Even the normally sanguine Eliot confided to his journal, “I fear that all hope of a tax for the schools is lost by this fire.” But he was wrong. In later years, Eliot credited the successful passage of the tax largely to members of his congregation who went door to door canvassing voters. Eliot always referred to the fact that the vote was two to one in favor, and this is the statistic that is usually re- ported. It ought to be noted, however, that in a city with a population of about 70,000, there were only 6,000 voters in 1849, and only 786 of these voted on the school tax measure. But the measure was won, and Eliot recorded his satisfaction:

now that the law is passed & confirmed, I feel as if this alone is a good and sufficient year’s work. It is enough in itself to make me satisfied that I returned to St. Louis. Eliot once said that the passage of the school tax marked the true beginning of the St. Louis public schools. Typical of the Unitarians of the period, Eliot felt that education was the pri- mary and best means for the improvement of society. A school for the poor was one of the earliest charities of the Church.* And the importance of the St. Louis public schools on the future course of history was a theme in Eliot’s Phi Beta Kappa address, delivered near the end of the Civil War:

*This was the origin of the Mission Free School, which became a signifi- cant institution of social welfare in St. Louis, supported primarily by the Unitarian church. In 1958, some of its funds were used to create the Wil- liam Greenleaf Eliot Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Washington University. The Mission Free School itself continues today as the St. Louis Unitarian Foundation for Children, supporting children’s charities in the St. Louis area.

Eliot records the passing of the school tax. Eliot includes the newspaper clipping that shows the final tally of 541 for the tax, 245 against. In this entry on June 5, 1849, he notes, “Now that the law is passed & confirmed, I feel as if this alone is a good and sufficient year’s work.” (Notebook 2, page 108) Courtesy Washington University Archives

Bold page numbers refer to images of pages from church records, publications, and William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s Notebooks. Bold italic page numbers refer to a genealogical chart. Light italic page numbers refer to all other illustrations. Family identifiers in parentheses after people’s names denote their relationship to William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. of St. Louis.

Alexander, Archer, 41, 150 American Unitarian Association, xiv, 15, 23, 161, 168, 170, 175, 211 Christian character of, 75 communication with William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., 13–14, 19 election of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. as general secretary, 26–27, 46–47, 115 financial support for William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s congregation, 11–13 Andover Theological Seminary, xxxi, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvii, xlv Arminians and Arminianism, xxxiv, xxxvii, xxxix Ashley, William H., xv, 182

Barber, H. W., 137 Beaumont Cottage, 95, 96 Beecher, Henry Ward, 8–9 Bellefontaine Cemetery, 142, 167 Bellows, Henry Whitney, 104–5, 119, 123, 144, 203 Benton, Thomas Hart, 43, 182 Bridge, Hudson E., 60, 119, 122, 184 Bridge, Hudson Eliot, 142 Brookings, Robert S., 215–16 Brookings Hall, 216, 217 Butler, Mann, 60, 184

Calvinists and Calvinism, xxviii, xxxiii–xxxv, xxxvi, xxxviii Cameron, Simon, 105 Campbell, William, 42 Cavender, John, 60, 184 218

Chamberlain, Eliot H., 142 Channing, William Ellery, xxix, xliii, 74, 151 classical definition of Unitarianism, xxxv–xxxvii founder of American Unitarianism, 15, 25, 48, 164 Channing, William Henry, lvi, 74 membership in Philanthropic Society, xlvi, xlvii relationship with William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., xliii, xlv, xlviii–xlix, l–li, lii Chase, Salmon P., 99 Chauvenet, William, xxii, xxiii, 117 “Christ and Liberty” (National Unitarian Conference Sermon, 1870), 123–28, 125, 192–214 Church of the Messiah (St. Louis), xiv, 7, 24, 33, 95, 156, 165, 167 call to Rev. Augustus Woodbury as pastor, 116–17 during Civil War years, 45, 72, 92, 94, 97 “Ecclesiastical Position,” William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s definition of, 72–74, 75 fiftieth anniversary, 145 financial support of Western Unitarian Conference, 75 generosity of congregation, 58, 92 location of public funeral of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., 142 members as directors of the Western Sanitary Commission, 102 members as incorporators of Eliot Seminary, 60 members as major contributors to Washington University, 97 records, 52 resignation of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. as pastor, 116, 123, 124 second Unitarian church building (1851), xxi, 46, 55–56, 56, 57–58, 75, 81 support for other churches, 66–67 third Unitarian church building (1881), 117–19, 118, 159 Church of the Unity, xiv, xxiii, 67 Clarke, James Freeman comment on Eliot’s conservative/radical nature, 107 membership in Philanthropic Society, xlvi ministry in Louisville, l, liii, 2–3 ordination, l preacher at William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s ordination, 48–49, 175n relationship with William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., xlv, xlviii–l, 5 correspondence between, li, liii, liv, lv, 2–4, 5–6, 9, 10, 15, 30, 31, 51, 53, 82, 107, 137, 147–48, 150 tutelage of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., xliii, lii, liii, liv–lv, lvi, 123 studies at Harvard Divinity School, xlix–l, lii–liii Collender, Eliot, 142 Columbian College, xxix, xxxi–xxxii, lii, 4 Conference Sermon of 1870. See “Christ and Liberty” “Confession of Unitarian Christian Faith, A” (personal statement), 148–50, 149 219

Congregationalists and Congregationalism, xxvi, xxvii, xxviii, xxxi, 82 Church of the Messiah, 72, 73 First Congregational Church of St. Louis, 15 liberal-conservative split, xxix–xxx, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvii Cranch, Abigail (Abby) Adams, 22. See also Eliot, Abigail (Abby) Adams Cranch Cranch, Christopher P. (brother-in-law), xxix Cranch, John (brother-in-law), lviii Cranch, W. A., 138 Cranch, William (father-in-law), xxvi, xxvii, xxviii, xxix, xxxii Crow, Wayman, 12, 20, 28, 80 remarks at installation of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. as third chancellor of Washington University, 132–33 role in incorporation of Eliot Seminary, 58–60, 61, 133, 184

Dawes, Thomas (grandfather), xxvi, xxxii, 161 Dickens, Charles: comment on Eliot and the Unitarian church in St. Louis, 30 Discipline of Sorrow, The (book), 70 Dix, Dorothea, 101

Eads, James B., 7 Eaton, N. J., 60, 184 Eliot, Abby (Ada) (daughter), 164 Eliot, Abigail (Abby) Adams Cranch (wife), 12, 27, 158, 162, 181 children, 51, 164, 165–68 death, 23 grandchildren, 168–72 great-grandchildren, 172–73 marriage, xxix, 23, 164 portraits, 22, 158, 181 reminiscences of St. Louis, 23, 179–83 Eliot, Abigail Adams (granddaughter), 163, 171–72 Eliot, Andrew (great-grandfather), xxv, 4 Eliot, Andrew (great-great-grandfather), 161 Eliot, Andrew (great-great-great-great-grandfather), xxv, 161 Eliot, Charles William, 161, 215–16 Eliot, Charlotte Champe Stearns (daughter-in-law), 162, 165–66, 169, 215–16 author of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. biography, xv–xvi, 6 Eliot, Christopher Rhodes (son), 2, 21–22, 142, 146, 155, 162, 166, 170, 171 Eliot, Dorothea Dix. See Wilbur, Dorothea Dix Eliot Eliot, Edward Cranch (son), 162, 167, 173 Eliot, Frederick May (grandson), xix, 23, 163, 170 Eliot, Henry Ware (son), 94–95, 162, 165, 169, 215 Eliot, Margaret Greenleaf Dawes (mother), xxv, xxvi, 161 220

Eliot, Martha May (granddaughter), 163, 170–71 Eliot, Mary Jackson May (daughter-in-law), 162, 166–67, 170, 171 Eliot, Mary Rhodes (daughter), 23, 69–71, 164, 167 Eliot, Rose Greenleaf. See Smith, Rose Greenleaf Eliot Eliot, Samuel (grandfather), xxvi Eliot, Samuel Atkins, 161 Eliot, Thomas Dawes (brother), xxxii, 123 Eliot, Thomas H., 161 Eliot, Thomas Lamb (son), 9, 21, 85, 142, 148,162 , 165, 168, 169 Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns) (grandson), xiv, xv, 6, 23–24,163 , 165, 166, 169–70, 173 Eliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. chronology, xxi–xxii, 162 birth, xxv early education, xxviii attendance at Friends’ Academy, xxix, xxxi attendance at Columbian College, xxix, xxxi, lii, 4–5 assistant clerk at Post Office Department, xxxii, 1, 5 attendance at Harvard Divinity School, xxix, xxxii–xxxiii, xxxiv–xxxv, xxxviii–lvi, 4, 5, 9, 175 membership in Philanthropic Society, xlvi–xlviii ordination and role as an Evangelist, 15, 48–49, 151, 152, 175, 208 arrival in St. Louis, 1, 7, 9, 10, 26, 175, 177 organizer of First Congregational Society of St. Louis, xlv, 13 marriage to Abigail Adams Cranch, xxix, 23, 164 children, 51, 164, 165–68 member and president of St. Louis School Board, 35–36, 47, 132 proposer and supporter of public school property tax, 35–36, 38, 39, 40, 47 ministry during cholera epidemic of 1849, 36–38, 47–48 missionary and developer of Unitarian churches in the West, 19, 48, 49, 66–67, 175 organizer, president, and member of Western Unitarian Conference, 75–79 withdrawal from Western Unitarian Conference, 80, 86 founder of Washington University, 7, 60, 61, 184 meeting with President Lincoln, 105–6 resignation as pastor of Church of the Messiah, 116–19, 123, 124 president and chancellor of Washington University, lviii, 60, 68, 116–23, 132–33, 134–37, 141, 150, 217 death, funeral, and burial, 140–44 contributor to Western Messenger, 15–18, 29, 49 correspondence with James Freeman Clarke, li, liii, liv, lv, 2–4, 5–6, 9, 10, 15, 30, 31, 51, 53, 82, 107, 137, 147–48, 150 demands on time and energy, xiii, 31, 34, 66 221

Eliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. (cont’d) family, 7, 23–24, 25, 27, 52, 53, 66, 71, 91–92, 96, 109, 127, 140, 142, 164, 213 grandchildren, 168–72 great-grandchildren, 172–73 influence on St. Louis, xi, xiv, 26, 34, 35–36, 42–43, 47, 143–45 memorial plaques for, 7, 159, 215–16, 217 Notebooks (personal journal) description, 5, 6, 19–21 entries, 27–149 passim images of pages, 20, 39, 50, 59, 62, 88, 98, 103, 125, 130, 149 personal faith, 148–50, 149, 150–57 personal modesty and humility, xi–xii, xiv–xv, 2, 7–9, 19, 71, 104, 108, 120, 143 physical frailty, 18–19, 46, 115, 147 paralysis of right arm, 49–50 portraits, ii, lviii, 32, 54, 84, 114, 138, 159 publications “Confession of Unitarian Christian Faith, A” (personal statement), 148–50, 149 Discipline of Sorrow, The (book), 70 “Letter on Mobs” (article on slavery and the Union), 17–18 Life of Archer Alexander, The(biography), 41, 150 “Salvation Not Easily Obtained” (article in Western Messenger), 29 Puritan heritage, 10, 25–26, 63, 107, 129, 145–46, 151 refusal of general secretary position of American Unitarian Association, 21, 27, 28, 46, 115 relationship with James Freeman Clarke, xlv, xlviii–l, 5 relationship with Margaret Fuller, xlviii–xlix, li, lii, 5 relationship with William Henry Channing, xlv, xlviii–xlix, l–li, lii sense of duty and service, xi, xii, liii, liv, lv, 9, 10, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 63, 64, 80, 86, 90, 94, 112, 127, 129, 137, 139, 150–51, 156, 203 sermons “Christ and Liberty” (National Unitarian Conference Sermon, 1870), 123–28, 125, 192–214 “Higher Law Doctrine: North and South, The” (sermon on dissolution of the Union), 87, 88 “Loyalty and Religion” (sermon on the Union), 89–95 trips to Europe, 18–19, 26–27, 35, 46, 52, 115–16 views on issues education, li, 38, 65, 69, 82, 134–36, 145–46, 150 education of women, 129–31, 130 liquor and temperance, 35, 146, 150 moral progress, 18, 63, 107, 145–46 222

political preaching, 86–87 prostitution, 128–29, 146, 150 role of citizens, 93 secession, 72, 83, 87, 88, 91. See also “Loyalty and Religion” slavery and gradual emancipation, 17–18, 35, 40–45, 72, 76, 79, 99, 107, 146 social progress, 33, 43, 94, 147, 210, 214 women’s rights and suffrage, 53, 129–31, 150 Eliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. (of Portland, Oregon) (grandson), 21, 163, 168, 172 Eliot, William Greenleaf, Sr. (father), xxv, xxvi, xxvii–xxviii, 27, 161–64 Eliot, William Greenleaf, 3rd (great-grandson), 163, 172 Eliot family as first family of American Unitarianism, xiv, 151, 161–73,162–63 Eliot family tree, 162–63 Eliot Seminary, xxii, 59, 62, 184–85, 186–87. See also Washington University Emerson, Ralph Waldo, xxx, xxxvii, 55, 75 Everett, Edward, xxii, xliii, li, 67

First Congregational Church of St. Louis first Unitarian church building (1837), xxi, 14–15, 16, 34 history, 57 membership book, 12 organization, xxi, 13, 174–78, 176–77 records, 12, 52, 174–78, 176–77 First Congregational Society of St. Louis. See First Congregational Church of St. Louis First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, 173 First Unitarian Church of Milwaukee, 168 First Unitarian Church of Portland (The Church of Our Father), 165, 168 First Unitarian Church of San Francisco, 168 First Unitarian Church of Seattle, 168 First Unitarian Church of St. Louis, xi, xiv, xvi, 7, 33, 158, 159, 216, 217 First Unitarian Church of Washington, D.C. (All Souls Church, Unitarian), xxvii, xxviii, 164 Flagg, Sarah Smith. See Smith, Sarah Foote, Henry W., 143 Frémont, Jessie Benton, 101, 102, 103, 106 Frémont, John C., 101, 103, 104, 105–7 Friends’ Academy, xxix, xxx, xxxi Fuller, Margaret, xxx, 146–47 opinion of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., li, lii, 5 relationship with William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., James Freeman Clarke, and William Henry Channing, xlviii–xlix, l, lii, liv, lv, lvi, 5 Fuller, William, 57 223

Furness, Elizabeth Eliot (sister), 164 Furness, William Eliot, 142

Gamble, Hamilton R., 89 Glasgow, William, Jr., 26, 60, 184 Greeley, Carlos S., 102 Greenleaf, William (great-grandfather), xxvi–xxvii Greenleaf family, xxvi–xxvii

Hale, Edward Everett, 83, 166 Harvard College/Harvard University, xxv, xxvi, xxxiii, xlix, lii, 4 comparison with Washington University, 113, 122 Harvard Divinity School, xxix, xxxv, xxxvii, 9, 15, 175. See also William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.: chronology: attendance at Harvard Divinity School admissions standards, xxxii–xxxiii curriculum, lii establishment, xxxiii, xxxiv student life, xlv, liii teaching style of professors, xxxviii–xlv Unitarian takeover, xxxiii Hassal, Robert, 46, 57 Healy, George P. A., 114 Hedge, Frederick Henry, xlix, 74, 75 Heywood, John H., 57, 144 “Higher Law Doctrine: North and South, The” (sermon on dissolution of the Union), 87, 88 Holland, Frederick West (F. W.), 46–47 Hopkinsians and Hopkinsianism, xxxiv How, John, 60, 184 Howe, Daniel W., 25–26 Hoyt, Joseph G., xxii, 68 Huidekoper, Frederic, 65, 66

Jackson, Claiborne F., 87–89 Jewett, Eliot, 142 Johnson, J. B., 102

Krum, John M., 60, 184

Learned, John Calvin, 67 Leighton, George E., 159 “Letter on Mobs” (article on slavery and the Union), 17–18 Life of Archer Alexander, The(biography), 41, 150 224

Lincoln, Abraham, 76, 83, 85, 105–7 Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 76 Little, Robert, xxviii Litton, A., 117 Livermore, A. A., 57, 121–22 “Loyalty and Religion” (sermon on the Union), 89–95 Lyttle, Charles H., 76–77

Martin, Charles Landon, II (great-grandson), 163, 173 Martineau, James, 151 Mary Institute, 23, 67–68, 70, 71, 97, 164 McCreery, Phocion R., 60, 184 Meadville Theological School, 65–66, 121, 169 Minns, Susan B., xix–xx Minns Lectures, xvi, xix–xx Mission Free School, 38n, 173 Missouri pre–Civil War status border state, 85 importance to the Union, 40 microcosm of the country, 85 slave-holding state, 41, 72 during Civil War years, 87–89. See also Western Sanitary Commission battles, 99–101 disloyalty of citizens, 104–5 William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s letter to Salmon P. Chase about importance of Missouri, 99 importance to the Union, 93 threat of secession, 87–88 state legislature, 35–36, 42–43, 61, 133, 184–87 Morrison, Samuel Eliot, 161

National Conference of Unitarian Churches, 121–22, 123–24, 137, 192. See also “Christ and Liberty” National Unitarian Conference. See National Conference of Unitarian Churches Nelson, Elizabeth Fuller Wilbur (great-granddaughter), 163, 173 “Nigirita” school, 97, 98 Norton, Andrews, xxxix, xliii Norton, Charles Eliot, 161 “Nunc Dimittis” (poem), 139, 140, 141

O’Fallon, John R., 61 225

Palfrey, John Gorham, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xliii–xlv Parker, Theodore, 74, 75 Partridge, George, 60, 102, 184 Pass Christian, Mississippi, 140 Pegram, George, 60, 184 Perry, Ralph Barton, 25–26 Philanthropic Society, xlv–xlviii, xlix Pieksen, Margot (Mrs. George), 216 Price, Sterling, 58

Quakers. See Society of Friends

Ranlett, Seth A., 60, 184 Rhodes, Christopher, 2, 12, 60, 174–75, 176–77, 180, 184 Russell, Samuel, 60, 184

“Salvation Not Easily Obtained” (article in Western Messenger), 29 Scott, Henry Eliot, 164 Shaw, Henry, 7 Shepard, Elihu, 11, 13 Shippen, Joseph, 143–44 Smith, Abigail Eliot (granddaughter), 163, 172 Smith, Holmes (son-in-law), 162, 167–68, 172, 216 Smith, James, 2, 60, 68, 184 Smith, Robert, 80 Smith, Rose Greenleaf Eliot (daughter), 162, 167, 172 Smith, Sarah, 52, 55–56 Smith, William Eliot, 142 Smith Academy, 67, 68 Snyder, John, xxiii, 117–19, 156 “Social Reform” (sermon on Eliot’s withdrawal from Western Unitarian Conference), 86–87 Society of Friends, xxix–xxx, 195. See also Friends’ Academy Starr King, Thomas, xiv, 142, 144 Stearns, Charlotte Champe. See Eliot, Charlotte Champe Stearns St. Louis, Missouri, liii, lvi. See also Eliot, William Greenleaf, Jr.: influence on St. Louis 1830s, 1–4, 18, 23, 34, 132 1840s, 27, 30, 34, 41 cholera, 36–38, 47–48 public schools, 35–36, 38–40, 39 riverfront fire, 37, 38, 40, 47 slavery, 40–42 226

pre–Civil War years, 55, 60, 61, 63, 75 microcosm of the nation, 72, 85 slavery, 45, 85 Civil War years, 85 headquarters of Western Sanitary Commission, 99–102, 104–5, 107–8, 111 Henry Ware Eliot’s reminiscences, 94–95 loyalty of citizens to the Union, 90–95, 104–5 police limitations on rights of Negroes, 97, 98 1870s: prostitution, 128–29, 146 1880s, 24, 142, 143 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 41

Theological College of Harvard University.See Harvard Divinity School Todd, Eliot, 142 Transcendentalists and Transcendentalism, xliii, lvi origin, xlix, lii, 5 revolt within Unitarianism, xxxvii–xxxviii, liii, 75 Treat, Samuel, 60, 78, 80, 184 Tucker, Amos, 83 Tweed, B. J., 117

Unitarians and Unitarianism, xxviii, xxx, xxxiv, xliv, lv–lvi, 49, 148, 169. See also American Unitarian Association; Channing, William Ellery; Church of the Messiah (St. Louis); Church of the Unity; Meadville Theological School; National Conference of Unitarian Churches; Unitarian Universalist Association; Western Unitarian Conference; and churches named First Unitarian American Unitarianism, xiv, 15, 25, 48, 151, 161–73 Boston Unitarianism, xxxviii, xliv, liii definition, xxiv, xxxiv–xxxviii, xlvi Eliot family as first family of American Unitarianism, xiv, 151, 161–73,162–63 moralism, 25–26 movement to reject Christian foundations of, 148 support for education, 38, 69, 121–22 takeover of Harvard University, xxxiii Unitarian Christianity defined by William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., 11, 14–15, 30, 73–75, 83, 124–28, 148–50, 149, 152–53, 155, 200–201, 202–3, 207–8 Unitarian Universalist Association, xix, 123 United States Sanitary Commission, 99, 104–5. See also Western Sanitary Commission

Van Court (Vancourt), Alexander, 47 227

Ware, Henry, xxxvii, xliii, xlviii Hollis Professor of Divinity, xxxiii, xxxiv pamphlet warfare with Leonard Woods of Andover Theological Seminary, xxxiv–xxxv, xxxviii teaching style, xxxviii–xxxix Ware, Henry, Jr., xxxviii influence on William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., xl, xliii, li–lii prayer at William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.’s ordination, 49, 175n, 177 suggestion to form a Philanthropic Society, xlv teaching style, xl–xliii views on ministry, xli–xliii Ware, William Eliot, 142 Washington, George, 60–61 Washington Avenue home of Eliot family, 109, 110 Washington Institute. See Washington University Washington University, xxii, 24, 142 during Civil War years, 97 comparison with Harvard University, 113, 122 Constitution of the Washington Institute, 188–91 decision to admit women, 129, 130 departments and divisions, 38n, 61, 62, 67–68, 69, 70, 71, 120, 132, 150, 188–91 founding, xi, 7 funding and fund-raising, 64–65, 66, 67, 69, 97, 112–13, 120–23 inauguration, 67 incorporation as Eliot Seminary, 55, 58–61, 59, 184–87, 186–87 naming, xi, 60, 61–63, 143, 186–87 nonsectarian nature, 69, 121 role of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. addresses, 111, 134–37 memorial for, 215–16, 217 as president and chancellor, lviii, 60, 68, 116–23, 132–33, 134–37, 141, 150, 217 William Greenleaf Eliot Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38n Western Sanitary Commission Frémont’s Special Order No. 159 establishing, 102, 104 operation, 107–8 proposal of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., 99, 101–2, 103 Western Unitarian Conference, 66, 75, 76–80, 82, 86 Wilbur, Dorothea Dix Eliot (granddaughter), 163, 168–69, 173 Wilbur, Earl Morse, 163, 169, 173 Wilbur, Elizabeth Fuller. See Nelson, Elizabeth Fuller Wilbur Woodbury, Augustus, 116, 117

Yeatman, James E., 7, 95, 102, 104, 105, 108 228

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