William Rounseville Alger
William Rounseville Alger | |
---|---|
Boston, Massachusetts, US | |
Occupation(s) | Minister and author |
Children | 7, incl. Philip Rounseville Alger, Abby Langdon Alger |
Relatives | Horatio Alger (cousin) |
William Rounseville Alger (December 28, 1822 – February 7, 1905) was an American Unitarian minister, author, poet, hymnist, editor, and abolitionist. He also served as Chaplain of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Early life and education
William Rounseville Alger was born in
Career
After 1855, Alger went to the Bulfinch Street Church in Boston, and preached around the country including in New York, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Louisiana, and Rhode Island.[3] He became well known in Boston for filling Tremont Temple.[4]
Alger was an active
Alger was also the first regular pastor of the first Episcopalian church in
Death and legacy
Alger died on February 7, 1905.
Some of his notebooks are stored at the Harvard Divinity School library,[3] and the New York Public Library.[10] Many of his published works have gone through numerous editions,[1] and a number of his hymns have been published in various hymnals and songbooks.[11]
Family
William Alger married Anne Langdon in 1847. They had seven children, including Philip Rounseville Alger, an American naval officer,[2] and translator Abby Langdon Alger.[12]
Alger's cousin was the noted author Horatio Alger, who had also served as a Unitarian pastor for a short time.[7] Though he was less widely known than Horatio, Gary Scharnhorst called William the "more talented" cousin in his 1990 biography of William Alger.[13]
Selected works
- History of the cross of Christ (1851)
- The charities of Boston, or, Twenty years at the Warren-street Chapel (1856)
- The Genius and Posture of America: An Oration Delivered to the Citizens of Boston, July 4, 1857 (originally given July 4, 1857, pub. 1864)
- The historic purchase of freedom (1859)
- Lessons for mankind, from the life and death of Humbolt (1859)
- A tribute to the memory and services of the Rev. Theodore Parker (1860)
- Good Samaritan in Boston; a tribute to Moses Grant (1862)
- Public morals: or, The true glory of a state (1862)
- The solitudes of nature and of man; or, The loneliness of human life (1867)
- Prayers offered in the Massachusetts House of Representatives during the session of 1868 (1868)
- The American poets : a review of the works of Thomas William Parsons (1869)
- The end of the world, and the day of judgment : two discourses preached to the Music-Hall Society (1870)
- The sword, the pen, and the pulpit ; with a tribute to the Christian genius and memory of Charles Dickens (1870)
- The Poetry of the Orient (1874) [first pub. under The Poetry of the East; 1856]
- Life of Edwin Forrest, the American tragedian (1877)
- The Friendships of Women (1879)
- A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life (1880)
- The school of life (1881)
Further reading
- Scharnhorst, Gary (1990). A Literary Biography of William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905), a Neglected Member of the Concord Circle. Lewiston: Mellen.
References
- ^ a b c d e Rand, John C. (1890). One Of a Thousand : A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident In The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888–'89. Boston: First National Pub. Co. p. 11. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
- ^ a b c "Biography of Alger, William Rounseville". Access Genealogy. August 4, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Alger, William Rounseville. Notebooks, 1822–1905". Harvard Divinity School Library. Harvard University. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8039-5568-4. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
- ^ Alger, William (1857). "The Genius and Posture of America: An Oration Delivered Before the Citizens of Boston". Cornell University Library Digital Collections.
- ^ Tatterson, Estelle M. (1916). Three Centuries of Biddeford : An Historical Sketch. p. 31. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9741152-0-7. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
- ^ "Church if The Messiah – Rev. Willima R. Alger's Confregation". The New York Times. March 15, 1875. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- ^ Alger, William R. (1868). Prayers Offered In the Massachusetts House of Representatives During the Session of 1868. Roberts Brothers. p. iii. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Open Library.
- ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "Alger, William Rounseville (1822–1905)". New York Public Library. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "William Rounseville Alger". Hymnary.org. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Recent Deaths: Miss Abby L. Alger". Boston Evening Transcript. May 26, 1905. p. 4. Retrieved February 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Academic Book: Literary Biography of William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905). A Neglected Member of the Concord Circle". edwinmellen.com. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
External links
- Works by William Rounseville Alger at Project Gutenberg
- Works by William Rounseville Alger at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)