| Nehemiah Adams | |
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| Born | (1806-02-19)February 19, 1806 Salem, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | October 6, 1878(1878-10-06) (aged 72) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University, Andover Theological Seminary |
| Occupation | clergyman |
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Reverend Nehemiah Adams (February 19, 1806 – October 6, 1878) was an American clergyman and writer.
Biography
He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1806 to Nehemiah Adams and Mehitabel Torrey Adams. He graduated from Harvard University in 1826, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1829. That same year, he was ordained as co-pastor, with Abiel Holmes, of the First Congregational Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1832, he married Martha Hooper.
In 1834, he became pastor of Union Congregational Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He would remain in that position until his death in 1878. In 1850, he married again, to Sarah Brackett.
In 1854, he took a trip to the American South, and wrote a book entitled A South-Side View of Slavery (Boston, 1855). In the book, he lauded slavery as beneficial to the Negroes' religious character. This book was one of several polemic works he wrote. It caused a great sensation, and he received much hostile criticism. The book was attacked by abolitionists for its perceived moderation; the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator called it "as vile a work as was ever written, in apology and defence of 'the sum of all villanies'".
In 1861, Adams wrote a successor volume, The Sable Cloud, a Southern Tale with Northern Comments, to answer his attackers, and it was met with a similar response.
He also wrote The Cross in the Cell, Scriptural Argument for Endless Punishment, Broadcast, At Eventide, and a Life of John Eliot. He was a member of the American Tract Society and the American Board for Foreign Missions.
In 1869, in consequence of his failing health, his people procured an associate pastor and gave Adams a long leave of absence. He made a voyage round the world and described it in Under the Mizzenmast: A Voyage Around the World (1871).
Adams died in 1878, aged 72. He left nine children.
- Anna Hooper
- Martha Hooper married 8 June 1859 Thomas Joseph Lee
- Catherine
- Rev William Hooper married 1866 PAulina Thomas; married 1878 Margaret Holmes
- Robert Chamblet married MAry Eminy Job
- Susan Gertrude married Daniel Ward Job
- Mary
- Sarah
Notes
- ^ Gilman, Peck & Colby 1905.
- ^ Wilson & Fiske 1900.
- Adams, Nehemiah (1855). A Southside View of Slavery. Boston: T. R. Marvin.
- Rines 1920, p. 107.
- "THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY" (PDF). The Liberator. Vol. XXVII, no. 25. June 19, 1957. p. 98. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- —— (1861). The Sable Cloud: A Southern Tale, with Northern Comments. Boston: Ticknor and Fields.
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Adams, Nehemiah" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
References
- Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Adams, Nehemiah" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Adams, Nehemiah" . Encyclopedia Americana. p. 107.
- Who Was Who in America. Historical Volume 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963.
Further reading
- Works by Nehemiah Adams at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Nehemiah Adams at the Internet Archive
- A South-Side View of Slavery