1837 – William Dean Howells was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He had little formal education but was determined to become a writer and studied on his own. In 1866, he began his long affiliation with The Atlantic Monthly, becoming editor in chief in 1871.…

1401 – The English Parliament passed the law “On the Burning of Heretics” which condemned all heretics to death at the stake. It was the first law in England regulating Dissenting religion and was not abolished until 1677.…

1568 – The second religious debate between Unitarian Francis Dávid and Calvinist bishop Peter Melius opened Transylvania, lasting 10 days. The series of debates began at the Diet of Torda and ultimately resulted in the conversion of Prince John Sigismund to Unitarianism.…

1864 – Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister and missionary on the West Coast, died at age 39 of diphtheria. Born the son of a Universalist minister in New York City, King settled as minister of the First Church in San Francisco and made evangelizing tours up and down the West Coast.…

1853 – Arthur Foote was born. Arthur studied music at Harvard University and served as organist at Church of the Disciples and organist and choirmaster at First Church in Boston. He composed chamber music, art songs, and choral music, as well as anthems, cantatas, and organ pieces for church use.…

1841 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was born in Boston. He was an ardent abolitionist in the Civil War, in which he served and was wounded three times. Holmes became Weld Professor of Law at Harvard but soon after resigned to take an appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, where he became chief justice.…

1582 The debate between Simon Budny and the Catholics began at the Synod of Iwie in Poland. His view was that Jesus was born naturally and was not an appropriate object of worship. Budny translated the entire Bible from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin into Polish (1572).…

1965 – 600 civil rights marchers who set out from Selma, Alabama, on their way to Montgomery to urge passage of the Voting Rights Act, were attacked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “Bloody Sunday” led Martin Luther King to call on clergy of all faiths to join him; more than 125 Unitarian Universalist ministers answered the call.…

1834 – Charles Lamb died at the age of 59. Born in London, he was reared Unitarian and was active in English Unitarian churches. A noted poet, novelist, and essayist, Lamb was the author of The Essays of Elisa, Tales of Shakespeare, among many other works.…

1563 – Sebastian Castellio died at age 48. He served as a preacher in Geneva and as professor of Greek literature at the University of Basel. Castellio was the primary defender of Michael Servetus, whom he never knew personally, after John Calvin had Servetus executed.…