William Patton (August 23, 1798 - September 9, 1879), was a pastor,

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, and the son of Revolutionary War colonel and the first Postmaster of Philadelphia Robert Patton. He was the father of the abolitionist William Weston Patton.

Career

He graduated at Middlebury College in 1818, and, after studying at

Princeton 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 ni ...

theological seminary, was ordained. During twenty-six years of his life he was

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of churches in

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. From 1834-37, he was secretary of the

American Education Society American Society for the Education of Pious Youth for the Gospel Ministry was organized in 1815 for the purpose of aid in the education of Protestant clergymen. It was renamed American Education Society (AES) in 1820, 1911-1913 It was formed under a ...

. He spent the latter part of his life in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, engaged in literary and ministerial work. He was the first to suggest the idea of the

World Evangelical Alliance The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is an interdenominational organization of evangelical Christian churches, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, founded in 1846 in London, England, United Kingdom to unite evangelicals worldwide. WEA i ...

, which he did in a letter to Rev

John Angell James John Angell James (6 June 1785 – 1 October 1859), was an English Nonconformist clergyman and writer. Life James was born at Blandford Forum. After seven years' apprenticeship to a linen-draper in Poole, Dorset, he decided to become a pre ...

, of England, in 1843. He attended the convention in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in August 1846, that organized the alliance. He was a founder of the Union Theological Seminary, and first proposed its establishment. He made fourteen visits to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

between 1825 and 1879. He was an earnest opponent of slavery, and for forty years a member of the executive committee of the American Home Missionary Society. His views on the subject of

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

were equally radical. In the pulpit he was characterized not so much by breadth and accuracy of scholarship, finish of style, or elegance of delivery, as by his strong grasp upon his subject, his simplicity, directness, aptness, and freshness. He received the degree of D. D. from the

University of the City of New York New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Publications

Besides editing President Jonathan Edwards's work on ''"Revivals"'' and Charles G. Finney's ''"Lectures on Revivals"'' (London, 1839), preparing the American editions of '' The Cottage Bible'', of which over 170,000 copies were sold, and ''The Village Testament'' (New York, 1833), and assisting in editing ''The Christian Psalmist'' (1836), he published ''The Laws of Fermentation and the Wines of the Ancients'' (1871); ''The Judgment of Jerusalem , Predicted in Scripture, Fulfilled in History'' (London, 1879); ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1878); and ''Bible Principles and Bible Characters'' (Hartford, 1879).

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patton, William 1798 births 1879 deaths American theologians Activists from Philadelphia American abolitionists American temperance activists Christian abolitionists Religious leaders from New Haven, Connecticut Middlebury College alumni