BEECHER, LYMAN. 



for the Western Division of the county, alto- 

 gether for more than a quarter of a century. 

 He was first elected for the county in 1816 ; and 

 during the Reform agitation, being opposed to 

 the measure, was defeated. The Reform Bill 

 passed during the next year, and Worcester- 

 shire was separated into two divisions, East and 

 West ; Gen. Lygon, having been elected for the 

 latter, continued to sit for that division until 

 his elevation to the Upper House. In politics 

 he was a conservative. In 1853 he succeeded 

 his brother to the earldom. In his death the 

 nation lost a faithful and trustworthy ser- 

 vant and soldier, and the county of Worcester, 

 a benefactor who was always ready to aid in 

 any charitable or benevolent work. 



BEECHER, LTMAN, D. D., an American 

 clergyman and author, born in New Haven, 

 Conn., September 12th, 1775, died in Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., January 10th, 1863. His early life was 

 spent in the family of his uncle. Lot Benton, of 

 North Gnilford, where he was fitted for college 

 by Rev. Thomas W. Bray, the minister of the 

 parish. He entered Yale Cyllege in 1793, at 

 the age of 18, and graduated iu 1797, having 

 spent part of his senior year in the study of 

 theology, under President Dwight. He con- 

 tinued these studies till September, 1798, when 

 he was licensed to preach, and soon afterward 

 began to supply the pulpit of the Presbyterian 

 church at East Hampton, Long Island, where 

 he was ordained, in September, 1799. In 1810 

 he accepted an invitation to the pastorate of 

 the First Congregational church, in Litchfield, 

 Conn., and was installed in June of that year. 

 He remained at Litchfield until March, 1826, 

 and he says, in his autobiography, " it was the 

 most laborious part of his life." His eloquence 

 and zeal as a preacher, and the fearlessness and 

 resolution with which he attacked the preva- 

 lent vice of intemperance, and led the way 

 in the organization of Bible, Missionary, and 

 Educational Societies, had gained him already 

 a high reputation throughout New England. 

 The rapid and extensive defection of the Con- 

 gregational churches in the vicinity of Boston, 



der the lead of Dr. Channing and others, 

 ad excited much anxiety throughout New 

 England, and, in 1826, Mr. Beecher was called 

 to Boston to the pastorate of the Hanover 

 street church, at the urgent request of his 

 clerical brethren, to uphold the ancient doc- 

 trines of Puritanism against the onset of the 

 able and adroit leaders of the Unitarian party. 

 He remained there six years and a half, and 

 battled against his opponents with an elo- 

 quence, a logical vigor, and an overwhelming 

 power, which won for him the admiration of the 

 members of his own denomination, and the re- 

 , spect and esteem which men always feel for an 

 ardent, earnest, and honest fighter. It was 

 during his residence here, also, that his " Ser- 

 mons on Intemperance," most of which had 

 been preached in Litchfield, were first publish- 

 ed. No more pungent and effective portrai- 

 tures and denunciations of a national vice have 



un< 

 ha* 



T?~ 



BERRY, HIRAM GEORGE. 163 



ever appeared in print. In 1832, whjen 57 years 

 of age, he was called to the presidency of the 

 Lane Theological Seminary at Cmcinnati, and a 

 large amount of money was pledged to the in- 

 stitution on condition of his acceptance. He 

 carried to the West the same fiery ardor, the 

 same earnestness in his advocacy of what he 

 believed to be truth, and the same power in 

 assailing what he believed to be error under 

 whatever form it might appear, which had 

 characterized his ministry in Boston. He re- 

 mained at the head of the seminary for nine- 

 teen years, and his name was continued in 

 its catalogue, as president, until his death. 

 During the first ten years of his presidency 

 he was also acting pastor of the Second Pres- 

 byterian church in Cincinnati. It was not 

 long after his removal to Cincinnati that he 

 electrified the religious public in the East, by 

 the publication of a tract, showing the danger 

 of Roman Catholic supremacy in the West. In 

 the theological controversies, which led to the 

 excision of a portion of the General Assembly 

 of the Presbyterian Church in 1837-'8, he took 

 an active part, though untinged with bitter- 

 ness. In 1851 he returned to Boston, where 

 he preached with great vigor and power, not- 

 withstanding his advanced age. About his 

 80th year he suffered from an attack of paral- 

 ysis, that affected his mental powers, which 

 thenceforth only gleamed out occasionally with 

 some indications of their former splendor. He 

 removed about this time to Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 where his last years were passed. Dr. Beecher 

 was the author of a large number of published 

 sermons and addresses, most of them occasional 

 and miscellaneous, though some are deserving 

 of permanent preservation for their extraor- 

 dinary ability and eloquence. His " Sermons 

 on Intemperance," already mentioned, still have 

 a large sale. He made a collection of some of 

 those he deemed most valuable, which was pub- 

 lished in 1852, in 3 vols. 12mo. His autobiog- 

 raphy, and a selection from his published works, 

 edited by his son, Rev. Charles Beecher, are now 

 (March, 1864) passing through the press of 

 Messrs. Harper and Brothers. During the peri- 

 od of his active ministry from 1815 to 1851, no 

 clergyman of any denomination in the United 

 States was more widely known, or exerted a 

 more powerful influence on the educated mind 

 of the country. He was the father of 13 chil- 

 dren, of whom ten survived him, most of whom 

 have attained literary or theological distinc- 

 tion.. Rev. Edward Beecher, D.D., Rev. Henry 

 Ward Beecher, the pastor of Plymouth Church, 

 Miss Catharine E. Beecher, and Mrs. Harriet 

 Beecher Stowe, the authoress of " Uncle Tom's 

 Cabin," are the best known of this remarkable 

 family. 



BERRY, HIRAM GEORGE, a major-general 

 of volunteers in the United States service, 

 born in Thomaston (now Rockland), Maine, 

 August 27th, 1824, killed at the battle of 

 Chancellorsville, May 3d, 1863. In early life 

 he had acquired the carpenter's trade, and 



