Spencer Houghton Cone (April 13, 1785, Princeton, New Jersey) was an American clergyman. He entered

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

at the age of twelve, but two years later, because of his father’s illness, left his studies. At sixteen he was master in a school at Burlington. He then moved to

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. Finding his salary insufficient to support his family, he first studied law, but abandoned it and turned to the stage. This vocation did not especially appeal to him, and was strongly opposed by his devout mother who considered it not respectable. He first appeared in "Mahomet" in 1805 and subsequently was successful on the stage. But this profession was distasteful to him and he soon left it. In 1812, he joined the Baltimore "American" newspaper as treasurer and bookkeeper. Soon afterward, in connection with his brother-in-law,

John Norvell John Norvell (December 21, 1789April 24, 1850) was a newspaper editor and one of the first U.S. Senators from Michigan. History Norvell was born in Danville, Kentucky, then still a part of Virginia, where he attended the common schools. He is t ...

, he purchased and published the Baltimore "Whig." During the

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, he was at the

Battle of Bladensburg The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle of the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812, fought on 24 August 1814 at Bladensburg, Maryland, northeast of Washington, D.C. Called "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms," a British for ...

with Norvell and the account of this experience has been chronicled in "Some Account of the Life of Spencer Houghton Cone, A Baptist Preacher in America," published in New York in 1856. He then became a clerk in the treasury department in Washington. After moving there, he began to preach with remarkable success. He was converted to the Baptist Church in 1814. In 1815-1816 he became Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. About 1823, he moved to the Oliver street church, New York, where he remained for eighteen years. He then became pastor of the 1st Baptist church there. In 1832, he became president of the Baptist triennial convention, and was re-elected until 1841. From 1837 till 1850 he was president of the American and foreign Bible society. On the formation of the American Bible union, he was made its president, and so continued until his death on August 28, 1855. At the zenith of his career he was probably the most popular and influential Baptist minister in the United States.

References

* Cone, Edward W., ''Some Account of the Life of Spencer Houghton Cone, A Baptist Preacher in America'', New York, 1856. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cone, Spencer Houghton Chaplains of the United States House of Representatives Baptist ministers from the United States 1785 births 1855 deaths George Washington University trustees