|
Dromo's Den
|
|
[Up] [Dromo's Den] Thomas Starr King Biography KING,
Thomas Starr (1824-64). An eminent Unitarian clergyman. He was born in New
York City, Dec. 17, 1824, studied theology while employed as a teacher, and in
1846 became pastor of a church in Charlestown, Mass., which his father had
formerly served. In 1848 he removed to Boston, where he was pastor of the Hollis
Street Church. He gained wide popularity as a lecturer, in which capacity he
found constant employment from 1845 to 1860. In the latter year he received a
call to the only Unitarian church in San Francisco and began his ministrations
there in the summer. When the Rebellion broke out, King exercised a powerful
influence in favor of the national government against the large Southern element
among the people of California, who wished to form an independent republic in
California. During the war he was active in soliciting aid for the United States
Sanitary Commission, and to him was chiefly due the splendid gift of California
to that cause. He died at San Francisco, March 4, 1864. He wrote The
White Hills: Their Legends, Landscapes, and Poetry (1859), and contributed
frequently to reviews and other periodicals. After his death three volumes of
his lectures, etc., were published, one of them, Christianity and Humanity, with memoir by E. P. Whipple (Boston,
1877). One of the peaks of the White Mountains has been named Starr King in his
honor. Consult E. P. Whipple, "Memoir of Thomas Starr King," in Christianity
and Humanity (Boston, 1877), and American Literature and Other Papers (ib.,
1887). |