Convers Francis (November 9, 1795 – April 17, 1863) was an American Unitarian minister from

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

Life and work

He was born the son of Susannah Rand Francis and Convers Francis, and named after his father. His sister, Lydia Maria, later became an important reformer. Francis studied to become a minister at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. He was minister of the Watertown, Massachusetts, Unitarian Church from 1819 to 1842. Francis taught

Theodore Parker Theodore Parker (August 24, 1810 – May 10, 1860) was an American transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church. A reformer and abolitionist, his words and popular quotations would later inspire speeches by Abraham Lincol ...

beginning in 1832 and preached at his ordination ceremony in 1840. Francis encouraged Parker when his translations and books were not selling well. He wrote of his "astonishment at your labors and learning", but criticized the recent lack of interest in reading, writing "the cry is all for action—for doing something, not moping over books as they say". Both Francis and Parker joined the

Transcendental Club The Transcendental Club was a group of New England authors, philosophers, socialists, politicians and intellectuals of the early-to-mid-19th century which gave rise to Transcendentalism. Overview Frederic Henry Hedge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George R ...

in the 1830s, an organization which included members such as

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...

and

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

. Being one of the elders of the group, in fact the eldest member who was also a moderator of the Club, he influenced other members. Preaching at a time when Unitarians were breaking into sometimes-hostile factions in New England, he wrote that "the condition of things with us in the religious world is anything but pleasant... The cauldron is kept boiling, & all sorts of materials are thrown into it". After 1842, Francis was Parkman Professor of Pulpit Eloquence at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. His books and writings include ''Christianity as a Purely Internal Principle,'' ''Life of John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians'' and ''A Historical Sketch of Watertown'' (1830). In May 1833, Francis delivered "Popery and its kindred Principles unfriendly to the Improvement of Man" as a Dudleian Lecture in Cambridge. He died in 1863, one year after Transcendental Club co-member Henry David Thoreau died.

References

External links

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WorldCat

John Eliot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Convers 1795 births 1863 deaths American Unitarians Members of the Transcendental Club Harvard Divinity School alumni