BEECHER, Edward [1803-1895] -- American clergyman and educator

He was the first president of Illinois College (1830-1844), and founder of The Congregationalist (1849).

Son of ¤Lyman and Roxana (Foote) Beecher, he was graduated at Yale in 1822; fitted for the ministry at Andover, Mass., and New Haven, Conn., and was a tutor in the Hartford high school and at Yale, in 1825. He was pastor of the Park St. Congregational church, Boston, Mass., 1826-30, president of Illinois college, Jacksonville Ill., 1830-44, pastor of the Salem St. church, Boston, 1844-55, and of the Congregational church at Galesburg, Ill., 1855-70. He was also professor of Biblical exegesis in the Chicago theological seminary, became assistant to his brother in the editorial management of the Christian Union at Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1872, and pastor of the Congregational church at Parkville, N.Y. in 1885. He was also editor-in-charge of the Congregationalist for several years. He was run over by a railroad train in 1888 and although he had his leg amputated, entirely recovered from the shock. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon Mr. Beecher by Marietta college in 1841. His best known works are: The Conflict of Ages and The Concord of Ages, in which he announces the view that man is in a progressive state — the present life being the outcome of a former one, and the preparation of another life after death. Evil, however, will continue in the future life, and the struggle between it and good will still go on until some far-off future, when evil will be finally subdued, and universal harmony be forever established. The utterance of such radical views in regard to the future life necessarily made a profound impression upon the thought of the day and aroused much comment.

He died at his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 28, 1895. BDNA