The American Home Missionary Society (AHMS or A. H. M. Society) was a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

missionary society A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

in the United States founded in 1826. It was founded as a merger of the United Domestic Missionary Society with state missionary societies from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. The society was formed by members of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

, Associate Reformed, and

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

churches with the objective "to assist congregations that are unable to support the gospel ministry, and to send the gospel to the destitute within the United States." In 1893, the Society became exclusively associated with the

National Council of Congregational Churches The National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States was a mainline Protestant, Christian denomination in the United States. Its organization as a denomination was delayed by the Civil War. Congregational leaders met again in Bos ...

and was renamed the Congregational Home Missionary Society.

Structure

The structure (as described in 1858) consisted of a President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, an Auditor, and three corresponding Secretaries.

Associated people

George H. Atkinson George Henry Atkinson (May 10, 1819 – February 25, 1889) was an American missionary and educator in what would become the state of Oregon. In Oregon, he served as a pastor for several churches, helped found what would become Pacific University ...

— AHMS missionary and educator; he and his family settled in settled at

Oregon City, Oregon ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

in 1849 as the first Oregon missionary sent by the American Home Missionary Society * Rev. Milton Badger, a minister in Andover, Massachusetts who was associate secretary of the AHMS in the 1850s. *

Charles Beecher Charles Beecher (October 1, 1815 – April 21, 1900) was an American minister, composer of religious hymns and a prolific author. Early life Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the fifth child of Lyman Beecher, an abolitionist Con ...

— Son of Lyman Beecher and Brother of Henry Ward Beecher, started 2nd Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne Indiana under funding from AHMS * David B. Coe (pastor) — AHMS Corresponding Secretary in 1858 * Obed Dickinson and Charlotte Dickinson *

John Waldo Douglas John Waldo Douglas (April 14, 1818 – September 24, 1883) was an American Presbyterian minister. Douglas was born in Trenton, N. Y., April 14, 1818. Douglas graduated from Yale College in 1840. He taught school for a time in the South, and in ...

— American Presbyterian minister (ordained in 1848) from New York who spent a brief time in the 1850s as an AHMS missionary to California prior to the Civil War. *

Ira Hobart Evans Ira Hobart Evans (April 11, 1844 – April 19, 1922) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War and received the Medal of Honor. He was also a prominent Texas businessman. Early life Evans was born in Piermont, New Hampshi ...

— Texas businessman and onetime AHMS President. *

Reuben Gaylord Reuben Gaylord (April 28, 1812 – January 10, 1880) was the recognized leader of the missionary pioneers in the Nebraska Territory, and has been called the "father of Congregationalism in Nebraska."Punchard, G. (1865) "Congregationalism in Neb ...

— AHMS missionary in Iowa (after 1840) and Nebraska (1855-) ; was the recognized leader of the

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

pioneers in the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

, and has been called the "father of

Congregationalism Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articulat ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

."Punchard, G. (1865) "Congregationalism in Nebraska," ''History of Congregationalism from about A.D. 250 to the Present Time.'' Hurd and Houghton. p 360. *

Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, II (September 28, 1821 – August 14, 1874) was an American Presbyterian minister who served as Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction of Florida, and along with Josiah Thomas Walls, U.S. Congre ...

— African-American abolitionist and AHMS missionary from Philadelphia who moved to North and South Carolina during the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

era. *

Eleazar Lord Eleazar Lord (September 9, 1788 – June 3, 1871) was an American author, educator, deacon of the First Protestant Dutch Church and first president of the Erie Railroad. Lord was engaged in banking; founded the Manhattan insurance company, and s ...

— Businessman in New York City who was an early organizer and first corresponding secretary of the AHMS. He wrote the first annual report of this society.Edward Harold Mott
Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie
'' Collins, 1899. p. 460-61 * Daniel P. Noyes — AHMS Corresponding Secretary 1858. * William Patton — New York city pastor and a member of the AHMS executive committee for forty years during the mid 1800s * Agnes Louise Lesslie Peck — wife of Vermont General Theodore S. Peck; she was active in AHMS *

Anson Green Phelps Anson Green Phelps (March 24, 1781 – May 18, 1858) was an American entrepreneur and business man from Connecticut. Beginning with a saddlery business, he founded Phelps, Dodge & Co. in 1833 as an export-import business with his sons-in-law as p ...

— Businessman and philanthropist who contributed large sums to the AHMS *

Stephen Van Rensselaer Stephen Van Rensselaer III (; November 1, 1764January 26, 1839) was an American landowner, businessman, militia officer, and politician. A graduate of Harvard College, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's mano ...

— AHMS President in the 1820s. *

John Jay Shipherd John Jay Shipherd (March 28, 1802 – September 16, 1844) was an American clergyman who co-founded Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1833 with Philo Penfield Stewart. In 1844, Shipherd also founded Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan ...

— New-York born clergyman who moved to

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2020 ...

in 1830 as an AHMS missionary, and soon after co-founded

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

in 1833 with Philo Penfield Stewart. In 1844, Shipherd also founded

Olivet College Olivet College is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin College, and it followed Oberlin in becom ...

Olivet, Michigan Olivet is a city in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,605 at the 2010 census. Olivet College is located in the city. History From its founding in 1844 through the 1910 census,Josiah Strong — American Protestant clergyman, organizer, editor, author, and a leader of the Social Gospel movement. In 1885 AHMS published his controversial book: ''Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis''.

Associated churches

* First Congregational Church (Salt Lake City, Utah)—Established in 1865, it was the first church not a part of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. The congregation started Utah's first free public schools. Started by AHMS missionary Norman McLeod. *

First Presbyterian Church (Chicago) The First Presbyterian Church (Chicago) is the first Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is arguably the first church organized in Chicago. It is the oldest continuously operating instituti ...

- this was the first (and therefore oldest) religious society in Chicago. The first public school in Chicago was organized in the meeting house of the First Presbyterian Church, and Eliza Chappel was the first teacher in this school. The church was established by AHMS missionary Jeremiah Porter on June 26, 1833 in Chicago.

References

Bibliography

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External links