George Rapall Noyes  Arthur May Knapp

Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825-1921)

Antoinette Brown Blackwell Antoinette Brown Blackwell

Antoinette Brown came of New England stock, sturdy and long–lived pioneers in Connecticut. Her grandfather, Joseph Brown of Thompson, Connecticut, served in the army all through the Revolutionary War and her father, another Joseph Brown, was in the War of 1812. Antoinette was a typical daughter of the line, energetic, resourceful and thrifty, with a keen sense of humor and a capacity to shoulder responsibility. The family moved in a wagon from the Connecticut farm to Henrietta, near Rochester, New York, and there Antoinette was born in a log cabin on May 20, 1825. She was one of ten children and the seventh child of a seventh son of a seventh son. The surroundings of her childhood were those of many another pioneer family. There were no stoves, lamps or matches. Fire was kindled from a tinderbox, candles were “dipped” in the home kitchen, baking was done in the great oven and meat roasted on the spit. Wool was sheared, spun, woven and made into garments by the industrious household. When she was nine years old Antoinette joined the Congregational Church, speaking of her religion with such eloquence that one of the deacons rose and said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings the Lord hath perfected his praise.”

At an early age, too, Antoinette began to teach school, being determined to get an education and become a minister. She paid her own way to and through Oberlin, then the only college open to women. There she formed a lifelong friendship with Lucy Stone and later they married brothers, Henry and Samuel Blackwell. She graduated in 1847 and went on to study at the Theological School, graduating there in 1850. With Lucy Stone she attended and spoke at the first National Woman’s Rights Convention at Worcester, Massachusetts, and she also plunged into work for temperance and for the antislavery cause. In a letter to Lucy Stone she wrote, “I believe there is soon to be a new era in woman’s history and the means to effect this must be truth wielded in firmness, gentleness, and forbearance.”

In 1886, after some experience as a lecturer and evangelist, she was ordained and installed in the Congregational Church in South Butler, New York, the first woman in America to be regularly ordained and the first to perform a marriage ceremony. In the same year she was herself married to Samuel C. Blackwell, another pioneer abolitionist and suffragist. Their married life extended through forty–five years and they taught and worked together in complete harmony. All the Blackwells were advocates of progressive causes. Henry Blackwell, who married Lucy Stone, had another working partnership with his wife, and a sister, Elizabeth Blackwell, was the first American woman to graduate in medicine and she was followed five years later by her sister Emily. The pioneer spirit continued also in the Brown family. Antoinette’s brother, William Brown, was the minister of the Congregational Church in Newark, New Jersey He married Charlotte Emerson, and she originated the idea of a General Federation of Woman’s Clubs and was the first president of that organization.

It is not surprising that with all these associations with progressive causes the Blackwells found themselves outgrowing the theological orthodoxy of their youth. After a few years Mrs. Blackwell resigned from her church and she and her husband entered the Unitarian fellowship. They became social workers in New York City, lecturing, preaching, organizing and writing for newspapers and periodicals. They lived successively in several New Jersey towns and finally settled in Somerville. Six children, all girls, were born to them. Much of their time was given to the Association for the Advancement of Women. Mrs. Blackwell wrote nine books, among them The Philosophy of Individuality, The Social Side of Mind and Action, and a novel called The Island Neighbors and a poem called “Sea–Drift.” She was keenly interested in the World’s Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 and spoke there on “Women in the Pulpit.” In the eighteen seventies the Blackwells established a summer home on Martha’s Vineyard and there Mrs. Blackwell planted trees and was as busy with hoe and rake as with voice and pen. After her husband’s death in 1901, she took up residence in Elizabeth, New Jersey There, being, as was written of her, still “full of spice and vigor,” she organized and ministered to “All Souls Unitarian Church.” She gave the land for the church building and a study for her was attached to it where she gathered her books and memorabilia. Her own college, Oberlin, gave her the degree of Doctor of Divinity. She enjoyed life to the last, preached her last sermon on Easter Sunday when she was ninety years old and she died on November 5th, 1921, in her ninety–sixth year.

Mrs. Blackwell was the first American woman to be ordained to the Christian ministry but the first woman to be ordained in a Unitarian Church was :

CELIA BURLEIGH (Mrs. William H. Burleigh) who was an active member of the Second Unitarian Society in Brooklyn, New York She was a leader in many forms of community service, President of the Brooklyn Woman’s Club and President of the Woman’s Suffrage Association. She was ordained and installed at Brooklyn, Connecticut, on October 5, 1871, her minister, Mr. Chadwick, preaching the sermon and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe giving the charge to the people. Mrs. Burleigh preached the Channing Conference sermon at Fairhaven on April 29, 1872, the first woman to have that distinction. Her career was, however, unfortunately brief for she died at Syracuse, New York., on July 25, 1875.

She handed on her torch to MARY HANNAH GRAVES, who was ordained at Mansfield, Massachusetts, on December 14, 1871, Rev. Warren Cudworth preaching the sermon and Mrs. Burleigh giving the right hand of fellowship, and served there for two years. Her physical strength proved insufficient for a minister’s tasks but through a long life—she died at 91—she was busy with literary work and in genealogical researches.

In the succeeding sixty years some threescore consecrated women entered the Unitarian ministry. Their records have been compiled by the Rev. Clara C. Helvie and the following notes have been chiefly derived from her manuscript volume in the Historical Library. Twenty of these women married ministers, sometimes men who had been their fellow students, and they worked in partnership. Several married outside of the profession and disappeared from ministerial ranks. Others found the going hard, for comparatively few churches were ready to welcome women to their pulpits, and withdrew. A goodly number persevered and rendered a rich service. Eight of them were found worthy to be included in Who’s Who in America and of the forty–five women ministers in the Women’s Who’s Who of 1915, fifteen, or one–third of the entire number, were Unitarians. Among those worthy of remembrance and grateful praise were MARY AUGUSTA SAFFORD, who was born at Quincy, Illinois, December 23, 1851. She was ordained at Humboldt, Iowa, in 1880 and served there and at Algona until 1885 when she was succeeded by Marion Murdoch. Then came fourteen productive and successful years at Sioux City where she was assisted for seven years by Eleanor Gordon and for two years by Marie Jenney (Howe) who went on to take charge of the church at Des Moines. Miss Safford succeeded her there in 1899 and served for eleven years, and again Miss Gordon was her associate for part of the time. As Secretary of the Iowa Association Miss Safford exercised a stimulating influence in all the churches of the state and was especially instrumental in organizing the church at Iowa City. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Unitarian Association. In 1910 she retired and bought a house at Orlando, Florida, where she took part with Miss Gordon in the organization of the Unitarian Church. She died at Orlando, October 25, 1927. Miss Safford combined to a remarkable degree personal charm, pulpit ability, enthusiasm and practical common sense.

It was under the inspiration of Miss Safford’s example and persuasion that a number of able women enlisted in the Unitarian ministry, and most of them worked under her supervision in Iowa and the adjoining states.

MARION MURDOCH was born at Garnavillo, Iowa, October 8, 1855. She studied at Boston University and graduated at Meadville in 1885. On September 1 of that year she was ordained at Humboldt, Iowa, succeeding Miss Safford. She ministered for a year (1890–1891) at Kalamazoo, Michegan, where she followed Caroline Bartlett Crane, and then returned to Meadville for a graduate course of study. In association with Florence Buck she served the Church of the Unity in Cleveland for six prosperous years (1893–1899) and then, save for one year at Geneva, Illinois, retired, making her home first in Boston and then in California. She died at Santa Monica on January 28, 1943, in her ninety–fifth year.

CAROLINE BARTLETT CRANE was born in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1858. After graduating at Carthage College in Illinois she took up teaching and newspaper work, becoming city editor of the paper in Oshkosh, Wisconsin Coming under the influence of Miss Safford she was ordained in 1886 as the first minister of the church in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, and on October 28, 1889, she was installed at Kalamazoo, Michegan Save for a year of study at the University of Chicago she remained at Kalamazoo for the rest of her life. On December 31, 1896, she was married to Dr. Augustus W. Crane. In 1899 she relinquished charge of the church and devoted herself to social service, becoming an expert in the problems of housing and sanitation. Under the auspices of State Boards of Health, she made health surveys of sixty cities in fourteen states and became widely known as the “municipal house cleaner.” Several colleges gave her honorary degrees, and in 1934 she was voted to be “Kalamazoo’s first woman citizen.” She was active in the American Civic Association, the Municipal League, and similar organizations. Her books, Everyman’s House and U. S. Inspected and Passed, had the authority of experience, sound judgment and constructive suggestion. She died at Kalamazoo on March 24, 1935.

IDA C. HULTIN was another of the pioneer group of women ministers who organized and served Unitarian churches in Iowa under Miss Safford’s direction. She was a graduate of the University of Michigan. In 1884 she relieved Miss Safford of the charge of the church in Algona, Iowa, and two years later she was ordained and installed in Des Moines where she served for five years. Her later pastorates were at Moline, Illinois (1891–1900), Allston, Massachusetts (I900–I903), and then for thirteen years at the First Parish in Sudbury, Massachusetts In 1916 she retired and died at Lincoln, Massachusetts, on December 27, 1938.

HELEN GRACE PUTNAM was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, May 20, 1840. She entered the ministry in middle life, studied for two years at Meadville and was ordained at Luverne, Minn., on October 18, 1889, and later served missionary posts at Huron, Jamestown, and Fargo, North Dakota She died at Fargo, November 28, 1895.

ELEANOR ELIZABETH GORDON was born at Hamilton, Illinois, Oct. 1, 1852. She studied at the University of Iowa and at Cornell. She became a teacher and was ordained at Sioux City on May 8, 1889. There she was associated with Miss Safford and the partnership was later continued at Des Moines. For six years (1896–1902) she was minister at Iowa City, and for two years at Fargo, North Dakota In 1912 she joined Miss Safford at Orlando, Florida, and she organized and led the Unitarian Church there. She retired in 1918 and died at Keokuk, Iowa, on January 6, 1942, in her ninetieth year.

ELIZA TUPPER WILKES began work in the Universalist fellowship and was ordained at Sioux Falls, North Dakota, on May 2, 1871, thus antedating by six months the Unitarian ordination of Mrs. Burleigh. She ministered to the Unitarian churches in Luverne and Adrian, Minnesota, and for two years at Santa Ana, Calif. In 1895 she was assistant to Dr. Wendte at Oakland, California.

MARY LEGGETT COOKE was born in Moravia, New York, in 1856 and studied at Cornell. She was ordained in 1888 and for three years served the church in Beatrice, Nebraska. She then went east and had pastorates at Green Harbor, Massachusetts (1891–1894), and Dighton (1894–1897). She then enlisted in Settlement House work, including a residence at Hull House in Chicago. Later pastorates were at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, Ord, Nebraska, and Revere, Massachusetts On April 12, 1922, she was married to the Rev. George Willis Cooke, eminent as an author, biographer, and historian. She died at Brookline, August 4, 1938.

MARTHA CHAPMAN AITKIN was born near Montpelier, Vermontt, on March 25, 1843, and died at Wollaston, Massachusetts, on January 15, 1913. She studied for three years at Meadville and then did missionary work in Wisconsin and Iowa, serving especially a church in Cedar Falls. Later she was minister in the First Parish in Pembroke, Massachusetts A unique event in her experience was her officiating at the marriage of her daughter to the Rev. Carl G. Horst (February 18, 1896), probably the only instance when a mother was the minister at a daughter’s wedding. The youngest of this noteworthy Iowa band was:

MARIE JENNEY HOWE. A native of Syracuse, New York, she graduated at Meadville in 1897. She was ordained in her home church at Syracuse on June 28, 1898, and went to Iowa where for two years she was assistant to Miss Safford at Sioux City and then for four years was minister at Des Moines. She there married Frederick C. Howe, a distinguished author, reformer and Commissioner of Immigration, and was associated with him in social work and in the preparation of his books.

In addition to the members of the Iowa Band, several other women rendered notable service in the ministry. FLORENCE BUCK was born at Battle Creek, Michigan, July 19, 1860, and graduated at Meadville in 1894. She was ordained in All Souls Church, Chicago, and in association with Marion Murdoch served the church in Cleveland for six fruitful years. There followed brief pastorates at Manistee, Michigan, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Alameda, California, and then, having achieved remarkable success as an organizer and director of Sunday Schools, she became Associate Director of the Department of Religious Education of the American Unitarian Association. In that capacity she wrote or edited manuals and textbooks of enduring value and traveled far and wide organizing and vitalizing the Church Schools. She compiled and edited the Beacon Hymnal and in 1919 published Religious Education for Democracy. In 1920 Meadville gave her the degree of Doctor of Divinity. She died at Boston on October 12, 1925.

ANNA GARLIN SPENCER was born at Attleboro, Massachusetts, on April 17, 1851, and died at New York on February 12, 1931. She married the Rev. William H. Spencer and worked with him in his parishes at Haverhill and Florence, Massachusetts, and Troy, New York She was ordained in the Bell Street Chapel in Providence on April 19, 1889, and became a noted teacher, preacher, and author. She gave courses of lectures at the University of Wisconsin, at the Meadville Theological School, and at the Teachers College of Columbia University. She was a delegate and speaker at many conventions, at home and abroad, in the interest of social reform and religious progress. Her books, The Social Ideals of a Free Church, Woman’s Share in Social Culture, The Family and Its Members, had a wide circulation. In all she was one of the outstanding American women of her generation.

MARY TRAFFERN WHITNEY was born at Alder Creek, New York, February 28, 1852, and died at Weare, New Hampshire, on March 8, 1942. In 1872 she graduated at St. Lawrence University. The next year she married the Rev. Herbert Whitney and served with him in several Universalist and then in Unitarian pulpits. Her independent pastorates were at Millbury (1889–1892), West Somerville (1892–1896), Green Harbor (1899–1906) and, with her husband, at Bernardston (1912–1916). Mrs. Whitney was much interested in social reforms and was in demand as a speaker for temperance and woman’s suffrage. Later she was a pioneer in the cause of planned parenthood and in the principles of eugenics.

CELIA PARKER WOOLLEY was born at Toledo, Ohio, June 14, 1848, but her girlhood was spent in Coldwater, Michegan There, on December 29, 1868, she was married to Dr. J. H. Woolley. Eight years later they moved to Chicago and Mrs. Woolley soon became active in the civic and literary life of the city. She became a member of the Chicago Woman’s Club and was soon its president. In 1884 she became a member of the editorial staff of Unity and maintained connection with the paper, in one office or another, for thirty–four years. On October 21, 1894, she was ordained minister of the church in Geneva, Illinois, and served for three years. In 1904 she and her husband organized the Frederick Douglas Center, a Settlement House serving the colored people in South Chicago. There she died on March 9, 1918.

Besides their pioneer and constructive work and their interest in social reforms, two things are notable about these women ministers. A considerable proportion of them entered the ministry in middle life. Mrs. Aitkin was 51 when she was ordained, Mrs. Spencer was 38, Mrs. Woolley was 46, Mrs. Whitney was 42. They were also exceptionally long–lived. Mrs. Blackwell died at 96, Miss Murdoch at 95, Miss Graves at 91, Mrs. Whitney and Miss Gordon at 90, Mrs. Cooke at 82, Mrs. Spencer at 80, Mrs. Crane at 77, Miss Safford at 76. It is evident that the interest of women in the ministry was highest in the years between 1880 and 1900, and there was an obvious connection between the agitation for woman suffrage and the entrance of women into the ministry. When the suffrage was won, the profession did not have the same appeal for women of talent. In the Unitarian Year Book of 1900 there were enrolled the names of twenty–nine women ministers. In the Year Book of 1948 twelve were listed. Of these, two were in active and independent charge of churches, one was associated with her husband in a joint pastorate, six had retired, and three were engaged in social work or secular pursuits. These pioneer preachers established the right of women to be ministers. They encountered criticism from conservative observers, and the admonition of St. Paul about women keeping silence and wearing hats in church was frequently hurled at them. They met such taunts with calm reasonableness or lively humor. They proved that a woman’s insight and sympathetic understanding are as needed in the pulpit as in the home and in social relations.