Posts by Zach Kincaid
Joseph Mohr
The world’s most beloved Christmas Carol, Silent Night, comes from the small Austrian village of Oberndorf, just north of Salzburg. On Christmas Eve, 1818, the congregation of St. Nicholas Church heard the first performance of this wonderful music. Since then, Silent Night was been translated into hundreds of languages and sung and played in every corner…
Read MoreRichard Allen
Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760, Richard Allen went on to become an educator, writer, minister and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Benjamin Chew, a Quaker lawyer, owned the Allen family, which included Richard’s parents and three other children. Chew eventually sold the Allen family to Stokeley Sturgis, a Delaware planter. At age…
Read MoreCharles Simeon
Charles Simeon was born on September 24, 1759. He attended school at Eton and enrolled at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1779. Although baptized as an infant, his family was not particularly religious and neither was Charles, until an experience during his first few months at university. All Cambridge students were required to receive communion at…
Read MoreWilliam Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (1759-1833), abolitionist and philanthropist, was born to a family of merchants. He was first educated at Hull Grammar School under Joseph Milner, an evangelical Anglican minister. His father died when Wilberforce was nine, and his mother sent him to stay near London where he was reared by an evangelical aunt and uncle. Through…
Read MoreRichard Furman
Clergyman, patriot, educator, and pioneer denominational stateman. More than any other man, he created the basic organizational concepts that are unique in Southern Baptist denominational life. He was the son of Wood and Rachel (Brodhead) Furman, who moved to Charleston, S. C., shortly after his birth and to the High Hills of Santee in 1770.…
Read MoreManasseh Cutler
Although he did not spend that much time in the state, Manasseh Cutler was a major figure in the settling of Ohio in the years after the American Revolution. Cutler was born on May 13, 1742, in Connecticut. Descended from a long line of clergymen, Cutler entered Yale to become an attorney and broke with…
Read MoreJohn Newton
John Newton was an Anglican clergyman and former slave ship master. It took him a long time to speak out against the Slave Trade but he had an influence on many young evangelical Christians, particularly William Wilberforce. At just 11 years old, Newton went to sea with his father. In 1743 he was on his…
Read MoreJohn Francis Wade
John Francis Wade was a Catholic layman who lived in Lancashire, England. At the age of 32, Wade produced a Latin Christmas carol, Adeste Fidelis. Though scholars once thought the music was simply Wade’s copy of an ancient hymn, further research has led most to conclude that Wade composed the lyrics and music himself. Since that time,…
Read MoreWilliam Wordsworth
Born 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, to the steward of an estate, Wordsworth’s early life was relatively hard. His mother died when he was eight, and the next year he was sent to attend the principal grammar school of the district at Hawkshead where he was solidly educated. Only four years later, however, his father died,…
Read MoreSamuel Wesley
The English composer, Samuel Wesley, was the son of Rev. Charles and nephew of the celerbrated Rev. John Wesley. His elder brother, Charles Wesley (1757-1834), was an harpsichodist, organist and composer. Although Samuel was also a precocious performer, like his brother’, he did not develop his faculties quite so early, for he was 3 years…
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